What One Person Can Do...With a Lot of Help

all the views we dare to share

"Routes of Change"

Five months into his planned five year journey, Markus Pukonen stopped by to tell us what he's doing to change our world.

Markus is traveling around the world, without motorized assistance, to support the environment and social justice. Here's his summary of what he's doing:

Markus Pukonen: Routes of Change

There's much more on Markus' website and on all sorts of social media. You can follow the next 4 1/2 years of his journey there as well. We thank our Kimberley neighbor Randy McLeod of the Canadian Wildlife Federation for introducing us to Markus.

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Kimberley Chamber of Commerce

Greg Bradley is the current president of the Kimberley Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is one of the organizations which keeps Kimberley working. Greg tells us what the Chamber does for the city and for its members:

Greg Bradley 

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Wayne Stetski is Our New MP

Anyone who thinks their vote doesn't matter should look at the returns in the Kootenay-Columbia riding. e-Know reports that the turnout in the riding was just under 75%. Clearly people cared and, equally important, took action. Of the 63203 people who voted, Wayne Stetski (NDP) won by a remarkably slim 285 votes--less than 1/2% of the votes cast. "Strategic voting" almost certainly was the difference. Congratulations to Kimberley and its neighbors for getting involved ... and to new MP, Wayne Stetski.

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Some years ago, (Sir) Harry Evans quoted for us Lord Northcliffe's incisive comment:

 

“News is something someone wants to suppress.

Everything else is advertising.”

 

Evans repeated that quote at a reception in his honor at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, celebrating the publication of his memoir My Paper Chase in 2009. Harry Evan is simply one of the best reporter/editors we have ever met. If, as do we, you think that authentic, quality journalism is important, read his book. You might also enjoy watching Sir Harry's performance at the reception. It is very informative.

 

 

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Our Neighbors

 

Kim McLean — Bavarian Home Hardware

Stan Cuthill — Kimberley Building Supplies

                          
Tara Penner — Pivot Data

 

Grady Pasiechnyk — Wine Works

 

Elected Representatives

In December's installment of our monthly conversations with Mayor McCormick we talk about KRRG (Kimberley Refugee Resettlement Group),CKDI (Cranbrook Kimberley Development Initiative), demographics and, yet again, the flume.

Mayor Don McCormack

If you prefer, you can listen to this program here.

CKDI

In November, Mayor McCormick gave us a short introduction to the newly formed Cranbrook Kimberley Development Initiative (CKDI). Our full November conversation with the Mayor is here.

 

Earlier editions of conversations with the Mayor are here.

 

SunMine

The largest solar installation in western Canada officially signed onto the grid on 27 July, 2015. Built on a reclaimed brownfield site of what was once the world’s richest lead and zinc mines, the aptly name SunMine moves Kimberley, BC decisively toward a sustainable future.

The SunMine is Now Open for Business

27 July, 2015

Congratulations Kimberley!

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Broadband is Not Enough, But It IS Essential

Before deciding to relocate to Kimberley, we looked at communities on four continents and one large island. Two important criteria in our seach were air quality and internet connectivity. Kimberley's air quality is acceptable, though significantly improved by HEPA filters.

In June, 2009 we were assured by the appropriate authorities that Kimberley had "high-speed" internet service, aka broadband. Our sources believed what they had told us. They had been given inaccurate information. Since moving here, we have become tedious on the absolute necessity of having broadband service available to our community.

With Telus now about to offer service via fibre optics and Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation working to facilitate access to broadband, we thought it time to assess where Kimberley is in the broadband-sphere.

In January we had scheduled a discussion with Johnny Strilaeff, CBT's chief operating officer. We planned to talked about the SunMine but also took the opportunity to discuss CBT's relatively new creation, Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation (CBBC).

Part 1

The other parts of this conversation are here.

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Audio Bits: 

American author and playwrite E.L. Doctorow died in July. We talked with him in 2005 about his novel The March and about the relationship between writers and readers. These are excerpts from that conversation.

Why we do this

During Kimberley's 2011 election campaign, we made an offer to all the mayoral candidates to produce a regular discussion with the Mayor as part of the communication process everyone was talking about. We renewed that offer in 2014. On April 1, 2015, we recorded the first program. Here 'tis (on the right of this page).

 

This project is based on the notion of democratic dialogue, first introduced to us by Cornel West. Respectful discussions between and among the citizens of a community are the central core of a polity's ability to govern itself. That's why we're including some of our neighbors.

 

*—"Attention must be paid" is a line from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. In a conversation with Gay Talese in 2006, he pointed out to us the importance of attending to everyday events and the people who inhabit them.