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Talks are about to begin on drawing up a new national health accord. By all accounts, we’re in for a slugfest. The current accord, which expires this year, was introduced by prime minister Paul Martin in 2004.

John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were two losers who needed help, but the RCMP gave them the wrong kind of help and wasted huge amounts of police resources and public money in the process.

Mayors in the region and others are musing about a temporary rail service that could alleviate traffic woes during construction of the McKenzie interchange, while at the same time serving as a pilot project to guide future rail-transit development.

What’s the point of international trade agreements if we can’t agree on free trade within the country? Canada’s premiers met in Whitehorse last weekend and came away with an agreement-in-principle on an internal trade deal they said would help create

The provincial government jumped into the overheated housing market with a bag full of measures it hopes will help ordinary people afford a home. It’s a good move politically. Now we’ll see if it works as intended.

Tourist events don’t get much better than Northwest Deuce Days — thousands of people flock to the Island and bring their own tourism draw with them.

The legislature has been recalled for a special summer session to deal with a situation largely beyond government control — the housing crisis. Yet the B.C.

Seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie has drawn attention to a potentially alarming trend. Across the province, seniors’ incomes have been falling. The largest drop came in 2014, the latest date for which we have figures.

The province has done the right thing in ordering a third-party review of the electronic health-records system launched in Nanaimo in March, but the terms of reference for the review should ensure the study is legitimate and thorough.

Coun. Ben Isitt’s sunny view of the tent city on the courthouse lawn is not likely to spark widespread agreement. Granted, the encampment brought much-needed attention to the issue of homelessness, but at a heavy price.