Peter Shokeir | editor@fitzhugh.ca Equality is actually rather easy to achieve. It’s achieving both equality and quality that is the issue and something Canada has struggled with when it comes to health care. On July 15, the B.C Court of Appeal dismissed Dr. Brian Day’s case, which argued that he had the right to set up a private for-profit surgery clinic due to long wait times in the public system. The Alb ...

Dear Editor: Policing is one of the most important things the Town of Hinton does, for two reasons. First, protecting citizens from crime is a very basic function of government. Second, it’s a big part of our budget, with expenditures on the RCMP soon to exceed $2.5 million out of $29.5 million total. So, as we start drafting the upcoming budget, we really should take a comprehensive look at what we’re doin ...

There’s a lot going on in Jasper, and I’m not just talking about tourism’s high season. That’s certainly a part of it, but let’s stop to look at the big picture for a second. Jasper National Park is more than 11,000 square kilometres of mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, bears, elk, deer, birds, fish, bees, flowers and oh so many insects too. The air is fresh, the mountain water is plentiful and the weather ...

Yellowhead MP Gerald Soroka. | Supplied photo Dear Editor, I believe in saying “thank you”. I would like to express my appreciation to our MP Gerald Soroka’s office. Specifically, the hard work of Alison and Annette. In February my wife and I planned our first major “post-Covid” trip. This involved getting her and my son new passports. We didn't want to wait until the last minute – so in March we applied to ...

Kevin Lazzari | Special to the Fitzhugh In 2009, Jeff Eastin created the show “White Collar” and it ran for five years. I was lucky that I stumbled across the show, because it became one of my favorites. I like a good mystery, and shows that have clever dialogue. Each episode has a case to be solved, and there is always a conclusion. There are subplots that run through the entire show, but they do not distr ...

Peter Shokeir | editor@fitzhugh.ca It’s no secret that Jasper has a housing shortage. The Municipality of Jasper estimated that Jasper had a housing gap of roughly 687 units, and this gap is expected to grow to 980 units by 2042. The municipality is now considering multiple delivery options for supplying more housing. A consulting firm, Colliers, recommended to council earlier this month that Jasper funds a ...

Marianne Garrah | Special to the Fitzhugh We all know that immersing ourselves in something creative is just good medicine. Whether it’s dancing or painting, it’s all related to the “feel good” transmission of dopamine that keeps away negativity. Everyday stresses can find some release when we immerse ourselves in music or biking. One has to wonder then why so many creative individuals suffer from mental il ...

The below op-ed was written by Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada, and Maria Saras-Voutsinas, executive director of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada. During the 2021 federal election campaign, several political parties made commitments to introduce news remuneration legislation. Why is such legislation needed? First, the need for strong, independent local news has never ...

Peter Shokeir | editor@fitzhugh.ca The pandemic has inflicted a heavy toll on society, whether it’s loved ones who were lost, those who suffer from long COVID or businesses that have closed. Inflation is another cost that isn’t quite so terrible but still impacts people’s lives. According to Statistics Canada, the price of food rose by 9.7 per cent between April 2021 and April 2022. Besides food, the most a ...

Jasper has perhaps one of the oddest arrangements in Canada when it comes to land-use planning and development. Rather than the municipal government handling zoning and development permits, a federal agency (specifically, Parks Canada) has been given this mandate for Jasper. Two recent incidents have made it abundantly clear why this arrangement is dysfunctional. Parks Canada had proposed amendments to priv ...