For almost two decades, New Democrats have looked upon financier David Levi as a possible political saviour.

When two of the world’s most famous billionaires, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, took a tour of the oil sands in northern Alberta in mid-August, it caught the attention of journalists. The visit by the two tycoons is a sign of the growing U.S. interest in the region, which contains an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels of crude bitumen—the heaviest and thickest form of petroleum, resembling molasses.

Robin Long, a U.S. army deserter who was deported from B.C. earlier this summer, has been sentenced to 15 months in a military prison. He will also be dishonourably discharged.

SFU prof Boyd Cohen says it’s time to get serious about preserving the planet, which is why he created a fun contest that he describes as the “American Idol for green people”.

Lt.-Col. Bob Bowman,a retired U.S. air force colonel, is coming to Vancouver to alert Canadians to the dangers of corporate influences on governments.

There has been a significant drop in the number of rental apartment buildings sold in Metro Vancouver in the first six months of 2008 compared with the same period last year.

One of Canada’s premier charitable fundraisers discovered while writing a book on philanthropy that regular volunteer work increases life expectancy, enhances the immune system, and reduces stress.

If you know a Cantonese- or Mandarin-speaking person who’s interested in learning more about their health, tell them to visit Bonsor Recreation Complex (6550 Bonsor Avenue, Burnaby) on Sunday (August 24).

The SFU Pipe Band has won the world championship for the fifth time.

For too many years, the Vietnamese Canadian community has gotten a raw deal in Canadian media coverage.

The bar celebrates its 20th birthday and the efforts of its owner, Blaine Culling, to transform what was once a rough neighbourhood into an entertainment district and the hub of Vancouver's nightlife scene.

As Mike McDaniel, president and CEO of the PNE, prepares for the opening of its 17-day Fair on August 16, he’s hoping for a good spell of weather so that it makes a profit this time around.

Media reports from the United States routinely list a litany of horrors about the number of foreclosures. According to an August 4 New York Times report, 8.41 percent of subprime-mortgage loans from 2005 were in arrears by 90 days or more or in foreclosure in the month of June. Of subprime-mortgage loans from 2007, 16.6 percent were delinquent, according to the report.

So you want to be a corporate sleuth? If you’re aching to know compensation figures of the bosses of Canada’s biggest publicly traded companies, check out www.sedar.com/. All the Howe Street sharpies regularly visit this site, but it’s not as well known within the activist community. You can look up any company on a Canadian stock exchange and read documents filed with regulators.

Ironman competitions are not for the timid and Brendan Brazier attributes a large part of his success to eating a plant-based diet.

Today, A&B Sound announced the immediate closure of its flagship store on Seymour Street as well as its store on Marine Drive on the south side of Vancouver.

A UBC assistant psychology professor has coauthored a paper that shows that pride and shame are innate responses and are expressed across cultures.

The criminalization of poverty and homelessness, the eviction of tenants in low-rent housing, and the suppression of human rights go hand in hand with hosting the Olympics.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and three senior cabinet ministers have been warned that Canadian officials are breaking the law by refusing to seek Omar Khadr’s release from a U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. Khadr, a Canadian citizen, has been charged with murder in connection with the death of an American soldier in Afghanistan in 2002. The U.S. has declared Khadr an “enemy combatant” and denied him protection under the Geneva Conventions.

As Black Press, CanWest, and their U.S. counterparts face up to hard times as the public continues losing confidence in daily newspapers, leading to plummeting circulation.

There’s more evidence that the Lower Mainland housing market is slowing down. On August 5, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported that prices for detached housing fell 2.3 percent through June and July. Over the same period, prices for attached properties dropped by one percent, and apartment units by two percent. It was a front-page story in one newspaper.

In a new self-published book, a UBC clinical associate professor describes the eight pillars of brain health and longevity.

The biggest concert bash in B.C. history is helping to bring economic revival to the little town north of Whistler and let it reclaim some of its former glory.

An environmental group from Kwantlen University College is citing health studies showing the negative effects of pesticides to try to get the city to keep harmful chemicals off private residences, golf courses, and lawn services.

After West Vancouver fitness expert Martin Bolduc was diagnosed with throat cancer, his primary goals became to have enough strength to hold his first-born son in his arms and resume his healthy lifestyle.

After West Vancouver fitness expert Martin Bolduc was diagnosed with throat cancer, his primary goals became to have enough strength to hold his first-born son in his arms and resume his healthy lifestyle.

Avoid typical beginner’s errors with a few simple tips and tricks to help you make the most of your first trip up the Grouse Grind, including what to eat the night before, pacing yourself correctly, and avoiding others' judgmental stares.

Avoid typical beginner’s errors with a few simple tips and tricks to help you make the most of your first trip up the Grouse Grind, including what to eat the night before, pacing yourself correctly, and avoiding others' judgmental stares.

By taking supplements as early as their 30s, men can avoid future health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, according to Toronto physician Shafiq Qaadri, whose book especially highlights the "evil" of abdominal fat. . Explaining their benefits in offsetting the effects of testosterone loss and abdominal fat as men age.

By taking supplements as early as their 30s, men can avoid future health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, according to Toronto physician Shafiq Qaadri, whose book especially highlights the "evil" of abdominal fat. . Explaining their benefits in offsetting the effects of testosterone loss and abdominal fat as men age.

There are 460,000 individual strata units in B.C., but a homeowners group says there are several deficiencies in the provincial legislation governing condominium homeownership. In early May, the Victoria-based Vancouver Island Strata Owners Association issued a report identifying six areas that need to be addressed: strata governance, strata-management licences, disclosure, strata-development approvals, property taxation, and strata-fee equity.

I suspected that park commissioner Al De Genova's fling with Vision Vancouver was probably over after he was trounced in his bid to become the party's mayoral nominee last month.

I'll let you in on one of the media's dirty little secrets.

An NPA candidate for the Vancouver park board says that if he were on the board, he would not have voted in favour of cutting down 70 trees in Queen Elizabeth Park.

The share price of CanWest Global Communications Corp. has taken a precipitous dive this year.

To cries of "shame, shame, shame" from some in the crowd, four NPA park commissioners voted last night in favour of a staff recommendation to remove 70 trees from Queen Elizabeth Park.

At a news conference at Science World today, former COPE councillor Ellen Woodsworth told reporters that she will seek a nomination to run again with COPE.

Four months after Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition Alexi Zowadski gave the Tri-Cities area a "D" for its cycling infrastructure, the City of Coquitlam has stepped forward with a plan for improvements.

Tomorrow (July 7), Coquitlam council is scheduled to vote on a bylaw amendment to allow three churches to offer seasonal emergency shelter to the homeless on a rotating basis in 2008-09.

A City of Burnaby staff report expresses concerns that TransLink might not be paying enough attention to "peak oil".

A former cop who specialized in outlaw-motorcycle gangs has won a bid to have his wrongful-dismissal suit heard at trial.

A senior bureaucrat with the District of North Vancouver has proposed creating a nonprofit society to raise money to maintain the trails on Fromme Mountain.

In a move that shows his former challenger plenty of respect, the Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate has announced that Louie will be his principal policy adviser and that Louie will chair the Vision Vancouver caucus.

I've never been a big fan of George Michael—and in the 1980s, I probably would have declared that I would never attend a George Michael concert.

The public-private partnership between the Gordon Campbell government and the Vancouver Sun is really putting the boots to the NDP's opposition to the carbon tax.

Last night, one of the most famous activists in the United States, Tom Hayden, gave a lecture at SFU's Harbour Centre campus, where he condemned the concept of the "responsibility to protect".

The father of the B.C. Ambulance Service, Dennis Cocke, died on Wednesday at the age of 84.

A high-profile academic has announced that he wants to become the next member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre. Michael Byers, a UBC political scientist and author, told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview that he will seek the NDP nomination in the riding, which has been held by Liberal Hedy Fry since 1993. Green Party of Canada deputy leader Adriane Carr is also running.

The author of The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS believes that political leaders must acknowledge publicly that sex is pleasurable in order to win the war on the disease.

The Vancouver Sun's veteran municipal-affairs reporter, Frances Bula, has quit her job at the CanWest MediaWorks metropolitan daily paper.