For the first time, The Interior News has published a “Progress Edition,” the B-Section of this week’s paper.
In the news business, we try to be as fair and balanced as possible.
Some stories are obviously good news all around. The Bulkley Valley District Hospital getting a CT scanner leaps to mind.
Others are bad to the bone. Three murders on northern B.C. Highways, for example.
Most fall into more of a grey area and we try to reflect that.
Progress can be kind of like that too. For example, at first glance, council raising water and sewer rates by 10 per cent per year for the next five years might not seem like progress, but it is one element of addressing a long-term problem that has been ignored for too long.
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It is kind of nice sometimes to take off the objectivity hat and look on the bright side of things.
For the “Progress Edition” we tried to look at the area through a wide angle lens and take a snapshot of the positive developments over the past year.
What we found is that Smithers, and the surrounding area, is a very good place to be, indeed.
We really do punch above our weight class politically, economically and culturally.
Do we have our blemishes?
Of course we do.
Are there things we could be doing better?
Of course there are.
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But all in all, we feel like we are moving forward as a community and striving to be better.
For that, we have to offer kudos to our town and village councils. It is often a thankless job and the mayors and councillors are by no means perfect.
But who is?
At least they put themselves forward to do a job that somebody has to do and they work hard at it.
Kudos also to all the business people and entrepreneurs who keep the local economy humming. It is not easy to make a success of a business, more fail than flourish, but they get themselves up every morning and make a go of it to everybody’s benefit.
And, finally, kudos to all the community-spirited organizations and individual volunteers who contribute to a quality of life we believe is unparalleled in the Northwest.
editor@interior-news.com
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