From a political point of view, 2011 has been an extremely interesting year not only in British Columbia and Canada, but also in our local communities.
In February, former B.C. Liberal MLA and radio show host Christy Clark grabbed the brass ring by winning her party's leadership race and became the premier select.
Surprising many political pundits, she knocked several longtime, hardworking MLAs who were also looking to replace Gordon Campbell who resigned due to low popularity ratings.
The well-oiled leadership campaign machine provided a good battle that captured a lot of face time for the leadership hopefuls and the party in the media, which, in turn, resulted in a huge spike in the popularity polls.
Adrian Dix won the NDP leadership in April, but it was a lame-duck affair. The NDP leadership hopefuls travelled around the province and shoulder-to-shoulder they put together a united front - praising each other for being good NDPers.
Their Kum ba yah campfire sessions were boring to say the least, and it attracted next to nothing in the way of big media coverage after the first couple of performances.
Then in May, Prime Minister Stephen Harper got everything he ever wanted - a majority government. Now, with control in both the House and the Senate, he can do whatever he wants to do and likely will.
August saw the vote to kill the Harmonized Sales Tax, and despite the millions of dollars thrown at the vote by pro-HST side, the hated tax is gone ... no wait it's still in place.
This is because the B.C. Liberals are still trying to find a way to get the old Provincial Sales Tax back in place, while working on a deal to pay Ottawa back the $1.6 billion dollars the feds gave them to shove the HST down our throats.
In November, there were the civic elections for those who weren't too busy doing something other than going to the polls.
It's a sad state of affairs, and the sooner we learn that change starts at home, the sooner we'll start getting involved in the municipal, school board and regional district meetings, whether it's through attendance or through our elected officials.
Governance is changing rapidly; it's time we ensure we give our input before we lose that opportunity.