The tennis versus the debate
It’s all Justin Trudeau’s fault. If he hadn’t precipitated the federal election, there wouldn’t have been a leaders’ debate last Thursday night. And that would have avoided a viewing conflict between the debate and the remarkable win of Layleh Fernandez to advance to the U.S. Open women’s singles final. Msl. Fernandez took the scalps of […]
Forever 9/11
Before 9/11, people used to ask, “Where were you when the lights went out in 1965?” That question would open the door for the outpouring of oodles of stories. Those stories were about being on a bus or stuck in traffic or waiting in a line or being at work or cooking a meal or […]
Labouring the day
Labour Day Weekend! When I was an employee, Labour Day Weekend hailed the end of the summer and if I played my cards right I could line up a five day weekend. But, by the time this hits the Times’ boxes, Labour Day 2021 will be in the history books. At our house, Labour Day […]
It’s a golden opportunity
Six hundred and eighty eight acres of land lying on the Picton heights. An operating airport with three runways taking up some 398 of those acres. A business park of 101 acres, with 320,000 square feet of commercial space, fully leased, with a waiting list. A heritage air base with its World War II buildings […]
A basic income for everyone?
The patched-together income security programs put in place to deal with the COVID-19 crisis have left many people wondering whether we came close to offering Canadians a guaranteed minimum income. Maybe this is the right time for us to examine that concept more thoroughly. A new 2020 level book by Winnipeg economist Evelyn l. Forget […]
Lessons learned
On Thursday, last week, I sat with LOML having an early morning coffee and was, suddenly, overwhelmed with nausea, disorientation and dizziness. WTH was happening to me. I said I wasn’t feeling well and, by the look on LOML’s face, I knew I didn’t look well. My mind immediately went to my stubborn, old friend, […]
The Eureka Moment
looked into his bowl of Cheerios and observed an earwig floating in it, he immediately thought he had been caught in one of those “Hey waiter, what’s this fly doing in my soup?” jokes. So he spent a few moments trying to drum up a droll riposte. ( “Sir, he couldn’t find a parking space […]
Hiding in plain sight
There was, most definitely, a time when I said women who live in Canada and choose to wear a hijab or burka (or similar) should be allowed to make those decisions on their own. I was naive to assume all women had the luxury of making those choices, on their own. I was also the […]
Masks and flip flops
August is half-past. My baby sister is, today (Sunday), on the shady side of sixty. She told me she celebrated her birthday with a breakfast of coffee, one piece of toast and leftover salad. I’m a “cake for breakfast” kind of celebrator of birthdays. That there’s the difference between her and I. I’ve never been […]
You Don’t Have to Shovel Sunshine
If summer, for me, could be summed-up into a sentence, or thirty, it would have to be something about having all of our children, their partners and their children here for a weekend. After a whole year, almost to the week, we finally have a weekend of kids, and their kids, visiting. All of the […]