The maple leaf and poutine
Four years ago, a fire levelled a cheese co-op in Eastern Ontario, which launched a panic throughout the foodery world. The St-Albert Cheese Co-op, in the small village of St Albert, Ontario near the Quebec border, was not only one of the oldest cheese co-ops in the country, starting in 1898, it had grown to […]
The right kind of stuff
Some would claim this column has been obsessed with Royalty over the past few weeks, and I guess they might have a point. So let’s move on to the sub-royal department and look at the appointment of a new Governor General. Prime Minister Trudeau visited the Queen at her official Scottish residence last week, amid […]
Investments
It’s easy for municipal politicians to look upon the corporations they’ve been elected to manage as businesses for which they are sitting on an executive board. Municipalities have assets; infrastructure, physical properties and a brand. They have income in the form of taxes and fees. They have expenses. They have stakeholders; residents and businesses they […]
Where’s the beach?
Yep, it’s still summer. I’m hoping that summer lasts well into November, just to make up for the lack of spring weather. In the meantime, it’s here. Tourist season has arrived, big time. If there were to be a Top Ten Tourist Questions list, I’d have to say the number one question would be a […]
Inappropriate
The conversation is everywhere and yes, I’m late to the party, mainly because I have hesitated to step into a conversation that is so full of protectionism and defensiveness and guilt with a long and complicated history of colonialism and power imbalance. Late, because it’s important that a conversation happen, and because I want to […]
Holy smoak!
The All-Star Break is just around the corner for Major League Baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays have had a dismal June, and so far July has been even worse. Players have an opportunity to heal some wounds, relieve aching muscles, and rethink their game during the break. One of the Jays will not have much […]
Peak to peek to pique
My mother was one for hero worship. There may have been precious few heroes to choose from in 1950s northern England, but she had hers. There was SIr Roger Bannister, the smasher of the four-minute mile barrier; there was Sir Peter Ustinov, the Russian-born racounteur and actor (later to be eclipsed in her affections by […]
150
Well, now that Canada Day has passed, I’ll confess I was having difficulty with the whole “Rah, rah, Canada is 150 years old” thing. For the first time, in all of the years I can recollect, I wasn’t on board with the Canada Day celebrations. I would have been the first kid to beg my […]
Tick talk
Summer is in full swing. The grass is thick and lush, the woods are full of songbirds, the beaches— well, the beaches around here have lost some of their lustre and a good amount of space thanks to a particularly wet spring, but that’s not to say they aren’t worth a visit. Starting next week, […]
Night Czar fever
Is it time for Wellington to appoint a night czar? That’s the question that ran through my head as another pub, the Midtown Brewery. opens up in once oh-so-dry Wellington. It joins Stache on Main, The Courage, Soup Opera, The Drake, The Duke of Wellington, the Legion, Pomodoro and East & Main as licensed establishments. […]