It goes without saying that within every society and every culture exist elements that seem to tend to embrace what most understand is unfortunate, in some cases very dark, ideologies and behaviours. It is easy to come up with numerous examples of these. Words such as segregation, bigotry and sectarianism are obvious examples of this. Some of these have lead ...

NDP MPP Michael Mantha is calling out Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano for doing nothing to stop Doug Ford’s cuts to education, which are now poised to hurt students in Catholic schools in Sault Ste. Marie, after 24 teachers were declared redundant — essentially receiving a pink slip — in the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board. “As Doug Ford’s ...

Now that the Legislative Assembly has risen for the summer, MPPs can finally dust off from our battles in Queen’s Park and catch our breath. That’s not to say that we can sit back and lollygag until the House is recalled at the end of October, but at least we can spend more time back home with our constituents. As ...

In contemplating the end of this spring session, it occurs to me that today marks one year since our last provincial election and the Legislature recesses for the summer; assuming Doug Ford doesn’t repeat his sudden call for MPPs to sit well into the middle of summer. A year ago in this column readers were advised to, “Fasten your seatbelts. ...

En contemplant la fin de cette session de printemps, il me semble qu’aujourd’hui marque le premier anniversaire de notre dernière élection provinciale et des vacances parlementaires de l’été; en supposant que Doug Ford ne répète pas son appel soudain aux députés de revenir siéger au milieu de l’été. Il y a un an, dans cette chronique, il était conseillé aux ...

Ce jeudi, M. Michael Mantha, député provincial néo-démocrate, a déposé une motion demandant au gouvernement Ford de ne plus temporiser et de prendre des mesures immédiates contre la maladie de Lyme, dont les cas sont de plus en plus nombreux en Ontario.   « C’est en Ontario que l’on trouve le nombre le plus élevé de cas de maladie de Lyme de ...

NDP MPP Michael Mantha introduced a motion on Thursday calling on the Ford government to stop delaying and take immediate action against the growing cases of Lyme disease in Ontario. “Ontario has the highest number of cases of Lyme disease in the country, and the number is growing,” said Mantha, MPP for Algoma-Manitoulin. “People are worried about contracting Lyme disease.  And ...

Northerners tend to be very fond of the early days of spring. You know, the days just before the leaves come out. I say this because Northerners also know what comes along immediately after the opening of the leaves – Blackflies! So I decided to make the most of these fleeting blackfly-free–daysand get some work done around my camp. While doing ...

It seems to be an unfortunate sign of the times that almost all of the news people are exposed to is, to be quite frank, of an extremely negative nature. Some like to put the blame on media, but in my opinion, that’s simply too broad of a paintbrush stroke. Yes, media reports a steady stream of disconcerting news, but ...

Recently some of my Northern region colleagues and I were discussing concerns regarding Doug Ford’s deep cuts to public health. Later as I was driving down the road after the meeting, a particular former politician’s image came to my mind followed by the name – Walkerton. Even those too young to remember the horrific circumstances involving the contamination with the ...

If you were a kid who had to take your lunch to school with you, did you ever experience “lunch bag let down?” Most of us did from time to time. As a kid you would sit in class all morning and your mind would wander to thoughts of a favourite PB&J sandwich or some of Mom’s homemade cookies. Then, ...

All of us have heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child,” many times. Some attribute the origin to the Igbo and Yoruba tribes in Africa, while others say it was passed down through North American Indigenous teachings. No matter what the origin, few would argue with the statement. Those of us who have children can readily ...

You know those sci-fi movies and television programs in which the story revolves around a portal adjoining two worlds. Often the plot is based on the idea that whatever the main character does in one world has some sort of effect in the other world. Some days, when I plunk myself down in my residence in Toronto, I feel like ...

How many times has Canada been chosen as the best place to live or placed at least in the top ten best nations to live in the entire world? There have been many surveys based upon responses to a large variety of criteria. Admittedly I didn’t come up with a final answer in my research, but suffice to say we ...

Recently I was in the positon of needing to make arrangements for a special retrofit project back home. Knowing such a project would likely take some time to complete and given my work schedule, doing the work myself just wasn’t practical. Besides, I admit that I didn’t really know where to begin, so I needed to hire someone. As I ...