Editorials, Letters & Political Commentary

I’m not one to watch a lot of television and I really don’t have many celebrities that I follow or admire.  But there is one popular fellow, and a Canadian at that, who I do like.  And it is specifically because of what he says and does.  He’s not an actor or sports hero but rather just a common guy ...

Frank magazine employed an effective and evocative word when reporting on dubious political statements back in its heyday:  nose stretchers.   What’s a nose stretcher?  Think of Pinocchio when he told tall tales.  Think of actor Leslie Nielsen in the movie, Airplane, whose proboscis grew each time he uttered soothing words to calm the frightened passengers without regard for the ...

Hooray for Nova Scotia who now presumes that adults are willing to donate their organs when they die. Organ donation is in most jurisdictions, an opt-in system. That means that you must state that when you die, you want your organs to be donated. Nova Scotia is now implementing a system that means if you do not want to donate ...

Much angst has been generated over the last decade about the future of the former Algoma Central Railway (ACR), its abandoned Soo-Hearst passenger train and its suspended Agawa Canyon Tour Train.  But have no fear!  The Soo political brigade had good news in the wake of the December 17th announcement by CN that the ACR is up for sale or ...

A Toronto Star headline above a December 23, 2020 column on how to deal with the pandemic-driven crisis in public transportation deserves an award:  “Keep the Christmas cash coming, Ford and Trudeau.”   That statement and the column unintentionally summed up what has been wrong with transportation in Ontario for decades.  It’s the unlimited flow of public cash for projects ...

Pendant les vacances de Noël, comme la plupart des gens, mon esprit était plein de souvenirs du passé, de l’année dernière et du « bon vieux temps ». J’avoue que j’ai été soulagé d’avoir une chance de m’asseoir et de me vider l’esprit à un certain degré de toutes les épreuves et tribulations que nous traversons tous ces derniers temps. ...

Over the Christmas Holidays, like most people, my mind was full of memories of days gone by, yesteryear and the “good ol’ days.”  I admit that I was relieved to have a chance to sit back and actually clear my mind to some degree of all of the trials and tribulations we all are experiencing in these times.  I thought ...

The recent performance by VIA Rail’s Canadian between Vancouver and Winnipeg – but not between Toronto and Winnipeg via Northern Ontario – on its first trip in nine months is the death rattle of Canada’s passenger trains.  It needn’t be.   Working on my book on this long and sad Canadian saga, I frequently look south at Amtrak.  There, a ...

A sure sign Canada’s rail passenger service is near death slunk into Winnipeg on Monday, December 14 – 15 hours late.  For the first time since March 12, VIA Rail’s Canadian arrived from Vancouver.   It was really only a half-Canadian.  It short-turned and went back west the next evening rather than continuing to Toronto.  The Canadian will do this ...

The provincial government unveiled a fancy new proposal titled Connecting the North: A draft transportation plan for Northern Ontario. The MTO has indicated they are exploring options for passenger rail services between Toronto, North Bay, Timmins and Cochrane.   However, the proposal fails to answer one obvious question: When exactly is our train supposed to return?   Last month, the ...

La saison de golf est officiellement terminée. Avez-vous déjà remarqué que les vrais golfeurs, en tant que groupe, ont plus de mal à gérer la saison froide que pratiquement tout autre sport sur terre? C’est vrai. Un de mes amis dit qu’une fois que ses enfants seront partis de la maison et qu’il aura un nid vide, il a des ...

Golf season is officially over.  Have you ever noticed that for real golfers, as a breed, have a harder time dealing with the offseason than pretty much any other sport on earth?  It’s true.  One of my friends says that once his kids are out of the house and he has an empty nest, he has detailed plans on how ...

The other day I was having a zoom-coffee with an old friend of mine, catching up on what’s been happening in our lives.  At one point we were talking about pressure tactics that some fly-by-night companies and scammers use to hook people into purchasing a product or service on the spot.  Many of us have heard lines, for example, perhaps ...

L’autre jour, je prenais un café-zoom avec un vieil ami afin de se rattraper de ce qui se passe dans nos vies. À un moment donné, nous parlions des tactiques de pression que certaines entreprises et certains fraudeurs utilisent pour inciter les gens à acheter un produit ou un service sur place. Beaucoup d’entre nous ont entendu des répliques, par ...

I remember a favourite primary school teacher who, when I think back, really knew how to get her students to quickly switch gears and engage their minds on a particular focus.  It was nothing terribly special really, but she would tell us to reach into out desks, pull out our thinking caps and be sure to tie them on securely ...