Politics

A friend of mine is a retired school teacher. He once told me about a former principal that he worked under that would wish the staff and students a Happy New Year on the first day of school. This week, Andrea Horwath convened our summer caucus retreat in Thunder Bay where we meet to discuss issues and make plans as we ...

This week I was successful in arranging for some actual time to be in my constituency office to tend to a wide variety of matters that I am unable to attend to while on the road. As such, finding time to actually be in my constituency office is no small task. Sometimes I need my staff to actually block off ...

NFTP 190809 I would hazard a guess that, next to access to clean air, the need for water is the most important need people around the world have. It is of the most basic of all human needs – even above food. The average person, depending on their geographic, economic and other circumstances, requires between 20 to 50 litres of ...

Most anyone who knows me or reads this column can be certain that I truly appreciate the honour the people of Algoma-Manitoulin have shown in me by re-electing me as the MPP for this riding. As well I freely admit that this is without question the best job I’ve had in my lifetime. There are two main reasons for the ...

Ask any member of my office team what is the best part of their job and I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that they’ll say they love the feeling they get from helping people. The same can be said of other jobs, especially first responders and healthcare workers. There is nothing quite like that feeling you get when you are ...

A short while ago I allowed myself to be influenced by marketing and persuasion and purchased a kitchen appliance that guaranteed the best home cooked meals, requiring only a fraction of the time and effort to prepare, cook and clean up. I knew better than to believe everything they said, but I admit my taste buds and stomach juices got ...

As I write this column there are just over 100 days until Canada’s next federal election. In terms of experiencing such a countdown – been there – done that. All signs show this one, as with our own last provincial election, in the words of the late Danny Gallivan (former Hockey Night in Canada play by play commentator), this is ...

Recently I found myself in a local diner for lunch. I try hard to make sure that I avoid fast-food venues. Experience has shown me that while being a patron of such places from time to time is perfectly fine, when you travel as extensively as I do, such behaviour catches up to you quickly. Your overall health deteriorates and ...

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 ...

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 ...

A short while ago my office team was telling me about some improvements to a computer program we use to manage the huge volume of case work that comes through our office. The improvements were predominantly geared to efficiency, streamlining file management and advanced means of file saving and recall. I was very pleased to hear my team finds the ...

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 ...