Robbie Robertson – cool Canadian
Teens in South West Ontario, in the 1950s thought Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins was the coolest rocker in Canada. His backup band, the Hawks, once included the members who would go on to back up Bob Dylan, who was as cool globally as Ronnie was in Canada. Made Canadian kids proud. Going on their own as […]
Closure a complex emotion
Closure means different things to different people. Often it means friends, family and associates get to perform an act of respect important to them. Sometimes it means an answer has been found to a disappearance or the solving of a crime. Often it signifies relief that a loved one’s suffering is over or that an […]
Immigration essential to progress
As a kid, just after WW II and the Korean Conflict, as it was called, I saw Toronto dragged kicking and screaming into being one of the greatest cities of the world. Wave after wave of immigrants shocked and angered the waspish southwestern Ontario populace. First came people from countries occupied by the Axis during […]
P3 Miramichi nursing home
My wife and I attended the Thursday, September 17, meeting regarding the proposed public private partnership nursing home for Miramichi. I wanted to hear the case for both sides of the proposed shift from two public ownership homes to a privately owned, managed and operated home. I think it is fair to say that most […]
Sobey brothers retirement milestone
David and Donald Sobey, the brothers who have led the Sobey’s supermarket chain and Empire, the investment and holding company to national prominence, have both announced their retirements as they reach 80 years of age. I moved to Pictou County, Nova Scotia, from Montreal in 1966. By chance I wound up living a few doors […]
Help First Nations grow up
More and more information about the attempted genocide of First Nations by the residential school system is coming to light even if most people aren’t paying attention. In retrospect, it seems insane that society believed it had a right to and could do good by ripping children from their families and punishing the Indian out […]