The inside of Fort Albany Chief Edward Metatawabin’s home. For the past months we’ve been fed a steady diet of dismal reports from Attawapiskat in the James Bay area. Combined with Theresa Spence’s fish broth diet and the Idle No More protests, this has been a particularly bad bad news period for Canada/First Nations relations.
I recently stumbled on this article callled “Bad Apple: Could the Era of Exploitation Outsourcing Be Near Its End?” in which the author argues that the moral implications of Apple’s use of Chinese labour to cut costs is catching up with them. Apple’s success, he argues, has to some extent been built on the backs
Last week when the Ontario Elementary teachers union called a wildcat strike, inconveniencing millions of Ontarions in the process, it was predictable what our weasle Premier, Dalton McGuinty would do. Rather than confront the union and penalize them for holding an illegal strike, the McGuinty government put the case before the Ontario Labour Relations Board
Piers Morgan of CNN has recently raised the hackles of the pro-gun folks in the U.S. by inviting a number of those folks to his show, and essentially setting them up for what seems like a blatant gun control pitch. As many commenters have pointed out, Morgan and CNN have been losing viewers and this
A few months ago I created a little video with the help of Judy and my grandkids, called “Cane Golf“. It was in late August, exactly three months after I had my stroke, and a little less than two months after I came home. It’s easy to lose perspective when you’re going through something like
I get shivers just thinking about Attawapiskat. Shivers as in cold and damp. The Indians of that community may have a long long history of living out there in the elements near James Bay, but I just can’t believe that makes it any more pleasant. This really is one of the big problems with communities
I haven’t bothered following NHL hockey for many years. I will occasionally watch a big game, like the final game of the playoffs, but not knowing the players makes it pretty uninteresting. What impresses me when I do watch is the speed and skill of the players. Having been involved in kids hockey, I know
The recent horrendous slaughter of children at Sandy Hook school in Connecticut has once again sparked serious debate about gun control – mostly in the U.S., but in other countries (including Canada) as well. A few days ago, when I went to the Christmas concert at the school where five of our seven grandchildren attend
I had this thought the other day: that being a stroke victim must be something like being in jail. You can see people moving around out there, doing (more or less) what they want, but that freedom just isn’t available to you. You think “I can do that”, but in fact you can’t. You just
Anyone who has had a stroke and has a realistic chance of recovering all or some of the faculties they’ve lost becomes something of an expert in various therapies. Of course the therapists I’ve known and worked with at agapetc.com are all sincere, dedicated and well-meaning to be sure – are pretty unanimous in saying
Last spring, May 26, 2012, my life was changed in just a few seconds. Early in the evening, after a fairly uneventul day, I had a stroke. It did not seem especially catrostrophic at the time. The symptoms, I am told, were fairly typical. A definite dizziness and disorientation – quite specific, related to an
The Playbook is critical to the development of the new Blackberry platform. Even if it sells poorly (as it has) RIM has to support it and develop it to provide a base for new products. It is very trendy these days to knock Research in Motion and its still ubiquitous Blackberry brand, but I think
A few times every week a police cruiser goes “cruising” at high speed through our little town, sirens howling. Some times there are serious accidents “up at the corner”, other times they are (apparently) just on important police business. The kind of importance that requires them to speed through the main intersection of a little
Canadians are a bit dumbfounded by the convoluted process involved in grappling with the current US debt ceiling crisis. Americans are being told “your government will run out of money if we don’t solve this problem” (raising the debt ceiling). So what results is brinkmanship and potential paralysis if the two (three?) sides can’t agree
Don’t you get tired of hearing about the “Liberal brand”? It comes up in editorials and TV commentaries all the time. We never hear about the “NDP brand” or the “Conservative brand” or the “Green brand” (unless you’re talking about a sticker you put on appliances.) Just the “Liberal brand”. Somebody in the media started
It was interesting watching the election coverage on the CBC last night. I think they did about 7 interviews with NDPers and maybe 3 with Conservatives. According to the coverage, the big story was the “orange crush” of the NDP. But once reality sets in time will demonstrate that there is not much substance to
Something has gone awry in the Conservative push for a majority over the last two weeks. That the NDP have made it a game is not news anymore. Why this is happening is another question. Blame the media, sort of The Canadian media have been a big part of this story. Everyone in Canada knows
Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE. It turns out my instincts were right back when I was in Grade 11 and trying out for my high school football team. I’m not sure what got into me that year, but I thought it was worth a shot. But after getting regularly tromped on in practice
Watching the leaders debate last night (the English version) I had the distinct impression that Harper “won” – at least in the sense that he presented the strongest case for why the Conservatives should continue running the party. The only other credible alternative is the Liberals, and Ignatieff had a difficult time IMHO saying just
