8 Ways to Heal Your Kid's Sunburn Quickly
I am fair skinned, very fair, and our kids inherited the same pasty-white, freckly skin and golden hair. Cute, yes, but not ideal sun protection. Our kids burn easily and quickly, so we are very...
View ArticleCanada Needs To Better Protect the Homeless During Heatwaves
Just off a bustling urban street, in the heart of a middle class Canadian community, I came upon an elderly man wilting in the low-lying shrubs, mere feet from heavy traffic and visibility. He appeared...
View ArticleCanadians Need More Love and Respect For Water
By Craig and Marc Kielburger Leaping from a dock under a brilliant July sun into the icy water of a Canadian lake brought a tide of memories. A few weeks ago, Craig was visiting friends at their...
View ArticleFood Fight! Alternative Proteins
At the recent Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting in Chicago, "alternative" proteins were a hot topic. From laboratory-produced ground beef to the eco-benefits of insects as a protein...
View ArticleOne Year Later: Lessons From Robin Williams' Suicide
Last year, our collective hearts took a big hit. We lost Robin Williams, our man of 1,000 voices, a cavalcade of characters, a wired Gumby body with an electric brain, and one very deep -- and wildly...
View ArticleManchester: Sport, Spice and Specialty Shops
Note: Travel and accommodation was provided by Visit Britain "It's really hard to get lost in Manchester," our walking tour guide Jean advised us as we walked this most walkable city. "And you can...
View ArticleOntario's Plan For Highway Lanes For The Rich Sends A Terrible Message
Are you like me? Did you suspect right off the bat that Ontario's "temporary" HOV lanes for the Pan Am Games would prove not to be temporary at all? Those of us who did have been vindicated by Ontario...
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This Chardonnay Festival Has Become a Premier Wine Event in Niagara
The 5th Annual Cool Climate Chardonnay Festival ( or #i4c15 ) in Niagara is now in the archives. The weekend wrapped up with the Moveable Feast Brunch at Ravine Vineyard this past Sunday July 19th...
View ArticleThe Beauty in Missing
I love the subtlety and ambiguity of words, and that no doubt had a lot to do with why I taught English for 23 years, and why I am now pursuing a career as a writer. I was reading an article in today's...
View ArticleWhat Ontario's Teachers Really Want
It is becoming very difficult for teachers across North America to convince the public of the need to fight for education, to support the deeply felt emotions and beliefs directed toward ideals and...
View ArticleGood Communication Can Prevent a Breakup
A lot of relationships end when they really could continue. I think that a major problem is the lack of communication. We make three fundamental mistakes around communication that can really jeopardize...
View ArticleCBC Needs to Look Inside and Look Ahead to Fix This Mess
Two new items about CBC prompt these comments on the struggles inside my former employer. The first is John Doyle's excellent column in the Globe and Mail "A New and Better CBC Must Start From Within"...
View ArticleCanada Takes Long to Approve New Drugs - and That's Good
The newest report from Canada's brand name drug makers on access to new drugs has one key message: compared to other countries, Canada goes slow and low. New drugs are slower to be covered by our...
View ArticleESPN Misplaces the Clarity Jug
During this weekend's golf at St. Andrews, the venerable Sean McDonough let slip the equivalent of an expletive on ESPN's coverage. "... the British Open -- the Open, pardon me ..." The tournament was...
View ArticleI'm Proud Of The Vancouver Pride Society For Demanding Something More...
When the Vancouver Pride Society introduced its trans equality pledge in May, I had mixed feelings. I wondered if requiring people to support an idea in order to participate in our community's parade...
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This Texas Wine Region Has Been Dubbed the "New Napa"
Fredericksburg, a tiny town of 12,000 in Texas Hill Country, is the epicenter of what is slowly becoming known as the New Napa in Texas, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. The reason this region is...
View ArticleWhy NGOs Are Relieved the UN Called Canada out on the Income Tax Act
Canada has received a rebuke from a United Nations treaty monitoring body for its lack of respect for human rights. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) released a lengthy list of issues it cited as...
View ArticleNewlyweds Need to Talk About Finances Beyond the Wedding
Struggling to come up with a wedding gift idea? Forget the toasters -- Mr. and Mrs. Newlywed would probably get more use out of a bit of financial advice. Canadians are into the height of wedding...
View ArticleIn India, We Are the Oppressors and the Oppressed
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, professor of comparative literature, asked a famous question thirty years ago, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" From the perspective of colonialism, I think he recently did. At...
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Dying and Vulnerable Canadians Deserve Better
Last week the government announced the membership of the panel that will conduct the public consultation on Physician Assisted Dying. One of the questions they will have to answer are the very real...
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