On our way to visit our granddaughters in Calgary we cross the Prairies in almost a day. We notice the road signs announcing places like Whitewood, Grenfell, Gull Lake, Kindersley, Wynard Saskatchewan. We don’t stop, but whether visiting relatives in Saskatoon, we ended up at the Biggar Hospital with my […]
Jim Cumming – From the Publisher Emeritus’ Pen
Jim is the former publisher of the Fort Frances Times Ltd. He writes a weekly column and can be contacted at jcumming@fortfrances.com
Canada is grappling with a housing crisis and both senior levels of government are looking for targets to blame and trying to produce instant solutions. On Monday Immigration Minister Mark Miller announced a decision to reduce the number of foreign student work visas for the students attending colleges and universities […]
We seldom wonder about electrical power in our homes. We walk into a darkened room and reach for a light switch and the lights go on. We put toast into a toaster in the morning and lower the bread and the heat turns on. But in this cold weather, Canadians […]
We have all heard the term “NIMBY” – Not In My Back Yard. It is a growing problem in Ontario for electrical generation. When the Ford government came into power in 2018, it gave municipalities across the province the ability to veto electrical generation projects, when the government rescinded the […]
The Christmas tree is down. The Christmas ornaments around the house have been safely stored until next November. I could pick up all the outdoor lights but will leave them through the historic Ukrainian Christmas. 2023 has come to an end and we have welcome in 2024. As I look […]
Christmas can’t come fast enough for my granddaughters. But then again travelling to Calgary to enjoy Christmas with our granddaughters can’t come fast enough for us. Just as four-year old Delsie is counting down the days until that gentle old elf comes sliding down their chimney, Marnie and I are […]
I wake up in darkness. For the third consecutive day the sky is clouded over and in late afternoon, we all will return to darkness. December leading to the winter solstice is a dismal time of year. After the invasion by Hamas and the slaughter of 1400 Jewish children, women […]
I will admit right off the bat that I am a diabetic. I will also admit that I began controlling my diabetes by watching and controlling what I ate. However, as time went by, I became dependent on oral medicine and then was transferred to insulin and trying to control […]
We are into the Christmas season of giving and being thankful for the blessings of our communities. Nothing provides a clearer understanding of the benefits of volunteerism than the activities that will take place in Fort Frances and Emo this weekend. Now closing in on thirty years, Emo Holly Daze […]
If you live in a large city like Toronto or Calgary and you are running low on toilet paper, diapers for your newborn or need a case of bottled water you can log onto Amazon and those items will be delivered before the end of the day and you don’t […]
I recently completed the judging of the Manitoba Community Newspaper competition for the best overall community newspaper in the province. The best part of judging the competition was that old friends who are now publishers in the province continued to have the same feel for community journalism that I do. […]
Politics have shone through the Liberal carbon tax plan. Originally the Trudeau tax was to be applied to all carbon fuels in Canada. It had been implemented to meet Canada’s carbon reduction targets. However, inflation, and wars have driven up the cost of heating fuels across Canada. Yet now comes […]







