This past week was our summer vacation. Marnie and I had a “staycation” at our cottage on Rainy Lake. My eldest son, Brendan, arrived from Calgary on the Friday prior to Labour Day and joined us at the cottage with his cousin and new bride and aunt and uncle. Jeff […]
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
What has happened to Stephen Harper’s commitment to build seven Arctic icebreakers back in 2007? Why, in 2015, are we still waiting for just one Polar-class icebreaker to be ready for work in 2021? The whole plan keeps being deferred as the need for more study in Ottawa continues to […]
We have grown older. Our children have married beautiful women who do not appreciate the rustic cabin life, and now we are creating an indoor washroom at the cottage. It probably has been long-imagined and began when my father purchased a Sun-Mar composting toilet in the early 1990s which he […]
The saying goes something like this: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What we are learning, however, is that what is written on the Internet has an infinite life span. It always can appear to be current. Whether it is texting, tweeting, or in an e-mail, the record lasts […]
How difficult is it to do business across Canada? If you are a corporation doing business across the country, you are faced with a variety of barriers with regards to provincial taxes, different provincial regulations regarding employment standards, different regulations regarding employment qualifications, and even problems moving parts between provinces […]
It is either the 115th or the 116th annual Rainy River Valley Agriculture Society fair. It is unclear if the fair began in 1900 or 1901. The fair continues to be a tradition in the Rainy River District. Back then, Emo boomed at fair time as it does today. When […]
The federal election campaign for the Oct. 19 vote officially is underway. Polls show the three major parties are in a neck-and-neck race, with 60 percent of eligible voter undecided and wavering between all three. The electorate is volatile. Historic “safe” seats for the political parties may be up for […]
It was a hot weekend—and the heat is continuing this week. Awakened by the roar of bass boats heading for their fishing haunts, I was enjoying the cooling small breeze that drifted through the windows of our cabin. Rainy Lake and Turtle Island have been our family’s source for renewal […]
It is “Bass Week” in Fort Frances. Driving past the Bayview Motel on Sunday evening, the trucks and SUVs were lined up with their boats tucked neatly in behind. The extension cords were running from the plug-ins on the wall to battery chargers on every boat to restore the drained […]
When fishing, my friend, Phil Bangert, often reminds those in the boat with him that if you try fishing, it could catch on. He even goes so far as to tell you it could become habit forming to the point of being addictive. Phil introduced me to bass fishing and […]
I watched as two skiffs, full of adults and children, pulled into the docks Sunday afternoon at the marina and as a family was set to depart. The family preparing to leave meticulously strapped their children into life jackets. Life jackets also adorned the children arriving by boat. My wife […]
Do you know someone who, in the past year, has chosen not to buy a prescription drug ordered by a doctor because they could not afford it? Would you choose to skip medication because you had a choice of putting food on the table or going hungry so you could […]
