A few weeks back, my staff and I uncovered a huge amount of what is known as “lapsed” spending—money approved in the federal budget but never spent—at Veterans’ Affairs Canada. Sadly, this past week we also found the same thing is happening at FedNor—and at the worst possible time. Aside […]
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Since 2005, I’ve spent the first weekend in December down in Minnesota at the annual St. Paul Ice Fishing Show. It is a big ice-fishing event held at the Xcel Energy Center, the same place the Minnesota Wild play, in a large event centre next to the arena. It’s a […]
I have my father’s camera—the one he took with him to India when he was stationed there during the Second World War. I’m not sure where and when he bought the camera, but I’m guessing he had it tucked into his kit when he ferried a Liberator from Gander, Nfld. […]
I like the lights of the Christmas season and especially enjoy the variety of styles that people use to decorate their yards. I hope we have enough snow to cover the leaves and brown grass, but not too much to bury the lights in the yard. Before the new LED […]
“Read many books.” My history teacher in high school said those three words every time we left his class. It’s been 38 years since I last walked past that teacher flashing his white-toothed smile and chanting his literary mantra to the group filing out of his classroom. But “Read many […]
A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get to use my deer tag on a small eight-point buck not too far from my house. The beauty of living out-of-town like we do is that we pretty much can step out the door of our house and start […]
Most years I’m finished at the Emo Agricultural Research Station by Dec. 1, but that isn’t the case this year as I still have to finish my forage data. I think the fact that the building is not overly warm will make me work harder to complete it! I debated […]
This past week, Auditor General Michael Ferguson released his fall report and found that the Harper Conservatives are failing a number of Canadians, including veterans and people who are living in remote and northern Canada. Even worse was the Conservative government’s response. In his study of certain programs delivered to […]
A lot of things have changed in the more than 20 years since I have been writing this column, but none has been more earth-shattering for me than the demise of paper. Early on, I had to print out multiple copies of each column (on paper) and stuff envelopes, including […]
Charles Schulz once penned, “Life is like a 10-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use.” I recently came across this quote in my stash of philosophies and lo and behold, it got inside my head and begged me to answer the question: “Which gears in my life […]
How much are economic barriers between provinces affecting us. If you want to buy a French wine at the LCBO here, there is little problem beyond ordering it in. However, try to get a Merlot out of British Columbia and the task becomes impossible. Ontario would much rather import wines […]
Buckle up! I have some ranting to do. I’d apologize before I begin but what would be the point. Sometimes you just have to throw it out there; get it off your chest. When I sat down to the read the Halifax paper last week. . . . Wait, let’s […]
