Parenting requires tilting your head a bit

April 19, 2017 · 0 Comments

“Be happy. Stop being who you are!” These words came not from a parent or counsellor. These were uttered by my 11-year-old daughter, who tried to get me out of a funk recently. She’s quite astute, even though she’s still struggling with pre-teen emotions and doesn’t really have a handle on grown-up issues.

Mayor urges residents to take pride in their community

Take pride in your community. This is the message I’m hearing – and delivering – at our recent annual Meet the Mayor and Ward Councillor events.

Salaries the biggest cost of running the country

Governments don’t tend to be well oiled corporations. They tend to operate in the red most of the time. Governments, at all levels, are responsible to us, the taxpayers. We elect them and trust them with looking after the public good. Citizens can be quite demanding at times. We ask for high quality roads and transit options; emergency services; health care and police protection. We expect that our garbage gets picked up at the end of our driveway or laneway on time.

Big Brother watching our every move!

Gone are the dark days of the Cold War. The Orwellian future of bleak, government-controlled surveillance never materialized. Or so we thought.

Prejudice feeds on fear and ignorance

Fear and ignorance are two of the most volatile components of our species’ shortcomings. They are largely responsible for some of humankind’s violent history

We can, and do, help change the world

It is possible to change the world. In fact, it’s being done, little by little, in every corner of the globe. I just returned from Mission Team 2017’s humanitarian adventure in La Higuera in the Dominican Republic. This work trip is an annual campaign led by St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in Bolton and Father Goetz in Mississauga.

Saying farewell to silly trends of 2016

Most of us work through our own ups and downs year after year. We make plans, and break plans. We set goals, and hopefully we achieve one or two. We try to keep our personal ships on an even keel.

The Corruption of Power

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” John Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902) Lord Acton’s full quote went on to say: “Great men are almost always bad men.”

How can we help curb child poverty?

My son and I are embarking on a mission in late January, in an effort to help the less fortunate. Many of those we will be helping are children. We live relative luxury in this country, even if we are challenged by the free market and accompanying economic pitfalls. We complain about the price at the pumps, hydro rates and credit card bills.

Death by a thousand cuts

“A culture is no better than its woods,” wrote W.H. Auden. The Ontario Greenbelt Alliance recently released a map to the Ontario government “highlighting the potential harmful impacts of more than 650 requests, by developers and municipalities to remove land from Ontario’s protected Greenbelt.”

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