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Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons and the threat that poses to Israel, has started to ramp up the sabre-rattling war-mongering rhetoric. While the United States is appealing for dialogue and less drastic actions such as trade sanctions, Israel appears to be leaning toward a military pre-emptive strike. Iran has threatend it will initiate some sort of action against both Israel and the U.S., the latter likely from the possibilty that it already has terrorist moles rooted in the United... Read Full Story

If you look closely at the turtles in the above photo, you may notice that their shells are covered in some type of slime. Even the surrounding water appears unsanitary and not compatible with the expected standard for the survival of marine life. Sadly, this is not an image from a tailings pond in Alberta but rather a lake situated in a Florida county park. With some environmentalists focusing so much of their energies on constantly ringing the alarm bells about the damage associated with... Read Full Story

Unlike publically funded hospitals in Canada, private hospitals in the United States compete with each other for patient business. As a way of attracting patients, some medical centers use electronic billboards, as the one shown in the photo below, which constantly update the wait times, in minutes, not hours. There are vastly different health care systems in Canada and the United States. Even with expensive insurance plans, U.S. citizens can be faced with high deductibles and are responsible... Read Full Story

The Fraser Institute just released a report on the amount of money spent annually by both the federal and provincial governments on bilingualism in Canada. The federal government spends $1.5B of the total $2.4B with the remainder spent by the provinces. With slightly more than 600,000 anglophones in Quebec, that province spends $50M annually or about $82 per anglophone. Ontario’s annual bilingualism expenditures of $623M for a francophone population of about 583,000 results in a figure of... Read Full Story

Problems in Canada’s native communities are once again garnering media attention. Last month it was the dilapidated housing conditions in Attawapiskat. This month it is about drug addictions in Marten Falls. There are probably no other communities in Canada that experience the problems, particularly those related to drug addictions and other forms of substance abuse, that confront some of our native reserves. The most recent reports about OxyContin addictions, while deeply disturbing, serve... Read Full Story

As the year comes to an end, I feel the need to vent with the hope that the venting will offer others, certain parents that will be identified below, with the encouragement to meet all of their parenting responsibilities. Many of you can probably relate to the antics, particularly the excessively loud and irritating whining, of unruly children in public spaces. While prolonged whining can be an unnecessary throbbing to endure, it is more infuriating when the parent chooses to ignore the... Read Full Story

This is the time of year when television networks and others look back on events, good and bad, that occurred over the past 12 months. From the deaths of celebrities to the demise of tyrants to the loss of life and property in disasters and war, when you see all of what happened in one year condensed into a presentation of a few minutes it creates an opportunity for personal reflection. While our own well-being requires that we do not allow ourselves to dwell too long on the discouraging... Read Full Story

Pope Benedict XVI, in his annual holiday message, condemned the increasing commercialization of Christmas encouraging the faithful to look beyond “ superficial glitter ”. When it comes to “ superficial glitter ” the Catholic Church is not in any position to criticize others. It is also kind of hypocritical for the Pope to deliver that type of message when he is wearing, and is surrounded by, a level of opulence that has no relationship to the teachings of the church. Considering the... Read Full Story

Although Canada’s native communities have received billions of dollars to address housing and other basic needs, the requirement for funds remains ongoing. Some people are of the view that there has been an element of financial mismanagement creating conditions for misappropriation. When there are recurring questions concerning the accounting practices associated with funds directed toward Canada’s native communities, and in an attempt to satisfy the critics, one would expect Attawapiskat... Read Full Story

If you have been following events in the middle-east, particularly in Libya, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and the broader movement to replace dictators with democratic governments, you are undoubtedly aware of the many people that have lost their lives both in pursuit of freedom as well as defending the status quo. What appears to be unfolding however is the possibility for an outcome to still be one of an autocratic form of government, albeit of a theocratic nature. The dictators were mostly secular... Read Full Story