May 7, 2016

by Bruce Mason • Christy Clark is in perpetual campaign mode, preferring photo-ops to real time in government. Too often, the filter between the endlessly chattering mouth and mind of the former talk-show radio host seems faulty. What comes out in public is, at best, inappropriate for a provincial leader. Like the time when she struggled with a microphone that...

May 7, 2016

a conversation with Jane Goodall by Joseph Roberts •Jane Goodall is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 55-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She is the...

May 7, 2016

by Dakota Hamilton • In the summer of 2014, my psoriasis flared dramatically. By the time I saw my dermatologist, 90% of my body was affected by a combination of plaque and guttate psoriasis. The diagnosis: severe. Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition that affects three to five out of every 100 people in North America and Europe. It’s a...

May 7, 2016

There’s something happening here by Ian Stewart • In 1966 the band Buffalo Springfield wrote a great protest song in response to some repressive laws of their day. “There’s something happening here What it is ain’t exactly clear There’s a man with a gun over there Telling me I got to beware” Paranoia strikes deep Into your life it will creep It...

May 7, 2016

They have no place in Canadian universities DRUG BUST by Alan Cassels • Wandering the halls of a college or university campus can be enlightening in seeing how the pharmaceutical marketing machine is insinuating itself into the lives of young people. Last month, while giving a public lecture at the University of Victoria, I spotted a glossy poster entitled,...

May 7, 2016

by Sallie Tisdale • Daily, we leave jobs, friends, lovers… but the child always comes along The first section of this essay is one of the first essays I wrote, at the age of 22. I added to it – and subtracted – over many years, and finally found a way to put the pieces of my son’s life into an order that made sense to me. Into an image that made sense...

May 7, 2016

ReadIt! by Bruce Mason • Unlike many issues related to modern life, in terms of our food, the future is fundamentally in our hands. Deciding to put our money where our mouths are constitutes an important factor in personal and planetary survival. And more and more people are aware of an incessant, essential wake-up call. One of most important voices emerging...

May 7, 2016

NEWS BITES Help outlaw cosmetic animal testing and trade • At the beginning of the year, the #BeCrueltyFree Canada team introduced the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act. Help this bill become law and sign the petition at www.hsi.org Select Canada as your country and then type Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act Petition in the search bar. This bill would make it illegal to...

May 7, 2016

State your views by May 31 • At the end of April, the Trudeau Government launched public consultations on its National Climate Strategy, marking a milestone for Canada. Now, we have to make a choice. On one side, fossil fuel lobbyists supported by Premiers Clark, Nutley and Wall are pushing the Trudeau government to expand Canada’s tar sands and fracking...

May 7, 2016

Dr. Thierry Vrain Challenges Science 2.0 • Dr. Thierry Vrain continues to speak about the dangers of GMOs. He was scheduled to give a lecture at the Museum of Science in Houston in April, but it was cancelled because of a last-minute storm of emails and a prominent blog by professor Kevin Folta of the University of Florida. The developing saga was posted on...

May 7, 2016

INDEPENDENT MEDIA by David Christopher • Rural Canadians should not suffer from slow service, sky-high prices and restrictive data caps. “It’s too expensive.” “It’s too slow.” “I can’t get a reliable connection.” All common responses from Canadians when asked what they think about their Internet service. At OpenMedia, not a day goes by...

May 7, 2016

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young • When men and women are able to respect and accept their differences, then love has a chance to blossom. – Nikhil Saluja There is a subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – kind of discrimination we do not hear too much about. It is the way many women talk about men. It is as if women are far superior to men, who...

May 7, 2016

by Mac McLaughlin • Aries | Taurus | Gemini | Cancer | Leo | Virgo | Libra Scorpio | Sagitarius | Capricorn | Aquarius | Pisces The new Moon takes place on May 6, in the middle of Taurus. Spring has sprung and everything is beautiful in its own way. The grass is green and the birds and the bees are doing their thing – and so are we. Just as all of nature is...