Premier Doug Ford fired aal members of the Ontario COVID Science Advisory Table in the summer of 2021. Ford does not want expert advice to get in the way of his blatantly political decision making and short-term thinking.
Jackie Gruending: a memorial tribute
We lost our dear brother Jackie Gruending to the ravages of multiple sclerosis in 2021 at age 57. This memorial booklet combines his personal history along with that of our family and community, with lots of photos.
Covid-19 was not from a lab
Some believe that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab. Others insist it was an American lab. But a group of eighteen health scientists says that COVID-19 began in a market in the Chinese city of Huanan, where the virus spread from live animals to humans.
Medicare at 60: RCMP spied on founders
Medicare was born amid controversy in Saskatchewan in 1962, when most of the province's doctors went on strike rather than cooperate with a new government plan. Now, I have discovered that the RCMP believed it was all a communist plot and so they spied upon Medicare's proponents. Talking about being on the wrong side of history.
Covid and remote learning, a grandparent’s diary
I sat beside my six-year-old grandson as he endured online classes in grade one during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2021. It was not a pleasant experience for him. Nor was it a picnic for me, hovering just off screen. But I was pleased to accompany him.
Best Books 2021
This is a list of my favourite books from 2021, broken down by month.
Climate change, hope and discipline
Ottawa's Rob Samulack attended the COP 26 UN Climate conference held in Glasgow in late 2021 as an official observer with the Christian Climate Observers Program. The experience changed him.
NDP’s sixtieth anniversary, 2021
In 2021, the New Democratic Party celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its founding. This is my retrospective view of Canada's social democratic party.
David Frum defends John A Macdonald
Canadian expatriate David Frum defends John A Macdonald against his detractors. I analyze Frum's case.
Settler Solidarity on Bill C-15
Former Truth and Reconciliation commissioners addressed a webinar attended by 1,000 settler allies on Bill C-15 and residential schools. I was a participant.