Mikhail Gorbachev and Me
I woke up thinking it could be worse. I could be Mikhail Gorbachev. He flew a lot higher and crashed a lot harder. Compared to Mikhail, the losses in my life were small potatoes. All I lost were...
View ArticleCanada has money. Harper doesn’t. Why? (from Toronto Star)
In the Realm of Us I recently listened to a panel on “public sector perspectives on challenges to the community sector”, featuring representatives from all three levels of government. Each speaker...
View ArticleCaptain Tom Travis on Canada Day
Clive Doucet: Thanks very much for agreeing to this interview on Canada Day. Cptn Tom: No problem. C.D.: You were awarded a jar full of medals in Bosnia but you never mention them and they’re never...
View ArticleCaptain Tom Travis refuses to apologize
Clive Doucet: Thanks for agreeing to meet again. Tom Travis: You said I’d caused some trouble with my statements about Canada Day. C.D.: We did get a lot of chatter/clatter. Some people thought you...
View ArticleCaptain Tom not happy with journalists
Clive Doucet: Your comments about journalists weren’t appreciated by some readers. Capt. Tom Travis: “Because the truth hurts? They’re gutless. Take Lac Megantic – the most recent tragedy to come...
View ArticleGrandmothers to Grandmothers Ride the Tide Campaign
Tomorrow morning, I ride out with the Grandmothers to Grandmothers ‘Ride the Tide’ bicycle tour to raise funds to assist grandparents in Africa who are taking care of their grandchildren because of...
View ArticleSome words in defense of Pauline Marois
I did not like the comments of Jason Kenny denigrating the Marois’s charter of values as Monty Pythoneque. They were spurious and destructive. Does he not have any memory? Does he not recall the...
View ArticleAir Quality, The Green Connections and Governance, Ottawa, 1997-2006
Carousel Talk at Club of Rome, Conference Ottawa, 20/09/2013 Before I begin a brief description of the air quality measures we took while I served on City Council, I should set the context for you. In...
View ArticleDear Readers,
As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted a blog essay recently. Part of the reason is that I have been busy working on several projects that require substantial amounts of time. A crime series about...
View ArticleGrandfathers
We are born old and young at the same time. We are born with great loves and great pains that grow like an acorn grows into a tree like god grows into the universe I don’t think it ever occurs to...
View ArticleSaving CBC sans accents (speech given in Montreal)
En 1949, par referendum, la terre neuve a decide de s’attacher au Canada. La vote etait 52 pour cent pour le Canada, 48 pour cent contre. Dans les annes 50, j’etais un gamin a St. Jean, Terre neuve....
View ArticleIn the Kitchen Across the Generations
*first published in the Glebe Report, Nov. 2014 My father had seven brothers and two sisters. He was one of the youngest and when he was born my grandmother said to my grandfather, “this one doesn’t...
View ArticleSeagull Route or Carling Ave? first published, Ottawa Citizen, Nov. 29th, 2014
Dear Sir, The issue concerning the Western LRT extension is not elected versus un-elected officials. Sometimes, there are disagreements between the two and this is healthy. I want public servants...
View ArticleHow the bum crack elected Donald Trump
In the new Orwellian world of fake news, trolls, bots and cracker barrel statements dressed up as political news it’s become impossible to decipher who stands for what. Double think is standard fare....
View ArticleDemocracy presumes love
In the pictureless worlds that we can’t see millions of years beyond our own are there societies that endure built on chains? Perhaps, but it is hard to imagine here on this little planet. Our...
View ArticleThere’s a Better Choice
When thousands of women and men were walking in Ottawa to voice their dissent with the election of the Donald, I was attending a tiny protest at the Experimental Farm. The purpose of which was...
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