This is my last kick at the can before Christmas so may I take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Non-Denominational Festive Winter Occasion. Of course, that's tongue-in-cheek because it's Merry Christmas. There is a famous song of the season about this being the most wonderful time of the year and it is IF you hav...

I like looking at credible polls and surveys on subjects I find interesting, especially those done by the Canadian Angus Reid Institute (ARI), the national not for profit research organization that provides information on Canadian issues and trends. The ARI conducted an online survey of just over 4,000 Canadian adults...

The website cjwwradio.com has a feature called "Have Your Say" in which we get to cast our vote. A question that ended yesterday was, "Do you like the idea of a Saskatchewan Marshals Service"? When voting was done, 1/3 of respondents voted yes, 2/3 no. I am no expert on policing but I'm not sure ...

So the Prime Minister of Canada has dinner with the incoming President of the United States who during dinner jokes about Canada becoming the 51st U.S. State if it can't handle the punishing effects of a 25% tariff for failing to address trade and immigration issues. Ha Ha, very funny. Mr Trump goes on to say days ...

Another Friday the 13th has rolled around. Does anyone pay attention to this supposedly superstitious day anymore? Maybe Baby Boomers and those older. I believe everyone is at least slightly superstitious in one form or another. Superstitions can be religious, cultural or personal. One person's religion is anoth...

I watched this new documentary produced by famous Hollywood filmmaker Martin Sorcese called Beatles '64 about the Fab Four's 1964 trip to America. One thing that caught my ear was a comment from Marshall McLuhan during an interview. He said he was from an almost entirely 19th Century country called Canada, and I th...

I am a sports fan, and I'm not alone. We understand that professional athletes don't really have that long of a playing career. Let's look at CFL football. Once a guy is staring at his 40th birthday his playing career is behind him while those of us in the non-sporting working world are still in our prime at that age...

The word "defund" is a verb which means to stop providing money, or as much money, to pay for something. The word has been used in relation to the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, that was founded in 1936 as a crown corporation and is accountable to Parliament. It is the national radio and TV p...

I got a Chinese fortune cookie the other day and the little slip of paper inside started with, "Charite Bien ordonee...." No, wait...that's the French side. The English message was, "It is impossible to please everybody. Please yourself first". I thought, good advice. I love little encouragin...

Is it winter or is it still fall? What's the old duck test to suggest something can be identified by its typical characteristics? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck then it probably is a duck. Well, it looks like winter, feels like winter, and drives like winter so it's probably winte...

I heard someone refer to our Lieutenant Governor as the "Lootenent Governor "the way Americans say it. I also heard my not quite three-year-old granddaughter singing along with a toy that does the ABC song, you know, the one that ends with Z pronounced Zee. I couldn't correct her because the end of the so...

In February 2002, that's right, 2002, I said in a Coffeetalk our Canadian military was in the news due to our participating in the Afghanistan conflict. It had been brought to light that our Armed Forces were underfunded, undermanned, underequipped, underpaid and underappreciated. Our government of the day woke up ...

What level of government is closest to the people? Municipal. What level of government is most removed from the people? Federal. I'm talking about involvement in our everyday lives. Our civic politicians not only live in our neighbourhoods, they work here at City Hall to discuss and solve our local challenges and ...

I was reading some recent data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute that said 57% of Canadians want to live to be 90 or older and 26% say they want to live to be 100. That's interesting. I'd be OK with reaching 100 depending on circumstances such as are both my mind and body in reasonable working condition? W...

At this past Sunday's regular family dinner, we hauled out our two Christmas trees and placed them in their usual locations. I plugged in the lights on the one in the living room to make sure they were in working order and our two-months-shy of turning three granddaughter was quite impressed if "wow" is any ...