I read recently of the antics of two American billionaires with a kind of horrified fascination. The first was Elon Musk, who seems to be morphing from “a brilliant visionary” (at least in the eyes of some) to a cartoon-like James Bond villain, who fires thousands of people without aRead More

A recent celebrant on CTV’s local Mass for Shut-ins began his homily with this line: If you go out into the garage and stay there all day, it doesn’t make you a car. Similarly if you go to church every Sunday, it doesn’t make you a Christian. That statement threwRead More

Does anyone go shopping for groceries these days without having at least one conversation with another shopper about the rising cost of what we are putting in our carts? Assuming, that is, we are among those who can continue to purchase the same items we have been using for years.Read More

Having been publishing bi-weekly — or, as I like to think of it, working at half-speed — all summer, I’ve been building up a store of opinions on a variety of subjects. In fact, my “two-cents’ worth” on such disparate issues as Annette Verschuren’s induction into the Business & PhilanthropyRead More

I don’t really know the situation today, but in the 1950s, working for the church especially as a secretary, I got to know those who were referred to as “stemmers.” They were the dedicated few who every so often rang the glebe house doorbell in search of a dollar orRead More

So you have to stay home from work. What that will look like for you, financially, depends on a number of factors. As I write this, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has just announced a whopping $82 billion aid package — $27 billion in emergency aid and $55 billion inRead More

The term ‘utopia’ — the way we use it today, to refer to an ideal but unattainable state — comes from the book of the same name, written by Sir (Saint) Thomas More in 1516. The form is political critique disguised as fantasy disguised as travelogue. More casts himself asRead More

On 7 November 2011, Pope Benedict XVI was presented with the first printed copy of the revised English edition of the Roman Missal by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. I have admitted to not being very happy with the translation and as the years have gone by I still hearRead More

A 6 September 1989 headline in the Cape Breton Post reading ‘Home care program finally reaches C.B.’ announced the arrival of home care in Cape Breton, with 10 designated agencies across the Island and provincial funding being provided for the first time. Colleen Chisholm, regional coordinator of the home careRead More

You may have noticed that some American billionaires are actually anxious to give away some of those billions to help those who fall, well, billions short of having a half-decent chance at something even close to the good life. Are the guys with the big bucks “bucking for the finals”Read More