Society

Mocking the Tax System?

Mocking the Tax System?

June 29, 2022 at 11:23 am

During the period covering the offences, the accused filed false GST returns claiming a combined refund of $20,628,805. Of that amount, the CRA paid $275,960 in refunds and allocated an additional $81,399 as a credit to other amounts owing to the agency, meaning the family and their companies were paidRead More

Pro-choice demonstration, Chicago 15 July 2019, (Photo by Charles Edward Miller, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

Reflections on Roe v Wade

June 29, 2022 at 11:19 am

My initial reaction to the recent US Supreme Court decision rendering Roe v Wade unconstitutional and giving individual states the right to regulate abortion was, as it was for millions, anger at the fact that men had once again prevailed in depriving women of their right to decide whether orRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

June 24, 2022 at 9:00 am

Public Housing In 2017, a Spectator reader contacted me to express concern that public housing units near her home seemed to be remaining empty for an unusual amount of time. I looked into it and was told by the Department of Municipal Affairs that, as of that June that year,Read More

Top (Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert welcomes Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy Vice Adm. Mark Norman for an office call at the Pentagon. (U.S. Navy Photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Julianne F. Metzger/Released)
Bottom: Bottom: MS Asterix naval replenishment ship, post-conversion.

Vice-Admiral Norman/NSS Timeline 2004-2019

June 15, 2022 at 12:32 pm

Editor’s Note: I’ve added new items to the timeline below, but my real update can be found in this new article, for which I’ve written a new introduction. Rather than repeat myself, I thought I’d let the old intro stand because it still serves a purpose: it explains why IRead More

‘No Topic Off the Table’

‘No Topic Off the Table’

June 15, 2022 at 12:31 pm

Back in the March 30th issue of The Cape Breton Spectator, I wrote about the two-year process leading to the 2023 Synod of Bishops, called by Pope Francis in 2021, which asked Catholics across the world to join in “discerning and listening together to the voice of The Holy Spirit”Read More

Affordable Housing Part I: Affordable How?

Affordable Housing Part I: Affordable How?

June 8, 2022 at 12:36 pm

It’s been roughly a year since I wrote about two Nova Scotia housing reports, one by the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission, the other by the Housing for All Working Group of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), NS Office, and after a flurry of “affordable housing” announcements fromRead More

Affordable Housing Part II: Just Like BC?

Affordable Housing Part II: Just Like BC?

June 8, 2022 at 12:34 pm

In a December 2021 article about the difficulties facing non-profit groups trying to develop affordable housing, the CBC’s Elizabeth McMillan spoke to Pauline MacIntosh of the St FX Extension Department who had spent nine months “gathering feedback through the Build Together project, a partnership with a national non-profit based inRead More

Bridging Finance Update

Bridging Finance Update

June 8, 2022 at 12:32 pm

There have been some developments—none that could be considered good—in the Bridging Finance story. As you will recall, the local angle on this tale of a Toronto-based private debt lender in receivership is that Membertou Corporate borrowed $6.8 million from Bridging to invest in Albert Barbusci’s Sydney harbor container terminalRead More

Deacon Blues

Deacon Blues

May 25, 2022 at 1:27 pm

Recently, the deacons of Antigonish Diocese were honored on Mass For Shut-Ins for the generous and charitable services they perform in addition to their participation in religious services. The diaconate, as we have discovered since these ordained men were introduced into the diocese a few years ago, is open onlyRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes On Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes On Random Things

May 6, 2022 at 9:30 am

Lord have Percy I don’t even know where to start with this baffling story. Freshii, the Canadian-based fast-food chain, is experimenting with a “virtual cashier” system called “Percy” that allows it to hire cashiers in Nicaragua and pay them US$3.75/hour instead of minimum wage in Ontario which is $15 (US$11.70)Read More