It’s time to revisit the topic of corporal punishment of children: spanking, swatting, or otherwise hitting a child as punishment or “correction.”  Is it ever acceptable?  There are so many different views, but now we have some new research evidence favouring the totally non-violent approach to child-rearing.   On March 5 of...

When our children and grandchildren and those of us still here in 20 years look back to this time, will we say it was when the world finally got serious about the climate crisis? Or will we mark a tragic time when political and business leaders prioritized short-term economic gain over the future of humanity? Listening to...

We tend to think of the post office as a place just to get and send our snail-mail, especially parcels.  We may have to change that thought: Canada’s postal workers are in negotiations for a new contract, and they are proposing some interesting things. They’re also authorized to go on strike. But that’s the stick:  they’re ...

To The Editor:   Would you vote for a party list without candidates? Of course, you wouldn't, and neither would anybody else. Of course, we will keep local representation under pro rep, and of course nobody will be 'appointed' an MLA unless we vote for them. How dumb do Liberal Party bosses think BC voters are that we would...

Last week I became a grandfather for the first time.  Politicians are fond of talking about what kind of future we will leave our grandchildren, but I can now say that having a grandchild sharpens that perspective dramatically. On Thanksgiving Monday, two news headlines jumped out at me, both dealing with our path to a...

News that Environment and Climate Change Canada is considering “priority threat management” to assess endangered species is troubling. The method is often used to inform a “triage” approach in which some species are abandoned to focus resources on others ranked higher priority. The federal government is legally required to ...

Renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson says to protect nature, people must regain their innate love for it. That means spending time in nature. While the concepts in Wilson’s book Biophilia have gained widespread acceptance since its publication more than 30 years ago, we’re still facing serious problems based on a lack of...

Having read the challenging piece on May 14, 'You don't have the right to believe whatever you want to', I feel that since the piece was intended to be challenging, perhaps it should be challenged. The basic premise of the text by Professor DeNicola was that some beliefs are too toxic for people to be allowed to hold them. ...

After months of negotiations and a seemingly endless series of false deadlines, negotiators have hammered out a new trade agreement between Canada, the USA and Mexico.  The new agreement (called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA for short) will create winners and losers, of course, and the general consensus...

By Stephen T. Asma, from Aeon Religion does not help us to explain nature. It did what it could in pre-scientific times, but that job was properly unseated by science. Most religious lay-people and even clergy agree: Pope John Paul II declared in 1996 that evolution is a fact and Catholics should get over it. No doubt some ...