Lori Gard

Teacher, Blogger, Contributer to Power of Moms Website, Contributer to Yummy Mummy Club

Get in the habit of adding built-in exercise to your daily routine. Instead of actually exercising, I work with my perpetual lateness and just run around the house like a chicken with its head cut off. Multi-tasking at its best. Add a fancy pair of running shoes and you've got yourself a work-out regimen.

Colin Kenny

Senator

My advice to Stephen Harper is this: the RCMP needs a union, to improve the lot of the rank and file, to be sure, but also to help managers improve the institution. In fact, I would say forming a union is critical to rehabilitating our national police service, where efforts at reform keep spinning their wheels. .

Steve Geyer

Associate Pastor and Entertainer

There we sat, changing their outfits, brushing their "hair," with me doing my best falsetto voice, as we all got ready for the prom. My daughter, Kirsten, was giggling at me not so much for the voices, but for the fact she had put a lovely purple bow in my hair that matched Malibu Barbie's hair ribbon. We were having a blast!

Kasia Wind

Health writer, editor and blogger

Lucky underwear? Lucky potato chips? The illustrious "playoff beard?" If you're gearing up for your favourite team's next NHL playoff game by taking part in a superstitious ritual, your friends might think you're nuts. But science has you covered.

Tim Knight

Writer, Comunications Coach, Broadcast Journalism Trainer, Filmmaker

Yes, I've smoked marijuana. And yes, I've inhaled it. Marijuana lessens pain (I have a bad back). It's an anti-depressant (the freelance writing, filmmaking and communications training business are in terminal decline). And it increases both sexual enjoyment and staying power (no need to explain).

Erin Chrusch

Writer, Lawyer, Mom

It's been hard to see Dad so sad, because in much the same way he wants us to be happy, that's what we want for him too. I am compelled to let him know that I no longer take my time with him for granted, at least not in the same way I might have just six months ago. Up until that time, there would always be another phone call, another visit, another chance to say "I love you." Now we know that those moments are gifts; sometimes small, but always appreciated.

The Lapine

Get more coverage of trending topics at www.thelapine.ca

On the heels of the Quebec Soccer Federation banning children from wearing turbans while playing in kiddie league games, the Province of Quebec has extended the ban to include cowboy hats being worn anywhere in public by adults or children. "Cowboy hats are destroying our natural French love of toques," said Premier Pauline Marois, making the announcement from the steps of the Assemblee Nationale (National Assembly) in Quebec City, wearing a green paisley beret to match her business suit.

Michael Scarfo

Occasional Writer and Customer Service Manager

In a society that values liberty, a whistleblower should be a hero. A whistleblower should not be forced to choose between their personal well-being and coming forward. Edward Snowden's insider announcement on the scope of the NSA's ability to gather, archive, and analyze information should come as no shock to the more cynical among us. It was easy enough to assume, but now we're staring down the truth of it. If we don't find a way to pressure the powers that be to give up some of their hidden power, contrary to all of their self-aggrandizing instincts, we're in for a very stark decline into a classically dystopian future.

Marc-Andre Gagnon

Universal pharmacare does not mean an "open bar" for everybody; it means leveraging buying power and using market forces in order to contain drug costs, achieve sustainability and improve the health outcomes of the population.

Danielle S. McLaughlin

Director of Education, Canadian Civil Liberties Association

If we want our own children to learn to be courageous defenders of rights, we must first engage them in thinking critically about those rights. While adults may feel uncomfortable talking to children about the place of religion in society, we can still teach our children that people whose beliefs and practices differ from their own are deserving of respect and understanding.

Cole Hogan

Cole Hogan has worked as a speech writer and communications strategist on several provincial and federal campaigns in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario

Here Warren Kinsella's oft-repeated maxim rings true. In Kinsella's latest book he states that what is true of car crashes is true of political life. When polled, voters will insist they hate negative ads. But when they thinking no one is looking they will slow down, take a look, and remember what they see.

Martin Parnell

Ran 250 marathons in one year for Right to Play and continues to push limits.

In early January of this year, I met Glenda Zamzow at a book signing in Calgary. A week later, after having read my book she contacted me. Glenda told me that she had been inspired by my story, which led her to organize a family meeting with her husband Richard and sons 11 year old Derek and 14 year old Marcus. As Glenda told me "I really felt we should do something - we've been given such great opportunities. You always hear people say 'Just pull yourself up by the bootstraps.' But disadvantaged kids, they don't have boot straps. If it were me, I'd want someone to advocate for me".

Lawrence D. Elliott

Author and 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' contributor

This week, I had a drink with a very good friend. He's currently in a relationship with a wonderful woman whose ex-husband, the father of her children also happens to be the man who raped and brutally sodomized her for the last four years of their nine-year marriage. No one believed the story of her ordeal. No one in her family. Not one of her friends. Disbelief is a cruel after-effect of rape. It's also the trump card of the rapist. The burden is all too often placed on the victim, not the perpetrator. And when it's a spouse, he knows how to make the victim feel so worthless, guilty and low, that she'll avoid doing what is necessary.

Leah Eichler

founder of r/ally, a mobile platform to socialize your goals

When the Pew Research Center released their report on Breadwinner Moms, the results of their survey were nothing short of controversial: In 40 per cent of households in the United States with children under 18 years, mothers were the ones who were bringing in the money -- either as the sole or primary breadwinner for the family.