Over the past week or so, people have become quite fond of name calling and deriding the intelligence of a certain individual: me. Perhaps they caught it from the Commons.

Collectively, the message is this: petitioning the Governor General to remove the Prime Minister won't work. One camp...

"He's stealing Canadian democracy in plain sight and nobody is screaming about it," noted Elizabeth May last week, at lunch with Laura Stone.

Actually, many people are screaming about it. There must be a dozen or more Facebook groups like Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper....

We all lost something last week. Something we used to value but now don't care too much about anymore; it was ripped from us and no one complained.

Our citizenship.

Obviously, we can still fly the maple leaf and file tax forms. We can call ourselves Canadian. We can even...

As Mike Duffy's senatorial career implosion peaked this week, I was left wondering if all was really as it appeared, or if something far more complex was taking place. Turns out, I wasn't the only one: Rex Murphy was thinking along the same lines. We are wondering if...

Every year, we put on a poppy, read a few feel-good stories about the surviving Second World War veterans, and maybe observe a moment of silence on the 11th. But the last notes of Reveille have barely faded before carols are playing. Veterans' news stories disappear almost immediately and are...

The brother of a veteran suing Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) for millions says his personal records were accessed by department staff without his permission.

Retired Corporal Dennis Manuge is the driving force behind the SISIP class action lawsuit over pension clawbacks. The suit is now under...

The term privacy violation has been in the news so much that most of us tune it out. Really, who cares that some employee looked at someone's file somewhere? Even if it's wrong, isn't that simply human nature, to be curious? Even if it was malicious, why should everyone care?...

Last week, Canadian Mennonite magazine revealed that it had been threatened by the government. A Canada Revenue audit team the magazine that it could lose its charitable status because of what it published.

CRA found some 2011 articles to be in violation of the Income...

Why should we care what happens to our veterans?

If you ask that question, you will likely be the recipient of a good telling-off by those who think anyone who serves is a hero. However, some feel that blind hero-worship is both off-putting and non-responsive. Perhaps some are heroes, but...

I'd like to report that Day 1 of Veterans Among Us was a success. Participation was a little low -- this is only the second year of the campaign -- but those veterans who did wear their medals on November 1 had a good day. They got a...

With all the veterans Canada has, you wouldn't think we need an awareness campaign. There are almost a million current and former members of the Canadian Forces and RCMP; one in 35 Canadians has served our national interests. Which means that few Canadians don't know someone who has...

When the maternity leave was up, we faced a common problem. About 80 per cent of my full-time wages would have to be spent on daycare if we both worked. But my wife's income was significantly higher than mine, and my wife was going stir-crazy after 12 months being mostly...

I've noticed that there has been a subtle shift in the language of politics in Canada. Cabinet ministers used to be called "the Minister responsible for..." That has been supplanted with "Minister of..." Admittedly, the longer version doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it does serve a critical purpose:...

Veterans often cite the irony that those who fight and defend freedom experience it the least.

Take the case of Cpl. Steve Stoesz.

Last week, Cpl. Stoesz spoke out about National Defence's planned cuts to military health care. DND plans to cut 25 jobs from a special unit...

Every Sunday in April, Eastlink T.V. subscribers in the Maritimes will have the chance to view Broken Soldiers, a documentary about the ongoing battles between Canada's veterans and the department charged with their care. In the film, Dale Stevens caught up with Fabien Melanson as he was starving himself at...

You can judge the quality of a person by their actions rather than their words.

That truism is so often repeated that we tend to forget its value. But whenever we begin to neglect that observation, someone comes along to remind us just how significant that statement is.

Take, as...

Stephen Harper is getting ready to slash 10 per cent of Veterans' Affairs' budget but he says veterans will be unaffected. That doesn't make sense, unless you know government has the 2010 National Client Survey in its planning pocket. It says that veterans are very pleased...