I've been attending the Toronto International Film Festival in various permutations over the last decade. This year was especially interesting as it was my inaugural TIFF season on Twitter -- adding a virtual blizzard of information into the mix. My coverage this year was a pu-pu platter of events, lounges, pop-ups and charitable causes and with most of it being re-tweeted in real-time, I quickly learned that I could not "dance at every wedding."

Aid and development are deeply complex and there are no easy answers. The physical donations of goods, be it food or clothes, often have negative impacts on the local economy. It would be far better for aid organizations to buy products locally. Aid shouldn't be about making North Americans comfortable with a culture of mass consumption and waste. It has to be actually making the lives of people in the recipient country better.

We're asking all Canadians to join us to help preserve two core national values: nature and democracy. Let's keep Canada strong and free. Please visit the websites of your favourite environmental organizations on June 4th to add your voice.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has told Canadians: "Free your pennies from their prisons at home and donate them to charity." However, he does not want you to liberate American pennies from the prisons in your home by donating them to charity.

Donors want to be respected and listened to. If somebody asks to be taken off a mailing list, they get pissed (rightfully) when they get mail the next year. All you can do is apologize and do your best to fix it for the future.

The business of collecting donated clothes, selling them in local thrift stores and shipping them overseas has become so lucrative it has...

While I support charity starting at home, for those who can afford it, my suggestion this holiday season is to split donations into two: one for your favourite local charity or food bank and another for NGOs or UN agencies addressing humanitarian disasters overseas.

Military families, while never overlooked by the Canadian Forces themselves, are something that must be remembered. How do families work without an additional parent? What happens when a parent dies while serving his country?