A study made last summer by Nanos Research and the Institute for Research on Public Policy ranks aboriginal issues as the least important concern among Canadians. I was recently delayed at Union Station for four hours due to an Idle No More blockade. An attendant announced in a surly tone that the train had been stopped due to "une manifestation d'Indiens." Contrary to news reports, my fellow passengers weren't "taking it in stride." Many groaned but didn't speak; I wrote down some of the comments others shared about "the lazy Indians."
A lifelong Torontonian, I've seen startlingly little of the rest of our beautiful country, a reality of which I'm not proud. This reality was the impetus behind my most recent family travel venture. With the summer quickly winding down and Labour Day beckoning, I boarded a train with the family and headed East. La Belle Province was our destination, Montreal to be exact.
When he's not touring the world or recording albums that continue to influence generations of younger musicians, Rush singer and bassist Geddy Lee supports a grape cause. A wine-loving philanthropist, Lee, 59, sits on the board of directors of the Grapes For Humanity Global Foundation, a charity organization founded in Canada, and expanded in 2007 with a U.S. arm that has collectively raised over $4 million through numerous wine-related fundraisers.
There are quite a number of things to get through for this week, but if you'll indulge me for a moment, I'd first like to address an article that appeared in the Globe entitled "Is the Huffington Post the Future of Journalism?" The writer should have just yanked the paper out of the typewriter carriage (don't forget the carbon paper, too -- but save that, you can reuse it), crumpled it up, and started over. But maybe I should just jot down this complaint in a letter to the Globe's editor? With a stamp? Now back to business. Or as we like to call it around here, the 21st-century news business.
It was just another day on February 26 until 15:26, when Train 92 derailed west of Toronto resulting in the tragic death of three VIA Rail locomotive engineers. In my own 32-year career in Canada's railways, I have never experienced so much pain and sadness and, like my colleagues, so much helplessness in a position of so much authority.