This week, I propose to answer the age-old question: Were things better in the old days than they are today? First, let us discuss the term ‘old days’. For someone in their 80s, the ‘old days’ means something entirely different from someone in their 30s. For the sake of this
Continue readingAuthor: Maurice Tougas
In This Corner: How to save the Edmonton Elks from extinction
I fully expected the Edmonton Elks management to fire head coach Jamie Elizondo. You can’t coach a team to just three wins – and lose all seven home games – and keep your job. But I was pleasantly surprised with the Ex-imos board of directors cleaned house, firing CEO and
Continue readingIn This Corner: On joining the worldwide Marketplace
One of my sisters is getting ready to move out of her home of many decades and into a condo for seniors (technically it’s for people over age 55, but let’s not kid ourselves). Trying to be a good brother for perhaps the first time, I’m helping her with the
Continue readingIn This Corner: Canada vs. Mexico: We may have outsmarted ourselves
Good morning from Edmonton! We’re experiencing our first major snowfall of the season. Driving is terrible. The wind is blowing up to 40 km/h. It’s not a fit day or night out for man nor beast. So, let’s play soccer! As you may know, Canada’s national soccer team is playing
Continue readingIn This Corner: Gift suggestions for the person who literally has everything
We all like to find unique, distinctive, one-of-a-kind gifts for Christmas that show how much we care for the giftee. But most of us just end up buying any piece of junk to fulfill your gift-giving obligation. In either case, Lee Valley comes to the rescue. I’m a fan of
Continue readingIn This Corner: Justin, it’s time to raise the flag again
You may have noticed that the once-proud Canadian emblem, the Maple Leaf flag, has been looking somewhat shamefaced these days. On all federal buildings, the banner has been lowered to half-mast. Normally when I see a half-mast flag, I ask myself ‘Who died?’. But this time it’s not who, but
Continue readingIn This Corner: How adults – yes, that’s you – have taken over Halloween (formerly known as Hallowe’en)
October is the scariest month of the year, and not just because summer is dead and we’re just waiting for winter’s icy, months-long grip. It’s the month of Halloween, or, as we used to spell it, Hallowe’en. The spelling is not the only thing about Halloween that has changed.
Continue readingIn This Corner: Introducing ‘Who Does That?’, a compendium of complaints large and small
The other day I was walking my son’s dog (actually, it was closer to being dragged by my son’s dog; he’s young and strong, and I am not) when I spotted a little green bag containing dog poop dropped on my neighbour’s lawn. I thought to myself: Who does that?
Continue readingIn This Corner: A look at Alberta’s referen-dumbs
Election day in Alberta is Monday, Oct. 18. Wait, you may be saying, didn’t we just have an election? Very observant of you. Yes, we did have an election, but of the federal kind. This one is the civic election, and it is in many ways much more important than
Continue readingIn This Corner: Things to be sort of thankful for this weekend
Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone. Or, as Americans call it, Canadian Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a day Canadians set aside to be thankful, as opposed to the just completed Truth and Reconciliation Day, which is set aside to be shameful. I prefer Thanksgiving, because it comes with food. (By the way, couldn’t
Continue readingIn This Corner: A few words about words and phrases we should drop
One of the pleasures of writing a blog is that I can vent about trivial things that previously only my wife and sons had the privilege to hear. So this week, in lieu of a blog complaining about the results of the election or about COVID deniers (I’m going to
Continue readingIn This Corner: Winners, and losers, in the election that should not have been
So, the federal election – the shortest allowed by law – is over. Did you notice it was happening? Anyway, let’s take a look at what we have learned, if anything. • Justin Trudeau is a winner. He’s a winner in that he is still the prime minister. Despite leading
Continue readingIn This Corner: Why I’m sitting out this cynical, shameful election
The woman in the photo below looks like any suburban soccer mom, late 30s to early 40s. She has a little girl in front of her, presumably her daughter. ‘What I did on my summer vacation’ The woman’s mouth is open in a picture of pure rage. Both middle fingers
Continue readingIn This Corner: Plenty of blame to share for current COVID crisis
A lot of stupid stuff has been written about the pandemic over the past year. (Year and a half? Two years? Seems like forever.) Here’s an example of one of the dumber statements, from July 4, 2021: “Yes, I know, the crisis isn’t officially over, and it may never be.
Continue readingIn This Corner: A rumination on the month of September …
Ask anyone to name their least favourite month, and September will make the list. It’s not as bad as February (how could such a short month seem so long?). It doesn’t have the ominous death row feel of November. But September is, well, melancholic. September is still mostly a summer
Continue readingIn This Corner: Would-be Jeopardy! host becomes a future Jeopardy! question
As you know, there were three big stories in the world this past week. First, Justin Trudeau’s “snap” election call that everyone saw coming for months. Second, the collapse of Afghanistan, resulting in every Afghanistan “expert” saying, “Wow. I did NOT see that coming.” And third, the hiring and immediate
Continue readingIn This Corner: I attend my first COVID-era gathering. It was weird.
On Saturday, for the first time since God knows when, I attended a large scale event with thousands of other humanoids in attendance. The event was rife with the utter weirdness and sometimes straight out stupidity of the new world we are living in. Antlers Up? Great logo. Bad slogan.
Continue readingIn This Corner: Skip the hip, Olympics, and stick with real sports
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are nearing the half-way point. A few of you will be bleary-eyed from watching synchronized three-man fencing at 4 a.m., or something like that. Most of you will be saying, “Wait, how is this the 2020 Olympics? This is 2021, right?” Very astute observation. Yes, this
Continue readingIn This Corner: Is it time to cleanse yourself of the ‘news’?
I am currently reading an epic book called Humankind (subtitled A Hopeful History) by a Dutch historian and thinker named Rutger Bregman. OK, I realize that sounds incredibly boring, but stay with me. In Humankind, Bregman posits that the conventional wisdom that humans are by nature selfish and governed by
Continue readingIn This Corner: Oh, Baby! Female names for 2020 are U’nique
When last we met – if you can call one person writing and another reading an actual meeting – I was discussing the more intriguing and downright weird names Albertans gave their baby boys in 2020. This week, let’s look at the distaff side. There were fewer girls than boys
Continue reading