Columns

By Gary Sliworsky
OMAFRA Rep.

By Al Lowe
Contributor

I joined countless other drivers this past weekend driving east through Couchiching and then over the Noden Causeway to see what shape Rainy Lake ice was in. By late Friday evening, the ice had retreated deep into Sand Bay and the inside channel along the 7 Mile Bridge was opening up.
North of the causeway, the ice had turned almost a midnight black. Where the ice road had been this winter, a black slick of water curved north. From the fixed railway bridge to the Causeway an opening in the ice just over a boat was visible.

This past week I was happy to table a new Private Members’ Bill that will help secure the pensions of workers at companies that enter bankruptcy proceedings or undertake supervised restructuring. Bill C-501 (An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and other Acts) has the potential to secure tens of thousands of pensions across Canada and I am optimistic that it will pass with the full support of other parties in the House of Commons.

By Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru

By Gary Sliworsky
OMAFRA Rep.

Editor's note: This part three of a three part series.

By Al Lowe
Contributor

When the earnings reports were released for the six five Canadian banks on the same day that the federal budget was presented to parliament, I had only one question; how much is too much? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see that some Canadian companies are doing well during this downturn, but I have to wonder if we should be handing those companies $60 billion more in corporate tax cuts when the money can be put to better use helping other sectors of the economy that are struggling, assisting the unemployed, or protecting our pension plans.

I sat down in my rocker just after 5:00 on Sunday night to watch the Duke-Baylor basketball game. All afternoon, I had been trimming trees, raking leaves and grass and generally trying to clean up the yard. Over the course of the afternoon, I spoke with neighbors who I haven’t spoken to since raking leaves last fall.

By Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru