Bringing you the issues since 1986 
What kind of country is Canada becoming under the Stephen Harper Conservatives? Under the stealth of omnibus legislation, and with the virtually unbridled power of its majority, we respectfully paraphrase Shelley to observe: “Look upon these mean-spirited works, and despair.” A prime example: Under new rules, refugee claimants will be [...]
BY: IRWIN BLOCK In 1994, Pointe Claire resident Charles Curtis got the result from what was then a relatively new test for something called the PSA level in the blood. Prostate specific antigen, PSA, is the substance produced almost exclusively by certain cells within the prostate gland. When my own [...]
BY: IRWIN BLOCK The average satisfaction rate of patients at the Jewish General Hospital has been dropping marginally over the past two years, but it remains above the 80-per-cent level. The satisfaction level dropped almost three percentage points—to 81.5 per cent in the April 2011 to March 2012 period from [...]
BY:KRISTINE BERRY Contrary to what many believe, it is not having grandchildren the Raging Grannies have in common, since being a grandmother is not a prerequisite for membership. What they share is an unyielding belief in certain values, the courage to fight for them and a great sense of humour. [...]
BY: HAYLEY JUHL When I say I go to the Ormstown Fair for the extreme heat, I mostly mean I’m going to watch cars demolish each other in a dirt arena. But also, it’s hot. This year’s fair marked the first time I felt justified in wearing my Stampede-approved cowboy [...]
BY: MELANI LITWACK The Biodôme is not a zoo. It is an immersive exploration of five ecosystems—three of which are distinctly Canadian. In 1989, a feasibility study was conducted on Montreal’s former Olympic Velodrome and three years later it was repurposed as the Biodôme—a zoological marvel unlike anything Montrealers had [...]
BY: CATHERINE MCKENTY As long as he could remember, Neil McKenty was interested in writing. A teacher in grade school gave him a key piece of advice: “Find something to write about.” And he did. At 9, he won his first oratorical contest, no doubt helped by his mother, Irene, [...]
BY: BARBARA MOSER & IRWIN BLOCK We left Salta, Argentina, to visit three northern villages in Jujuy province just south of the Bolivian border. We were advised by an English teacher we met in Salta to spend one night each in Humahuaca, Tilcara and Purmamarca, and that’s just what we [...]
BY BARBARA MOSER To continue on our hungry way along Sherbrooke in N.D.G./Westmount to my favourite outdoor eateries, let’s begin with Yuki, a Japanese bakery and café with everything from take-out bento boxes to glorious layer cakes that look so splendid they would do nicely for a wedding! On their [...]
From the first moments in Darrell Wasyk’s The Girl in the White Coat, you feel the bitter taste of poverty. Based on Nikolai Gogol’s timeless short story The Overcoat, but transposed to modern Montreal, the film chronicles the efforts of Elise, played with angelic innocence by Pascal Montpetit, as she tries [...]
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