He almost could not speak, the response around him seemed overwhelming. But he finally raised his hands in gentle protest to the standing ovation and when the applauding stopped he offered these words:
“Today, I rise for the last time in this chamber,” MP Erin O’Toole said in the House of Commons on June 12. “It’s been the honour of a lifetime to serve Durham in Parliament.” (more…)
She’s gone now. Queen Elizabeth II died last Sept. 8, and was eulogized at Westminster Abbey 11 days later. Her son, the Prince of Wales, immediately acceded to the British throne as King Charles III.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother,” Charles said the day she died. “I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country … and by countless people around the world.”
While I’ve never considered myself a monarchist, I nevertheless do owe Her Majesty a debt of gratitude. (more…)
It was a morning dedicated to dealing with invisible wounds among veterans. It brought together former soldiers and first responders who are coping with trauma, support groups trying to help them, and politicians finding workable solutions to post-traumatic stress disorder in Canada.
Among the first to speak, Anita Anand, the minister of national defence, climbed the podium steps on Tuesday to address the gathering. She paused, scanned the faces of those present and offered a personal note.
“This is a difficult time for the military community,” she said. “I wish to recognize and remember officer cadets Jack Hogarth, Andrei Honciu, Broden Murphy and Andres Salek.” (more…)
I’d just finished one of my military history talks, this particular night. I had fielded a number of specific questions about the women and men I’d featured in my presentation. And one of the younger members of the audience put up his hand and asked the toughest question of the night.
“Your books are all about people fighting for freedom,” the young man said. “What does freedom mean to you?”
I asked him if I could collect my thoughts a second. (more…)
Darrin called me this week. And he talked to me as if we were best pals, as if we’d known each other for years. I asked for an explanation.
“I’m Darrin,” he said, cheerfully. “from Rogers Communications.”
And I knew instantly this call was a pitch. I decided to listen to what he had to say, because my wife and I have been concerned about what’s happening to our cable TV service. (more…)
It took fluid in glass vials, monkey tissue and a gentle rocking motion to make a Canadian research scientist a heroine and put her laboratory on the international pharmaceutical map.
It 1952 the worst polio epidemic was spreading across North America. In Canada, the disease peaked in 1953 with 9,000 cases and 500 deaths, the worst national epidemic since the 1918 influenza pandemic.
However, Dr. Jonas Salk, an American biologist and physician specializing in the study of virology, experimented with inactivated poliovirus cells to generate the first successful killed-virus polio vaccine.
Salk’s dilemma? How to mass produce the vaccine. Tucked inside the Department of Hygiene at the University of Toronto, a small lab had discovered that the polio virus grew rapidly on monkey kidney tissue in a synthetic liquid form. A PhD fungus specialist named Leone Farrell managed to adhere the tissue to the inside surface of a five-litre bottle. Then, she continuously agitated the bottles to allow the medium to generate cell production.
Dr. Farrell’s system became known as “the Toronto technique.” (more…)
The point-of-view of the camera shows us whisking through a door with a “restricted access” sign on it. Around the gurney-in-motion, doctors, nurses and orderlies wear full personal protective gear, as we zoom down a hospital corridor. The CBC News reporter voiceover describes the medical staff coping with Markham-Stouffville Hospital’s COVID-19 case load.
“It’s like (the staff) is going to war,” reporter Wendy Mesley says. “Only they never know if they will win or lose.” (more…)
It’s come back to me often the past few weeks. It’s the last scene from the movie Darkest Hour. Winston Churchill, just a few weeks into his wartime administration in May 1940, watches across the English Channel as Belgium falls to the Nazis. Then, France falls. Desperately, he entreats thousands of private boat owners in England to retrieve retreating British Army troops – 300,000 of them – from the beaches of Dunkirk. And he contemplates Hitler’s invasion of Britain, delivering in the House of Commons one of many momentous wartime speeches:
“We shall fight on the beaches…” he proclaims. “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.” (more…)
On Feb. 24, after he learned that Teck Resources Ltd. had decided to withdraw its application to build a multi-billion-dollar oil-sands development project in northern Alberta, the premier of that province stepped to a microphone in Edmonton to express his displeasure with Ottawa.
“The federal government’s inability … let us down,” Jason Kenney told the audience. Then, the premier continued with an oft-employed threat he’s used lately, that he will now seek “greater autonomy for Alberta (using) every tool available.” (more…)
Early in 1943, the military planners in London, England, coped with the ebb and flow of the Second World War, but they did so secretly. Squirrelled away in his tiny office at the British War Office, an experienced Canadian-born artillery officer grappled with a logistics problem about an upcoming military operation. But the stress proved overwhelming for hm. He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t focus. To switch his mind off before bed, he tried reading detective stories. Then, he tried something completely different.
“I set up a fly-tying table,” Charles Falkland Loewen wrote in his memoirs, “and before going to bed sat down to tie a fly or two. I found that this absorbed one’s complete attention … and really unbuttoned my mind from current problems.” (more…)