When federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered his second budget recently, the political left – the opposition parties, special interests and labour unions – railed against it for not funding universal childcare or environmental projects. The right – including the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Fraser Institute – complained that it did not restrain spending or offer broad-based tax cuts. While these [...]
If demography is destiny, this country is in trouble In March, Statistics Canada released a report on Canada’s population that provided a very sobering picture. Well, it would be sobering, if Canadians woke up to the reality that we are not having enough children and that in doing so, we risk radically changing this nation. StatsCan did find that between 2001 and [...]
Editor’s note regarding Father Ted’s column Fr. Ted Colleton has been writing columns for The Interim almost since the first issue – nearly a quarter-century of monthly reflections on life, family and religion. This might surprise people who have heard Fr. Ted give a homily at a church or speak at a pro-life event, but Father doesn’t feel that he has much [...]
The provincial election on March 28 constituted for Quebec a new era in its political history. Since 1970, the fundamental question in Quebec politics has been the independence of Quebec, with a polarization between the federalist Liberals and the separatist Péquistes. The major breakthrough of Action démocratique du Québec’s Mario Dumont, who is now the official opposition leader in Quebec City, has [...]
Phil Spidell, the co-president of Silverstone Securities Inc., the most profitable securities firm in the U.S., barged raging mad into the office of Art Hoople, the co-president of the firm. “Art, did you see the front-page article in the Wall Street Journal today about us making $68 million each last year? It’s a smear job! Since when has good old American greed not [...]
Former prime minister John Diefenbaker was nothing, if not steadfast in his resolve. “When the going gets tough,” he used to exclaim, “the tough get going.” It’s an adage that Canadian pro-lifers would do well to remember. For those who stand up in Canada and proclaim their support of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death in Canada, the [...]
The Interim highlights the reaction of prominent Democrats and Republicans to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on partial-birth abortion on page 3 of this issue. But, we have to note one here with an explanation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) said, “I would only say that this is the only decision a lot of us wish that Alito weren’t there and [...]
The news that a full-time homosexual radio station has taken to the airwaves in Toronto must be causing more than a little chagrin among social conservatives in Canada and not just because of the fact the homosexual lobby will get yet another outlet to propogate its views to a wider audience. The licence for the station was awarded by the Canadian Radio-television [...]
The world depicted in P. D. James’ recently adapted novel, The Children of Men, is ravaged by a pandemic of infertility. A mysterious plague has left women barren, schools empty and streets quiet. In James’s vision, there is no hope for the future because, without children, there simply is no future. With last month’s first look at the data from the 2006 [...]
Canada The Hill Times newspaper featured a front-page photo of Bryn Hendricks and Glenn Scott, who the paper says are the first homosexual Parliament Hill staffers to get “married.” Inside, the paper showed the newlyweds posing with Liberal leader Stephane Dion and their marriage certificate ... Dion told a 25th anniversary celebration of the Charter of Rights that he would reinstate the Court Challenges Program and the Law [...]
Conscience rights denied by court OTTAWA – The Federal Court has ruled that a Public Service Alliance of Canada member does not have the right to divert her dues because of the union’s strong support for same-sex “marriage.” Susan Comstock, a devout Catholic and senior public servant in Toronto, argued her freedom of religion and freedom of conscience rights were violated by [...]
I once heard an African-American southern gospel singer – whose name I cannot recall – preface his rendition of a beloved hymn by pointing out that it can be played on just the black keys of a piano. He claimed this approximated the pentatonic scale indigenous to west Africa. Then, he went on to speculate that the captain of a slaver transporting [...]
A Toronto faith-based radio station, on which The Interim has a program, has had its application for a new specialty audio service approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The commission released a statement on March 12 confirming that Radio Maria will be permitted to distribute its programming nationally on a digital basis. To this point, the station has been broadcasting [...]
Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, Nutrasweet and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Kendra Degen Pearsall Nelson Books, 2006 287 pages, $24.99 (US) The Seven Pillars of Health Don Colbert, MD Siloam 295 pages, $21.50 The Body Sense Natural Diet: Six Weeks to a Slimmer, Healthier You Lorna R. Vanderhaeghe John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. [...]
House of Miracles By Grace Petrasek Interim Publishing Company, Toronto, 2006 96 pages $5.95 There is nothing more inspiring than true stories that illustrate the hand of divine providence in the lives of ordinary people. As a teacher, I often read to my students such stories from the lives of Catholic saints, including Don Bosco, Padre Pio or Francis of Assisi, etc. [...]