Canada’s new Liberal majority government and its new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, have a lot of work to do to live up to their promise of “real change.” Canadians want it, and I don’t doubt they’re going to get it.

But it will take time – possibly even the better part of the next four years – to undo much of what the Conservative government did under Stephen Harper’s leadership. To start with, the change in style and approach to governing will be like night and day. They are two very different personalities.

When he was first elected to be Canada’s 22^nd Prime Minister in 2006 with a minority government Harper promised a new era of openness and accountability, but didn’t deliver, maybe because it just wasn’t in him to be that way. Not yet, anyway.

“A man’s character is his fate,” said the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Many’s the time I’ve worried about the truth of those words myself. But it’s something we all have to take time to think about if we’re going to grow and become the person we were meant to be. Continue reading →

Life goes on.

So there I was the day after the federal election – out planting garlic in a recently cultivated section of my large front-field garden. It’s not too late, but you never know at this time of the year when winter will set in, no matter what Environment Canada says about the El-Nino prospects of a much milder winter than last shaping up in the warmer-than-usual waters of the Pacific Ocean. So I took a break from the barn-door repairs and planted garlic while the sun shone.

And yes, I was inspired to think of the night before when the first public words out of Justin Trudeau’s mouth upon being elected Canada’s next Prime Minister were, “Sunny ways my friends, sunny ways. This is what positive politics can do.” Continue reading →

I was planting garlic in the front field near the woods. Yes, the fall of the year is the best time to plant garlic. It was early in the evening, but the light was already starting to fade. Still, I was making pretty good progress. A long row of cloves, some of which were already starting to show signs of sprouting, had gone into the freshly-tilled soil and I was working intently on a second row.

But then the shrill chorus of a pack or packs of coyotes starting their evening hunting prowl opened up. It’s a familiar sound in these parts, in and around the provincial Hope Bay Nature Reserve where a natural wilderness is being allowed to regenerate itself. Continue reading →