By Frank Moher The Conservatives were once a respectable party. That was way back when they were the Progressive Conservatives, though their alleged progressivism didn’t have much to do with it, as they were never all that progressive. Instead, they were respected for a certain stalwartness and decency, even by their opponents. Leaders like Robert Stanfield and Joe Clark may […]
The Video: Rob Ford: The late night talk show round-up
Brian Brennan
Brian Brennan is an Irish-born writer who has lived and worked in Canada since 1966. He makes his home in Calgary, Alberta, where he has worked as a journalist and author, publishing eight books of biography and social history including The Good Steward: The Ernest C. Manning Story (2008), How the West was Written: The […]
At the Paralympics, patriotism kicks in
By Bev Schellenberg Already the patriotic glow has started to fade for some, but not for the 60,000 people who filed into BC Place Stadium for the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies. My 12-year old daughter, disappointed at our not being able to afford the $175 minimum price tag per person for the Opening and Closing Olympic […]
Mittens, love gloves and other Olympics memories
By Bev Schellenberg The Olympics are over, but the memorabilia is here to stay. Vanoc reported that, by midway through the 2010 Games, it had already reached its $50 million sales goal, double the amount that merchandising brought in through the entire 2006 Winter Olympics. Three million cute red Olympic mittens alone were sold by […]
For the Olympic appetite
By Bev Schellenberg McDonald’s is the official 2010 Winter Olympics fast food sponsor, as evidenced by their ubiquitous billboards and TV ads showing Canadian Olympians about to consume supposedly performance-enhancing food. But while games-goers may enjoy collecting the Olympic mascot toys and drinking from the official Olympic water bottle, their eating preferences are, literally, all […]
Olympics Anywhere
By Bev Schellenberg So you don’t have tickets for any of the 2010 Winter Olympics? Consider yourself lucky. Think of it: by not going to the Opening Ceremonies, you’ve now saved the $175-1,110 ticket cost, the aggravation of pushing through the protestors, the hassle of braving the Vancouver rain, and the monotony of waiting for […]
Pass the Olympic doobie, man
By Bev Schellenberg “The Olympic torch came from Hitler, you know.” I pressed my phone closer to my ear, thinking I’d heard incorrectly. “Pardon?” “Yeah. It was his idea. I think, anyway. You can look it up on internet.” I never thought I’d be impressed with an idea Hitler came up with, and I wasn’t […]
Olympic serendipity
By Bev Schellenberg As a mom of two children in elementary school in British Columbia during the Winter Olympics 2010, I braced myself for an onslaught of Olympic-twisted curricula and information — dare I say, propaganda — coming home prior to the grand spectacle. After all, the Olympics website includes a section for teachers complete […]
Ambivalent at the Olympics
By Bev Schellenberg The Vancouver Winter Olympics will open in six days, whether British Columbians like it or not. The other day I was sitting in a Burnaby chiropractor’s office across the waiting room from a white-haired lady when she suddenly blurted, “I don’t want the Olympics here. They never asked me.” I looked around, […]
