It's times like these when I am truly, cringingly, embarrassed by our government.
It's no secret that I'm a pinko commie liberal. I believe in safety nets and socialized health care and helping those who are down on their luck. I believe in women's shelters and drug rehabs and needle exchange programs. I even listen religiously to the CBC. So it's not hard to find something for me to be angry about in most of our Conservative government's policies. However, this one goes beyond the pale, and not just for me. In their recently announced G8 initiative to promote maternal health in the developing world, the Tories have decided that birth control is not part of maternal health.
Yesterday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty named almost 600 elementary schools across Ontario that will be in the first wave to provide a full school day for kindergarten children. It turns out that my children’s school is on the list.
I have been paying particular attention to this issue because my third child, my baby girl, is set to start Junior Kindergarten (JK) this September. I’m really quite pleased with the fact that my child will be in one of the pilot schools. I should add the caveat here that she will be four-and-a-half years old when September hits. If she were born later, I would probably feel less confident about her stamina for coping with that much school. Given her age, and the fact that she is already somewhat used to a structured day thanks to attending preschool three full days a week, I think her transition to all day, every day will be fairly smooth.
That's the motto of an on-line dating site, Ashley Madison, which facilitates cheating. Like a typical on-line dating site, it's purpose is to help those looking for a partner to find one easily: the difference? These people are married and looking for someone willing to have an extramarital affair. Cheat.
Ashley Madison is so confident they can find you the right person to contribute to your infidelity that they have a 100% guarantee.
Join AshleyMadison.com for FREE and Have An Affair...Guaranteed!
This site isn't new. It's been featured on Ellen, The View, Dr. Phil, Good Morning America and Larry King. They've been providing an easy gateway for those looking to cheat on their spouse since 2001.
Until recently, I really had no idea a vehicle of this nature even existed. That was until the Toronto media went nuts with news of a potential ad for Ashley Madison which was to be displayed by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). TTC had allegedly accepted a deal to provide one street car to be wrapped head-to-toe with a purple ad stating - "LIFE IS SHORT. HAVE AN AFFAIR." - which would sprawl across the ENTIRE length of the train.
The second Thursday of the school year in Nova Scotia is known provincially as Stand Up Against Bullying Day. This began in 2007, when a freshman in an Annapolis Valley High School was bullied by seniors for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school. Two other seniors took note and decided enough was enough. Pooling their money, they bought fifty cheap pink shirts at a discount store and emailed everyone in the school they could think of, asking them to wear one of the shirts the next day. They figured that they could get twenty to thirty people to wear the shirts, but that twenty was enough to show that they were taking a stand.
The next day, they handed out the shirts - and were astonished to see over 400 other pink shirts worn at their school. There were pink accessories, pink jackets, pink sneakers - even a few pink basketballs on the gym floor that day, all worn to stop bullying.
What Iris Evans said is something we've all heard hundreds of times. Even my own mother who was the primary breadwinner in our family for many years has said similar things to me. I can understand why people were upset with Iris Evans. As Haley-O already explored, we're all pretty sick of being pitted against each other. Being a parent is hard enough. But this isn't why we should be upset with Iris Evans.
We all have women we look up to – whether relatives or not. Women we
nudge our daughters and point to, saying proudly ‘You can do that too’.
Trailblazers. Role models.Theresa Helen McNeil was one of those women.
An extraordinary woman died this week, and all of Canada is poorer for it.
Theresa McNeil, the first woman in Canada to serve as High Sheriff, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 81.
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