New Sex Ed Curriculum for Ontario Schools

Hard to believe almost a month has gone by since I last posted. What a month - a record breaker here - the coldest February in many years! You would think that with being stuck inside I would have written up a storm but no. It took the topic of sex ed to get me writing again. My letter to the editor appeared in today's Ottawa Citizen.

"There are all kinds of interesting discussions going on this week, about the new sex ed curriculum being introduced by the Ontario government. From the little that I have heard, I think that the new curriculum will be of much benefit to students and their families. A few of the callers I heard on radio today were upset that their kids would be exposed to facts too early but the sad fact is that children and adults, all of us, are surrounded by sexual images and expressions every day.While many parents are no doubt doing a terrific job of educating their children on sexual matters, I think I speak for many parents when I say that parents can use some help from schools to keep up with the changing times. If parents are able to follow along with accompanying textbooks, this could lead to very worthwhile dialogue and reinforcement of lessons at home. 

For those who believe their kids are too young, I offer a few t shirt slogans. Recently, while visiting at a local school, I saw a four year old wearing  a shirt that read, "Lock up your daughters" . A very young looking grade 7 student was wearing a shirt that simply read, "Stud". I do not think that either student understood the meaning of the slogan that they were displaying for all the school to see. I think it's a shame that their parents thought those slogans were appropriate for their children. Yes, sexual expressions and ideas are all around us. Better for kids to receive accurate information from a well researched, province-wide curriculum, rather than pick up their attitudes from T shirts, TV and the internet."

Harperland…without John Baird

Whoa!!! Now, that was a surprise! John Baird's resignation from politics has rocked, not only Ottawa but the whole country, as we head into an election year.

For Harper's opponents  this can only be seen as good news. A major Conservative player is gone. Years ago, I could name many of the federal cabinet ministers. Back then, Prime Ministers let their cabinet colleagues  speak for their departments. Cabinet ministers were well known characters. However, under Harper, most of the cabinet has remained tightly controlled. There have only been a few who have been granted permission to speak and Baird was one of them.

I have always found John Baird extremely unlikeable. His rude style was nothing like most parliamentarians  He has often been referred to as an attack dog, a pit bull. Who would want that reputation? On most news sites there are only the bare bones of his resignation speech in the House of Commons. However, here is how he started off: " I am overwhelmingly optimistic about the future of this country.  I am optimistic because over the past nine years I have seen the stature of this country grow in the eyes of the world…In short, the world has seen the best that Canada has to offer."

Excuse me? Many Canadians would beg to disagree.  The world has not seen the best of Canada. Canada had a much better reputation in many areas (the environment for one) before Harper and Baird took control. Many people I talk to are extremely saddened by the backward steps Canada has taken under Harper. Baird went to say,"When I joined my good friend Mike Harris" Yikes! Who even mentions that name anymore? He may be the most reviled name in Ontario politics. 

Baird's goodbye gift? Well, in ten years time he'll start receiving a tidy little souvenir of his time in Parliament. As the CBC site points out, "By not running in 2015, Baird also qualifies for his pension, under an old rule, at age 55. Parliament increased the qualifying age to 65 years old but that policy only covers those who are elected or re-elected in 2015."

Harperland…It's your turn

Perhaps you do not agree with me about Stephen Harper? Now it's your turn. The Globe and Mail is conducting a survey on what Canadians think about Harper's decade in power. The results will be published on February 7th. Go ahead and have your say.

Harperland…again... Part 4

With the new year comes resolutions. Along with the usual - exercise -  I would like to blog more regularly. I am happy to say that I have just attended my first exercise class in a very long time and here I am, with my trusty laptop.

Since this is an election year, my humble Harperland spot should be a more regular feature. I have no excuse for letting this lapse. It is certainly not for a lack of material. Almost every day I read or hear something about Harper that drives me crazy. The most distressing thing of all is that the race for PM is so close. There is indeed a strong possibility that the reign of this man might continue.

When someone is Prime Minister for a short term there may not be long-lasting effects. Years later you might be hard pressed to remember any major changes that happened while they were in power. This is not the case with Harper. He has been in power for so long and has reached into so many facets of goverment. It will take years before our country will be able to recover from the drastic changes he has imposed on us all. Many of those changes may not be reversed … like mail delivery. For now, our neighbourhood still receives door to door service. If that changes before the election, would door to door service be revived?

However, there are many more important issues. Yesterday on The Current, CBC's Anna Maria Tremonti interviewed Mark Bourrie. "The journalist and historian takes on the Prime Minister and the Ottawa media in his new book, "Kill the Messengers: Stephen Harper's Assault on Your Right to Know."  Bourrie  lambastes Harper for his systematic shutdown of information and access to the government. Throughout Harper's reign, access to ministers and bureaucrats has steadily decreased to a point where it is almost impossible for journalists to gather basic information. Access that was the norm before Harper, has now vanished.

“Harper is intent on changing the way Canadians see their own country,” Bourrie writes. “He once said Canadians would not recognize the country after he was finished with it, and he’s done a lot to make sure that they do see it in a different light: as an energy and resource superpower instead of a country of factories and businesses, as a ‘warrior nation’ instead of a peacekeeper, as an Arctic nation instead of clusters of cities along the America border, as a country of self-reliant entrepreneurs instead of a nation that shares among its people and its regions.”
  
Have a listen to the show. Perhaps this is one of the main problems with this government: the secrecy, and the withholding of information. Like the new fencing all around Paliament Hill, this government is very much shut off from the people it is intended to serve. We and our press corps are treated like the enemy, if we dare to ask questions.

Free wine

Just for the record, I do enjoy a glass of white wine. However...

Yesterday, while doing the last of my Christmas returns at Carlingwood Mall, here in Ottawa, I saw a pathetic sight. In a hallway, outside a small wine store, a young employee was standing, looking rather forlorn. Over his head he held a large sign, proclaiming, "Free Wine Tasting." He looked so bored. I realize there are a lot worse jobs out there, but what must it be like to stand there, bored out of your skull, while trying to entice people to taste and buy wine?

Free wine tasting in shopping malls is one of my current pet peeves. Yes, after I finish tromping all over Superstore buying groceries I do feel worn out and look forward to getting the heck out of there. I'm ready for a break. However, that does not mean that when I roll my overloaded cart past the wine store, that I want someone to put a tray of plastic wine glasses in front of my face and offer me a taste. Can we do nothing, not even grocery shop, without alcohol?

Before Christmas, when offered the wine, I told the young man that I thought it was wrong to offer alcohol so freely, at all times of day, in a public place. I told him my concern was for all those trying to stay away from booze, those struggling with addiction. Why put it right under their noses? The young man was not impressed with my concern and dismissed my comments with a heartless laugh.

So I was interested when I saw a headline in The Ottawa Citizen on January 9th. "Easily available alcohol a problem, doctor warns" was written by David Reevely. It's an interesting piece about Ottawa's top public health doctor, Isra Levy and his reaction to the provincial government's trend to making booze more available. "I'm not a prohibitionist about just about anything,"Levy says. "But I am interested in mitigating harm, when harm can result." Amen.

Christmas reflections

Well, that's it for another year. The parties are over and the kids are gone. The house, although still dressed for Christmas, is strangely quiet.  I love having our children at home and always look forward to their visits. However, it's time to pick up the pieces of our regular life. It's also time to stop drinking and eating so much party food.

As I walk around the house, there are remnants of Christmas activities and visitors in every room. We rented a hotub for a week so there are bathing suits hanging up in the basement and a small mountain of towels in front of the washing machine.  The high chair, playpen (sorry that sounds so 1960's..the pack n' play) and toys are in the rec room. The mark of Prince Avery is everywhere - We keep finding Dora stickers on furniture, clothes and windows. Princess Eliza's baby blankets are washed and back onto the shelf, awaiting her next visit.

Say what you will about Christmas. Yes, it's a lot of work, before, during and after. However, it is still a grand occasion for family and friend visiting. When else in the year do we all make a point to be together, to sleep at the same house, to buy each other gifts, to sit around and visit and watch funny, old movies? There is something comforting about gathering together at this, the darkest time of the year.

Here is part of a reflection that our friend Roy sent to us. It's from an editorial in the Vancouver Sun, in 2012.

"Whether Christian or Hindu, Jew or Buddhist, Sikh or Muslim, agnostic, atheist or secular humanist, there is something for everyone in the big tent of Christmas with its principles of good will toward all others, devotion to peace instead of strife, celebration of family and community, generosity in equal measure toward friends and strangers, toward the poor and the lonely and the marginalized."

Today was the start of the new work year, the week to put the trees and decorations away, to get back to the ordinary. As we resume our more mundane lives, I will steal another bit from Roy's Christmas letter. Happy New Year to All!

When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled

– by Howard Thurman

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and the princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among people,

To make music in the heart.

Halifax and Ottawa

While watching CBC's The National last night I was reminded of our fall trip to Halifax. They ran a story about the opening weekend of the new Halifax Central library. This is truly an amazing building and it was great to see so many there and to hear people of all ages so enthusiastic  about their new library.

This September's visit was just our second trip to Halifax. What a lovely city! While walking around, I couldn’t help but make a few comparisons to Ottawa. The construction of a spectacular downtown library is a case in point. The fact is they have beaten us. It's already open. Bruce Gorman, director of central library and regional services at Halifax Public Libraries, stated yesterday, "It'll be an icon, a beacon for our city, like the Eiffel Tower is for Paris."

Meanwhile, back in the nation's capital, Ottawa mayor Jim Watson announced during the summer election campaign  he's now for a public-private partnership to fund a new downtown library here. Get this--there was even talk of a new round of discussions about possible plans for a new main branch of our library! There have been talks before and many ideas have been floated and shot down over the years. The fact remains that we are now at the end of 2014, and we're not even at the drawing board yet. It takes years before anything is ever decided in Ottawa.

This summer saw the re-opening of Ottawa’s Lansdowne Park and the rejuvenation of professional football  as well. The new stadium is not called Frank Clair stadium anymore. (He was Ottawa’s best known coach.) No, of course, it's called TD Place. As my mother often says, "It's all about the almighty dollar." The former football  team was the Rough Riders. I agree it was kind of silly to have two teams with the same name (Regina) but really, Redblacks is the best they could come up with?! Ah, but I digress.

The wrangling over the re-development of Lansdowne Park went on for years. In the beginning there was going to be an international design competition but in the end, a private group of sports and developer types got control of the whole thing. A couple of months ago we walked around during an open house event. I did go in with an open mind. I was prepared to be positive, so yes, there are some green areas and there are a lot of benches and trees. The new stadium is impressive. I can see it would be a fun place to attend a concert or sports event.

However, there was no moment when I went “Oh wow!” If I had never seen the Cattle Castle (Aberdeen Pavillion) before, then that would have been my “Oh wow “ moment. It is a remarkable building and thank goodness it was restored several years ago. Another building that was saved and restored is the Horticultural Building. What simply does not easily blend with these architectural gems are the new buildings: the condos, the stores and the movie theatres. None of these were necessary        (unless you’re a developer looking to make money) but I could have accepted them if they were more attractive. So, we now have Whole Foods (often called whole pay cheque) and a movie complex which will take customers away from existing businesses along neighbouring Bank Street. The new public skating rink is a real asset but did we need a new Winners store there as well?

Over the years we have been lucky to visit many outstanding city parks: Central Park in New York, Balboa Park in San Diego, Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, and Stanley Park in Vancouver. It’s hard to enjoy those parks and not think about what could have been, on that magnificent site along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa. There are no condos, grocery stores or movie theatres in those other world famous parks.

Which brings me back to Halifax. That city is blessed with many parks, among them the Halifax Commons, Point Pleasant Park and the Halifax Public Gardens. Point Pleasant Park is an immense park with many paths.

While walking along the water you turn a corner and suddenly there is this beautiful gazebo - just one of the many visual treats along the way.

A gazebo..what a gift to a city!

The Halifax Public Gardens are a real treat.The actual gardens are stunning but it is not just the flowers. There is a huge pond, fountains,

stone bridges, walking paths and plenty of seating.  While there we had the good fortune to enjoy one of their free afternoon concerts.

It was a marvellous summer day. Hundreds of people were there, many of them getting an ice cream cone in the old Horticultural Hall  before sitting down to listen to the music. It was a perfect way to spend a summer afternoon.

Yes, our nations' capital could take a few lessons from this Maritime city. They know how to provide wonderful gathering places for their citizens. The Halifax Central Library is just another "Oh wow" place to add to their already impressive list.