My dismay that the Canucks are out of the running for the Stanley Cup is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the Boston Bruins didn’t make it beyond the first go-around either.
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April 28 was the Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. The Steelworkers’ union was involved in organizing the ceremonies here (good job, Eric) and the recent mill explosions in Burns Lake and Prince George were much on people’s minds. The day is meant to remember all workers, not just union members, and in spite of all the rules and regulations governing the workplace, deaths still happen.
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Laugh or cry department.
1. “I know at the top you are seeing great sights, but down here on the bottom we too should have rights.” Dr. Seuss, Yertle the Turtle.
The acting school superintendent in Prince Rupert has banned the Seuss book from the curriculum. He says that line is politically inappropriate given the current dispute with teachers. What next, ban Bambi?
2. Because the Harper government believes some Canadian environmental groups are bad, ugly, and maybe subversive, as well as being under the thumbs of Foreign Funders (FFs), it plans to crack down on their charitable status. So what about the Fraser Institute?
That influential right-wing group has charitable status, and it receives significant FFs from Republican oil billionaires, the Koch brothers. Will the Institute have to meet the same criteria as the green groups re their charitable status? The institute says it uses the Koch money for work on the international scene. Air, water, fish, etc. — don’t know about geographical or political boundaries, so doesn’t that give U.S. funders an interest in the work Canadian green groups are doing on those issues?
#3. I live only a few blocks from the city’s downtown area, but that doesn’t deter deer from nipping the tops off my tulips.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.
