Cats meow. Sheep baa. Cattle moo. Chickens cluck. Roosters cock-a-doodle-do.
Do pigs really oink?
I’ve never had a close relationship with pigs, but I spent several hours last week at the 4-Hers swine show and didn’t hear anything sounding like an oink. The pigs squealed, snorted, snuffled, grunted, oofed, and one went wok wok, but no oinks. Along with watching the young people work with their animals, it was entertaining to watch the pigs.
Not only did they come in a variety of colours, but you couldn’t help noticing the differences in their personalities.
During the last part of the show, some of them were definitely showing some attitude.
***
I’m getting Duffied out, but surely the issue in this sorry Senate mess is that Mike Duffy (and a few others) should never have been appointed to the Upper House in the first place. However, all the fuss, as appalling as it is, is diverting attention from other matters, like climate change.
This has been a hot year. The first few months of 2015 broke heat records dating back to 1880 and those records have fallen every month since. Even B.C.’s rain forests are being damaged by too much heat.
To make matters worse, this winter could be warmer than usual, creating more problems for next year.
Each party has a climate change agenda, why are the leaders pussyfooting around the issue? One election goodie Mr. Harper has announced is a tax break for service club members.
I have no quibble with that, but for the last two years Mr. Harper has taken aim at the tax benefits for those donating to non-profit groups, especially environmental groups. People who belong to or donate to these groups are taxpayers, too. Why shouldn’t they get a break?
One gripe I have regarding charitable tax breaks is that they only count for money. Volunteers can spend hours — years — giving their time for worthy causes, but “in kind” donations don’t count, only cash.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.
