Dave Dale

Masks are advisable at the Capitol Centre during the ‘Northern Issues’ provincial leadership debate May 10 . . . mostly as a precaution for the wafting variants of political promises.

It’s scary how much toxicity can come bubbling up from within. One spark can ignite the unspent fuel laying dormant from past inflictions left unresolved. And the festering forces rise up in spits of scalding steam.

Pushing the pandemic envelope, North Bay is opening up in a big way this week. The Capitol Centre was nearly full Tuesday for comedy show and Thursday, April 21 is all-in with Cascade Casino grand opening, Battalion hockey playoffs starting and Downchild Blues Band is flip, flop and flying at the Capitol Centre while Theatre Canadore is opening a three-night run of the ironically-timed Orphans for the Czar.

I can see entire groups of cyclists, hikers, snowmobilers and ice-fishing enthusiasts traveling by rail to northern destinations. It wouldn’t be hard to add a freight car or two for bikes, sleds and canoes to the passenger string.

There is a fine line between a merit-based and reward-instilled system and one that enslaves people with perpetual work as gains are gobbled up by cost of living increases.

I don’t believe the federal government should be maintaining its carbon tax schedule with fuel prices exploding. The failure of the Bank of Canada to control inflation with interest rate adjustments, plus a pandemic, war in Europe and technology changes have already done the job – we already have a disincentive to burn fuel, like needing to eat.

North Bay and area has deep military roots that connect generations, for better or worse, with multiple perspectives combining to form one truth: it’s nasty business that consumes lives at home and abroad.

How do these announcements fit with the overall plan? Is there an overall plan? If Canadore is leading the charge, who is following whom? And how does the Local Health Integration Network, or whatever is being cooked up to replace it, fit into this picture?

Senior elementary is probably the best place to start teaching students about the global information buffet and how a healthy diet of news depends on your choices.

I guess, if anything, it’s a shame the current reflex in situations like the “for a girl” comment and even the girl vs women references, is that people are too readily thrown under the bus of progressiveness