Canada’s disappearing forests are a devastating hidden carbon bomb

NATIONAL OBSERVER

A PinP photo

The amount of wood in Canada’s forests has declined relentlessly for decades. Details here.

SAVE THE WILDERNESS - A MUSIC VIDEO WITH A MESSAGE

 A video I produced a few year ago with the generous consent of Eric Bogle, folksinger/songwriter extraordinaire. It's an appeal to save our wild places from human greed before it's too late. I believe it bears repeating. L.P.

Of Poets & Pioneeers - a book review

by Larry Powell

 At first, I thought I had made a mistake - agreeing to review “Of Poets & Pioneers.” 

After all, I’m no poet!

The last “poetic gene” in my family seems to have died when my own Grandfather, J.J. Powell passed away in 1953. 

But I was soon to discover, one doesn’t need a “poet’s pedigree” to appreciate the values which this work embraces. 

Poetry just happens to be the backdrop - a vehicle, if you will - that offers a glimpse into a rare and remarkably close relationship between the author, Bill Massey and his paternal grandfather, “Will.”

Bill’s earlier book, “Of Pork and Potatoes,” details the troubled home he grew up in and helps us better understand why his visits with his grandfather, recorded in this one, provided such a precious haven in his own life.

Woven between the poetic parts are stories “Grandfather Will” wrote about a sometimes harsh life in a British public school and later about the trials and tribulations he faced as a pioneering farmer in Manitoba. 

Bill’s own stories and poetry only add to the book’s appeal. 

If there were ever to be a literary contest with a “Labour of Love” category, “Of Poets & Pioneers” would definitely be a contender!

Disinformation ruins the conversation on fertilizer policy, MPs say

The National Observer

Pervasive disinformation around Canada’s voluntary fertilizer reduction plan makes it hard to have a rational discussion on this critical topic, Green and NDP MPs say.

Investigation reveals Poilievre, populist and pro-natural gas groups spread fertilizer disinformation to whip up outrage against Trudeau

The National Observer

Last month, a video was posted to Pierre Poilievre's Facebook page accusing the federal government of causing high food prices and driving farmers to ruin. The post on the Tory leader’s page laid the blame on "proposed fertilizer cuts" that would force Canadians into an "irresponsible" reliance on expensive imported food.

The video was misleading. Story here.