Take time for our elders

January 25, 2017

If you’ve been reading This Week with any regularity this past month, you may have guessed that January is Alzheimer’s awareness month.

Remembering to hope

Some years ago, I went home at Christmas to visit my parents. At first, everything seemed normal. Then I found my father trying to do up the zipper on a coat. He looked at me with a rueful expression and said “I’ve been trying to do this for almost 15 minutes and I can’t remember how the damn thing works.” My heart sank. I knew this was the start of a long slide into the total darkness of full-blown Alzheimer’s. Eventually the disease shut down his whole body. He died when his breathing just stopped.

A New Direction

By Nate Smelle WATCHING THE ELECTION results come in online and on television it didn’t take long for Canada to elect a new government. People ...

Trudeau visits rural; why it matters

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touched down just out of arm’s reach last week. He stopped in Napanee, Belleville and Peterborough over Jan. 12 and 13 on his cross-country tour to meet regular Canadians just like you and me. The goal of the tour, it seemed, was to re-establish and strengthen Ottawa’s connection with rural people’s needs and ideas.

Voting for a new leader

By Nate Smelle DURING THIS CAMPAIGN I’ve had the chance to get to know a few of the candidates on a personal level. Although my ...

Should the park tap be free?

If you were on social media over the past weekend you would’ve seen the debate sparked between Town of Bancroft Councillor Bill Kilpatrick and Councillor Mary Kavanagh over the Millennium Park free water tap.

Croft Talks

By Nate Smelle WHEN I WAS FIRST ASKED to speak about my perspective on the 2015 federal election as a guest on the new talk ...

MPP looks ahead for 2017

While there were many successes in 2016, life continues to get harder in Ontario — especially in rural Ontario. Prince Edward-Hastings MPP Todd Smith said decisions made by Premier Kathleen Wynne and the provincial government drove electricity prices higher.

Bossio wishes best for 2017

What a year 2016 was! As a new member of parliament, it has been an absolutely incredible experience, and I am thankful every day for the opportunity that has been afforded to me.