Will the new tax Become McGuinty’s Legacy?

Whether or not you agree with his policies, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has never shied away from controversial decisions. The latest of several rather contentious policies his government has introduced in its six years in power is the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). The name sounds nice – the word ‘harmonized’ evokes images of consumers, business owners and tax-gatherers living happily together to a peaceful choral soundtrack. However, the mere thought of another new tax, especially one that increases the price of some things, is enough to make a lot of people bristle.

It has been a little over 13 years since McGuinty became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and almost six and a half years since he became the premier of Ontario. This period has been eventful to say the least. In the 2003 election, the incumbent Progressive Conservative Party was turfed out, Read more

Humanitaritween Bilaal Rajan

“I don’t know if I consider myself mature for my age but I definitely consider myself an average 13-year-old.” For someone who has shot the breeze with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Roméo Dallaire and Desmond Tutu, Bilaal Rajan is not your typical teenybopper; he’s not even your run-of-the-mill human being. He was just four years old when tackling global poverty became his playground. When I was that age, the idea of selling Clementine oranges door-to-door to raise money for earthquake victims in Gujarat, India, would never have crossed my mind as I pushed Barbie and Ken in a luxurious convertible Corvette across a laminate floor. Your childhood mentality was probably the same.

Let’s be completely honest with each other: making a difference in the world is as far from many of our Western minds as a remote ocean island on the most extreme point of the Earth. Read more

Introducing the 2010 FX35 and FX50

In a league of true contenders, performance matched with style of high artistic valour provides FX with a formula of necessity needed to compete. The “Performance Inspired” design of the 2010 Infiniti FX35 and FX50 is a package of fluid motion, class-leading safety and technological superiority that sets it apart from the competition.

“The combination of no-hesitation acceleration, radical design, and the handling and performance of a sports car has not been achieved by any of the 2010 FX’s competitors,” says Nader Maher, sales manager of new vehicles at a local Infiniti dealership.

Maher’s confident Infiniti pride stems not from a sales perspective but from personal experience. He explains how he (a five-year owner of the FX brand) will be upgrading to the 2010 FX50 in the coming weeks. “You never feel insecure in an FX,” he says. Read more

Mi Casa, Tu Casa: Light up your life à la Français

Paris is rich in romance, innovative designs and self-expression. With a new season starting, add a little touch of the City of Light into your life with some of these lively home décor additions, stylish threads and the latest gadgets. Read more

Jason Meyers Wows Fashion Week

Some of the fashion industry’s top designers flocked to Toronto for LG Fashion Week last fall to showcase their Spring 2010 collections. Among them was Project Runway Canada’s season two finalist Jason Meyers, who wowed a fashion-infatuated audience with fresh colours and cutting-edge designs. “I really try to design with the aspects of timeless and edgy,” says the Hamilton born designer, who had his own tailor as a teenager.

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Get into Gear with a Hands Free Solution

On Oct. 26, 2009, Ontario joined the growing number of jurisdictions around the world to introduce a distracted-driving law. Among other things, the new law makes it illegal to drive while using any kind of hand-held phone, PDA or other device such as a GPS or MP3 player. The period between the introduction of the law until the end of January 2010 is being used to educate drivers about the new law before police start issuing fines on Feb. 1, 2010.

While the law does apply to all devices, the most common cause of hand-held-device-related accidents is people making phone calls, texting and performing other operations on their cellphones while driving. Numerous studies on the effect of distracted driving have shown that sidetracked drivers are up to 20 times more likely to have an accident than more focused drivers. Over 90 per cent of all accidents are caused by driver error, Read more

Vancouver, True Patriot Love

An event so powerful that it brings countries together, building bridges and setting aside differences, the Olympics is a symbol of unity. Encouraging both international competition and cooperation, the Games are a way for diverse athletes to demonstrate great strength and magnitude, the way they did in ancient Greece.

Canada is glowing with pride as it gears up to host Vancouver 2010 – an event to go down in history. Buzzing with anticipation and overflowing with international guests, there’s no better time to visit this attraction-laden city. If you’re lucky enough to have tickets to the Olympic or Paralympic Games, there’s no doubt that you are in for a show-stopping display of athletic prowess. If not, there is still much to see.   Read more

Do you know your Doctor?

What you are about to read may cause the necessary level of paranoia needed in order to take the essential steps towards knowing more about your family physician. Few have the gall to ask their doctor questions pertaining to their past that could eventually affect the future. Most doctors possess the charm or at least the medical degrees that seem to speak for themselves. A recent case that highlights this discussion identifies why the public should be concerned about family physicians’ lives in and out of the clinic. It begins in Manitoba, takes a criminal turn in California, and ends up back in the Prairie provinces.

The year was 1995, and a Manitoba Medical University graduate named George Korol found himself far from the sort of honest, hard-working life that most Manitobans have come to lead. He achieved his status as a doctor on Aug. 10, 1979; Read more

No Easy Answers to a potentially Deadly Outcome

The role of the barbarians who find a home in Emperor Bettman’s ring is to forge the fury of balance and clenched fists while pulverizing the face and skull of the enemy. Any time players drop the gloves, they take part in the controversial piece of the dynamic hockey jigsaw puzzle. To witness a live NHL fight, one is subjected to viewing hockey’s highly popular sideshow. Fans revive the Roman Empire, as chants from the Dark Age fill the arena with adrenaline, in the heat of the moment screams of “kill him” and “rip his head off” fly through the air with every jab and hook that lands flush on the opponent’s visage. This physical frenzy does not need to be dramatized, although NHL commissioner Gary Bettman donning the robes of Julius Caesar with a laurel wreath atop his brown comb-over would be magnificent. The difference between your everyday hockey arena and the Colosseum is that bloodthirsty Romans implored their gladiators to kill whatever stood in their way Read more

Injections, Ejections: The H1N1 Enigma

Over the last couple of months, hello-kisses and pleasantries of ‘how are you?’ and ‘can you believe this weather’ have been replaced by distant smiles and rhetoric fringed with panic and utter confusion. All this – while worshiped Purell dispensers of a palpable deity status not seen since SARS’s heyday, oust Holy Water at religious gatherings.

Since health officials declared in October the ‘Second Wave’ of a pandemic that was first reported in Mexico this past spring – the 2009 flu pandemic, a.k.a. swine flu and politically appropriate, H1N1 influenza virus – the hottest topic these days is whether to sink or swim with the biggest mass vaccination program that has sloshed and frothed onto Canadian shores. Read more

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