Something seems strange about the  way people are looking at Stephen Harper’s avowed intention of giving stiffer sentences for serious criminal offenses.

I’m not arguing one way or the other about fine-tuning the Criminal Code; in many ways I feel that the punishment should fit the crime —  always barring  capital punishment. Then  we must consider the other — and sociological  side of the argument — but that as I said isn’t my purpose here.

Right now we have our police forces across Canada understandably applauding the idea of stiffer sentences and at the same time understandably urging tighter gun control. Now haven’t Harper’s Tories many times over voiced their  wish  to scrap the gun control registry.

To my mind, what should be written into the criminal code is that possession  or sale of handguns and automatic weapons  should be regarded as a  criminal offense punishable — not by a fine —  by imprisonment and confiscation and destruction of the weapons.  Collectors, too often vulnerable to theft would have to give up their toys.

Arms manufacturers, too, should be placed under tight scrutiny to determine to whom their products are being distributed– and how.

A Texas scientist recently said that the  best way to save the world from overpopulation would be a massive outbreak of the Ebola virus, killing off  90 per cent of the people.

Probably he was stating this not as a wishful thought but merely to illustrate how serious is this problem of overpopulation of a planet that cannot sustain such a vast amount of humanity.

“What we really need to do is start thinking about controlling our population before it’s too late,” Professor Eric Pianka told the Associated Press. “It’s already too late, but we’re not even thinking about it. We’re just mindlessly rushing ahead breeding our brains out.”

To my mind, that’s what it all comes down to. Contraception.  Population control — now — overriding all religious prejudices against it  and reaching the people through every known agency working in the common good.

Come to think of it an undernourished overpopulated world is a prime target for a pandemic of any sort and there are quite a few waiting in the wings, it seems,  to enact biological genocide on all races, all religions.

“Take a look around our vibrant and dynamic community and one thing becomes abundantly clear. The quality of life we have enjoyed for more than 50 years is truly a reflection of good, caring neighbours.”

Those are the words of some spin doctor at Cadillac Fairview,  on the website of its Don Mills Centre, soon to be razed to make way for an open mall and presumably bIg box stores to replace the many small businesses there now.

I went there recently looking for bargains at the stores due to be closed.   I didn’t leave   without a sense of guilt at having profited at the expense not only of the merchants at the doomed shops  but because  Don Mills  has been a real community centre. Many of the residents have lived there since 1954 when the centre opened. Many seniors have moved there. They appreciate the covered space soon to disappear

A grocery store and a drug store will remain standing, the rest will go. “We want to create a living space where our community can once again live, work” says Cadillac Fairview.

Mike Colle, who last June became Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, engineered a historic immigration agreement with the Liberal government late last year. The accord was another first for Canada and entailed the promise of $920 million in federal funding to Ontario over five years. (more…)

The “take note” debate in Parliament that wasn’t a debate at all has come and gone. But the fact remains that according to some polls, public support for the presence of Canadian forces in Afghanistan is evenly divided between the pros and cons.

It’s so easy for all of us here, thousands of miles from Kandahar, to pass judgment on what’s right and what’s wrong. Personally, as an ex soldier, my heart goes out to Canadians over there but my head asks the age-old question: Who really profits from war? (more…)

The firing of Bill Stairs as communications director for Prime Minister Harper just days after the latter’s swearing-in must surely be one of the most rapid on record. (more…)

A large number of ethnocultural organizations are petitioning the Prime Minister. All represent cultures that have suffered genocide. They’re asking him to deny funding to the proposed Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg unless it abandons the idea of a single Holocaust Centre at the Museum. (more…)

I recently expressed the opinion that the proposed Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg should not receive government support if it confined its condemnation of genocide to a single Holocaust Centre. (more…)

I must preface this commentary by stating categorically that I oppose militant religious fundamentalism be it from Christian, Jewish Muslim any other dogma. (more…)

Not long ago maverick bookstore owner Henri Tranquille died in Montreal. He’ll go down in the history of Quebec as the man who defied the religious orientation of the province (more…)