The other day, this writer had conversations with two friends, one was with a learned American who argued that the methods of Donald Trump closely follow those seen over the centuries with monarchs in England, where power was closely held and administered, enemies were eliminated, and not much could be done to bring about significant change.

The other conversation was with a worldly-wise Canadian who happens to see Trump as a very bright leader whose hold on power and delivery of an agenda for the USA and the rest of the world must, in some way, be admired.

This writer’s view of the American President is that he presents a danger to the world, and in past blog columns has likened Trump to dictators throughout history, even Adolf Hitler.

The two conversations left me frustrated. Should leaders such as Hitler or Joseph Stalin be praised simply because they were intelligent?

Should leaders and politicians not be judged on a normative basis, that is, do they work for the common good and leave the world in a better place? The answer for Hitler and Stalin is a definite “no”.

By 1936, there were an estimated five million prisoners in Stalin’s forced labour camps in the Soviet Union. Estimates of the deaths in the Gulag ranged from 1.2 million to 1.7 million.

In his effort to “purify” Nazi Germany, Hitler was responsible for the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust. With his unprecedented military might, Hitler went on to defeat many of his neighbours, killing many millions. Total deaths in World War Two, 1939-45, totalled 70-85 million people.

At this point, Donald Trump is not in the frightening league of Hitler and Stalin.

Despite flashes of good journalism coming from writers such as Andrew Waugh, John Chilibeck or Adam Huras, the editorial stance of the Telegraph-Journal is every bit as stodgy as it was when that newspaper was part of the Irving press.

Many persons of a certain age experienced a time of Sixties-style youthful radicalism that evolved over the years as they looked for other, more immediate and personal ways to work for the common good. 

Such was the case for Ferne Cristall, an amazing woman who died of cancer last spring and who engaged in an incredible life of kindness in the community through her large family, immigrants, students or simply people in need of her help.

This writer had the privilege of attending the warm and grateful Celebration of Life for Ferne in Peterborough, Ontario last Saturday. 

At the celebration, a young Syrian immigrant to Canada, Sidra Abdullah, summed up Cristall’s approach to living and helping others: “From the very first day we arrived in Canada, Ferne was there. She stepped into our lives with open arms and a heart full of warmth, ready to help with anything and everything we needed.

“No matter what it was, Ferne showed up, ready to lend a hand, offer love, and make life in Canada easier for my family and me. 

“She became so close to us that even a day or two without seeing or hearing from her felt like something was missing. That is how deeply she mattered to us,” said Sidra.

The winner of six Stanley Cups for the Montreal Canadiens, Dryden, 78, died of cancer on Sept. 5. In his first memorable season in the NHL, he was called up to the team and won his first Cup before he had even completed his rookie year.
 
Then, before he had to and at the peak of his game, Dryden retired from paying hockey in in his early thirties.
 
All those of a certain age can remember the 1972 Russia-Canada Summit Series. Nervous nationals of this country were on edge because Canada’s dominance of “our game” was being challenged by nations like Russia, with their fast-skating and ingenious passing of the puck.
 
This writer was in second year at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. at the time of the Summit series. Students crowded into the unlit gloom of a basement common room to watch the games on a back-and-white television. Like most Canadians we were disgusted by the domination of the Canadian team by the Russians in the games in Canada.
 
This prompted the great centre, Phil Esposito, to scold the booing fans and the sceptical media for their response to those early games. “I am completely disappointed…we play because we love our country,” Esposito said in a passionate speech which ignited the whole country and turned the series around.

In a world filled with self-interest, hatred, greed and billionaire-worship, Come From Away is a wonderful interlude of kindness, generosity, modesty, joie-de- vivre and deep artistic talent.

This was not the Broadway production. It was at the impressive Kira amphitheatre in Saint Andrews, N.B. with an almost completely all-New Brunswick cast.

Thunderstorms had hit the local area earlier in the day and it appeared that the evening show on August 30 could not go ahead. But then, by a miraculous transformation, the heavens cleared, and the show was on with a lucky double rainbow overhead.

Just about everyone knows the real events on which Come From Away is based. The 911 attacks in New York had occurred and all flights were grounded. As the first available airport in North America, flights from Europe and beyond were obliged to land in Gander, Newfoundland and there the hearts and homes of the citizens of this small community opened, along with every available school, community centre and warehouse. Everything from food to diapers were provided to passengers, with no one holding out a hand for money.

Setting the mood, the packed audience at Kira was serenaded with the familiar refrains of the Nfld. band Great Big Sea. All hands were on deck, including Brad Henderson, Managing Director of Kingsbrae Gardens and former Mayor of Saint Andrews, who was squeegeeing the stage after the recent rain.

The performance began with an emotional and fast-paced number, the actors successfully speaking and singing with authentic Newfoundland accents, despite the fact that no members of the cast are Newfoundlanders.

​The lyric of the song by Southern Spiritual singer Clarence Carter

As told by wonderful singer, Clarence Carter, in his song about a poor U.S. Southern man on his death bed, who told his son, named Patches, “I’m depending on you, son…I’ve tried to do my best…it’s up to you to do the rest.”

​Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants were in a showdown with the Carney government and the federal government blinked.

The gutsy Air Canada flight attendants, who refused to end their strike without a fair settlement of their demand for pay for the full hours they work each day on the job, have reached a tentative agreement with the airline.

Federal “Jobs Minister” Patty Hajdu, not new to the cabinet table having been Minister Responsible for Indigenous Services in the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, incredibly took the “hear no evil, see no evil” approach by launching a probe into allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector.

What planet has Hajdu been living on? The flight attendants, 70 per cent of the them female, have long been protesting that they are only paid for the hours they are on board an aircraft, not the hours when they are on the ground preparing to fly, or after a plane has landed and has stopped moving.

While Canada’s next largest airline, WestJet does not provide pay for groundwork the issue is expected to be a key one for its flight attendants when their current collective agreement expires at the end of this year.

Elsewhere in North America, Delta Air Lines, which is not unionized, does pay partial wages for groundwork. Several European airlines also provide pay for flight attendants’ work on the ground.

At a time when Planet Earth is coping with climate change and unprecedented wildfires, it is critical to reduce the use of fossil fuels for electricity production. NB Power’s unfolding plan to contract for construction of a 500-megawatt natural gas-powered plant in the Sackville area is absurd.

Furthermore, NB Power is asking to bypass rigorous review by the N.B. Energy and Utilities Board (NBEUB) for projects costing $50 million or more. NB Power is arguing that the fact that this gas-fired plant will be a “tolling” facility – not owned and run by the utility itself, meaning the project need not go through the normal NBEUB process. As William Shakespeare would say: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

A better scent is evident with Saint John Energy’s, Burchill Wind Farm with its 42- megawatt capacity. The number is small, but the direction toward renewables is a good one, and offers NB Power a more enlightened, planet-friendly pathway to the future.

It’s time for Premier Susan Holt and her ministers to state all environmental and Energy and Utilities laws and regulations will be upheld to ensure a proper review of the mammoth gas-fired Sackville area plant which NB Power is now pursuing. Furthermore, all financial details, including the cost of linking any new power plant into the power grid should be open for public scrutiny.

Canada, France and Britain were among the first countries to express their support for Israel in the hours and days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. Freeing the remaining hostages held by Hamas and the essential return of the human remains is those who died in captivity.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada intends to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. Carney has taken a sensible approach:  He says that “the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable and is rapidly deteriorating…Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has let the situation deteriorate in Gaza to this extent.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, now without a seat in the House of Commons, and embroiled in a complex by-election campaign in Alberta, is a toothless tiger on the Canadian political scene at the moment, and he did not add much to the debate on the Middle East when he said that Prime Minister Carney’s position “rewards violence, not peace.”

The New Democratic Party called Carney’s approach “a welcome step forward.”

Carney is further suggesting that the recognition of a Palestinian state is based on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to needed reforms, including the holding of general elections in 2026 in which Hamas would not be able to take part, “to demilitarize the Palestinian state.

There is an important degree of nativity in this reliance on the Palestinian Authority, which has been largely ineffectual under the domination of the military strength of Hamas.