Columns

I, the one and only Old Nick, have taken over The Chaff, and I would like to begin by assuring readers that everything is perfectly under control.

So it begins: a month-long celebration and reflection of the 20th anniversary of my first day with The Citizen. In other words, I've given the last two decades of my life to this outfit and to mark this milestone, it's time to dissect what it's all meant.

It's still early in his term, but Prime Minister Mark Carney is well on his way to becoming one of Canada's great prime ministers.
I must say I was doubtful about this even earlier this year.

A tradition returns, You (can't) see everything, Lessons from the diamond

Throughout our district, many towns, villages and townships have held a fall fair to celebrate the year's harvest and to provide some friendly competition amongst their citizenry.

Choosing a topic to write this column almost resulted in me writing about U.S. President Donald Trump and his unprecedented attack on the free press with his decision to bar reporters of CNN, MSNow and Politico from entering the White House.

There are moments in the life of a community when an idea arrives so perfectly formed that we immediately understand two things: first, it is obviously a good idea, and second, people are going to argue about it.

There is a quotation that I likely cite far too often. However, as the rich get richer and the power in the world is getting increasingly centralized in the hands of a few, it really does seem to be more and more relevant as the weeks and months go on.

Highway 61 Revisited, Pressing on, Too much of nothing

As the time rolls around for the 2026 International Plowing Match being held near Walkerton in Bruce County this month, we are going to take a look back at a previous match - that is, not the match itself, but rather stories about the site...

Over the course of the last month or so, our family has engaged in the practice of nurturing a caterpillar along its journey to becoming a butterfly. We have seen three of them off into the world since late July.

There is a statue in Lucknow of a man who, strictly speaking, was not from Lucknow. This seems like a minor detail until you start thinking about it, at which point it becomes a surprisingly entertaining question.

This column about the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy should really have been in last week's newspaper, which came out on Sept. 11, but since I write this column almost a week in advance, I wasn't really thinking of it.

Bridge over troubled water, The boxer, Homeward bound

There comes a point in every major civic undertaking when the calendar itself begins to look suspicious. We have reached that point.

Each year, the county and area fire departments would pool their resources and put together an emergency preparedness guide in The Citizen.

Last week, The Citizen moved into its new office - which also happens to be its first office.

Born in the U.S.A., My City in Ruins, Darkness on the Edge of Town

There are certain ideas that refuse to go away, no matter how many reasonable people quietly suggest that perhaps we should talk about something else. The Chaff has one of those ideas.

Anyone who has been on social media recently or grabbed their mail from the post office has seen a version of the same flyer.

Watching the earthquake and landslide in Nepal last week - waves of dirt and ice smashing over buildings - reminded me what a gentle world we live in here in Huron County.

The national anthem, Anyone can play guitar, Everything in its right place

In an era when some people change career paths in their lifetime, it is remarkable to learn of a family whose members pursued their individual vocations for several decades each.

For as long as there have been elections, there has always been someone looking to undermine them.