Editorials - Dec. 12, 2025
Hard to fathom
In an era when each day’s headlines seem to be more absurd than the last, one can be forgiven for the occasional eye roll. Last weekend, side-by-side headlines on one major news site proclaimed, “Trump awarded FIFA’s Inaugural Peace Prize,” next to, “Thailand bombs Cambodia,” and above, “Fighting flares in DR Congo”. Ironically, both conflicts are flare-ups in regions that Trump had been touting his peace plan success.
Satire sites were quietly throwing their hands up in the air when the reality of a world where an international soccer organization is giving out peace prizes is funnier than any comedy article that they could publish.
Just days after the chaotic FIFA World Cup draw, its president, Gianni Infantino, has been accused of breaching the organization’s own rules on political neutrality and the process of creating the award, since he single-handedly decided on it without benefit of a vote by the FIFA Council.
This is in a week where the U.S. National Park Service also announced changes to its free entrance days. In addition to removing the two holidays that celebrate civil rights leader MLK Jr (third Monday in January) and the end of slavery in the U.S. (June 19), the agency is adding Flag Day/Trump’s birthday (June 14), as a “patriotic” free day.
What could be more absurd than this administration removing two days celebrating Black Americans and replacing them with one day to honour Trump? You can’t make this stuff up. – DS
What took so long?
The old saying - allegedly a Chinese proverb - goes, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” Well, earlier this week the federal government announced its plan to plant a tree today, despite neglecting to plant one two decades ago.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’ Liberal government plans to fast-track 5,000 foreign-trained doctors to permanent residency in Canada. The pathway will open next year and, in many cases, the government says, these are doctors who are already treating patients across the country.
This comes at a time when the national healthcare system is in a state of transition, if you’re being kind, or in disrepair if you’re not. It also comes at a time when many around the world are souring on immigration. Perhaps this initiative could have a two-pronged effect - bolstering the nation’s healthcare system at a time when it gravely needs it while also introducing communities to new Canadians who are actively making them a better place to live, work and play. However, with the healthcare system facing challenges for at least the last two decades (there’s that 20-year figure again), it’s fair to ask what took them so long?
Young Canadians are not filling the shoes of retiring doctors at the necessary rate and, furthermore, we’ve heard that those who are prioritize a healthier work-life balance than their predecessors, so, even when a doctor retires and is replaced by a new one, it’s not uncommon that the new doctor will only accept, say, a third of the old one’s patients, so it’s far from a one-for-one replacement.
We’ve heard this in Huron County for decades, so it shouldn’t be news to anyone. this process should have begun long ago. – SL
Inspired to imagine
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born architect who passed away earlier this month at the age of 96, leaves a legacy that extends far beyond any single building. His work reminds us that architecture is more than walls and roofs. It is a tool for imagination, a way to inspire, provoke and transform the spaces we inhabit. Gehry demonstrated that buildings can be as expressive and unpredictable as the people who use them, and that creativity is central to how we experience the world.
Gehry’s designs were never merely functional. From the fluid, metallic forms of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to the sweeping curves of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, his work challenged conventional ideas of what a building should look like. Not every design was universally loved. Some critics questioned their practicality or taste. But Gehry’s architecture was never meant to be safe or predictable. It provoked conversation, encouraged exploration and invited the public to see the ordinary in extraordinary ways.
The influence of his work on cities and communities was profound. The Guggenheim transformed Bilbao from a quiet port city into a global destination, showing how daring design can drive cultural and economic renewal. In Toronto, his redesign of the Art Gallery of Ontario elevated a regional museum into a civic landmark, blending art, light and space to create an experience that belongs to everyone.
Gehry’s legacy is not confined to steel, glass and concrete. It is in the idea that architecture can be a living, breathing part of culture, capable of stirring imagination, sparking dialogue and reshaping how we inhabit the world. His buildings show us that even walls can tell stories, evoke emotion and awaken curiosity. The spaces Gehry created and the vision he championed will challenge, inspire and delight for generations. – SBS