GregMercer.ca

Behind all the screaming and shouting over tax breaks for “foreigners” and rising hydro bills, there’s a quiet little proposal that has barely gotten any notice in this election. It’s the Liberal plan to expand the Greenbelt, and if you live in or around Guelph you might want to take a look at it. The Greenbelt is that 1.8-million acre band of protected farmland and environmentally-sensitive space around the Golden Horseshoe created in 2005. If the Liberals expand that protected zone into more of...
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I don’t need to tell you the news from the south has not been good. After a steady stream of stories about the double-dip recession looming in the United States, my friend, Eric, and I decided to do some deep research and go straight into the heart of the beast ourselves. We would travel to America and see how our southern cousins were handling this impending economic crisis. As far as research projects go, this one promised to be epic. Our mission hit a...
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At least now I know my blood is too thick for the South Pacific. I shouldn’t be surprised – I’m from a part of the world where overcast and 18 C is cause for a day at the beach. Still, it was a shock to my pasty, Maritime-raised body to step off the plane in Fiji, one of those clusters of tropical islands where turning the page on a book is enough to break out into a soaking wet sweat. Despite the sauna-like conditions,...
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First, they legalized bikinis. And now they want to relax Ontario’s liquor laws? What’s next? Mixed-gender swimming beaches? Gambling houses that take wagers on horses? Physical contact at high school dances? Dresses above the knees? If this keeps up, I guess I should pack my bags and move to Greenland. I’ll be the first to say you don’t need more than a sunny disposition and a bag of potato chips to have a good time. So the news that Ontario’s Attorney General Chris Bentley...
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Sure, the birds are chirping and the dandelions are popping. But as another summer blooms into view, you can’t help the feeling that something is missing. Where has all the good baseball gone? First, the Guelph Royals, a fixture of senior baseball in this city, announced they wouldn’t field a team this summer because they couldn’t reach a deal with the city on the use of Hastings Stadium. Then, Guelph’s junior ball team, the Silvercreeks, cancelled its season earlier this month just hours away...
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