Vaughan Hospital – A Prognosis on Vaughan Hospital

An enormous promise is entrenched in an otherwise vacant 35-hectare field at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street. “Future Home of Vaughan’s First Hospital” reads the conspicuous blue and white sign that’s weathered a few more storms than expected. In the background, the vibrant colours of Canada’s Wonderland offer a unique parallel to a far less amusing theme: for the City of Vaughan, it’s been a roller-coaster ride to the realization of a premier health-care facility.

The ups and downs were set in motion in 2003, when Vaughan Council decided it was time Canada’s largest municipality without a hospital finally built one. The city has swelled significantly since then, yet it’s faced with an empty stretch of land, a recently relinquished health-care foundation, a contentious $10 million federal grant that’s slipped out of grip and a sign that’s getting stale. With a major player
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Page Turners

A Girl and Her Pig. By April Bloomfield
With her English upbringing and Italian cuisine touch, Bloomfield creates a book of delightfully uncomplicated recipes.

The Food of Spain. By Claudia Roden
Written by an award-winning author, this recipe book will indulge your senses in colourful and rich Spanish cuisine.

Cookouts Veggie Style. By Jolinda Hackett
Inspire your palate all summer long with fresh and original vegetarian dishes.

The Book of Burger. By Rachael Ray
Sink your teeth into a cookbook that contains more than 200 mouth-watering ways to enjoy a burger.
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Summer Brain Drain

When the final school bell rings on that hot day in late June, students bolt out of their classrooms. After 10 months of formal instruction, they are ready for a break. But what happens when elementary and secondary level students burn their books for nine weeks?

There are varying opinions about modifying the academic calendar to include a shorter summer break, but what experts do agree on is the need for sustained learning between the months of June and September.

The “summer brain drain” refers to that gap in knowledge that occurs during the summer break. Kids fall behind and forget what they have learned, putting them at a disadvantage when they ring in the new school year. “There is literature out there that speaks to the ‘summer learning slide’”, says Drew McNaughton, principal of community and Read more

Golf Warmup – Above Par

Golf is an extremely athletic sport that requires almost every joint in your body to move in a coordinated dance, which starts from the back swing to the follow-through. Precision, power and flexibility are what separate good players from the great ones.

But what goes into developing a powerful swing while avoiding injury?

Most golfers will tell you that the controlled power you can generate from your swing is the key to a great game. Generating this maximal force while minimizing the impact on your joints is important. If you have poor posture and body mechanics, you are leaving yourself open to injury that will last beyond golf season. The best swings produce massive power but minimize the torsional (twisting) forces in the body, and specifically the torsion in the lumbar spine. In fact, the Read more

Q & A with Jeff Rubin

The former chief economist of CIBC World Markets talks about his new book The End of Growth.

Q: What compelled you to write The End of Growth?

A: I ended up in my last book arguing that triple-digit oil prices were no accident. It wasn’t the result of financial market speculations; it’s basically where the demand and supply for oil now rested, and that we would see a return of these prices very early into an economic recovery. And low and behold, that’s pretty well what happened. As of, say, January 2011, Brent, which is the world oil price, crossed into triple-digit range, got as high as $127 a barrel, and it’s even still today in the triple-digit range. So, what are the consequences of that? I think the basic dilemma is this: we need those kinds of prices to get millions of barrels out of things like tar sands, deep water, oil shale, Brazilian sub-salt, but unfortunately, the very prices that we need to lift oil out of the reserves that it now comes from translates into the same prices that basically kill our economies. Read more

Traffic Gridlock – A Grip on Gridlock

If you’ve ever tried to take Highway 400 out of the city on a long weekend, you might have noticed that the Greater Golden Horseshoe is growing fast. With an exploding population that is expected to reach over 11 million by 2031, we really need to look forward in planning development for the fastest growing area in Canada. Accommodating new growth with the sprawling low-density developments that are rampant throughout this area will only mean bad things for our quality of life and our environment.

Luckily, Ontario has a Greenbelt, created in response to the uncontrolled sprawl Ontario has seen over the last decade.

In numbers, the Greenbelt is very impressive: it is the largest in the world, protecting over 720,000 hectares of countryside, including agricultural land, wetlands and green space. Read more

Have a Little Faith

When asked where you were on 9-11, your answer will be ready on the tip of your tongue. The memory, no doubt, still swims in your mind, pulsing and stubbornly vivid. But what if you’re asked where God was on the day the Twin Towers fell? Where was goodness? Where was peace? Where was he on the battlegrounds of the world wars, or in the concentration camps of 70 years ago? Is he there in the ghettos that line the dirt roads of Third World countries, or in the home of an abused child? Few know the answers to these questions. The concept of God, of a Higher Power – a symbol of eternal peace, happiness, and fulfillment – contrasts so strikingly with the broken world in which we live in that it’s becoming a terrible challenge to keep faith in our grasp. For many, the idea of having faith seems pointless if you’re serving a faceless God, a God who never seems to appear when he’s needed most. Confronted by the differing faces of religion, many become overwhelmed and surrender to the seemingly Read more

Mazda CX-5 Automotive Review

It seems like every automotive maker is racing towards the compact SUV segment as of late. It’s become a crowded party, but arguably not the most exciting. Mazda is looking to change all that by tossing some “zoom zoom” into the mix with its brand new CX-5.

This compact SUV is Mazda’s attempt at breathing life back into the tired Tribute, and the Japanese are giving it their all. It’s the first Mazda fitted with the entire range of the automaker’s new SkyActiv Technology, which includes new engine, transmission, body and chassis designs that are meant to increase fuel efficiency while strengthening safety and maintaining a dynamic, fun-to-drive feel.

Under the hood, the SkyActiv-G, 2-Litre engine powering the CX-5 delivers a modest 155-horsepower and 150 lb-ft of torque. But what really cranks heads is the engine’s impressive 13:1 compression Read more

Giro 2012

The crowds are wild. The sky brims blue, and Milan’s rigid, snow-capped mountains are reduced to mere blurs as bicyclist Ryder Hesjedal zooms over the finish line of Giro d’Italia, becoming the first Canadian to ever win the prestigious race.

Across the pond, a pursuit is pulling Vaughan’s citizens to the streets. The air buzzes with excitement as jersey-clad riders make their way to Villa Charities’ fourth annual Giro cycling event. While the crowds aren’t in the millions, and the prize isn’t a swirling golden trophy, community members beam with generous hearts.

Like Hesjedal, it was Nick Sanci’s first time reaching the finish line, and like his fellow Canadian champion, Sanci’s race began long before May 27. Sanci, who belongs to Team Rosehaven, began collecting donations weeks prior to hitting the track, striving to meet Read more

Paralympic Super Athlete – Golden Moments

The buzzer sounds and for three and a half minutes Victoria Nolan pulls on her paddles with all her might, feeling the tension of the water through her arms. A year of intense training has led up to this crucial moment, and soon she’ll have her victory.

“To come out and win gold, you realize that this is what it takes, and it was all worth it,” she says of her and her team’s triumph in the adaptive rowing event at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand. She has maintained this philosophy of hard work while training for this year’s adaptive rowing event at the London Paralympics. Dedication and perseverance are common words in Nolan’s vocabulary. Diagnosed with an eye disease at 18, she discovered that she had been gradually losing her eyesight for years. With the birth of her two children accelerating her condition, Nolan was left with three per cent of her vision. As a result, she became Read more

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