At least Mike Harris knew enough to fall on his sword when it was clear the Common Sense Revolution had killed too many citizens and hamstrung the economy. Whether by OPP sniper fire, tainted municipal water or poor people falling through the shredded safety net,...

Erin Chassie still loves playing on a team but North Bay’s first female AAA hockey goalie ended up saving hearts as a dream career instead. Chassie, who played for Butch Turcotte’s Hal’s Marine Minor Bantams in 1988-89, has been an operating room nurse at the...

The annual prom was the social event of the year for most high schools in the 1950s and 60s.  At St. Joseph’s College it was a brief and glorious respite from the strictures of convent school life and the drab brownness of the school uniform.  Only seniors from Grades...

Greyhound Canada’s permanent parking of its passenger service has delivered another example of how private interests are fleeting at best during fair-weather and quick to depart when dark clouds arrive. The recent closure of the bus line in Ontario and Quebec, after...

The North Bay Golf and Country Club teed off its 100th anniversary in epic fashion April 29. A four-page spread in the inaugural Back in the Bay Magazine, sponsored by advertisers, was part of the celebration. A longer version of the story published in print is below....

I sometimes make my wife cry. Something wells up inside her and I see the lower lip quiver, the eyes beginning to moisten. She fans her face as the tears threaten to flow. “Sorry. I’m emotional about spaghetti.” “I assumed it was the garlic,” I replied. It was the...

A perfect storm of community spirit is combining forces to spruce up North Bay’s natural assets – just in time for another run at the national Communities in Bloom awards in 2022. It’s been 20 years since the city felt the warmth of Canada-wide limelight. And there’s...

One could be forgiven for thinking Lake Nipissing’s early April shoreline looked like low tide at the ocean.  Some of the lake bottom had been exposed long enough for the wind to blow the dried sand into small dunes. Numerous near-shore islands were no longer islands....

My cousin Ritchie and I had a nice long visit via telephone the other day.  During the pandemic, he made the decision to go back to school and he seems to be enjoying his experience.  We spoke of our time sharing an apartment in Etobicoke.  The adventures of two young...

Must admit, I didn’t remember much Canadian history from school when I began working at the North Bay Museum in 1980. That all changed when I was introduced to Murray Leatherdale’s book, From Brule to Booth. It became my other bible for the next 15 years. This...