Winter whines

Some thoughts on current events from the past week: Where's winter?: While the unusually mild winter has many "environmentalists" predicting the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it, we're more inclined to agree with Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips who suggests it's wrong to look at one year and scream "climate change". Yes, it's been balmy and snow has been nearly non-existent. Our suggestion: Quit whining and enjoy it while it lasts. GO your own way: CN, which supplies crews for GO, cuts 34 engineering jobs on Dec. 29 and on Jan. 2-- the first business day of 2007-- there are delays and cancellations galore. Coincidence? We think not. Union officials representing the engineers deny any work-to-rule protest and say they would never condone such action. Riiiiiiiiight! Ford farewell: Say what you want about our cousins below the 49th parallel but when it comes to honouring their fallen-- especially their presidents-- they know how to do things up right. The funeral ceremonies for ex-president Gerald Ford were classy with a capital C. Gun play: Only hours into the new year one woman was dead, another seriously hurt and two men were wounded in three separate shootings in Toronto. Gun statistics released this week also reveal that few of the 5,000 firearms reported missing each year in Canada are found by Toronto police. Explain to us again why the average Canadian needs to be packing a weapon? Don't spend it all in one place: Ontario's minimum wage rises Feb. 1 to $8 an hour. Says Ontario Labour Minister Steve Peters: "It is to Ontario's economic advantage to see that our workers are paid a fair wage." Exactly. How MPPs, like Peters, who voted themselves a 25 PER CENT raise last month can sleep at night after coughing up a lousy 25 CENTS an hour to minimum wagers is beyond us.