As Catholics, we all know Christ is the reason for the season. We try our best not to let the materialism of the moment eclipse the birth of Christ. Many of us manage to carve out time to attend midnight Mass and even participate in Advent prayers and events.

One Friday last August a Swedish schoolgirl decided not to attend her classes. Clutching her handwritten sign “School strike for climate,” she instead stood outside Sweden’s Parliament, a one-child protest against the damage humankind has wrought on the environment.

Following 29 deaths in the U.S. and at least three cases of severe illnesses in Canada, the Canadian government is stepping up efforts to speak out about vaping, defined as “the act of inhaling and exhaling an aerosol produced by a vaping product, such as an electronic cigarette.”

It’s been called a “national health crisis” and a “public emergency.” It’s a major issue in next month’s federal election.

It’s a brilliant example of the power of persistent, passionate prayer and how speaking the truth in love can cause hearts to do a 180-degree turn.

It’s a frustrating paradox. The Canadian government’s carbon tax is a bold, brave move that models to the rest of the world how to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, cabinet has approved the Trans Mountain pipeline, a project that flies in the face of the carbon tax and other measures to combat climate change.

Critics are dubbing it “the nastiest cut.” The Ontario government’s planned termination of the Transition Child Benefit is a cruel measure that strikes at the soft underbelly of society: an estimated 16,000 children each month in low-income families who have nowhere else to turn.

Scientists warn that Earth is in the early stages of the “sixth mass extinction,” with a decrease of up to 60 per cent since the 1970s of the numbers of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish on the planet.

It was the bombshell conversation that sealed the fate of a string of federal government officials connecting right up to the office of the prime minister.

The Ontario government is advancing further along the road of privatization, this time in the area of autism therapies.