For the first 100 years of Canada’s existence, our country’s leaders mostly held to the belief that Canada had to protect itself from the power of our American neighbours.

The Globe and Mail interviewed business leaders about Dominic LeBlanc’s appointment as finance minister, so it set the parameters for the resulting story. These men are entitled to their opinions, but their assumption that Canada’s finance minister needs to be “one of us” shows a lack of regard for broader concerns.

Long ago, I learned that when I wrote letters, newspaper articles and any other form of writing by hand, they were more personal, quirky and self-revelatory than when I hammered them out on a typewriter. I also discovered that my writing was less precise, concise and grammatically correct when I took pen in hand. So, before I dared to submit my writing to a prof or an editor, I did a significant amount of editing to make my handiwork acceptable.

The Edmonton police stopped outside the downtown Bissell Centre on Tuesday, as they do most mornings. Their task was to cart away the tarps and belongings of homeless people camped on the street. The previous night, the temperature had fallen to minus 16C, and people were cold.

The Gospel for the feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe calls us to enter the kingdom of truth. As his death drew near, Jesus said to Pilate, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18.37)

The liturgical calendar turns briefly in late September and early October to the role of angels in salvation. First, there is the Sept. 29 feast of the messengers Gabriel, Raphael and Michael – not celebrated this year because the feast falls on a Sunday – and then the Oct. 2 memorial of guardian angels.

Perhaps nowhere in society is the loss of the sacred more evident than in marriage and in the wedding ceremonies which solemnify a marriage.

My father was a frugal man who categorically rejected going into debt. He warned me against this way of life more than I can recall. When he and my mother bought their modest home in Regina in 1954, they paid cash. Dad bought used cars, again always paying up front.