Articles by Bill McQuarrie

McQUARRIE – Economic Development – Are you a wind vane or the wind?

September 25, 2018 // 1 Comment

FOR THE PAST DECADE, the City’s approach to economic development seemed focussed on the Ajax mine. There was talk of economic diversification, usually about high-tech but [Continue]

McQUARRIE – Politics can be a cold, hard, cruel world

September 19, 2018 // 0 Comments

IN LAST WEEK’S COLUMN, Councillor Sinclair took me to task for not mentioning what a great job she was doing responding to emails and phone calls. Previous to that, she [Continue]

McQUARRIE – More discussion about City Hall and the performing arts centre

September 4, 2018 // 0 Comments

A FEW WEEKS AG0, I asked readers to let me know what was on their minds regarding the upcoming City Election. What were the questions needing answers? We know from past [Continue]

McQUARRIE – ‘I’ll say anything needed to get re-elected’

August 28, 2018 // 1 Comment

ALMOST EVERY WEEK I read a comment or have someone tell me how disappointed he or she is with a particular councillor or two. And by way of explanation they say something [Continue]

McQUARRIE – Dog days of summer ahead of civic election frenzy

August 7, 2018 // 1 Comment

The August heat has settled in and temperatures in the high 30’s are the norm for the next several weeks. Summer vacations are still happening but you can already see a [Continue]

McQUARRIE – Ontario Premier Doug Ford and the weaponization of politics

July 31, 2018 // 1 Comment

“REVENGE IS A DISH best served cold.” No one is certain who first said these words but in the case of Premier Doug Ford of Ontario, it could be rewritten to say something [Continue]

McQUARRIE – An inter-community bus system is worth subsidizing

July 17, 2018 // 1 Comment

DID ANYONE ELSE notice the sounds of silence and inaction from Ottawa and Edmonton when Greyhound announced they were abandoning passenger and freight service in the West? [Continue]

McQUARRIE – What walking the talk on the needles issue really means

July 3, 2018 // 4 Comments

BEFORE WRITING this week’s column, I asked the mayor along with our eight City councillors if they could provide some perspective on a rather sensitive and fractious issue [Continue]

McQUARRIE – Where’s Jagmeet Singh in the controversy over G7?

June 12, 2018 // 1 Comment

AS A RESULT of the Trump debacle at last weekend’s G7 meeting, I have a number of questions and concerns and the first one is a bit like the “Where’s Waldo” game. [Continue]

McQUARRIE – Charlotte Whitton would not have been pleased with ‘Run’ forum

June 5, 2018 // 0 Comments

I’M GOING TO TAKE ON a subject this week that, for an opinion writer, is fraught with peril and affords an even higher degree of risk when said writer is male, white [Continue]

McQUARRIE – City should correct mistake, buy back old railway station

May 22, 2018 // 3 Comments

WHAT BUILDING did the City sell to the private sector for $1 that every summer sees more than a 100,000 high-end visitors from around the world? Need another hint? It is one [Continue]

McQUARRIE – They’ve got us over a barrel – of oil, that is

May 8, 2018 // 0 Comments

HAVE YOU EVER wondered how to get the attention of gas retailers such as, Petro Can, Chevron or others? I have and if coffee shop conversations are any indicator, so too have [Continue]

McQUARRIE – We should be able to agree: fossil fuels are running out

May 1, 2018 // 1 Comment

I CRINGE with almost every conversation and social media post about the Kinder Morgan pipeline as inevitably someone, thinking they are quite witty and original, will say [Continue]

McQUARRIE – Social media users are fertile ground for data farmers

April 24, 2018 // 0 Comments

MANY OF YOU are probably not aware of this, but back in 2004, when Gmail was launched, Google would digitally scan your emails and based on what you had written, would [Continue]