Opinion

After nearly seven weeks here on the Sunshine Coast, I have settled in and I am starting to feel like an actual resident. After a few logistical struggles, things slowly came together.

The first few weeks of the latest federal election campaign have been relatively uneventful.

Hero - the title can conjure up so many examples and images. For many, a police officer or firefighter, a teacher or a person in authority could be a hero. A sports figure, movie star or musician could be someone's hero.

Most of us who occupy the baby-boomer (or the newly-coined zoomer) age group have vivid memories of the one and only Captain Kirk zooming around in his space ship boldly going where no man (or woman) had gone before.

Get ready to head to the polls Canada. It seems a virtual lock that a federal election will be called for in May after all three opposition parties, the Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois, rejected the Conservative federal budget on Tuesday.

The images coming out of Japan the past few weeks are shocking and sad. At first glance you might think it was an epic disaster movie or some kind of bad dream. But it was not. It was real - a real wake-up call that is for us all.

I've been a smoker off and on for 16 years, but within the last two years I've managed to solidify the habit with a pack of cigarettes every day.

Our new premier is wasting no time making her mark on the province.

B.C. Ferries appears to be getting richer, while the travelling public - its valued customers - is just getting poorer. The frustration and anger continue to mount as the public learns of B.C. Ferries' decision to keep more than $1.

We all need help at one time or another. Life is rarely easy and we all face various challenges at different times in our lives, some personal, some circumstantial. Some, sadly, happen through no fault of one's own.