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Book of Mormon is currently on stage in Toronto at the Princess of Wales Theatre (for a second time) until April 16. I saw the show with friends. During (and after), I was deeply bothered by it but I could not fully explain why. Was it the black genital jokes? Or was it the mostly white audience who found such jokes funny?

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We don't go to synagogue, we observe the major two holidays, but then only barely. In a few years they'll have a bar mitzvah and won't know what it is. They'll grow up, get married and won't care whether they stand under a chuppah. They'll have kids who will grow up to know even less about their heritage. And that would be a shame.

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I wouldn't claim that all of the big banks are caught up in scandals over high-pressure sales tactics. The people working at the big banks can tell you that. This breakdown of trust is a systemic problem. But it doesn't need to be this way.

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Make no mistake: the Conservatives' leadership race has dramatically set back their party, perhaps for years to come. Among other things, it has revealed the once-great Conservative Party of Canada to be nasty, brutish and short-sighted. By selecting a winner, the Conservative Party of Canada has rendered itself a loser, and wholly undeserving of power.

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We have a problem, rather, a preoccupation with power. It is human nature to want and crave it, but the ways we get it and keep it are usually inhumane. The simplest, most base feeling of power is that of physical might. The ability to defeat one's foes in combat.

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I am not arguing that to be successful you need to eradicate unhelpful thoughts, cravings, and urges altogether. That goal is unrealistic and simply sets you up for failure. Having desires makes you human. I love training and I still sometimes want to skip it. Instead, learn how to manage cravings and urges.

Nicole German

Maddie is my glitter. I find her every day in little nooks and crannies when I least expect it. And most often uncontrollable tears rise in my eyes and my heart cracks even further, but the smile for the memory eases the pain. May her sparkle never dull and may we continue to find her glitter in the least expected places.

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The reality, as I know it, is that I feel threatened. I feel a general threat to my life - that when people know I'm native they can judge me based on their limited experience with my people, and men can view me with a lecherousness they believe I deserve and ask for. We must continue to survive, carry these stories, and never be afraid to identify our culprits.

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Men have been suffering in silence under the heavy weight of body expectations; drastically taking measures to fit their own body into the ideals they see on the cover of men's fitness magazines. Think this is outlandish? Men don't have body image issues, do they?

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It's estimated that about 18 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Canada come from the cars we drive and how we drive them. With almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions coming from our cars, there's a lot we can do to drive change and minimize our impact on the environment as motorists.

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Either the NDP is simply another party supporting the economic and political status quo or it is so afraid of being called "radical" by the mainstream media that it self censors to the point of political blandness. NDP members are right to deride the ideas flowing from the Conservative leadership race, but they are wrong to dismiss it as a circus. The Conservatives' boldness and willingness to amplify their agenda is something the NDP should mimic.

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I've learned a lot from my three daughters over the past 28 years of being a mom to them. My husband and I are in the thick of our first wedding, with our eldest getting married October 14th, 2017, and let me tell you, there is a huge difference between planning your own wedding, and assisting your child in planning theirs.

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We were welcomed by what I can only describe as peacefulness; only the sounds of rustling leaves and swaying trees could be heard even though the grounds were full of people. It was the polar opposite, I imagined, of what was going on in that same spot in April 1917, during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

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Whoever said good things come in twos never tasted the delicious goodness of Grilled Cheese. We believe 3 is the magic number, as bread grilled to golden perfection, melted butter, and ooey-gooey cheese combine to make the ultimate and glorious dish known as Grilled Cheese! And what better to celebrate this superb classic than on Grilled Cheese Month?

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Local tourism boards are becoming some of the best places to gain insight on destinations from the most knowledgeable people around - the ones who actually live there.

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I'm no friend of the Canada Revenue Agency but it's not for the reason you might think. After all, for fifty years I have faithfully filed an annual income tax return and paid whatever I owed. Although I'm not thrilled about paying taxes, I do so willingly, recognizing that it is my patriotic duty to contribute to the commonwealth.

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"If I have sex, I could go to jail." This is the reality of life for women living with HIV in Canada. It's a story I heard a few weeks ago from an African woman who had recently immigrated to Vancouver and is now faced with the profoundly isolating experience of being a Black HIV-positive woman in Canadian society.

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It's a scenario straight out of a horror movie. You start with a normal bout of strep throat and figure you're going to have to deal with that week-long stretch of pain and difficulty swallowing. But after a few days, things get much worse. You are diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, better known as flesh-eating disease.

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Loss hammered you incessantly. Grief hollowed you out until you were gasping for breath, empty and fully spent. Your heart was broken and battered into a heap of crumbled bits and pieces. And still, you stood.

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In the autumn of 2015, folks at my church got very excited about the opportunity to sponsor refugee families from Syria. Plans were made, funds raised, paperwork submitted - and at one point, an apartment was rented. And then, we waited... and waited. Finally, a Syrian family arrived that our parish could sponsor - in March 2017.

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Long before Justin Trudeau spoke about electoral reform, another Trudeau tackled the issue. It was in 1979 and that Trudeau was Pierre Elliot. The elder Trudeau said he was "convinced Canada needs a system of proportional representation if the federal government is going to be able to identify itself with the whole country." After Justin Trudeau scrapped the whole idea of ER, it became clear that he was not interested in improving Canadian democracy.