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I firmly believe that bringing levity and shining a light on any tragic topic helps alleviate the fear and horror of it all. However, it wasn't until a couple of years ago when my beloved mother and kindred spirit unexpectedly passed away that I truly took up a near-permanent residence on the dark side of humour.

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We often hear from farmers who, upon learning there is water underground they can access in times of drought, feel like they have discovered a gold mine right under their feet. All it takes is to build a well.
It is not unlike the experience of women living in poverty who discover the wealth and potential they hold within themselves.

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In a buyer's market, job seekers have to be the world's best salespeople. You have to spark an interest, craft your pitch, and prove the worth of your top product: you. If you can't sell yourself as the best and brightest for the job, you'll never close the deal. Not a natural sales person? That's OK.

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When it comes to health and fitness, perfection is simply unattainable. Trying so will only leave you feeling frustrated, unmotivated and mad at yourself. When you focus on progress you allow yourself to acknowledge that your diet, your fitness and your overall health pursuits might not always go perfectly.

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There's a serious gap in the health-care system when it comes to treating patients with obsessive compulsive and related disorders. And limited knowledge is to blame. Most community doctors aren't fully informed on the ways to diagnose and treat OCD and related disorders, and patients are often going undiagnosed for years.

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If you are racking your brain trying to figure out what to buy your mom for Mother's Day, why not choose something ethical. Paying it forward with gifts that help others is a wonderful way to celebrate Mother's Day, right? Here are four ethical gifts that are beautiful AND give back.

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When you're interviewing for a job, you need to detail your past work experience, particularly your accomplishments. What did you achieve in the role? How was the company more successful because of your contributions? The trouble is, many of those accomplishments will be as the results of team efforts.

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There is no shortage of jokes about old age and what old people can get away with, like, you can eat dinner whenever you want or make remarks younger folks would get arrested for. But seriously, there are aspects of aging that really can make a difference in how we relate to what is still in store for us.

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Pope Francis' visit to Egypt April 28-29 is important, as the direction the country takes - peace or continued volatility - will greatly impact the entire region. If Egypt can become a model of stability through interfaith dialogue, reconciliation and a desire to work for the common good, it may very well be the road map to lasting peace in the Middle East.

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Last year the minister responsible for Canada Post issued what a prohibitory order to stop delivery of a disgusting hate rag known as Your Ward News by Canada Post carriers. Defenders of Your Ward News say this is a free-speech issue, and their rights are being denied. They are completely wrong on both counts.

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After 16 years in government, the B.C. Liberals are still using the "Lost Decade" to refer to the NDP's last period of governance in order to scare voters. Was the economy under the NDP in the '90s that bad? By certain measures the NDP of the '90s actually had the best economic performance.

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Environmentalist Bill McKibben calls Justin Trudeau a "stunning hypocrite" on climate change whose actions make him a "brother" to climate skeptic U.S. President Donald Trump. But any objective comparison would show that Trudeau's position on climate change is far stronger than Trump's.

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As the end of April approaches, many of you have filed your taxes and experienced that moment of truth waiting for the system to calculate whether or not you'd get a refund. According to a recent TD survey, more than half of Canadians are expecting to receive a tax refund this year.

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John Horgan and the B.C. NDP's proposal for universal $10-a-day child care is sensible, fully costed and will provide immediate relief for parents. We also know that providing quality early learning experiences for our children has incredible benefits to them, the school system and communities.

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In British Columbia, where the race for the May 9 provincial election is heating up, the NDP has called for a $15 minimum wage in the province by 2021. This is a good move, and one that progressive people across Canada should get behind.

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I wasn't going to Canada alone. Me, my husband and our two children, aged two and four, would be going together in what we'd described as an experiment and an adventure. The experiment would be experiencing life in Toronto to see if we could live out there permanently.

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As a physician, I see the illnesses caused by vaccine-preventable diseases. No child should suffer from a disease that can be prevented by vaccines. I also see children who can't be immunized because of a medical condition such as cancer, and who rely on others around them to be immunized so the virus or bacteria does not spread. We all play an important role in preventing infections that we once feared.

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The May 9 election will give B.C. residents the opportunity to ask candidates if they will end the grizzly hunt if elected. So far, the B.C. NDP and Green Party say they would ban grizzly trophy hunting (but allow grizzly hunting for food), whereas the B.C. Liberals continue to defend and promote the trophy hunt as "well-managed," despite scientific evidence to the contrary.

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Unnecessary care could be a prescription drug, a diagnostic test or a medical procedure that does not improve a patient's health outcomes and is not backed by the best available evidence. It may also involve risks and harmful side-effects. In other words, this is medical care that offers no value to patients and strains health care resources.

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Technological changes - such as the mass adoption of the Internet - are reshaping the way we think about work and creating new kinds of opportunities for many. But for Albertans to fully seize these opportunities, the provincial government should ensure that its labour laws facilitate flexibility in the labour market.

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I am tired of hearing about people dying every single day from overdoses while we still don't have a solid long term plan-a year after declaring a state of emergency. I'm tired of watching friends and family struggle more and more every year while costs of living skyrocket and wages remain stagnate. I am tired of fundraising endlessly to cover basic supplies at my sons school and watching other schools go without because they cant fundraise enough.