Legal system can't always deliver justice

This past week I violated a traffic law. Knowing full well I could stop, I proceeded through an intersection as the light turned red.  

After a quick glance into my rear-view mirror, hoping not to see those flashing blue and red lights, I promised to never do it again and proceeded on my way. 

We’ve all done it. Most of the time nothing comes of it. But occasionally, the timing is all wrong and a real disaster results. 

The Humboldt bus crash was one of those moments. Jaskirat Singh Sidhu flew through a stop sign at the exact wrong moment. A few seconds could have made the difference. It could have saved 16 lives. 

As I heard clips of victim impact statements this past week, I couldn’t help but put myself in the shoes of the young man whose life is now the epicentre of one critical mistake. 

As it turns out, he was inexperienced. He had only been driving semi-trucks for three weeks. Moments before the crash, he was preoccupied with a tarp that kept coming loose, one that covered the peat moss he was transporting. He made no attempt to stop his truck because he didn’t even realize there was a stop sign. He was distracted. 

Once again, I can relate. Growing up on the farm, I was transporting grain in over-sized trucks before I even had a license (don’t tell anyone). Driving in the darkest hours of night to get a harvest off the field, we sometimes did things that weren't quite safe. Distractions while driving, like fiddling with the two-way radio while barreling down a narrow grid road, were not uncommon. 

Fortunately, the roads in our parts were not too busy. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened.  

I can only imagine being a new driver in a new country, driving a full semi-truck, trying to make a deadline in an unfamiliar province. I can understand the concern with other things, like making sure you're not losing valuable product to the wind, all the while forgetting that your main job is to drive. 

The sentencing for the young man will take place on March 22, where Sidhu could face a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. The Crown is asking for 10 years. After serving a sentence in prison, he would likely be deported, even though he is a permanent resident of Canada.

While I agree there should be a penalty for violating traffic laws and for causing death (intentional or not), I wonder if justice will be served. 

Sidhu is living through his own personal hell, one that will haunt him for the rest of his life. His tearful apology showed that he has been profoundly affected by his own guilt. Jail time, while it may be warranted, will not help him or the families affected on their roads to recovery. 

Not to be flippant, but Sidhu would have faced a mere traffic fine if no bus had been crossing at that moment. His intentions were not to hurt others.  

As we saw in a recent court case in rural Saskatchewan – the one that involved a farmer who accidentally shot and killed an Aboriginal youth – when it comes to real justice, our legal system so often falls short.

New food guide good to read, hard to follow

The four food groups have come to an inglorious end.  

Everything I’ve known to be true about healthy eating was thrown out the window on Tuesday with the unveiling of Canada’s new food guide.  

There is no more dairy group. Forget it ever existed. (This is not a plot to destroy the Canadian dairy industry...) 

Dairy and meats, low-fat and lean, are now just one of many in the “protein foods” category. Like it or not, they now share the spotlight with beans and all the other “meat alternatives.” 

Remember learning about the alternatives? They sounded like an after-thought following a big helping of red meat. Perhaps some salted almonds after your meal? It’s all good, so long as you eat your meat. And drink your milk. Two glasses a day! 

It was only last year that my daughter, after becoming educated using the old food guide, started lecturing me on how many servings of grains I needed to eat every day. 

“But how much is a serving?” I asked her. 

She held out her hand, showing me visually that this is a serving – basically, whatever can fit in an 11-year-old's palm. 

The old food guide, which has not changed substantially since my birth year of 1977, told us how many servings we needed of everything. It was corrupted, we now learn, by the lobbying of various industries (ahem, beef and dairy), but you didn’t have to use much imagination to follow it. 

You needed 6-8 servings (i.e. handfuls) of grains a day, which could take the form of anything from cereal to bagels. Even my child knows a bagel has next to no nutritional value; we eat them because they taste good, particularly with cream cheese, which may have also qualified as a serving of dairy. 

The new food guide is much less prescriptive, which I applaud. It tries to keep things simple – half fruits and vegetables, and then the rest, namely protein foods and grains. Stay away from the processed foods, stick to whole grains when it comes to carbs, and don't overdo it on the fats (no, bacon is not a substitute for bagels).  

The new food guide: A plate of healthy wonder

The new guide encourages more plant-based foods in place of meat, which I think is shooting for the stars when it comes to the average (above average when it comes to weight) Canadian, but at least it’s speaking the truth. You can’t knock vegetables for nutritional value. 

It even broaches the topic of alcohol. Contrary to popular belief, wine is not a fruit! It’s not even good for you anymore. Alcohol makes you fat and drinking too much increases your risk of cancer. 

Even 100% real fruit juice is not a fruit. It’s a sugar-drink that contributes to dental decay, obesity and type-2 diabetes. Yikes! Hide the apple juice! 

Instead, drink plain old water. Who would’ve thought it could be so good for you? 

If only we knew about this when I was young.  Growing up, it was corn flakes and orange juice for breakfast, melt-in-your-mouth white-breaded peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch, then meat and potatoes for supper with corn on the side. What's so bad about that? As it turns out, um... almost everything? It wasn't our fault though – we were deceived.

The changes to the food guide were needed and long overdue. They're based on solid evidence and research that have existed for quite some time.  

Only one question remains: Will we follow them?

My first attempt to follow the new food guide (don't worry, those spring rolls are vegetarian)

Cutting cable no longer crazy

They tell me the first few days will be the hardest. If you can get through that first week, you’ll be okay.  

Try to occupy yourself with other things. Like reading. Or knitting. Or sticking your head outside for a few minutes (depending on the windchill). 

Starting next week, there will be no more live sports. No more Trump talking heads. No more channel surfing... The screen will be black. Well, not really, but more on that later. 

Cutting our cable isn't a New Year’s resolution, although it could be. It’s more of a money-saving exercise (yes, our promo ended), and a realization that TV is less important to us than it used to be. 

There was a time when cable was somewhat vital, when it would be the first thing we turned on after work. Friends at suppertime was a regular event. Reality TV was just emerging as a hot thing – who could resist the first few seasons of Survivor and, dare I say, The Apprentice? 

Starting a family and hosting a steady stream of boarders changed all that. We didn’t want to set a precedent of eating in front of the TV. Nevertheless, we enjoyed certain shows and kept the cable cords intact. 

Having not grown up with cable, I initially balked at the cost when I first started my cable subscription. Fifty bucks a month seemed like a gratuitous expense when I was earning so little. But over time, I became like most everyone else, accepting the cost as I would another utility payment.

Even the poorest of the poor have cable, I reasoned. There are people who struggle to buy groceries who have the full array of TV channels. Maybe because it’s their one form of comfort, but it offers an interesting perspective on what we view as essential in life.

Now I admit, cutting the cord today is not as sacrificial as it once was. Fifteen years ago, it would mean near entertainment blackout. Back then I really would have had to do something different with my time. Not so today. 

When I told my daughter we were done with cable TV, the first thing she asked was: “But you’re not cutting Netflix, are you?” At the age of 11, she can’t decipher between video streaming and “real TV,” and in the near future I’m sure there will be no difference. As my co-worker said, everything his kids need they can find on YouTube. 

The one thing we can't live without is the internet. We've become as dependent on WiFi as electricity. Without it, our Amazon Echo would become useless! Not to mention our smart TV, our laptop, phones... When the internet cuts out in our home, I kid you not, it’s DEFCON 1. This is a US military alert from the Cold War era signalling Nuclear War is Imminent; in modern times, the rough equivalent is: I can’t order what I need on Amazon! 

Really, we’re not giving up that much by cutting cable. We're not even saving that much on costs. We’re simply offsetting ever-growing internet and cell phone bills, not to mention online subscriptions for TV streaming, music, data storage and online news. 

We're in the internet-of-things era, and it's getting expensive. Is it any wonder that Apple, Facebook and Amazon are the largest companies in the world? 

With or without cable, our screens will never be black anymore. 

With or without cable, we will find our digital comfort.