The Inverness Oran

Columns and Letters

Column: The homeowner’s oldest, most dependable thermometer

Details: Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 January 2021 11:03

January 20, 2020

-by Frank Macdonald

I can’t imagine the conditions that would make me nostalgic for winter.
I do appreciate that winter is a season anticipated by some people as eagerly as I welcome summer’s brief sojourns to Cape Breton’s shores. These are people who ski or Skidoo, skate, or toboggan, and who spray wind-chill repellant under their arms. It has not been a happy winter for them. What greater escape for them from the threat of COVID than skimming across the Cape Breton Highlands high above the virus’s reach. Instead, in shutdowns or semi-shutdowns, their only option may be to sleep in the fridge.

Letter: COVID-19: think we have it tough?

Details: Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 January 2021 11:06

January 20, 2021

Dear Editor,
Everyone is aware of the health crisis that COVID-19 has brought. What is getting much less attention is the largely hidden, but huge, economic crisis that it has caused in many low-income countries, bringing with it unimaginable economic and social devastation.
The economic hardships experienced in Canada are being multiplied exponentially in the third world, where the informal economy of tiny businesses makes up about 85 per cent of jobs. These vulnerable people have no protection when COVID affects their little businesses. In these countries, 60 per cent of households have experienced a sharp drop in income. The poor there are commonly needing to skip meals due to lack of food. In 2021, it is estimated that 150 million people will have newly entered into extreme poverty.