Anger over North York dog park continues to grow

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The future of an off-leash area in Ledbury Park continues to divide the community after the City of Toronto made a final decision to remove the dog park altogether. Most recently, locals held a rally, and dog owner John Conway made an official appeal. “This is a place where dog owners meet,” said Conway, regarding the park northwest of Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue. “We are the most intensive users, no two ways about it.”

The decision to remove the off-leash enclosure was made last month by city parks general manager Brenda Patterson. It came about after locals refused to agree on relocating the off-leash area to the park’s centre.

According to local Jennifer Gould, the centre is often used by children, and a large contingent of neighbours would have been upset had the dog park been moved. “This is where our children play; it’s where we have our toboggan hill,” said Gould.

According to Coun. Karen Stintz, problems with the dog park surfaced in 2009. That was when members of the Toronto District School Board approached her, informing her that part of the dog park was on school land. They needed it returned within 10 years to accommodate renovation plans. The city held a meeting where it was suggested that the park be moved. As momentum grew, more locals came forward to object.

According to Carol Cormier, a city parks manager, it got to the point where a decision just had to be made. “This had gone on since 2009. We have had three public meetings, and at the end, we had no solutions. We just had to make a decision.”

To compensate for the loss of the park, the off-leash area at nearby Woburn Park will be upgraded. Additionally, a dog park will open at Yonge Street and York Mills Road, at G. Ross Lord Park and at Earl Bales Park.

Local elected as new president of humane society

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The Toronto Humane Society (THS) has a new president: North York resident Marcie Laking. “This is all very humbling for me,” she said.

Laking began volunteering with the THS at 17. In 2005, she became an animal care worker. In 2010, she was nominated for vice-president.

The nomination followed a low point for the THS. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) had raided the THS centre and found it violated maximum capacity rules. While the centre is designed to hold 400 animals, OSPCA found 1,200 animals. Then president Tim Trow stepped down shortly thereafter.

Last month, Laking took the reins. Although she is honoured to be nominated, she admits she misses her time as an animal care worker.

New seniors’ home means more traffic for Bathurst Street

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According to locals, a nine-storey retirement residence proposed for Bathurst Street is a poor fit for the area and will worsen traffic on an already overwhelmed street.

“This area is prime for development, but nobody is making inroads when it comes to traffic,” said local Marie Rosaria. “It takes me 48 minutes to get out of Yorkdale mall.”

The proposal, slated for just north of Lawrence Avenue, would include 180 retirement units and potentially three floors of office space. David Nitkin, a nearby resident, said most of the traffic will likely come from office employees. He also said the building is upscale in design and clashes with plans to revitalize Lawrence Heights as an inclusive, mixed-use and mixed-income community. However, according to Coun. Karen Stintz, the revitalization project will take 25 years.

In the meantime, the community’s current concerns need to be addressed. Adam Brown, the lawyer representing site owner Medallion Developments Inc., said a retirement home is a popular choice with aging locals. “It’s a fairly strong Jewish community, so this facility allows people to walk to synagogue, to walk to the bakery,” he said.

Season ends early for local soccer star

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The Toronto FC recently announced that a torn ACL has ended Adrian Cann’s 2011 season early. Thornhill’s soccer star, and Toronto’s top defenceman, sustained the injury to his knee in a morning training session. According to Cann, he made a quick turn on the artificial turf. Soon to undergo surgery, his focus right now is on recovering 100 per cent and coming back even stronger next season, he said.

It was disappointing for Aron Winter, Toronto FC head coach and technical director.

“We will certainly miss his presence in the lineup,” he said. “While it is difficult, there is now an opportunity for younger players, like Nana Attakora and others.”

Cann joined the team last year, starting in 26 games and scoring the title of Most Valuable Player. The 30-year-old played 12 games this season, starting in all of them, before he suffered the injury. While Cann acknowledges the setback, he sees it as a test of character.

“Things like this, they happen in life, you’ve got to go through obstacles,” he said. “I’m all about challenges, so I look forward to surpassing this and getting back onto the field as soon as possible.”

Richmond Hill’s first courthouse at centre of struggle

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A 150-year-old building located at 10027 Yonge St. is at the centre of a struggle between the property’s owner and the Town of Richmond Hill. Council and Heritage Richmond Hill have recently taken steps to have the town’s first courthouse officially designated as a heritage site under the Ontario Heritage Act.

The owner hopes to sell the property and wants the structure that currently serves as his office removed from the Town’s Inventory of Buildings of Architectural and Historic Importance. The building has been earmarked as historically significant in the Town’s inventory for more than 30 years. If officially designated as a heritage site, it would be afforded the greatest level of protection against change.

Diane Giangrande, the chair of Heritage Richmond Hill, is hopeful the site will achieve full designation.

“If we really believe in saving our town’s heritage, this property must be included,” she said. This is not the first attempt made by Heritage Richmond Hill to have 10027 Yonge St. designated as an official heritage site. Councillor Lynn Foster, who currently sits on the heritage committee, explained that Council was not as interested in preserving the heritage of the town in 1999, when the address was originally presented for designation.

Although it was not designated back then, the property remained on the town’s inventory of historical sites.

The owner and his representative have declined to comment on the matter.

Now that the designation process has begun, all those who are opposed to the site being designated can take their concerns to the Conservation Review Board, Giangrande explained.

Barring any serious problems, the fate of 10027 Yonge St. should be determined this coming fall. If the property is designated a historical site, future developers would have to conform to regulations ensuring the historical integrity of the building.

“Unfortunately even designation as a heritage building can’t guarantee for certain the future of a property in Ontario,” Giangrande said.

Both Foster and Giangrande expressed that the residents of Richmond Hill have voiced a desire to maintain the historical integrity of the town, which is why buildings such as 10027 Yonge St. are being protected.

Shops on Steeles deal accepted by appeal board

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The Shops on Steeles settlement struck by the Town of Markham, Bayview Summit Developments Limited and the German Mills Residents Association was formally accepted in the Ontario Municipal Board’s recently issued decision.

Instead of the 1,787 units Bayview Summit originally appealed to the provincial authority, the site will see 1,235 units. The tallest building was to top out at 32 storeys, but now the tallest building will top out at 25 storeys.

The mixed-use development will retain the current level of retail space, while office space will increase threefold. A park will be available to the public. It’s not going to happen all at once, as the development will be phased in.

The City of Toronto maintained its opposition during the hearing, favouring no more than 1,000 units. Seven participants spoke out against the development, citing traffic and shadowing concerns as well as strain on sewers, among others.

Gerald Diner, the German Mills Residents’ Association Inc. spokesperson at the hearing, said his group’s preference would have been to see no development on the site, but it acknowledged that some was inevitable.

“We believe that with the help of the town, we got the best deal possible,” he said.

The dream police

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Charlotte Sullivan is one of the stars of the popular TV show Rookie Blue, the second season of which just premiered on Global. She landed the coveted role after a challenging turn in the much-hyped mini-series The Kennedys. The sky is the limit for the beautiful and talented Toronto actor. So why is she sitting in California, learning to play the cello and contemplating a permanent hiatus from acting?

After two seasons filming Rookie Blue as tough rookie police officer Gail Peck, the Toronto-born actress is embracing a side of her that has been neglected for a while. Sullivan says she’s taking a break to re-energize. She bought herself a cello and is taking life one day at a time, something the straightlaced character Peck would never do.

“I want to learn as much as possible,” Sullivan says.

Although she doesn’t know what the future holds for her and if she’ll even return to acting, it does become obvious she adored being a part of the hit TV drama that airs on ABC and Global.

Shot in Toronto, Rookie Blue premiered in 2010 and was renewed for a second season after only a handful of episodes had been aired. (The second season premiered June 23.) Sullivan says the formula to Rookie Blue’s success is that it showcases cops at the beginning of their careers when every situation is new and ripe with anxiety.

“We are not seasoned and we make mistakes,” Sullivan says. “When you talk to police officers, they felt pretty constipated for their first six years; they were scared out of their minds.” Sullivan’s character is a rookie officer with connections in the force (her godfather is the chief of police) whose desire to prove her worth results in her isolation from her colleagues. To train for the role, Sullivan worked with a policewoman whom she describes as “one of the foxiest cops I’ve ever met.”

What Sullivan doesn’t remember is anything the policewoman taught her that day. “I literally did not remember anything, but I think if we had done extensive training it would show,” she explains. “That’s not what the show is about.”

Though she hasn’t yet refined certain police techniques, Sullivan says the show has been one great acting workshop.

“I find acting to be really hard —it’s not an effortless thing for me,” she says. “I haven’t done any formal training, and [on Rookie Blue] I’ve learned so much. Because we’re pumping out so many scenes a day, I do feel I’m always in class with my fellow actors.”

The show also stars Canadian actors Missy Peregrym (Heroes), and Gregory Smith (Everwood). Sullivan credits character actor Matt Gordon, who plays cynical training officer Oliver Shaw, with being an inspiration during shoots.

“He has that goosebumps quality: he’s so in the moment, devoid of how he’s coming across,” she says. She’s happy to have had the opportunity to work with Matt and the cast.

“I find acting to be really hard — it’s not an effortless thing for me.”

Shooting the series in Toronto also had its advantages for Sullivan, who owns a house in the city. “Toronto pulls at my heartstrings,” Sullivan says. “It’s got beautiful food. There’s great shawarma on Queen Street I go to. I love trying new restaurants in Leslieville and I love the TTC.”

Toronto is also where Sullivan started her acting career, although now she is back and forth to Los Angeles for auditions.

She recalls growing up with her mom, an Air Canada worker, and older brother and moving around the city a lot.

“We lived in Bloor West Village, High Park, Richmond and Spadina. We were this beautiful dysfunctional team constantly on the move in Toronto,” she says and laughs.

At the age of six, Sullivan watched Tim Burton’s fantasy masterpiece Edward Scissorhands and felt an immediate affinity for the conflicted and awkward protagonist, played by Johnny Depp. She says she knew she wanted to be a part of Burton’s world.

“I couldn’t imagine not doing it,” Sullivan says about acting. “I said to my mom, ‘I want to do that.’”

When Sullivan’s mother saw a newspaper ad announcing a casting for a Liza Minnelli music video shooting in Toronto, the entire family turned up at the audition.

Both Sullivan and her brother were chosen as background performers, which led to her getting an agent and eventually auditions for larger roles.

Sullivan found early success, cast as Marion Hawthorne in the children’s movie Harriet the Spy (1996), starring Rosie O’Donnell. She also starred in the CBS TV show The New Ghostwriter Mysteries (1997). More work followed, from bit character parts to meaty roles in movies such as Defendor, starring Woody Harrelson. But her most challenging role has been playing Marilyn Monroe in the much-hyped History Channel miniseries The Kennedys (2011), starring Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy and Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy. Canadian director Jon Cassar helmed the show that looked at the tumultuous lives of the ambitious Kennedy clan. “It’s the most interesting thing I will ever do,” Sullivan says, admitting it was her most stress-inducing project. “I can’t hold a candle to her, and I knew I would face an incredible amount of criticism,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep. I was nervous all the time.”

To prepare for the role, Sullivan watched old movies and read biographies. But she says she barely scratched the surface of who the iconic actress could have been.

“I became morbidly obsessed with her and I still don’t feel I know her at all, and nobody really will,” Sullivan says. In the end, she came to identify with Monroe’s sadness and her anxiety about working in the business.

“I lose sleep over things and I worry too much,” Sullivan says. “As an actor, you want to be liked, which is such a horrible quality.”

For now, Sullivan, who is engaged to Canadian actor Peter Stebbings, is on hiatus. “I’m struggling with why I find it [acting] so hard,” she says. “I need to reconnect with why I love it so much.”

Of course, if Rookie Blue continues to draw viewers, Sullivan may find herself back at work sooner than she thinks.

From dreadfully offensive to just plain dreadful

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I was excited. This was my first trip to New York City in nearly two years, and I was sitting in great seats — scalped, of course — at the hottest new comedy musical in town: The Book of Mormon. The wild-and-crazy Broadway fling from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I’ve always been a huge fan, and I couldn’t wait to see the play. It was their first big musical, the critics were raving, you couldn’t get a seat and it was nominated for 14 Tony Awards — the highest honour in theatre south of the border.

I made sure that The Book of Mormon was saved for the last night of my three-day trip.

It’s been a strong theatre season in New York, so choosing plays was a challenge. On my first night was the well-reviewed musical from the ’60s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I found it a breathtaking revival of a mediocre play. The next night, we tacked left, literally, and headed downtown to see Tony Kushner’s new four-hour opus The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.

The play was only slightly more exhausting than its title. Not a lot of laughs, but it was so brilliant it made me want to buy a copy of the play. But I still had one eye cocked on the next night. Settling into our $300 seats just before curtain, we felt that frisson of excitement that often precedes a hit show.

The lights dimmed. Applause already. The first number, a clever take on the Mormons who go door to door, was fresh and witty. So far, so good.

Then the plot is set up. It seems that young Mormon missionaries upon graduation are paired up in a buddy system and sent somewhere in the world to preach the gospel. Our protagonists are not sent to Paris or Orlando, but to a remote village in central Africa. Do I smell a fish-out-of-water comedy?

When they get there, the Africans have little interest in the missionaries. They have bigger problems — starvation, AIDS and violent warlords. And so begins the best and edgiest number of the evening with a title so scandalous you couldn’t print it here. I was shocked that a mainstream audience was howling at the song, but they were and so was I.

And then … nothing. The show went downhill from there, having peaked at the 20-minute mark. It was repetitive, corny and offensive to both Mormons and Africans. The leads did nothing for me; the songs were unmemorable; and except for a fantasy of Hell early in the second act, the visuals were cheap and pinched.

The entire show felt like a Hope/Crosby movie performed by a fringe troupe with a rich uncle. I know, I’m in the minority here. There was so much hype going in to the show that no one seemed to notice the emperor had no clothes.

I’ve seen this phenomenon before, a version of physicist Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: if you think something’s going to be funny, chances are you will find it funny. It’s often why major stars can get away with lousy material.

A few weeks later, The Book of Mormon did win all those Tonys. The awards show broadcast featured Neil Patrick Harris’ opening number, “Broadway’s Not Just for Gays Anymore.” Ironically, the song about musicals was funnier than the songs in the musicals they were celebrating. Somebody should hire the writers of that song and get them to write a real musical. I’ll bet that would be worth the hype.

Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.

New dogs, old tricks

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In the past 40 years, there has been one band from Canada that has graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine — example: the Band. And even then, it was only four-fifths Canadian and that was 1968! In fact, nearly as many Canadian comics and actors have graced the cover of the venerable American rock magazine as musicians. So just how great would it be for a virtually unknown band from the Prairies dubbed The Sheepdogs to double that number overnight? The band is one of two finalists in a contest to find the greatest unsigned musical act in North America. The prize is the holy grail of the music biz: the cover of Rolling Stone (specifically, the Aug. 18th issue). Toronto gets a taste of The Sheepdogs in action this July 9 at Edgefest in bucolic Downsview Park and July 22 at the Hillside Festival in Guelph.

But just who are The Sheepdogs?

“We’re a pretty straight up rock ’n’ roll band from the Prairies influenced heavily by the late ’60s, early ’70s,” says Ryan Gullen, bass and vocals for the band. “We try to emulate those bands, bring back those elements that are lost in modern music.”

It’s not like The Sheepdogs came out of nowhere.

The band — Gullen plus Ewan Currie (vocals/guitar), Leot Hanson (guitar/vocals) and Sam Corbett (drums/vocals) — met in high school, and they’ve been plying their trade for seven years, criss-crossing Canada trying to get noticed amid a sea of overnight successes and manufactured music. Then, from a pool of some 1,200 unsigned bands, they were selected along with 15 others to compete for the cover of Rolling Stone, and a recording deal. It is down to two, them ’Dogs, and Lelia Broussard from Los Angeles.

“She does the singer-songwriter thing, very similar to a lot of acts that are out there,” says Gullen. Oh, snap.

But, win or lose, the contest has already paid major dividends to the band, including a recording session in New York City and a chance to appear at the Bonnaroo music festival.

“Our style of music, I think, is lacking in modern music, and as a result, a lot of people are very excited about that and that’s been very cool for us,” says Gullen.

“People have really latched on to us and that’s helping with the contest. It is not the usual music new bands are putting out.”

The Sheepdogs have released three albums, including their 2007 debut Trying to Grow and 2010’s Learn & Burn. For more information, go to www.thesheepdogs.com.

All aboard the Bard Express

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When talking Shakespeare, it is hard to compare with the productions mounted in that charming small town two hours west of the city. But Shakespeare’s works do not begin and end alongside the Avon River in Stratford. Two examples of low-budget and easily accessible productions right in Toronto are Driftwood Theatre and Dream in High Park where you can get your Bard on without breaking the bank.

I am charmed and intrigued by Driftwood Theatre’s Bard’s Bus Tour production of Macbeth. It begins with previews July 7 and July 8, at Todmorden Mills on Pottery Road off the Bayview Extension, and shows follow throughout the GTA including stops in Oshawa, Pickering and Ajax as well as four more performances in Toronto’s Withrow Park: on July 27 and 28 and then again on Aug. 13 and 14.

The Scottish Play has the most exquisite poetry in all of Shakespeare’s canon. (I still weep, after five decades of productions, when Macduff, an enemy of the evil king, hears of the slaughter of his wife and children. And who watching and hearing this devastating study of cruelty and power-run-wild does not?

I don’t expect Stratford-level acting, but I love the fact that the Driftwood comes to us rather than having to drive for several hours. Know that every one of Driftwood’s less than three dozen performances are “pay what you can,” although audience members can reserve blanket/lawn chair seating in advance by paying the recommended $15 admission — a fine touch.

A word to the wise: all performances of Macbeth begin at 7:30 p.m. and offer a 100 per cent performance guarantee, moving the show indoors should the need arise. For more information, go to www.driftwoodtheatre.com.

The Bard under the stars in High Park
CanStage’s annual Dream in High Park productions have become a midsummer tradition in Toronto, and this month’s premiere of The Winter’s Tale marks the company’s 29th season under the stars in nature’s amphitheatre.

I urge everyone to see this little-known, very late and quite unique mix of romance, comedy, farce and, yes, tragedy.

Not only because it stars some of our finest Canadian actors, including George Masswohl, Sanjay Talwar and David Jansen, but because Canadian Stage usually edits the Bard’s five-act, often three-hour plays to a tidy production in the 90-minute range.

This may not thrill university English professors, but I am rarely disappointed with the High Park productions.

Yes, the Stratford Festival did a superlative job with The Winter’s Tale less than two years ago. But if you missed it, how can you miss getting to arguably the most beautiful, bountiful park in the Greater Toronto Area to experience one of Shakespeare’s most moving — and, yes, funniest — plays?

And what a play this is. True, it contains the craziest stage direction in all of Shakespeare’s plays (“Exit, pursued by bear” comes to mind), but it also contains a quite literal resurrection of a previously thought dead main character that just may be the most moving moment in all of the Bard’s magnificent writings.

Dream in High Park is also a pay-what-you-can production, but the suggested minimum donation is $20 with children 14 and under free. CanStage also offers special Family Day Sundays, featuring free, all-ages, pre-show activities.

For more information, go to www.canstage.com.

This city stinks!

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Summer in Toronto means smog. We tracked down one of the experts in the field to find out just how bad the air is out there.

Professor Miriam Diamond is the head of the Diamond Environmental Research Group at the University of Toronto. Canadian Geographic magazine named her their Environmental Scientist of the Year in 2007.

What inspired you to get into this field?
I strongly believe in a society and world in which we take responsibility for looking after each other, and after the environment, of which we are a part and on which we rely.

Summer in Toronto means smog. How bad is it out there?
Well, it depends on the day. When we get hot, moist air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico, it picks up smog from the Ohio Valley, which arrives in Toronto to join our homemade smog. It gets really bad when the winds are low velocity and its doesn’t rain.

Is it dangerous?
On some days, it could be sufficiently serious that anyone with an underlying cardio-respiratory condition, such as asthma, should lie low.

For others, it will be an irritant. But recall those colds that just don’t seem to go away? Is that because our respiratory system has been challenged by the smog and is then less able to fend off the cold?

What steps should we take? Is it gas mask time for bikers downtown?
The biggest step we should take is to get out of our cars! Stop producing smog! In the longer term, get a smaller car!

Have you noticed how many of us drive huge SUV “crossovers”?
Why drive that big thing that consumes more gasoline and produces more smog-producing chemicals? Are you doing your kids a favour by driving them around in this large vehicle that degrades the air that they are breathing?

What parts of the body does smog affect most?
Smog affects the lungs and your heart. Breathing in smog causes your arteries and veins to constrict, which could prompt an effect such as a heart attack or stroke. This effect is well documented.

There are other less dramatic but important effects such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and a wide range of respiratory ailments. But, there’s also the contribution to lung cancer.

Groups often trot out statistics about how smog kills hundreds of people in Toronto each year, but how accurate is this?
We can’t definitely say that a person died because of smog in the same way that we know when someone dies from a car accident, but we’ve got a great deal of evidence.

Analogy — cigarette smoking. You can’t “prove” that someone dies of lung cancer–induced cigarette smoking. But there’s a great deal of evidence that puts the lung cancer and cigarette smoking together.

Is legislation the key? If people are dying from smog, shouldn’t we just say no more gas-powered engines by 2020?
We just bailed out the car companies because their failure would bring down American and Canadian economies.

At the same time, we’re facing big cuts to the TTC because of an arcane funding formula that demands local support (unlike highways).

So, even though more and more kids show up to class with their puffers to alleviate their asthma symptoms, the parents are driving them to school.

During that trip they get a great dose of emissions and the vehicle contributes to exposure to others.

Your group also looks at everyday toxic chemicals. What are the worst offenders if we had to give up some products now?
I’d start with things that are useless, such as those stupid kiddie shoes that light up (containing mercury batteries), highly scented lotions, perfumes, candles, cosmetics containing phthalates — and the list goes on. But our love affair with new cellphones, computers and all things electronic translates into a huge environmental and human health burden.

A new kind of NIMBY: Nature in my backyard

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On reading about the growing resistance to a mega-quarry being proposed for southern Ontario, I had an epiphany about the media’s use of the term NIMBY, for “not in my backyard.” It’s normally used to describe grassroots efforts to block everything from big box stores to bike lanes. NIMBYism has taken on a negative association, often implying naive or parochial resistance to projects that challenge the status quo in a community.

But NIMBYism isn’t always bad. It can also be the result of genuine concern for the local environment. I’d like to propose a new kind of NIMBY, one that is positive and reflects a true sense of caring for our communities. Let’s say yes to Nature in My Backyard.

A good place to start would be literally in our backyards. That means encouraging more home gardens; more native plants that support birds, bees and butterflies; and more backyard composters. At the regional level, NIMBYism could be directed toward wrapping greenbelts around our sprawling urban areas. Protecting the farms, forests and wetlands around our urban areas is an investment that will pay huge dividends. The Ontario Greenbelt is estimated to provide the Golden Horseshoe region with more than $2.6 billion in economic benefits each year, and it serves as a bright green example of how we can protect and restore nature in the backyards of an entire region.

But perhaps the most exciting Nature in My Backyard campaign is an effort to establish Canada’s first urban National Park in the Rouge Valley, at the east end of Toronto. Parks Canada is celebrating the 100th year of our magnificent National Parks system. I can think of no better way to commemorate this milestone than to bring nature to urbanites. Imagine a national park that is accessible by public transit for millions of city dwellers.

Despite being in the heart of one of the densest urban areas in North America, the Rouge Valley is a surprisingly intact chunk of forests, fields and waterways that meanders from the Oak Ridges Moraine in Markham to the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Scarborough. After more than two decades of tireless advocacy and political horse-trading, the Rouge is now poised to become the first and largest urban national park in North America.

Although significant work remains before the prime minister arrives for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, these are heady days for a green space that most Canadians — and Torontonians for that matter — have likely never heard of. Adding a national park in the Rouge will provide a much-needed opportunity for residents throughout the GTA to take pride and get outside.

I encourage citizens across the country to join me in celebrating the new NIMBY and saying yes to nature in our backyards, neighbourhoods and communities. It will be an important reminder that nature isn’t a destination; it is literally in our backyard.

Post City Magazines’ environmental columnist, David Suzuki, is the host of the CBC’s The Nature of Things. David is also the author of more than 30 books on ecology.

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