DEMOCRACY IN TROUBLE
Guest columnist Jo-Ann Roberts says the protests in Ottawa and other Canadian cities have less to do with vaccine mandates and more to do with alienation. “The Freedom Convoy is a glaring example of what happens when people don’t feel they are being heard,” she writes. “When there is a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.” 

PEDESTRIAN PERIL  
Guest columnist Martyn Williams says taking a walk shouldn't be a life-or-death proposition, and yet on the streets of Halifax, if often feels that way. He’s got some suggestions for making things safer, including “fixing the unacceptable — for example, walk request buttons that cannot be reached by people using a mobility scooter or wheelchair.”

FINDING FORGIVENESS
In Newfoundland, when Michelle Thorne’s teenage son was killed in a car crash, her family found it in their hearts to reach out to the person charged with dangerous driving. We explored their story in an editorial that poses the question, would you have done the same?

ONLY CONTORTIONISTS NEED APPLY 
Columnist Gail Lethbridge looks back at Erin O’Toole’s stint as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and says she doesn’t envy whoever takes the helm next, as they try to balance conflicting expectations. “How will a new leader navigate this boiling stew? I’m not sure that God himself could do that job right now,” she says.

COPS AND CAMERAS
Newfoundland and Labrador’s privacy commissioner, Michael Harvey, weighs in on the use of body cameras in policing. Don’t be too quick to start strapping them on, he says, without examining all the privacy considerations. “There needs to be clear guidelines about when the cameras are turned on and off, to ensure public confidence that officers are not manipulating the record to show them in a positive light and hiding things that they might not want people to see,” he writes.

PECKFORD’S LATEST STAND
You’ll never put columnist Bob Wakeham down as undecided. He’s taking on former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Brian Peckford, who is leading the charge on a legal challenge of Canada’s travel ban for the unvaccinated. Peckford, Wakeham writes, “is among the unvaccinated in Canada, a proud member of the ‘stunned as me arse’ crowd…”

JUST A FIVE-LETTER WORD 
It’s addictive, challenging and takes just a few minutes a day. Yes, I’ve been bitten by the Wordle bug. Somehow, amid the isolation of the pandemic, it’s comforting to know that you’re out there Wordling too.