Pat Tracy

@TheresaMcManus @TheRecord So sorry to hear this. Losing the last eyes and ears on local government is a serious blow to democracy. Theresa - your integrity and dedication to informing the community and keeping it honest and real will be so missed. ❤️

I'm gutted by this news. #NewWest #localnewsmatters (And if anyone has job leads, I'm all ears.) 💔Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record, Tri-City News to close newwestrecord.ca/local-news/bur… via @TheRecord

@VABVOX ❤️

Update on Victoria/@VABVOX from her advocate, "The Wife's bestie": After 15 days in the hospital, Victoria took a very bad turn Monday. We know she will want to be back here as soon as she is able. Your prayers and healing messages are welcome. Thank you for your support.

@TheAttagirls Had her as a teacher in high school - she was kind and patient. Had no idea of her life story until much later.

Woman of the Day teacher and sprinter Barbara Howard of Vancouver died OTD in 2017, aged 96, the first black woman to represent Canada at an international sporting event. She was also the kind of teacher you’d probably want for your children’s school. Barbara, born in 1920, lost her father when she was just nine. She was already known as a very fast runner - she’d hear the school bell being rung in the schoolyard and raced the block-and-a-half from her home to be at her desk before class started - and won the school championship at Laura Secord Elementary in Vancouver. Times were hard and her first tracksuit was a pair of hand-me-down men's cotton long johns dyed blue by her mother. "They were warm. They did me fine." In 1937 as a 17 year old in Grade 11, Barbara competed in a time trial and ran 100 yards in 11.2 seconds beating the British Empire Games record by one-tenth of a second. That earned her a place on the Canadian team track-and-field team for the upcoming Games in 1938 held in Australia, thus making her the first black woman to represent Canada in an international athletic competition. Barbara’s first time out of Vancouver was aboard the ocean liner Aorangi heading for Sydney, a voyage of 28 days. She took her schoolbooks to keep up her studies and practised by running around the decks as often as she could. The food was unfamiliar and very rich though, not what she was used to, and it made her feel quite sluggish. Although she said she received nothing but hospitality from the Australians, she felt overwhelmed and isolated by the huge amount of press attention she received on arrival in Sydney. She won two medals – a silver and a bronze – after two relay team races but her main event was the 100-yard dash and she failed to achieve her usual time, coming in at 11.5 seconds. That 0.3 of a second was crucial. It meant she placed sixth. "I thought I'd disappointed Canada. I was ashamed when I came home that I didn't have a gold medal." There was no second chance for Barbara. The onset of WW2 saw to that. The 1940 and 1944 Games were cancelled and by the time international sporting contests resumed in 1948, she knew she had lost her edge. As a result, she preferred not to speak about her sporting past. During the war, Barbara became the first black woman to be employed as a teacher by the school board in Vancouver and taught for 43 years, including a 14-year stint as a PE teacher. When asked to take on a class of "brilliant, but underperforming kids” in 1969 - thirty students who were gifted but disruptive in a classroom setting - she devised lessons that included getting them to plan field trips, shadow working professionals, learn photography “to the nth degree” and create their own films. Many went on to become doctors, lawyers and teachers. Although she didn’t often mention her sporting past, she did place a firm emphasis on PE and team games. Former students recalled, “Physical fitness was a priority and softball was our daily game. We hadn't known her impressive sports background, until the day she suggested a boys versus girls baseball game with her as captain…” With the game on the line, Barbara took her turn at the plate, hit the first pitch out of the park and ran the bases in high heels and “a beautiful suit — she loved nice clothes. The ball came and she whacked the thing and ran. And all the girls on the bases ran and they won and everyone was screaming. And the students had no clue she was an athlete, they thought she was just a teacher." “She was laughing her head off as she hit the winning home run for the girls team.” In 2012, Barbara was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and in 2015, she was named to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. She died in 2017 aged 96.

People should read up on Austria's political history in the 1930s. For 2years+ before Germany rolled into Austria, pro-Nazi political parties were being groomed and pro-Nazi media outlets were being installed...2

Please enjoy my cartoon for Thursday's @TorontoStar

Would be a shame if everyone shared this: Read Jack Smith’s unsealed court filing that says Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ after 2020 election pbs.org/newshour/polit…

All clear now? Whatever the end game may be, this country is under attack. By our neighbours. The basic assumption of Canadian history, that we would always have a stable, democratic ally to our south, is over. They are not stable, not likely to remain democratic for much longer, and they are not, under Trump, our allies. Trump suggests he could use military force to acquire Panama Canal and Greenland and 'economic force' to annex Canada nbcnews.com/politics/donal…

A “territorial extension”? What the fuck, CNN???

@unionwoman226 Tracy604

@unionwoman226 Likewise.

@ManishaKrishnan My question as well.

@GrayMarker99 On my way!

@davidfrum I’ll miss that Canadian sense of humour…. Eh?

Big win for post-liberal politics and economics. Also for measles, mumps, polio, and tooth decay.

@stan_sdcollins Thank you for all the beauties of Newfoundland you shared!

I thank all the thousands of people who have followed me over the years. It was my greatest pleasure to post daily original pictures for all of you, some 60,000 since I began on X. You were all my inspiration, and may you all have wonderful lives. For one final time, CHEERS ALL.

I will spare the @CNN analysts the dissection of every but, the & and&say @KamalaHarris missed a massive opportunity to wax nonsensical about another man’s peen, fictional serial killers, wind, crowd sizes & Meryl Streep. Worst of all, she didn’t stop taking q’s to dance to YMCA.