You are here: Home // All publications
Eco-burial: The future of death
Twelve years ago, Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak was working in her greenhouse in the serene Swedish countryside when a morbid thought popped into her head. As she looked at her plants, her mind turned to death, specifically what happens after living things die. Plants become soil, but people? We either rot or get turned into ashes. “Soil production is beautiful,” she explains. “The other options aren’t...
Tags: environment, Funerals
The day trader
Nominated for a 2010 National Magazine Award
Every morning at 4 a.m., Wally Trenholm’s internal alarm clock startles him awake. He jumps out of bed and walks over to a wall of eight glowing computer screens, each one buzzing with charts, news feeds and economic data. He flips on CNBC to catch European business news and then heads to the fridge to grab a heaping plate of Chinese food — he always...
Getting a late start on the college fund
As American newspaper columnist Bill Vaughan once said, “A college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man’s lifetime income — which he then spends sending his son to college.” This sentiment is as true today as it was when Vaughn was writing in the ’50 and ’60s, only these days, it’s often two working parents who, combined, can’t afford their kids’ tuition. But don’t...
Interview with Michael Ignatieff
Canadian Business: To start off, the question on everyone’s mind: How will you pay down the deficit?
Michael Ignatieff: First of all, we need to know what its size is. There’s substantial doubt as to whether the Conservatives’ numbers can be trusted. We started with no deficit, then we went to $32 billion, then we went to $50 billion and now we’re at $56 billion. We’ve asked for the parliamentary...
Politics: Q&A with Ambassador Gary Doer
Now that Gary Doer’s reign as Manitoba’s premier has come to an end, he can focus on his new gig — Canadian ambassador to the United States. Don’t think this is Doer’s way to settle into retirement, he’ll have to advance this country’s interests in a place that’s more focused on difficult domestic issues and wars abroad, than what its northern neighbours have to say. In this exclusive...
Education: The kids who fell between the cracks
Canadians are an educated lot. More of us have a university education than any other developed nation, and only five countries have a higher percentage of high-school grads than we do. But it’s the masses that are enjoying the benefits of the system — many people who fall outside the norm are left behind. Two groups in particular are falling between the gaps: immigrants and gifted children.
Newcomers...
Taxation: HST makes strange alliances
Despite what it may have looked like, British Columbia wasn’t overrun by tax-hating Republicans in late August. Still, the scene resembled something you might see on CNN — hundreds of irate people waving placards, angry about their government’s decision to harmonize the GST and PST. It was a strange sight. Canadians aren’t known for virulent anti-tax demonstrations. But then again, much about...
Mapping out a prenup
Mapping out a pre-nuptial agreement is never particularly romantic. But it can be especially tricky when children from previous relationships are involved. Winnipeg-based engineer John Lang found this out the hard way. When Lang (not his real name) married his second wife 22 years ago, he wanted to guarantee that his sizable estate would be fairly divvied up among his new wife and his three children...
Bryan Borzykowski is a Toronto-based web and print writer, editor and blogger working mainly for business and entertainment publications. He regularly contributes to Canadian Business magazine, writes Metro Canada's weekly Audio Files music column and shares personal finance tips on Rogers TV's Daytime Toronto. He's also written for Maclean's, MoneySense, PROFIT, Chatelaine, Hello Canada, MSN Tech, Yahoo Finance and the National Post. He was recently nominated for five National Magazine Awards, winning one in an online category.
