Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Lisa's Corner: Nothing quite like a homemade meal

By Lisa Goudy


This past week I’ve been enjoying some homemade chicken tortilla soup.

Thanks to my loving mother, I have been able to enjoy this heartwarming soup. Since I love lots of different soups, I was especially overjoyed.

I have always been a fan of home cooked meals. Having been relatively spoiled for as long as I can remember with the sublime excellence of my grandmother’s cooking, my mother’s cooking and my father’s barbecuing skills, it’s not hard to guess why I’m probably accustomed to homemade meals.

It seems to me that there is an increasing number of young people who aren’t cooking anymore and relying more on restaurant food and bought treats. Now I’m not against eating out by any means and there are a lot of fantastic restaurants around that you should certainly check out.

But there really is nothing quite like a home-cooked meal. It is too bad more young people aren’t at least trying to cook.

I wouldn’t call myself a great cook. I wouldn’t call myself a bad cook either. I figure I’m somewhere in between. I know how to follow recipes and when I cook dinner, my meals all taste good. I also make my own lunches nearly every day, which aren’t complicated. They usually consist of a bun or a croissant with some fruit and yogurt or pudding and a granola bar. However, it tastes great and saves me money as an added bonus.

Yet in my experience, young people are more likely to bring bought cookies to a potluck than homemade ones or eat out rather than cook at home. Why the trend has shifted to that, I can’t say for sure, but if young people slowly stop cooking, there might come a day when nobody home cooks at all, which would be a shame.

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Useful links

From my column: "In June 2011, the Public Health Agency of Canada released a report from data collected between 2007 and 2009 that stated one in four Canadian adults are obese.

Of children between the ages of six and 17, 8.6 per cent are obese. The report stated that factors that influence obesity include lack of physical activity, socioeconomic status and diet, among other things."

View the report here

Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada released an article on the risks of obesity and how to minimize the risk. View the article here

Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Flying Club’s annual fly-in/drive-in breakfast takes place on Saturday

By Lisa Goudy

The public has a chance to learn more about aviation over breakfast.

The annual Moose Jaw Flying Club Fly-in/Drive-in breakfast will take place on Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Moose Jaw Municipal Airport. For $5 per person, people can enjoy a pancake and sausage breakfast while talking with pilots and looking at a variety of aircraft.

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Moose Jaw Flying Club website

Moose Jaw Times-Herald: West Nile a risk until the end of August, but no positive cases in FHHR yet

Getting a mosquito bite shouldn't scare people from donating blood

By Lisa Goudy


After the blood donor clinic last week in Moose Jaw, there are still no cases of West Nile virus in the Five Hills Health Region (FHHR).

“There’s some ongoing risk of contracting West Nile until the end of August,” said FHHR’s medical health officer Dr. Mark Vooght. “If people have a fever with quite strong aches and pains in their arms and legs, it could well be West Nile virus. They can consult their physician, but the physicians won’t be testing unless there’s a clinical reason to do so.”


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Dr. Ted Alport, medical director for Saskatchewan with Canadian Blood Services, said there was a minimal risk of having West Nile in the blood stream while donating blood. More information about protecting the donated blood supply from West Nile can be found here. To make an appointment to donate blood, visit www.blood.ca.

Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Free legal clinic offers help to those in need

By Lisa Goudy


Appointments for the Moose Jaw free legal clinic are booking up months in advance.

“We’ve had a really good response, especially in Moose Jaw with the clinic,” said Nicole Sarauer, acting executive director of Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan. “(We have) really great volunteers in terms of lawyers and I know we’re all booked up. We’re booking up quite fast in Moose Jaw.”

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Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Time in Moose Jaw winding down for wing commander

Flying on: 15 Wing Commander posted to U.K.

15 Wing Commander Col. Marc Bigaouette and his wife
Marie Emond are shown at 15 Wing this week.
Times-Herald photo by Lisa Goudy

By Lisa Goudy


Two years have flown by for 15 Wing Commander Col. Marc Bigaouette, his wife Marie Emond and their three children.

“It’s been a fantastic two years for us,” said Bigaouette. “The memories we will bring from Moose Jaw and our time at 15 Wing are the best and it’s true for us. It’s true for our kids as well.”

After serving as the commanding officer of 15 Wing Moose Jaw and the military director of the NATO Flying Training in Canada Program (NFTC) since August 2010, Bigaouette has been posted to London, England where he will spend one year as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.

“The departure is usually the toughest time of any tenure because it’s a separation,” said Bigaouette.

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Regina Leader-Post: Commander of 15 Wing Moving On 


MOOSE JAW — Two years have flown by for 15 Wing commander Col. Marc Bigaouette, his wife Marie Emond and their three children.

“It’s been a fantastic two years for us,” said Bigaouette. “The memories we will bring from Moose Jaw and our time at 15 Wing are the best and it’s true for us. It’s true for our kids as well.”

After serving as the commanding officer of 15 Wing Moose Jaw and the military director of the NATO Flying Training in Canada Program (NFTC) since August 2010, Bigaouette has been posted to London, England where he will spend one year as a student at the Royal College of Defence Studies.

“The departure is usually the toughest time of any tenure because it’s a separation,” said Bigaouette.

“When we get to a new place, we make it our home,” added Emond. “It’s one of those things where we learn to focus on the wonderful moments and then on the relationships. We’ll stay in touch with people. We need to focus on the good and not so much on what we’re leaving behind. It makes it easier.”

Bigaouette, Emond and their two youngest daughters, 16 and 13, leave for London on Aug. 22. Their son, 20, will be staying in Saskatchewan to study at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Bigaouette’s replacement, Col. Paul Goddard and his wife Annette will take charge on Monday.

“Paul is, I do believe, the best choice for this wing. He has been here twice already,” said Bigaouette. “He is now the director of our air force training so there is no better preparation to take over command. I think he’s going to be a fabulous wing commander. He’s a Regina boy so he knows Saskatchewan well.”

Bigaouette first joined the military in 1980 and obtained his pilot’s licence in 1986. He stressed the importance of family to be successful in the military.

Wherever he goes with his family, their objective is to make things better. Their objective in Moose Jaw was to get closer to the community.

“We wanted to communicate that sense of family to all the young pilot officers and everybody that contributes to making pilots,” said Bigaouette.

“They’ve got to realize that the more you put in to this organization, the more you put in to the community, the more it gives back to you.”

“You will not find a Canadian city that’s so much in synchronization with its local military,” he added.

15 Wing Moose Jaw has another base in Portage la Prairie and a squadron in Cold Lake.

“The people of Moose Jaw probably don’t realize it, but the wing here is no longer about the Moose Jaw operation exclusively,” said Bigaouette. “15 Wing as an entity, as an operational entity now looks after pilot training from one end to another and it’s not only in the Canadian context. It’s also in the international context.”

He said an example of this was during his last operational tour in Afghanistan in 2008.

“Because (other pilots) know that all Canadians are trained through Moose Jaw, they would come to us and they would ask us not where we went through pilot training, but when we went through Moose Jaw,” said Bigaouette. “There is very much a connotation of excellence that comes with the name Moose Jaw and if people from Moose Jaw know what the name of that city means into military circles in terms of excellence and in terms of professionals, they’d be very proud of that.”

Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Weekend Extra: Stay informed to avoid getting scammed

People need to be cautious and stay informed of
scams to avoid getting scammed.
Times-Herald photo by Lisa Goudy

By Lisa Goudy

Staying informed of scams is the best way to avoid getting scammed.

“The best line of defence is education. People have to really keep up on the current scams because they change every day and the fraudsters realize people have caught on to them or the police have caught on to them,” said Const. Joska Gallant of the RCMP Regina Commercial Crime section. “(Fraudsters) tweak it to be a little different.”

She said the most common scams are timeshare vacation properties, romance, overpayment or online selling and computer viruses.

“If they’re not the ones initiating the call, looking for the service, if they’re being called at home, that’s one red flag,” said Gallant. “They need to do their homework on the company.”

She said that often through quick Internet searches, people would discover that others have received a similar call and have complained online.

However, Gallant said some fraudsters have set up websites to add legitimacy and have the Better Business Bureau logo on their website.

“They can just cut and paste any graphics to post to their own website. So don’t just go by the website,” said Gallant.

“Contact the Better Business Bureau or those companies directly. Some of the websites that they’ve set up … they’ll list contact information, but when you try contacting them, none of it works. So that should also be a red flag.”

Gallant said all types of scams are common, including by phone, email and by mail.

Owners of timeshare properties are recent targets by cold calls at home by a company representative who states he or she can market or sell the “victim’s” property for them for an upfront fee. The fraudster promises a quick sale with a high profit and the victim is presented with official looking documents that may require a signature to authenticate the scam.

For more information, see the August 11 Weekend Extra edition of the Times-Herald.

Sidebar tease: Common scams can result in loss of thousands

Const. Joska Gallant of the RCMP Regina Commercial Crime section said in 2011, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported the total dollar loss because of mass marketing fraud was $64,242,241.40.

Gallant added that between April 1 and June 20 of this year, there were 219 attempted mass marketing frauds in Saskatchewan reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and 93 victims, resulting in a total loss of $148,696.82. The top three Saskatchewan-based frauds are merchandise, sale of merchandise by complaint and service.

For more information, see the August 11 Weekend Extra edition of the Times-Herald.

More information and statistics on current frauds are found on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or the RCMP website at www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams/index_e.htm.

Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Lisa's Corner: Language watchdogs to inspect bilingual services

By Lisa Goudy

I like to think that no matter what language you speak, you’ll be treated equally. I like to think the same goes for where you’re from or what nationality or religion you are or any other of the many differences we have.

I know that I don’t discriminate against people who are different from me. I’d like to think that here in Canada where we have two official languages, this is certainly a fact.

But just because I like to think something doesn’t mean it’s true. I read a story on CBC’s website about language watchdogs who will go undercover at eight major airports in Canada this fall - Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver. The point of this is to see if travelers are served just as well in English and French, including proper signage displayed in the airports. I hope the results come back as an astounding yes.

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Read the story on the CBC website here