Canadians are the best. And if you don’t believe it, just ask Bono. It seems the U2 singer was hitchhiking in Vancouver, when he was picked up by Edmonton Oilers forward Gilbert Brule. “I like ice hockey, because people who play ice hockey are the kind of people who pick up hitchhikers,” Bono told an Edmonton concert crowd the next night. Isn’t that nice?
What’s not so nice is that the threatened postal strike has begun. The first in a series of rotating strikes hit Winnipeg this morning, with other cities to follow.
In happier news, a Toronto girl has placed second in the premier North American spelling bee. Laura Newcombe, 12, beat out hundreds of competitors and made it all the way to the final two before stumbling on the word “sorites.” Which means… Oh, just look it up yourself.
But in news calculated to make Canadians to feel much less proud, Calgary police have arrested two neo-Nazis in the case of a man beaten to death in a parking lot last year. In the ultimate example of a good news-bad news situation, a Calgary detective says there’s no evidence of Nazi affiliations playing a role in the murder. “Any one of us could have been at that location at the same time and suffered the same fate.” Well, we feel much better now.
And Jack Kevorkian has died today, after being hospitalized with kidney and heart problems. Love him or hate him, “Dr. Death” did more to bring about debate over assisted suicide than anybody else has ever done.
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Another conflict between art and Toronto’s clean push. City officials ordered the removal of an old bike that had been locked up and abandoned for years, despite the fact that it had been turned into an eye-catching art project. Never mind that it was just outside the Ontario College of Art and Design student gallery and steps from the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Discouraging news for those hoping for a second NHL team in the GTA. (Although the city’s economic development committee voted to ask the mayor to write to the NHL, Rob Ford was less enthused. “He wouldn’t want to see anything that would hurt the Leafs,” said his spokesperson. Like an actual hockey team in the GTA, some might say. Not me, though.
Meanwhile city councillor Doug Holyday is launching a campaign to try to crack down on panhandlers. “I know that when I’m downtown, sometimes you have to walk around these people, they’re right in the middle of the sidewalk and you’ll run over them if you don’t pay attention.” Wow. He sounds just like a Toronto car driver.
In the wake of the arrest of a local man for trying to beat baby raccoons to death, another homeowner is organizing an anti-raccoon rally tomorrow. And yes, everybody knows that raccoons don’t respond to expressions of popular sentiment and just do whatever they want. The rally is targeted at city politicians. Although come to think of it…
More animal news: a rare blue lobster has been caught off PEI. Only about one in 4 million lobsters have the genetic mutation that causes the coloration. Don’t worry, it looks like the crustacean will be donated to a local aquarium.
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Speaking of food, fruit farmers in Britain are worried over imports of Chinese pears shaped like a baby Buddha. The fruit is expensive, but, really, who could resist? And there are many other religions out there ripe for the picking.
