Michael Schmidt has been found
not guilty of selling raw milk in the province of Ontario. Schmidt owns a
dairy co-op where consumers can purchase shares in a dairy herd and receive a portion of the
raw milk those cows produce in return. His farm was
raided and his equipment seized at gun point back in 2006. Experts are predicting this decision could have wide ranging effects on the rights of consumers to choose what they purchase and eat.
posted by talkingmuffin
on Jan 21, 2010 -
57 comments
In 1933 Newfoundland was a responsible, that is self governing, dominion on a par with Canada and Australia. To avoid a debt default the government suspended its constitution in favor of rule from the colonial office in London. After the second world war and a close referendum the the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada negotiated Newfoundland's ascension to Canada.
The story boils down to a people losing their sovereignty due to a debt crisis. The Newfoundland Royal Commission report of 1933, the basis for the article and the actions it recounts is
here. (The report is seeded with great-if-too-small pictures of Newfoundland from the 1930s and cool maps).
[more inside]
posted by shothotbot
on Jan 18, 2010 -
46 comments
Adil Charkaoui (born 1974) is a Morocco-born permanent resident of Canada who was arrested by the Canadian government under a security certificate in May 2003.
When he admitted practicing Karate, two government ministers announced it was their "opinion" that he would also "have been trained in such areas as: operating rocket-propelled grenade-launchers, sabotage, urban combat and assassination", and sought to have him detained. The ministers also noted in their accusation that "[i]t was noteworthy that one of those who participated in the hijacking of [the September 11th attacks] had taken martial arts training in preparation..." and suggested that Charkaoui represented a sleeper agent.
Charkaoui was arrested under a security certificate in May 2003, which was co-signed by Solicitor General Wayne Easter, and Immigration Minister Denis Coderre. He was detained without charge or trial in Rivière des prairies Detention Centre. He was released from prison on $50,000 bail on 18 February 2005. His bail conditions include a curfew, electronic monitoring, designated chaperones for leaving his home, restriction to the island of Montreal, 24-hour police access to his home without warrant, and a prohibition on access to the internet, on the use of cell phones and on the use of any telephone except the one in his home.
- In October 2009, Montrealer Adil Charkaoui was declared a free man… [more inside]
posted by infinite intimation
on Jan 16, 2010 -
47 comments
Out of Control is a 45 minute documentary that was recently broadcast on
The Fifth Estate program on Canadian TV. It is the story of "Ashley Smith . . . a troubled 19-year-old [who] choked herself to death with a strip of cloth at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ontario." The documentary features video shot inside Ashley Smith’s cell. It is a sad and at times disturbing look at the difficulties of dealing with a prisoner with mental illness. [Language and some images are NSFW].
posted by Jasper Friendly Bear
on Jan 9, 2010 -
5 comments
Top Imams affiliated with the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada have issued a fatwa calling those terrorists who attack the United States and Canada “evil.” ... Extremists have been told that any attack on the U.S. or on Canada will be construed as an attack on 10 million Muslims who live in these two countries. (via) [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese
on Jan 9, 2010 -
58 comments
On December 24
th, 1979, radio personality Alan Maitland started a tradition on the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's program
As It Happens. That Christmas Eve, Maitland read a Frederick Forsyth story that featured the unlikely meeting of a
Vampire and a
Mosquito. His telling has been re-aired every year since.
[more inside]
posted by Decimask
on Dec 25, 2009 -
7 comments
Have you ever wondered why you can't get what you want, but, if you try sometimes, etc.? Mark Hicken, a British Colombian lawyer,
is a great source of information on the state(s) of Canadian liquor regulations. Sure, a little localised and dry, but that's the terroir, man. Also, he does point out
some inanities that have a relatively universal appeal.
posted by converge
on Dec 10, 2009 -
27 comments
Montréal Mirabel Airport was opened in 1975 at the cost of $2 billion adjusted. Ultimately its tarmac and runway areas alone were to take up 70 km
2 (27 mi
2) of space and would have made it the world's largest airport. The airport never got any busier than Boise Airport is today, and the passenger terminals are now abandoned shells (
slideshow). A key
factor in the failure was that for 22 years authorities banned all international flights from the much-closer, thriving Dorval Airport, heavily used by locals and business travellers. It didn't help that Montreal was already sliding into decline in the 1970s due to the growth of the Great Lakes and Toronto-based economies and uncertainties about Quebec's
political climate. Montreal is no stranger to alleged boondoggles:
Olympic Stadium, half-finished during the 1976 Summer Games, spiralled
$1 billion over budget.
posted by crapmatic
on Nov 27, 2009 -
46 comments
Toronto's Open Civic Data. The city of Toronto has released its data to the world via the new Open Toronto initiative: geographic data for a variety of civic divisions, lists of licensed business, public transit stops, routes & schedules, a SOAP-based geocoding API and more.
posted by GuyZero
on Nov 3, 2009 -
30 comments
Stick with 'er Wiener! On March 9, 1987, a well-known derailment occurred here when a runaway CN train journeyed from Brunswick Mines to just short of the wye. There was a mixup in communications and engineer Wesley MacDonald ended up with more cars on his train than he thought, and the brakes on the engine alone were unable to hold the consist on the grade in the Brunswick Mines yard.
Great radio show about the accident that we previously discussed
here.
posted by srboisvert
on Oct 21, 2009 -
7 comments
On September 10th, to celebrate their initiation week, 172 communications students at the University of Quebec at Montreal
decided to put on a show. After weeks of preparation, the costumed and prop-wielding crowd enacted
an exuberant, complex, and flawlessly-choreographed performance of the Black Eyed Peas song "I Gotta Feeling" that sprawled through the campus's multi-story Judith Jasmin Pavilion... and they did it all in
one continuous take (on their
second try). The feat is just the most recent example of "
lipdubbing" -- a video phenomenon where a single camera moves through a crowd of highly coordinated lip-syncers in a single seamless take, with the original recording dubbed over the finished product.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 1, 2009 -
83 comments
This past Thursday the Canadian government
granted refugee status to Brandon Huntley, a South African who has been living illegally in Canada since 2005. Huntley claimed that if he were to be repatriated back to South Africa he would be persecuted due to the fact that he is white. The South African government
is not amused.
[more inside]
posted by PenDevil
on Aug 31, 2009 -
56 comments
"I filled my water bottles , fuel bottle and ate some snacks. I reset my altimeter to 1300ft and started shortly past 2pm. The first sign stated 'Eagle Plains 363, Inuvik 735'. The distances were measured in kilometers with green km posts every 2km along the road. A few kilometers down the road, I crossed an old fire burn area with dead trees still standing. The sun was shining and I was eager to get started on the road. The gravel was occasionally soft as the road slowly climbed along the valley."
An enterprising man relates his journey up the
Dempster Highway on bicycle.
[more inside]
posted by Avenger
on Jun 19, 2009 -
14 comments
Canadian DJ bloke Tiga has a new album called Ciao.
He's made a spoof documentary to promote it.
It's really funny, even if you don't know about dance music - A bit like
Nathan Barley by the ever wonderful Chris Morris.
Part 1
Part 2
posted by debord
on Jun 4, 2009 -
20 comments
