Canada happenings thread#1 - miscellaneous (Great White North community)

[Yazata]

Canadian Happenings Thread??

What, you mean that things actually happen in Canada?? (Besides hockey games?)

(Sorry Canadians. I couldn't help it.)

[C C]

Cops Laughed as Black Man Mauled by Police Dog Begged for Treatment
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3gz3y/c...-treatment

INTRO: A scathing decision by an Alberta judge describes the police officers actions as lacking “empathy towards a fellow human being” and being “unprofessional in the extreme.” A Black man who was bitten by a police dog and then laughed at and mocked by Calgary police officers when begging to be taken to hospital faced a “cruel and unusual punishment” and “suffered needlessly,” a judge has ruled.

As first reported by CBC News, in September, provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureux ruled that Latef Reakwon Tag El Din, 24, had his charter rights of life, liberty, and security of person violated by several Calgary police officers. “Not a single officer expressed any empathy towards the injuries sustained by the accused,” she wrote. “There is laughter, sarcasm, song, and judgement. All of this conduct by police is completely inappropriate and unprofessional.”

Tag El Din, 24, is currently facing a number of charges but his lawyer, Andrea Urquhart, is requesting the firearms charges be dropped as a result of the officers' actions. Tag El Din was arrested just after midnight on November 23, 2019, on an outstanding attempted murder charge. Officers spotted him in a Calgary gas station, and forcibly restrained and sicced a police dog on him.

According to court documents, Tag El Din claimed that during his arrest one of the officers pulled his hair, struck him in the head, and shoved his head into the pavement while saying, “Oh, you’re not crying.” He said the cops told him to “shut up or we’ll let the dog have another go.” Lamoureux's decision said that while the police dog didn't use excessive force at least one of the officers arresting Tag El Din did. Bodycam footage filmed only a portion of his arrest... (MORE - details)

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'If Trump wins again, I'm moving': For some Canadian expats, option to return to Canada is a safety net
https://theprovince.com/news/world/if-tr...safety-net

EXCERPTS: When people in the United States talk about moving to Canada to escape four more years of Donald Trump, it’s usually either a punchline or a pipe dream. Ask some of the roughly 800,000 Canadians who live in the U.S., though, and it becomes one of three things: a parachute, a very real possibility or an honest-to-God plan of action. “If Trump wins again, I’m moving to B.C.,” says Anastasia Synn, a performance artist from Shelburne, Ont., who has been living in Las Vegas for the last 10 years.

[...] Synn is married to Johnathan Szeles, a hard-living magician whose shock-jock mash-ups of comedy, fake gore and sleight-of-hand made him a household name on the Vegas strip a decade ago.... Synn is not eligible to vote, so she does the next best thing: encouraging everyone she meets to vote Democrat. She’s even convinced the self-destructive Szeles — “The Amazing Johnathan” before he was sidelined by a heart condition — to cast a ballot. “He’s never voted. The fact that he’s voting is a big, big deal.”

Her activism, however, has come at a steep personal price in the U.S [...] “People have actually decided they’re not going to be my friend any more,” she said. “It’s quite disturbing how many people I’ve lost in the entertainment field as friends. People I used to sit down and have Christmas dinner with every year, you know, they’re gone.”
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[...] For others, moving north is more parachute than Plan A. But it’s comforting either way, said Tristan Wallis, who lives with his wife in an affluent suburb of Boston and originally hails from Sherbrooke, Que. “We periodically — and more so lately — talk about, depending on what happens in November, do we move back to Canada?” said Wallis, 39. “It gives you the confidence to sort of sit and wait and see what happens, knowing that if things get really, really, really bad, you don’t have to start freaking out and planning for it.”

Life in the United States these days isn’t all bad, Wallis was quick to add. “The job prospects down here, frankly, are better in a lot of ways, the salaries are better in a lot of ways, especially in this area,” he said. “There’s a reason we’re here. And it would have to get bad enough here for us to want to leave and go back to Canada, where maybe we would be giving up some of the benefits of being down here.”

There’s little love lost among Canadians for Trump, polls suggest. [...] a survey released last week by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies found 73 per cent of respondents expect a Joe Biden election victory after Nov. 3, compared with 54 per cent of Americans surveyed...
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[...] Rachel Sunshine Bernatt, a caregiver from Toronto who lives in the Georgia community of Acworth, north of Atlanta, said she thinks a lot about returning — especially when the spectre of outright racism finds its way past her front door. And she knows that a Biden presidency won’t make it all magically disappear.

“I’ve had people in my house, I’ve had to kick them out for using the N-word — they thought, since I’m white, it’s OK with me,” Bernatt said. “I don’t want to try and have a conversation with them at that point. There’s really no fixing stupid, and, you know, that way of thinking, I don’t know if he can fix it.”
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Mark LaPointe, who grew up in Windsor but now makes his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he’s been living in the U.S. too long to consider moving back to Canada now, even if his American friends covet the option. [...] Given their backgrounds in places like Cuba and Venezuela, he said, members of the region’s large Latino population embrace the Republican message decrying communism and socialism, even if what they’ve experienced bears little resemblance to what progressive Democrats espouse.

His anti-Trump friends and colleagues shake their heads as much as he does. [...] Some of them, men and women alike, have even proposed marriage. “I have a friend in Michigan who wants to marry me, just so she can get Canadian citizenship,” LaPointe chuckled. “I’ve actually had a bunch of men propose to me, half-assed serious. And I’m just, like, ‘You’re not pretty enough. Sorry.'” (MORE - details)

[Zinjanthropos]

Only the Americans who know exactly where Canada is located geographically have any chance of getting there.

[Yazata]

Only the Americans who know exactly where Canada is located geographically have any chance of getting there.

Canada is so big that we don't have to aim, any road north will hit Canada eventually.

Unless we are in Alaska, which could be a problem. The only thing north of Alaska is the north pole, and Russia way over on the other side. Both of them eerily similar to Canada.

[Syne]

There's a lot of Canadians we've been trying to export for ages.

[Zinjanthropos]

Only the Americans who know exactly where Canada is located geographically have any chance of getting there.

Canada is so big that we don't have to aim, any road north will hit Canada eventually.

Unless we are in Alaska, which could be a problem. The only thing north of Alaska is the north pole, and Russia way over on the other side. Both of them eerily similar to Canada.

One problem....you have know where North is or at least be able to read a compass. Also too many
Hawaiians have drowned trying to reach Canada by driving their car there

Eerie similarity: Trump.Trudeau..... It’s true

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There's a lot of Canadians we've been trying to export for ages.

It’s ok....You can keep Pamela Anderson.

Funny, when I call the 1-800 number for cable tv I get an American call centre. Same goes for when I call Bell Telephone. Even with the dollar exchange it must be cheaper to contract Americans. The biggest difference between Canada & USA is that our trailer parks get filled with people actually on vacation.

[C C]

Even as political relations worsen, Canada-China trade thrives
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics...e-thrives/

EXCERPTS: Canada’s business with China appears to be thriving during the pandemic even as diplomatic relations remain in a deep freeze.

[...] Diplomatic relations between China and Canada have steadily eroded since late 2018 when Canada arrested Ms. Meng on a U.S. extradition request and Beijing locked up two Canadians – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called an effort to exert “political pressure.”

[...] Mr. Beatty, whose organization represents 200,000 Canadian businesses, said the political differences between Ottawa and Beijing should not be allowed to “contaminate our commercial relationships." ... "Half a century ago, Canada supplied China with wheat when other countries refused to sell to them. It was the right decision, and both Canadian farmers and the Chinese people benefited,” he said.

Gordon Houlden [...] suggested that China is being pragmatic in dealing with Canada for economic and political reasons. “I think there may be a desire not to make things worse on the political side because taking the two Canadians has not worked out and maybe there is a desire not to add economic pressure to the equation,” he said.

In a recent report, the China Institute documented how China is continuing to buy Canadian agricultural goods at a solid pace. David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said that aside from arresting Ms. Meng – who is fighting extradition to the U.S. in a B.C. court – Ottawa has avoided taking significant measures that might antagonize Beijing.

By comparison, Australia has faced an increasing list of trade reprisals from China after challenging China in ways Canada hasn’t. Australia has banned Huawei from 5G networks, called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and led a pushback against authoritarian states by enacting a law to monitor agents acting for foreign governments.

Prof. Houlden said it would be unwise for Canada to try to decouple its trade with China. He added that trade accounts for 64 per cent of Canada’s GDP, compared with 24 per cent for the U.S. and 37 per cent for China. “We are far more export dependent than China and we can’t maintain our prosperity without that, so [the] idea that we can’t or shouldn’t sell to China is not sustainable,” he added... (MORE - details)

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Consumer helps fuel third-quarter economic rebound as households resume spending
https://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2020/1...8cUwHLPw_7

EXCERPTS: The Canadian economy posted its best three-month stretch on record during the third quarter of the year, growing at an annualized pace of 40.5 per cent on the back of household spending.

The previous record for quarterly growth in real gross domestic product was 13.2 per cent in the first quarter 1965, Statistics Canada said, but unlike 55 years ago, the rise last quarter was fuelled by a record drop during the preceding three-month stretch.

[...] Households also spent more on goods ... as consumer spending jumped, although it still remains five per cent below its pre-pandemic peak, leaving a lump of cash in bank accounts as households don't have their pre-pandemic spending options. The savings rate stood at 14.6 per cent, a drop from the record-high 27.5 per cent in the previous quarter, but still far higher than the two per cent at the end of 2019.

CIBC senior economist Royce Mendes said that suggests Canadians will have the resources to spend post-pandemic. "Over the next year, I think the focus still needs to be on returning Canadians to a more normal way of life," he said in an interview. "That will return Canadian spending habits to a more normal way of life, and that will return the Canadian economy to a more normal way of life."

Despite the overall increase, Statistics Canada said real gross domestic product remains shy of where it was before the pandemic... (MORE - details)

[C C]

Wait… Canada had slavery?
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/v...ad-slavery

INTRO: In 2018, on an episode of CBC’s long-running documentary show Ideas, contributor Kyle Brown questioned former Prime Minister Paul Martin about his knowledge of Canadian slavery. Martin’s response? “I did not realize that there was slavery in Canada anywhere.”

While the statement may have come as a shock to some listeners familiar with Canada’s colonial history, Martin’s ignorance reflects a wider agenda at play in Canada’s education system. How could a man who once held the highest office in the country not be equipped with the facts of historical injustice that have (and continue to) plague racialized communities throughout the country?

Martin’s historical amnesia reflects a flagrant problem in the Canadian public education system where erasure of Black and Indigenous histories have real and devastating impacts on racialized students and communities... (MORE)

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Stop calling it ‘take-out,’ Quebec language watchdog urges
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...ddaf76ec03

RELEASE: With restaurant dining rooms closed due to the pandemic’s second wave, struggling eateries and the diners who wish to support them have turned to take-out. Except, well, Quebec’s language watchdog would rather it not be called “take-out.”

“Why order ‘take-out’ when you can order your favourite dish in French,” the Office de la langue française tweeted on Monday. The OQLF encourages the use of “plat à emporter,” noting the term has been recommended by France’s Commission d’enrichissement de la langue française since 2005, whereas “take-out” is an anglicism that doesn’t “naturally integrate” in the French language.

Citing the “worrisome decline” of French, particularly in Montreal, minister responsible for the French language Simon Jolin-Barrette last week announced that he will be introducing legislation strengthening Quebec’s French Language Charter. In September, he announced a $5-million boost to the OQLF’s budget, its biggest in 25 years, so it could go on a hiring spree.

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Fireball in Ontario sky
https://www.mlive.com/news/2020/12/peopl...e-sky.html

EXCERPTS: Several people [...] offered first-hand reports of a midday fireball and accompanying “boom” that were seen and felt from Ontario all the way to Virginia on Wednesday. The noontime show was likely a disintegrating meteor, according to the Associated Press. ... To see more of the reports, check the AMS website here.

... “Astonishing, amazing, still get goosebumps talking about it,” wrote an observer in Port Dover, Ontario. “The train was flaming white, wide and long, no smoke.”

“We tend to notice fireballs more at night because they stand out better, but it’s not terribly unusual for very bright ones to be noticed during the day. It happens several times a year over populated areas,” said Margaret Campbell-Brown, a member of the Meteor Physics Group at Western University in London, Ontario. So why do some fireballs have such a big sound? These bright meteors produce sound waves, and big meteors can give off a sonic boom that sounds like thunder when they break apart, Campbell-Brown said... (MORE - details)

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'I saw what I saw,' Indigenous Services minister on truck door arrest in Nunavut
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2020/12/02/i...n-nunavut/

INTRO: Federal Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller gave a short response when asked about an investigation that found an RCMP officer did not intentionally hit a young Inuk man with his truck door during an arrest in June. “I saw what I saw,” Miller told a news conference Wednesday.

A video of the arrest posted on social media showed a Mountie in Kinngait, Nunavut, knocking down an intoxicated man using the door of a police pickup. The Ottawa Police Service, which conducted a criminal investigation into the takedown, ruled the arrest was “lawful” and the officer hit the man with his truck unintentionally.

Back in June, Miller decried the improper tactic and called the incident “dehumanizing” and “disgraceful.” On Wednesday, Miller said there is a need to reform the RCMP and address systemic racism against Indigenous people in Canada. “We will continue to hold those who serve and protect Canadians to account, making sure that we reform the RCMP,” he said. “We do need to get to the bottom of these things. It further undermines the trust that, (in) Indigenous communities in particular, is still quite thin in respect to our police services.”

Timoon Toonoo, Kinngait’s mayor, told The Canadian Press he is can’t comment on the arrest until the RCMP’s internal investigation is complete. The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP is also conducting an investigation. Toonoo said the RCMP met with him on Tuesday to discuss the Ottawa Police Service report’s findings, but he can’t talk about it yet... (MORE)

[C C]

Pat Patterson, first openly gay professional wrestler, dies aged 79
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55166055

INTRO: Canadian professional wrestling star Pat Patterson, the first openly gay performer in the industry, has died at the age of 79, officials say. Patterson, who created the original format for the popular Royal Rumble event, "left an indelible mark" on wrestling, the WWE said in a statement. Wrestling stars including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and John Cena have paid tribute to a man who "helped so many". The cause of Patterson's death has not yet been disclosed... (MORE)

[C C]

No, China Isn’t Amassing Troops in Canada To Invade the US
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/china-...invade-us/

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Hundreds of thousands of Ontario geographic features (like lakes) don't have names -- that's being remedied
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/o...-1.5827275

EXCERPTS: The Ontario government says it's "essentially impossible" to provide an exact number but guesses "hundreds of thousands" of the province's lakes, islands, beaches, bays and other geographic features still don't have an official name. The bulk are in northern Ontario, though there are unnamed pockets in the south, too.

The province is slowly fixing that, having approved 85 new names over the past five years, while rejecting 54 others. Anyone can make a name submission for free, and it is then debated by the Ontario Geographic Names Board. CBC has obtained the full lists of what the board recommended and rejected, which you can scroll down to read.

Both lists are packed with nature references. Bonfire Island, Caribou Mountain, Hurricane Island, Rock Lake, Splashing Rock Lake and Whiskey Jack Lake were all approved. Suggestions such as Butter Blue Lake, Shining Waters Island and Yellow Dog Island, however, were not.

The board doesn't seem to have a huge love of loons [...] Many submissions were named after people. [...] Some applicants got more creative, submitting Cigar Lake, Pops' Island, Rib Mountain — all were rejected. One applicant even tried to submit the name My Island, which is not allowed, even if you do own said island.

"The name could cause confusion for emergency service delivery, especially on a lake with numerous islands," said Jennifer McMurray, a geographic names specialist with the province's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, in an email. She does not sit on the board.

[...] The Ontario Geographic Names Board is guided by a strict list of naming rules. Submissions can't have the same name as another nearby feature. Bad words are not allowed, nor are names that could seem like advertisements.

When it comes to people, a name won't be considered unless that person has been dead for at least five years. Even then, there's niche criteria. The person needs to have left a legacy either locally, provincially or nationally. There's even a rule about not naming something to commemorate a victim of an accident or a tragedy if they didn't leave some sort of other legacy.

Priority goes to geographic names that have been used colloquially for at least 20 years. If a name fits all this criteria, the ministry will solicit feedback from the communities where the new name is being proposed... (MORE - details)

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Canada silent on possible US deal over detained Huawei exec
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/ar...-exec.html

EXCERPTS: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined Friday to comment on the possibility of a US deal with Chinese tech giant Huawei that could see its detained finance chief Meng Wanzhou allowed to return to China. [...] He added that his "top priority" was the safe return of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the Canadians who were incarcerated in what many saw as retaliation for Meng's arrest.

The high profile executive -- whose father is Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei -- was held during a stopover in Vancouver in 2018 on a US warrant. She is fighting extradition to the US over charges Huawei violated American sanctions on Iran, in a case that has plunged Canada-China relations into crisis.

[...] Under a "deferred prosecution agreement" with the US Department of Justice, Meng would admit to fraud and conspiracy charges. ... Meng is reluctant to agree on a deal that would see her admit wrongdoing ... A deal could also pave the way for the release of the two Canadians... (MORE -details)

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Canadians: Elon Musk Offers You High-Speed Internet! (Remember, he's a Canadian, too.)
https://www.fool.ca/2020/12/04/canadians...-internet/

INTRO: Earlier this year, Elon Musk revealed that he was bringing high-speed internet to rural Canadians. Through his company SpaceX, he intended to provide high speed service to areas with spotty internet access.

Now, Musk’s plan is starting to move forward. Recently, the CBC reported that “Starlink” internet was already streaming to select homes in rural New Brunswick. Although the current rollout is just a test, it’s a major step forward. Early users of Musk’s high-speed internet are reporting extremely fast speeds and an easy user experience. If early users are any indication, the service may catch on in Canada.

In fact, Starlink may even become a competitor to Canadian telecoms. The company is already in implicit competition with the private Canadian firm Telesat, and as you’re about to see, that may imply competition with telecom giants down the road. I’ll explore that in just a minute. First, let’s look at how Musk’s Starlink service actually works... (MORE)