The Canadope Café 2016: The North Awakens

[hogarth]

I just finished jury duty in Toronto (such as it was). On Wednesday morning, there were hundreds of us gathered to pick a jury for the January 2014 murder of Matthew Archibald.

First thing they did was whittle down some of the jury pool:

• A homicide detective and a retired court officer were excused.
• A number of people (maybe a dozen) who had trouble understanding English were told to come back in 3 years. The judge was somewhat incredulous when a man who was a loan officer for CIBC claimed not to understand English, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him a deferral.

Then they chose the two members of the jury pool who would help adjudicate the jury challenges and separated the rest of us into groups of 20. My group was told to come back on Thursday morning. When I got there, they said the jury had been selected and that we could go home. Jury duty over!

I was surprised that they would need to summon so many people for just a single trial, but I guess it’s better to have too many possible jurors than too few. Also, my mother had to serve jury duty in Saskatoon years ago and she told me she had to serve on several trials over the course of a week or two, but it looks like that was not the case with me.

[Barbarian]

@jtur88

Not the same. Red Rose in the USA is a black tea, and in Canada it is a completely different orange pekoe.

Orange pekoe IS black tea.

I think Red Rose is down to two blends of black tea in Canada.

[Leaffan]

Ya think?

I’ve tried to give this guy a chance, but really is a clueless lightweight.

• Castro was a “legendary revolutionary and orator.”
• Castro was a "larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century.”
• Castro "made significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

[Northern_Piper]

The Economist likes us!

Liberty moves north - It is uniquely fortunate in many ways—but Canada still holds lessons for other Western countries

WHO will uphold the torch of openness in the West? Not America’s next president. Donald Trump, the grievance-mongering Republican nominee, would build a wall on Mexico’s border and rip up trade agreements. Hillary Clinton, the probable winner on November 8th, would be much better on immigration, but she has renounced her former support for ambitious trade deals. Britain, worried about immigrants and globalisation, has voted to march out of the European Union. Angela Merkel flung open Germany’s doors to refugees, then suffered a series of political setbacks. Marine Le Pen, a right-wing populist, is the favourite to win the first round of France’s presidential election next year.

In this depressing company of wall-builders, door-slammers and drawbridge-raisers, Canada stands out as a heartening exception. It happily admits more than 300,000 immigrants a year, nearly 1% of its population—a higher proportion than any other big, rich country—and has done so for two decades. Its charismatic prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has been in office a year, has welcomed some 33,000 Syrian refugees, far more than America has. Bucking the protectionist mood, Canada remains an eager free-trader. It was dismayed by the EU’s struggle to overcome a veto by Walloons on signing a “comprehensive” trade agreement that took seven years to negotiate (see page 38). Under Mr Trudeau, Canada is trying to make amends for its shameful treatment of indigenous peoples, and is likely to become the first Western country to legalise recreational cannabis on a national level.
…
The second lesson is the value of knowing when fiscal austerity does more harm than good. Canada has been managing its public finances conservatively for the past 20 years or so. Now in charge of a sluggish economy, Mr Trudeau can afford to give growth a modest lift by spending extra money on infrastructure. His government has given a tax cut to the middle class and raised rates for the highest earners to help pay for it. These economic policies deserve to “go viral”, the head of the IMF has said. Canada has a further economic lesson to impart in how it protects people hurt by globalisation. Compared with America, its publicly financed health system lessens the terror of losing a job; it also provides more financial support and training to people who do. And its policy of “equalisation” gives provincial and local governments the means to maintain public services at a uniform level across the country.

Perhaps most important, this mixture of policies—liberal on trade and immigration, activist in shoring up growth and protecting globalisation’s losers—is a reminder that the centrist formula still works, if politicians are willing to champion it. Instead of folding in the face of opposition to liberal policies, Mr Trudeau and his ministers have instead made the case for them. Although free trade is not the hot-button issue in Canada that it is in America, they have been tireless in listening to critics and trying to take their concerns into account.

[D18]

Off to the Grey Cup game! Anyone doing anything more Canadian than that this afternoon? Nope, didn’t think so!

[Northern_Piper]

Great! have fun!

It’s a real dilemma for me - cheer for the Stamps?!? or cheer for Henr-eeeee?!?

We will be watching. What are you wearing, in case we see you in the stands?

[D18]

Thank you! I’ll be the one in the endzone wearing a winter jacket, toque and mitts. That should narrow it down!

D18 Jr and I have decided to adopt the Stamps for the night. Seeing as the Argos were eliminated for all intents on Labour Day!

[Northern_Piper]

Winter jacket, toque and mitts?

Oh right - it’s not indoors in TO any more! Had forgotten. Last time I was there it was still SkyDome (it’ll always be SkyDome to me. )

[Northern_Piper]

Nice rendition of the anthem by the Tenors and we’re off!

[Northern_Piper]

Piper Cub wants to know what regiment was on the field as part of the opening ceremony?

[Northern_Piper]

Report that Burris was limping out of practice.

[Northern_Piper]

Looks like he’ll be starting.

[Northern_Piper]

Mrs Piper is not a Henry fan and thinks he’s already working on his excuse for not playing well.

[Northern_Piper]

And we have a game on our hands! RedBlacks are performing well as the underdog.

[Spoons]

I am in Las Vegas right now. I was surprised to see, this morning, that the sports book has a line on the game (Calgary heavily favoured), and an over/under too.

The game is being shown alongside all of today’s NFL games in the sports book, though I am watching it in my hotel room. The sports book is very crowded and the only place I could watch the game from is wayyyy back. So my room seemed the best bet. It is on ESPN2, which has picked up the TSN feed.

I should point out that ESPN2 included a brief tutorial near the start of the game on the differences between NFL and CFL: field size, number of downs, backfield in motion, etc. Fun to watch!

[Northern_Piper]

Ottaw up by 10! Are you going to beat the spread?

[Northern_Piper]

Third pick off Mitchell! He’s not been picked three times in one game all season.

[Leaffan]

Watching.

It looks like Ottawa will win, but the CFL isn’t really that big here.

[Northern_Piper]

And Calgary with the TD!

[Northern_Piper]

That missed convert by Ottawa is starting to look important …