1 DISPATCHES FROM THE SCIENCE FRONT The CBC learned at the start of the month that Canada’s federally-mandated and -funded scientific body has been ordered to march to the beat of Canadian industry’s drum. And, because Stephen Harper’s science minister is apparently just fine and dandy with sitting and letting his portfolio crumble like a dried leaf (the social conservative tendency to do this, by the way – put in charge of a cabinet portfolio somebody grossly unqualified who has no interest in the thing they’re ostensibly supposed to be functioning as a minister for – is so frequent these days that most ministries in Canada should probably be renamed to the opposite of what they’re currently named), well, that also involves letting us get dumber. We just welcomed a Canadian guy back home from space – where he proved very popular! – but if current trends continue we’ll be lucky if we’re able to figure out how to fart in a bag and let the wind carry it upward til we can’t see it anymore.
2 BOYS CLUB Hey, did you guys know that Google thinks you might be looking for “RCMP Sexual Harrassment” before you look for “RCMP Sex Offender Registry”? That is probably not a good sign, and it’s probably because of stories like this. Anyways here’s another (alleged) reason why that may be: a former member of the musical ride says that she was sexually harassed by her male colleagues and discriminated against because she’s a woman – discrimination that involves the dragging of a new recruit through literal horseshit. If true, this is the fucking worst.
3 SCRAPING BY A third of Canadians live paycheque to paycheque, which is a lifestyle I’m sure I know nothing about. Incidentally, what does “RRSP” mean and what does an RRSP do and what is being alive, even.
4 DUFFYGATE ROLLS ON The Senate speaker will be proposing new rules on travel today, which, like, sure, that’s the main problem. That the rules were unclear and that there weren’t enough of them. Not the confluence of wealth, influence, and power that put a man with deep personal wealth in an office where judgement, not liquid assets, ought to be one’s primary trait; it’s not like that ended with the dude inevitably trying to make the problem go away by using money.
5 SOMETHING IS BROKEN HERE Chief Terrance McArthur of the Pheasant Rump Nakota Nation in southeast Saskatchewan pleaded guilty to sexual assault [i]on a teenager[/i] last month and is somehow still in office. Worth noting how few people on the reserve come to his defence.
6 CAPITAL IDEAS The Leader-Post is reporting that the construction of Capital Pointe has been handed off to a third company. Because I like the idea of saving a fun way to kill some time for the last link in a Six post, this is the spot where I link the L-P’s interactive Capital Pointe timeline, because hee hee! Look at baby Capital Pointe on the second slide! My, how they grow up.