Justin Trudeau critics are out in full force over his purchasing of a bunch of $4 doughnuts for a meeting he was hosting from a Winnipeg bakery instead of being more frugal and going to Tim Horton’s. I’d love to nail Trudeau too, but it’s ridiculous to go after him over this. I think it’s actually a good thing to support local business and there are far worse ways to waste tax dollars than to throw them back into the economy in this manner. Besides, if you are in Winnipeg why not sample something you can’t get anywhere else? I don’t expect elected officials to be cheap, although there are many cases when inexpensive options make the most sense. This isn’t one of them. There are a lot of other things you can go after Trudeau for, but supporting a local bakery isn’t something I’m going to jump on the bandwagon over.
In Nova Scotia, a man who killed his wife but was found not criminally responsible will receive 100% of her life insurance policy. The couple have a child together, but he was being cared for by the woman’s mother. She filed for the money on the boy’s behalf, but the husband was listed as the primary beneficiary. While there is public policy preventing criminals from benefiting from their crimes, it also says that since the murderer was found not criminally responsible due to his schizophrenia he can collect the life insurance because he’s technically not a criminal. What a country. It’s amazing to me that insurance companies, who specialize in loopholes so they don’t pay people who need to make good on legitimate claims didn’t have this area covered.
Nova Scotia is the center of what is bananas in our country this week. Dalhousie University is bringing in Omar Khadr for a speech. Apparently, Soleimani and Bin Laden were unavailable.
If you are a history buff of any kind, I would encourage you to check out Yorkton - Flashes Of History on Facebook. I suppose because I’m not born and raised here it shouldn’t be a surprise that I know nothing of the story of the Balmoral Hotel or the Doukhobors from the early 1900s. There are plenty of photos of both of these subjects and much more. I find it interesting to see what the city used to look like a hundred years ago and I’m intrigued about the history of the Bronfman family, if for no other reason than I’m a sports fan and Charles Bronfman was once the majority owner of the Montreal Expos. Maybe this has been done, but I wonder if there is a market for having a Bronfman family member come to Yorkton and speak at a supper.
I also wonder if there is a market for a luxurious hotel in Yorkton like what the Balmoral must have been back in the day. It would have to be the reason why visitors come here as opposed to just a place people stay when doing something else in Yorkton. Someone with a lot more money than me can take the risk.
Cities evolve over time, but as I look at those historical pictures and the numerous local retail shops I can’t help but be saddened to some degree that the cost of a small local business has reached the point that many are no longer feasible. That’s not a Yorkton problem. That’s a Canada problem.
I guess I’ve always been interested in history. As a 9-year-old child I recall crossing a frozen Saint John River (not supposed to) and checking out Grimross Island which is in the Village of Gagetown (New Brunswick). Nobody lives there and it’s not a big island, it’s more marshland. But, I saw history of life there and I still read about it frequently when I have spare time.
Nice person mentions this week: Rory McGouran, Garth Harris, Suzaan De Bruyn, Amy Heide, and Mitchell Kirkwood.
