We regret to inform you the deal is off
The new Canada Student Service Grant is no longer being administered by We Charity—and how it scored a $19.5-million sole-source contract is the subject of an ethics investigation. We’s history with Justin Trudeau raised further questions involving the organization, which pledged to take action after some complaints about racism.
The viral lifestyle of COVID-19
Showing off what now happens when you refuse to wear a face mask at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Toronto gave Letitia Montana’s name the lexicon status she seemed to be aiming for. Coronavirus etiquette breaches also made news on Wasaga Beach, which Ontario won’t close down despite crowds, as the provincial death count touches zero.
“Pizza Pizza is providing contactless delivery of pizzas and warrantless delivery of private information.” Michael Bryant of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association got this dig in as part of a Toronto Star report on how the pizza chain handed over names that matched phone numbers, as part of the “Project Kraken” drug ring investigation.
All’s well if water sells well
Looming changes to Ontario groundwater rules were presumed to prompt Nestlé Canada to sell its Pure Life bottled water business to the family-owned Ice Water Springs. The Swiss company says it’d rather focus on “iconic international brands” and denies that public pressure played any role, as the product will be welled as before:
The white-throated sparrows singing a new song has caught on. University of Northern British Columbia research that found Canadian bird warbles shifting from three end notes to two became an internationally viral story. The eastward flow of the dropped end note is hypothesized to help male sparrows attract female mates.
The search party’s postscript
Dan O’Toole’s post to Instagram that implied his one-month-old baby daughter had gone missing sparked wide concern. But his employers at TSN refusing to comment on the incident suggested a less alarming scenario, while O’Toole himself objected to reporters looking into the story. What didn’t happen here has since been confirmed:
Nick Cordero dead at 41. The ascendant Broadway musical star from Hamilton, Ontario, entered an L.A. hospital on March 30 after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Later, he tested positive for COVID-19, and the complications contributed to his death.
Finally, another series of events
Jim Carrey has a semi-autobiographical novel, Memoirs and Misinformation, co-written with Dana Vachon, whom Carrey met via Twitter. Interviews about their collaboration provide insight into what it’s like to spend eight years on a celebrity payroll as Carrey audited his ascent to fame. Deciphering the product seems like a task:
