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Newsstand: August 2, 2012
You can sleep when you're Friday, Thursday. For now, get to the news and get on with it: Toronto Police release wanted notices that have nothing to do with the Caribbean Carnival, just ahead of the Caribbean Carnival; more West Nile–infected mosquitoes popping up; a new online political party is new; and Vaughan gets to have a byelection.
The Toronto Police have released “Wanted” notices for six people suspected of various crimes involving guns. (In case you’re wondering what Wanted posters look like these days, they look like this [PDF].) In some cases, the crimes were committed months ago. None of the crimes had anything explicitly to do with the Caribbean Carnival (formerly Caribana). Even so, the cops say they’re releasing the notices now, just before parade weekend, because there will be an influx of out-of-towners here for the festivities and they’re “kind of hoping [the wanted notices] will refresh some people’s memories.”
A 22-year-old man has been acquitted of charges for carrying a concealed weapon. A judge threw out the charges after ruling that at least four Charter rights were violated in the stop and search at a strip mall. And also that a BB gun is not really a firearm. The man was initially approached by police in part because he was wearing heavy clothing on a warm night, which it turns out is not a criminal offense.
Not only is this summer stupid hot, it’s stupid sickening, too. More mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile Virus than in recent years, which could mean an increase in cases in humans. So far no cases have been reported in humans. The virus has no effect on most people, but for some it can cause serious illness like brain inflammation. Stupid mosquitoes. Don’t we already hate you enough?
A new political party was unveiled at Ryerson yesterday. The Online Party of Canada is led by an IT guy and it already has 3,000 IRL members. The special thing about the party is any MPs it sends to the House of Commons (they’re running four in the next federal election) will be compelled to cast votes in the House based on how the collective of party members vote on the legislation on the party’s website. All in all, it’s not the worst idea. Unless all the party members are cats.
Looks like lucky Vaughan will be getting a provincial byelection soon. Greg Sorbara is the Liberal MPP for the city above Toronto, the city of Vaughan, and he plans to retire from the daily grind. Sorbara will stay on as chair of the Liberal election campaign. So yes, for all of you eager byelection watchers keeping score at home (of which we know there are at least 14), this latest resignation means there will be two, that’s two, provincial byelections coming up. Two!
