In September last year, Toronto was aflutter over Justice Susan Himel's decision to strike down Canada's prostitution laws. The ruling would make it possible for sex workers to solicit customers freely on the street, work in brothels, and hire security to help manage their businesses. Though implementation of the ruling has been delayed by the appeal process, the legal implications make reading Chester Brown's new graphic novel, Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being A John, all the more interesting.

When we call prostitution the "world's oldest profession," surely we're being facetious. Dentistry is a profession. Teaching is a profession. Prostitution is a crime, right? Well, sort of. In fact, prostitution itself has been decriminalized in Canada since the '70s, but there's a catch. Almost any activity associated with prostitution is illegal: communicating to solicit clients, living off the avails, keeping a "bawdy house" (a term that perhaps gives away the vintage of these laws—it sounds like it was coined by the Wife of Bath). In case you haven't noticed, this has all been entirely ineffective at stopping prostitution from existing. Forget about "profession," and focus on the "world's oldest" part. As in, "has existed in some capacity in just about every society everywhere ever." And that includes penguin society!

Ontario’s Environment Minister wants the province to have a scrap-tire recycling program. Tire retailers and collectors are opposed to the idea, because they make their money selling tires to be burned as fuel. Also opposed: the National Burning Stuff Association, who stated, “If we can’t burn tires, what are they going to keep us from [...]

Plagued by complaints, the City of Toronto has finally gotten around to ticketing some homeowners who don’t clear the snow in front of their property. A city spokesperson said they prefer not to send out inspectors in the winter because it’s so difficult to get around. Anxious to cement a reputation for self-serving indifference to [...]