Newsstand: December 29, 2014

It's the end of the year as we know it, and we feel fine. Here's some news for one of the last mornings of this long, long year: some people want men to close their legs while they take transit, renowned lawyer Edward Greenspan has died, and Porter made two unscheduled and smoke-related landings on Sunday.

By Tannara Yelland • Illustration by Matthew Daley

“Man-spreading” is the term given to the phenomenon of people, often men, spreading their legs while riding public transit, thereby making it difficult for someone else to sit beside them. Man-spreading is the subject of intense debate online, and in response, some cities have begun public awareness campaigns designed to encourage men to close their legs (while on transit). Now, there are people calling on the TTC to do the same. The main opponents of the matter, thus far at least, are the men’s rights group the Canadian Association for Equality. CAFE argues that it is “physically painful for men to close their legs and we cannot be expected to do so,” and is fighting the push for a public awareness campaign, equating men’s need to spread their legs to mothers’ right to breastfeed in public. TTC spokesperson Milly Bernal told the Toronto Star that “everybody that is riding the TTC is paying a fare, and if there’s an empty seat, they should have the opportunity to occupy it. Transit is public space.”

Edward Greenspan, a renowned lawyer who defended high-profile clients and campaigned against the death penalty’s potential reinstatement, died last week at age 70. Greenspan was a defence attorney whose clients included Conrad Black and producer Garth Drabinsky. In the 1980s, he hosted CBC’s radio series The Scales of Justice, and spoke publicly against the death penalty when Ottawa considered reintroducing it.

Two Porter Airlines planes made unscheduled landings on Sunday. One flight, leaving from Billy Bishop Airport en route to Sudbury, was diverted to Pearson when smoke filled the cabin. The other flight was heading to Washington, D.C. but landed in Pennsylvania. Smoke was also a problem on that flight: it was detected “in the flight deck and some in the cabin,” according to the airline.