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Extra, Extra: A Ferry Passenger’s Freakout, Watching Porn is Considered Cheating, and Independent Grocers Fight to Stay Open
Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.
Toronto Island Ferry Docks. Photo by Vik Pahwa from the Torontoist Flickr Pool
- A Toronto Island ferry passenger says he was concerned for his safety after getting stuck behind a locked gate on his way to Ward’s Island Sunday afternoon. Robert Bernecky, one of many passengers who became stuck on the vessel after the keys to a new lock were mistakenly taken home by a staff member, said, “What if the boat was on fire? What if there’s a maniac with a weapon? What’s going to happen? How are they going to get off? They can’t get off,” continuing, “Passenger lives… and the crew members’ lives are in peril.” City of Toronto spokeswoman Karen Fulcher said that new measures have been put in place to prevent similar situations from reoccurring.
- Surprise surprise: a recent poll says that men and women have different views on what they consider cheating. According to the poll conducted by Mainstreet Research, nine per cent of men and 17 per cent of women believe that watching porn constitutes cheating; 37 per cent of men and 40 per cent of women consider in-person flirting to be cheating; 79 per cent of both men and women consider flirting through text to be cheating; and 74 per cent of men and 80 per cent of women believe that the act of signing up for a site like Ashley Madison is considered cheating. While the survey found that Canadians are generally loyal people (eight per cent of women and 13 per cent of men admitted to cheating on their spouse), you may want to check in with your partner the next time you go to the strip club, lest you return to find your belongings on the front lawn.
- Independent grocers are fighting for the right to remain open for business on holidays, citing a recent Ontario Court of Justice ruling Longo Brothers Fruit Markets Inc. to remain open. Vice President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers Gary Sands said, “The way we’re reading (the ruling), any food retailer/supermarket in Toronto can be open on a statutory holiday.” The City, who disagreed, said that the exemption was only meant to apply to restaurants and fast-food outlets. The City appealed the court’s decision but lost in June. Under the City’s current Holiday Shopping Bylaw, most businesses aren’t allowed to stay open during nine statutory holidays including Easter Sunday, Canada Day, Victoria Day, and Christmas. Those that do can face fines upwards of $50,000.
- From today’s edition of 12:36, Who’s gonna find Bathrobe Guy? A bearded Cambridge Club member who emerged from the pool locker room to join those meeting Freeland in the foyer, arms standoffishly folded, became an instant fixation. When someone identified him as a law school classmate, a CBC request for identification was rebuffed. Based on a Robyn Doolittle tweet, no one at the Globe and Mail had a lead on identifying the guy either. What kind of Bay Street elite newspaper are they running there, anyway? (Want more 12:36? Subscribe to it now.)