An Ontario judge rejected a human rights challenge to the province's helmet law for motorcyclists. The was case brought by a Sikh who maintained it would make him remove his turban. The fine of $110 stands.

Although Sikhs are exempt from having to wear helmets in Manitoba and BC, in my opinion, the ruling makes sense. Aside from the costs of treating someone with a serious head injury, there are other factors to consider:
The judge placed great emphasis on the fact that while a particular motorcycle rider might be unconcerned about the prospect of a serious injury to their own person, the ripple effect on children, relatives and friends is certain to be devastating.
"The raw numbers of deaths, injuries and public dollars are, however, only a part of the story in this situation.

"Behind those numbers rests the devastation, experienced at an individual human level, whenever the avoidable loss of life of a family member occurs.

"Children can be scarred long-term by having a parent suddenly and prematurely taken away from them.

"Spouses are bereaved and can be left economically crippled.

"A parent who buries a child when the death could have been avoided could be emotionally adrift the rest of their lives."

The Globe and Mail

Or it could be viewed as a correct ruling based on the quaint notion that the Law should apply equally to all.

quote:

Or it could be viewed as a correct ruling based on the quaint notion that the Law should apply equally to all.

Maybe in this particular case, jr. But not always:

Canada high court allows Sikh daggers in school

Yeah. Guess the Canadian SC can be as dense as the US version.

We are in the middle of the worst storm of this winter right now, and the roads here are pretty much impassable.

The street from the front door of my house

I think I need to clean off the picnic table

The Niagara peninsula, which is not too far from here, is expected to get 50cm of snow this weekend.
I hope Roog is having better weather than we are in Ontario.

Winter?

We've been done with that pesky season for weeks now.



Nice pics dg. Sucks to be you/there.

There's a reason it's called the Great White North.

No, no snow here. Eleven degrees and very few clouds. Can I send you a shovel and a broom dance girl?

quote:

Originally posted by Colin, Paris, France:
Can I send you a shovel and a broom dance girl?

No that's OK..it's stopped snowing now. However, you CAN do two things:
First tell us all about living in Paris in the springtime. Spare no details, I want to hear all about the sidewalk cafes, and the blossoms on the trees etc. I am starving for culture, excitement and romance, ...not to mention sunshine.

Secondly, speaking of culture, there is a thread on the decline of traditional British cooking. You have to go in there and post good things about British cuisine. (that goes for you too, Fred, if you ever return from your latest jaunt).

quote:

Originally posted by juanruiz:
There's a reason it's called the Great White North.

A very smooth segue there, jr, into classic Canadian television.
Roog, standby with the Great White North clip of Bob and Doug.

Oops-a-daisy, Colin. I meant to say please and thankyou.

Ask and ye shall receive.

Classic Canadian television starring classic
Canadians right here.

quote:

good things about British cuisine

Isn't that asking the impossible dg?

quote:

Bob and Doug

A couple of real hosers.

quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:

You have to go in there and post good things about British cuisine. (that goes for you too, Fred, if you ever return from your latest jaunt).

Am back. Cruft's was great! Four days of nothing but dogdom. 20 acres of rings, benching and stands, all under cover, of course, 24,000 dogs (and 153,000 visitors) and the best dog won (a Giant Schnauzer dog from East Sussex, as it happens)

And the British cuisine ? Wonderful ! Best food there was the new Sea Biscuit [no, it's not made from racehorse ] from Fish4dogs, though the turbot in the hotel was quite good.

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
Am back. Cruft's was great! Four days of nothing but dogdom.

This is disgraceful. After your reprehensible behavior last year with the Bichon, you should have been turned away at the door. I read she was quite traumatised.

quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:

This is disgraceful. After your reprehensible behavior last year with the Bichon, you should have been turned away at the door. I read she was quite traumatised.

Go on.It was all right. They expect that of Pulis ** Anyway,look, she wanted to meet a star and get into show business and I got her a job with Catherine Zeta Jones didn't I (All right, I lied about the star bit)

** And whatever they wrote in Dog World, I didn't go as a human this year.

Leafs put blame on CBC shows

By LANCE HORNBY
-- Sun Media

The Maple Leafs are angry at being blamed for the recent cancellation of some CBC shows because they likely won't be generating millions of dollars in playoff revenue for the national broadcaster.

A Canadian Press story this week brought up a link between the Leafs' failure to qualify and the demise of series such as MVP, jPod and Intelligence. Mary Young Leckie, creator and producer of the hockey-themed MVP, was quoted as saying a CBC programming executive told her in February that the Leafs' elimination would mean a $10 million cut to arts and entertainment that would curtail MVP's budget or kill the show entirely.

"It's just another good reason to hate the Leafs," Leckie said Monday, a few days after MVP officially was cancelled.

Richard Peddie, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., objected to Leckie's comments.

"Maybe the on-air product was not very good," Peddie said yesterday. "Maybe they shouldn't be blaming us. As for the other shows, you should ask the CBC."

CBC spokesperson Katie Heath-Eves said yesterday that all shows are ultimately renewed or dropped based on performance and there would be Canadian produced shows to eventually replace MVP and others.

The Leafs players have little time for watching TV series during the season (Darcy Tucker did have a guest spot on Little Mosque On The Prairie in 2007), but they said it's unfair to blame them for any CBC programming fallout.

"We know how big the Leafs are on Hockey Night In Canada, that we're one of the biggest in Canadian sports and that we bring in the numbers, but we can't worry about these other things," centre Matt Stajan said yesterday. "We're trying our hardest to get in right now, but unfortunately, we're on the outside looking in."

Andrew Raycroft said there could be a bright side for MVP's cast and crew.

"If it's good, maybe it will get picked up by HBO," the goalie said.

Hey, Roog, the Leafs could still qualify, right?
Heck, they could go all the way.

quote:

Hey, Roog, the Leafs could still qualify, right?
Heck, they could go all the way.

When pigs fly.

This just in!

Teacher cries over nude photos

Relationship with student 'not professional' teacher tells disciplinary hearing

By GLENN KAUTH, SUN MEDIA

The Edmonton Sun


Lori-Lee Simard broke into tears yesterday as she glanced at a naked photo from her computer of Riley Aubin, the former drama student with whom she's accused of having an affair.

Faced with the evidence - as well as an e-mail from her computer about how the "Prince of Rileyland" falls for an "old witch" who's unhappy with her home life - the former teacher at Ecole Georges P. Vanier school in the northwestern Alberta village of Donnelly struggled to maintain her composure.

"I did not know these were on my computer. I never saw them before," said Simard, on the stand yesterday at her professional disciplinary hearing at the Alberta Teachers' Association offices in Edmonton.

"I was sickened," said Simard, recalling the first time she saw the evidence a couple of weeks ago.

Simard, who is in her late 30s, continued to maintain her innocence of charges that she was having sex with Aubin before he committed suicide on April 9, 2006.

Faced with evidence that she had sometimes talked with Aubin on her cellphone several times daily and repeatedly exchanged text messages with him in the months leading up to his death, Simard admitted she had made mistakes with her former drama student.

"We became very good friends, and I guess you say things or whatever, that are not professional.

"That's where I crossed the line. It was not professional," she said, adding that she now realizes the student was in love with her.

But while Simard admitted to sending a few e-mails and text messages to Aubin, she denied sending the most suggestive ones.

In one case, an e-mail sent from Simard's computer to Aubin concocted an elaborate fairytale about "Rileyland."

There, the so-called Prince of Rileyland is "quite the stud" and ends up falling for an "old witch" who is unhappy with her home life with the dead soldier and the three dwarves.

Simard is married with three children. Her husband Alain Simard accompanied her at yesterday's hearing.

One by one, prosecuting officer Konni DeGoeij had Simard read the e-mails she allegedly sent, most of them from a computer she kept in her classroom.

In a February 2006 message telling Aubin he's "so damned hot," the sender thanks him for giving a Carol Burnett video as a gift.

Simard earlier admitted Aubin had given her the same video that month. But again, she denied it was she who sent the message.

"How can this e-mail come from your computer from a 'Sassy' e-mail account?" asked DeGoeij, referring to an e-mail address belonging to someone named Sassy, the same nickname Aubin allegedly called the teacher.

"If I had a spare, I often took my spares out of my classroom," Simard responded, explaining that someone else may have been using her computer to send them.

Aubin shot himself shortly after Alain Simard confronted him about a suggestive text message he sent to his wife on April 8, 2006.

Speaking to the media yesterday, the Simards expressed their condolences to Aubin's family, which had packed the hearing room.

"I do deeply regret what has happened. My heart goes out to the Aubin family," Lori-Lee Simard said.

Besides allegations about the text messages and e-mails, the ATA committee heard claims from students about a "passionate kiss" between Aubin and Simard on New Year's Eve of 2005, as well as an alleged weekend trip the two took to Edmonton.

Simard also denied those claims.

The committee, which has the power to recommend the government revoke her teaching licence, will hear final arguments in the case on Monday.