One of the things I'm really looking forward to today is a full hour of local news at 6PM on CBC.

Back in March, quite early in the lockdown, it was decided to scrap the local newscast altogether, and instead broadcast CBC Newsnet at 6PM on our local channel. So I started watching CTV instead, ut turned back to CBC at 7PM to watch Coronation Street.

Then a few weeks later, they wised up a bit and offered a half-hour newscast at 6, re-run at 6:30. Usually that consisted of Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld huddled alone on Sparks or Queen Street outside CBC's downtown studio, where she anchored the show, switching over to the various regular reporters broadcasting from their makeshift home offices. I tried to read the titles on the spines of their bookshelves behind them and I must say was interesting to see what looked like real home libraries, not just shelf after shelf of homogeneous Encyclopaediae Britannica, Hansard or Law Reports! And occasionally you could actually see an interesting picture or two on a wall or a desk. Adrian Harewood's office, for example, has a framed $10 bill - the one with a picture of Viola Desmond on it. A few weeks after that, Lucy actually got to go inside the studio to do her newscast, as did a few of the other regulars on the show, all of them observing appropriate physical distancing standards. Luckily they weren't required to speak from behind masks, though I think they probably had to invest in a few extra-long microphone booms to ensure appropriate distance from anyone they were interviewing.

Today, the day after Labour Day, has meant back to school and back to routine for as long I can remember. Back to school is happening this year too, though routines and procedures look very different from in previous years.

We may have missed out on a lot of great summer festivals, but some of the old routines are back. Including the one-hour CBC suppertime newscast.
Lots of things are going viral these days. Including typos. This morning in the "NP" (National Post) section of the Ottawa Citizen, I noticed a headline "Jailing deportees for a long period is constitutional." In the body of the paragraph was a quote from the presiding judge, Justice Donald Rennie, on this Appeals Court case: "prolonged dentition is constitutional"

Yup, I'm sympathetic, all right. I've had endless problems with crowded teeth! Wisdom teeth in particular can be quite problematic - I had to have mine extracted, as did my daughter. Flimsy orthodontic appliances that can't take the abuse we dish out to them can also pose problems.

The funny thing is that when I looked online, I found the same article there, this one apparently appearing in the Toronto Sun:

https://torontosun.com/news/national/jailing-deportees-for-a-long-period-is-constitutional-appeals-court

Is this indeed The Case of the Learned Judge Who Mis-spoke Himself? Or is it something a little more prosaic, like an editorial or auto-corrective mis-step? And how does the plight of deportees compare with those in self-isolation or quarantine?

Yes, I'm sure that prolonged dentition IS constitutional. But is it a law with any teeth in it?
Page generated Jul. 12th, 2025 02:07 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios