"Canadian Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl said he hasn't decided how to respond to a report calling on him to end monopoly sales by the Canadian Wheat Board, the world's biggest marketer of wheat and barley," Bloomberg wire service reported yesterday, the day his hand-picked anti-CWB task force called for a law by June 2007 to let farmers start selling wheat and barley directly to customers the following year, effectively killing the Wheat Board.
And if you believe he hasn't decided, Rona's got a clean air plan to sell you.
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The fascination we have with public figures' private lives is as remarkable as it is ridiculous.
Today we learn that Sam Katz and wife Bailey are splitsville. Overall, we really don't care. People, even politicians, are human beings and don't deserve every move of their private lives to be parsed and dissected in full public view.
The interesting thing about the story, however, is that the soon to be ex-Mrs. Katz filed the day after the civic election last week. Clearly this was to keep the matter from being brought forth during the campaign.
Was this necessary? Would it really have been an issue or at least unpleasant gum stuck to Sam Katz's shoe, raised incessantly by the media as he campaigned?
Probably.
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Despite our position that pols' private lives should generally not be grist for the mill, we are happy to bring up the issue of musical taste.
On that note, we see that James Blunt of "Beautiful" fame is playing the Phone Booth tonight. We expect Hugh McFadyen has tix to see his fave act.