Flashback: Made in Canada
Maple leaf motif doesn't guarantee an all-Canadian origin
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Power struggle
On the final weekend in March of this year, freezing rain led to major power outages in parts of Ontario. Tens of thousands were without power, and a spokesperson for Hydro One, the province's utility, told CBC News it was the most severe weather event it faced since the 1998 ice storm.
For CBC's The National, reporter Adrienne Arsenault surveyed the damage in Kingston after the 1998 storm. A heavy accumulation of ice brought down tree branches and hydro lines, leaving many residents without light or heat.
Arsenault said more than 70 per cent of homes in Kingston were without power, and the city lacked the workers it needed to keep up with repairs to the electricity network. "Homes are losing power faster than they can restore it," she said.
Made in Canada?
A maple leaf motif is no help to shoppers seeking goods made in Canada, a recent probe from CBC's Marketplace found. The show concluded that at some grocery stores there is "a vague definition of what makes a product Canadian."
Similarly, before Canada's one-cent coin was taken out of circulation in 2013, it was stamped with a pair of maple leaves, even though it wasn't made in Canada. The Royal Canadian Mint announced in 1996 that it would be buying the blank slugs from U.S. vendors. By not making an all-Canadian penny, a spokesperson said the mint would save taxpayers about $3.4 million per year.
It wasn't just about saving money, either. "And then there's the North American Free Trade Agreement," said Grant Gelinas, who was reporting for CBC's The National. "It stipulates that government contracts now have to be open to bids from foreign countries."
The sandwich generation
A CBC News story on March 29 described an anonymous Conservative who said that in the lead up to the federal election later this month there's campaign tension that "amounts to a 'civil war' within the Conservative movement."
Differences of opinion within the movement go back a long way. Almost 25 years ago, Canada's two right-leaning parties disagreed over the word "conservative." Peter MacKay, House Leader of the Progressive Conservatives, didn't think that word belonged in the new formal name of one of its rivals, which had rebranded to the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance.
"Back off. Get your own party," MacKay said at a 2000 press conference, during which he defended a decision to file a protest with Elections Canada against the party. Was that statement a deliberate callback to a catchphrase from a TV ad for processed lunch meat?
Rodent replication
Last month, CBC News reported on a "massive rat infestation" near Wolfville, N.S. Many things have led to rodent population booms in other places. In the summer of 2001, for example, an exterminator told CBC News that the warm, dry weather could explain why there were so many big-city rats.
Glory days
Musician Bruce Springsteen announced the impending launch of a box set of 83 mostly unreleased songs, CBC News reported last week. If the injurious, physical struggle for Springsteen concert tickets in 1985 outside Toronto's Exhibition Place is anything to judge by, his fans will make the set a bestseller.
No return
Writer, director and former child star Sarah Polley is acting again. Radheyan Simonpillai interviewed her recently for CBC Arts about her experience in an episode of Seth Rogen's AppleTV+ comedy series The Studio. Just don't hold out hope she'll reprise her role as Sara Stanley in Road to Avonlea.
Fur thee well
After more than 40 years, Tom Harrington, CBC News reporter and host, retired at the end of March. A memorable moment of his career was in 1983, when he seemed to have fun with an edict by management that barred reporters from wearing fur coats on CBC's The National.
