Canada is the latest jurisdiction to ban TikTok from government devices, another setback for the Chinese social media platform.
According to AP News, the Canadian government has banned the popular app from all government-owned devices. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t rule out additional steps down the road.
“I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” Trudeau said.
“I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them,” he added.
Canada is one step step closer to phasing out fossil fuel vehicles, requiring 20% of vehicles to be zero emission by 2026.
Governments around the world are beginning to take steps to address climate change, with a transition to electric vehicles being one of the biggest measures. According to Engadget, Canada is moving aggressively to spur such a transformation, requiring 20% of all vehicles sold to be zero emission by 2026.
“We’re moving forward with a regulated sales target that requires at least 20 percent of new vehicles sold by 2026 to be zero emission, increasing that to 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035,” said Julie Dabrusin, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
The move is one of the more aggressive moves by any country, with many others targeting 2030 and beyond for such an ambitious goal.
Canada is the latest country to ban Huawei, becoming the last of the so-called “Five Eyes” countries to do so.
Huawei has been widely accused of being a conduit for Beijing’s spying apparatus, leading the US and many of its allies to ban the company’s equipment from their 5G networks. The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprised of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. While the other four countries had already banned Huawei, Canada has now joined the rest of the alliance in doing so.
As recently as early 2020, Canada was still undecided about what to do with Huawei, although the country made it clear it would not “get bullied by any other jurisdictions” into making a decision. Its stance began to soften in 2021, with officials indicating they might finally be ready to ban the Chinese firm.
According to CBC, the Canadian government has not only banned Huawei from participating in future 5G network build-outs, but providers must rip out existing Huawei 5G equipment by June 28, 2024. In addition, any Huawei 4G equipment must be removed by Dec. 31, 2027.
“This is the right decision and we are pleased to announce it today because it will secure our network for generations to come,” Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a news conference Thursday.
Automakers will no longer be able to sell combustion engine passenger cars in Canada, effective 2035, adding to the growing impetus for a full transition to electric vehicles.
Governments are working to combat climate change, with combustion engine vehicles being one of the biggest, and most visible, means of doing so. Many automakers have committed to phasing out combustion engines by the mid-2030s, and various jurisdictions are moving to require such a transition.
Canada is the latest to do so, according to Engadget, setting 2035 as the cutoff date for combustion engine car sales. In the meantime, the government has set interim milestones for automakers to meet. Canada wants 20% of new vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2026, increasing to 60% by 2030.
Ottawa’s larger goal is to reach net zero emissions as a country by 2050, hitting 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Canada may finally ban Huawei from its 5G networks, the last of the Five Eyes countries to do so.
Huawei has been banned from participating in 5G networks in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Despite its allies doing so, Canada had signaled it would not necessarily follow the same course. The ruling Liberal government has been hesitant to ban Huawei, with Conservatives trying to pressure it to do so.
According to The Canadian Press, however, the government may finally be ready to ban the Chinese firm.
“However, in order to leverage this opportunity for economic growth through 5G, the safety and security of the technology must be ensured,” reads briefing notes prepared earlier this year for Bill Blair, when he was public safety minister.
“Incidents resulting from the exploitation of vulnerabilities by malicious actors will be more difficult to safeguard against, and could have a broader impact than in previous generations of wireless technology.”
Should Canada follow through on the ban, it would be another major hit to Huawei’s business.
The ongoing showdown over the UK’s decision to revisit Huawei’s role in the country’s 5G network is heating up.
In contrast to the US, Australia and New Zealand, the UK is the only one of the so-called “Five Eyes” alliance of countries that formally decided to include Huawei in its 5G network plans, albeit in a limited role. Meanwhile, the fifth member of the Five Eyes, Canada, is still undecided.
Ultimately, however, multiple factors have forced the UK to revisit its initial decision. US officials have warned that involving Huawei in its network would force the US to reconsider its military and intelligence assets within the UK. On top of that, the US has taken measures to limit Huawei’s access to the semiconductor chips it needs for its equipment, further endangering the UK’s plans.
Now that the UK is officially reviewing the decision, parties on both sides are mounting increasing pressure. According to CNBC, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has come out in favor of the UK’s security review, telling BBC radio “I trust that the U.K. government will design their networks in ways that protect the networks and make sure that the U.K. has secure 5G networks.”
On the flip side, Huawei is pulling out the stops to win over public opinion. According to the BBC, the Chinese company is engaging in a newspaper and internet media blitz to remind the British public that it has been in business in the UK for some 20 years.
Ultimately, there will be winners and losers regardless of what the UK decides. If it continues with its plans to include Huawei, it risks its “special relationship” with the US. If, on the other hand, it bans Huawei as the US has done, it risks alienating one of its biggest trading partners.
The US is reviewing its military and intelligence assets in the UK and may pull them out following the UK’s decision to use Huawei.
The US has banned Huawei and engaged in a campaign to pressure its allies to do the same, especially those allies that, along with the US, constitute the Five Eyes. Comprised of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, the Five Eyes work closely on the international scene and share intelligence. The UK, in particular, shares a very close relationship with the US, a relationship that has been strained with the UK’s decision to include Huawei in its 5G network.
According to The Telegraph, the UK’s decision may soon result in action on the part of the US. The Telegraph says that half a dozen sources have confirmed that a review is underway to determine what military and intelligence assets in the UK may need to be pulled out.
“This was not a bluff. You cannot mitigate the danger Boris Johnson is exposing the UK to by letting Huawei into the network,” said one of the sources.
“This review is not a punishment. This is the White House saying ‘okay, if they’re going to go down this path and put themselves at risk then how do we protect ourselves.’”
The coming weeks and months will no doubt be pivotal, in terms of the US and UK’s relationship. It’s also possible that such a review could put more pressure on Johnson to reverse the decision, something many in the British government already want to do.
Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, has said the country will not be pressured into make a decision on Huawei.
Canada is part of the Five Eyes group of countries that work closely on intelligence. Of the group, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand have banned Huawei from their 5G networks, while the UK has opted to include the Chinese firm in a limited role. Canada has yet to decide, but is warning the country must do what is best for itself.
According to Bloomberg, Bains told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “We will make sure that we proceed in a manner that’s in our national interest. We won’t get bullied by any other jurisdictions.”
“Countries have raised their concerns. We’re engaged with our Five Eyes partners. We know that this is a very important issue,” he added. “But we will make a decision that makes sense for Canadians and protects Canadians.”
The U.S. has been pressuring its allies, both in the Five Eyes and EU, to ban Huawei. It’s safe to say the U.S. certainly wants to win over its closest ally geographically but, based on Bains’ remarks, that may be easier said than done.
Direct to consumer brands are doing incredible numbers on Shopify, says Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein. He says that Kylie Jenner has generated almost a billion dollars in sales on the platform and many other influencers such as Kanye West, Drake, and most recently Tom Brady are also doing very well.
“Even if you go beyond just Kylie, you look at companies like Bombas and Allbirds and Tommy John and Fashion Nova, these are brands that didn’t exist five or ten years ago and they’re absolutely doing incredible numbers on Shopify with no slowing down in mind,” says Finklestein. “Shopify was built to help anyone that has an idea start a great business and sell to a global audience.”
Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify, talks about the incredible numbers DTC brands are doing on Shopify, the huge success of Shopify Capital, and their quick acceptance of cannabis stores in Canada and potentially the rest of the world, in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:
DTC Brands Doing Incredible Numbers on Shopify
We’re really happy with how we ended the year and certainly, the quarter was great and we’re really excited about our future. We’ve been at this now for almost 14 years. We’ve grown to 820,000 merchants up from 600,000 merchants a year ago. We have a big top of funnel with brand new entrepreneurs getting started on Shopify for the very first time. We also have some very large brands like the big CPGs and some big direct to consumer (DTC) companies all using Shopify to scale their businesses. We’ve got a really great business model and we’re having a lot of fun.
It’s amazing. I think the Kylie story ($1 billion in sales) was surprising to a lot of people, not for us because we see so many stories like that all the time. Whether it’s Kanye West launching his Yeezy store on Shopify or Drake’s store or Tom Brady’s new store, we see all of these major brands and huge influencers using Shopify to create authentic products and sell it to the audience. I always sort of think back to if DTC and direct-to-consumer were around when Michael Jordan was creating the Jordan brand with Nike I think Nike would be a supplier and Michael Jordan would be the brand. He would own the entirety of his business as opposed to getting a licensing fee.
We’re really excited about this. But even if you go beyond just Kylie, you look at companies like Bombas and Allbirds and Tommy John and Fashion Nova, these are brands that didn’t exist five or ten years ago and they’re absolutely doing incredible numbers on Shopify with no slowing down in mind. Shopify was built to help anyone that has an idea start a great business and sell to a global audience. We really do bend the learning curve to make it really easy to get started.
Shopify Helping Democratize the Entire Business Process
The ones that succeed, not all of them do, but the ones that do succeed they grow really large with us and over time we want to provide them with more services and more solutions. For example, we launched Shopify Payments a couple of years ago. We went to the payments companies and negotiated rates on their behalf. We launched Shopify Shipping and went to the shipping company and negotiated shipping costs on their behalf. We always are trying to find economies of scale to help democratize the entire business process for these small businesses.
More recently we realized that a lot of these small businesses also need capital. Because we have so much information on them we’re able to make really quick and very effective underwriting decisions so we were able to go and offer them capital cash advances. We’ve given out hundreds of millions of dollars of cash advances to a lot of these small businesses who if it wasn’t for Shopify would not be able to get this money on their own.
Entrepreneurs Want to Own Their Audience
Etsy fundamentally is a marketplace. Etsy is a place where someone who makes a product can go to find an audience. But our feeling is that you know for an entrepreneur they don’t always want to rent the audience. They want to own the audience. They want to have a direct relationship with their customers. They want to own the entire to profit margin. They want to be able to sell and have long-term relations with the people that are buying their products.
So companies like Etsy do a really good job of curating a bunch of products and renting those customers to those makers. We think the marketplaces are really great but we think ultimately makers and entrepreneurs and merchants want to have a direct relationship with the people buying their products. One of the things that is not well known about Shopify but one way to think about what we do is really this retail operating system. Merchants can start a store with us very easily and they can build a beautiful online store but they can also cross-sell to different marketplaces like eBay or Amazon.
The idea is that it feeds all feeds back in one centralized back office which is Shopify. That’s where they can run the entirety of their business. Really the idea is let’s become the most important piece of software they use on a daily basis. The first thing they open every morning, the last thing they close every night. So obviously marketplace will play a role there but ultimately merchants want to find customers wherever those customers exist and more and more they want to sell direct to those customers.
Shopify Facilitating Cannabis Sales in Canada
The reason we started with Canada was there was clarity in Canada. The Canadian government, the legislature, they were very clear with how they were going to roll out the commercialization and the legalization of cannabis sales on the consumer side. We felt it was really important for us to act quickly and effectively to not only win as much of the Canadian market as we possibly could but also to show the rest of the world as they begin to think about cannabis sales that we are the first phone call that they should be making.
Whether it’s the province of Ontario or British Columbia or most of the largest licensed producers like Canopy in Canada, Shopify is what’s powering those retail sales. We think that we can do a great job helping other countries and other regions do the same thing.
The battle between Huawei and the U.S. shows no signs of abating. In fact, Huawei is making moves that will likely ratchet up the war even further.
Huawei’s CEO, Ren Zhengfei, told the Toronto Globe and Mail in a video interview that Huawei is moving its research facilities from the U.S. to Canada. Zhengfei acknowledged the company does not have much of a presence in the U.S., but does not want to give up on any one country due to a dispute.
Zhengfei said in the interview that the relocation to Canada would be a gradual one, but was necessary as a result of the sanctions.
“Because of the sanctions, we are not allowed to communicate with our employees in America. No phone calls. No e-mails. No contacts. Huawei’s development has been blocked in America, and therefore we are moving our business to Canada.”
Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that the company has been encouraging suppliers to break the law to work around U.S. sanctions against Huawei.
Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross told Reuters the U.S. government is frustrated by the limitations of blacklisting, since it does nothing to prevent overseas suppliers from selling to Huawei.
Ross said Huawei has “been openly advocating companies to move their production offshore to get around the fact that we put Huawei on the list. Anybody who does move the product out specifically to avoid the sanction… that’s a violation of U.S. law. So here you have Huawei encouraging American suppliers to violate the law.”
It’s safe to say the U.S. will likely be looking at additional options to punish Huawei.
Amazon announced the launch of unlimited storage with Amazon Cloud Drive to customers in Canada. They’re offering two storage plans including unlimited storage and unlimited photos.
The former plan is $59.99 per year, and the latter is $11.99 per year. Both plans come with free 3-month trials.
“With the unlimited plans, customers no longer need to worry about how much storage is needed to keep their content safe and secure—they can choose either the Unlimited Storage Plan or Unlimited Photos Plan and only pay one flat fee per year,” the company says. “All their content is securely stored and available for download at their original size and resolution, so memories are protected for a lifetime.”
“Most people have a lifetime of birthdays, vacations, holidays, and everyday moments stored across numerous devices. And, they don’t know how many gigabytes of storage they need to back all of them up,” says Josh Petersen, Director of Amazon Cloud Drive. “With the two new plans we are introducing today, customers don’t need to worry about storage space—they now have an affordable, secure solution to store unlimited amounts of photos, videos, movies, music, and files in one convenient place.”
There’s some good news for Star Wars fans who subscribe to Netflix. The company confirmed that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will come to Netflix streaming next year.
But only in Canada.
The reason it’s not going to stream in the US? Licensing deals.
The reason Netflix will be able to offer the much-anticipated movie in Canada next year — and not in the U.S. or anywhere else — has to do with the timing of when Disney’s pay-TV distribution deals were up for grabs.
In the U.S., premium cable channel Starz has an exclusive output deal with Disney that runs through the end of 2015; Netflix’s pact with the Mouse House commences with 2016 titles. With “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” slated for Dec. 18 theatrical debut, that means Starz will be the pay-TV home for the movie in the U.S.
The new Star Wars movie will hit Netflix Canada about eight months after it leaves theaters.
Of course, Star Wars fans from other countries will surely find a way around this. If only there was a way …
It's as if a million voices cried out "VPN!". — Netflix to stream Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Canada https://t.co/qnfwuzOc0H
Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi Quaid, were taken into custody on Friday night while trying to cross the border from Canada into the U.S.
On Monday, Randy Quaid will face the music from some serious vandalism charges stemming from a 2010 offense.
It seems Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, were squatting in the guest house of a home they formally owned when they were discovered and charged with trespassing and causing over $5,000 in damages to the house.
Randy Quaid and his wife skipped several court appearances after they were arrested, then ran to Canada where Evi was granted citizenship.
Randy Quaid, however, was denied citizenship.
There are many secret tunnels between Canada and the United States.
This was a big hurdle for Randy Quaid, who insisted that he was going to be a victim of “Hollywood star-whackers” who killed his friends David Carradine and Heath Ledger.
Randy Quaid is the older brother of actor Dennis Quaid. He is best known for his roles in National Lampoon’s Vacation and Independence Day.
Randy Quaid is also the star of his own world, since being practically disowned by Hollywood, showing up in several videos that the couple have posted to social media.
They arrest Randy Quaid because he is something like 20% Indian and can live any place he wants
Randy Quaid and wife Evi were reportedly arrested by Canada Border Services on Tuesday and expect to soon be deported from the country.
The arrest apparently occurred on the couple’s 26th anniversary, as mentioned in this video from Evi Quaid’s YouTube channel, which was recorded right before the arrest, according to the video description.
Another video addressed to President Obama, John Kerry, and Santa Barbara also appeared on the channel:
Evi’s Twitter account remained active following the arrest:
Quaid has been seeking permanent residency in Canada and has been living with his wife Evi, a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen, in Montreal for three years. He said a Canada Border Services Agency officer arrested him when he checked in with the agency on Tuesday morning. Quaid said he has been checking in every two weeks since May as part of the conditions set when his application for permanent residency was rejected.
This all follows legal troubles the Quaids were in back in 2010 when they were arrested in California for trepassing-related charges though the building they were in was a guest house of a home he two had once resided in. They managed to go to Canada before being charged, while an active extradition order for felony vandalism reportedly remains in Santa Barbara.
Randy had reportedly sought asylum in Canada, claiming “Hollywood star-whackers” were out to get him.
Last summer, Google introduced website call conversions to let advertisers track calls that occur after an ad click. It involves putting a snippet of code on your site, and measuring calls through a Google dynamically inserted Google forwarding number from potential customers who skipped the click-to-call portion of your ad, and checked out your site first.
Last fall, Google launched local forwarding numbers that utilize area codes local to where the business is located to inspire more clicks or calls from users who may prefer to call a number with a recognizable area code. This was initially just available in the U.S.
On Tuesday, Google announced the expansion of forwarding numbers to Canada.
“The ability to call a business is often critical in helping potential customers complete a purchase,” writes AdWords product manager Amit Agarwal in a blog post. “In fact, 61% of mobile searchers say it’s extremely important to be able to call a business during the purchase phase of the shopping process. Measuring these phone calls to your business is essential for understanding the full value of Google search ads and making informed decisions for acquiring new customers. That’s why we’re excited to announce the launch of Google forwarding numbers in Canada.”
“In addition to measuring call conversions, Google forwarding numbers also allow you to assign a conversion value,” says Agarwal. ” or example, a business might assign a revenue value to calls that last over 5 minutes. By measuring these calls, you can automatically optimize your keyword bids to drive more valuable calls using Target ROAS. This flexible bid strategy factors in signals like device, location, and time of day to make auction-time bid adjustments that maximize call conversion value, while reaching your business goals.”
Canadian businesses can learn more about utilizing all of this here.
Ashley Madison has yet to be fully exposed, but if data breach info should ever be brought to full light by hacking vigilantes The Impact Team, it could be especially disastrous for Canada.
Namely, the city of Ottawa. Ottawa appears as a frigid, fairly sleepy city, but apparently it has a hot extramarital culture who make good use of Ashley Madison.
Ottawa has 883,000 people. 200,000 of those people have profiles on Ashley Madison.
That is more than a fifth of the population registered on Ashley Madison!
A few locals have opinions as to why their city would be such big consumers of Ashley Madison, where the slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair.”
A photo posted by Rina Jeremiah (@rinajeremiah) on
Marriage counselor Nataxja Cini has her theories as to why so many Ottawa residents have covertly sought relationships on Ashley Madison. She said, “In our buttoned-down city, it may not be acceptable to openly explore outside of a committed relationship.”
Another Ottawa resident had a similar, but more blunt opinion, saying, “In a blue collar city, they’re not going to use a website, they’re going to do it at a bar. Here you can’t run the risk of someone seeing you at a bar doing that… Why do you think everyone goes to Montreal to have a good time? Ottawa is the city fun forgot.”
Some theorize that political occupations, which abound in the city and are stressful and demanding, may have contributed to the large number of Ashley Madison users.
In fact, Parliament Hill, with a large political residency, had the most registered users according to Ashley Madison statistics.
Whatever the reason, as one Ottawa resident put it, “I think a lot of people will be questioned at dinner tonight.”
On Jimmy Kimmel Live! there’s an ongoing skit segment where “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets”, showcasing (as the name suggests) superstars reading hurtful tweets from average schmucks.
Since celebrities are too privileged to bear the weight of feelings, it’s a good chuckle for us, reminding them that before they drove around in their golden Lamborghinis and swam in Luis Vuitton pools full of naked models, they too were once human:
On March 11th, The Canadian Safe School Network and advertisement agency John St. published a video on YouTube titled “Kids Read Mean Tweets” which parodies the “Mean Tweets” series and takes the format to a whole new level.
What starts off as presumed and familiar comedy turns into an inevitable backslap of reality proving once again that Canadians know better than us: Cyber-bullying is no joke.
At first, a young girl reads a tweet slut shaming her with accompanying background laughter. The final kid on the screen lowers her head, reading a tweet that says, “No one likes you. Do everyone a favour. Just kill yourself.” before walking off the set.
“It’s easy to laugh at rich celebrities reading some of the terrible things people have said about them online. We condone it. We even revel in it,” the advertiser, Canadian Safe School Network, said in a statement, as reported by AdWeek.
“But this same behavior is turning almost 40 percent of Canadian kids into victims of cyberbullying. It’s a growing epidemic that invades their lives and leaves many feeling like there’s no way out.”
Canadian Safe Schools even launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise money, which would go into spreading the video around and raise awareness about the troubling issue.
On Monday, the temperature at Niagara Falls dropped to 13 degrees below zero. The drop in temperature left parts of Niagara Falls frozen, while the surrounding area was covered in snow and mist. The transformation brought more tourists to the area, mostly photographers who want to photograph the majestic waterfall in its frozen state.
According to CNN, while the falls may look frozen on the surface, water is still flowing under the ice. The only time that the water flow in Niagara Falls stopped completely was back in 1848 due to an ice jam upriver. However, 1912 saw one of the coldest recorded winters in US history according to data compiled by the United States Weather Bureau, established in 1870. Temperatures dropped so low due to an Arctic cold wave that the falls was dense enough for people to walk across it safely. The cold wave started in December 1911, and continued through February of 1912.
Photographer Christine Hess was one of the tourists who flocked to Niagara Falls to document its winter transformation. “There’s something about shooting the falls that leaves me mesmerized. I could walk down there for hours with my camera and never tire of the scenery. I’m in my own little world down there,” Hess said. And while it is definitely an incredible sight, it is not uncommon for parts of Niagara Falls to freeze during winter. In fact, last January, a photograph of the frozen falls became viral.
Michelle Blackley, communications and community relations for the falls told USA Today, “The attention the falls is receiving is bringing a crowd to view them in their majestic, winter splendor.”
According to the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, the lakes are now more than 85% iced over. The report also says that Lake Erie is already 98% frozen. And while 85% is a little high, it’s actually quite common in the Great Lakes. In fact, the record for the most ice coverage in the Great Lakes is 94.7% and it happened back in 1979. Last year’s peak was 92.5%. The National Weather Service says that extremely cold arctic air might expand the ice coverage in the coming days.
Pizza delivery is one of the go-to traditions for Super Bowl game day.
All across the nation, pizza delivery drivers will be really busy today.
It’s a great day for pizza restaurants!
One pizza place in Canada got a really special game day pizza delivery order last week.
Lee and Carol Brown moved to Regina, Saskatchewan from Windsor, Ontario and failed to secure a new favorite pizza delivery place in their new town.
We can all relate to that, right?
Well, the couple didn’t just sit idly by and let Super Bowl game day be tarnished by mediocre pizza.
They called their favorite pizza delivery place in their old town, Windsor’s Arcata Pizza, and placed an order for delivery.
It cost the couple over $100 after shipping for the large pizza, but they say it’s totally worth it.
“The sauce is good, the dough is good, the toppings are fresh, Arcata was the best pizza in town for us,” Carol Brown said of her favorite pizza delivery place.
She added, “We talk about it all the time. We don’t really eat pizza here. We’ve tried it here, it’s just not the same. We miss pizza from Windsor. I thought, ‘I’d love to get one shipped. I’d just like to have that pie.’”
So, they did. They just don’t mess around when it comes to pizza delivery.
Arcata pizza owner Bob Abumeeiz thought the whole thing was a joke, but was happy to oblige when he realized they just really thought his pizza was that good.
He said of his first reaction, “A week ago I got the phone call and I thought it was crazy and it was someone playing a joke on me, but then I realized it was for real.”
So, Abumeeiz got to work. The pizza was made fresh and then quickly frozen. When the pizza delivery gets to their door, the Browns will open it and cook it.
So awesome! How far would you go to enjoy a meal from a far away favorite spot?
In Canadian news, a Canadian man has gone full Canada and turned himself in to police after assuring them he would on Facebook.
CTV News says that Rodney Constantine was wanted on four warrants, including failing to appear in court and breaching court orders. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, who operates rather prolific social media accounts, took to both Facebook and Twitter solicit help in nabbing Constantine.
“Everybody is innocent until proven guilty in court; however police base charges on reasonable probable grounds. In other words, ‘was it reasonable and probably that an offense occurred?’ We commend Mr.s Constantine for acknowledging these charges and hopefully he will contact us to have the matter dealt with properly in court,” wrote police on Facebook.
Soon after, Constantine replied to their post, saying “See you Monday morn!!!”
“Look just letting everyone know this ain’t a joke or intended !!!! I was just been honest about turning in Monday morn that’s all !!!!” he said.
Sure enough, come Monday morning, Constantine showed up to turn himself in.
The police took to Facebook to announce his arrest.
Gotta love Canada. In the U.S, when police post wanted criminals on Facebook, they usually just taunt police until they’re eventually apprehended. They’re always apprehended.
While Bill Cosby wiped out 10 American cities from his tour schedule, the comedian was welcomed with open arms in Canada. The embattled comedian received standing ovations for his shows at Kitchener, London, and Hamilton in Ontario. Late last year, Cosby was hit with multiple rape allegations with several women stepping forward accusing the comedian of taking advantage of them. The accusations have been buried for years, and now Cosby is forced to go on the defensive. Even in Canada, the 77-year-old TV icon still had to face protesters outside the venues.
However, despite some instances of heckling and loud protesters, much of the concerts went smoothly. Several Canadians who attended the show expressed their belief that Cosby is innocent until proven guilty and that they’re there because they wanted to enjoy a comedy show that they’ve already paid for. “If they could prove anything he’d be in jail. He would have been charged, they wouldn’t have let him come into Canada,” said Mike Lethbridge, who was there for Cosby’s final show in the country. “I think he’s innocent.”
Cosby was heckled in his London and Hamilton shows, with one audience member calling him “a rapist” and another instance of protesters chanting “we believe the women”. Cosby urged his fans to stay calm and assured people that he and his fans hold no grudges.
The rape allegations remain to be a fixture in the news, especially because of a joke made by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler during the Golden Globe awards. While talking about the films nominated that night, Poehler said, “In Into the Woods, Cinderella runs from her prince, Rapunzel is thrown from a tower for her prince, and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby.” After a shocked crowd gasped at the joke, Poehler and Fey proceeded to do impersonations of Cosby’s famous “pudding-pop” line and making it about pills instead.
