Mounties Flummoxed By Maple Syrup Hijacking!

Some enterprising thieves have stolen millions of pounds of…

Maple Syrup!

Gettin’ crazy out there y’all!

Police probing Quebec maple syrup heist worth up to $30-million

Quebec police are on the hunt for a sticky-fingered thief after millions of dollars of maple syrup vanished from a Quebec warehouse.

The theft was discovered during a routine inventory check last week at the St-Louis-de-Blandford warehouse, where the syrup is being held temporarily. The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which is responsible for the global strategic maple syrup reserve, initially kept the news quiet, hoping it would help police solve the crime quickly.

About 10 million pounds of syrup was stored at the site, at a value of more than $30-million.

Anne-Marie Granger Godbout, executive director of the federation, said the organization is still trying to determine how much is missing and declined to offer an estimate. But a spokesman from the Sureté du Québec said the loss was significant.

“We know that it’s millions of dollars that was stolen,” said Sergeant Richard Gagné. “It’s a very large amount.”

All of the maple syrup inventories are fully insured, according to the federation, so there will be no loss to producers.

Ms. Granger Godbout said the theft shouldn’t put the global supply of maple syrup at risk, but warned it could allow the thief to undercut legitimate producers. The federation represents about 10,000 maple syrup producers in Quebec. “Obviously those people stole the maple syrup to sell it somewhere,” she said. “If it’s a big volume, it could be very harmful for the maple syrup industry. The companies that are working in this industry will have to compete with some company that didn’t pay for the maple syrup.”

Shotgun Wedding…Quebec Style

May maternal grandfather was married twice. The first time in a literal “Shotgun Wedding”, when a local Minister showed up at his door with shotgun and pregnant daughter in tow…

To encourage him to do the right thing. Family rumor has it that within a few hours of the arrival of the Minister, the time required to gather a few witnesses, and a very short guest list – the happy couple was married by his own hand.

The marriage didn’t last, they were divorced several years later after the birth of two children – and he eventually married my Maternal Grandmother.

Like any less than positive event reflecting on the character of a family member – this was hidden as a family secret for years. Leading to the invention of several salacious scenarios where he was seeing the two women at the same time, or wasn’t divorced from the first when he married the second, making lots of fun for those family members who enjoy scandal. Marriage and divorce records prove it didn’t happen that way – but what the hey!

I live in a “Common Law” state – you live with someone for 7 years and you are married by law.

In Quebec, Canada – a recent court decision may result in the largest virtual shotgun wedding in history.

I Don’t! - How a bizarre legal case involving a mysterious billionaire could force 1.2 million Canadians to be married, against their will.

Somewhere in North America, there is a place where little girls don’t give the slightest thought to what kind of wedding dress they’ll wear one day. A place where young men have never heard the expression: “why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free?”—because the milk is always free. A place where no one asks an unmarried couple expecting a baby if they’re getting hitched.

This place is the province of Quebec. The French language spoken here is no guarantee for romance. Couples are practical, and lovers treasure their individuality. Quebec has become one of the least marrying places in the world, thanks to the institution known as “de facto spouses,” But now, thanks to a bizarre legal case entangling a Quebec billionaire and his de facto spouse ,  the freedom to un-marry is under threat. More than 1 million Quebecois in this kind of relationship may soon be automatically married by the state, against their will.

De facto spouses are defined by Quebec’s law as two people who have been living together for a year or more without being married and who check the “couple” box on their income tax statement form. Quebec’s lawmakers have deliberately chosen not to give de facto couples the same rights and responsibilities that married couples have under the Law of Quebec, to preserve the freedom of choice. Upon the termination of a relationship, “no matter how long cohabitation has lasted, de facto spouses have no legal support obligation to each other, even if one spouse is in need and the other has a high income.” Quebec is the only province in Canada where spousal support payments are not recognized by law for de facto spouses.

Other countries also recognize the status of common-law couples, including France and the Scandinavian nations. In the United States, common law marriage is a legal status in a minority of states.

The very religious province of Quebec traditionally perceived de facto spouses as a threat to the social order. But the “Quiet Revolution” starting in the 1960s led to a radical rejection of the church, a decline in religious weddings, and a reform of the Family Law that introduced the notion of de facto unions in 1979. The status gained more recognition during the ’80s and ’90s, mostly thanks to lobbying by gay rights advocates.

The institution has become wildly popular in Quebec, for gays and straights. Anastonishing 34.6 percent of all Quebec couples are de facto couples, and one half of couples under 40 are not married. A full 60 percent of Quebec children are born out of wedlock. ( – More -)

Notorious Yogi-X Crew Drug Gang!

The Notorious Yogi-X has been in trouble with the law before. After being thrown out of New Jersey last year, he apparently immigrated to Canada, where he has formed a gang and taken over a Drug operation!

Why can’t it be a brown bear, or a Grizzly – why does it have to be a black bear?

Yogi-X (r) Stops By to Tell the Officer "You mean those were marijuana plants?"

Bears guarded B.C. grow-op: RCMP

Police in southeastern B.C. have raided a marijuana grow operation that was apparently guarded by black bears.

Officers conducting the raid two weeks ago at Christina Lake found a property with two residential buildings and a fenced-off grow-op with about 1,000 plants, police said Tuesday.

But they also found about 10 bears that the owner appeared to be using to keep people from stealing any pot plants, said RCMP Sgt. Fred Mansveld.

“[Officers] soon noticed the bears were docile and tame,” Mansveld told CBC News. “One of them jumped on our unmarked car for a while. But it soon became apparent they were habituated to the grow operation.”

It was evident the animals had lived on the property for some time, police said.

The woman accused of running the grow-op has been feeding the bears for years, one neighbour said.

Police are recommending that the woman face charges related to marijuana cultivation.

Conservation officers now have to decide what to do about the bears, which might have to be destroyed because they have become too used to human food and contact, police said.

Christina Lake is about 350 kilometres east of Vancouver.

Tough Times for Right Wing Propagandists

The Tea Baggers have brought a new level of comity to political discourse in this country. Right Wing propagandists and hate meisters are beginning to feel the heat – internationally.

Recently Ann Coulter reieved a “warm” reception in Canada, and now KKKarl Rove, the architecht of the Bush disaster, is finding out some folks just aren’t willing to let him sell his swill and brand it as Sweet Tea.

Here’s Awful Andy getting kicked out of Canada -

Oh! Canada… Indeed.

Rep. Paul Broun (R – Georgia) – Canada and England Have no Appreciation of Quality of Life

Another conservative… Another moron.

This one claims that the “Public Option” Health Care system being debated before Congress is going to “kill people”.

Further – he argues that Canada and UK don’t have the appreciation for life Americans do….