10 most notorious prisoners of the maximum security Kingston Penitentiary

By Blog of Lists - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 10:30 AM - 0 Comments

Clifford Olson. (Nick Didlick/UPC/CP)

It opened in 1835, and though it was men-only in recent years, it used to have women and even child inmates. The prison is slated to close by 2015.

1. Grace Marks: Employed as a maid, 16-year-old Marks was convicted in 1843 of murdering her boss Thomas Kinnear and his pregnant housekeeper, who was also his mistress. Because of her age and gender, Marks was sentenced to life behind bars, while her accomplice, stable hand James McDermott, was hanged. She was pardoned in 1873 and moved to New York state. Her life was the inspiration for Margaret Atwood’s 1996 novel, Alias Grace.

2. Marie-Anne Houde: In 1920, Houde and her husband were arrested after an autopsy on the body of her 11-year-old stepdaughter, Aurore Gagnon, revealed 54 wounds that “could only have been the result of the blows to the child’s body.” Rumours swirled that Houde was also involved in the death of Aurore’s younger brother and mother, since she had been living in the house at the time and married the father a week after his wife’s passing. Houde was sentenced to hang, but the execution was delayed so she could give birth. On July 8, she gave birth to twins. A wave of public pity coupled with a clemency campaign paid off two days before she was scheduled to die in Quebec City, when her sentence was reduced to life in prison and she was sent to Kingston. Today, Aurore Gagnon, known as “Aurore the martyred child,” remains a popular icon in Quebec.

3. Norman ‘Red’ Ryan: Also known as “Canada’s Jessie James,” Ryan was a career criminal, first charged with theft at the age of 12 in 1907. By 17, he was serving his first of many stints in Kingston for “shooting with intent.” At the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted rather than face decades in prison but soon returned to his old ways. By the early 1920s he was an enthusiastic bank robber. Along with a gang of prisoners, he escaped from the pen and went on a crime spree that ended in Minneapolis. After returning to the pen, he became a model prisoner, and with the support of prime minister R.B Bennett and MP Agnes Macphail, Ryan was paroled in 1935. After his release he hosted a radio show denouncing crime and advocating prison reform. In 1936, he was killed outside a liquor store in Sarnia, Ont., after a botched armed robbery attempt.

4. Tim Buck: As the general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada, he was convicted of “Communist agitation” in 1931 and lived in the Kingston Penitentiary from 1932-34. Buck was involved in the violent riot in 1932 that lasted six days. During the chaos, at least five bullets were fired into his cell. Later, the government admitted that the shots were a deliberate attempt to “frighten” Buck.

5. Edwin Boyd: By the time of his incarceration in the 1950s, Boyd was a celebrity. The leader of his own bank robbing crew, the Torontonian had achieved folk-hero status after several well-executed bank heists and two successful breakouts of the Don Jail. He spent a decade in the Kingston prison. In 2011, Canadian actor Scott Speedman stared as Boyd in the movie Citizen Gangster based on his life.

6. Roger Caron: A career criminal and prison escape artist, Caron wrote several books describing his experiences in prison. Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars won him the 1978 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction.

7. Wayne Clifford Boden: Known as the “Vampire Rapist” because he bit the breasts of his victims, Boden was sentenced to three life sentences for the rape and murder of three women in Montreal and a high school teacher in Calgary. For the first time in North American history, the Crown used forensic odontological evidence to convict him. Boden began his sentence in 1972 and died of skin cancer in 2006.

8. Clifford Olson: Convicted of killing 11 children, Olson spent 10 years—from 1982 to 1992—in the pen, which he called a “rat hole.” He was often in trouble. In 1990, he was charged with possessing eight grams of hashish while in isolation. Two years later, he was caught hiding a handcuff key in his rectum and had his telephone privileges cut due to phone “abuse.” After a broom handle was found in his cell, he was moved to a prison in Saskatchewan. Olson died from cancer in 2011 at the age of 71.

9. Paul Bernardo: Since his conviction in 1995 for the murders of teenagers Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, Bernardo has been in segregation, locked in an eight-foot-by-four-foot cell for 23 hours a day for his own safety. Shortly after his imprisonment, he confessed to a series of sexual assaults that terrorized the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.

10. Russell Williams: In 2010, the former air force commander of CFB Trenton pleaded guilty to 88 criminal offences, including the murders of Corp. Marie-France Comeau and Jessica Lloyd. He was given an automatic sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Sources: The Trials of James McDermott and Grace Marks, (1843); Dictionary of Canadian Biography; Canadian Encyclopedia; Maclean’s; New York Times; CBC; Owen Sound Sun Times; Kingston Whig Standard; The Worker; Toronto Sun

Have you ever wondered which cities have the most bars, smokers, absentee workers and people searching for love? What about how Canada compares to the world in terms of the size of its military, the size of our houses and the number of cars we own? The answers to all those questions, and many more, can be found in the first ever Maclean’s Book of Lists.

Buy your copy of the Maclean’s Book of Lists at the newsstand or order online now.

10 most famous pieces of footwear in the Bata Shoe Museum

By Blog of Lists - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 3:41 PM - 0 Comments

Justin Bieber's sneakers (Darren Calabrese/CP Photo)

One of Canada’s unique institutions, the shoe museum grew out of the private collection of Sonya Bata, whose husband, Thomas, oversaw what at one time was the largest shoe company in the world. Sonya first started collecting traditional and famous footwear in the 1940s. Here are some of the most remarkable items visitors can see.

1. Marilyn Monroe’s red leather stiletto shoes, c.1957

2. John Lennon’s single Chelsea boot, c.1962 Continue…

Canadian words, phrases or slang that most Americans wouldn’t understand

By Blog of Lists - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 11:26 AM - 0 Comments

Getty Images

1. Two-four (24 beers)

2. Loonie (and, of course, toonie)

3. Toque

4. Klick (kilometre)

5. Toboggan

6. Peamealor back bacon

7. Washroom

8. Serviette

9. Chinook (the wind, not the helicopter)

10. Mickey (e.g. a mickey of vodka)

11. Knapsack

12. Kerfuffle

Have you ever wondered which cities have the most bars, smokers, absentee workers and people searching for love? What about how Canada compares to the world in terms of the size of its military, the size of our houses and the number of cars we own? The answers to all those questions, and many more, can be found in the first ever Maclean’s Book of Lists.

Buy your copy of the Maclean’s Book of Lists at the newsstand or order online now.

9 Canadian daredevils

By Blog of Lists - Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Clifford Calverly. (Get Stock)

Staid? Risk-averse? Not on your life. Canada has produced some of the world’s greatest daredevils, “stunters” and all-round thrill-seekers. Some lived to tell their stories; others weren’t so lucky:

1. Jay Cochrane, Saint John, N.B.: His list of death-defying high-wire feats is long, but his record-smash- ing, 1995 crossing of China’s Qutang Gorge—636 m across, 400 m above the Yangtze River—is surely his masterpiece.

2. Ken Carter, Montreal: Known as the “Mad Canadian,” this car jumper set a record in 1974 piloting a Chevy 34 m through the air above 13 Subarus. In 1979, he was five seconds from attempting a two-kilometre jump over the St. Lawrence in a rocket-propelled Lincoln when he aborted. He died in 1983 trying to jump a pond.

3. Dean Gunnarson, Winnipeg: Perhaps the greatest “escapologist” since Houdini. He’s escaped beer tanks, car crushers and sub- merged coffins. Two years ago, on the anniversary of Houdini’s death, Gunnarson had himself buried in a grave and dug his way out, emerging two days later.

4. Clifford Calverly, Clarksburg, Ont.: In 1887, the young tight- rope artist stunned tourists at Niagara Falls by performing a series of tricks while balancing on a high wire, including hanging by one arm and skipping a rope. He even pushed a wheelbarrow across the wire.

5. Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, Vancouver: A star of the so-called “freediving” movement, where divers go as deep as possible without the benefit of oxygen tanks, she sank using ballast to a depth of 88 m in 2007, setting a women’s world record.

6. Anna Chevalier, Red Deer, Alta.: During the Roaring Twenties in Chicago, she and her trusty horse Johnny would mount a 15-m tower on the Steel Pier, then hurl themselves into a vat of water only three metres deep. Horse diving, it goes without saying, is a lost art.

7. Karel Soucek, Hamilton: In 1984 he rode over the Horseshoe Falls in a barrel and lived. A year later, he was killed performing a fall off the roof of the Astrodome in Houston. As 35,000 people looked on, his barrel hit the rim of a water tank placed below.

8. Lonnie Bissonnette, St. Cathar- ines, Ont.: Perhaps the greatest of Canada’s BASE jumpers, he has parachuted off the famous KL Tower in Malaysia and Angel Falls in Venezuela. He was left a paraplegic after a 2004 bridge jump in Twin Falls, Iowa, went awry, yet continues to jump.

9. Carol Pilon, Masham, Que.: Canada’s pre-eminent wing-walker is the only woman to have ventured onto the wings of a jet-propelled aircraft—or to have performed her act in winter.

Source: Personal websites, news reports

Have you ever wondered which cities have the most bars, smokers, absentee workers and people searching for love? What about how Canada compares to the world in terms of the size of its military, the size of our houses and the number of cars we own? The answers to all those questions, and many more, can be found in the first ever Maclean’s Book of Lists.

Buy your copy of the Maclean’s Book of Lists at the newsstand or order online now.

11 ghost towns to see before they’re completely gone

By Blog of Lists - Friday, December 28, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Ireland's Eye. (Pete Ryan/Getty)

From coast to coast to coast, Canada is dotted by ghost towns, vacant testimony to our pioneering spirit and to dashed dreams. Many of their structures still stand, though in derelict condition, offering visitors haunting, often picturesque glimpses of the Canadian past.

1. Giant Mine Town Site, located four kilometres north of Yellowknife, once housed the workers from the Giant Mine gold mine, which ceased operation in 2004. It was the site of a deadly bombing during a labour dispute that killed nine replacement workers in 1992, and is currently an environmental concern due to arsenic tailings. Visitors (who must seek permission to explore the site) can walk among abandoned houses, barracks and disused playgrounds. UPDATE: The Giant Mine townsite has been closed to the public since 2005. The buildings in the townsite are in various states of disrepair and therefore due to health and safety concerns, public access is not permitted.

Continue…

6 Canadian places whose original names were more interesting

By Blog of Lists - Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Windsor, Ont., the city formerly known as Sandwich. (Brent Foster)

Sure, Regina and Windsor are okay names, but they’re kind of dull compared to what those places used to be called.

1. Regina was Pile of Bones

2. Kenora, Ont. was Rat Portage Continue…

9 places in Saskatchewan named after body parts

By Blog of Lists - Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Moose Jaw (Troy Fleece/CP)

1. Big Arm Bay

2. Eyebrow

3. Elbow

4. Knee Lake Continue…

9 of Canada’s oldest buildings that are still in use

By Blog of Lists - Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks in Brantford, Ont. (SF Photo/Shutterstock)

1. Le Séminaire de Saint-Sulpice, Montreal (1684): Built in what is now downtown Montreal, the seminary still houses active and retired Sulpicians.

2. Notre-Dames-des-Victoires Church, Quebec City (1688): This functioning Roman Catholic church was a film location for the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can.

3. St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Halifax (1750): The oldest Anglican church in North America is still an active place of worship. It’s seen rough days—a wooden sill is embedded in a wall, flung there during the Halifax Explosion of 1917—but it’s also hosted royals, including Queen Victoria’s father. Continue…

Seven coolest dinosaur discoveries in Canada

By Blog of Lists - Monday, December 24, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Hadrosaur (Shutterstock)

1. Albertosaurus sarcophagus: In 1884, George B. Tyrrell discovered the first major dinosaur in Canada. The skull he dug up turned out to be a meat-eating dinosaur and an earlier, close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.

2. Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis: Discovered in Saskatchewan in 1968, it took 40 years to determine the partial skeleton was a new species of plant-eating dinosaur 66 million years old.

3. Eotriceratops xerinsularis: In 2001, Glen Guthrie, a camp cook at Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park, discovered a nasal horn core belonging to a ceratopsian dinosaur. It is believed famed U.S fossil hunter Barnum Brown passed over this discovery in 1910 in search of more impressive discoveries. Continue…

The 10 countries that should be happiest

By Blog of Lists - Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 5:30 AM - 0 Comments

According to the United Nations, when measured by factors such as life expectancy, income and education, here are the countries that have the most reason to be happy:

1. Norway

2. Australia

3. Netherlands

4. United States Continue…

The five worst business ideas pitched on CBC’s ‘Dragons’ Den’

By Blog of Lists - Saturday, December 22, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Dragon's Den host Kevin O'Leary. (CBC)

“Every year we see hundreds of pitches, and probably one in 10 is a good business idea, so nine others make no sense for whatever reason,” says Kevin O’Leary, the Dragon’s Den outspoken dragon. “Sometimes you go into the most insane space.”

1. Bottled Intentions: The idea was to sell bottles of water with inspirational words written on them. When O’Leary questioned the sanity of the entrepre- neur making the pitch, she asked him, “Are you suggesting that I’m a nutbar?” “Yes,” O’Leary replied.

2. Pizza Pak: This would be a reusable plastic box for pizza delivery. O’Leary’s take: “The energy used to recycle it would kill every whale on the planet.” Continue…

Five American broadcast personalities who are Canadian

By Blog of Lists - Friday, December 21, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Ali Velshi (CNN, Mark Hill/AP)

1. Kevin Tibbles: Now a prominent NBC News correspondent based in Chicago, Tibbles cut his journalistic teeth in Toronto, where he studied the craft at Ryerson University. Later, he worked with the CBC, covering the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first Gulf War. Continue…

The 5 most generous postal codes for political donations

By Blog of Lists - Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Canadian politicians inundate us with election ads, pamphlets and lawn signs. For that, we can thank the more than 500,000 voters who open their wallets to donate to political parties. Here, Maclean’s examines the five postal codes that have given the most to federal politicians. (The results include individual donations of $200 or more between 2007-10, excluding the most recent federal election in May 2011.)

1. V2A 5C5 (Penticton, B.C.): $210,857
Canada’s most generous postal code leads to an address on Main Street in Penticton, but in reality comes from a single donation to the New Democrats by the estate of a long-time supporter. Ruth Millicent Hass, who lived in nearby Kaleden, B.C., died at age 89 in April 2010 and bequeathed the single largest donation to any political party in at least 15 years. The riding is represented by Conservative Dan Albas. Continue…

5 Canadian-born American religious figures

By Blog of Lists - Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Oil, lumber, autos, hockey players, comedians: all well-known Canadian exports to the U.S. But preachers? From Catholic missionaries to evangelical pastors, Canada has supplied American Christianity with many notable figures.

1. Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 to 1944): A Pentecostal founder of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Los Angeles, pioneer in the religious exploitation of mass media (especially radio) and media celebrity in the 1920s and ’30s, she was born on a farm near Salford, Ont. McPherson’s month-long disappearance in 1926, the same year in which the equally famous Agatha Christie later disappeared for 11 days, sparked the same press frenzy in both cases. (McPherson claimed to have been kidnapped, but the evidence points to a love affair.) The church she founded still claims 8.7 million adherents worldwide.

2. Francis Patrick Duffy (1871 to 1932): A distinguished theologian and the most decorated cleric in the history of the U.S. Army—including the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre—Duffy was a Catholic priest born in Cobourg, Ont. As chaplain to the 69th New York regiment, drawn mainly from first- and second-generation Irish immigrants, Duffy constantly accompanied stretcher-bearers during Great War battles, and was usually in the thick of the action. Duffy Square, the northern half of Times Square, is named after him; Pat O’Brien played him in a 1940 biopic.

Continue…

6 outrageously expensive hotel rooms in Canada

By Blog of Lists - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise Marquis de Lorne Suite. (Paul Warchol/Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise)

You’ll need deep pockets if you plan to spend a night or more in these luxurious hotel suites. (Prices vary according to season. High-season prices listed.)

1. Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alta.: $12,000 per night in the Marquis de Lorne Suite. Overlooking Lake Louise, this sprawling suite is named after the fourth governor general of Canada, husband of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise. Kelly Ripa and her husband were the most recent in a string of celebrities to vacation there. Continue…

Five important Canadians you probably didn’t learn about in school

By Blog of Lists - Monday, December 17, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

William Barker. (Pat Hewitt/CP)

1. Cornelia De Grassi: The original De Grassi kid, Cornelia was still a teenager when she helped save Toronto from a rebel uprising led by William Lyon Mackenzie in 1837. The daughter of Phillipe De Grassi, a British officer, she rode up Yonge Street to spy on the rebel forces gathered near Montgom- ery’s Tavern. After being captured by the rebels, she escaped on horseback, dodging bullets as she rode back to report that the rebel forces were weak. This embold- ened loyalists, under lieutenant- governor Sir Francis Bond Head, to launch a surprise attack and end the rebellion.

2. John Norton: A crucial native ally to the British during the War of 1812, Norton was born in Scotland to a Cherokee father and Scottish mother, then returned to Canada, first as a soldier then as a schoolmaster in a Mohawk area near Ontario’s Bay of Quinte before becoming Joseph Brant’s deputy. While he and his warriors fought at numerous battles against the Americans, he played a key role at the Battle of Queens- ton Heights. Not only did the war cries of the natives terrify many American troops into refusing to cross the Niagara River, but after Maj. Gen. Isaac Brock was killed, Norton’s warriors fought back the Americans until more help arrived.

3. Viola Desmond: Nine years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Alabama, Halifax’s Viola Desmond was thrown out of a Nova Scotia movie theatre for sitting in the whites-only section. Desmond was fined $20 and was convicted of tax evasion for not paying the one-cent tax on seats sold to white customers. She paid the fine but fought the charge in court, ultimately losing after several appeals. On April 14, 2010, the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia granted Desmond a posthumous pardon, and she was immortalized by Canada Post with a commemorative stamp.

4. William Barker: Canada’s most decorated serviceman and air combat pilot is not Billy Bishop, but William Barker. Born in Dauphin, Man., Barker fought during the First World War and was credited with shooting down 50 enemy aircraft. He received 12 awards for valour, including the Victoria Cross. On Christmas Day, 1917, Barker and his wingman, Harold Hudson, led an unauthor- ized attack on a German airfield, later fictionalized by Ernest Hemmingway in the short story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” When his military career was cut short due to battle injuries, Barker returned to Canada and started several businesses with Bishop, married Bishop’s cousin, and became the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927.

5. Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg: In the same way Norman Bethune is revered in China, Guggisberg, a native of Galt, Ont., is remembered in Ghana for his time as governor of what was then the Gold Coast colony in the 1920s. Guggisberg is remembered for constructing a deep-water port, extending the country’s railways, establishing what remains one of the most advanced teaching hospitals on the continent, and reforming the country’s education system, all while advocating for a bigger role for traditional rulers. After Ghana achieved independ- ence in 1957, Michael Dei-Anang, a Ghanaian poet and diplomat, described Guggisberg as “that conscientious Canadian,” while a giant statue of Guggisberg was erected in the 1970s.

Sources: Library and archives Canada; Dictionary of Canadian Biography; news sources; Hammond Museum of Radio; Canada Post.

Have you ever wondered which cities have the most bars, smokers, absentee workers and people searching for love? What about how Canada compares to the world in terms of the size of its military, the size of our houses and the number of cars we own? The nswers to all those questions, and many more, can be found in the first ever Maclean’s Book of Lists.

Buy your copy of the Maclean’s Book of Lists at the newsstand or order online now.

The 10 best Canadian cities to raise kids in

By Blog of Lists - Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Calgary skyline. (Dolce Vita/Shutterstock)

To figure out the ideal places for raising your brood, MoneySense magazine evaluated everything from house prices and health professionals to child care spaces and the size of the population aged 14 and under. Continue…

6 of Canada’s most bizarre murders

By Blog of Lists - Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 9:30 AM - 0 Comments

Mark Twitchell in an undated photo from his MySpace.com page. (CP)

1. The last fatal duel: On June 13, 1833, John Wilson, a weaver’s son, shot Robert Lyon, a law student, in a field outside Perth, Ont. According to contemporary accounts, Lyon had disparaged the honour of Eliza- beth Hughes, a young teacher Wilson was hoping to court. The two agreed to a duel with pistols to settle the matter. Wilson hit Lyon in the chest with his second shot. A jury acquitted Wilson of murder and he later went on to marry Hughes and have a career in federal politics.
Continue…

8 best imaginary boyfriends from Canada

By Blog of Lists - Friday, December 14, 2012 at 9:48 AM - 0 Comments

Canadians make the best (imaginary) boyfriends. Proof? These eight guys:

1. Ryan Gosling
Why: Street fight breaker-upper, real-life good Samaritan (he saved a woman from being hit by a taxi in New York),he has two MTV award nominations for best kiss to his name. Lips. Whatever.

2. Ryan Reynolds
Why: In possession of a distractingly well-muscled torso, he holds his own when acting opposite Denzel Washington and avian-marine hybrid aliens. He seems like he’d be fun to hang out with in real life.

3. Will Arnett
Why: Devoted Leafs and Jays fan (clearly a glass-half-full kind of guy), he has spot-on deadpan humour, very pretty eyes.
Continue…

8 Broadway musicals that appeared in Canada first

By Blog of Lists - Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 9:33 AM - 0 Comments

(Zuma Wire Service)

When the upcoming Broadway musical Prince of Broadway cancelled plans for a Toronto tryout, it was a blow to the multi-decade tradition of Broadway shows (or Broadway- bound shows that never got there) testing their material on unsuspecting Canadians. Shows like:

1. Camelot (1960) was the inaugural show at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto. It ran 41⁄2 hours and the director had a heart attack, but at least Canadians got to see their own Robert Goulet become a star.

2. Hamlet (1964), a revival of the Shakespeare chestnut starring Richard Burton and directed by John Gielgud, not only opened in Canada, but Burton and Elizabeth Taylor got married there in between performances.

3. Baker Street (1965), a singing and dancing version of Sherlock Holmes, also played the O’Keefe, and had a score by Canadian songwriters. Unfortunately, their fellow Canadians were lukewarm enough that American songwriters were called in before it went to New York. Continue…

The 10 most recent animal extinctions in Canada

By Blog of Lists - Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

The greater prairie chicken is now extinct due to hunting and habitat loss. (Rebecca Jackrel/Getty)

These creatures have either died out entirely or are extirpated from Canada, meaning they no longer can be found in this country, but have survived elsewhere:

1. Hadley Lake stickleback (1999): A fish that was only found in Hadley Lake on Lasqueti Island in B.C.’s Strait of Georgia, the stickleback had only been discovered in the 1980s, but was completely wiped out by the introduction of catfish.

2. Karner blue (1991): A small blue butterfly that existed in the area between Toronto, London and Sarnia, the Karner blue no longer exists in Canada due to habitat change and loss of the larva’s only food source, the wild lupine.

3. Frosted elfin (1988): Another butterfly, the frosted elfin was only discovered in 1960 and the population may have only ever numbered 100. But they’re all gone from Canada now due to habitat loss. Continue…

8 unlikely jobs held by future prime ministers

By Blog of Lists - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 9:27 AM - 0 Comments

Before they assumed the highest office in the country, these eight individuals held an unusual array of jobs:

1. Robert Borden, teenage classics teacher: Canada’s eighth prime minister studied Greek and Latin from a young age. When he was 14, the classics teacher at his private day school, near his home in Nova Scotia, abruptly left
for another posting and Borden was promoted from student to “assistant master” in charge of classical studies.

2. Jean Chrétien, black market chocolatier: While attending school at St. Joseph Seminary in Trois-Rivières, Que., Chrétien earned spending money by peddling illicit chocolate bars to fellow pupils. A friend on the outside bought the bars wholesale, and Chrétien sold them at a steep markup, hiding the goods from the authorities in the lining of his red raincoat. Continue…

The 5 longest-serving Opposition leaders who never became prime minister

By Blog of Lists - Monday, December 10, 2012 at 9:35 AM - 0 Comments

Opposition leader Robert Stanfield. (Ted Grant/CP)

1. Robert Stanfield (Nov. 6, 1967– Feb. 21, 1976): The former Nova Scotia premier lost three elections to Pierre Trudeau between 1968 and 1974. In 1972, his Tories were three seats short of toppling the Liberals, but it was not to be.

2. George Alexander Drew (Oct. 2, 1948–Nov. 1, 1954 and Feb. 1, 1955–Aug. 1, 1956): A former Ontario premier and mayor of Guelph, Ont., Drew left provincial politics in 1948 to lead the Progres- sive Conservatives in Ottawa. He left politics for good after two election defeats and later served as the first chancellor of the University of Guelph.

3. Edward Blake (May 4, 1880– June 2, 1887): The founder of one of Toronto’s most prominent law firms, Blake served as premier of Ontario before entering federal politics. He lost elections as federal Liberal leader in 1882 and 1887. He later went on to serve in the British House of Commons as an Irish Nationalist.

4. John Bracken (June 11, 1945– July 20, 1948): Trained as an agricultural scientist, Bracken served five terms as the premier of Manitoba. Recruited to lead the Progressive Conservatives in Ottawa in 1942, he was elected to Parliament in 1945 before losing the party leadership to George Drew in 1948. He lost his own seat in the general election of 1949.

5. Preston Manning (June 2, 1997–March 26, 2000): The founder and first leader of the Reform party, Manning took over as leader of the official Opposition after the federal election of 1997. He lost the post to Stockwell Day in 2000 after the formation of the new Alliance party.

Sources: Parliament of Canada; Canadian Parliamentary Guide

Have you ever wondered which cities have the most bars, smokers, absentee workers and people searching for love? What about how Canada compares to the world in terms of the size of its military, the size of our houses and the number of cars we own? The answers to all those questions, and many more, can be found in the first ever Maclean’s Book of Lists.

Buy your copy of the Maclean’s Book of Lists at the newsstand or order online now.

Top 5 Canadian designs making the world a better place

By Blog of Lists - Friday, December 7, 2012 at 4:02 PM - 0 Comments

Earthcycle Packaging

1. Lucky iron fish: When Cambodian villagers were hemorrhaging during childbirth due to a lack of iron, University of Guelph researcher Christopher Charles found an answer—throw a small chunk of iron, designed to look like a local river fish, into cooking pots. The result: a huge decrease in anemia. “The iron fish is incredibly powerful,” says Charles.

2. Double-red traffic light: One in 10 Canadian men are colour-blind, a potential problem when driving. But in Quebec, Omer Martineau’s double-red traffic light design helps drivers distinguish between frequency and shape, proving that two reds are probably better than one.

3. Water Bobble: Each year an estimated 100 million plastic bottles flow through Toronto’s waste system. But the Water Bobble bottle, by Karim Rashid, has a replaceable carbon filter able to filter chlorine and contaiments from up to 150 l of water, all for $9.99 a Bobble.

4. Palm fibre packaging: Earthcycle Packaging, based in B.C., with design company Tangram, created compostable palm fibre packaging. Earthcycle’s coffee holders and produce netting decompose in about six months.

5. The Nouse: The Nouse—or “nose as mouse”—is from the National Research Council of Canada and allows disabled users to control computers with the tip of their nose and to click with a double-blink.

Source: David Berman, author of Do Good Design

Have you ever wondered which cities have the most bars, smokers, absentee workers and people searching for love? What about how Canada compares to the world in terms of the size of its military, the size of our houses and the number of cars we own? The answers to all those questions, and many more, can be found in the first ever Maclean’s Book of Lists.

Buy your copy of the Maclean’s Book of Lists at the newsstand or order online now.