Coffee, Lotteries & Miers
When I was getting coffee this morning the women behind the counter were talking about the $54M lottery payout. They each had tickets and, of course, they didn't win. The winner is in Camrose, Alberta - a cute town in the middle of bright yellow canola fields.
Besides setting a record sum for this lottery, I'm amazed at how many people actually bought a ticket. According to CTV, two-thirds of all adult Canadians bought in. Wow. If only we could get people so excited about voting!
In other news, the infamous lawyer from Texas, Harriet Miers, has withdrawn her nomination to the US Supreme Court. A sports website mocks:Harriet Miers has withdrawn her Supreme Court nomination after George Bush found out she doesn’t drive the Weinermobile.The reason I mention it is because over the last while, emails about Ms. Miers have been circulating over the law school's listserv. I think it's great that students are so interested in the US Supreme Court but I have to wonder: is there as much interest about the Supreme Court of Canada? For example, how many of us are following what's going on with Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and the six candidates that will replace Justice Major?
Recently, a group went to visit the SCC and met with Justice Rosie Abella. At one point she questioned if law school students, on average, know more about the US Supreme Court than the SCC. I think it's a valid point. With almost complete certainly, Canadian students know more about the USSC than American students know about the SCC. So why is the highest court in our land so neglected? ... Maybe we need a juicy scandal. What's the chance of Martin undermining the process and nominating a Liberal crony?
2 Comments:
Just thought I'd point out that while the winning 6/49 ticket was purchased in Camrose, the winners are actually from the town of Sedgewick, population approx. 900, which is about a 45-minute drive east of Camrose. I only bring this up because Sedgewick is my hometown, and this is the first time it's ever been newsworthy.
Also, I'm curious (and a bit apprehensive) about what $54 million is going to do to a town that small.
FYI: I don't live there anymore, but my parents still do.
I don't think it's necessarily true that Canadians know more about the American Supreme Court. They definitely have a more riveting process though, so people do pay a lot of attention to the nominations. Go back to the years between appointments, however, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find any Canadians (aside from the small cadre of American political junkies, whose members are admittedly found in relatively large numbers in the law schools) who pays any attention to them.
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