Tag: Canada

Winnipeg Man Sells Rare Pothole Collection On eBay For Record $1.9 Million

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Potholes-FNT-smallWINNIPEG – A local man’s diligent twenty-five year collecting hobby paid off today when he sold his large pothole collection on eBay for a record $1.9 million US dollars.

Jonathan Zurbytski, 46, from Fort Rouge, told FauxNews Today that the “bidding caught on fire” during the last five minutes of the auction for the extensive collection of more than eight-thousand potholes, and that the record-setting selling price was “completely unexpected”.

He said that he believed that one of the reasons that the price “went through the roof” for his collection was that they were mainly Winnipeg potholes. The few exceptions were three that he had once picked up on a trip through Regina and five or six from a street near the exit of a Tim Hortons in Moncton, New Brunswick. He got those, he explained, when he was visiting his sister, in January of 1998.

“But all the rest were from here at home,” he said, proudly. “And history has shown that potholes are not only more profuse here in Winnipeg, but they are vastly superior to what you might find anywhere else in the world.”

In spite of the financial windfall, the Winnipeg native said he had “mixed feelings” about boxing up his collection of twenty-five years and sending it off in the mail. “It feels like selling off a body part,” he said.

Still, he couldn’t help but gloat over the profit that he made.

“Most I ever paid for one was fifteen bucks for a unique, star-shaped beauty that I found way out on Henderson Highway, and then I thought I was getting ripped off. But who knew how they’d appreciate? Just goes to show…”

Zurbytski let drop that the winning bid for the collection had come from a pothole museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

“They don’t get near as many out there in the desert so this collection was an extremely rare find. That’s why they paid top dollar.” Source: FNT Staff  

Photo credit: Original images at: Access Winnipeg, Mark Griffith and eBay

Ten Canadian Provinces File Federal Class-Action Lawsuit Against Each Other

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Supreme Court-FNT-smallOTTAWA – In a convoluted legal contretemps, all ten Canadian provinces have signed on to a class-action lawsuit headed for Canada’s Supreme Court. The provinces are suing each other over an interprovincial trade dispute involving the country-wide, cross-border movement of air and water.

“It’s precedent setting,” said Rory B. Halorrhan QC, who is the lead litigator on the complicated file. “It’s the first time anyone has been able to get all the provinces to agree on anything.”

He also admitted that the case has been challenging.

“Frankly, it’s a logistical nightmare,” he said. “We needed three tractor trailers just to get the paperwork to Ottawa.”

Halorrhan is a partner in the Toronto law firm of Newcastle, Smith, Jones & Halorrhan LLP, which initiated the class-action suit on behalf of the provinces.

The joint statement of claim charges that all provinces had been in violation of the free trade provisions of the Constitution Act of 1867 because each province had enacted legislation that restricted the movement of goods covered by the federal Intoxicating Liquors Act (IILA), across provincial borders.

“And we’ve established that air and water are definitely goods,” Halorrhan said, holding up an open-topped can of air and a plastic bottle of water fixed with embossed plastic labels that said ‘air’ and ‘water’, as evidence in the case.

“Now stay with me, because here’s where it gets a bit byzantine,” he said. “Water is a principal ingredient in beer, wine and liquor and there is air in the bottles and cans they are packaged in. So that proves that the provinces all had trade barriers against air and water.”

The suit claims that each province owes $5 billion in penalties to the province on either side of it for restricting interprovincial trade on air and water. In the case where a province is only bordered by one other province, it owes $10 billion, “on general principle”, Halorrhan said.

Some federal and provincial legislation involving interprovincial trade has been relaxed recently but he clarified that the suit covers violations retroactively going back to 1928.

Newcastle, Smith, Jones & Halorrhan LLP is handling the class action suit for a ten percent contingency fee.

“The law is very clear on this. It’s all in the minutiae,” Hallorrhan said, “When we win, I have a house picked out in Rosedale.”

He also explained why the three Canadian territories weren’t part of the class action.

“All in good time,” he said. We’ll be bringing them on board for the next one. I love my job.” Source: FNT Staff  

Photo credit: Original images at: CBC/Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press   and Wikipedia