#49: BIG TENT ⛺

🎭 CULTURE - Rowdy Muskoka hockey fans rip off shirts, shatter glass during game

💊 DRUGS - “Screaming & groaning” in BC hotel room leads police to arrest man

🏒 SPORTS - Woman gives birth at Edmonton Oilers game

Good morning.

Mark Carney is pitching a BIG TENT in Parliament, and he doesn’t care who comes inside.

Marilyn Gladu, one of the most socially conservative MPs in Ottawa, is the newest member of his government. She crossed the floor on Wednesday.

“I have made a choice to do the best thing,” Gladu said.

Since her election in 2015, the Sarnia-area MP has publicly opposed abortion, marijuana legalization, and the Liberals’ banning of conversion therapy. She also supported the 2022 Trucker Convoy.

But Carney said Gladu assured him she will vote with the government on all issues. 

“She's going to be a great member of our team,” Carney told the press. “Lots of energy, ideas, advice on a wide range of issues—including execution.”

Her defection brings the Liberals up to 171 seats—just one shy of a majority government. She is the 4th Conservative MP to join the Carney government in recent months.

Look, I know it’s depressing that every elected official in this country is an empty shell of a human, but that’s just one more reason to get excited about this newsletter every week!

Unlike politicians who only care about money and power (bleh, boring), the people we report on are really cool folks who care about really cool stuff—like hockey and drugs.

Enjoy today’s stories.

-Peter

⌛️ Today’s read is 2 minutes long.

🎲 WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

▼ 9% chance Justin Trudeau & Katy Perry break up before August (-4% this month).

▼ 24% chance Trudeau & Perry get engaged before 2027 (-7% this week).

▲ 79% chance Olivia Chow is reelected as Toronto mayor in October (+10% this week).

▲ 100% chance the Liberals have a majority in Parliament by June 30 (+4% this week).

*Odds are based on yes/no betting activity on Polymarket.

A group of rowdy fans did “significant damage” to a Muskoka hockey rink a couple weeks ago while watching a local team play.

Around 8 PM on March 26, a number of “youth/young adult spectators” were watching a game in the Muskoka Lumber Community Centre in Bracebridge, ON, when they began ripping off their shirts and waving them around in the air.

The fans then climbed on the plexiglass panels and hung from the top while their friends rocked the glass back and forth, according to police.

The glass eventually shattered and the fans fled.

“The conduct of this group of spectators was unacceptable and caused significant damage to the glass and supports,” said Bracebridge OPP.

Multiple people recorded the incident. Police are now reviewing the footage in an attempt to identify the unruly fans and bring them to justice.

A 43-year-old BC man was arrested last month after his nosy hotel neighbour called the cops on him for “screaming” and “groaning” in his room.

Several RCMP officers showed up at the hotel in Salmon Arm, BC, around 7:30 PM on March 20. They knocked loudly on the man’s door, but he didn’t answer “despite police hearing the groaning sounds.”

Hotel staff gave the cops a key to the man’s room, and they entered without his consent to perform what they called a “wellness check.”

When police entered the room, they found the man “sweating profusely.” 

“The man denied any substance use, then said he had some cocaine,” police said.

The nosy hotel staff started telling the man to leave the room, but the cops decided to arrest him instead.

They seized his cocaine—over 100 grams—and about $1,400 in cash, plus his two cellphones.

They held him overnight in the drunk tank and released him when he sobered up.

Police did not charge the man, but said they will be “forwarding charge recommendations to BC Prosecution.”

A diehard Edmonton Oilers fan gave birth last Saturday night on the seventh floor of Rogers Place while her favourite team battled the Las Vegas Golden Knights on the ice below.

The Oilers failed to deliver a victory, but the woman did NOT. She successfully delivered her baby before the game was over.

“Someone’s going to have a great story to tell,” said the Oilers play-by-play commentator during the game’s broadcast.

 “It would be nice to have the mother join us on After Hours to describe what’s happened, but that could be asking a bit much.”

The woman did not appear on the broadcast, nor has she released her identity.