Ian McLeod

Corporate commercial lawyer, horticultural enthusiast and CBC devotee.

[Bill @Mobilized3213]

Chapman's Ice Cream has just done something EVERY Canadian should know.
The largest ice cream company in Canada used to source fruit and nuts from American suppliers — for some, for over 30 years. Then, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian products.
So, what did Chapman's do?
📷 They called Italy.
📷 They called Spain.
📷 They signed multi-year contracts with European suppliers.
And the vice president said it perfectly:
"Even if Trump wakes up smarter than yesterday, we're about to sign long-term deals with other countries — and the American companies that supply them will have nothing but their eyes to cry for."
Oh, and on top of ALL that? They're COLDing their prices so that the average Canadian doesn't have to spend a single cent more.
It's a family business. No shareholders. Just the Chapman family saying: "The least we can do is make sure Canadians still have the means to buy ice cream."
That's what Canadian pride looks like.
Next time you're at the grocery store — grab some Chapman's.
Every scoop of ice cream is a vote for Canada.

[Mark Carney @MarkJCarney]

Last night, two synagogues in Toronto, Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto in Thornhill and Shaarei Shomayim in North York were assaulted by gun shots. Earlier this week, Temple Emanu-El in North York was also maliciously attacked. 

These criminal antisemitic attacks are an assault on the rights of Jewish Canadians to live and pray in safety. They are also fundamental violations of the Canadian way of life. 

The federal government will use every tool available to confront antisemitic violence and hatred, and protect places of worship. Canada’s new government has introduced legislation to strengthen the Criminal Code, protect our communities, and combat hate. 

Federal agencies, including the RCMP, will use every resource to support law enforcement to identify the perpetrators of these crimes and bring them to the full weight of justice.

[Michelle Rempel Garner @MichelleRempel]

https://t.co/e9G90jKPgI

[Ben Sasse @BenSasse]

Friends-

This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.

Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.

I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.

Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.

There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.

Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.

A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.

Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet.

Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective:
“When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”

I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.

But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9).

With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices,
Ben — and the Sasses

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

U.S. President Donald J. Trump is expected to address tomorrow’s meeting called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of all Admirals and Generals at Marine Corps Base Quantico around 9:00am, before traveling back to the White House for an unknown announcement at 11:00am and the signing of Executive Orders at 3:00pm.

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@netflix Couldn't watch because your servers crashed.

[James McLeod @jamespmcleod]

Through its response to graffiti, the City of Toronto is declaring that *this* looks better than graffiti. Personally, I disagree. But I am humble.

So with humility I tried to find the beauty in these grey blobs. That's what https://t.co/qb1oSa5IC1 is about.

3/

[James McLeod @jamespmcleod]

All 18 locations for the https://t.co/qb1oSa5IC1 installation are now in place. Full reveal shortly.

[James McLeod @jamespmcleod]

🎨THREAD

I’m excited to show you https://t.co/qb1oSa5IC1, an unauthorized public art project I’ve mounted at 18 locations throughout the city; it’s all about graffiti, municipal policy, and Toronto’s civic values.

Watch the video here: https://t.co/0PBpahpEa1
1/

[James McLeod @jamespmcleod]

👀

You might want to keep an eye on this... https://t.co/qb1oSa5aMt

[Aird & Berlis LLP @AirdBerlis]

Shana Tova to our clients, colleagues and friends! #RoshHashanah

[Aird & Berlis LLP @AirdBerlis]

As Canada approaches its 157th birthday, we're pleased to release the 2024 edition of Doing Business in Canada! 🎂

Click here to access the knowledge you need to start, acquire or #invest in a #business in Canada 🍁 : https://t.co/a1hjAHWPnm

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@DannyEMiller @PMTsportsbiz Looks like bone marrow.

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@jamespmcleod Pretty stunning that there was essentially no national discussion about pursuing this policy and its impacts, or the effect on a nation where nearly 1 in 10 people are non-permanent residents.

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@g_meslin Great pic!

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@Baystboy Agreed - discourse would be improved if we spent more time reading and digesting information instead of rage farming. Why didn't you point her to the correct numbers in the article rather than calling her stupid? Oh wait, because your account is based on rage farming, too.

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@SMB_Attorney @smblawgroup Please send!

[James McLeod @jamespmcleod]

"The vibes of the 2024 federal budget are rancid."
https://t.co/qBLc0UFTzz

[Ian McLeod @MorgueCity]

@ian_and_corgi @gtconway3d