Cheers! Always happy to talk cheese haha.

I believe it should be declared on the ingredient list on the packaging, if the cheese uses pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. Cheeses using unpasteurized milk are very difficult to find where I am (not a big city, but not a small city). Even specialist cheese shops don’t often have them on-hand, but I always ask. Not sure on your jurisdiction, but it can be worth doing a web search for local cheesemakers in your area. There might be a little business making something excellent that probably never sees a grocery store shelf. Definitely that’s the case in Western Canada.

Good question. To my knowledge, no. Acid producing bacteria that are active in the cheesemaking process make for an environment that’s hostile to pathogens. I found this FDA report that looked into contamination in raw milk cheeses that were aged for a minimum of 60 days. By the looks of it, I’m not sure raw milk cheese is any less safe than eating a Subway meatball sub, but, I’m not a scientist.

France and Italy have found a way to work it out so that people aren’t buckling over left & right, so I think their systems would be worth examining from a policy perspective.

It’s true, for the most part, the cheese market in this country is a flavour dystopia. I’d argue it’s not directly the fault of cheesemakers, and I don’t think there’s some widespread national ignorance about what good cheese tastes like. I think it has a lot to do with our rules around raw milk.

In Canada, raw milk is more difficult to obtain than bulk heroin, and that guarantees that our cheese will be boring. It actually even affects imported cheese too, Camembert being an excellent example. Pasteurized milk Camembert (which is all you can buy here) is bitter, tastes like glue, and is not even worth eating. Raw milk Camembert is mindbogglingly complex and profound.

So, this regulatory fact folds into a pre-existing Canadian inferiority complex - we assume the cheese made here must be bland, so there’s no real market for premium offerings. Give this system of rules and expectations decades to develop, and here we are.

Today, there are some excellent artisan cheeses made locally. They’re not available in grocery stores, and they’re very expensive. If those cheeses were more affordable and available, nobody would even consider buying the mass market stuff that fills store shelves currently.

That’s all to say that, I don’t think the solution necessarily needs to come from outside, or that there’s even a quick and easy fix. We have to change the system of rules that brought us here. Maybe things would improve if we subsidized small, artisan cheese producers like some provinces do with their craft breweries and distilleries. Especially since cheese can have a short shelf life and wastage is more-or-less guaranteed.

PS - I don’t know if you’ve ventured into Oka cheese from Quebec at all - it’s got pretty decent flavour and is widely available. Worth a try if you haven’t had it!

Maybe it’s my lack of imagination, but I can’t imagine a dispute between those two nations that would be justified in any way at this time. Likewise, I can’t see how the relationship could degrade to point where war was the only feasible option.

World being configured as it is today, I don’t see a reason to point a gun at anybody, for any reason.

While we enjoy that luxury, it’s the perfect time to: talk with someone who you disagree with on a fundamental level. Get to know them as a fellow human being. Listen to their life experiences, & share your life experiences with them. Discuss deep questions openly and honestly. Don’t be afraid. Be honest, be sincere.

I agree - if there is a big-picture target for growth, it’s so important that there are strong lines of communication and collaboration between citizens, cities, provinces, and the federal government if it’s going to work.

To the poster above you - Trickle-down is a thoroughly shitty “¯_(ツ)_/¯”-style policy. But so is any decree from above that lacks clear objectives, regularly measured outcomes, and checkpoints with the citizens. Our system is struggling right now when we reach checkpoint moments. Discussions get railroaded into these ‘oh that’s racist’ or ‘oh we should have 0 immigration’ polarities. Discussing these things is worthwhile & good.

Interesting.

I’m not an expert on the matter, but to my eyes, taxes on alcohol and tobacco are set arbitrarily. It would be nice to see those funds enveloped for specific programs & a layer of transparency on how the numbers are determined. Canada taxes spirits at ~$13/ litre of absolute alcohol. We ought to wonder - why exactly that number? Is that too much, or not enough, from a healthcare outcome standpoint?

I feel like as a country, we should be pragmatic more broadly. Not just about tobacco, but about anything a person could enjoy, extending to the black market. Determine the things that people will consume no matter what the taxation, social, or regulatory structures are. Quantify the costs of the consumption of those things openly and honestly, and create systems to build those costs into the price of the thing consumed.

I think we’re running aground on that right now, because federal & provincial tax on enjoyable things is set at a rate that isn’t indexed to the costs incurred by the enjoyment of those things.

Personally I enjoy Nicotine, and I would like to know that the price I pay for it is fair to the base of taxpayers who fund our healthcare system. It doesn’t stop at Nicotine though, of course.

Just to provide a counterpoint here.

I’m left leaning on most issues, and I don’t think the current parliamentary composition is a good thing at all. The Liberals have a comfortable minority, and have an explicit agreement with the NDP that props them up. This means the Liberals simply do what they were going to do anyway, and the NDP rattles their sabres about cost of living and pharmacare and dental care, to no real effect. Liberals are not effectively kept in check, and real progressive policy issues that could materially benefit Canadians aren’t being put forward.

I don’t like it, and I don’t think it serves the plurality of Canadian citizen views - we’re in a bad place and I don’t see how anyone who isn’t already a Liberal voter could love it.

I agree on the point that minority governments on the whole are a good thing for the country. Parties should be kept in check. I feel like my tax dollars are fairly spent when politicians are obligated to negotiate and develop consensus. All this incessant posturing in the House is a waste of every citizen’s time and money. But minority governments also lead to blood-boiling accidental absurdities like the BQ holding the reins on matters of national interest.

I have to say that I’m tired of the fear narrative that gets reeled out around elections in this country. No major party has a view to radically transform Canada. In the grand scheme of things, the three major parties are moderate, and I’m not convinced that any of them are literally dangerous. And so, the bland fruit that grows from the tree of our national politics, while not lethally poisonous, is not necessarily nutritious either.

electoral reform

If only some fresh party leader would make that a key promise of their platform. Surely they would use their majority government to make good on that promise.

Even though I align with the party on most of their platform, I cannot vote for the LPC under any circumstances, due to their history of broken promises, scandals, ethics violations, horrible handle on foreign policy, blatant disregard for demographics that brought them Parliamentary majorities, lack of a constructive, modern vision for the nation, lack of sincerity, the list goes on and on.

In light of all that, what is it about this particular moment that has Liberals getting their knives out? Of all the times to question a leader, why now exactly? Is this a polling thing? Am I out of the loop?

Was accidentally poisoned with sodium nitrite once. Can’t imagine it would be a pleasant way to go.

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Thanks!

It took until the year 2000 for Toronto to finally give up being dry

Uh, what?! Can you point me to some further reading on that? Ontario is far stranger than I thought.

“An essential part of life in Canada, is living in Canada. Having a place to live cannot become a luxury and economic bargaining chip for the wealthy. It’s a necessity and a cornerstone of the dignity and pride we have in the prosperity of our nation - that when we aspire to our highest ideals, everybody in this country has a seat at the table. This inclusiveness is what makes us who we are. That’s why my government has an extensive action plan for housing, which includes comprehensive liaison projects with all the provinces and cities of this country to make sure that the federal government is doing everything it can to secure the basic human need of housing, and that it is something that is never out of reach for any of our citizens.”

-No Canadian politician ever

Primary mass transit would be expanded to increase the feasible housing areas

Downtown cores would increase pedestrian-only areas

My city politicians are really excited and animated about these exact topics, however I’ll be dead by the time they’re completed.

In Ontario, you have to be separated (defined as living apart) for a year before you can get a divorce

What the fuck? Actually? What’s the reasoning there? That seems unusual to me.

Speaking specifically about the ‘Podcast Playlist’ show - while I don’t disagree that it can be an interesting nexus for new information, I don’t think it needs to be on the air at all. If the objective is curation, that could easily and more effectively be done via an online feed where the shows are actually hyperlinked, tagged, & made accessible. I’m not a radio producer so, grain of salt. But from my armchair, seems to me that the CBC should aspire to something higher than ‘content aggregation’ or rebroadcasting material from other stations. I expect that sort of thing from a donation funded campus & community radio station where maybe someone isn’t in the booth at 2am, but not from a national broadcaster that receives funding from Canadian taxpayers.

With Writers & Company, I was referring to the host stepping down. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, she kind of was the show in a sense. AFAIK there won’t be any new episodes, and that’s a loss.

More broadly, I like that Canada has a national broadcaster, I just think it could be better.

I kind of agree with your premise about education vs training. But, I know someone who just finished a PhD thesis on an aspect of social media. These people are out there & could probably establish rapport without much friction. And at the end of the day, I’d say it’s better if these projects are spearheaded by people who have some wisdom about the waters that we’re going out into. Though, yeah, I share your pessimism more generally.

Yeah, could be. I’d like to see funding for the CBC maintained, and think it’s so valuable to have a national broadcaster. At the same time, can I take a moment to bellyache about CBC radio? Some of their programming makes me a bit sad. Like having a show that simply repeats podcasts produced by other people, occasionally about American news stories. There’s no reason for that to be on the airwaves in 2023. Programs like The Sunday Edition, and Writers and Company are gone, and it seems like a lot of the spoken word programs are in the weeds on fringe issues. It’s just not the first preset on my dial anymore. And it’s too bad because I used to really look forward to tuning in. Maybe radio is dying, I don’t know.