To fulfil the commitment to Canada Day, herein lies the annual Business in Vancouver quiz, which aims to test your knowledge of current events.
1. The most influential leader in our country is: a) Kawhi Leonard, b) Aubrey Drake Graham, or c) Brooke Henderson.
2. The leader of the official opposition is: a) Jody Wilson-Raybould, b) all of the above, or c) all of the above.
3. Justin Trudeau was an on-call teacher in Vancouver when he was: a) three or four jobs away from the prime ministership, b) one or two jobs removed from a gig as a nightclub bouncer, or c) not yet using “drink box water bottle sorta things.”
4. The hip-hop superstar Drake, in celebrating the Toronto Raptors’ championship win, said: “I want my chips with the dip.” This means: a) Drake was not content to eat chips without the accompanying side dish, b) Drake was signalling he wants to still be able to eat chips in the event of economic headwinds that affect his asset base, or c) Drake was working on new material and, while we might think it’s weird, he will eventually make millions of dollars from his genius public improvisation.
5. Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott left Liberal cabinet positions to sit as independent MPs because: a) the anonymity it provides is easier than providing the paperwork to change their identities, b) they want to lead independents to take over the Commons two-by-two over the next 600 years, or c) they grew tired of all that authority.
6. The CFO of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, was apprehended in Vancouver and now faces an extradition hearing to the United States. During what is expected to be a protracted stay here she will a) pursue a PhD, b) finish developing 6G and 7G technology, or c) persuade Canadian carriers to provide a much better data and phone plan.
7. Canada finds itself part of three new or revised trade deals with unwieldy acronyms. They are: a) USMCA, TPTCC and CETA, b) JAYZ, ADELE and CARDIB, c) TRUMP, NOTXI, and NOTBREXIT.
8. China has expressed unreservedly its support for Canada in recent times by: a) randomly taking visiting Canadians hostage so they need not fear for their safety on the streets, b) helping us understand that our canola is a health risk and our meat is uncertified, or c) assisting our economy by buying houses no one else can afford.
9. Ride-hailing will debut later this year here, with such made-in-British Columbia features enshrined by the provincial government to ensure the taxi industry is not unduly disrupted as a) for appropriate hailing, a mandated dispatch system by teletype, b) for true ride-sharing, a maximum trip of 500 metres and minimum of seven passengers at once per vehicle, or c) for safety’s sake, open sunroofs in ride-sharing vehicles in the rain.
10. The CFL’s BC Lions made a major off-season announcement to increase attendance by: a) hiring off-season actors to play seat extras, b) playing at alternating 15-minute intervals with the Vancouver Whitecaps to double the crowd size, or c) serving as the intermission for the Paul McCartney show.
11. The year’s top-selling Canadian book has been: a) How to Make Friends Abroad, by S.N.C. Lavalin, b) Leadership Through Letter-Writing, by Kennedy Stewart, or c) Dealing With A Diminished Toolbox, by John Horgan.
12. The Trudeau government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline project for $4.5 billion to: a) increase greenhouse gas emissions to save his climate change action plan, b) prop up an Alberta NDP government it knew would lose, or c) to help avoid balancing the budget unduly in the next half-century.
13. The NDP-Green alliance has persisted in British Columbia despite: a) legislation to confiscate Green Party leader Andrew Weaver’s property, b) a clause in the two parties’ agreement requiring Weaver to work each weekend on the legislature’s landscaping projects with the new government wood-chipper, or c) a requirement that Weaver limit his antagonistic press releases about the Horgan government to four times daily.
Kirk LaPointe is editor-in-chief of Business in Vancouver and vice-president, editorial, of Glacier Media.
