[LINK] "A 'Francophone Corridor' to Link Brussels and Wallonia"

Strange Maps has a small map from Belgium's Le Soir purporting to show one part of a solution under discussion to resolve the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde language crisis (increasingly francophone uburbs of Brussels encroaching on territory under Flemish jurisdiction). In order to create a Francophone corridor to link Brussels with Wallonia, this map suggests that a narrow stretch of the forêt de Soignes would be transferred from Flemish jurisidiction to Walloon jurisdiction, possibly along with the contested community of Sint-Genesius-Rode/Rhode Saint-Genèse. By creating a direct territorial link, the thinking seems to be, a Wallonia-Brussels federal unit that would have jursidiction over cultural and terrtorial matters like Flanders' could come into being.

Thoughts?

[URBAN NOTE] Fans

Sunday evening, I was preparing to eat with my parents at Dooney's Café (511 Bloor Street West) when we noticed that our waiter was distracted, coming back a couple of times to verifiy our orders (drinks, main courses) and dashing about.

On the last time he came to our table, he apologized.

- I'm of Spanish background and Spain just won, so I'm kind of excited.

- Viva España, I said by way of polite congratulations.

- Si., si.

He ran off.

Just a few minutes later, we saw him dash from the restaurant onto his bike and zoom away.

A few more minutes passed, and a waitress came out.

- So, just making sure, what did you order?

[BRIEF NOTE] Cricket's back in Canada

Late last week, the The Globe and Mail, among other news sources, including the This announcement was Press Trust of India, reported that the sport of cricket was coming back.

The federal government is poised to let cricketers dip into the Canadian taxpayers' funding purse as the feds broaden the scope of sport support to include the game of white uniforms, fast bowlers, googlies and willow bats.

Helena Guergis, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Sport, said in Toronto Friday that the government has approved Cricket Canada as meeting the accountability criteria.

Cricket Canada will get more than subsistence money. The organization is receiving $77,000 this year, the minister said, but no funding ceiling has been established for the growing sport fuelled by immigration.

Cricket is extremely popular with arrivals from Commonwealth countries in South Asia and the Caribbean, and from Australia, New Zealand and Britain. It has more than 40,000 registered players across the country and perhaps 50,000 more who are not registered in any league, according to Cricket Canada.

Matches have been documented in Canada dating back 150 years and Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, once declared it a national sport. The Canadian Cricket Association, forerunner to Cricket Canada, dates back to 1892.

In Ontario, while high insurance costs have caused football to wither at the high-school level, cricket has taken off. Toronto district schools now feature cricket as a varsity sport, with about 150 schools playing in the Greater Toronto Area.

Toronto Mayor David Miller lends his name to an annual cricket tournament sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Management Accountants.

Cricket Canada will line up with 53 individual sports at the federal pay window for 2008-2009 allotments.

The Department of Canadian Heritage will analyze the Cricket Canada request. The grant likely will be more than $100,000.

Jon Harris' 2001 history of cricket in Canada does emphasize the role that immigration has played in the revival of cricket, mysteriously in decline from the beginning of the 20th century perhaps because of competition from other sports like baseball. Indeed, a CBC Radio report last week claimed that in the Toronto bedroom community of Brampton, known for its large South Asian population, the muncipal government was easily building more cricket pitches than baseball or football fields.