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3. World’s slowest advance polling system

There have been huge lineups at advance polls, up 71% over 2011. Could be that people were just dead eager to get out and vote. Or maybe it could be that, at the end of each line, was a local Elections Canada person at a desk with a ruler and a pencil, laboriously going through a lengthy list of names and addresses, writing out each voter’s name in longhand and waiting for a signature, while everyone fidgeted and played with their phones. Is this seriously the best we can do?

4. Free the hockey moms

A B.C. mother wants to end the stigma on parents who don’t attend every single one of theirs kids’ hockey games or dance classes. “I think parenting has almost become a competitive sport in its own right,” says Jennifer Hicks, a blogger and mother of three. Parents scan the crowds to see who didn’t turn up, so they can disapprove and impose guilt. She says kids should be active because they want to, not because they feel compelled. Her daughter prefers it: “She wonders, you’re not there when I’m writing science tests at school, you’re not there when I’m doing book reports … Why is this more important?”

5. Kamloops couple starts rent-a-chicken

A Kamloops couple has started a business renting chickens to people who want real fresh eggs. You get two or four laying hens, a few large bags of feed, food and water dishes, a portable chicken coop and a set of instructions, all delivered to your door. The two-hen starter package is $425 plus tax, while the deluxe four-hen package is $600 plus tax. Dealing with the neighbours is your own problem.