WTF?

LYTTON, British Columbia — Nothing has been rebuilt since flames devoured the tiny village of Lytton last year, turning it into a national symbol of climate change. It was in Lytton, about 90 miles northeast of Vancouver, that temperatures set a national record of 49.6 degrees Celsius — 121.3 Fahrenheit in Canada! — before the deadly fire erupted.

Blue fencing on either side of Main Street blocks off access to the ruins of the village. Charred trees, flattened roofs, collapsed walls and piles of debris stretch over the full length of the village center, the silence broken only by helicopters dumping water to try to extinguish more recent fires in the nearby mountains.

The question of whether Canadian cabinet ministers need bodyguards amid a worrying rise in harassment of public figures is a challenging one for a country that has long prided itself on a political culture where such measures were not necessary, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

He faced questions from journalists outside of Rideau Hall on Wednesday shortly after a mini shuffle of his cabinet and almost one week after an incident in Alberta last Friday that saw a man hurl profanities at Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland while she was getting into an elevator.

She was heckled not burned at the stake.

What struck the judge sentencing Keiron Gregory was the contrast offered by the people closest to him compared to the violence inflicted on shooting victim Bill Horrace.

In his decision to sentence Gregory, 24, to 10 years for manslaughter and breaking and entering a home to commit robbery, Superior Court Justice Duncan Grace kept returning to the 17 letters of support that described Gregory as intelligent, kind, generous, considerate, and, as one of his uncles wrote, “gentle to the core.”