Sam Oosterhoff is already on winter break. Just eight days after being belatedly sworn in, the 19-year-old MPP gets to experience two months without the Ontario Legislature—which might turn out to be a good warmup for his retirement at age 21. In the meantime, he got to meet a woman who got Valentine’s Day renamed in her honour:

What is an Islamophobic incident? The question came up at Western University, where campus police investigated whether a student who left a pig’s head on a bed had hateful intent—the culprit was cleared after explaining he didn’t know his dormmate was Muslim. At St. Michael’s College, student union executives stepped down after the revelation of Snapchat videos in which a student made jokes about Muslims. Others aren't so sure the videos were offensive.

Four years since the Ikea monkey captured our hearts. Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary is holding “Christmas With the Monkeys” on Sunday, with Darwin (a.k.a. Ikea monkey) as the main draw, alongside abstract expressionist artist sidekick Pockets Warhol. Darwin's "mom," Yasmin Nakhuda, is left to commemorate today with her two younger macaques.

Diamond & Diamond’s legal hassles include some ridiculous sexts. Continuing Toronto Star coverage of the workings of the personal injury law firm has shifted to correspondence between the firm’s main face, Jeremy Diamond, and a female assistant he allegedly refused to pay if she didn’t abide by his wishes. Diamond denies the allegations, noting they never led to charges. (D&D stepped up promoting its lawyers after a previous Star story described the firm as a glorified referral service.)

Felicity frenemy thinks Canadians struggling in Hollywood should just move back here now. The search for President Trump refugees continues largely in vain, but Amy Jo Johnson, the Flashpoint star turned fillmmaker who moved to Canada a decade ago, talks about border-jumping with The Hollywood Reporter: “I have friends here who say, ‘We’re not the backyard that you can just escape to.’” But she feels the industry up here is growing enough to inspire more expat actors to return.

The message is in the Medium. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has touted his current venture as the ideal outlet for smaller publishers, with mixed results. (Medium is still mostly known for Silicon Valley launch announcements and resignation letters.) But here’s Colin Horgan now using it to debut a unique digital publication:

Join the 12:36 year-in-review party! We’ll be using Slack to chat with you (and other daily readers) on Thursday, December 15 from 12:37 p.m. till 3-something. Sign up here to invite yourself—an email that gets you through the door will show up next week—and then make sure to bring your nomination for the 12:36 Word of the Year.