Photo: "sweet street" by Michael D'Amico, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

Your Toronto morning news roundup for Monday June 2nd, 2008:

Ontario and Quebec are forging an alliance and becoming a new, independent country. Well, not quite. But breaking convention, the two provinces will hold a joint cabinet meeting and plan to announce their plan to bypass Ottawa in fighting climate change, together. As our federal government continues to demonstrate how stunningly incompetent they are, the east vs. west divide in Canada widens and widens.

A carjacking victim, who ended up driving his vehicle with a gun held to his head, made a controversial, split-second decision to deliberately crash into another vehicle in an attempt to end the ordeal. It ended up being a four car smash-up, the carjackers fled, and (very luckily) no one was seriously injured. Smart move executed poorly, or bad move altogether?

Fishing is making a comeback in Toronto rivers and creeks. Apparently our local waters are teeming with fish, but the report fails to quash concerns that people who eat their catch regularly are going to grow tails and experience liver failure.

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Walking into a convenience store or gas station was a noticeably different experience this weekend. A new law has gone into effect, resulting in tobacco products no longer being displayed in plain view at the cash register. Instead, they're stacked behind a series of muted, grey shelve doors on hinges that trigger speakers that shout "this loser is gonna die!" when opened by the clerk.

Brace yourselves - there may be a union strike. By casino workers. OMGWTF are the gambling addicts going to do if this happens? Staring at grey hinged shelves and spending the entire pay cheque on scratch lottery tickets at the nearby convenience store won't be nearly as fun.

It wouldn't be a normal news day without talk of gas prices. Taxi fares are likely to go up in August, to better reflect the higher cost of fuel. As much as it may hurt, it seems like a totally reasonable adjustment to be making.