The University of Toronto is offering undergraduates a program in which they can learn about sexual role-play, flogging and restraint. The Sexual Diversity Program, established eight years ago, brings an academic approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual issues. The professors at the university say it's a serious field of study. Director David Rayside tells Reuters, "It's a very serious analytical exercise, and it isn't what a lot of people think it is. " "A lot of the people from the university, from the president on down, think that what we're doing is important work," Rayside says. "But there's still a lot entailed at persuading more people that what we're doing is legitimate. "

A former bureaucrat has been appointed, at a cost to taxpayers of $1,500 a day, to oversee and make all the financial decisions at the Duffern-Peel Catholic school board. Norbert Hartmann was named to the post by Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne. She said his salary, which is paid by the already impoverished Dufferin-Peel schools, is on-par with what was paid to previous supervisors who have been sent to balance the budgets of rebellious school boards. The two-member special assistance teams examining the mass of cuts being made in Toronto public and Catholic schools are also earning $1,500 a day, said a spokesperson for Wynne.

An Air Canada passenger has been handed out a $1,350 bill as compensation for delaying a flight he boarded on March 15. The Toronto-bound flight in London was delayed by 27 minutes after passenger, Gus Fuentes, landed into an argument with a flight attendant. Fuentes was escorted out off the plane and had to find another way home. But that was not the end of it. Fuentes later filed a complained with the Canadian Transportation Agency, which in a ruling last week dismissed his complaint and upheld Air Canada's conduct.

In an effort to de-stigmatize condoms, one advocacy group is encouraging people to make their own art pins using the contraceptive. Executive director of The Condom Project, Franck DeRose, says his group started a program that aims to get people more comfortable with condoms, particularly those who live in countries where the items are taboo. He tells Reuters, "There's a great need to de-stigmatize condoms around the world, especially in Africa. "

An unscientific survey of 36 cities in 35 countries by Reader's Digest magazine has shown that New Yorkers are the politest among all. New York was the only city from America to participate in the survey. The magazine sent its "undercover" reporters with a set of three types of tests in a city.