"Is it okay with you if convicted criminal Martha Stewart comes to Canada to row a giant pumpkin?"

As reported below, Martha has been cleared to visit Canada for Pumkin Fest ’05 — hooray! Be sure to have a butter tart, they are a Canadian specialty. To welcome her appropriately, The Globe & Mail is running a poll asking Canadians the question posed above (it’s actually a standard Canadian welcome). We were tipped off by G&M NY-based arts reporter Simon Houpt, who waws “pleased to report that Canadians are a welcoming lot: so far, with more than 7,000 votes counted, it’s 69% in favour.”