Cocaine found in dead Canadian's system

The Canadian Press is reporting that toxicology tests found traces of cocaine in the system of Jeff Toews, the Grande Prairie, Alta. man, who suffered a fatal head injury while vacationing in Mexico last Monday morning. The Cancun hospital that treated Toews carried out the tests.

The family still insists there's a cover up, although their comments at a press conference on Thursday - held prior to the toxicology report being released - were unconvincing. CanWest News Service reports:

"Murray Toews admitted the family has no firm answers about what happened between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Monday, but claimed Mexican authorities were trying to protect their tourism industry in releasing the damaging report."

When in doubt, blame the Mexicans. And since Canadian reporters and editors generally know little about the country - Mexico isn't a priority or interest - they're inclined to run with that narrative. (If I sound bothered by this: I AM.)

So many Canadians are unfairly maligning Mexico these days, but failing to properly scrutinize the reckless and disrespectful behavior of some of their fellow citizens coming down here.