User:Ogopogo/Christmas Island
Note: For information about the activities of rogue ex-employees of Kris Kringle and their betrayal of Kris Kringle, see The Yuletide Testament.
Formerly one of Australia's Indian Ocean Territories, Christmas Island was purchased by Kris Kringle, a Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist, in 2004 for an undisclosed sum.
It is believed that the purchase was facilitated by the Australian government, who were keen to sell the island to raise money for Australia's costly Christmas-time snow creation operations in Canberra.
The island's 1500 residents have all been hired by Kringle to work in the toy and video games factory that he established on the island shortly after the purchase.
Kringle and his wife, Margaret, now live full-time on Christmas Island, having formerly lived at Cape Columbia, Nunavut -- the northernmost point in Canada.
Kringle previously operated a toy and video games factory at Cape Columbia which he closed down during a prolonged strike by his workers (most of whom, incidentally, were dwarves) protesting allegedly low wages and hazardous working conditions. These workers, whose employment has been terminated because of the factory closure, have told the media that they suspect Kringle has moved the operations to Christmas Island because of lower labour costs. Kringle denies those allegations, citing health reasons as the primary motivation for the couple's move to the tropical island while also mentioning lower heating costs.
Kringle's main philanthropic activities are his annual relief drops each December 25th and January 7th, being Christmas under the Gregorian and Julian calendars. In the autumn of 2005, Kringle made special, additional pre-Christmas relief drops to help victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the U.S.