Any electricians in the house?

Commercial/industrial is where my expertise/experience is. Inspectors will not allow lights and receptacles on the same circuit in any circumstance. NEC here in the states is interpreted locally. All receptacles will be on a 20 @ breaker with 12 gauge wire. Light circuits may use a 15@ breaker provided the wire is 14 gauge. We normally use 110 volt for office lights and receptacles. In Canada you use 230 eh?

I love three phase!

Thats right, the Industrial/Commercial is bond by more strict regulations and the in-house inspection teams are trusted to find and document deficiencies. Sad to say, the residental sector has a few holes in it.
..and then automotive wiring breaks all the rules of physics

Here at work a lot of our fluorescent lighting is 277.

Shortly after we moved into the remodeled building, one of the overhead lights shorted with a quick blue flash, then the whole production area downstairs shut down. Seems they had GFCI on a main breaker down below, but had a low setpoint such that one shorted fluorescent light in an office killed half the building.

I imagine a lot of stuff passed in 1959.

If the GFI popped do to a short is doing it's job. However: A run of the mill breaker would have popped anyway if you could see the "flash" from a short.

Can't imagine why lighting was on a GFI breaker as the intent is to protect an individual using receptacle powered devices in wet areas. ie: Bathrooms, kitchens, garages, and loading areas for commercial/industrial. Obviously up to the inspector approving the work...

gfi's are installed in larger installations. it's associated with the mains and is there to protect the equipment and would never protect a person! ( it dosen't look anything like the ones you see in bathrooms,outside, etc)..unlike the home depo gfi's, most people see, that are installed to protect people

Please NOBODY take this advice. You could be severely burned or killed.

If that main breaker fails while you are snapping it back and forth with a "little vigor" and go's to ground in the back of your cabinet, you will get to witness the full current load from the transformer on the pole right before your eyes.

A few years ago I had some weird crap going on with the wiring and I finally found that I had a loose connection at the neutral bus in the breaker box. I checked all the others while I was at it. Might be a good starting point.

If you have a Square D QO panel, it's possible to install a whole house surge supressor in the space for a 240 volt double breaker. Just snap it in and connect one wire to the neutral bus.