Cultural industries
Textile Museum of Canada clothes Toronto with its new interactive walking tour
I take my hat off to the Textile Museum of Canada’s cool new project, TXTILEcity. Besides giving Torontonians a legit reason to walk down the street stuck to their smartphones, this interactive project uses Google map technology, and video and audio clips to relay the social, cultural, economic and artistic history behind Toronto’s textile and… More »
Flashback Tuesday: “Backyard Burgers”
For our final flashback, we’ve dusted off George Bowering’s thoughtful 1989 piece on Americo-Canadian cultural relations. “Backyard Burgers: Thoughts about Transborder Culture” reflects on what it means to be a Canadian when such a large chunk of our daily cultural diet is imported from the good old U.S. of A. “I wanted to be an… More »
Flashback Tuesday: “Slow Dissolve”
In this week’s installment, we’ve dug up Mike Starowicz’s astute and ominously titled 1985 piece, “Slow Dissolve:The Death of Public Broadcasting.” In it, Starowicz takes a hard look at the state of public broadcasting in Canada. He argues that while the Canadian government has done a good job of protecting radio waves from the culturally… More »
Flashback Tuesday: “Ten Good Reasons to Oppose Free Trade”
Mel Watkins gives us “Ten Good Reasons to Oppose Free Trade” in this week’s flashback. Penned in 1986, when free trade was first floated as the solution to the economic woes of the Regan-Mulroney era, the list provides an exhaustive account of hidden political, economic, and cultural costs of supposedly “free” trade. In short, writes… More »
How to save arts and culture in Canada: a Massey Commission 2.0
Their jobs sound like an oxymoron in Canada’s present political climate; arts professionals earn about half the average national income per year, a large chunk of which comes from grants. That public funding is in danger since Stephen Harper made it perfectly clear he doesn’t consider the arts a priority. Given that the main agenda… More »
Here's what will happen to 5 bills that died when the election was called
We profile five legislative initiatives that died on the docket—and find out which of them will be re-attempted after the election Compiled by Dylan C. Robertson & Victoria Salvas This election means death. Not only have Ottawa scrums, filibusters, and drawn-out committees been killed, pieces of legislation making their way through parliament have all met… More »
The 7 private members' bills that shouldn't die in parliament, but probably will
Compiled by Kevin Philipupillai and Simon Wallace Parliament resumes today. Over the next few weeks we’re going to hear a lot about the gun registry and the census and the economy and the economy and the economy. Often overlooked are the small, less flashy, things that parliamentarians do. Like propose private member’s bills, legislation that individual MPs… More »
Wednesday WTF: Conservatives convert Canada's creaky copyright
Today’s the day! Heritage Minister James Moore will apparently introduce new legislation to update Canada’s copyright laws this afternoon. Michael Geist, the usual go-to guy for all discussion on this topic, has a quick introduction on his site. Basically, fair dealing will remain pretty strict; Geist has complimentary things to say about how internet intermediaries… More »
Friday FTW: CanCon Commie Comedy!
Once upon a time, saying a film looked “Canadian” meant that it looked “low budget.” Gone are those days. Take for example, The Trotsky, one of the latest Canadian films to fall into the national and international spotlight after doing the rounds at various film festivals. Starring Canadian Jay Baruchel as Leon Bronstein, a 17-year-old… More »
Friday FTW: Canadians speak up about copyright
Back in July of 2009, the Canadian government launched an eight week public consultation on copyright reform. Members of the public were invited to let their will be known surrounding issues such as fair use, copyright terms, ISP neutrality and a host of other issues. With over 8,300 respondents in total an astounding 6183 people… More »
