Unlikely hero, Brian Diesbourg, hauled off and booted a football over fifty yards and put it through the uprights—for non-sports fans in the audience, this is a very, very long way, even for a professional football kicker, which Brian Diesbourg is not—last night at halftime during the Toronto/Hamilton CFL game (hey, guess who won), and […] More »

I want to laugh at the idea of CBC president Robert Rabinovitch spilling water all over himself and then falling out of his chair, but I’m afraid I’ve done the same a few too many times to pass judgement. However, I’m having trouble with his claim that the CBC lockout was justified. While his point […] More »

This is curious. The Governor General, defender of the constitution, decided to honour a dedicated and unambiguous secessionist poet by giving him some bling and a nice wad of cash. Fair enough. This is Canada, and rewarding disloyalty is how we do things here. But after his secessionist friends found out that he was Uncle-Toming […] More »

Ralph Nader is coming to the centre of the universe—wait, isn’t he already there? Anywayyy, “The Nade” is speaking in Toronto next Friday (October 28), at the Ryerson Theatre (43 Gerrard St. East). His topic: Innovative Solutions for our Survival: Connecting Climate Change with Social Justice Of course, you don’t have to believe in either […] More »

In this week’s NOW Magazine, Wayne Roberts provides some much-needed perspective on the softwood lumber dispute. He wonders why many moderate, even progressive, Canadians are looking to the federal government to stand up to the United States on the issue of tariffs being applied to raw lumber imports from Canada: “It disturbs me that any […] More »

Rest in Peace, Saturday Night magazine. Just learned from D.B. Scott’s Canadian Magazines blog that St. Joseph’s Media has decided to suspend publication of Saturday Night, yet again. The magazine has died and been resurrected more times in the last decade than I can remember. If this is it’s last life, I will truly miss […] More »

A loose coalition of Canadian arts groups is travelling to Ottawa next week to deliver an enormously important message to federal politicians — Canada’s arts and culture industry is a huge contributor to the Canadian economy, yet we continue to treat this sector like it can eat air. From a recent Canadian Arts Coalition press […] More »

Currently making the email rounds: George: Condi! Nice to see you. What’s happening? Condi: Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China. George: Great. Lay it on me. Condi: Hu is the new leader of China. George: That’s what I want to know. Condi: That’s what I’m telling you. George: That’s […] More »

This Magazine’s new co-editor of This & That, Shawn Micallef, has brought his [murmur] project to Calgary. Made popular in Toronto’s Kensington Market and Annex neighbourhoods, [murmur] is a story-telling tool that allows passersby to hear tales of the city told through their cellphones—simply look for green [murmur] signs in key locations, call the number […] More »

Reporting in from my vacation in the heartland of America. I’ve been spending a bit of time reading and writing on a typical American college campus. Lots of football players practicing for the big game on Saturday, and the basketball team has started early training—season starts in November. Browsing the off-campus bookstores, I ran across […] More »

The powers that be at the Edmonton Art Gallery (soon to be renamed THE ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA) have announced their choice to design the brand new art gallery. The headline in today’s Edmonton Journal reads Art gallery designed as work of art What do you think? Post your opinions …hence the entry title. The […] More »