Canada’s closed border works for Team Trump
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Hogan Gidley, the press secretary for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, gave Canadians something to feel better about as he argued that Americans are happier at home. The border closure limits are about to be tested now that Ontario cleared the Blue Jays to host visiting U.S. teams in Toronto.
His sheepdog days are done
Doug Ford hit the road to meet “salt of the earth hard working people” as Stage 2 of reopening came to Leamington, while other parts of Ontario are entering Stage 3. Meanwhile, a man in Haliburton County who argued over wearing a mask was later shot dead by the OPP, while a racist anti-masker in Mississauga surrendered to police.
Craig Kielburger sent an unsolicited pitch to run the student volunteer program on the same day it was announced. The detail surfaced at the federal finance committee hearing, where Liberal cabinet minister Bardish Chagger said the We Charity contract was worth up to $43.5 million.
Newspaper is nearly delivered
While some Torstar shareholders called for a probe of its sale process, the federal competition bureau cleared NordStar Capital to seal its deal. There’s still speculation around whether the politically conservative backers want to merge with Postmedia. The head of Canada’s largest union is confident the Toronto Star’s slant can stay the course:
Ken Chinn (aka Mr. Chi Pig) dead at 57. The frontman for 1980s Edmonton punk band SNFU relocated to Vancouver in the 1990s, where he pursued the increased commercial possibilities of the genre. Chi was found working on his art at a table in a dive bar last fall, saying he was “drawing myself to death.”
Finally, a life after Stars on Ice
Alex Trebek will mark his 80th birthday next week with the publication of a memoir, The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life. The book outlines how hosting a bunch of game show flops in Canada and the U.S. led to Lucille Ball advising Merv Griffin to hire him for Jeopardy. And the rest is a history that will be in reruns until production resumes:
