Ontario’s premier says he won’t be campaigning for the new federal Conservative leader “like I didn’t last time either,” even though a year ago it seemed like Doug Ford was kept strategically hidden during the election. But the pandemic-era DoFo is getting along with Liberals in Ottawa, especially his friend Chrystia Freeland.
New fears for exploding pizza
Erin O’Toole’s promise to slash funding and privatize CBC Television and its cable news channel is sure to come up more often. (The public broadcaster got $150 million more annually under Justin Trudeau.) Naturally, the CBC will be covering O’Toole’s new job, although he highlighted one radio interview that excised his comments about the idea.
Montreal’s mayor is getting grief for writing a graphic novel. Valérie Plante has drawn particular scorn from French columnists for contributing text for the story of a fictional politician, which is inspired by her own career. Simone Simoneau: Chronique d’une femme en politique will be concurrently published in English as Okay, Universe.
How to stuff a wild Brokini
Two guys from Toronto evidently spent $5,000 on 250 pieces of a product, then got to work at promotion to get out of the red. Sure enough, the Brokini looks to be filling a void in the swimwear discourse, so maybe they’ll need to replenish their supply soon:
The Weeknd has had America’s top radio hit for the past 20 weeks. “Blinding Lights” broke a Billboard chart record held since 1998 by the Goo Goo Dolls song “Iris.” So, there’s no turning back, even if the Weeknd has admitted it’s really about driving drunk.
Finally, this must be the place
David Byrne’s American Utopia is the Spike Lee-directed concert film set to open the Toronto International Film Festival, with three drive-in screenings. It now has a teaser trailer via HBO, where it’ll land weeks later, because most box offices remain at home: