Finding a line that Derek Sloan can’t amend
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Confirmation that Paul Fromm donated $131 to the Conservative leadership campaign of Derek Sloan led the MP to accuse the party of hypocrisy, because it retained the neo-Nazi as a member, under the name Frederick P. Fromm. Nonetheless, the discovery came on the heels of Erin O’Toole saying the party doesn’t want supporters from the “far right.”
The cases for an ad-free CBC
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting had its say at the CRTC licence renewal hearing for the CBC, and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters expressed parallel sentiments about how public media ought to be more transparent and get away from selling ads. Meanwhile, a nightly Black music show was announced for CBC Music, called The Block.
“How Foreign Streamers Could Save a Canadian Industry on the Brink.” The Hollywood Reporter gives a hearing to supporters of Bill C-10, who say that $800 million awaits them if funding is forced for Canadian productions. Netflix voluntarily put out a call for Cancon last year: out of 10,000 ideas, a pitch session was won by Kanata.
Battling with the bulldozers
The Dominion Wheel and Foundries Company site has become the focus of a fight over heritage building preservation in the West Don Lands of Toronto. The province bypassed the municipal planning processes in order to replace a long-vacant railway equipment factory with condos. People who fear a precedent being set are getting louder about stopping it in its tracks:
Toronto residential vacancies hit a half-century high. Urbanation’s data shows 5.7 per cent were empty at the end of 2020, compared to 1.1 per cent a year earlier, with rents down by 10 per cent. But the shuttered Cold Tea bar in Kensington Market is now offered as a $7,500 studio, and an abandoned mop factory costs $850,000.
Finally, the sounds of Steeltown
Daniel Lanois appeared via Toronto on WTF with Marc Maron, where the host further reinforced his antipathy toward the guest’s hometown of Hamilton. The interview dives into a production career ignited when the Time Twins caught the ear of Brian Eno. Four decades later, Lanois has a renewed focus on releasing records under his own name: