Pharrell: pitchman for the young and eligible
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Pharrell Williams announcing his part in designing a Toronto condo screened on a big screen downtown, away from the Yonge and Eglinton address that long belonged to a low-rise characteristic of the city’s real-estate “missing middle.” But a project called “untitled” stands to prevail there, regardless of snark by affordable housing advocates.
Amazon bails out of bad press
The Boys, an Amazon Prime series filmed in Toronto, alerted the offices around Mel Lastman Square to a scene involving 450 extras, with screaming and running and “a considerable amount of fake blood.” Councillor John Filion claimed he got it cancelled in view of the 2018 van attack. But the city says it was the producers’ decision.
Anna Maria Tremonti explains her pivot to podcasting. More is the name of her CBC talk show, set to debut on stage. And as Tremonti gets formally replaced on The Current by Matt Galloway, there’s a Metro Morning job posting.
Getting personal with the PM
HuffPost is repositioning to present itself as the news outlet prioritizing the personal over the political. So, it’s practical that Ottawa bureau chief Althia Raj has Justin Trudeau back in the PMO in order to mine those sources for the inside story of how he won:
Andrew Scheer has to convince his caucus to let him stay in charge. The defeated Conservative leader will be asking for a second chance, lest his MPs boot him before the April leadership review. Meanwhile, in Ontario, the new national unity crusade by Doug Ford comes with the premier back to ranting about the NDP’s socialist streak.
New grist for Meghan Murphy
A woman protesting the gender identity panel discussion in Vancouver shouted at a couple attending the event, a confrontation caught on tape: “Is that your mail-order bride?” The protester also works as a support worker for an agency that’s now expressing its regret:
“I’m Part of the 0.1 Percent and I Want a Wealth Tax.” Meghan Bell’s essay for The Walrus was spun into a podcast episode of Canadaland. And that’s what it took for Bell to end up in Twitter arguments about where she’s coming from as a privileged person.
Finally, the Power fights back
Power 107 is the name of a Harvard Broadcasting–owned Edmonton radio station being sued by Corus Radio over a trademark registered in 1999—perhaps foreshadowing a format change for Q107 Toronto. Back then, there was already Power 92 in Edmonton, a since-retired name which Corus claims is violated by the application down the dial:
