PM believes we still have a shot at Christmas

Justin Trudeau’s big birthday wish

Joe Warmington @joe_warmington

WARMINGTON: embattled Payette showed her remarkable side and offered a glimpse into her survival skills | Toronto Sun

torontosun.comWARMINGTON: Payette showed her remarkable sideGrace, class and grit under extreme heat.

Julie Payette’s throne speech delivery was followed by Justin Trudeau taking to TV to highlight how his governmental aspirations relate to worries about another pandemic lockdown. “It’s all too likely we won’t be gathering for Thanksgiving, but we still have a shot at Christmas,” the PM said, even if plans related to the latter are vanishing fast.

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Running from a safe distance

Marci Ien @MarciIen

Great catching up with @Bill_Morneau this morning. We talked about the needs in #TorCen and the challenges we face during this unprecedented time. Thank you for your 5 years of service to our community and to Canada. 🇨🇦

With her campaign underway to retain a Liberal seat in the Toronto Centre riding, Marci Ien posed with the outgoing Bill Morneau, who was recently fined $300 for promoting other candidates while finance minister. Now he’s free to endorse his likely replacement as MP in a byelection set for a week after the We investigation resumes.

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The third strike has kicked Jim Karygiannis out of Toronto city hall. A story about his exceeding campaign spending limits on a victory dinner led the former Liberal MP to be removed last November. Karygiannis argued it was a clerical error, only to lose his city council seat again in June. Now he’s run out of courts wiling to hear another appeal.

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This rap sheet remained clean

Doug Ford’s streak of memes from pandemic press briefings is sure to continue, based on the leaked document draft about plans to take “targeted action” if second-wave closures are required. Meanwhile, it’s been six months since the premier was enraged by overpriced Lysol wipes, but it looks like no charges were laid for such infractions:

Lucas Meyer @meyer_lucas

NEW from me: In March, the Ford Govt. introduced new price-gouging penalties, leading to 28,000 complaints. Of those, 1,650 led to warnings, 900 forwarded to police forces, mostly GTA. Available data shows no charges laid in the area #onpoli #covid19

iheartradio.caEXCLUSIVE: Available data shows no charges after thousands of price-gouging complaints in GTAIn March, the Ford Government introduced a new price-gouging emergency order, aimed at businesses and private sellers jacking up prices during the pandemic.

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Wendy Mesley remains employed by the CBC. But her show The Weekly has been cancelled in the wake of apology for using “a word that should never be used” during a production meeting. Coverage of the situation by CBC News was also reviewed by its ombudsman, after a complaint from someone with the name Neil Macdonald.

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Finally, a holiday cheese plate

Countdown to Christmas, the Hallmark Channel’s perennial leveraging of Canadian production benefits, released its 2020 movie lineup. Most newsworthy is Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett in a gay adoption plot, and Love, Lights, Hanukkah!, in which Toronto actress Mia Kirshner’s character “Christina” discovers she’s Jewish through DNA testing:

TVLine.com @TVLine

Hallmark Channel Unveils 2020 #CountdownToChristmas Slate, Including Gay Adoption Movie, Hanukkah Celebration

tvline.comHallmark Unveils 2020 ‘Countdown to Christmas’ Slate, Including Gay Adoption Movie, Hanukkah CelebrationIt’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas — and, at least for one night, Hanukkah — at Hallmark Channel.