Stephen Harper is lurking with us into August
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An interview with Stephen Harper on Joe Lonsdale’s podcast, American Optimist, has gained more attention thanks to Liberal MPs taking issue with his war on wokeness and criticizing the growing deficit during the pandemic. A poll recently commissioned by Maclean’s found Conservatives would come closer to winning now if Harper came back.
Crown refusal gets voted down
With experts saying there’s next to no chance of the new governor general abiding by Jagmeet Singh’s request to refuse an election call request, Justin Trudeau blasted the idea. Meanwhile, the Greens plan to hold their annual convention on August 21 even if a federal campaign is underway—right now, the party finds itself in rough financial shape.
“I understand that you expect more from us and we let you down. The Montreal Canadiens are more than a hockey team.” Habs owner Geoff Molson said it was “a mistake” to draft defenceman Logan Mailloux, who’s been asked not to participate in training camps. St-Hubert BBQ responded that the chain won’t pull its sponsorship now.
The metaverse needs news too
Facebook striking deals with three more publishers in Canada—bringing its News Innovation Test partnerships to 17—is small change for a company spending billions a year building a metaverse. But still watching on the sidelines are newspapers that made the most noise in asking for government intervention, and so their lobbying goes on:
Vice Media’s latest move involves half the amount of articles. With a plan to go public facing hurdles in a less receptive market, Vice World News and Refinery29 will put a greater emphasis on trying to make mobile video hits. The company was also caught polling employees for their feelings about Saudi Arabia, without explaining why.
Finally, seulement entre toi
MTV turns 40 on August 1, a day its main channel will be sticking to a marathon of its current flagship program, Ridiculousness. But the music videos from its first day on the air remain a canonical list, enshrining April Wine’s “Just Between You and Me” as the first Canadian clip to be played—one of three to be aired three times on that first day: