Strippers say they’re now being shamed as vectors of disease by having their venues shuttered across Ontario amid the rise in coronavirus cases, while other bars have an 11 p.m. last call. But the rules stand to get firmer in Toronto, as city council votes on recommendations to reduce restaurant capacities and lower the music volume.
The border-crossed backdrops
“Free Rebel Spirit,” the name signed to a letter addressed to Donald Trump with traces of ricin, had a return address in St-Hubert, Quebec, where Mounties searched the condo of the suspect under arrest. Meanwhile, the Proud Boys group created by Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes earned a Trump mention in the presidential debate.
Queen’s Park called off a plan to raise the flag of China. But after an outcry over Ontario’s annual marking of National Day, the province cancelled all such ceremonies, for the rest of the pandemic. Ottawa’s relationship with Beijing remains a curiously central talking point for Erin O’Toole as the Conservative leader returns to parliament.
MEC wants out of their mess
Members of Mountain Equipment Co-op launched a crowdfunding fight to challenge its sale to Kingswood Capital Management, but the retailer responded that its cash flow issues add to the urgency. The deal would include new MEC stores in Toronto and Vancouver, while the Saskatoon location had been scheduled to open sometime next year:
Amanda Boyden’s memoir brings the Canadian literary gossip fodder. I Got the Dog is where the New Orleans novelist examines her two-decade marriage to Joseph Boyden, which ended around the time his Indigenous heritage was disputed.
Finally, the pawning postscript
Bob Wiseman, whose daily digital diaries were compiled in print as Music Lessons, recently shared the tale of “Trucker Bill and the Good Deed.” The story of how a hand-painted guitar stolen in 1992 made it back into Wiseman’s hands earned an elaboration from As It Happens—and all the finder wanted in exchange was a signed book:
