Summer of waiting for a walk in the snow
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Front page flogging of the federal Liberals in Postmedia’s tabloids touch on topics from the Emergencies Act aftermath to immigration and airport delays, plus passport delay debacles. Throw in the Russia Day scandal and non-debate on the Online Streaming Act, and the content keeps feeding resignation speculation.
Waiting for publisher prize patrol
The routine newspaper op-eds insisting Ottawa shouldn’t stall in making Big Tech pay for news content have a new slant thanks to smaller publishers arguing they shouldn’t be left behind. (But there’s no evidence of their accommodation in Bill C-18 itself.) And on top of it all, Facebook looks ready to divorce the news industry as a presence on its platform.
Freedom Mobile will be sold by Rogers to Quebecor for $2.85 billion. The plan is part of trying to appease the Competition Bureau opposed to the entirety of Shaw being bought by Rogers. But rival independent bidder Globalive says the deal is even more anti-competitive, as Rogers would still be gaining 450,000 wireless clients out of the deal.
Allora Fest’s least wanted guest
The arrest of Canadian filmmaker Paul Haggis on sexual assault charges in Ostuni, Southern Italy, occurred while he continues to wait for a civil trial initiated by prior allegations. There were suspicions that Scientology is backing the lawsuits against its outspoken ex-member, while Haggis’ lawyer is denying the details:
Big Rude Jake dead at 57. An album called Butane Fumes & Bad Cologne put Jacob Hiebert’s “swing punk” music on the radar in Toronto in 1993, which gained him a U.S. record deal in tandem with the style’s revival. Big Rude Jake continued his live act into this decade, as he found alternative income streams like performing for seniors.
Finally, as the art world turns
Anna Weyant is the 27-year-old Calgary painter discovered on Instagram who recently joined the giant Gagosian gallery for representation. Oh, she’s also been dating its 77-year-old founder Larry Gagosian for the past year. And that’s how the Wall Street Journal turned this tale into tabloid fodder:
