The cancellations and the celebrations

Canada Day is happening either way

Senator Linda Frum @LindaFrum

"What’s happening to Macdonald’s memory in Canada is wrong both in the sense that it’s untrue and in the sense that it’s unjust" by @davidfrum

theatlantic.comThe Fight Over Canada’s Founding Prime MinisterAttacks on symbols of nationhood are not merely symbolic actions. They strike at the nationhood the symbol represents.

A defence of John A. Macdonald by David Frum earned a fast rebuttal from Stephen Maher. It arrives in the wake of JAM’s hometown removing his statue from a park, while another was covered in Hamilton. Meanwhile, the annual National Indigenous Peoples Day will be punctuated with nationwide radio programming on June 30.

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No turning back for Alberta

Jason Kenney @jkenney

I've been saying that Albertans should expect a great Alberta summer. This Canada Day will be a very happy one – Alberta's public health measures will be lifted and our lives will get back to normal. We won’t just open for summer. We will open for good.

calgaryherald.com‘We will be open for good’: Nearly all restrictions to be lifted on Canada Day, says KenneyMore than 70 per cent of Albertans have received one dose of vaccine, allowing the province to remove nearly all public health measures.

Victory over COVID-19 has been declared for Canada Day in Alberta. Saskatchewan is ready to lift masks 10 days later—yet Manitoba has doctors continuing to call for caution. And despite Ontario’s declining case counts, the Delta variant is still lurking. But fully vaccinated Canadian travellers with proof won’t need to quarantine past July 5.

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“I was on hold with the culture ministry’s phone line, and I was taken aback to hear an American singing a little song in English to me.” Quebec culture minister Nathalie Roy has ordered 90 per cent of the public service soundtrack to be French. This elevator music policy comes with a $1.1 million program to promote new chansons.

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Wait and see a Generation C

The list of art projects from Douglas Coupland will soon expand via his hometown of Vancouver: “The Rabbit Lane Project,” inspired by his 1998 novel Girlfriend in a Coma, and a mural on the side of gentrified high-rise the Berkeley. But his thoughts have also returned to Generation X, wondering whether labels can survive internet brain:

The Guardian @guardian

Douglas Coupland on Generation X at 30: ‘Generational trashing is eternal’

theguardian.comDouglas Coupland on Generation X at 30: ‘Generational trashing is eternal’Three decades after his debut novel made him the unwilling voice of a generation, the author wonders whether – after Y, Z and now C, for Covid – individuality will become obsolete

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“Cannabis store replacing closed Starbucks and people say Toronto is officially ruined.” A sign of the times headline from BlogTO reflects a streetscape that’s shifted under lockdown, as areas once considered over due to caffeinated mermaids draw a new wave of retail.

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Finally, a case of half a century

Joni Mitchell is marking the 50th anniversary of Blue with five demos and outtakes from its making. There’s also a new interview with Cameron Crowe for the Los Angeles Times, accompanied by 10 celebrity testimonials, while the New York Times gathered 50 more. NPR will also host an online listening party with Brandi Carlile to accompany these words under its influence: 

NPR @NPR

Joni Mitchell's "Blue" is turning 50. It's "the most beloved Joni album, the most written about, the one that encapsulates the essence of her talent," says NPR's Ann Powers.

trib.alHer Kind Of Blue: Joni Mitchell’s Masterpiece At 50How do we understand <em>Blue </em>in the 21st century? Can we think of Mitchell’s 1971 album, long considered the apex of confessional songwriting, as a paradigm not of raw emotion, but of care and craft?