“Canadians rejected division and negativity,” said Justin Trudeau in his election night speech, even though Liberals earned less of the popular vote than Conservatives. It was an all-time low share that was still enough to win power under the first-past-the-post system that Trudeau once promised to get rid of.
Bloc-ed out of Ottawa stardom
The NDP losing all but one Quebec seat included a loss for MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau. Meanwhile, paddling champ Adam van Koeverden got a Liberal win over deputy Conservative leader Lisa Raitt—but Tories swept Grits out of the Prairies. And while Jane Philpott lost as an independent, fellow ex-Liberal Jody Wilson-Raybould won.
Toronto ridings remain as red as ever. Not only did the NDP fail to grab a downtown seat, the muzzling of Doug Ford might’ve contributed to some defeated Conservatives. But that family name also didn’t help Renata Ford: the mayoral widow got 2.8 per cent of the vote in Etobicoke North. She still stated hopes that the People’s Party will grow.
Goodbye to all that Bernier
There now isn’t any such thing as a People’s Party MP, since even the leader lost. But the efforts of Maxime Bernier also had Warren Kinsella’s firm orchestrating an attack underwritten by the Conservatives. After the revelation, Kinsella quit his punditry and now counts himself among the election losers. But at least another Maxime Bernier had fun:
Hudson’s Bay deal to go private comes with a twist of WeWork. The department store operator agreed to a $1.9 billion offer from shareholders, led by chairman Richard Baker. One of those shareholders is a division of the beleaguered co-working startup. WeWork is reportedly delaying mass layoffs because it can’t afford to pay severances.
Frank D’Angelo’s vanity mirror
CHCH-TV now has a second paid-time vanity talk show. This Week Live is hosted by advertising exec Michael Bratch. But the originator’s show is back in production, as verified in a string of tweets from musician Robin Hatch, who was invited on Being Frank:
Arnold Gosewich dead at 85. The literary agent once ran storied publishing house Macmillan. But he started in the music business, which led to a job as the Canadian president of Capitol Records, where he put homegrown acts in the face of Europeans. Gosewich also steered Meat Loaf to stardom while the boss of CBS Records Canada.
Finally, the end of our Iliad
Dean McDermott, the Toronto-born actor who’s now had five kids with Tori Spelling, gained initial infamy when his first wife, What’s For Dinner? co-host Mary Jo Eustace, claimed that Spelling stole her husband. But they’re all getting along now, based on an episode of a podcast that McDermott hopes is his shot to finally make it in Hollywood: