Brian Pallister branded himself “the guy who was stealing Christmas” right after a poll reinforced that the Manitoba premier has the worst approval rating in the country, in part due to his pandemic approach. Meanwhile in Quebec, the “moral contract” offer from François Legault was backtracked in favour of a prohibition of all holiday gatherings.
The anti-vaxxers find a friend
Conservative MP Derek Sloan fired back at journalists who noticed he sponsored a petition to Ottawa calling COVID-19 vaccines “effectively human experimentation.” Erin O’Toole then wouldn’t say if this was a problem for the party, opting instead to keep pressing on the federal government remaining dodgy about dose delivery dates.
CBC won’t be killing its new sponsored content strategy. But it defined additional parameters for Tandem, a program whose launch rankled CBC veterans due to its continued purpose of creating digital advertisements that resemble journalism. CBC’s pandemic revenue pinch has brought a new wave of questioning its existence.
Capital signalling from Rogers
Rock radio stations are seeing the latest wave of job cuts at Rogers Sports and Media, which seems to have Ottawa-based duo Biggs and Barr on deck to fill those morning show vacancies. Rogers also moved its Ottawa country station to a new frequency and shifted local talk from AM to FM with the added branding of CityNews:
Google News Showcase is what $1 billion for journalism will buy. Compensating publishers for free access to paywalled stories is part of a plan that’s already involved giving cash to media companies in countries where regulations might loom, such as Canada. (Google-owned YouTube is also seeking friends from the music scene.)
Finally, exclaiming this disco
André Gagnon elicited significant tributes from across Quebec upon his death, at age 84, reflecting his longtime status as a composer and pianist. But he initially emerged as an avatar of the 1970s instrumental lifestyle, doing tax-shelter movie soundtracks like Running and Phobia, and some sonic debauchery without words: