The newsletter returns after missing Monday
Facebook is partnering with Carleton University to give academic gravitas to the Canadian Election Integrity Initiative. Kevin Chan, who was a Liberal adviser before he joined the social network, will be a visiting scholar in Ottawa. Likening the appointment to Dracula overseeing the blood supply is a great line from NDP MP Charlie Angus.
The war on whatever works
Erin O’Toole launched his Conservative leadership bid by pledging to fight “cancel culture and the radical left.” Talking with the National Post, the Durham, Ontario, MP took a shot at a Liberal government “led by the editorial board of the Toronto Star.” The populist platitudes are up against seizure-inducing bromides from Peter MacKay.
Peter MacKay and the question of speaking French. A lack of second-language fluency is dogging the leadership hopes of the former Conservative cabinet member from Nova Scotia, even if Erin O’Toole is also bereft of bilingualism. CBC’s new online analysis writer Rosemary Barton believes that both candidacies will suffer.
A hammer ahead for Netflix
Steven Guilbeault is the latest federal heritage minister handed the file of how to compel foreign-based digital giants to fund Cancon: his line is that it’s better to be “at the table than on the menu.” With the next recommendations from a government appointed panel due comes the counterpoint that consumers are better off without it:
Toronto finally makes it into the title of a major motion picture. Kevin Hart and Jason Statham were revealed as the stars of Man From Toronto, an action film set to premiere on November 20. And yet, Columbia Pictures has released no other details about it. The only real guess is that it’s a remake of a British romantic comedy released in 1933.
Finally, farther away in time
Martha and the Muffins had their single “Echo Beach” released 40 years ago this week in the U.K., where it became a top 10 hit. It was inspired by Toronto’s Sunnyside—even if the British single cover had a map of Chesil Beach in Dorset, England. But its legacy endured long enough to be the name of a concert venue sponsored by a bank:
