Federal health minister Patty Hajdu looks more confident in an imminent election call than Justin Trudeau manages to seem. But the campaign has added intensity due to China sentencing Michael Spavor to 11 years on spying charges. A voting tradition faces apparent resistance in Ontario, which doesn’t sound into using schools as polling places.
Almost time to step things up
Rising case counts aren’t discouraging Dr. Kieran Moore from saying Ontario’s pace of vaccinations mean a full reopening for the province is a week away. But a mask mandate will remain, unlike a removal in Manitoba, while Alberta is on the brink of ridding more rules and Quebec plans to fight a fourth wave with vaccine passports.
Torstar’s latest partnership is with digital publisher Curiocity. What began as a blog from Calgary expanded to other cities while gaining social media followers. Meanwhile, a column in which Andrew Coyne declared the collapse of a united publisher fight to get Big Tech to pay for content led News Media Canada to say it’s not finished fighting.
When you are what you heart
Scrolling through the Twitter likes of Dusty Imoo, a goaltending coach hired by the Toronto Marlies, revealed apparent approval of January 6 rioters on Capitol Hill. The hearting of some other tweets led him to be dubbed “a full out anti-Black and transphobic white supremacist.” The organization subsequently revoked his role:
Tony Esposito dead at 78. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the goaltender spent most of 16 years in the NHL starring in Chicago, after the Blackhawks had traded his brother Phil to Boston. But after teaming up in the Summit Series for Team Canada, the siblings got their own table-top game.
Finally, one more for the money
Rock and Roll Revival is the working title for a film that obtained eight sources of funding with the promise of a definitive documentary about the festival at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium on September 13, 1969. Record of the Plastic Ono Band set was always around, but the cameras were packed up for the night when the Doors followed John Lennon: