Liberal MP Ya’ara Saks got worldwide attention for saying “Honk Honk” is a secret code for “Heil Hitler.” But she responded by citing sources that included a connection to the protest in Ottawa. Meanwhile, the social media claim that planes landing in North Bay contained UN troops commissioned to fight the truckers has been verified as false.
The Queen can’t help here
Contacting the governor general to dissolve the federal government won’t work, a statement from Rideau Hall dutifully informed everyone. But the response was a sign of times in which the RCMP is now working to “unfreeze” the bank accounts of those involved in the convoy blockades, while the Senate is grappling with the Emergencies Act.
Jean Charest is reportedly readying a run to lead the federal Conservatives. While the former Quebec premier made a video announcing a bid two years ago—but then changed his mind—the role he first pursued in 1993 is vacant again. Stephen Harper is reportedly lurking to try and stop Charest.
Fears about the rise of Rumble
The launch of Donald Trump’s social media app involves more business for Rumble, a Toronto-based platform that has a technical partnership with Truth Social. Now, a few years past the point where networks like CTV struggled to integrate digital chaos into programming, what’s left are efforts to investigate the players who’ve prevailed:
Gary Brooker dead at 76. British band Procul Harum’s frontman made progressive rock legends out of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra by recording two concerts with them on November 18, 1971. The results were popular enough to lead to a 20th anniversary reunion, along with 50 years of Canadian content radio airplay for “Conquistador.”
Finally, out of the Blue Zone
Chuck Klosterman starts The Nineties with much ado about a different book: Generation X by Douglas Coupland. But also referenced as a Canadian sign of those times is a 1991 commercial for Labatt Blue featuring Mark DeCarlo, host of dating show Studs, playing the part of “Jerk With Phone,“ when making a cellular call in a bar was considered gauche: