The CFL players get to run off their Canadian Thanksgiving dinners with intra-division battles this week.
Toronto hasn't seen Montréal since the 2019 Touchdown Atlantic adventure in Moncton. This week, they are in Montréal on Friday on the final U.S. TV game of the regular season on ESPNews. Saskatchewan goes all the way west to Vancouver late on Friday.
Ottawa goes to Hamilton in what has been traditionally the best of the East battle late Saturday afternoon. Winnipeg in Calgary in prime time in the East on Saturday could be the best matchup on the schedule.
Winnipeg got some revenge on Saturday over Montréal. The defence played havoc for Vernon Adams Jr.'s line of vision. Chris Streveler and Andrew Harris carried the Winnipeg offence on the ground. The snow muted the Winnipeg celebrations.
The win snapped the Blue Bombers 3-game losing streak.
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S.J. Green went over the 10,000 receiving yards mark Friday night at home in Toronto against Ottawa. Most of those yards came with Montréal, some of them with Anthony Calvillo. Green also went past 700 CFL catches.
Will Arndt has an inconsistent debut as the Ottawa starting quarterback.
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Mike Reilly was the last of the starters to stay healthy. Reilly suffered a fractured left wrist early in the game in Edmonton.
The Lions signed Canadian QB Brandon Bridge. Can't believe the number of teams and scenarios that ignored what Bridge could bring to their teams. Perhaps this will be an audition to show what Bridge can do. Danny O'Brien will also be in the BC mix.
The CFL and CFLPA needs to fix this. No Thanksgiving games. No word on why they are not there. Turkeys, indeed.
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The CFL insists on overlapping games in doubleheaders, especially on Thursday and Friday nights. If you stuck with the early game in Toronto on Friday, you missed a bad bounce on a punt where Calgary recovered for a touchdown, and then a huge Saskatchewan interception for a Pick 6. The late game started on TSN1 in Canada.
Calgary gave Saskatchewan its second loss in the last 11 games. The Stampeders are tough at home and has the tiebreaker over the Roughriders.
These teams might meet again in the West final, which might be in Calgary as well.
Hamilton clinches the East with the Montréal loss. The Tiger-Cats get the bye and will host the East final. The Alouettes will host the crossover team. That crossover team is almost certain to be Edmonton. A Saskatchewan win or an Edmonton loss will send the Esks to Montréal. Saskatchewan plays Edmonton home-and-home the last 2 weeks.
Calgary has the tiebreaker over Saskatchewan, which has the tiebreaker over Winnipeg. The Blue Bombers are ½ game behind Calgary and Saskatchewan; the latter has an additional game with the BC Lions. Winnipeg's final 2 games are with Calgary; the Blue Bombers have a 1-0 advantage over Calgary.
This compels Saskatchewan fans to root for Winnipeg down the stretch. That should prove intriguing.
The CFL will have a crossover for a record 4 years in a row. Edmonton, Saskatchewan, and BC have crossed over the last 3 seasons. Edmonton (2016) and Saskatchewan (2017) won their semifinal game. No CFL team has advanced to the Grey Cup as a crossover team.
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ESPN feeds the U.S. audience another useless East game. Better to have games on TV than no games at all. Winnipeg-Calgary would be great on TV but U.S. fans will have to settle for ESPN+.
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Rod Black and Henry Burris stayed awake in Toronto Friday night. Black made his way through the snow to Winnipeg on Saturday working with Duane Forde.
Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor lived, ate, and breathed Alberta with stops in Calgary on Friday and Edmonton on Saturday.
Mike Benevides and Davis Sanchez helped out on the CFL on TSN panel as Matt Dunigan had Friday night off and Burris took Saturday off.
The 2019-2020 Toronto Raptors are swimming in new waters. Nothing says that like hosting the first Christmas Day game in the history of the franchise. Toronto will host Boston on Christmas Day. The only previous Christmas Day game for the Raptors was a trip to Madison Square Garden in 2001.
NHL fans might be confused by the disrespect fans feel with the lack of Christmas game. After all, the NHL doesn't play on Christmas or the day before or the day after Christmas.
Kawhi Leonard and his Los Angeles Clippers will be at Scotiabank Arena on December 11. Hopefully, load management will allow Leonard to play that night.
Pascal Siakam has the opportunity to be a more prominent presence in the Toronto lineup. Kyle Lowry showed he could play well inside and outside. Marc Gasol will be around for a whole season. Serge Ibaka can raise his game. OG Anunoby missed the playoff run last season. Norman Powell will be a force in the backcourt. Fred VanVleet needs to have another kid around playoff time.
Lowry signed a $31 million, 1-year extension so free agency won't hang over this season.
Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green came in together and spent a glorious season in Toronto. Both are gone to different Los Angeles teams.
The Toronto Raptors start the 2019-20 NBA season against the New Orleans Pelicans next week on October 22. Count on a feisty crowd as the championship banner will be lifted to the rafters.
The Raptors added Brittni Donaldson as an assistant coach. The team's data analyst becomes the 10th female assistant coach in NBA history. The team lost assistant coach Phil Handy to the Los Angeles Lakers after a single season in Toronto. Eric Khoury moved down to the Raptors 905 club. Fab Flournoy and Mark Tyndale are new assistants.
The championship run of the Toronto Raptors brought back memories of its expansion sibling, the Vancouver Grizzlies. The NBA screwed that up so badly. Hard to consider that the league has teams in Memphis and Oklahoma City instead of powerhouse cities such as Vancouver and Seattle.
The Memphis Grizzlies are reaching back into the time machine to bring back the classic teal uniforms to celebrate the beginnings in Vancouver. We saw the Washington Nationals wear the powder blue Montréal Expos uniforms this summer.
A bit surreal but curious to see the Vancouver uniforms on a NBA court once again.
Rogers Sportsnet and TSN split the Raptors games like Solomon would. This schedule also marks ESPN and TNT telecasts throughout the regular season. Other games will air on NBA TV in the United States.
We normally run all the cool Canadian ads from the NHL Center Ice free preview all at once. Canada election 2019 cast a significant shadow over the preview, so we wanted to spotlight those ads separately and then run the rest of the ads after the election.
We haven't forgotten about Tim Hortons or Skip the Dishes. They will show up soon. Now on to the political related ads.
We've run ads during the Canada election 2019 notebooks on Sundays. The ad ratio on the hockey games is reflective more on money than party status among the electorate.
The Liberals had a single ad, positive. NDP and Greens didn't have ads during hockey games. The Conservatives had 3 different ads, 1 positive and 2 negative.
The negative ads take the traditional route of offering newspaper headlines as a way of telling a story. Some of those headlines are linked to opinion pieces instead of news stories. In a clickbait era, headlines don't always tell the true stories.
The negative ads match the tone of Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer's debate tone. Justin Trudeau, Tom Mulcair, and Elizabeth May had a strong tone against Stephen Harper in 2015. Scheer doesn't see that his anger is showing.
Unifor is a major Canadian union. The ad says Canadians should "rethink our energy strategy."
The ad never says the word "refinery" but talks about the troubles of exporting unrefined products and imports those refined products. I've wondered for years why Canada would not invest in refineries to create jobs and ship a more refined product in pipelines. The premise of the Keystone XL pipeline was to have Canadian oil refined in Texas. Unrefined oil can do more damage in a pipeline spill. This was an issue with British Columbia premier John Horgan and then Alberta premier Rachel Notley.
Conservatives aren't thrilled with unions, but this ad seems like there is some common ground with unions and the oil/gas sector.
Petro-Canada, associated with oil, ran an ad about how Canadians can now drive from the Rockies to the Maritimes in an electric vehicle thanks to Petro-Canada electric chargers. Having a vast country like Canada and the United States makes driving an electric car more difficult. This feels like news more people should know.
Elections Canada is the primary reason Canadians can hold their heads high about democracy. Voting is easy and encouraged. These ads remind Canadians that the process should be easy. Canadians may not realise that the United States doesn't have a central election system encouraging the act of voting.
The early voting period happened over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Canadian elections haven't always been set at a certain time. The 2015 and 2019 elections were in October on a more fixed schedule. A minority government scenario can change that schedule.
As we've noted in the past, Canadians have a lot fewer elections than Americans. Canadians don't have political pressure to deny people the right to vote. There were the Conservative robocalls giving voters false information about voting. Canada is a lot better off than the United States.
The debate promo might be similar to promos you might see for U.S. debates. The fun part is going through the 5 female faces that ran the English language debate.
The journalism ads are almost as masking as the political ads. The coverage is about you and your concerns.
CBC and CTV (through TSN) ads ran during hockey coverage. Global had a national newscast while Citytv, owned by Rogers, doesn't. Citytv has local newscasts in Toronto, Montréal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. What little impact Citvtv had with national news is long ago in concept as well as time.
CTV's Lisa LaFlamme sounds earnest when she says "We don't want to just cover the horse race. This is not a game. We're covering this through the eyes of the voters."
LaFlamme talks about the earnestness of getting up at 5 in the morning to cover the candidates on a daily basis. Being embedded with a campaign isn't necessarily leading to better journalism and actually keeps you away from the voters you are trying to serve.
CBC's slogan is "Your election. Our responsibility." Andrew Chang, one of the four CBC anchors, talks about family and responsibility. "As Canada's public broadcaster, we're accountable to all Canadians. And like you, we care about good journalism."
Canadian journalism is way ahead of the U.S. but has its limitations. Can't vouch for CTV coverage, but LaFlamme is overselling the impact of CTV journalism and TV journalism in general. CBC still carries the mantle in Canada. Rosemary Barton and Vassy Kapelos at times feels too jaded and cynical. I'm as cynical and jaded as any journalist but have some eyes open to viewers and listeners who carry about things besides the horse race.
Has felt like CBC, outside The National, has been rooting for exciting stories and seemed genuinely miffed that the public cared less about the blackface photos than they did. I heard 2 different accounts on the radio side leading up to the official debate that ignored the existence of the MacLean's/Citytv debate. We had our share of criticism over that debate, format and content included, but we know the debate existed.
On a lighter note, both promos appear to have the same coverage of ice falling from an iceberg.
videos credit: Liberal Party of Canada; Conservative Party of Canada (3); Unifor; Petro Canada; Elections Canada (2); CBC; CBC News; CTV News photo credit: Elections Canada
Canadian content, something we specialize in at CanadianCrossing.com, should have a debate in itself during the election. Here are some of the brewing stories where politicians should pay attention.
Mélanie Joly was a lot more visible as Heritage Minister. Pablo Rodriguez, the current heritage minister, has been in the chair for over a year. You might not have known that unless you read this blog.
The Harper Government had heritage ministers, 4 of them. They never seemed to make much of an impact in the 9 years in office.
The Liberals under Joly were against a Netflix tax. Rodriguez didn't say the words "Netflix tax" last month in Toronto but that certainly was the message. "Anyone who benefits should contribute, and that includes the big internet players. It’s only fair," said Rodriguez. "There are so many players in the industry, but they should all be treated equally if we are to maintain our culture."
A 3% value-added tax on advertising and digital services is in the Liberal Party platform for 2019. The tax would only apply to large companies with a minimum of $1 billion in revenues worldwide and Canadian revenues of more than $40 million (all Canadian $).
The Liberals say the government would collect $540 million in the first year.
"The Internet giants are making massive profits and using tax-avoidance schemes around the world to not pay their fair share," Justin Trudeau said. "We’re going to ensure that revenue generated in Canada by those large corporations actually does get taxed and benefits our society."
Rodriguez was part of establishing a legislative review panel to update the Broadcasting Act for the digital times. The report is scheduled to come out in January.
The Netflix tax came up in the TVA debate. Jagmeet Singh said the NDP wants to do some kind of tax. Trudeau said the Liberals are now on board. Andrew Scheer said yes for the Conservatives. Yves-Francois Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois) said something about a penalty as opposed to a tax (the translation wasn't clear).
Elizabeth May (Green Party) was not invited to the TVA debate. May mentioned a similar tax during the English language Leaders Debates Commission debate.
The question came up in the French language Leaders Debates Commission debate with a general consensus on a tax. Blanchet spoke of a levy as opposed to a tax.
Netflix says its $500 million (Canadian) film and TV spending commitment has been met 3 years ahead of schedule.
The streaming service said in a statement that the company "will continue to invest significantly in Canada. Our production in Canada has grown consistently over the last several years, and we expect to continue to produce at current levels."
As someone who lives in the United States, I'm not seeing the level of Canadian content from such a commitment by Netflix. The service signed on for CBC shows such as Anne with an E, Schitt's Creek, Workin' Moms, and Kim's Convenience. The search for Canadian content on Netflix doesn't take long and involves a number of projects that are Canadian but not visibly. Netflix did make a big deal about films such as Les Affames but that has been the exception.
The Writers Guild of Canada has serious doubts about Netflix's stance.
While Netflix's interest in Canadian TV shows is exemplary, the shows didn't need Netflix's money to be successful. Money well spent to get the rights to stream those shows, but that doesn't build new Canadian content that might have struggled otherwise.
CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait announced last week that the public broadcaster would no longer work with Netflix. "We’re not going to do deals that hurt the long-term viability of our domestic industry," Tait said on the Content Canada podcast.
The issue is about Netflix and other streaming services not paying into the Canada Media Fund. Canadian broadcasters are required to put 5% of their gross revenue into the fund. Netflix isn't required to put money into the fund.
Would the Conservatives change this Netflix deal? What about the NDP or Greens? Would the Bloc Quebecois care about Canadian content for English Canadians? Would Maxime Bernier care about Canadian content as long as it wasn't multicultural?
The Harper Government bashed CBC with words and severe funding cuts. The Conservative platform doesn't acknowledge the CBC or Radio-Canada. Andrew Scheer said earlier this year that he would scrutinize CBC news to make sure the public broadcaster is "focusing on Canadian stories."
Liberal Party: "strengthen the regional mandate of CBC/RadioCanada, so that local stations can broadcast more local news; and require CBC/RadioCanada to open up its digital platform, so that journalism start-ups and community newspapers can access affordable technology to develop and distribute local content"
NDP: "We'll also increase funding for CBC and Radio-Canada to help reverse the damage of decades of funding cuts under both Liberal and Conservative governments. Public broadcasting has a remarkable legacy of connecting all points of our country – and it needs to have an even stronger future now more than ever to help make sure that Canadians have access to accurate, relevant information no matter where they live."
Green Party: "Invest an additional $300 million per year in CBC and Radio Canada until the per-capita level of funding is equal to that of the BBC."
The parties have thoughts on other Canadian content elements. These are highlights from their platforms.
Liberals: "continue to support Canadian film by increasing annual funding for Telefilm Canada by nearly 50 per cent a year … introduce a new Cultural Diplomacy strategy, with at least one international mission each year to promote Canadian culture and creators around the world; and move forward, in our first year, with legislation that will take appropriate measures to ensure that all content providers – including internet giants – offer meaningful levels of Canadian content in their catalogues, contribute to the creation of Canadian content in both official languages, and promote this content and make it easily accessible on their platforms."
NDP: "We will make sure that arts and cultural institutions receive stable, long-term funding to grow and promote Canada’s diverse cultures and histories. We will also extend support to Canadian media to assist them in making the digital transition."
Greens: "Reform anti-trust laws to enable the break-up of media conglomerates. … Increase funding to all of Canada's arts and culture organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada. Review tax incentives for film production to ensure all parts of Canada are competitive and attractive to the industry, with incentives rising when Canadian artistic and technical talent are employed."
The Conservative Party platform only came out late on Friday before the long holiday weekend. There is little content of note and very vague general concepts. Odd that when "stories" are mentioned, film is part of "other media."
"To ensure that government programs and institutions support our cultural sector through changes in media and culture, we will work in a consultative way with the arts, music, film, and other industries to understand how government can adapt."
"Our culture is what binds us together as Canadians. Our shared identity stems from the stories we tell each other through music, television, art, and other media. Our cultural industries are a huge economic driver, creating over 765,000 jobs in our economy."
Promoting Canadian content shouldn't be partisan. Ideally, there would be a non-partisan group in place with long-term solutions and input from major parties included in the process.
There should be a federal system that gives out film ratings. We criticized Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservative government in Ontario for chucking the Ontario Film Authority. Provinces shouldn't have to deal with this issue.
We've seen provinces wield their power to ban or restrict films over the years. Streaming services are outside provincial control but are making provinces far less relevant. Ontario is using British Columbia's system in the interim period.
The film ratings may not seem like a huge priority but the people who care about them the most — parents of children — are a highly sought after constituency.
This Liberal Party suggestion has little to do with film or television but does inspire young people to appreciate Canadian content. The election promise is to give every Canadian child a $200 "culture pass" when they turn 12 years old.
The idea comes from France where the value is €500 for those who turn 18.
The party said the pass would apply to "theatres, museums, galleries, workshops, and other cultural venues and local Canadian content."
The Conservatives will provide free admission to Canada's national museums. The party said the inspiration comes from the free Smithsonian museums in Washington, DC.
Canada has 9 national museums, 7 in Ottawa/Gatineau, Quebec.
National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa)
Canadian War Museum (Ottawa)
Canadian Museum of Nature (Ottawa)
Canada Science and Technology Museum (Ottawa)
Canada Aviation and Space Museum (Ottawa)
Canada Agriculture Museum (Ottawa)
Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau)
Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 (Halifax)
Canadian Museum for Human Rights (Winnipeg)
I've been to the National Gallery of Canada; Canadian Museum of History; Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21; and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer says the cost would be about $20 million in 2020-2021.
Canadians may want a Netflix tax. Canadians may want more CBC funding. Canadians may want the private networks (CTV, Global, Citytv) to devote more time to Canadian programming. Canadians should have those discussions with their politicians.
photos credit: Space/BBC America; Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!! Some Canadians might be thankful there are only 8 days left before Election Day. Hope you are surrounded by loved ones around the holiday.
The English language debate was spirited. Loved having 5 female moderators. They were focused, rigid on time, and ran a smooth ship. Do that again in 4 years.
Let's go through a few observations.
Justin Trudeau vs. Andrew Scheer was the battle everyone was waiting for on Monday night. Scheer's opening rant was childish and not on point. Scheer's night got better after that. This was the debate over whether Scheer could look like a prime minister. He did not.
Elizabeth May said at this point, Scheer won't be prime minister. When Scheer denied that, May said she would lay bets right now.
Maxime Bernier and Andrew Scheer fought a long battle for the Conservative Party leadership. That animosity continued on stage. Scheer's people were worried about Bernier being on stage. Bernier didn't score well on anyone; his focus was responding to others by saying their suggestion "won't generate any wealth." Bernier might be better in French but Scheer had nothing to worry about in English.
Trudeau had a good line about Maxime Bernier and his role on the stage tonight seems to be to say publicly what Scheer says privately.
Trudeau didn't do any favours for Quebec in his takes. He challenged Singh on why he wouldn't possibly intervene in Bill 21. Trudeau might be counting on most people in Quebec to not pay attention to the English language debate.
May and Bernier agreed that no corporation above the law. Bernier was arguing this to May and she was like, I agree.
Trudeau kept saying Harper was in power for 10 years. The Liberal Party leader is rounding up from 9 years and 10 months. Might have felt longer than that timeframe.
Singh had a great line on climate change that you don't have to choose between Mr. Delay (Trudeau) and Mr. Deny (Scheer).
Trudeau had a few moments when he called Singh "Scheer." Dawna Friesen from Global tripped up on the same mistake. I don't believe Trudeau's "slips" were mistakes. A clever trick of some sort by the Liberal Party leader.
Bernier kept trying to lump Trudeau and Scheer together. When Bernier said that about climate change, Trudeau said that was the most offensive thing Bernier said.
Yves-Francois Blanchet brought up the cap-and-trade system Quebec has with California (and did have with Ontario) on climate change. Surprised that hasn't come up before. That was even better than the carbon tax.
May pointed out tax cuts didn't lead to jobs when Bernier was in the Stephen Harper cabinet.
Bernier promised a balanced budget in 2 years. 2019 isn't the year to talk about balanced budgets.
Singh kept saying that Trudeau was saying nice things. He might have overused the phrase but repetition helps debate viewers.
May said to Scheer that his 25% foreign aid cut may be the worst idea of your non-platform.
Trudeau said to Blanchet that a Quebecer is a Canadian. Felt like a callback to Trudeau's "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian" to Harper in 2015.
The French debate was more about issues previously ignored such as data breaches, dying with dignity, and high-speed rail from Quebec to Toronto. The French debate had a significant advantage of having newspaper reporters. Having the newspaper reporters work at the end of the segments helped conclude those segments on point.
The 3-way debates aka confrontation a trois proved to be thorough and relatively polite. The French debate with the same 6 leaders met with no zingers and more polite conversation.
Jagmeet Singh played the line about how Justin Trudeau swings to the left during the election and then back to the right after the election.
We learned about the closing of a private abortion clinic in New Brunswick because the conservative government will only pay for abortions at public hospitals in Moncton and Bathurst.
Patrice Roy of Radio-Canada ran a good ship as moderator. The video questions went quite smooth as opposed to the English language debate.
As part of our running series, we are posting ads from the major parties. Here is a Green Party ad.
We spent a lot of words on the Andrew Scheer dual citizen phenomena on Tuesday. Elizabeth May has a similar issue but she has had transparency about her American past. The question we really explored was whether the United States matters in a dual citizenship scenario.
The good news is Rick Mercer weighed in on the 2019 Canada election. The bad news is that his op-ed in an American newspaper (The Washington Post) was not that interesting or funny.
Mercer mocks how the Canada election isn't subject to what is happening in the United States and the chaos of the "only official English-language debate."
He mentions the Justin Trudeau blackface photos and how shocking they were. Mercer also says Trudeau wears cute socks.
Mercer has a field day with Andrew Scheer's American identity.
"He was that unheard-of creature, an American who is either embarrassed or ashamed to admit it. This was a new one. Canada’s conservatives have always been comfortable in the closet, but this is the first time one has been outed as a American citizen. Canadians need to think this one through. What do we do in the event of a yet-undeclared American war when the Canadian prime minister is drafted and ordered to work in the cafeteria on an aircraft carrier?"
Mercer introduced a Trudeau boxing analogy that Canadians would get but not Americans since they likely don't know the boxing story. "Trudeau’s knees never buckled — despite multiple punches to the head, he seemed oblivious. It’s a skill he has always had — oblivious to blows to the head."
Mercer was once famous for Talking to Americans where he would mock them for their lack of knowledge about Canada. He had a chance in this op-ed to help them out, but Mercer fell short.
Mercer fell into the malaise exhibited by the more cynical Canadian journalists. "In the end, we were left with irony — the greatest thing both leaders have going for them is that their opponent is underwhelming and not particularly liked. On Oct. 21 Canadians will plug their noses and go to the polls."
One good Rick Mercer alley rant would have been a benefit to the Canadian people. This was a watered-down version not even aimed at Canadians.
We did mention a push to have a climate change debate as part of Canada election 2019. 48,000 Canadians signed a petition in August to get the CBC to host a national climate debate. CBC declined that offer.
The University of Ottawa Smart Prosperity Institute in conjunction with Climate Action Network Canada had a climate change debate scheduled for Wednesday. That debate has been cancelled because the Conservatives said they couldn't find a MP candidate to attend.
The Liberals, NDP, and Greens signed up immediately for the debate.
This was not going to be a debate among the leaders. The Conservatives, being the opposition party in parliament, would have the equivalent of an environmental minister.
The irony was lost on the Conservatives, who justifiably criticized Justin Trudeau for not showing up for the MacLean's/Citytv debate and the subsequently cancelled Munk foreign policy debate.
We hate to keep focusing on elaborate, deliberate lies told by the Conservatives against Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. The latest lie had a microsite and a false claim about a "secret plan to implement a tax on up to 50% of the profits on the sale of your home."
The Conservatives shared an internal Liberal party policy proposal on housing, then doctored the document to imply the source was Toronto MP Adam Vaughan, the Liberal special advisor on housing and urban affairs.
As Trudeau noted during the English language debate, the Conservatives haven't cost their platform. The Conservatives could spend more time on what they want to do instead of making up lies about what someone else might do.
Andrew Scheer finally released the Conservative Party platform late on a Friday before the long holiday weekend. The party waited until after the debates to reveal the platform.
The Liberals are charging that the Conservatives have $53 billion in cuts, including $14 billion in hidden cuts in the budget.
The platform also calls for slashing of research grants to post-secondary education institutions if they don't accept right-wing racist, anti-LGBTQ or other similar speakers on campus.
Not wanting to pile on but this is a bad sign for the Conservatives.
The Canadian Senate doesn't come up too often. Justin Trudeau fulfilled his promise to appoint independent senators.
Trudeau has appointed 50 senators that sit in the Independent Senators Group or as unaffiliated senators. There are 58 independent senators currently in the 105-seat body (also senators that used to be Conservative or Liberal).
There are 29 Conservative senators, 9 independent Liberals, 7 non-affiliated senators, and 2 vacancies.
Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer has said he will appoint Conservative senators if his party forms government.
There have been pushes since I was studying the Canadian Senate in university for an elected Senate. Canadian senators are not elected and can only serve until they reach age 75.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said the party would negotiate with the province to abolish the Senate and would not appoint any new senators. The Green Party believes that "as long as there is an appointed Senate, an open process that invites qualified applicants is superior to the appointment of party cronies."
The People's Party of Canada believes Trudeau's appointment process is "mostly window-dressing." The Bloc Quebecois did not provide its position on the Senate.
The Senate has been marred with scandal-ridden senators such as Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, Lynn Beyak, and Don Meredith — all Conservative appointees. Mac Harb (Liberal) was also involved in the Canadian Senate expenses scandal along with Duffy, Wallin, and Brazeau. Harb was the only senator in the scandal to resign, doing so in 2013.
The independent senators haven't made negative waves.
photos credit: CBC News Network video credit: Green Party of Canada Twitter capture: @rickmercer
Welcome to Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. For the first time that anyone can remember, the CFL gives football fans, players, and broadcasters a football-free Canadian Thanksgiving. You can tape the games and watch them on Monday, but that won't be the same.
The teams don't have to travel far this weekend. The Friday doubleheader starts with the Battle of eastern Ontario in Toronto on ESPNews. Saskatchewan visits nearby Calgary in the nightcap.
Saturday has the longest trip as Montréal goes west but only as far as Winnipeg. The BC Lions cross the Canadian Rockies into Edmonton in the early evening local start. The Esks need a win to clinch a playoff spot.
Hamilton gets an early start on turkey and pumpkin pie.
Montréal is back in the playoffs and with a home playoff game for the first time since 2014. The Alouettes looked really sad last season when they thought Johnny Manziel was going to be the hero.
A new coach at the very last minute, the second quarterback they tried, and a resurgent defence have brought the playoffs back to La Belle Province.
Calgary scored 17 points in the first half. The Alouettes defence rose to the occasion, even winning the player of the game with 5 turnovers and 2 sacks.
Khari Jones went for a field goal in a 3rd-and-short encounter late in the game. The safer call paid off thanks to the Alouettes defence.
Calgary suffered its second loss after a bye (13-2) since Bo Levi Mitchell became the starting quarterback.
The Montréal win knocked out Toronto and Ottawa from playoff contention.
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Saskatchewan didn't score much but didn't need to do much against Winnipeg. The Roughriders have the season series and the tiebreaker. After starting 1-3, Saskatchewan has won 9 of the last 10. The only loss was to Winnipeg in the Banjo Bowl. Winnipeg has lost every game since the Banjo Bowl.
Chris Streveler had trouble all day trying to get time to throw for the Blue Bombers.
The Roughriders are now in the top spot in the West.
Michael Clemons aka Pinball is the new Toronto Argonauts general manager, Jim Popp will help out ownership through the end of the calendar year. Popp has been a general manager in the CFL since 1995. John Murphy was named vice president of player personnel.
Pinball and the Toronto Argonauts have a long history. Clemons won 3 Grey Cups as a player, had 2 terms as head coach with a 2004 Grey Cup win. He has also been team president, chief executive officer, and vice chair since May 2009.
Popp's contract was going to expire at the end of the season.
Jim Popp had an impressive run in the CFL. A general manager since 1995, Popp's teams have gone to 11 Grey Cups and won 5 of them (Baltimore, Montréal [3], Toronto). Popp has had 4 different stints as Montréal head coach.
Things did not work out well in Toronto, despite the 2017 Grey Cup win. With a bit of time and distance, Popp will contribute again to the CFL.
Then again, Popp had a 1-year extension lined up for quarterback Zach Collaros, who has been injured for most of the season after a vicious hit by Simoni Lawrence in the first CFL game of the season.
The new Argonauts management dealt Collaros to Winnipeg with a 2020 5th-round draft pick. Toronto gets back a 2020 3rd-round draft pick and a conditional 1st-round pick as early as 2020 if Collaros re-signs with Winnipeg.
Toronto originally acquired Collaros from Saskatchewan for a conditional 4th-round pick
Collaros has reportedly been cleared to play. This might be the last time we see Collaros in the CFL with his injury track record. Winnipeg needed a good backup quarterback with Matt Nichols out for the season. Chris Streveler remains the Blue Bombers starting quarterback.
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Tyrell Sutton is making a great Hamilton offence even better. The running game becomes crucial as the weather turns colder. Dane Evans gets better with a strong running game.
The Tiger-Cats looked inspired by members of the 1999 Hamilton squad, the last Tiger-Cats team to win the Grey Cup.
Logan Kilgore had a solid game for Edmonton, but those numbers didn't translate to points. The Esks are below .500 but are almost certainly going to the playoffs.
Hamilton tied its franchise mark (12 wins) and is now 7-0 at home. Tiger-Cats finish the schedule at Tim Hortons Field with Ottawa and Toronto.
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You might have thought there was no reason to watch the Toronto Argonauts in Vancouver. BC Lions fans and curious onlookers were very intrigued.
Mike Reilly had 5 TD passes. Danny O'Brien had plenty of time in the game.
Giving up 55 points means a bad game. Getting almost shut out means a bad game. The Argos scored with 6 seconds left in the game. As Mike Benevides said on the panel, the Toronto Argonauts have won 7 games in 2 seasons since winning the 2017 Grey Cup (the Argos have only won 6 games). The Pinball Clemons timing is quite good.
The BC Lions hadn't posted a shutout since a 30-0 whitewash versus Toronto on August 23, 1977. The Lions in those days played outdoors at Empire Stadium.
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Will Arndt is the latest of a very long list of quarterbacks to start a CFL game this season. Ottawa had a bye and settled on Arndt to start against Toronto. Arndt has had some mop-up work this season and has been with the team since late in 2017.
Jonathon Jennings will serve as the backup. Dominique Davis is injured and will not dress.
Hamilton clinched a tie for the top spot in the East over Montréal. Edmonton clinched a tie for a playoff spot over BC.
The West playoff positioning will continue to shuffle. Calgary and Winnipeg still have 2 games with each other. Same goes for Saskatchewan and Edmonton. Calgary and Saskatchewan have their final game against each other tonight.
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Chris Cuthbert hung out with Henry Burris in Hamilton and added some extra kilometres with a trip to Vancouver with Glen Suitor.
Dustin Nielson covered the Calgary game in Montréal with Matt Dunigan. Rod Black and Duane Forde got the gift of covering the game in Regina.
Mike Benvides filled in on the CFL on TSN panel for Burris on Friday and Davis Sanchez on Saturday. Benevides has done well in short spurts. The coach factor hasn't been a part of the panel so his perspective in intriguing.
Burris is learning the analyst role in limited form. He is more vibrant in the booth than in the studio. Burris is improving in the role but not getting regular work will limit that progress.
If you knew of Le chat dans le sac | The Cat in the Bag before the John Coltrane story came out, count yourself as a a champion of early French-Canadian film.
Director Gilles Groulx gives us an homage to Jean-Luc Godard, which seems rather appropriate for the 1964 film.
You were likely drawn to this story because of the previously unknown album that is now Blue World released late last month. Director Gilles Groulx got John Coltrane to record some music for his film. The album itself is about 40 minutes of music, but only about 10 minutes are featured in the film. Naima as well as Village Blues are featured in the Groulx film.
Claude (Claude Godbout) and Barbara (Barbara Ulrich) are a young couple in love and at odds. Claude is a journalist and Barbara is an actress. Claude wants to be a revolutionary but not have to do the work to be one. Barbara isn't as concerned about politics, focused on her acting, and is more concerned that Claude cares little about her world.
The film examines the struggles of being French-Canadian in Quebec before the Quiet Revolution. We also get to see signs in Montréal before Bill 101.
There is a film noir appeal where John Coltrane and Antonio Vivaldi fit well in that world. Love and relationships, oui, but a lot of what we see is two people talking past each other.
Given where Canadian filmmaking was back in 1964, the production values are fairly good. While the film is more homage to Godard, there is a Quebec sense rather than a French sense.
Talking with English Canadians, you get a sense that they don't understand Quebec. My sense of Quebec is through Quebecois film. Watching films such as Le chat dans le sac | The Cat in the Bag do help give us a sense of the mindset of Quebec.
You can view the film via the National Film Board of Canada.
photo credit: Le chat dans le sac | The Cat in the Bag film
When you see multiple titles in a film festival, you sit through the video the festival makes lots of times. I run into that in the Windsor International Film Festival. You are excited viewing it the first couple of times. You get a little sick of it about the 9th or 12th time. You cry the last time you see it because you know the festival is ending.
Turns out the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival crowd got a dose of the Made | Nous campaign video we mentioned earlier this year.
I read a take where someone at the festival was describing the video. There were references to Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Denis Villeneuve, and others without mentioning them by name. The voiceover from Christopher Plummer was the clincher. This reviewer pointed out that after the "Time to take credit for it!" line, the crowd always applauded even a week into the festival.
South Park has poked fun about Canada and has even blamed Canada. Last week's episode Band in China focused on China and in a roundabout way, the independence of Canadian film.
If you have wondered about the state of mainstream American film, South Park pointed out what has been unsaid. American mainstream films are made to conform to China standards in terms of content.
"Now I know how Hollywood writers feel," Stan says while a Chinese official stands over him to make sure nothing "bad" gets into the script.
The U.S. domestic film market, which includes Canada, isn't enough for really expensive films. The China market gives these film producers a chance to make their money back. The plots need to be simple, minimal meaningful dialogue, lots of flying and explosions. The morality of said films also have to fit into China standards.
The South Park episode gave an example of this where a character in a film couldn't be openly gay.
I thought about this as well when Rogers Sportsnet took a significant chunk of money to over hyper promote the Will Smith film Gemini Man during opening night of the NHL season. American mainstream films spend money in Canada to promote American films. Gemini Man is a classic example of this type of film that is likely influenced by Chinese censors.
South Park does its typical over-the-top style; Canadian invention Winnie the Pooh as well as Piglet are in the episode.
Canadian film is not subject to concerns about the Chinese market. "Too much" talking and little to no explosions found in Canadian film don't translate as well to running in China. Lost money to be sure, but there is something to be said for integrity, also a theme in the South Park episode.
South Park runs on Much in Canada and Comedy Central in the United States.
Tried out a couple of episodes of Tallboyz, the new sketch comedy series. Bruce McCulloch is executive producer and director on the show.
Guled Abdi, Vance Banzo, Tim Blair, and Franco Nguyen are very young and talented. Some sketches are outstanding. The on-the-street game show about Native Americans and pennies was wonderful in humour and poignancy. The cafeteria bullying turned restaurant was very real and funny.
There was a zoo sketch involving grammar and a rapper that was a bit long and puzzling.
Young men doing sketch comedy about not being too macho is a welcome sight on television. They just need to improve the ratio of funny to meh.
There is hope for Tallboyz, hoping the final episode is funnier than the first 2 episodes I watched. The show would likely have done better debuting as a summer show to work out the kinks. Scheduling the show ahead of Baroness von Sketch Show feels like a mistake.
Then again, Bruce McCulloch's Young Drunk Punk sitcom was funny and deserved a better fate.
Sandra Oh did the most amazing ad for Air Canada about how to travel like a Canadian. Saying sorry, offering kids poutine to stop fighting, having a Caesar: lots of ways to travel as a Canadian.
I have flown mostly Porter and Westjet among Canadian airlines. I know I have been on an Air Canada flight or two. The last time would have been coming back from Halifax via Montréal in 2015.
Schitt's Creek Season 5 is coming to Netflix tomorrow. Season 5 has been available on demand through Pop TV in the United States. Schitt's Creek episodes are on CBC Gem in Canada.
Baroness von Sketch Show returns to IFC on Wednesday, October 30 at Midnight Eastern.
IMDb TV has picked up Seasons 1 and 2 of Corner Gas Animated (yes, that is a show) as of October 15. The U.S. service will also pick up the original Corner Gas program and Corner Gas: The Movie.
Season 3 of the Corner Gas Animated debuts on the CTV Comedy Channel in 2020.
If I were to get the honour of living in Canada and someday becoming a Canadian citizen, I would be a dual citizen. As an American journalist who writes a blog devoted to Canada, I do have an intriguing perspective over Andrew Scheer also being an American.
John Turner was prime minister, though not elected, and was born in the United Kingdom. Unlike the United States, Canada does not have restrictions on foreign-born prime ministers. Canada doesn't have a rule against binational prime ministers.
The only restriction in Canadian politics is ironically in the unelected federal Senate. Canadian Senate candidates have to renounce all other citizenships to be a Canadian senator.
The United States allows only natural-born citizens to be president and vice president. Foreign-born people can serve in Cabinet posts and in Congress. Madeline Albright was a foreign-born Secretary of State.
Andrew Scheer isn't the only federal party leader who is a dual citizen. Elizabeth May was born in the United States and moved to Canada as a teenager. People have known that information for a very long time. You might argue that May isn't going to form government but she isn't being called out for being a hypocrite.
Scheer posted the blog post above asking his constituents about Michaëlle Jean being a dual citizen. The first question about being a referee in a minority government situation was that Jean shockingly ruled for Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament, which extended the Conservative leader's reign in power.
Scheer's party has also been critical of Stephane Dion and Tom Mulcair for having French citizenship.
Scheer has been a dual citizen since birth. He knew that but his constituents didn't know that.
The comparison between Ted Cruz and Andrew Scheer might seem unfair to each other but Scheer might learn a lesson or two from Cruz.
Ted Cruz wanted to run for president of the United States. There was an issue as to whether Cruz was a natural-born citizen since he was born in Calgary and lived there for his first 4 years. The argument made by conservatives was that Cruz's mother was American. That made Cruz an American citizen but not necessarily a natural-born citizen.
Cruz said he discovered he was a Canadian citizen after a report in the Dallas Morning News. This seemed a gigantic stretch for someone who has argued before the Supreme Court 9 times since U.S. policy grants citizenship to those born in the United States. Cruz decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship because he wanted to be president. This wasn't a requirement but Cruz realised this would be politically expedient to renounce his Canadian citizenship.
Cruz is also likely a Cuban citizen since his father was Cuban by the same logic that makes him an American citizen. Somehow, Canada was more of a stigma than Cuba in conservative circles in the United States.
Everything was public in that we knew that Cruz had filed and we found out when Cruz's citizenship was renounced. If Cruz decides to run for president again, he won't have Canada hanging over him.
Cruz could have told Scheer that the process takes several months to complete. Scheer had a couple of years to start but didn't get started until August.
Scheer wasn't forthcoming about any of this until the news was uncovered. We can only speculate if Scheer would have told Canadians once the paperwork went through.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson was born on U.S. soil in New York City. Johnson renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016. His desire to be prime minister and likely for tax reasons were the incentives for Johnson to make the move. Johnson did so before he put himself in contention to be prime minister.
"Would it bother you if instead of French citizenship, she held U.S. citizenship?"
The wording of Scheer's question applied to Michaëlle Jean, but if you switch gender pronouns, the question applies to Scheer. The Conservative leader has criticised Justin Trudeau for his handling of the NAFTA 2.0 negotiations. Trudeau's reply has been that Scheer would have capitulated more.
For the record, we think Scheer is correct on that file, though Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland were in a bad situation due to the cranky toddler. We also think Trudeau is correct in that the Conservatives would have given in more. Scheer did say in the TVA debate that Conservatives would pass the new trade deal.
If Scheer had French citizenship instead of U.S. citizenship, the reaction would have seemed normal. Secretly having U.S. citizenship calls what Scheer has said into question. That is likely unfair but Canada has a much different relationship with the U.S. than with France.
The secrecy adds to that. If Scheer told us, the reaction would be less suspicious.
The previous Conservative prime minister admitted to watching American news instead of Canadian news. Scheer would have to work hard to deflect that perception of conservatives. Being secretly American won't help.
Andrew Scheer will still be a U.S. citizen if the Conservatives prevail on October 21. There is a cynical thread out there that Scheer timed this so that if the Conservatives don't win that he will withdraw the paperwork.
The United States and Eritrea tax citizens who live aboard, even if they don't have U.S. income. Scheer is registered for the Selective Service (I am too). That puts Scheer in a much more difficult situation than Dion or Mulcair.
Elizabeth May says she is not an American citizen but as far as we know, May has not renounced her American citizenship, a necessary step.
I get the stigma. I could have taken the easy route on NAFTA 2.0, played the citizen card, and cheered that the new trade deal that heavily favours the United States. I played it objectively and said this was a great deal for the U.S. and a lousy deal for Canada. Even with that analysis, someone could challenge me because I'm not Canadian.
We at CanadianCrossing.com applaud dual citizenships as a way to spread understanding around the world. A leader can be a dual citizen but that is up to the people who would elect that person.
Having U.S. citizenship in Canada would be that stigma if such a stigma existed. Americans likely wouldn't care if a U.S. president was also a citizen of Canada. Canadians think much more about the United States than Americans think about Canada. Canadians might care, whether that be Elizabeth May or Andrew Scheer.
"As much as I love Canada, renouncing the citizenship of your birth would be rather difficult. The idea of standing in the lines of non-U.S. citizenship people when flying to the United States. I shudder just thinking about having to go through that humiliation. Then again, that experience would definitely make me feel Canadian."
I wrote those words in my desire to become a Canadian senator. Scheer's identity as an American is tied to his American father. Cruz had no family ties to his Canadian citizenship and Johnson had no known family ties to his American citizenship.
Scheer would be more believable in his actions if he had been upfront and understood why people are concerned about suddenly discovering his dual citizenship.
Editor's note:This article has been updated to reflect the revised starting time of the Toronto FC playoff game. The game will only air on TUDN and not Univision.
Toronto FC made a late-season comeback to do what no Canadian team did in 2018 and no other Canadian team did in 2019: make the MLS playoffs. The Reds ended up as the #4 seed in the new 2019 MLS playoffs format.
Toronto FC will host D.C. United at BMO Field on October 19. The Reds got home field on the second tiebreaker: goal differential (5-4).
The Reds haven't lost since August 3 at the New York Red Bulls. Since then, Toronto FC has gone 4-0-6. The 10-game stretched reminded fans of the 11-game unbeaten streak in the 2017 championship season.
Some of that second-half push has been helped by additions of Omar Gonzalez, Nicolas Benezet, and Erickson Gallardo. Goalkeeper Quentin Westberg proved valuable. The Reds still have Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore. Toronto FC sold star forward Sebastian Giovinco to Al-Hilal FC in Saudi Arabia in the offseason.
Alejandro Pozuelo led the team with 12 goals, including a free kick to account for the Toronto offence over Columbus yesterday. Altidore had 11 goals. The two combined for 23 of the team's 57 goals. Greg Vanney has been the coach since late August 2014.
Toronto will host the MLS playoff game on October 19 at 6 pm Eastern. TSN will carry the game in Canada. Those hoping for ESPN or Fox Sports coverage are out of luck. The game will air in the United States in TUDN. Good luck with that.
Toronto and D.C. United tied 0-0 at BMO Field in May and 1-1 in the U.S. capital in June. Toronto was 9-4-4 at home; D.C. United was 6-6-5 on the road.
If Toronto FC can get past D.C. United, the Reds will head to New York City FC on October 23 at 7 pm Eastern on Fox Sports 1.
The Montréal Impact were 10-13-4 on August 22 when the team selected Wilmer Cabrera to replace head coach Rémi Garde. The team fired 2 other assistant coaches and added an assistant coach. At the time, that 10-13-4 record was the best of any Canadian MLS team, and the #7 seed (playoff team).
The Impact lost 10 of their last 15 MLS games. The team was eliminated in the next-to-last week.
The Vancouver Whitecaps had a poor station resting at the bottom of the Western Conference. Marc Dos Santos made his debut as the fourth Vancouver coach in the MLS era. The Whitecaps avoided the worst record in the league since FC Cincinnati in its first year in the league had fewer points than Vancouver.
Team
W
L
T
Points
Toronto FC Reds
13
10
11
50
Montréal Impact
12
17
5
41
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
8
16
10
34
Last season, the Vancouver Whitecaps had the best record for a Canadian team. Here is how the Canadian MLS teams finished the 2018 season:
Team
W
L
T
Points
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
13
13
8
47
Montréal Impact
14
16
4
46
Toronto FC Reds
10
18
6
36
The Canadian MLS teams managed to avoid the U.S. cameras for the entire season. Toronto FC was the 2017 MLS champion and got no U.S. coverage in 2019.
ESPN+ had every MLS game involving Canadian teams. ESPN, Fox Sports 1, and the Spanish-speaking options said "no" to the Canadian teams.
Few Americans could pick up the CTV coverage of the TSN feeds in the early part of the season. Montréal and Vancouver haven't been on U.S. TV since 2017. Toronto had 4 appearances in 2018; 0 in 2019. Making the playoffs will (hopefully) bring Toronto a TV date.
