Canadian Crossing

2022 CFL Week 21 preview

Winnipeg may only have one more road trip: Regina for the Grey Cup. The Blue Bombers finish the year with the BC Lions in town on Friday night.

The teams have clinched their top (Winnipeg) and secondary seeds (BC).

The CFL ends the season with a Saturday tripleheader.

The East teams start out that tripleheader with Montréal in Toronto. The Alouettes would like a win to finish at .500.

The middle game features Hamilton in the nation's capital to battle Ottawa. The Tiger-Cats only have 1 road win and going to a place where there have been 0 home wins in Ottawa.

Saskatchewan travels to Calgary for the season finale to wrap up the tripleheader. The Roughriders would like to end the season with a win, not having had one in September or October.

Edmonton is done, very much done with the 2022 CFL season.

The CFL playoff positions are set with a week to go for the first time since 1996. That was the season after the failed American experiment in the mid 1990s.

TSN

Friday
BC @ Winnipeg, 8:30p
Saturday
Montréal @ Toronto, 2p
Hamilton @ Ottawa, 5p
Saskatchewan @ Calgary, 8p

Bye week: Edmonton

FINAL: TOR 24 - 23 MTL.

The Toronto Argos clinch first place in the East by one point after the Alouettes were given a penalty for too many players on the field. pic.twitter.com/j3S1WGHvNr

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 22, 2022

The Internet had a bit of fun with how the Toronto Argonauts clinched the CFL East Division. Forget about the Montréal Alouettes coming up empty on a drive close to the Toronto end zone or the safety they gave up that would have made the difference.

Boris Bede missed the field goal attempt wide right. The ball was not run out. The Alouettes were called for too many players. Duane Forde mentioned the 2009 Grey Cup, which Montréal won, in part, due to Saskatchewan having 13 men on the field.

The Toronto Argonauts deserved to win the East Division title and will wait after this week to November 13 at BMO Field.

2022 CFL Week 20 preview

The BC Lions clinched home field in the West semifinal, the first CFL playoff game in a domed stadium since 2016. Even without Nathan Rourke, the Lions have still played strong defence and had just enough offence

The team has played well against Winnipeg and Calgary this season.

2022 CFL Week 19 preview

The quarterback switch in Regina didn't gain too much for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. A 6-game losing streak, something Edmonton and Ottawa haven't done, proved damaging.

The last Roughriders win came on August 26. The crossover dreams have been extinguished. For the second year, the CFL will have 3 East teams in the playoffs.

Cody Fajardo may have a new destination in 2023, even if the quarterback wasn't the problem.

2022 CFL Week 18 preview: Thanksgiving Day weekend

The Hamilton win eliminated the Ottawa RedBlacks highly slim playoff hopes. If the Tiger-Cats win the second road game of the year, Hamilton goes into the CFL playoffs at 8-10. Worse case scenario: Tiger-Cats are in the playoffs at 7-11.

Ottawa did hang in when things were terrible. Bob Dyce has made good marks toward being named the permanent head coach.

2022 CFL Week 17 preview

The Edmonton Elks finish the season with 17 straight home losses.

The current Ottawa incarnation has a worse scenario in contrast with the Elks. The RedBlacks now have lost 22 of the last 23 at TD Place. The RedBlacks last home win was over a year ago on September 28, 2021 with a 34-24 win over Edmonton. The previous home win was June 20, 2019 with a 44-41 win over Saskatchewan. That victory gave Ottawa a 2-0 mark to start 2019 and only won 1 other game the rest of the season.

The RedBlacks still have a shot at a home win on Saturday.

2022 CFL Week 16 preview

D'oh. While Modern Family showed actual CFL footage and joked about poutine, no American show loves the CFL more than The Simpsons. A few weeks back, The Simpsons had some fun in the Lisa the Boy Scout episode. 3 Down Nation has a good wrapup.

The Simpsons aired for years on Global TV. Citytv picked up the show from 2018-2021. Rogers still has the rights but runs new episodes on Disney+ in Canada.

The show is available on Fox stations via cable and satellite.

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

Rod Smith and Duane Forde stayed east and together with Matthew Scianitti in Hamilton on Friday and in Montréal on Saturday.

Dustin Nielson and Glen Suitor stayed out west with Tom Gazzola on Friday in Edmonton and Brit Dort on Saturday in Winnipeg.

Marshall Ferguson will get a final game to call on Saturday with the tripleheader.

logo credit: CFL
Twitter capture: @TSN_Sports

2022 Windsor International Film Festival preview

The experience returns!!📽️💜 #WIFF22

WIFF is back and bigger than ever with an impressive slate of 177 feature films from 32 countries and more than 300 screenings!

📅October 27 - November 6

View the complete lineup and purchase tickets:https://t.co/uJ9UkiR1pL pic.twitter.com/iMV6RYyRSg

— WIFF (@WindsorFilmFest) October 6, 2022

The 2019 Windsor International Film Festival had 10 days and lots of amazing momentum. One of the worst days in 2020 and 2021 was the cancellation of that film festival. 2022 brings an 11-day film festival with plenty of Canadian film, U.S. film, and cinema from around the world.

The 2022 version kicks off this morning. The Windsor International Film Festival is Canada's biggest volunteer-run film festival.

Seeing a bunch of Canadian films and films from other countries is only part of the experience. We've been watching films on various computer screens and on demand for the last 3 years. The joy of film festivals, especially the Windsor International Film Festival, is comparing notes with other people. Their enthusiasm can draw you into a film you wouldn't have thought to watch but then glad you did. Even if you can't fit them all into your schedule, you have a well-crafted list to draw from in the upcoming year.

We've shown this photo (my photo) of the WIFF Alley in 2019 a few times. This was a nice reminder of where this festival had grown to over the years and a notice that we can return to this splendor once again.

A look back to past years of the Windsor International Film Festival

The Windsor International Film Festival is once again awarding a WIFF Prize in Canadian Film. The award carries a $25,000 cash value given to the director of the chosen film. The winner will be selected by a jury of film professionals.

All 10 of the nominated films will be screened during WIFF's opening weekend. The festival will announce the Canadian Film Prize at a special event during the festival on October 30.

These are the Canadian films contending for the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film:

Brother (Clement Virgo)
Eternal Spring (Jason Loftus)
Falcon Lake (Charlotte Le Bon)
I Like Movies (Chandler Levack)
Norbourg (Maxime Giroux)
North of Normal (Carly Stone)
Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim)
Something You Said Last Night (Luis De Filippis)
The Swearing Jar (Lindsay MacKay)
To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja)

Eternal Spring is the Oscars entry for Best International Feature Film. All but Norbourg and Eternal Spring were at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

2019 WIFF Canadian films in review

Kuessipan won the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film award in 2019. That film received a $10,000 cash award so the stakes are a lot higher in 2022.

The other Canadian films that contended in 2019 were And The Birds Rained Down; Antigone; Castle in the Ground; Easy Land; Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind; Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger; Matthias and Maxime; Prey; and Willie.

Your humble narrator saw all of the 2019 films list in that year's festival, except for Prey. We will run a film review of Prey during this year's festival.

We normally run a count and list all the Canadian films. Instead, we recommend checking out the list of films and synopses of the Canadian films.

Some of the other Canadian film highlights include:

• Wolves
• Family of the Forest
• Babysitter
• Unloved - Huronia's Forgotten Children
• The Origin of Evil
• Ice-Breaker: The Legacy of the '72 Summit Series
• Arsenault & Fils
• Geographies of Solitude
• The Middle Man
• Slash/Back
• Maria
• So Much Tenderness
• Rosie
• Goodbye Happiness | Au Revoir Le Bonheur
• A Year in the Forest
• Coyote
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On
• Hands That Bind
• The Long Rider
• The Last Tourist
• Ever Deadly
• Aline

The festival includes Canadian films we have already reviewed: The Grey Fox (1982); Indian Horse; and Peace By Chocolate. This is far from a complete list.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Women Talking will also play in the festival, a film technically not Canadian. Plan to see and write about the film in some fashion. We are good at writing about Canadian films in name only, an easier task than doing the opposite.

Canada drops all COVID-19 measures at borders as of October 1

This isn't just about a film festival. Opening up the borders means more cross border travel across the world's longest undefended border between Canada and the United States.

Ketchup chips and butter tarts. Spending loonies and twoonies.

Windsor International Film Festival cancels the 2021 festival

Windsor International Film Festival cancels the 2020 festival

These were 2 of the most difficult stories to write, outside of stories that involved someone dying. The cancellation of a film festival is never an easy call to make. The memories of the 2019 festival had to stretch out longer than we wanted them to stretch. The hope of returning to that world kept a lot of us going.

If this festival isn't within reach, hope you got a chance or will get a chance to discover the joy of seeing films in a local film festival.

The 2022 Windsor International Film Festival runs today through November 6.

Twitter capture: @WindsorFilmFest
photo credit: me

Malta submits a Canadian film for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars

While Canada submits a Canadian film for the Best International Feature Film each Oscars season, occasionally we get a film in that category that also qualifies as a Canadian film. Such is the case with Carmen, Malta's entry into the Academy Awards.

Carmen stars British actor Natascha McElhone as a spinster who took care of her brother, who is a Roman Catholic priest. The film shows us what happens when she is now free to explore who she is as she nears 50.

Valerie Buhagiar is the writer and director. Buhagiar may be a familiar name to Canadian film fans for her roles in the road film trilogy from Bruce McDonald: Roadkill (1989) and Highway 61 (1991).

Carmen is reportedly based on the Buhagiar's own aunt Rita. The cast also includes Steven Love, Michaela Farrugia, Peter Galea, Mikhail Basmadjian, Henry Zammit Cordina, and Richard Clarkin.

Buhagiar has directed a few shorts and full-length films. The previous full-length films were The Passion of Rita Camilleri (1993), The Anniversary (2014), and It's Hard to Be Human (2018).

Malta has only submitted 2 previous films in this category. Last year, Luzzu from director Alex Camilleri was the country's nominee. The first film that Malta submitted was Simshar by Rebecca Cremona in 2014.

In Darkness | W ciemności was the only Canadian film to reach the Top 5 Academy Awards that wasn't submitted by Canada. The Poland entry for the 2011 season, a co-production with Germany and Canada, competed at the same Oscars as Monsieur Lazhar in the ceremony on February 26, 2012.

Eternal Spring gets the nod from Canada for Best International Feature Film

The secretly Canadian film that contended for an Oscar

Canadian film review: Roadkill

Canadian film review: Highway 61

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

The film has won a few awards. Diego Guijarro won the award for Best Cinematography at the 2021 Whistler Film Festival. Carmen won Best Film at the 2022 Canadian Film Festival in Toronto.

Carmen had a brief theatrical release and is available on demand.

We will know the Oscars shortlist of 15 films on December 21. The list of 5 official nominees comes out on January 24, 2023. The 95th Academy Awards will be held on March 12, 2023.

video credit: YouTube/whistlerfilm
photo credit: Carmen

CF Montreal loses first ever home MLS playoff game to end its season

85' Et le but de @DjoMihailovic 👌🔔

ALLEZ MONTRÉAL#MTLvNYC | 1-3 | #CFMTL pic.twitter.com/kTHHfgcSVB

— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) October 23, 2022

Djordje Mihailovic scored a goal for CF Montréal in the 85th minute in the Eastern Conference semifinals in the 2022 MLS playoffs. Down 3-0, the goal wasn't noteworthy as NYCFC advances to the Eastern Conference final 3-1 at Stade Saputo.

The game was the franchise's first home playoff loss after winning the first 5 home MLS playoff games. This was only the second loss for Club de Foot Montréal in the last 17 games, playoffs included. 

NYCFC, the #3 seed, advances to Philadelphia to play the Union next Sunday.

Miahilovic also scored a goal in the CF Montréal playoff win against Orlando City SC. Ismaël Koné scored the only regulation goal in last week's playoff game.

The playoff win was the first for CF Montréal since 2016 and the first for any Canadian MLS team since the 2019 Eastern Conference final for Toronto FC.

Wilfried Nancy should get a lot of votes for the MLS coach of the year with the work he did for this franchise.

We noted in our coverage that the Club de Foot Montréal will look very different. There will even be a new logo for the 2023 team.

CF Montreal advances to 2022 MLS Eastern semifinal

CF Montreal to host first MLS playoff game since 2016

ESPN's Adrian Healey referred to Montréal as the "capital of french speaking Quebec" in both ESPN telecasts. This sentence makes sense to an anglophone audience. Quebec City is the capital of Quebec and is objectively more French than Montréal. Not saying right or wrong to Healey's comment. Would be an intriguing debate. 

2022 MLS Canadian teams preview

CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage

Our MLS coverage is done for the season. We will have a 2022 men's World Cup preview in about a month.

MLS Canadian teams playoffs results

Year	Date	Teams	Winner	Score
2022	October 23	NYCFC @ CF Montréal	NYCFC	3-1
2022	October 16	Orlando City SC @ CF Montréal	CF Montréal	2-0
2021	November 20	Vancouver @ Sporting Kansas City	Kansas City	3-1
2020	November 24	Nashville @ Toronto	Nashville	1-0 (ET)
2020	November 20	Montréal @ New England	New England	2-1
2019	November 10	Toronto @ Seattle	Seattle	3-1
2019	October 30	Toronto @ Atlanta	Toronto	2-1
2019	October 23	Toronto @ New York City FC	Toronto	2-1
2019	October 19	D.C. United @ Toronto	Toronto	5-1 (ET)
2017	December 9	Seattle @ Toronto	Toronto	2-0
2017	November 29	Columbus @ Toronto	Toronto	1-0
2017	November 21	Toronto @ Columbus	Tie	0-0
2017	November 5	New York Red Bulls @ Toronto	NY Red Bulls	1-0
2017	November 2	Vancouver @ Seattle	Seattle	2-0
2017	October 30	Toronto @ New York Red Bulls	Toronto	2-1
2017	October 29	Seattle @ Vancouver	Tie	0-0
2017	October 25	San Jose @ Vancouver	Vancouver	5-0
2016	December 10	Seattle @ Toronto FC	Seattle	0-0 (5-4 PK)
2016	November 30	Montréal @ Toronto FC	Toronto FC	5-2 (ET)
2016	November 22	Toronto FC @ Montréal	Montréal	3-2
2016	November 6	Montréal @ New York Red Bulls	Montréal	2-1
2016	November 6	Toronto FC @ NYCFC	Toronto FC	5-0
2016	October 30	NYCFC @ Toronto FC	Toronto FC	2-0
2016	October 30	New York Red Bulls @ Montréal	Montréal	1-0
2016	October 27	Montréal @ D.C. United	Montréal	4-2
2016	October 26	Philadelphia @ Toronto FC	Toronto FC	3-1
2015	November 8	Portland @ Vancouver	Portland	2-0
2015	November 8	Montréal @ Columbus	Columbus	3-1 (ET)
2015	November 1	Vancouver @ Portland	Tie	0-0
2015	November 1	Columbus @ Montréal	Montréal	2-1
2015	October 29	Toronto FC @ Montréal	Montréal	3-0
2014	October 29	Vancouver @ Dallas	Dallas	2-1
2013	October 31	Montréal @ Houston	Houston	3-0
2012	November 1	Vancouver @ LA Galaxy	LA Galaxy	2-1

Twitter capture and logo credit: @cfmontreal

David Eby to replace John Horgan as British Columbia premier

The Alberta United Conservative Party just came off an extensive leadership contest. The British Columbia New Democratic Party had a much lower key, well, lack of battle.

Former provincial attorney general and housing minister David Eby is the premier-designate to replace John Horgan. The only other competitor for the job was Anjali Appadurai, who was rejected following a report found fraudulent memberships had been solicited on her behalf.

There was a voting period scheduled to be as early as November 13 with results around December 3. Like getting handed a present and finding out early what was in the box.

BC Premier John Horgan announced in late June that he would step down before the next provincial election, likely to be in October 2024.

Horgan had been dealing with throat cancer treatments. While Horgan is stepping down as premier, he will continue to be the MLA for the Langford-Juan de Fuca riding.

British Columbia looks like a NDP majority government

British Columbia Saturday, Saskatchewan on Monday: Election results likely to be delayed

2020 British Columbia election preview

CanadianCrossing.com British Columbia coverage

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage

Horgan is the only BC premier from the NDP to be elected to 2 straight terms. You might recall that Horgan gambled to call an election in the middle of the pandemic. The previous government relied on the Green Party to keep the government in power.

For those unfamiliar with the parliamentary system, this type of transition is fairly normal. Most provinces don't require a new, unelected premier to run soon after winning the race to be the leader of the party in power. Newfoundland and Labrador is a grand exception.

photo credit: CTV News Vancouver

2022 CFL Week 20 preview

We have a return to division matchups for the next-to-last regular season week in the 2022 CFL season.

Ottawa starts off a home-and-home series with the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton to start out Friday Night Football. The RedBlacks slim playoff hopes require a win. So does Hamilton's larger playoff hopes.

The BC Lions travel to Edmonton for the final Elks game of 2022 in the nightcap. The Elks don't want to wait until 2023 to win at Commonwealth Stadium.

Toronto goes east to Montréal for the final home-and-home series on a late Saturday afternoon start time. An Argos win means a bye and hosting the East final.

Calgary and Saskatchewan meet for the first time in 2022. The first of 2 games in a row starts out in Regina. The Stampeders are in the playoffs but want to host a playoff game. The Roughriders want to make the playoffs.

Winnipeg may not want a rest but the Blue Bombers can pick apples and rake leaves.

TSN

Friday
Ottawa @ Hamilton, 7p
BC @ Edmonton, 9:30p
Saturday
Toronto @ Montréal, 4p
Calgary @ Saskatchewan, 7p

Bye week: Winnipeg

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats picked an amazing time to win the team's first road game of 2022. The Ticats pulled off the comeback win in Calgary to improve to 6-10 overall. Hamilton has to hit the road to win in the playoffs.

To give you an idea of the depth of time since the Tiger-Cats were victorious in Calgary, the streak was almost as long as the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs won a playoff round in the chase for the Stanley Cup (spring 2004).

This was a scenario where the Saskatchewan Roughriders were rooting for Calgary while the BC Lions were thrilled with the result.

2022 CFL Week 19 preview

Hamilton and Saskatchewan are 6-10. One of these teams will travel to Montréal (likely) or Toronto (maybe) for the East semifinal. The Alouettes clinched a home playoff game with the comeback win over Ottawa. The Argonauts had their "you really need to see the last 3 minutes" kind of game, extending the Edmonton home losing streak to 16 games. Toronto won in Edmonton for the first time since 2013.

The Argos didn't score a touchdown until fewer than 4 minutes left in the game and the winning touchdown came in the final minute.

Toronto and Montréal finish the season in a home-and-home series. The Argos only need a win in the last 2 games to host the East final.

Saskatchewan is going with Mason Fine at quarterback over Cody Fajardo in the last home game of the regular season. The Roughriders hope to play one more home game in 2022, i.e., the 2022 Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium.

2022 CFL Week 18 preview: Thanksgiving Day weekend

Thanks to Winnipeg resting a few key players, especially Zach Collaros, the BC Lions are a game up with 2 to play over Calgary and have the tiebreaker to host the West semifinal. The Lions know the difference between a warm dome in Vancouver versus a cold early November day in Calgary.

Even though the RedBlacks lost yet another home game, Ottawa has a chance to make the playoffs at 6-12 if the RedBlacks sweep Hamilton AND Calgary sweeps Saskatchewan. That would require Ottawa to win at home in 2022, something that has not happened so far. 

CanadianCrossing.com CFL coverage

Duane Forde went from doing 3 games the previous week to 1 game last week. Marshall Ferguson and Forde with Claire Hanna were in Ottawa early on Friday night.

Dustin Nielson got to see both major Alberta cities, joining Glen Suitor with Farhan Lalji on Friday in Calgary and Matt Dunigan with Tom Gazzola on Saturday in Edmonton.

Rod Smith was in Vancouver with 2 people from the Calgary telecast — Suitor and Lalji — on Saturday night.

Tom Gazzola was new to us but works out of Edmonton. We will be highly curious about the 2023 CFL sideline reporters lineup.

Dave Naylor was in for Matt Dunigan both days on the CFL on TSN panel.

logo credit: CFL
photo credit: TSN

CF Montreal advances to 2022 MLS Eastern semifinal

68' KONÉ OUVRE LA MARQUE 🔔

Ismaël Koné gives us the lead!#MTLvORL | 1-0 | #CFMTL pic.twitter.com/Dy12uCKi9e

— x - CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) October 17, 2022

Home cooking worked wonders for CF Montréal in the team's first home playoff match since 2016.

Ismaël Koné scored in the 68th minute to put CF Montréal on the scoreboard in the 2022 MLS playoffs. Djordje Miahilovic added a goal on a penalty shot well into stoppage time. Miahilovic got the primary assist on Koné's goal.

The Koné tally was his first goal since August 28, the 3rd goal in 2022. Miahilovic added his 10th goal of the season, his second consecutive game with a goal.

Orlando City SC had 3 solid scoring opportunities in the first half at Stade Saputo but couldn't connect. CF Montréal allowed 0 shots on goal.

The #2 seed Club de foot Montréal advances to the Eastern Conference semifinal against the #3 seed New York City FC. NYCFC blew past Inter Miami 3-0 at Citi Field Monday night. The semifinal will be at Stade Saputo on Sunday at 1 pm Eastern on TSN, TVA Sports, and ESPN.

CF Montréal lost to New York City FC 4-1 at Yankee Stadium on March 12 and had a scoreless tie at home on July 30.

The Philadelphia Union hosts the other Eastern semifinal tonight against FC Cincinnati, a team coming off its first ever MLS playoff win. With a win on Sunday, Club de foot Montréal would host FC Cincinnati or travel to Philadelphia.

CF Montreal to host first MLS playoff game since 2016

NYCFC is the defending MLS Cup champions from 2021. Last year's squad upset the #1 and #2 seeds to get to the MLS Cup final, defeating a fellow #4 seed in the Portland Timbers on penalty kicks.

This year's NYCFC squad had a stretch of invincibility with a 11-1-5 run. In August, NYCFC went in the other direction with a 1-7-2 stretch.

2022 MLS Canadian teams preview

CF Montréal became the second MLS team ever to win its first 5 home playoff games. The team is building on the momentum of going 11-1-3 in the last 15 regular season games.

CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage

This game was the first MLS game involving Canadian teams on U.S. television with English video and audio since the 2020 MLS playoffs. Sunday's game marks the second appearance in as many weeks on ESPN.

Has to be difficult to cover a team in the playoffs that the powers that be decided not to carry on U.S. television in any language.

MLS Canadian teams playoffs results

Year	Date	Teams	Winner	Score
2022	October 23	New York City FC @ CF Montréal	TBD	0-0
2022	October 16	Orlando City SC @ CF Montréal	CF Montréal	2-0
2021	November 20	Vancouver @ Sporting Kansas City	Kansas City	3-1
2020	November 24	Nashville @ Toronto	Nashville	1-0 (ET)
2020	November 20	Montréal @ New England	New England	2-1
2019	November 10	Toronto @ Seattle	Seattle	3-1
2019	October 30	Toronto @ Atlanta	Toronto	2-1
2019	October 23	Toronto @ New York City FC	Toronto	2-1
2019	October 19	D.C. United @ Toronto	Toronto	5-1 (ET)
2017	December 9	Seattle @ Toronto	Toronto	2-0
2017	November 29	Columbus @ Toronto	Toronto	1-0
2017	November 21	Toronto @ Columbus	Tie	0-0
2017	November 5	New York Red Bulls @ Toronto	NY Red Bulls	1-0
2017	November 2	Vancouver @ Seattle	Seattle	2-0
2017	October 30	Toronto @ New York Red Bulls	Toronto	2-1
2017	October 29	Seattle @ Vancouver	Tie	0-0
2017	October 25	San Jose @ Vancouver	Vancouver	5-0
2016	December 10	Seattle @ Toronto FC	Seattle	0-0 (5-4 PK)
2016	November 30	Montréal @ Toronto FC	Toronto FC	5-2 (ET)
2016	November 22	Toronto FC @ Montréal	Montréal	3-2
2016	November 6	Montréal @ New York Red Bulls	Montréal	2-1
2016	November 6	Toronto FC @ NYCFC	Toronto FC	5-0
2016	October 30	NYCFC @ Toronto FC	Toronto FC	2-0
2016	October 30	New York Red Bulls @ Montréal	Montréal	1-0
2016	October 27	Montréal @ D.C. United	Montréal	4-2
2016	October 26	Philadelphia @ Toronto FC	Toronto FC	3-1
2015	November 8	Portland @ Vancouver	Portland	2-0
2015	November 8	Montréal @ Columbus	Columbus	3-1 (ET)
2015	November 1	Vancouver @ Portland	Tie	0-0
2015	November 1	Columbus @ Montréal	Montréal	2-1
2015	October 29	Toronto FC @ Montréal	Montréal	3-0
2014	October 29	Vancouver @ Dallas	Dallas	2-1
2013	October 31	Montréal @ Houston	Houston	3-0
2012	November 1	Vancouver @ LA Galaxy	LA Galaxy	2-1

Twitter capture: @CFMontreal
logo credit: CF Montréal

2022 Toronto Raptors NBA preview

The Toronto Raptors used to be known as the "1-and-out" playoff team. In the first 7 playoff appearances, the Raptors lost the first playoff round in 6 of those playoffs. Last year was the first time that happened to Toronto since 2015.

The team had a few bad breaks and the Philadelphia 76ers played really well in that playoff series. Hoping this season leads to a stronger and more meaningful NBA playoffs experience.

Difficult to believe this is only the second year for Scottie Barnes. There was a lot to like in seeing Barnes on the court in his rookie year and the potential of more to come in his second season.

Barnes should form an everyday lineup with Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam.

Key bench players include Precious Achiuwa, Khem Birch, Chris Boucher, Otto Porter Jr., and Thaddeus Young.

2022 NBA Toronto Raptors preseason schedule

Toronto Raptors fall in 6 games to Philadelphia in 2022 NBA playoffs

Rogers Sportsnet and TSN split the Toronto Raptors games. Matt Devlin, who got in some extra work this summer calling Toronto Blue Jays games on Rogers Sportsnet, calls Raptors games on both outlets. Jack Armstrong is the TSN analyst while Alvin Williams is the lead analyst on Rogers Sportsnet. Amy Audibert is the sideline reporter for Sportsnet while Kayla Grey has those duties on TSN.

The Sportsnet studio features host Brad Fay alongside Sherman Hamilton and Danielle Michaud. The TSN studio has host Kate Beirness, with analysts Leo Rautins, Sam Mitchell, and Kia Nurse.

Paul Jones calls the Raptors games on TSN 1050 with Jevohn Shepherd and on FAN 590 with Eric Smith. Jonah from YYZ Sports Media reported that the Raptors radio crews won't go on road trips.

ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV have national NBA games. The Raptors slipped in presence south of the 49th parallel but have more telecasts this season.

December 27 LA Clippers, 7:30p (NBA TV)
January 4 Milwaukee, 7:30p (ESPN)
January 17 @ Milwaukee, 7:30p (TNT)
January 27 @ Golden State, 10p (NBA TV)
March 8 @ LA Clippers, 10p (ESPN)
March 10 @ LA Lakers, 10:30p (NBA TV)
March 14 Denver, 7:30p (NBA TV)
March 19 @ Milwaukee, 8p (NBA TV)
March 28 Miami, 7:30p (TNT)

All times Eastern. Schedule subject to change.

2022 Toronto Raptors NBA playoffs scoreboard

2022 Toronto Raptors NBA playoffs preview

CanadianCrossing.com NBA coverage

The Toronto Raptors will open the 2022-23 campaign at home against Cleveland tonight. The final game will be April 9 at home against Milwaukee.

Toronto Raptors playoffs history

2022	Philadelphia	2-4
2020	Boston	3-4
2020	Brooklyn	4-0
2019	Golden State	4-2
2019	Milwaukee	4-2
2019	Philadelphia	4-3
2019	Orlando	4-1
2018	Cleveland	0-4
2018	Washington	4-2
2017	Cleveland	0-4
2017	Milwaukee	4-2
2016	Cleveland	2-4
2016	Miami	4-3
2016	Indiana	4-3
2015	Washington	0-4
2014	Brooklyn	3-4
2008	Orlando	1-4
2007	New Jersey	2-4
2002	Detroit	2-3
2001	Philadelphia	3-4
2001	New York	3-2
2000	New York	0-3

logo credit: Toronto Raptors/NBA

Canadian film review: Roadkill

Roadkill is a film about rock and roll, a road trip, and some odd characters. The twist is our protagonist doesn't know how to drive.

Ramona (Valerie Buhagiar) is an intern at a Toronto record label. Promoter Roy Seth (Gerry Quigley) wants Ramona to go to Sudbury to find the label's star band, Children of Paradise. Ramona hires a taxi driver Buddy (Larry Hudson) for the 400-km journey.

Finding the band turns out to be easy. Getting them to come back to Toronto is the hard part.

There are a number of odd characters along the way.

Director Bruce McDonald is known for great soundtracks in a number of his films. Roadkill is one reason why he has that reputation.

Shaun Bowring of Teknakuller Raincoats plays Mathew, the Children of Paradise lead singer. Nash the Slash performs in the film. The film even has a cameo from Joey Ramone.

McDonald originated the story based from the Toronto rock band A Neon Rome. Don McKellar wrote the screenplay. Roadkill is the first of the trilogy of road films from McDonald, along with Highway 61 (1991) (featuring McKellar and Buhagiar) and Hard Core Logo (1996).

Roadkill is also McDonald's feature-length film debut. Both McDonald and McKellar have acting cameos.

Canadian film review: Highway 61

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Buhagiar plays Ramona like she isn't even in a movie. The premise seems ridiculous, traveling 400 kilometres in a taxi. She goes with the flow better than most. Ramona is the protagonist even if what we see from her vantage point is more what the film is about.

You see the future in what McDonald and McKellar can do on the big screen and small screen. McDonald directed McKellar's series Twitch City about a decade after Roadkill.

This is a low-budget film in every sense of the word. No studio notes, no producer hierarchy. Raw and full of great music. A road trip film without the protagonist at the wheel. If you like some of the subsequent projects, watch this film to see where it all began. If you haven't seen the other projects, start with this film and see if you want more.

Roadkill won the Best Canadian Feature Film at the 1989 Toronto International Film Festival. Don McKellar got 2 Genie Awards nominations in 1990: Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

video credit: YouTube/Films We Like
photo credit: Roadkill film

Canadian journalism notebook: Canadian cities losing Monday newspaper editions

Precarious times in Canadian print journalism. Thinking of all my newspaper writing friends. #cdnmedia https://t.co/nCGufH0JLY

— Heather Barrett (@Barrett_Heather) October 4, 2022

"Monday, Monday, can't trust that day." — Mamas and Papas, 1966

If you need a newspaper to come to tell you it's Monday, there are a lot of Canadian cities where that isn't an option. As of today, you won't get a Monday edition from these SaltWire Network newspapers in Atlantic Canada newspapers:

• The Chronicle Herald in Halifax
• The Cape Breton Post in Sydney, NS
• The Guardian in Charlottetown
• The Telegram in St. John's, NF

Increasing costs on print operations, rising fuel costs. What you might have figured in terms of why the decisions were made.

Given the damage from Hurricane Fiona in that region, people might not have had the power or Internet to read about the storm. Then again, home delivery would also be tough.

Postmedia made a similar decision to not publish on Mondays starting today for 9 of its urban dailies. The Canadian news company, essentially controlled by American hedge funds, owns both newspapers in Vancouver (The Vancouver Sun, The Province); Calgary (Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun); Edmonton (Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun); Ottawa (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Sun); and the only English daily in Montréal (Montréal Gazette).

There are digital versions online just not print editions. Sadly, this won't be the last day of the week to go through this ritual.

Jeopardy! champion Mattea Roach finishes amazing run of 23 straight victories

I remember this summer hearing Mattea Roach on a Canadaland podcast episode. I eventually made the connection with her appearances on Jeopardy! earlier in the year. I was pleasantly surprised how well she did on the podcast episode.

Mattea Roach now has a more substantial role with Canadaland as the new host of Backbench. In the introductory podcast entry, Roach went into the story of when she was 5 and met her MP. This started her curiosity with Canadian politics.

The debut episode was Picking Apart Pierre’s Populism.

Fatima Syed, who writes for The Narwhal, was the original host when the program started in 2021. The Canadian politics podcast has featured a variety of panelists, including Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Jason Markusoff, Drew Brown, Emilie Nicolas, Jaskaran Sandhu, Murad Hemmadi, Leena Minifie, and Stuart Thomson.

Emilie Nicolas, who we saw on CBC's Quebec election coverage, hosts Détours for Canadaland, essentially Canadaland but in French. Je ne comprends pas Francaise well enough to follow along. Nicolas does well in English so I imagine she is even better in French.

Nicolas co-hosted a Canadaland episode that explained a lot about the Quebec election that was really informative.

CBC fires Evan Solomon for conflict of interest over art sales

Evan Solomon has taken an intriguing turn in his journalism career. Solomon left a major position at CTV to be the publisher at the online political news outlet Gzero Media. He will be based in New York City.

Solomon hosted Power Play and Question Period on CTV and CTV News Network. Bell Media insists Solomon will continue to "report regularly" on Canadian politics and global affairs as a special correspondent for the network.

We should know fairly soon who will replace Solomon on those major shows. We know Lisa LaFlamme won't be on the list of replacements. Citytv hired former CTV national news anchor Lisa LaFlamme as a special correspondent for the Queen Elizabeth II coverage. Rogers doesn't have a national news setup for Citytv.

Solomon had been with Bell Media since 2015 after being fired by the CBC for ethical violations.

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

Frank was a satirical magazine yet also broke crucial news stories. Now Frank has ceased publication after 35 years as of last month.

The magazine had been based in Halifax. One major story the magazine broke in 2022 was that senior members of an internal RCMP team tasked with providing information to Nova Scotia's mass shooting inquiry were married to 2 top female officers involved in the response..

I heard about Frank from a Canadaland episode about this story. Sorry I didn't get a chance to experience this magazine in my hands. In an effort to get independent voices in Canadian journalism, Frank sounds like something Canada needs.

Nil Köksal slides over from World Report to As It Happens on CBC Radio One

Canadian journalism notebook: CBC News will launch a streaming channel

CanadianCrossing.com radio coverage

Catherine Cullen has replaced Chris Hall as the host of CBC Radio's The House. Cullen has been with the parliamentary bureau for the CBC for the previous 8 years, among her career highlights.

"The program is going to keep its focus, yes, on politics and big dramatic political stories like that — but also on policy, on people," Cullen said before her first show last month.

The Globe and Mail along with the Toronto Star are almost by default the best major Canadian newspapers. The new Toronto Star management may challenge that a bit. Still, there is important content in those newspapers.

They are the most likely newspapers to block content. Even though there are ads on the pages, they want a lot more money to access their pages. Blocking exclusive content is one issue; Canadian Press stories, those you can find anywhere, also get blocked.

Access is not cheap, especially compared to American newspapers. If I lived in Toronto and had a job, I would be glad to give The Globe and Mail $78 Canadian for online access. Difficult to do under the current circumstances. You will still see ads but you can read the stories.

The National Post, the national paper of the Postmedia empire, is a terrible newspaper. Some days, it is a worse pick than the Toronto Sun, also part of the Postmedia empire. To say the National Post is a conservative newspaper with laughable opinion columns is like saying the sun comes up at Cape Spear before anywhere else in Canada.

Here is one huge advantage to the National Post: You can read their terrible content without a firewall. The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star are not controlled financially by American hedge funds, so that might be part of why there is a difference.

We know that newspapers are having a rough time financially. We hate the walls but we get that on some level. Access, especially with ads, needs to be easier. Conservative news with more mistakes is easier for Canadians to read than reasonable, thoughtful analysis. Even the simple act of forwarding links on social media, something that can more eyeballs to your pages, becomes useless if people can't read those links.

CBC News is accessible online but without the deep analysis. 

Twitter capture: @Barrett_Heather
photo credit: Backbench/Canadaland; The Globe and Mail