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2023 Civic Holiday notebook: Justin Trudeau and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau get a separation

‘This is really sad’: Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau draw attention and sympathy as they announce separation https://t.co/MbPbfDk3qT

— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) August 2, 2023

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and his wife Sophie Grégoire announced a separation this past week. The couple have been married since 2005. The couple have 3 children: Xavier (born 2007), Ella-Grace (2009), and Hadrien (2014).

The couple met again as adults. Grégoire was a classmate and childhood friend of Trudeau's late brother, Michel.

We are consistent in the sense that a separation is just that and to give said couple respect for the process.

William Lyon Mackenzie King and R.B. Bennett were Canadian prime ministers who never married. Sir Mackenzie Bowell was a widower. Kim Campbell was freshly divorced before taking on the role as prime minister in 1993. You might recall The Twentieth Century was about William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Canadian film review: The Twentieth Century

The most obvious comparison is the prime minister's father Pierre Trudeau. The elder Trudeau was not married when he took office in 1968. Trudeau and Margaret Sinclair were married on March 4, 1971. The couple were separated on May 27, 1977 yet did not divorce until April 2, 1984, a couple of months before Trudeau left office for the final time on June 30, 1984.

As we have seen, comparing the two Trudeau prime ministers is an exercise in failure.

Even before this announcement, there has been speculation as to whether Trudeau will hand the reins over to Chrystia Freeland before the next scheduled election in October 2025. There is no "First Lady" concept in Canada, unlike the United States.

We wish the couple of best of luck in working out a solution, politics aside.

We’re ready for it.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 3, 2023

Taylor Swift ignored Canada in recent announcement on her Eras tour in North America. Finally, Canada has been included for Taylor Swift fans … just until late in 2024.

The American singer-songwriter will play Rogers Centre for 6 dates in November 2024: November 14-16 and November 21-23.

We imagine that Swifties in western New York might find an advantage in seeing her in Toronto: the tickets would be cheaper with the exchange rate between U.S. and Canadian currencies.

We've written about Ottawa's light rail troubles and Toronto's confusion over light rail thanks to Ford Nation. Montréal has a new light-rail system, the REM. There are a few open stops with many more to come.

So far, you can get from Broussard on the South Shore to Gare Centrale. Eventually, the light rail will serve Trudeau Airport, a welcome addition to the Montréal transportation infrastructure.

The trip into downtown should reduce traffic on the Champlain Bridge, a route known for heavy travel from the south suburbs into downtown Montréal.

The Metro in Montréal is a very good system if where you need to go is along the system. Bus service in Montréal isn't bad but surprisingly sparse in the arrivals.

Construction moves slower than the old Grade B maple syrup in Quebec. At least we have some progress in the light rail in Montréal.

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Meta (Facebook) and eventually Google will deprive Canadians of news from Canada via their platforms thanks to Bill C-18. This should eventually get settled on some level but childish acts need to, somehow, be a part of this. 

We will have more tomorrow on this topic. Stay tuned.

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"Americans" complain that there are no holidays in August. Canada, well, most of Canada, celebrates a civic holiday on the first Monday in August. The name depends on where you are: Civic Holiday in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. British Columbia Day, New Brunswick Day, and Saskatchewan Day are obvious.

The holiday is also Heritage Day (Alberta), Natal Day (Nova Scotia), and Terry Fox Day (Manitoba). There are different names in some Ontario cities, such as Simcoe Day (Toronto), John Galt Day (Guelph), and Colonel By Day (Ottawa).

Enjoy the holiday wherever you are in Canada. Canadian summers are too short.

Twitter captures: @TorontoStar; @JustinTrudeau
photo credits: @JustinTrudeau; Réseau express métropolitain

Sometimes songs are about Canada

"I would like to go to Canada / I have never been there before. All of the traveling that I have done / I don't know what I am looking for."

That is the beginning to a song called Oh Canada by New Zealand artist Nadia Reid. Oh Canada is off of the 2020 album Out of My Province.

The song features traveling, vulnerability, loneliness: "I am lonely for you in Norway / I am lonely for you in Spain."

Why Canada?

Music is to be appreciated, not always analyzed. Still, Oh Canada is a nice nod to Canada and a good song as well.

Roger Whittaker goes into more detail about Canada in his song Canada Is (1974): Rocky Mountains, Prince Edward Island, La Belle Provence, Yukon mine. Whittaker also says "Canada is a country made for love." High praise indeed.

The song also talks about "To welcome them to this great land / For that's what Canada is." Very cool sentiments.

Sometimes the song about Canada is from Canadian artists. The 1981 novelty song Take Off features Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas from SCTV) along with Rush lead singer and bassist Geddy Lee.

They call each other hoser and hosehead. Geddy Lee sings about the Great White North and how it's a beauty way to go.

The idea of going to Canada is great to hear in a song. This song charted higher than the other 2 songs in this column.

Is there a song about Canada that you like that we didn't mention? Let us know in the comments.

photo credit: Radio Paradise FB page
video credit: YouTube/mrwhittakersmusic; YouTube/Bob and Doug McKenzie — Topic

Remembering Canadian music icon Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot died earlier this week at the age of 84. An amazing Canadian singer-songwriter with a 5+ decade career. The Order of Canada. Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald might be your most favourite or least favourite Gordon Lightfoot song. Neither for me. Lightfoot had an amazing international career yet he kept Canada as his base. He also showed Canadian musicians that you could do both.

This won't be a typical obituary in the classic sense. Listen to the hits and pick out songs you may not have known, such as Cotton Jenny.or Canadian Railroad Trilogy.

Our tribute starts out with an offbeat look at Lightfoot as a prolific singer and songwriter. SCTV had this really funny skit where Lightfoot sings every song ever recorded. A very Canadian idea.

Remembering Gordon Lightfoot: Canadian folk music icon (The Current)

Remembering Gordon Lightfoot (Q from CBC Radio)

CBC Radio seemed like a good place to remember Gordon Lightfoot. The special Q episode devoted the entire show to the memory of Gordon Lightfoot, including an interview with Anne Murray. Murray McLauchlan and Tom Wilson were also guests on the program hosted by regular Q host Tom Power and Commotion's Elamin Abdelmahmoud.

Nicholas Jennings, who wrote Lightfoot the biography, was a guest on The Current with Matt Galloway.

He's been in my life as long as I can remember, first through his songs, then by writing about him through the decades. Proud to be his biographer.
R.I.P. Gordon. Condolences to his wife Kim, his children, grandchildren, bandmates and friends. @lightfoot365 #gordonlightfoot pic.twitter.com/Xv2nOKUeCc

— Nicholas Jennings (@nicojennings) May 2, 2023

Peter Mansbridge on his podcast The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge will also look back at the life and career of Gordon Lightfoot. You can hear that on SXM Canada or wherever you get your podcasts. 

I saw Gordon Lightfoot a few years back in person. I wish it was in Massey Hall in Toronto, where Lightfoot might have the record for playing the most dates of any artist there. The theatre was intimate. Lightfoot physically wasn't at his best but still put on a really good show.

I loved how much the fans knew the songs I did not know. You forget all the really great songs he had. Hits a plenty but simple songs I had never heard and still enjoyed. One of the radio guests pointed out there were lots of unreleased songs because he was so meticulous to make sure they were where Lightfoot wanted them to be.

2019 WIFF Canadian films in review

2019 WIFF Canadian films in review: Documentaries

"A must for huge Lightfoot fans and a nice primer if you only know the major hits."

If you think you know a lot about Gordon Lightfoot, you will still learn a lot about him from the 2019 documentary Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind. Saw the film at the 2019 Windsor International Film Festival. I know we say we learn a lot from documentaries. I had no idea and was blown away.

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“I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Lightfoot as a child – he spent the afternoon in the Gatineau Hills with my family, and it is a memory I will always cherish." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this as part of his statement on the death of Gordon Lightfoot.

We tease about the prominent Canadians with the first name Gord or Gordon. We lost Gordon Pinsent earlier this year. We lost Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip in 2017. Gordie Howe passed away in 2016.

Ranger Gord (Peter Keleghan) was a part of The Red Green Show. Gord Miller is alive and a real person. There are 2 prominent Canadians named Gordon Sinclair.

Gordon Lightfoot might be the most significant of all the Gord and that is saying something in Canada.

The photo is of Gordon Lightfoot performing 100 Years Young, which was a CBC variety special celebrating Canada's centennial from 1967.

video credit: YouTube/westnyacktwins
photo credit: Roy Martin/CBC Still Photo Collection; @petermansbridge
Twitter capture: @nicojennings

Canadian film review: No Ordinary Man

Billy Tipton was an American jazz musician, a trans jazz musician. Tipton was rather successful but no one knew the secret until Tipton's death.

No Ordinary Man tells the story of Billy Tipton as a stepping point to talking about the life of a trans man, people hiding in broad daylight in a much different time.

Tipton's wife, Kitty, as well as son Billy Jr., both didn't know that Tipton was born a woman until after the musician's death. The couple had 3 adopted sons.

Directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt incorporate people auditioning for the role of Billy Tipton as if they are doing a feature film. This ties in with telling the story of what it's like to be a trans man. Chin-Yee and Amos Mac wrote the documentary.

The film incorporates footage from talk shows in the 1990s when the story first comes to light, since Tipton died in 1989. The discussion of transgender in the early 1990s versus this current decade takes up a good amount of space in the documentary.

No Ordinary Man also explores the Diane Middlebrook book on Tipton's life that the documentary guests see as exploitative. 

2020 TIFF wrapup

2020 TIFF preview

2020 TIFF Canadian film preview

The film doesn't have any visible Canadian content. We tease about this in feature films but this happens quite often in Canadian documentaries. 

A documentary about a jazz musician, regardless of any other factor, should have music from this person. That is surprisingly not much of a factor. Then again, the documentary is about Tipton but not really.

The film spends a lot of time on the impact once Tilton has passed on as well as the health care Tipton might not have received for being transgender in the late 1980s.

The pace of the film helps keep you in the story, well, stories. No Ordinary Man gives the audience a good education on transgender people.

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2020

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No Ordinary Man made the 2020 TIFF year-end Canada's Top Ten list. The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. No Ordinary Man has aired in Canada on the Documentary Channel and is available on demand in the United States.

video credit: YouTube/oscopelabs
photo credit: No Ordinary Man

Canadian film review: Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song

Hallelujah is one of many amazing songs from Leonard Cohen. Significant for his own version and the many covers, specifically Jeff Buckley. Fair to say a lot of the music world discovered the song from Buckley and not Cohen.

That is often the path of Leonard Cohen songs from Suzanne (Judy Collins) and Dance Me to the End of Love (Madeline Peyroux). If you were to make a documentary about a modern song, you might be inclined to pick Layla, The Loco-Motion, or Black Magic Woman instead of Hallelujah.

The first part of the film is about the long path to Cohen coming up with the song over several years, how Columbia refused to release the album Various Pictures that featured the song, and how Cohen reworked lyrics in a live version long after the song was released on the album (by a different record label).

The second part of the film is the path of the song in the voices of other artists including John Cale, Buckley, Myles Kennedy, Brandi Carlile, Shrek the film with Rufus Wainwright and Cale, and k.d. lang. Watching Steven Page sing the song at the funeral for Jack Layton felt very Canadian.

Religion and secularism get long stretches in the documentary. The song is about a spiritual chase.

The growth becomes so huge that at one point on the UK Charts in 2008, the Alexandra Burke version was #1, Buckley's version was at #2, and Cohen's version was "only" at #36.

Leonard Cohen, Canada's poet, passes away at the age of 82

Canadian film review: Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love

There are great interviews with various people involved with Cohen at that time. Some interviews from Cohen himself. Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson is a prominent guest, given her history as a CBC host who talked to Cohen a lot.

The pacing of the film is the main drawback to the documentary. The early part is almost an hour into a almost 2-hour film. You might benefit from watching the second half of the film before the first part.

Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine wrote and directed the film. They pack a lot into the film that is worth watching. Just know the second half of the film is better.

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Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song played at the 2022 Windsor International Film Festival. The film is available in the United States on Netflix.

video credit: YouTube/Mongrel Media
photo credit: Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song

Canadian film review: Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine

Triumph was one of the many Canadian bands that popped up in the United States between 1979-1981. Lay It on the Line was a decent hit for the band in 1979. Magic Power from Allied Forces along with Fight the Good Fight were huge songs in 1981.

Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine shows us that the band was a lot more than just those moments. Triumph was a major force in the band's live shows where they developed a loyal fanbase. The documentary leads up to a moment where they will play in front of their superfans as well as looks back to how Triumph came together.

Most bands don't understand the business end of rock and roll. Gil Moore (drums, lead/backing vocals) and Mike Levine (bass, keyboards, backing vocals) were rare exceptions. In fact, Moore and Levine had a record deal early on in the process, a proverbial golden ticket back in the day. Rik Emmett (guitar, lead/backing vocals) was the last person to join the group. Even though Emmett sang the band's best known songs, Moore sang a lot of the songs in the group.

They produced their early albums, again something you almost never hear a band doing for themselves.

Directors Sam Dunn and Marc Ricciardelli make good use of animation to help tell the story, especially in the early days of the band. We learn a lot about the nuances of the stage show that made the band legendary in concert with lots of explosions.

The documentary also explores another solid reason why Triumph made such as impact. Their lyrics were positive and uplifting. Fans tell many stories about how the lyrics got them through rough times.

The Trailer Park Boys make cameos in the documentary, adding some more Canadian flavour to the fandom.

Turns out Triumph is in the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame (2007), Canadian Music Hall of Fame (2008), and Canada's Walk of Fame (2019).

Celebrating Canadian classic rock contributions

1981 was amazing year for Canadian classic rock artists

Some thoughts on what could go into a Canada music national playlist

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The story takes the almost necessary path of the breakup and reunion. Smartly, the documentary spends a good chunk of the film as the band formed and the bumps along the way. A much more interesting chapter.

If you think you know a little bit about this band, you will learn plenty in this documentary about Triumph.

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Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine is available on Crave in Canada.

video credit: YouTube/Banger Films
photo credit: Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine

Canadian film review: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

Ahead of her time. Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On does a very solid job at showing who this person was as a singer, songwriter, and activist. You also learn of the many wonderful thoughts and ideas where Buffy Sainte-Marie was way ahead of the rest of us.

Or as Buffy Sainte-Marie tells us, sometimes you have to "carry the medicine for a long time."

She was way ahead on opiods, writing a song called Cod'ine in 1964. Sainte-Marie had been diagnosed with a bronchial infection and was treated with codeine. Robbie Robertson describes in the documentary about how you can get pain reliever from the drugstore that has codeine in Canada.  

Sainte-Marie was calling what happened to Indigenous people as a genocide decades before a lot of others weighed in on the topic.

She appeared in The Heritage episode of The Virginian in 1968. Sainte-Marie insisted that actual Indigenous people play the extras.

They say the strength of a songwriter is measured in how often others want to do a cover version of a song. The Universal Soldier became so popular than many (sadly) thought Donovan wrote the song. Until It's Time for You to Go was covered 157 times since its original release in 1965. Elvis Presley was a big fan of the latter song.

Sainte-Marie won an Academy Award for co-writing Up Where We Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman. During the time where she was blacklisted from having her songs on the radio, she became a frequent guest on Sesame Street. Sainte-Marie breastfed her son Cody on Sesame Street. She said it wasn't controversial then but would be now.

Later in her career, Sainte-Marie made music with computers, again ahead of her time.

We also learn about her activism. There is a teaching moment, as she points out, when someone in the crowd asks about the red dress hanging on stage. Sainte-Marie points out the dress represents the missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women.

Sainte-Marie was born on the Piapot 75 reserve in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan to Cree parents. As part of the then government policy, she was taken as an infant and adopted by Americans in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

The documentary shows her in Yorkville in Toronto, playing the folk scene in Canada's largest city. 

Some of the Canadians in the documentary include Robbie Robertson, Joni Mitchell, and George Stroumboulopoulos.

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My parents had Buffy Sainte-Marie records when I was a kid. I had no clue she was Canadian. The thought of her being Indigenous back then wasn't even a thought. They liked folk music and she was a significant artist in their collection. My father has been gone for 22 years and my mother has dementia. They would have loved to see a look at the life and career of Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Canadian rock and roll documentary makes Independent Lens debut on PBS

Sainte-Marie was in Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, a Canadian documentary that has also aired on PBS. If this documentary makes you more curious, this other documentary will help satisfy some of that curiosity.

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Director Madison Thomas incorporates some reenactments in the film to show moments that weren't captured in the moment. Thomas has a lot of ground to cover. The documentary answers a lot of questions yet keeps the viewer curious to learn more, simply because a documentary, any documentary can only cover so much ground.

Whether you do or don't know much about Buffy Sainte-Marie, this documentary will teach you a lot.

The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8.

Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On debuts tonight on PBS as part of the American Masters series. Check your local listings for the PBS station in your area and when the station will show the film. Canadians can watch PBS through cable or satellite as well as antenna in limited areas. The PBS version may be censored in some parts, depending on the station. The film is available in Canada on Crave.

video credit: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On/PBS
photo credit: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

Youngest Canadian Juno nominee encouraging people to try new foods

The Junos, celebrating Canadian music, is a lofty goal for most Canadian musicians and singers. To get a Juno nomination is impressive.

Imagine being 4 years old and getting a Juno nomination.

Romeo, offspring of Walk Off the Earth members Sarah Blackwood and Gianni (Luminati) Nicassio, is part of a project called Romeo Eats. There are lots of videos where Romeo tries new foods. The family released the album Walk Off the Earth & Romeo Eats, Vol. 1.

Our sibling blog, BalanceofFood.com, appreciates the difficulty of trying new foods. They go more into depth on the project and what that could mean for enjoying food variety.

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You can find their videos on YouTube.

video and photo credit: YouTube/RomeoEats

Canadian film review: Stupid for You

Love and music make the world go round, based on Jude Klassen's 2 feature films. Love in the Sixth (2016) had a potpourri of elements within the film that somehow was cohesive enough to work. Stupid for You is a more focused film.

Kat (Mikhael Klassen-Kay) is in love with Eden (Caylin Turner). Stevie (Mia Rodne) is Kat's bestie and is secretly in love with Kat.

Eden tells the story that she was conceived after the final Polyamorous Diatribe concert. Turns out Kat's mother Dani Destroyer (Klassen) was the lead singer of this punk band.

Kat struggles to hit it off with Eden. Seeing your mother's face on Eden's T-shirt: this doesn't help Kat in trying to make a move on Eden.

Kat and Stevie are working on their own music. Dani encourages them to showcase their music but Kat isn't ready. At Dani's last show, she got stage fright and ran off.

Stupid for You gives the characters the opportunity to sing how they feel. This is not a musical in any sense. Music videos within the film and lots of music, just not a musical. We get to see a pop-up video of the band's major hit Theoretically Sentinent.

Dani has her own love triangle as she meets Magnus (Matt Clark). She doesn't know Magnus is friends with Sid (Michael Coughlan), who was the guitarist of her group and her former lover.

The chemistry in the film is rather strong. Klassen-Kay is the child of Klassen and also appeared in Love in the Sixth. This time, Klassen-Kay plays more of a character. The opening montage implies that Klassen-Kay and Rodne might know each other in real life. You feel like they are best buddies, not just on screen.

Turner, as Eden, has a more complex character and shines in the role. Eden is extremely confident while hiding secrets underneath. The film could have suffered with a lesser actor in the role.

Love in the Sixth highlights Canadian films in 2016 CIMM festival

Stupid for You is an independent film where the players believe in each other. The awkwardness within Polyamorous Diatribe feels like they've been a band for a very long time.

Klassen uses Toronto as a side character, not necessarily the touristy parts but real locations she clearly knows well.

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Klassen makes a smart move to let the younger characters dominate the film. The older adults scenario is mostly a setup for parallels to the younger people. Several of the characters from the older and younger characters sing Thin Skinned, which applies well to the struggles of success in music and love.

Music and love; mother and child: the parallels are sewn in by hand, not with a large sewing machine.

Stupid for You brings a lot of energy and strong music with not much of a budget. Part of the lure of the Canadian independent film is how much they do with little money.

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Stupid for You is currently making its way through the film festival circuit. Love in the Sixth is available in the United States on Tubi.

Full disclosure: I know Jude Klassen in real life, meeting her when Love in the Sixth was at a film festival.

photo credit: Stupid for You film

Randy Bachman brings back Vinyl Tap to commercial radio in Canada

If you missed Vinyl Tap with Randy Bachman on CBC Radio, the show is returning to Canadian airwaves on commercial radio. We mentioned the announcement of the program leaving after 16 years on CBC Radio. The final program aired on CBC on Canada Day 2021.

The deal with Orbyt Media and Corus Entertainment calls for the new Vinyl Tap on Corus classic rock stations across Canada including: Q107 Toronto, Rock 101 Vancouver, 101.1 BIG FM Barrie, Q107 Calgary, Boom 101.9 Cornwall, Chuck at 92.5 Edmonton, Hamilton, Kingston, 107.5 Dave Rocks Kitchener, London's Best Rock FM 96, The Wolf 101.5 FM Peterborough, and Power 97 Winnipeg. The program will air Sunday evenings at 9 pm local time.

There will be 48 episodes of the new show in a year compared to about 36 for CBC Radio. Of course, there will be commercials.

For those who aren't familiar with Randy Bachman's music career, think the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Bachman is also a very good storyteller.

2021 Victoria Day notebook

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U.S. radio listeners might get the short end of the stick if they can't listen to the local Canadian stations. Americans could listen on the CBC Listen app to the CBC version. A podcast is reportedly in the works for listeners in the United States and abroad.

photo credit: Vinyl Tap/CBC Radio