The Wrong Man
I thought Pierre Bourque would turn out to be Canada's Matt Drudge. Boy, did I make a mistake
~~Bourque Exclusive~~ Trudeau back in hospital. Breaking: Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is back in hospital. This afternoon a source reported that the ailing 80 year old statesman had been admitted to Montreal’s General Hospital yesterday. Before running this item in mid-September on his website, Bourque Newswatch, Pierre Bourque says that he received a tip via […]
A Cup of Joe and a Slice of Life
In a small corner of a paper filled with editorial ads and tips on how to be hip, city columnist Joe Fiorito tells compelling stories of urban underdogs and the underclass
Joe Fiorito has spent the morning working on a follow-up story about two bickering parking lot attendants in downtown Toronto. Since his first column about the lots, the feud has escalated and one of the attendants, an Ethiopian immigrant named Gashaw Mequanent, now has a broken wrist. It’s a typical Fiorito piece, a tiny urban […]
Le Maestro
Twenty-five years after he created L'actualité, the magazine that changed the way journalism in Quebec was conducted, Jean Paré can look back on a career filled with high notes
Jean Paré once dreamed of being a conductor. From his podium, he would guide the orchestra through magnificent symphonies and transport the crowds with a touch of his baton. Sleek and proud in his black tux, he would uncover the mysteries of the likes of Mozart and Beethoven. Unfortunately, Paré doesn’t have much of an […]
Grief Encounter
What does Justin Trudeau's role in the wake of his father's death says about the state of our national newspapers and the state of our national identity?
“I’ve turned into some sort of celebrity,” observed Justin Trudeau in a front-page story in the Saturday, February 3, 2001, edition of The Globe and Mail. “But I’m not,” he then pleaded. “I’m not.” Having arrived fairly recently at the pinnacle of Canadian not-celebrity-the Globe cover photo depicted the young man on a snowy crest […]
A Question of Truth
When allegations of child abuse surfaced at the Shelburne Youth Centre, writers at the two Halifax dailies let their emotions and competitive drive cloud their news judgement
In a darkened corner of the Scotia Lunch in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Wayne Butler leans across the table toward his friend, Floyd Hemeon. His naturally red face flushes even more as he moves in closer, stressing a point to Floyd, who sits back in the blue, plastic chair, takes off his baseball cap and scratches […]
A Serious Makeover
Leanne Delap has brought hard-hitting journalism to the pages of Fashion. But can she maintain her editorial credibility while accepting free trips to Europe?
A spring day in 1989 and the leggy, blonde, 21-year-old Leanne Delap, fresh out of journalism school, dressed in an all-black ensemble, is climbing up the stairs in a converted industrial space to begin her six-month internship at Toronto Life. It was an exciting time at the magazine, a publication that some accused of being […]
State of the Union
Billion-dollar mergers are changing the nature of labour relations. In the face of nationwide media empires, can journalists rely on unions to address their concerns?
The day national columnist Catherine Ford returned to work after the Calgary Herald strike ended last summer, it was as though she’d stepped into a completely different office. Ford, who has worked at the Herald since 1981, hadn’t seen the inside of the brick building on Calgary’s 16th Street S.E. since November 8, 1999. A […]
Gotcha
Police have more power over reporters than most of us realize. Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
On June 15, 2000, Citytv cameraman Don Neheli sets out to report on what looks to be a routine protest organized by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. Neheli arrives equipped with a two-way Motorola radio and video camera, and sees about 500 people marching in mob formation. Grandparents mingle with rave kids and councillors hang […]
Thumbs Down
Some traditional critics would have you believe the Internet is an intellectual wasteland. They are so wrong
Globe and Mail culture reporter Kate Taylor has a flair for the dramatic, which she proved again one evening when she made a rather perplexing analogy: a respectable film critic should possess the same omniscient authority as celebrity handyman Mike Holmes. She was speaking at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall, where a group […]
When Equinox covered the earth
For 18 years, Canada's magazine of discovery had mammoth ambitions—and one fatal flaw
In the spring of 1996, in a tower of blue glass in what was then the city of North York, Ontario, the small staff of Equinox gathered around the fax machine for what had become a yearly ritual: reading the list of National Magazine Awards nominees. The staff’s excitement grew as the pages spilled out. […]
