His impact on the business was monumental. . CBA negotiations have never been the same. Player salaries have never been the same. Media covering hockey has never been the same. His predecessor Alan Eagleson was criminally convicted in the U.S. and Canada and disbarred for the self dealing revealed by Conway and CBC Toronto. That’s an impressive legacy.

For the generation that watched him develop he was likely the quintessential modern Canadian. Son of a charitable community figure in west-end Toronto. Educated in the Ivy League. Obtained his law degree. Served as a federal cabinet minister. Author of several definitive hockey books (The Game is perhaps the best sports non-fiction in the English language). Executive of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And more.

Marner left his hometown in free agency, signing longterm in tax-free Nevada. The team received nothing in return for an elite player. The locals needed a scapegoat for their repeated Cup frustration. So when Marner cited the unrelenting pressure of playing in contemporary Toronto, the dam broke among critics who called him a whiner, a no-show for his $8 million salary, a traitor to Toronto.

At the moment that Elbows Up embarrassment was too great for even Team Carney’s most fervent media pals, Trump summoned him like a call-up from the minors to be told how out was going to be. Suddenly the implacable Carney was declaring  how swell it was that Canada had the best treaty in the world. Elbows Up had suddenly become Pants Down.

When it comes to the exposure of the trailblazing male pom-poms on the sidelines it’s best to weigh the motivations on both sides. The NFL— which is buying up large chunks of its own media —will play the virtue card. The traditionalists will bite their tongue. And no one will do a media feature on the two women who were denied these high-profile jobs because of other agendas.

The biggest 2025 story for golf fans (and pro golfers it appears) was the release of Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore II on Netflix. A raucous, vulgar, silly, sweet, creative shambles of a film, it’s one of those rare feats in Hollywood. A sequel better than the original. Some might say that it wasn’t a high bar to get over Happy Gilmore punching it up with Bob Barker. True.

No doubt Charlie Kirk’s death will be mobilized by both sides in their appeals for the loyalty of the military should a civil war break out in the U.S. Perhaps it will again be dodged. But wiggle room is fast disappearing. Get your generals in a row. MSNBC’s Jen Psaki has declared Trump’s tribute to Kirk “an escalation" Says legal expert Jonathan Turley, “We are already at political assassinations, so I am not sure how much more room for escalation there may be for Psaki or MSNBC.”

The West’s privileged elites— particularly in Canada— refuse to acknowledge reality, preferring the dewey dawn of the Clinton or Obama presidencies. They toss around terms like tyrant to distract from the cliff they’ve built.  They pose. They primp. As security expert Mike Benz notes, “The vast majority of stock leftists are not true believers, they have strong beliefs, loosely held.” How loosely we are about to find out.

Perhaps the best example of bureaucratic waste is tucked into the line “Applications are encouraged from members of groups that are historically disadvantaged and underrepresented.” (*Translation: DEI) And “as a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), you are expected to promote an inclusive leadership style that values equity, diversity, inclusion, and ensures psychological and physical safety.” IOW you are urged to promote inclusion while the vast majority of taxpaying white male citizens are excluded from consideration.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that the security blanket Western progressives count on to save them is, as Yeats said, “a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick”. An equation based on keeping their hands clean while others die. Only luck will determine if they must finally make a commitment or keep skating by with mere contributions. 

General society is now one big wrestling scam with no one believing the plot lines. Instead they revel in heel turns, outlandish characters and fake blood. Authenticity is dead.

Such is the Elbows Up trance in Canada that few have any idea of Carney’s true agenda, because it’s not what his paid wordsmiths in the media are pitching. For them it’s all fighting Trump, all the time. (Aided by his Robin, Doug Ford.) But here are three major policies we will talk about five years from now, saying “Wha’ happened?”

Four dynamic poetic voices— each with distinct perspectives on spiritual enlightenment, trauma, pastoral beauty and the joys of the physical body— were highlighted at McClelland & Stewart’s 2025 spring poetry night held earlier this month.

Stephanie Cesca is a strong and capable storyteller. Her passion for detail and vivid imagination creates an authentic fictional world. Readers can see her characters in their mind’s eye. They can relate to their pain.

Throughout the book’s 384 pages, readers are kept guessing as to the killer’s motives. Could such rampaging violence be  a professional hit or a random act of madness? Or was the victim bludgeoned out of existence due to his shady business dealings and abusive, violent past?

Clewes is a sensory, effusive poet. Her lyrical words reflect a deep musical sense. In the third section, Calle Obispo, the poem of the same title, references Nobel Prize-winning poet and Polish-Lithuanian  author Czeslaw Milosz. The first stanza turns a plane trip into a spiritual experience.

Green’s complex, colloquial whimsy is grounded in a strong academic backbone and a broad knowledge base that references Wordsworth, Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath. And how she loves wordplay and puns,

Winning a literary award hikes a book’s profile, as the books are put on course curriculums, book club reading lists, and are listed as library best staff picks. This creates more profits for publishers, which is a boon for authors because it increases a book’s promotions budget.