By David Farrell
Randy Rainbow returns with a sickirical take on Kevin McCarthy
House Speaker deliciously skewers the Republican House speaker in a Rainbow song parody of Master of the House from Les Misérables. The original song was composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg with lyrics by Herbert Kretmer.
Defunding may be a pipe dream, but the CBC would benefit from some sensible reforms
Amen, we say. On one extreme, we have PC leader Pierre Poilievre who espouses extreme views to reign in the pubcaster rotten with bureaucracy and woke extremism brought on by diversity quotas that negate any possibility of nurturing a pan-Canadian society. A softer voice of reason comes from National Post’s Jamie Sarkonak. Her two simple suggestions for staving off a painfully slow death for the national broadcaster seem surprisingly doable and intelligently corrective.
MPs question officials on Rogers-Shaw takeover’s impact on jobs, competition and affordability in the sector
Representatives of Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor argued that fierce opposition to the takeover from rivals Telus and BCE Inc. is evidence that the deal would be good for competition. Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau pointed to Project Fox – Telus’s name for its campaign to “kill, slow and shape” the merger – as an example of the Vancouver-based telecom’s “toxic and Machiavellian tactics.”
Shaw president Paul McAleese said Telus “conspired” to replace Videotron with Globalive as the purchaser of Freedom. – Alexandra Posadzki & Irene Galea, The Globe and Mail
Postmedia to lay off more than 65 journalists
About 11 percent of Postmedia’s roughly 650 journalists will be cut as one of the largest media companies in Canada prepares for turbulent times, the Star reports.
The newspaper conglomerate posted a net loss of $15.9M loss in the quarter ending Nov. 30, 2022, compared to $4.4M in the same period the prior year. – Kieran Lavitt, Toronto Star
It ain’t over: The next battleground for the Rogers-Shaw takeover is at the CRTC
The $20-billion blockbuster deal between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. appeared set to close after the Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday killed the Competition Bureau’s renewed bid to block it. Even if the bureau raises the matter to the Supreme Court, there seems to be little chance of success for recovering its case. And Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne will be hard-pressed to not give his blessing. But the regulation journey is not over for Rogers’s takeover of Shaw – the sixth-largest in Canadian history. There are serious headwinds still to face. – Dwayne Winseck, The Globe and Mail
Oh Canada: The penultimate CanCon song
Grade 10 student Janelle Marie Serote wrote the following in support of CanCon regs as part of a history thesis “analyzing the past, present and predicting the future of Canada…”
New CRTC Chair takes cover with broad consultation agenda
Newly named CRTC Chair Vicky Eatrides intends to start her new five-year term by holding public forums, telling Post writer Anja Karadeglija that “I think we just always need to be sort of looking around the corner to see what’s coming our way and what we what we need, what tools we need to get there.”
Notable
–The biggest tech companies in the world—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft have all announced job cuts that affect 50,000+ employees combined this year, and it's only January. Notably, Apple has steered clear of the pattern, some say through judicious planning and keeping a lid on expansion during the pandemic. This brings total layoffs in the tech industry to more than 200,000 over the last year, the FT notes. – Source: TechCrunch
– Behind the high-tech hunt for the Russian bombers targeting Ukrainian civilians –Mark MacKinnon, The Globe and Mail
– Prince Harry and Meghan Markle turn into 'Kardashians every passing day – The International News
– Italian fashion startup turns facial recognition software into laughing stock – CNN
– Solving the world’s problems differently: Don Tapscott, one of the world's leading authorities on innovation and the economic and social impact of technology, shows how new global non-state networks are offering powerful new solutions for cooperation, problem-solving and governance.
