TVO ending The Agenda with Steve Paikin after 19th season

 TVO journalist and host Steve Paikin has announced that The Agenda, the long-running current affairs show he co-hosts on Ontario’s publicly funded English-language educational television network, will end in June.

In a blog post, Paikin wrote that TVO’s flagship program’s current 19th season would be the last - and, with his 65th birthday impending, he would soon no longer be a full-time employee at the network.

“As much as I have loved hosting The Agenda for the past 19 years (and hosting four other programs for TVO over the past 32 years in total), anchoring a daily program is a seven-day-a-week job,” he wrote.

“I realized that if I ever wanted to tackle some of the other things on life’s to-do list, I just couldn’t do them and host a daily show at the same time. Something’s gotta give.”

In a press release, TVO said that Paikin – who moderated the English-language federal leaders debates last week – would continue to be involved with the broadcaster in a number of ways, including as co-host of the weekly #onpoli podcast and writer of a weekly online column. (Globe an Mail)

Ted Kotcheff has died at 94

 Ted Kotcheff, the prolific Toronto-born filmmaker behind classics from both sides of the Canada-Hollywood divide — from a beloved adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz to First Blood, which introduced moviegoers to Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo — died Thursday at the age of 94, his family confirmed to The Globe and Mail.

Kotcheff was born in Toronto’s Cabbagetown neighbourhood, the son of two impoverished Bulgarian immigrants. In his 2017 memoir, Director’s Cut: My Life in Film, Kotcheff recalled a formative moment growing up when he witnessed his next-door neighbours get evicted because they could not afford the monthly $2 rent. “I remember thinking, at four, ‘What sort of world would do that? It shaped me, made me compassionate about other people’s stories.” (The Globe and Mail)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/article-canadian-filmmaker-ted-kotcheff-director-of-first-blood-and-weekend-at/

Evan Solomon to run for MP!

 Evan Solomon has announced he will be running to be an MP for the Liberal party in the next federal election.

Solomon revealed the news in a LinkedIn post on Thursday afternoon, confirming a report from CTV News earlier in the day.

“Given the urgent challenges and threats facing Canadians right now, I’ve decided it’s the right time to come home and do whatever I can to help serve my community and country,” Solomon wrote.

Solomon most recently worked for the Eurasia Group as the publisher for GZERO Media – a position he started in the fall of 2022. He was also recently a special correspondent with CTV News, but resigned from that role prior to Prime Minister Mark Carney being elected as Liberal party leader on March 9.

Previously, Solomon worked at Bell Media from 2016 to 2022, first as the host of Ottawa Now on 580 CFRA and later as the host of CTV News political programs Question Period and Power Play. During that time, he also hosted The Evan Solomon Show, a nationally syndicated radio program on the iHeart Radio network.

Before that, he was the host of CBC’s daily political show Power & Politics and weekly national radio program The House. (Toronto Star)

The CRTC wants to find out what's happening in broadcasting!

 The CRTC is looking at how the Canadian broadcasting system can survive the shift away from traditional TV to international streamers.

The regulator is opening a public consultation on market dynamics and plans to hold a hearing in Gatineau, Que. in May.

Its consultation document says the Canadian broadcast industry is at a crossroads and “facing profound changes” posed by new technologies and changes in consumer habits and global competition.

The CRTC is studying those market dynamics as Canadians move from traditional broadcasting and cable — which is regulated by the CRTC and subject to Canadian content rules — to streaming services dominated by international giants like Netflix, Amazon and Disney+.

The consultation is part of the commission’s work on implementing the Online Streaming Act, which updated broadcasting laws to capture online platforms. (CP)

Robert Fulford has died at age 92

 Robert Fulford, who died Tuesday aged 92, was one of Canada’s leading cultural journalists.

As a critic and essayist, his expertise spanned art, literature, architecture and music. As a columnist on current affairs, he grappled with some of the most urgent questions in Canadian justice and politics.

His famously clear prose was the product of fastidious rewriting, always at least twice, a rule he shared with the generations of younger writers he edited and mentored. Publishing, as he used to say, was a “necessary evil” that sadly stopped the rewriting process. (National Post)

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/robert-fulford-obituary