Shows I’ve enjoyed that are on CBC Gem include Timewasters (a Black jazz band in London travels back in time to the Roaring '20s and elsewhen) and Documentary Now! (documentary parodies mostly starring Bill Hader and Fred Armisen with John Mulaney and Seth Meyers on the writing team).
I also liked the web-only series This Blows (an aspiring actress gains the ability to randomly make people explode) and My 90-Year-Old Roommate (the last acting role for Paul Soles, a.ka. Spider-Man, Max the 2000-Year-Old Mouse and Hermey the Elf).
I loved “Schitt’s Creek.” With the exception of the motel, its outdoor locations (the town, the Blouse Barn, the veterinary clinic) are all within a half hour’s drive of each other. The town is Goodwood, Ontario; the Blouse Barn is in Unionville, and the vet clinic is in Stouffville.
I lived in Stouffville for three or four years, and went to or through Unionville and Goodwood many times. Interestingly, the vet clinic is across the street from what was (not sure if it is still there) one of the best pubs in York Region.
“Brier” (attached with a sponsor’s name to the curling event) was (maybe still is?) a brand of pipe tobacco sold by the MacDonald tobacco people. I guess the Feds just look the other way regarding tobacco naming/sponsorship - trying not to spoil a tradition.
MacDonald tobacco announced they would stop sponsoring the Brier in 1977 - their last sponsored championship was 1979.
Canada didn’t introduce the legislation banning tobacco companies from advertising until 1989, by which time, it was the Labatt Brier, and the word Brier was well established as a curling championship. (I’m unsure of when “Labatt’s” became “Labatt” to get around the Québec laws against English advertising and signage. Aislin, the political cartoonist, used to joke that there must be a giant warehouse somewhere in Québec filled with forbidden apostrophes.)
From there, it has had many sponsors since. The trick is, the word ‘brier’ (and its more common spelling ‘briar’) is well established - from from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English -
A prickly plant or shrub in general; specifically, the sweetbrier or the green-brier (which see). Also spelled briar.
noun the white heath Erica arborea.
noun a smoking pipe made of the root of the brier{1}.
noun A plant with a slender woody stem bearing stout prickles; especially, species of Rosa, Rubus, and Smilax.
noun Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings.
noun the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and Smilax Walteri; -- used for tobacco pipes. See also 2nd brier.
noun several species of Smilax (Smilax rotundifolia, etc.)
Meanwhile, that anti-tobacco advertising bill has seen its ups and downs as well, but I’ll let the legal minds here comment on that.
As you know, IAAL, and I’ve read the court cases involving this.
Basically, back in the 1990s, the government passed a law forbidding tobacco advertising, and tobacco companies sponsoring things like sports events. The tobacco companies promptly took the government to court, citing their Charter s. 2(b) rights to freedom of thought, belief, and expression. Our “free speech” right in other words.
The courts agreed, and almost as soon as the ink was dry on the order, tobacco companies resumed advertising. Parliament went back to the drawing board, and this time, crafted legislation that incorporated the “harm principle”—that is, that a group of people would be harmed if this kind of speech were allowed to continue. In this case, the group likely to be harmed were children, who might be enticed to start smoking if tobacco advertising were allowed to continue.
Another court case, but this time, the government prevailed (the inclusion of the harm principle succeeded in its objective), and tobacco advertising once again ceased. In mainstream media anyway (print and billboards); in other areas, such as behind the counter in retail stores, they could still display their products and signage.
Sometime after, most of the provinces enacted legislation preventing retailers from even displaying tobacco products behind the counter. So, not even advertising at point-of-sale.
That’s the Reader’s Digest version. There is a lot of detail to all this, and not all issues have been resolved yet—to the best of my knowledge, anyway. Still, I hope this brief explanation helps.
Is the pro golf tour’s “Player’s Championship” sponsored by a brand of cigarettes?
Seriously, when I was younger and learning to play golf, I still remember Player’s slogan, “Player’s Please,” which would get you a pack of Player’s cigarettes at the store counter. Every hole on the local course, had a sign saying, “Players Please Replace Divots.” With “Players Please” in Player’s distinctive typeface.
My first round of golf. Phew. I scored in nine holes what a very bad pro golfer does in 18.
This saddens me so much. “Just for Laughs” is practically a Canadian institution – it’s often on CBC Radio when I’m driving around. The Montreal-based company that was the center of it, and whose comedy festivals showcased Canadian comedians and attracted many international ones, apparently were a bunch of crooks who illegally laid off an employee, ignored a court judgment against them, and have now declared bankruptcy and cancelled the Montreal festival. Apparently festivals in other cities are still going ahead, but the future of this whole enterprise isn’t clear right now.
The loss of JFL is a real loss for Canada and comedians, but I admit I don’t miss the old days of flying on Air Canada with limited on board entertainment and having to watch the wordless “Just for Laughs Gags”.
I have slightly more sympathy for the company after I read that it was scumbag and convicted sex offender Gilbert Rozon who promised his buddy a job for life, not anyone currently associated with JFL (who were trying to permanently eliminate the position of archivist but clearly went about it the wrong way).
Montréal is known for its summer festivals - as far as I know, the Montréal Jazz Fest is still in good shape, ItalFestMtl is still going, and I’ve lost count of all the others!
But JPR/JFL has been such a success story for the city for ages! Man, it feels strange to lose that one, even if it’s just for a year!
There are a few in Montréal - https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/guide-montreal-food-festivals . And the rest of Québec has some pretty good eatin’ most of the year, as well. A popular distiction between Québécois culture and the rest of Canada - English Canadians eat to live, whereas the Québécois live to eat! Not to say there is not some fine cuisine to be had elsewhere, but my personal findings have been that even tiny towns of 400 people in Québec usually have at least one restaurant that would be worth a Michelin star!
Whereas in various parts of rural Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, you can be hard pressed to find a restaurant with anything interesting, local, or fresh on the menu. I don’t mind a total lack of ambience, but when the chowder is coming out of a can and veggies are frozen, it’s hard to see the point of eating there instead of, say, Subway…
There are many excellent restaurants in rural Ontario. For example, I know of few restaurants better than The Globe in Rosemont, and fewer still offering such value as well as quality. Admittedly, rural Ontario is a big place.
Though I would agree dining in Québec is far more likely to be special. The culture of eating frozen food is far less developed in Québec. People are willing to pay more for quality. Some Quebeckers call anglos « les Kraft dînners ».
