‘Really generous': George Wendt remembered by Rainbow Stage for 2011 performance
Carson Nattrass, Rainbow Stage's artistic director, holds a shoe signed by George Wendt when he appeared in a 2011 production of Hairspray on May 21, 2025. (Scott Andersson/CTV News Winnipeg)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
A river cruise with our American frenemies – what could go wrong?
Jane Christmas is a Canadian author. We are on the Rhine, sailing down the lazy river, staring at ancient European castles and pine-covered hills. The occasional barge or river boat passes in the opposite direction. We wave. We lean over the rail and watch the currents and eddies. The river flows, the sun beams. It's life in the slow lane, and boy, do we need it. Away from the noise of an angry, divided world. Away from blaring headlines, from the fearmongers urging us to prepare an emergency kit because the Apocalypse is closing in. Away from the stuff that makes our hearts race and our minds plunge into dark thinking. Look who's sorry now: Americans are an apologetic bunch to this Canadian on vacation Our party of four Canadian couples finds itself to be among a distinct minority on this small cruise ship. The American passengers vastly outnumber us: 135 of them, fewer than 30 of us. It's awkward, given the trade tensions between our two nations. Still, we're pretty sure we can roll with it. We're a friendly, easygoing bunch. Two nights in, the cruise director announces a pub quiz. Hey, that sounds fun. Let's do it. The other passengers form their groups, grab their drinks, and off we go. Team Canada hits a near-perfect score, falling at the question, On which side of her face is Mona Lisa's smile? But it doesn't matter, we've won handily. Our reward is two bottles of champagne, one of which we immediately hand to the American group sitting next to us as thanks for marking our answer sheet. They're simpatico. We think. Walking back to our rooms, I clock another large group of Americans. Their lips are tight, their arms crossed. I can imagine they're the type to start yelling 'U.S.A.! U.S.A.!' at a moment's notice. They glare at us. One of them – male, white, obese, scarfing down an entire tube of complimentary peanuts – gives me the stink eye and calls out, in a MAGA tone, the number 51. 'In your dreams, buddy,' I say with a smile, and walk on. But when I reach the door of our room, the smile is gone and my head is filled with less civil replies, ones that might elicit a punch being thrown. One of our friends asks what that guy had said to me. I confirm what she overheard. The faces on the rest of our group fall. Apparently, there's no escape from bullies, even on a seniors' cruise. Keller: We see your joke about the 51st state, and raise you a reference to sacking the White House As the trip goes on, things do not improve. Aside from two Americans who approach us to apologize for their current President, the rest treat us as if we're COVID carriers. They rarely acknowledge us in the hall, don't meet our eyes or say hello or good morning like normal people do when they're on a pleasure boat together. During the off-board excursions, they huddle with their countrymen and either ignore us or shoot us looks of disdain. More Canadian invisibility arrives via the tour guides, who constantly point out Americanisms to their guests – a U.S. embassy here, a bridge named after JFK there, the former home of the guy who designed the Statue of Liberty. Americans are on a constant drip-feed of their own cultural fodder. That's why we won the quiz – as the saying goes, Canadians know about the world; Americans only know about themselves. Here's the thing: It's not enough for Canadians to buy ABA (anything but American), we need to work on self-belief and entrepreneurship. We haven't promoted our country or culture abroad as vociferously or aggressively as we could, believing that polite and passive would win the day. How's that been working out for us? As a Canadian living in Britain, I've witnessed the fallout. We are a ghost nation beyond our borders. I had to remind an otherwise educated English twentysomething where exactly Canada was on a map. It's humbling given the rhetoric that 'Canada matters on the world stage.' What stage? We can't even get verbal support from the Commonwealth or England when it matters. They snickered when our PM was called 'governor,' and our sovereignty was bullied. They thought it was a joke. Look at them scrambling now. Still, why have we assumed that the world knows who we are? Each week I leaf through the British newspapers and see the same dull tourism ads for Niagara Falls and the Rocky Mountaineer that I've seen for the last two decades. Where's the nightlife of Canada's cities? The picturesque Newfoundland villages? The Inuit arts and awesome Northern landscapes? The architectural and cultural charm of Quebec? Where are the theatres, galleries, literary festivals and vineyards? I'd suggest our tourism ads include shopping as a visitor activity (our dollar being a bargain) but we've shamefully cross-border shopped so much that we've lost our signature department stores, having sold most of them to the highest (often American) bidder. Nice one. Is no one minding our commercial legacy? It's time to step up. We need to be seen as a country on the rise, as well as one that gets involved. Yes to increasing our defence spending, but also to elbowing in to some of the world's ongoing conflicts and helping to mediate their end. Why do we always leave this task to the U.S.? Then there's the lack of overseas trade. Aluminum and steel, sure, but what about wine? There's no end of Australian, New Zealand and American wines on the shelves of British grocery stores, but nothing from Canada. No one in Britain is even aware of Canadian viticulture. Let's get those bottles overseas. It's all very well to wear your 'Never 51' shirt, or to post your Canuck creds on Instagram, or to boycott Netflix and Amazon, but it's time to think bigger, bolder. Time to make a splash. If our efforts are rebuffed south of the border, big deal. There are other countries in this world to woo. Why do we still measure Canadian success against our neighbour's barometer? It's obvious by now that big isn't always best. Back on board our cruise boat, the froideur continues and mystifies my group. Did we belittle their leader on national television, as Donald Trump did ours? Did we threaten their sovereignty? Upend their trade deals? No. They started it. And it sounds like a playground spat until you understand that it's moved into gaslighting territory: We are somehow the enemy. This is the strategy of their leader: Drop the stink bomb and blame the other guy. He's told/signalled/tweeted to his nation that Canadians are lazy, do-nothing freeloaders. Of course it's a lie, but try convincing a boatload of Americans of their country's misguided path, a group who've dined on a century of obsequiousness that the world – including Canada – has fed them. The water might be choppy, but it's time we charted our own course, and make waves that count.
CTV News
7 hours ago
- CTV News
Tiny train models, vintage items on display at the Montreal Model Train Exhibition this weekend
Tiny train models and vintage items are on display at the Montreal Train Exhibition this weekend. Hundreds of vintage railway items, many of which visitors are allowed to operate, will be on display at the 36th edition of the Montreal Model Train Exposition this weekend. Since 1989, Ivan Dow has been organizing this model train expo, featuring many of his own collections. 'There's 240 tables of different things to look at and people selling things and modelers and all sorts of fun stuff going on,' he says. For example, families can try operating a vintage train set, says Dow. 'We have ones that they can drive the trains. We have ones on the floor. We have ones a little bit higher up in the air,' he says. Visitors can also marvel at Christian Desrosier's tiny recreation of the West Island train line extending into Hudson, complete with a diorama of Sandy Beach and Jack Layton Park. Hobbyist Georges Barre helped create this train-scape using photographs and satellite views to get the details right. 'The exciting thing with this hobbyist, you can use your imagination and bring your spirit to the layout,' he says. He also says visitors should be on the constant look-out for jokes tucked into the scenes, like tiny people on the roof of a brasserie. 'The staff are up there with the cases of beer, and the firemen are trying to get them down. They're not coming down,' jokes Barre. A handmade train set by CEGEP Gerald-Godin student Marc Provost has working signal lights. He explains how he became a model train enthusiast. 'When I was a kid, I lived right next to the railroad in the area. And then when I moved to Pointe-Claire, right next to the train line,' he says. And this expo has much more than trains. Look for miniature villages, tiny boats and full-size Meccano sets. 'Meccano is alive and well in Canada, mostly in Ontario, and there's several exhibitions in Ontario where mcanulty is shown, and that's where some pretty good model makers are. We have some good ones in Montreal too,' says collector Jim Bobyn. This year's show is a fundraiser for Sun Youth, the non-profit organization offering services from food assistance to emergency care. Proceeds from this weekend will go towards day camp and youth activities. 'It really goes to our kids, our youth programs. So all sports activities, we make sure the kids can have access to activities regardless of their family revenue,' Ann St-Arnaud of Sun Youth explains. Tickets cost $10 for children and $15 for adults. The model train expo is open June 7 and 8 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Edgar Rouleau Arena in Dorval.
CBC
9 hours ago
- CBC
The plight of the abandoned parrot: inside Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary
They're truly amazing animals, but they can also be not the easiest pet. They talk back. They're messy, and they might well outlive you. That's why every year, parrots are abandoned. And where do they end up? Radio-Canada's Alexandre Lamic takes us inside the Greyhaven Parrot refuge to meet some birds looking for a new home.
