This summer’s Shakespeare in High Park offers two plays, Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew, in an outdoor setting that’s close to the action. I saw The Taming of the Shrew last night and can report that it’s a popular romp of a production that drew a sellout crowd including lots of families with young children. I am not sure, however, that it is family fare. The Taming of the Shrew has never been among my favourite Shakespearean plays. While the work has spawned Broadway and other iterations, its theme of taking the rebellious Kate and bending her into...

The rest of Canada hates Toronto, right? The venom is so virulent that it infects Torontonians who debunk their city as riddled with gridlock, run by a boor, has an affront for a waterfront and can’t mount a professional team that’s a winner. (Except for the Argos and they don’t count.) In recent days I’ve read disparaging things about the Ted Rogers statue at the Rogers Centre, a restaurant where the chef spent too much time in the front of the house and, of course, the weather. There’s always something wrong with the weather: too humid, too cold at night,...

What is it about women that they will forgive their husbands any peccadillo? According to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, the reason Huma Abedin continues to support and remain with Internet sleaze Andrew Weiner is that she was raised in Saudi Arabia where women are taught to toe the line. But that doesn’t explain why Ms. Abedin’s former boss, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, stayed with Bill, her serial philandering husband. Hilary was born and raised in Chicago. Chicago is also the setting for The Good Wife, the popular evening soap starring Julianna Margulies, who stood by her man,...

The $12-billion takeover of Shoppers Drug Mart by Loblaws has much to recommend it. First, shareholders are happy, particularly Shoppers shareholders who are up more than 20 per cent. Loblaws and George Weston (I hold the latter) have risen less than 4 per cent on the news, but still, every bit helps. Second, according to the information released at the time of the announcement, there will be $300 million in cost savings by the third year of the merged entity. Third, it’s an all-Canadian deal, and I’m always in favour of home-grown. On the downside, another publicly owned Canadian firm...

I finally watched the six shows I taped that first aired July 1 on CPAC when Catherine Clark interviewed all six living former prime ministers for her show, Beyond Politics. What a concept! What a disappointment! Too much time is spent during each of the 30-minute sessions rummaging around in the younger years of the men. (More about the only woman, Kim Campell, in a moment.) In the case of Catherine’s father, Joe, as well as John Turner, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien, and Paul Martin Jr., the questions too often let the PMs talk about familiar ground: Clark as a...

The announcement by Marjory LeBreton that she is resigning as Government Leader in the Senate brings to an end – almost – one of the longest-serving working lives – 50 years – of anyone on Parliament Hill. I say almost because she will continue to sit as a Senator for another two years before retiring at 75. Marjory demonstrates the classic case of how women in her generation got ahead. They started at the bottom and worked their way up by dint of sheer effort, moxie and common sense, characteristics she has in abundance. Marjory started working for the Progressive...

I’ve been fortunate over the years to travel tens of thousands of miles in Canada. There’s more yet to see, but here are a few of my favourite sights so far. The steep streets of St. John’s with colourful houses tipping into the sea. The best nap ever one afternoon on the sloping grass outside the Hotel Goose in Gander. A double rainbow over Keltic Lodge after driving Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail. Irish Coffee in the Victory Bar of the Lord Nelson Hotel one unusually cold day in July. The two evocative sites near St. Margaret’s Bay commemorating the crash...

When I wrote my first blog post about my new BlackBerry Q10 a week after I’d acquired it, I was basically happy. Worth the wait, I said. Now that six more weeks have passed, I can say that I like the phone, texting, the camera and the ability to share photos. But I am revising my overall view and am joining the growing chorus of frustrated owners. I am still having trouble, as I indicated earlier, knowing what type of action to use and with what amount of vigour. When closing contacts or calls on the screen, you have to use...