This Week on The Hour.....

Monday , Mar 31st

Sheryl Crowe

Her new album questions political and environmental policies.
She's trying to encourage artists to stop being distracted by lightweight topics & write about what's going on in the world. Will it work?

Morgan Spurlock

Shooting more than 800 hrs of digital footage exploring the Middle East,
could this Super Size Me filmmaker have found Osama bin Laden?

Tuesday, Apr 1st

Aimee Mullins

Having both legs amputated at one year old, Paralympic athlete models for Kenneth Cole's spring 2008 campaign - “We All Walk in Different Shoes.” with a mantra stating:
“What you stand for is more important than what you stand in. To be aware is more important than what you wear.”

Jim Balsillie

CEO, Philanthropist, and the man who brought the Blackberry to the masses.

Wednesday, Apr 2nd

Chuck Thompson

Travel writer, editor, and photographer to plug his book: "Smile When You're Lying"
"If there is such a pastime as extreme tourism, Chuck Thompson is surely its guru."
—Boston Globe

John Cusack

Producer, writer, and actor in his new film, 'WAR INC.'
A dark political satire reportedly inspired partly by Naomi Kline's article, "Baghdad Year Zero"

Thursday, April 3rd

Jeffrey Buttle

Recently winning a gold medal in Sweden & Canada's 1st men's world championship in 11 yrs.

Alex Caine

Author, black-belt martial artist & advisor on biker investigations, is releasing his first book:
"Befriend & Betray"

Friday, Apr 4th

Your guess is as good as mine, folks....
Enjoy!

Smart Governance or Censorship???

The Charles McVety interview on Wednesday's edition of The Hour has created a maelstrom of talk regarding Bill C-10 and the effect it will have on the Canadian Film and Television industry. In Facebook groups like: "Keep your censoring hands off of Canadian film and TV! No to Bill C-10!", or "Support Bill C-10" or even "What's So Bad About Bill C-10?" you can find a lot of good information about what's going on all sides with this bill. I mention only three groups here, but there are many more groups out there.

There's a lot going on with this issue, so here's a few places to check out if you want to learn more about what the amendment to the Income Tax Act means and the players involved.

To read the actual verbiage of the tax bill, check out the the Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (aka Bill C-10).

Charles McVety is the president of the Canada Family Action Coalition. There's talk that he's the one that convinced the government to put this amendment through. If you're not really sure who they are or what they stand for? Quoting directly from their "about us" section, CFAC's primary principles are:

The policies, statements, views, and strategies of Canada Family Action
Coalition are founded upon the Bible.
The following principles guide the
issues we may address on a provincial or national level:
• We believe the Judeo-Christian moral tradition is foundational to Canadian society
• We believe that all Canadians have the right to express and practice publicly their
religious beliefs, and that Government has a duty to respect and safeguard those
rights.
• We believe that the family, based on the marriage of a husband
and wife of the opposite sex, is central to the fabric of society. We believe in
policies which protect the inherent right and responsibility of parents in the
raising and education of their children.
• We believe in the inherent dignity of human life, from conception to natural death.
• We believe in the mutual responsibility of all citizens to be active in community life and participate in the democratic political process.

They have an active campaign and petition going supporting this amendment. Their take on why having this amendment pass is a good thing is an interesting read. You can check it out here.

ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, are against the implementation of Bill C-10. The National ACTRA website has a good rundown about why Bill C-10 is a bad idea. They are also encouraging a letter writing campaign to the government.

The Director's Guild of Canada issued a "strongly worded letter" to the government at the end of February. You can read the press release about it here.

The CFTPA, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, also released a statement on March 2, regarding this bill.

Other recent interviews on The Hour with players in the Canadian Film and Television industry have discussed Bill C-10 and it's ramifications include:

Paul Gross (orginally aired March 20, 2008)
Nicholas Campbell (originally aired March 6, 2008)
Mary Walsh (originally aired March 26, 2008)

I also searched each Party's website for their stance on Bill C-10:

Conservative Party of Canada: I haven't found any official statement from the party itself regarding the bill.
Liberal Party of Canada: A press release was issued March 5th.
The New Democratic Party of Canada: I could not find any statement on their website.
The Bloc Quebecois: There is a video clip of party leader Gilles Duceppe making a statement regarding Bill C-10. (It's in French.)
The Green Party of Canada: I could not find a statement on their website.

Whether you're for or against this amendment, let the government know what you think...

Contact your Senator and let them know what you want them to do with this bill. Since it has now passed the House of Commons, it's up to the Senate to quash it unless the government withdraws the amendment. Not sure who represents you in the senate? You can find out who represents you in the senate here.

Contact your Member of Parliament. As George said on the show Wednesday, the bill passed through the House of Commons with support from all parties... yet no debate was brought up about this amendment. So either they agree with the amendment or they didn't read it. Find out what your Member of Parliament thinks of the bill. Not sure who your Member of Parliament is? You can find out here.

If this amendment goes through, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, the Honorable Josée Verner, will be the one (along with a committee apparently) who will make the decision about which projects gets tax credits and who doesn't.

Let Prime Minister Stephen Harper know what you think about Bill C-10 and the impact it will have on the Canadian Film and Television industry.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months with this bill. If you've found an interesting source of information about either side of the issue, leave us a comment and let us know.

This Week on The Hour...

After we've all OD'ed on chocolate bunnies and pastel jelly beans, it's time to get back down to business. Did everyone have a good holiday weekend? Good.

ON THE STROMBO SHOW - SUNDAY, MARCH 23


Danko Jones, the Toronto based hard rock trio, drops into the Edge Studios to chat with George about their new release Never Too Loud.

The Strombo Show airs on the Corus Radio network, from 5-8 EST (2-5 EST) in Toronto, Hamilton, London, Winnipeg and Vancouver. If you're not in those cities, you can stream the show from The Edge's website.

ON THE HOUR -

MONDAY, MARCH 24

Well, the crew at The Hour get the extra long weekend (lucky ducks), so let's flashback to a couple of our recent favourites...

A stickler for doing it right the first time, Mike Holmes has made a name among home owners as their saving grace when all goes wrong with their renovations. While his open and frank exposure of sloppy workmanship hasn't made him a lot of friends in the contractor's world, Holmes was recently recognised in the House of Commons as an "extraordinary craftsperson" and "an accomplished master builder with a social conscience".



Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. In his latest book, In Defense of Food, author Michael Pollan firmly believes that as a society, we need to rethink how we eat and what we eat. Why? Because we're not eating food anymore, we're eating ingredients. Pollan believes the shift towards modified food is essentially killing us, and that we need to go back to the food that our grandparents ate. Real food... with minimal interference.




TUESDAY, MARCH 25

With four albums under her belt, Chantal Kreviazuk has made her mark on the music scene as a singer-songwriter. Recently, she and her husband, Raine Maida, collaborated with artists like Avril Lavigne and Kelly Clarkson. Kreviazuk is also a staunch supporter of War Child Canada, an organization dedicated to "providing urgently needed humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the world", and visited Ethiopia last fall to see how the orphans of AIDS were working to survive.


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26


As president of the Canada Family Action Coalition and Canada Christian College in Toronto, Charles McVety, is probably best known for his work to repeal the Same Sex Marriage Law (Bill C-38). Well, McVety has a new target, the Canadian Film Industry. If Bill C-10 goes through, the government could deny Canadian film makers the tax credits needed to finance their film projects.

This will be McVety's second appearance on The Hour. He first appeared on the show to discuss the same sex marriage issue on October 19, 2006.

One of the hardest working women in Canadian Film and Television, Mary Walsh is known for creating This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and for her varied work in projects like CODCO, Mambo Italiano and The Boys of St. Vincent. Her most recent projects include the television series Hatching, Matching and Dispatching and the movie Young Triffie. Starting in May, Walsh will take on the title of "college professor" as she embarked on teaching a class on 18th century literature and satirical writing at MUN with her husband Don Nichol.
This will be the second time on the show for Walsh, she went to the Newsstand with George back on February 1, 2006.

THURSDAY, MARCH 27




Omar Samad, has held the title of ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada since September 2004. Before becoming ambassador, Samad was the Spokesperson for the Afghani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Samad joins George in studio, to discuss affairs in Afghanistan and Canada's continuing military role.





Starting out in rival bands in high school, the members of Sum 41 have ridden the rocket to fame, selling over 10 million albums globally. Now, as they resume the Canadian tour they had to cancel late last year due to Deryck Whibley's back injury at a concert in Calgary, the members of Sum 41 drop in to The Hour studios for a chat.


FRIDAY, MARCH 28

And of course, Friday will bring us the best of the week...

RANDOM STUFF

Don't forget to vote in Round Four for the Greatest Thing Ever... Babies versus Swimming Pools.

For the Margaret Cho fans out there, she will be pretaping an interview with George in The Hour studios on Friday, April 4th at 4pm. Ticket information.

Cheers!

Respect in Sport

Sheldon Kennedy gave a fantastic interview on The Hour last night. I'll admit I knew very little about Kennedy and his past, so I found it all very interesting, shocking, but unfortunately not at all surprising. Being the curious person I am, I felt the need to check out his organization's website: Respect in Sport.

I think it's a fantastic organization and one that should be well supported. If it helps Canadian kids to have a fun, safe experience in sport, then it's definitely a good thing. I recommend that anyone who is in sport, or who knows people in sport should take a look at this website.

Last night was Kennedy's second apperance on The Hour. He first appeared on The Hour back on May 24, 2006.

The week ahead...something for everyone...

Monday, March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

"There are three kinds of people in the world: those who are Irish;

those who wish they were and those who have no ambition."

~ origin unknown

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a journalist for nearly twenty years, Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. In 2002 he received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism and his team won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for coverage of global terrorism.

As a best-selling author, his previous book What Every Person Should Know About War , examined the the effects of war on combatants. Last year he released, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, which explored the growth of a movement that is slowly integrating church with state.

His latest book, entitled I Don't Believe in Atheists, takes on the ideology of the "new atheists", such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.

Depending upon how old you are, your first recollection of Toronto-born Catherine O'Hara might vary. In the 1970's, Catherine was a member of The Second City comedy troupe and THAT decade the comedy group created SCTV. Fast-forward to the 80's and you may remember her as "Delia" in Beetle Juice. In 90's she played "Kevin's mom" Kate McCallister in the Home Alone movies. Most recently, Catherine has been seen in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Christopher Guest's "mockumentaries" Best in Show and For Your Consideration. She has contributed voice-over work to Chicken Little and Over the Hedge.

As if being an Gemini & Emmy Award winning actress and comedian isn't enough, she is also a singer and songwriter, with her musical talents being featured in the film A Mighty Wind.

Tuesday, March 18

Manitoba native, Sheldon Kennedy was fortunate to live the dream of many Canadian children. Not only was he a member of a gold medal winning World Junior Hockey team, but he also played in the NHL. But his life was anything but idyllic. In 1996, Sheldon revealed that for five years he had endured sexual abuse inflicted upon him by his minor-hockey league coach. His story made headlines across the nation.

Ten years later he wrote his autobiography, Why I Didn't Say Anything, which chronicled his ordeal and subsequent drug addiction.

Since his revelation, Sheldon has gone on to help fellow victims of sexual abuse by launching his own ranch as a healing and counselling centre for sexually abused children.

Question: What do the following have in common?

This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Just for Laughs. Cedric the Entertainer. 24. Unhitched.

Answer: Shaun Majumder.

Born in Newfoundland, Shaun Majumder is one of the funniest, yet most versatile performers around. In case you haven't seen him in action, here he is...as 'himself' and as one of his signature characters "Raj Binder"...

Wednesday, March 19

To some, actress Jenny McCarthy may simply be known as a Playboy Playmate. To parents of autistic children, she is an activist. In 2005 when her son Evan was diagnosed with autism, she began researching the disorder and discovered what conventional medicine seemed to be missing: symptoms of autism could be improved or reversed through detoxification, diet modification and vitamins. McCarthy claims that after a radical change in her son's diet, he was able to speak.

Jenny has written a book about her experiences with autism entitled Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism.

For five years, Bob Rae served as Ontario's 21st Premier. Many Ontarians remember him for the infamous NDP "Rae Days". Since leaving provincial politics, Rae has continued his public service in the of roles as a negotiator and advisor on a variety of issues ranging from native disputes to education. . In 2006 he made an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the federal Liberal Party. On March 17th, Rae won a federal by-election and will be heading to Ottawa as new MP.

Thursday, March 20

Canadian television, screen and stage actor Paul Gross.

Friday, March 21

"The good old hockey game, it's the best game you can name..."

This Friday, George and his hockey team will be participating in the 10th Annual Exclaim! Hockey Summit for the Arts. An important aspect of this event, besides the hockey, is the an opportunity to make donations to two very worthy causes: The Daily Bread Food Bank and ArtsCan Circle.

warchild.ca

'Tis funny sometimes how life plays out......Kinda cool, kinda crazy, kinda awesome.
Just last night I was chatting with the Stroumboulopouli girls about how inspirational & engaging Jennifer Nutt's interview was with George on The Hour, and was interested in blogging about it here. This morning while checking out my page on MySpace, I had received a comment from
Impact Canada:

"This week we are focusing on humanitarian efforts made by fellow Canadians. We’re honoured to have you in our top friends and we hope you’ll drop by and visit the page. Educate. Inspire. Empower."
~Impact Canada

Feeling extremely honored, I checked out their page again and saw they had featured a guest blog, from none other than: Jennifer Nutt.

Her blog piece was an extremely interesting read and a few things stood out, but I think what spoke to me the most was:
"But we will only begin to effect change when each and every one of us decides that enough is enough. When we decide that we will not support this irrepressible cycle of violence, that we choose instead to invest - through our donations, through our public policy, and through our consumer practices - in peace at the expense of war, and not in war at the expense of peace. There is no other way."

It really is amazing what she has done in co-founding War Child Canada, the personal selfless work & risks she has put into helping the children, women & communities ravaged by war in so many countries.

I love that The Hour has brought to my attention so many inspirational people & causes, from all walks of life, and the pride they seem to show in featuring Canadians who really do make an impact in our world.
Thanks guys!

*For those of you that would like an evening of music & contributing to the cause, Roz Bell and Low Level Flight, in addition to announcing their tour, have teamed up to donate a portion of the proceeds to War Child Canada.

Check out both of these bands on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/rozbell
http://www.myspace.com/lowlevelflight

March 19 – Kingston, ON – The Ale House
March 27 – Toronto, ON – Revivial
April 3 – Hamilton, ON – The Casbah (Acoustic Performance)

Confirmed... Season Five!

In a media release late last Friday, CBC confirmed that The Hour will return in the 2008/2009 season for its fifth season "with A-list interviews and his take on world events".

CBC's new dramas The Border, Heartland and The Tudors will return with their second seasons.

Also returning to CBC next season, our favourite Canadian comedies: The Rick Mercer Report, Air Farce Live, Little Mosque on the Prarie and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

And for the Steven and Chris fans, they will continue to "to add a little bit of fabulous to daytime programming" next season!

Starting with Sunday

For the Week of March 9 th to March 14
-----------------
If you haven't already, don't forget to turn forward your clocks an hour for Daylight Savings Time!

George is in Los Angeles this weekend, but if he can get a flight out of LA as planned, he will be live on
The Strombo Show this Sunday 5 pm EST.

There are about 10 hours to spare between arrival home and show time but with the snow here in Toronto it may be a close thing.

Don't you just love that scarf?

On the Strombo Show this Sunday, George talks to Yoav.... check them out on their myspace link they may be playing in a town near you soon.

--------------------------------------------

The Hour

News from the set of The Hour: they have a new look and new merchandise! If you attend a taping of the show, you can purchase your fill of new Hour merchandise right outside the studio.

Left to Right: The new mug, the new T-Shirt and a new look to the set.

Last week, on Round One of Greatest Thing Ever "Sex versus the Wheel", Sex won by a landslide. George is very proud of you.

Round Two this week, "Democracy vs Sleep"

Don't forget to vote for 'em at http://cbc.ca/thehour

Monday March 10 th on The Hour

Hip-hop artist RZA

RZA is the Wu-Tang Clan’s chief producer.

Also known as the Abbott, Prince Rakeem, Rzarector, Bobby Steels and Bobby Digital. He was born as Robert Diggs.

--

Major General Patrick Cammaert

Division Commander of the UN peacekeeping forces in Eastern Congo.

Tuesday march 11

Actress, spokesperson and subject of gossip, is here to talk about her new memoir.
Valerie Bertinelli

Hungry?
If you want to hear about food fights, Raj Patel knows all about it.

Wednesday March 12

Just when I though I Thought I’d Seen Everything

Canadian songsmith Bryan Adams sits down with George to talk about his career and new release.

Plus

New * Documentary filmmaker Peter Raymont talks about his latest film that looks at the Canadian Tar Sands.

Thursday March 13

New *Starbuck aka Katee Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica will be visiting.

A spotlight on Dr. Samantha Nutt with her work for War Child Canada.
According to UN estimates, there are at least 300,000 child soldiers worldwide, says Dr. Samantha Nutt, executive director of War Child Canada.

"Kids make great combatants, and I say that with great despair," Dr. Nutt says. "They are compliant, they are easily intimidated, they'll take risks, they follow instructions and they can be brutalized into submission."

Friday is the best of the week and sometimes from other weeks...

This Week on The Hour....

Bold. Powerful. Creative.

Words to describe the exciting lineup of guests. Get the PVR set up kids because here's a taste of the week ahead on The Hour. If you check out the photos... you'll see that there is good reason Moby and Alex Gibney aren't on the SAME edition. Hello! Doppelganger alert!

Also... a quick plug for a VERY exciting guest on March 2nd's Strombo Show!


Monday March 3rd

Alex Gibney


The trailer for Gibney's Oscar winning documentary for 'Taxi to the Dark Side' proclaims - It's Not about Left or Right. It's about Right and Wrong. Inspired by the story of the torture death in the American prison at Bagram Afganistan of a young Afgani taxi driver named Dilawar - labelled a terrorist by a paid informant who in fact was the REAL terrorist; the film is a powerful examination - ultimately an indictment - of the Bush Administration's disregard for maintaining a standard of human rights guaranteed under International Law.


Kathleen Edwards






Her Bio proclaims 'Most people put out records more frequently than every three years' Kathleen Edwards is not most people. Ottawa born singer/ songwriter Edwards is a critical darling - with good reason. A reviewer said of Edwards "An honest, penetrating voice offering up images in beautiful detail." Perhaps you were fortunate to see her perform with the Jim Cuddy Band last Fall? Her vocals and impressive fiddle playing added an exuberant tone and new level of musicality to the experience. Her latest release "Asking For Flowers" hits on March 4th. She's slated to tour this Spring as well!





Tuesday March 4th

Princess Zulu

Imagine you come from the African nation of Zambia where it's projected that over 20% of the adult population is thought to be HIV positive. You've lost your baby sister, mother and father to the disease. You become pregnant at 14, marry at 17 and then discover that you too are HIV positive.


Princess Kasune Zulu doesn't have to imagine it. She lived it - and continues to live it with optimism and purpose. In her home country, she hitchhiked to spread the message of prevention, treatment and care for HIV/AIDS to truckers and eventually had a national radio show. Speaking Internationally now- she is a determined and inspirational advocate. She's not Royal - Princess is her given name - but her dignity and grace will impress as though she were.


Dallas Green

And the award for musical chameleon goes to Mr. Dallas Green. A trip to Myspace tells us what we need to know. my name is dallas. i cant sleep. i play music. finish strong.


As a vocalist and guitarist for Alexisonfire he's a major player in the Hardcore music scene. Alexisonfire enjoys a fiercely loyal fanbase - deservedly so. Their songs possess a complexity and depth not always found in modern music of this genre.

His solo work through City and Colour is acoustic gold. Plain and simple. The latest - 'Bring Me Your Love' is described by a reviewer as 'tastefully decorated with minimal overdubs and warm production, these candlelit confessions are the epitome of understated beauty.'



Wednesday March 5th

Danny Williams


Strong talking Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams enjoys an unprecedented level of popular support. His October 2007 reelection was a proverbial arse kicking with his Progressive Conservatives winning 43 seats to the Liberals 3 and the NDP's lone seat. Perhaps only Newfoundland's favourite son, Rick Mercer is more popular. Perhaps not.

Determined to capitalize on his Province's oil and gas reserves to move Newfoundland and Labrador from a 'have not' Province to self sufficiency, he's not without critics. One veteran journalist - Craig Westcott has painted Williams as power-mad saying 'Danny Williams loves power. He lives for it. He revels in it.' Buckle up....



Moby

Groundbreaking musician Moby is a paradox. At once a quiet spoken vegan artist known for creating electronic and dance music who regularly DJ's at clubs and a canny businessman who engineered the licensing for commercial purposes EVERY single track from his seminal 1999 CD, Play. He offers his music for free to non profit film makers on Moby Gratis. His new effort - Last Night hits in March.



Tune in... George and Moby talk Tofurkey on Wednesday. Yes, I said Tofurkey.



Wednesday March 6th

Nicholas Campbell

The consummate character actor, Nicholas Campbell was a fixture on Canadian television for 7 years on DaVinci's Inquest and one year on DaVinci's City Hall. He now stars in a new effort on CBC - The Englishman's Boy.


His life story is as compelling as his work. While he enjoyed a steady, healthy paycheque he was equally adept at frittering it away. An honest and raw profile in the latest edition of Macleans reveals how Nicholas Campbell threw it all away.


Sean Gilfillan




What kind of world and opportunities do soldiers face upon their return home? For Sean, an avid music fan - his tour of duty left him seeking a new purpose, which he directed into the formation of a record label dedicated exclusively to recording the many talented musicians in the military. While their first CD was Hip-Hop, To the Fallen Records features artists in all genres of music and is proud to give back by supporting military charities.


It's not About Politics. It's About Music.





And in Other Hourly Topics

Make your voice heard. Vote! Round Two of The Greatest Thing Ever kicks off this week!
Last week's epic battle of Sex vs. The Wheel represented a great start to the elimination rounds. This week's head to head match up hasn't yet been revealed but if the Grilled Cheese Sandwich didn't make it somewhere into the top 8, I will have lost all faith in democracy.




TONIGHT - On the Radio Dial!



Featured guest on the Strombo Show Sunday March 2nd is Eugene Hutz of Gypsy Punk group Gogol Bordello - in Toronto for a show TONIGHT! Eugene will join George for a live chat....



What's Gypsy Punk you may ask? Mindblowing is the answer. Listen and you'll understand. You may already know Gogol Bordello...they're the amazingly energetic musicians that joined Miss Carbon Footprint herself - Madonna - during her Live 8 performance.

Join in the frenetic fun of the Strombo Show each Sunday night on the Corus Radio Network from 5pm ET - 8pm ET. Listen online at edge.ca.