josh o'kane

How Doug Ford made the drug problem on the TTC worse If we want to see less public drug use and people sheltering on transit, we must begin by reopening and expanding supervised consumption sites and by addressing housing unaffordability.

My latest for @thestar.com. Increasing surveillance and extending police powers doesn’t solve homelessness or drug use on transit — it merely opens up the broader public to arbitrary punishment, including the potential for jail time and $10,000 fines. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Non-writers are wondering why in the replies, and it's basically math. Authors typically make a few bucks or less /copy and even a Big 5 book can sell <10k and that might even meet expectations (depending). Like all things in capitalism, it's uneven, with a small minority of authors selling lots.

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back The retailer sees its program as a chance to put non-fiction, particularly by Canadian authors, in front of new readers

I remember, @joshokane.bsky.social, but my paperbacks used to fit in small purses—in Hoi Bo stitches, Arket clutches, and Ölend shoulder bags.

Calgary Public Library announces residency for an artist who uses AI. Not everyone is on board | CBC News The library is offering a 10-week community engagement residency, to be awarded to one artist “in any discipline who [uses] AI ethically as a collaborative partner in their creative process,” the CPL ...

The headline here is kinda ambiguous. When I first read it, I thought they announced a new artist in residence, and it was someone who has used AI in their art.

Nope! They are soliciting applications for an artist residency, and specify that the candidate *must* use AI.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back The retailer sees its program as a chance to put non-fiction, particularly by Canadian authors, in front of new readers

This is fascinating as it is the opposite of what others are doing ...

www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...

2026 Oscars predictions: Who will win, and who should win From Sinners to One Battle After Another to Jessie Buckley and Rose Byrne, here are our best guesses and hopes

Ignore Polymarket, I'm your one-man Oscars betting machine: Who will win, who should win, and who shoulda been a contender at this Sunday's Academy Awards. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...

Live Nation reaches settlement with DOJ in antitrust fight Justice Department had accused the company of building an illegal ticketing and events monopoly.

Yasmin Khorram | Live Nation Reaches Settlement w/ DOJ In Antitrust Fight - Limits To Length Of Term + Level Of Exclusivity For Ticketmaster Contracts, Disposal Of Some Amphitheatres And $200M In Damages | @politico.com

www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

Happy Gary Retrograde everyone!

The next two weeks are the only two weeks out of the year when Gary Numan is older than Gary Oldman

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back The retailer sees its program as a chance to put non-fiction, particularly by Canadian authors, in front of new readers

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back /via @theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
#books #publishing

Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid speaks out against N.S. arts cuts: ‘The arts are why I live in Nova Scotia’ Artists and arts-industry workers have issued warnings after the province axed $130-million in provincial grants

Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid speaks out against N.S. arts cuts: ‘The arts are why I live in Nova Scotia’ - The Globe and Mail www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back The retailer sees its program as a chance to put non-fiction, particularly by Canadian authors, in front of new readers

This is interesting: Indigo's experimenting with a niche nonfiction mass-market thing. Is there a world where MMPs become, like, prestige items? Maybe. Am I envious of the authors whose titles got tapped for this? Absolutely.

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back The retailer sees its program as a chance to put non-fiction, particularly by Canadian authors, in front of new readers

Canadian bookseller Indigo is experimenting with mass-market paperbacks (for new Canadian nonfiction):

www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...

I feel like Ian and Steve covered the Kill Taker sessions rather extensively with me when they were on the show:

vishkhanna.com/2015/11/12/e...

and the 33 1/13 book that @joegross.bsky.social wrote delves into it extensively, so I'd check those things out for more insight

Remember paperbacks that fit in your pocket? Indigo’s trying to bring them back The retailer sees its program as a chance to put non-fiction, particularly by Canadian authors, in front of new readers

New from me: Remember pocket-sized mass-market paperbacks? Indigo is trying to bring them back from the dead – one Canadian non-fiction book at a time www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protestor A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the ...

New from 404 Media: Proton Mail, the privacy-focused email service, gave authorities data that let the FBI unmask an anonymous 'Stop Cop City' protester. It was payment data linked to the anonymous email account. From that, FBI ID'd them, then tracked their movements www.404media.co/proton-mail-...

Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid speaks out against N.S. arts cuts: ‘The arts are why I live in Nova Scotia’ Artists and arts-industry workers have issued warnings after the province axed $130-million in provincial grants

'The proposed cuts would be devastating, and would drive even more talent out of the province....Please don’t do this”
Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid speaks out against arts cuts: ‘The arts are why I live in Nova Scotia’ @theglobeandmail.com www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...
#defendnsbooks

New: the Art Gallery of Ontario's deputy director + chief curator, Julian Cox, is leaving in April. No reasoning given, but worth noting AGO is under deep scrutiny over its governance re the Nan Goldin saga, and it hasn't begun searching for a replacement
ago.ca/press-releas...

Fitch Downgrades Paramount After Warner Bros. Deal Announcement The $81 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery is highly complex and poses credit risks, Fitch Ratings said.

After Warner Bros. deal, Paramount's debt has been downgraded to junk status

Basically, the ratings agency thinks the combined entity faces a ton of competition & there's a risk the entire enterprise fails -- debt attached to it is therefore high-risk

www.wsj.com/business/med...

Nova Scotia budget cuts publishing grant in blow to sector Program’s end is a major blow to independent publishers trying to carry the torch of Canadian storytelling

'It’s a huge loss to future generations of Nova Scotians who won’t hear their stories'
N.S. budget cuts publishing grant in blow to sector
www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/arti...
#DefendNSBooks @theglobeandmail.com @writersfedofns.bsky.social @afterwordsliterary.bsky.social @nimbuspub.bsky.social

Nova Scotia budget cuts publishing grant in blow to sector Program’s end is a major blow to independent publishers trying to carry the torch of Canadian storytelling

New: The elimination of Nova Scotia’s publishing funding has left the book sector reeling in a province that often depends on its independent houses to preserve its history and tell its stories.

Some worry it could set a precedent for other provinces www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/arti...

Ford government unveils designs for proposed Ontario Science Centre despite opposition Cost for planned facility on Toronto’s waterfront is about $1-billion, including a 30-year maintenance contract, premier says

My confusing day: Government claims the new, smaller proposed building will actually have more "exhibition space" than its shuttered predecessor, despite releasing numbers showing it in fact has less -- and then couldn't explain itself.
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Wonder how TIFF feels about Doug Ford calling the Metro Toronto Convention Centre “one of the worst convention centres anywhere in the world,” as the festival stakes its upcoming multi-million-dollar content market on ... the attractiveness of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The Public Lending Right (PLR) Program It pays to have your books in Canada’s libraries! Learn more about the Public Lending Right Program

Canadian authors, remember to register your books for the PLR program by May 1! For the first time, you are no longer required to mail things in—you can do it online.