While the public has loudly protested funding cuts to areas like education and autism support, cuts to arts and culture have gotten less attention. So how are the arts doing under the Ford Government? What are they supporting? And what art does Doug Ford actually like?

The paper will be down to just news and business as standalone sections at least four days a week

When it came to Canadian arts administration, Jeff Melanson was the king. Until his messy annulment papers from frozen food heiress Eleanor McCain alleged that he left more than just administrative damage in his wake from the National Ballet School, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Banff Centre for the Arts. Anne Kingston dives deep into the hushed world of Canadian arts institutions.

Stephen Marche co-hosts on coverage of Rob Ford in life and death, CBC funding and CBC’s pledge to eliminate anonymous comments.

Jeff Melanson was the Canadian arts & culture institution’s golden boy,  a “rock star arts administrator,” feted by the press and given prestigious positions at Canada’s top art institutions. Then he made a mess during his tenure at the Banff Centre, and has since been accused by his estranged wife of all sorts of professional misconduct. What is happening at these institutions, and do we reward failure in Canada? David Silcox was the Globe & Mail’s art critic, president of Sotheby’s Canada, Arts Officer of the Canada Council, and author of several books about Canadian art. CORRECTION: Jesse misstates that Marsha Lederman’s profile of Melanson ran in 2012, when in fact it ran in 2014. 

As Wab Kinew campaigns in Manitoba, the media has seized on his misogynistic rap lyrics from the past. A reporter for The Rebel claims she was doused in pee and the story only gets stupider the closer you look. And have we reached peak Justin Trudeau?

About that thing with Scaachi...

Music critic Chandler Levack joins Jesse to talk about The Rebel, Canadian coverage of the Grammys and a decline in news consumption.

The Parliamentary Poet Laureate talks about working for a pioneering black MP, Canada's multitude of black histories and his problem with telephone companies.