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George Stroumboulopoulos among 78 named to Order of Canada

Published

9 months ago

December 28, 2023

Photo: The Canadian Press

When George Stroumboulopoulos thinks back on his TV career, it’s his time hosting The NewMusic in the early 2000s that resonates most.

Many Canadians remember how the gregarious host introduced them to bands and musicians on the MuchMusic program, and those years are part of the reason he is now being appointed to the Order of Canada.

“It was this golden era of television that I don’t think could ever be created again,” he told The Canadian Press in an interview.

Stroumboulopoulos went on to host his own show on CBC for a decade, followed by a stint on Hockey Night in Canada from 2014 to 2016.

He has interviewed everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Hilary Clinton to Snoop Dogg — but he said he never changed along the way.

“With very rare exceptions, I have been 100 per cent myself the whole way,” he said.

Stroumboulopoulos is one of 78 Canadians being awarded one of the country’s highest honours.

The list of new officers of the Order of Canada provided by the office of the Governor General includes Willie Adams, the first Inuit senator in Canada, guitar-maker Linda Manzer, editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder and pollster Nik Nanos.

Being promoted within the order are former MP and senator Serge Joyal, former MP, Cree chief and lawyer Wilton Littlechild and Dr. Ronald Stewart, who is recognized for his contributions to emergency medicine.

When Susanne Craig found out she was receiving the honour, the journalist was in the middle of a Zoom call with editors, finishing up a story on independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled in an interview. “And then I had to get right back on the call and close the story.”

Craig’s journalism in recent years has been as high-profile as it gets, reporting on former U.S. president Donald Trump’s taxes for the New York Times.

It’s investigative work that earned her a Pulitzer Prize in 2019, but it also came with challenges including death threats, and knowing that her work would be politicized.

“I think you just have to stand your ground,” she said. “I always think, to me, it is about journalism, and I think you have to sort of feel at the end of the day that what you’re doing, it is about the reporting.”

Also receiving the honour is Francine Lemire, a doctor who represented Canada in the Paralympics in the ’80s.

“In a way, it was a love story,” she said, describing her journey to the games.

Lemire is an above-the-knee amputee. Her now-husband “is a very good cross-country skier, and he is in fact the one who has been able to think through adjustments that would be required for me to be able to ski.”

In the 1984 games, she came in fourth in cross-country skiing. That’s the worst placing, she said — “you just missed out.”

“One needs to learn what there’s to learn from that, and try and turn the page and get ready for the next race. And it’s never very easy,” Lemire said, adding it was an experience that taught her the importance of planning and resilience.

Four years later, she won two gold medals at the 1988 Paralypmic Winter Games in Austria.

Lemire went on to practise as a family doctor in Corner Brook, N.L., for almost 25 years. And in 2022, she retired after 10 years as the president and CEO of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

“This recognition is also a validation for me of a lifetime commitment to family medicine both as a clinician, as well as organizationally,” she said.

Family doctors look after people from birth to death, and Lemire called it “an incredible privilege to be able to enter people’s lives for the little things and big things in their life, and make a contribution, even in a small way, to … a life worth living.”

In 2020, Flavio Volpe also found himself — improbably enough, as president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association — playing a part in the health care system.

Volpe’s job has included initiatives like Project Arrow, the first Canadian-made electric vehicle, and helping renegotiate Canada’s trade agreement with the United States and Mexico.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit in March 2020, there was “a dangerous shortage of critical medical goods” such as personal protective equipment and ventilators.

“We led a call here, the first in this country, of converting manufacturing from auto parts to PPE and ventilators. And we were successful in mobilizing what I think is the greatest peacetime mobilization of Canadian manufacturing history.”

Volpe, who is on the list of appointees to the order, describes it as his most fulfilling project.

“We didn’t do it for money. It certainly was a terrible time financially for everybody,” he said. “But when everybody was afraid, this industry stepped up and I’m proud to have – I want to say this humbly – I’m proud to have led that.”

Lino Saputo, another business personality being recognized by the Governor General, followed in his father’s footsteps to take the reins of his family’s eponymous cheese and dairy products company.

When Saputo was founded in Montreal in 1954, its products were delivered via bicycle. Now it’s one of the biggest dairy processors in the world.

“It’s not always that simple, as a third generation in a family business, to bring it to different a new level or new heights,” Saputo said.

Under his watch, the company has expanded, growing in the United States and moving into Argentina, Australia and the U.K.

“We’ve maintained that family spirit, we’ve maintained the focus on people, and that’s not always easy to do when you’re dealing with different countries and different cultures.”

Saputo is also being honoured for his philanthropy. He said he’s especially proud of a decade volunteering with United Way Centraide Canada.

Saputo said he hopes that “the involvement that I’ve had, both in business and in the community, that I’ve had the ability to change peoples’ lives for the better. That’s really been my mission, my focus and hopefully that’s what I’ll be remembered for.”

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Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

7 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

—

AP MLB:

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Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

8 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

AP tennis:

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Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

8 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

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