I've been interviewing stage performers, for my StratfordFestivalReviews.com website, about the creative process and people whose lives depend upon it...

For a city by the sea -- a port town that enthusiastically believes in its own "world-class" status -- Vancouver is a shockingly segregated place, a ...

Let's start with an experiment. Take 10 seconds to write down as many Canadian films as you can. Ok, so how many did you come up with? "Not many" is the answer I received when asking the question to random folks.

One reason the play is shocking: It is so badly written. The playwright, Beverley Cooper, used court transcripts and apparently knocked it together in a short time. It shows. If you have a couple of hours and want to know what really happened to Steven Truscott, you would be better off reading a book about him.

There are signs that the Group of Seven is finally hip with the Canadian people, even those who don't go to art galleries. At the end of last week's taping I took the TV crew to see the Group of Seven cemetery. We got there and I found that someone had taken the time to write fan letters to the long-dead artists and placed them in front of their rough-rock headstones.

Most areas of government funding are being trimmed, so why not arts grants too? A probable reason why the arts program escapes the Finance Minister's knife is because any cuts to the artsy set, results in a nation-wide howl that the Philistines are taking over. But to some, that's seen as public money funding someone's hobby.

I'm originally from Winnipeg and I have Twitter. So, when I read the headline "Rob Lowe calls Winnipeg a Hellhole," I was a little upset. When I read that Lowe actually made the comment while he was in a bar and the local TV station -- which was actually from North Dakota -- cut to a civic election while the Thunder were whupping the Heat... well, when I read that, I just kind of laughed.

Canada is a hockey nation and always will be a hockey nation. But we are a big country with a lot more going on. While hockey is in the penalty box, perhaps it's time to embrace our winners already at the podium. As a country we punch way above our weight in the arts. This weekend the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards celebrates its 20th anniversary as the nation's highest honour for our most notable artists.

Just like your personal insurance, municipal insurance costs keep escalating, and it's you, the taxpayers, who pay these spiralling premiums. You're getting hit by a double whammy: home and town insurance.