Skip to main content

Sir John A. Macdonald birthday celebration, Toronto

Celebrations were held across Canada recently to mark the 200th birthday of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first PM. In Toronto, some 400 guests – many dressed in 19th-century garb – gathered at the Fairmont Royal York on Jan. 10 for a dinner hosted by the local chapter of Friends of Sir John A. Macdonald. The evening included a host of themed performances by the likes of R. H. Thomson (who delivered a dramatic reading of the Macdonald eulogy originally given in the House of Commons by Sir Wilfrid Laurier), Mary Lou Fallis (in character as Dame Emma Albani, a Canadian opera star of the era), Peter Tiefenbach, Norman Nurmi and Catherine Morrow. Former PM Kim Campbell and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne were also on hand to unveil Holding Court, a tribute in bronze to the man of the hour by sculptor Ruth Abernethy. Others in attendance included Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Ojibway elder Gary Sault of Mississauga’s New Credit Nation, author and Macdonald biographer Richard Gwyn, Manulife executive VP Stephen Sigurdson, David Tyler and Lani Wilson of the Ontario Archives and Toronto’s Deputy Police Chief, Peter Sloly.

From left, Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell and former Prime Minister Kim Campbell. (Photos by Tom and Aline Sandler)

Ojibway elder Gary Sault and Niru Kumar.

Toronto Deputy Police Chief Peter Sloly and Leyla Sloly.

Schitt’s Creek post-screening party, Toronto

On Jan. 12, the night before some 1.4 million viewers took it in on CBC, the premier episode of the new Eugene Levy-Catherine O’Hara comedy series Schitt’s Creek was screened for a VIP audience at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. The show, a richesto– rags tale centred around a wealthy family that suddenly finds itself flat broke and is forced to live in the less-thanfabulous town of the title, marks the first from Not A Real Company Productions Inc., the Toronto-based firm founded by series star Levy and his son Daniel, formerly of MTV Canada and also in Schitt’s Creek (Eugene plays a video-store tycoon and Dan is his on-screen son, a Rick-Owens– wearing gallerist). After the screening, a bash was held to cap off the evening. Among those sticking around were SCTV alum Andrea Martin, TV writer (and Mrs. Eugene Levy) Deborah Divine, Roots co-founder Michael Budman, Canadian Film Centre CEO Slawko Klymkiw, former fashion designer Jeremy Laing and husband Frank Griggs, producer Andrew Barnsley, actors Peter Mooney and Sarah Power, interior designer Tommy Smythe and Holt Renfrew’s Lisa Tant.

From left, Eugene Levy, Deborah Divine and Daniel Levy. (Photos courtesy of CBC)

Schitt’s Creek actors Chris Elliott and Annie Murphy.