(Image: Gage Skidmore)
Former U.S. vice-president and bumbling hunter Dick Cheney has wiggled out of a Toronto speaking appearance this spring because he thinks Canada is “not friendly.” After spirited protests at Cheney’s appearance in Vancouver last year, Cheney and his daughter Liz decided “it was better for their personal safety if they stay out of Canada,” according to the promoter of this year’s event. Those who bought tickets will now see the much less famous commentators Mark Steyn and Michael Coren (the latter of whom would probably attract protesters of his own if people actually listened to his silly ideas). As for Cheney, at least he and George W. Bush can commiserate about north-of-the-border hostility. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »
Brave Leather, a leather goods purveyor in Toronto that boasts designs handmade in Canada, has launched a 
Cities are often affected by political events outside their borders. In the mid-20th century, North American cities profited enormously from the arrival of well-educated immigrants fleeing the Nazis. The brilliant philosopher Hannah Arendt famously landed in Manhattan after escaping France in 1941. The pioneering modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe moved to Chicago in 1937 after the Nazis deemed his work not German enough. Later, in 1956, when Soviet troops occupied Hungary, Canada admitted close to 40,000 Hungarian refugees, nearly doubling the Hungarian-Canadian population. Many intellectuals, writers and artists settled in Toronto, and the city’s café culture was born.
Gilt.com
