Richard Warnica
@rwarnica.bsky.social
Senior Writer and occasional feature editor at the Toronto Star.
I’m hosting CBC’s Front Burner for the next two weeks. They were nice enough to start my fill-in stint on a topic I’m rather familiar with: Alberta separatism. My chat with the great @rwarnica.bsky.social: podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/f...
Where's the fight to keep Canada together?
Podcast Episode · Front Burner · August 4 · 32m
podcasts.apple.com
Councillor Anthony Perruzza says he still loves to pay cash. As evidence, he pulls some money out of his pocket. "I got my money here. Not much of it today, because I went out last night and I got soaked by some folks — but I love to pay cash."
Your last work was insightful (Mitch Silvestre) and the first in-depth look at the separatist movement in Alberta. But your Stampede files read like you conned your editor into paying for an all-expense-paid trip to the Calgary Stampede. Epic disappointment.
Thomas Lukaszuk is pretending he hasn't taken a side in the independence referendum, Pierre Poilievre is pretending he has, and Naheed Nenshi is stuck in the mud. On Alberta's disorganized, unserious and sometimes self-interested federalists www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Richard Warnica: If Pierre Poilievre is any indication, Alberta’s federalists are facing a serious problem
If Pierre Poilievre is any indication, Alberta’s federalists are facing a serious problem in which they cannot condemn the movement they oppose.
thestar.com
I was a Queen's Park media hack for a Tory govt. I was apparently thought to be a good one by colleagues and media both. So I can't help but see it as unfair to fire this woman b/c she was only doing what a generation of Tory flaks have been encouraged to do: aka opposite of actual media relations.
TorontoToday@torontotoday.ca · last wk.
larger implications aside it’s always funny when an LRB piece breaks containment because it’s like a crowd shows up with machetes on your porch and you are. an old Man whittling whistles or making cups out of willow bark
I spent an afternoon in a parking lot off 16th avenue with a man who told me that if Alberta doesn't separate he will be happy to drift off and die. He is a leading fundraiser for independence. He also has a hidden history. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Richard Warnica: He’s one of the leading fundraisers for the Alberta independence movement. He also has a hidden past
Robert Deer has pledged his life to Alberta independence, but also has a past many would find surprising.
thestar.com
I came away from my most recent Calgary trip convinced that almost everyone is losing the referendum process -- sovereigntists, federalists, First Nations, immigrants -- but that Danielle Smith is probably going to win. And I think that suits her just fine. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Richard Warnica: I went back to Alberta to see who is winning the independence debate. It isn’t who you think
In Alberta, the independence movement is a significant force. But at the Calgary Stampede, few prominent Albertans wanted to talk about it.
thestar.com
Come for the threats to Canadian unity, stay for Doug Ford trying to take off his belt.
Richard Warnica@rwarnica.bsky.social · 2w agoI took another strange trip back home to check in on the independence movement during Stampede. What I found was a city that - outside the die-hards on other side - seems to want to pretend like none of this is real.
As a sidebar to this piece, I spent an afternoon with Bob Deer, who plans to spend every day between now and October 19 handing out Alberta independence signs in a parking lot off 16th Avenue in N.E. Calgary. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Richard Warnica@rwarnica.bsky.social · 2w agoI took another strange trip back home to check in on the independence movement during Stampede. What I found was a city that - outside the die-hards on other side - seems to want to pretend like none of this is real.
Big news: Federal government grounds Billy Bishop airport expansion www.thestar.com/politics/fed...
Federal government grounds Billy Bishop airport expansion
The just-concluded public survey suggested strong public opposition to the project, according to a federal government official.
thestar.com
The Star (or the "Red Star" as it was dismissed at a presser with Premiers Smith & Ford) is covering the upcoming referendum. It sent @rwarnica.bsky.social back to Alberta again. Love Warnica's writing. Genuinely howled at one sentence. #Gift 🎁 #ableg #abpoli www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
Richard Warnica@rwarnica.bsky.social · 2w agoI took another strange trip back home to check in on the independence movement during Stampede. What I found was a city that - outside the die-hards on other side - seems to want to pretend like none of this is real.
What Richard found on this trip to his hometown was an odd kind of Stampede Omerta. He found that many of the people who count in Alberta seem to act as if Smith’s referendum on whether to hold a referendum on leaving Canada either doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter. Read more:
Richard Warnica: I went back to Alberta to see who is winning the independence debate. It isn’t who you think
In Alberta, the independence movement is a significant force. But at the Calgary Stampede, few prominent Albertans wanted to talk about it.
thestar.com
It was the first Monday of the Calgary Stampede. Ford had just made an announcement with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith about a theoretical pipeline that could someday take oil direct from Hardisty to Sarnia.
Richard Warnica: I went back to Alberta to see who is winning the independence debate. It isn’t who you think
In Alberta, the independence movement is a significant force. But at the Calgary Stampede, few prominent Albertans wanted to talk about it.
thestar.com
Opinion: The Star's Richard Warnica was not sure what he was expecting when he asked Doug Ford to comment on his own comments about Alberta separatism at a press conference in Calgary earlier this month, but Richard says he certainly wasn’t expecting Ford to undo his belt.
Richard Warnica: I went back to Alberta to see who is winning the independence debate. It isn’t who you think
In Alberta, the independence movement is a significant force. But at the Calgary Stampede, few prominent Albertans wanted to talk about it.
thestar.com
Incredible details from @rwarnica.bsky.social about the treatment he received in Calgary after daring to ask Ontario Doug Ford about his past comments on Alberta separatism at a press conference during Stampede. 🔗: www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
This @rwarnica.bsky.social piece is worth it for "the meat-wall of political staffers and guests" alone. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Richard Warnica: I went back to Alberta to see who is winning the independence debate. It isn’t who you think
In Alberta, the independence movement is a significant force. But at the Calgary Stampede, few prominent Albertans wanted to talk about it.
thestar.com
Yup, @rwarnica.bsky.social nailed it. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Richard Warnica: I went back to Alberta to see who is winning the independence debate. It isn’t who you think
In Alberta, the independence movement is a significant force. But at the Calgary Stampede, few prominent Albertans wanted to talk about it.
thestar.com
I took another strange trip back home to check in on the independence movement during Stampede. What I found was a city that - outside the die-hards on other side - seems to want to pretend like none of this is real.
Such an enjoyable article! Hemingway fans take note, and Michael Ondaatje fans too. I agree wholeheartedly as well - In The Skin of a Lion is an extraordinary novel and Ondaatje the finest of writers. I will never forget reading it that first month I too moved to Toronto.
Richard Warnica@rwarnica.bsky.social · 2w agoHad fun imagining an alternative history where Ernest Hemingway stayed in Canada for this Star piece www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
This story from @rwarnica.bsky.social is fun and fascinating. And, I mean, on a human level, who can't identify with having a horrible boss? #GiftLink 🎁 www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
Richard Warnica@rwarnica.bsky.social · 2w agoI also came away sort of convinced it wasn't impossible. He fled Canada in 1924 almost entirely because his editor AT THE TORONTO STAR was a world-class a--hole.
This is legit one of the wackiest photos I've ever seen. A thousand memes were launched today.
Rav@rvbdrm.com · 2w agoLMAO
Had fun imagining an alternative history where Ernest Hemingway stayed in Canada for this Star piece www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
thestar.com
Ernest Hemingway lived in Toronto twice. Some of his most famous stories were spun out from events he covered for the Toronto Daily Star. it's worth wondering how he might have changed #Canlit forever if he stayed. Alas, it wasn't to be... because Hemingway really, really hated his boss.
How the Toronto Star drove Ernest Hemingway out of Canada
Hemingway might have changed Canadian literature forever if he stayed. Here's why he didn't.
thestar.com
Seeing an emerging trend in the uncomfortable public statements by political figures field.
The detail I can’t get out of my head here is how he told his ex-wife that he had been hired by ICE, but she thought he must have been having a delusion, because how could ICE hire someone who had such a long history of family violence?
Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social · 3w agoThis AP investigation into David Brouillette, the ICE agent who shot Durán Guerrero in Maine is genuinely horrifying. Long history of extreme mental illness, chronic violence agst spouses and kids, PTSD and heightened violence from mil service. apnews.com/article/ice-...
This AP investigation into David Brouillette, the ICE agent who shot Durán Guerrero in Maine is genuinely horrifying. Long history of extreme mental illness, chronic violence agst spouses and kids, PTSD and heightened violence from mil service. apnews.com/article/ice-...
AP Exclusive: ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to c...
apnews.com
Pitch perfect local journalism.
Ellie Silverman@byelliesilverman.bsky.social · 3w agoIn my first story with Kelley French for @notus.com, I spoke to the woman pictured in the Metro photo on July 4. She didn't know she went viral. Her family wants people to know their difficult reality. Please take some time with our story today www.notus.org/metro/viral-...
NEW: Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming Stan Cho lives less than 6 km from Queen's Park, but he's billed the taxpayer some $16,000 in hotels over the past three years. Now, after questions from Global News, he says he'll pay some of it back. #ONPoli globalnews.ca/news/1196429...
Ford government minister bills taxpayers $16K for Toronto hotels despite living in city | Globalnews.ca
Between 2023 and 2026, Tourism, Culture and Gaming Minister Stan Cho charged the Ontario Legislative Assembly $16,203 for 'Toronto accommodation.'
globalnews.ca
