Canada’s most NYT-ish attention yet. Despite a sneak peek that raised some eyebrows, the New York Times printed its dispatch about a country resisting populism—although the analysis fails to consider all realities. (A photo of a Liberal staffer going door to door with Canadian flag signs in Little Italy might as well be circa the first PM Trudeau.)

“Northern populism” is brewing, according to a poll. EKOS concludes much of the country is craving an overthrow of the status quo, as only 29 per cent believe their lives will get better in the next five years. Meanwhile, a global Pew survey puts Canadian confidence in Trump at 22 per cent, compared to 83 per cent for Obama. (No wonder the coverage of Canada 150 activity is now taking a turn toward baby boomer nostalgia for Expo 67.)

Star Touch will self-destruct in a month. The plug has been pulled on Torstar’s albatross, an iPad app unveiled with much fanfare in September 2015. At the same time, the Toronto Star went on a hiring spree and fleetingly expanded its social trends coverage in the hopes of appealing to more young women. The wind-down of Star Touch commenced with layoffs last summer; now, its July 31 demise is synced with a request for federal funding for newspapers. Nonetheless, the Star's own spin is that the Touch was killed to make way for an app that works on all devices. We’ll never see the idea of reading news on the iPad promoted this way again:

Niki Ashton’s baby is lurking. Be vigilant. Michael Harris of iPolitics, best known for his Stephen Harper soothsaying, thinks BuzzFeed shows how the NDP can market itself to a new generation—have a would-be leader play up her pregnancy. (No doubt, BuzzFeed will happily sell the kid some listicles.)

David Soknacki might have it socked to him. The one-time city hall budget chief, whose 2014 mayoral campaign gained a cult following that failed to translate into wider support, wants to fill the Ward 44 seat now open as a result of the death of Ron Moeser. But since the replacement will be chosen by councillors, rather than voters, Moeser’s former assistant, Jim Hart, is more likely to make the cut than a known critic of the mayor's policies. (John Tory has also conspicuously mused that Soknacki lives five kilometers outside of Scarborough East.)

Norm Kelly is killing his Twitter softly. The recent failure by @norm to remove an illegal photo of young men wanted by police suggested that obeying the law isn’t a priority for whoever’s running the account. The incident seems to have tempered a recent streak of soliciting advice on new hip-hop bangers. But while former prime minister Kim Campbell is taking heat for Twitter politics, the too-lit Kelly is now reduced to tweeting about the weather—save for this cinematic overture, suggesting a revelation:

Geeking Glenn Gould makes Justin Trudeau sound sharp. One stop on British pianist James Rhodes’ BBC Radio 3 documentary, in which he retraces the steps of his Canadian idol, was the prime minister’s office, where Justin Trudeau shared some impassioned points. Then, he snapped a selfie with Rhodes, without a hug. After all, the touch-resistant Gould didn't swing that way, as discussed in the doc, along with his motto about Toronto: "Behind every silver lining there is a cloud."