Kathleen Wynne sure to step up her loss prevention strategy. Patrick Brown’s new “People’s Guarantee” has evidently helped put him well ahead of Kathleen Wynne in a Forum Research poll—where the provincial Liberals also trail the NDP. Wynne’s attack on the Ontario PC carbon tax plan has been deemed misleading. Meanwhile, Brown’s idea to take control of the subway is a point of contention, in part because of evident mathematical confusion:

Doug Ford suspected of trolling through polling. An obscure pollster called Firm Digital has stats showing DoFo with 32.91 per cent support in a theoretical mayoral election, compared to 38.66 for John Tory. Warren Kinsella drew more attention to the poll by explaining why it isn’t worth paying attention to.

“I just want this nightmare to end.” Danny Da Silva, among the most vociferous opponents of Charity the cow’s 25-foot-high shining statue in Markham's Cathedraltown neighbourhood, was alarmed by the sight of workers installing large pieces of granite beneath the chrome cow's stilts. The city claims that the platform is simply a prelude to a relocation somewhere else—but the donor of the statue, Romandale Farms, says that the granite is an approved part of the installation, implying that the cow has the right to remain right where it is.

Stephen LeDrew won’t be lurking at lunch this week. Bell Media’s decision to suspend the CP24 host for seven days apparently came down to a "code of conduct" violation related to LeDrew's decision to debate Tucker Carlson on Fox News. Officially, it was because LeDrew didn’t get permission to appear, and not because of his flippant way of defending an "LGGBDTTTIQQAAP" teacher training flyer. (LeDrew revealed that he was also suspended for two days in September for comments about the push to change the appellation of schools named after John A. Macdonald.)

Lindsay Shepherd tries to be careful with those red pills. Laurier’s most famous teaching assistant was flown to L.A. for the Rubin Report, as she ponders whether all the interview requests are too right-wing for her. Shepherd says her political leanings have shifted as a result of all the criticism directed at her, as in a Now Magazine piece that called her the “alt-right’s new hero on campus.” (The piece's author had his own experiences with campus controversy.) The show whose Jordan Peterson clip started all this, TVO’s The Agenda, hosted a discussion where Shepherd was criticized for being white. A professor who fought this kind of war elsewhere offered his view from experience:

Barenaked Ladies sing for soda pop. Because it’s tricky for any veteran act to get media attention for a new album—even when it's called Fake Nudes—the melancholy new BNL song “Canada Dry” is now attached to a contest from its namesake ginger ale, which takes the fizz out of fan speculation that the lyrics are a lament for departed frontman Steven Page. (Still, this association should turn out better than when Rihanna’s ex-boyfriend Chris Brown sold some of his song lyrics to Doublemint Gum.)

"Will Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton be besties or rivals? Let the speculation begin.” The Telegraph had this speculative story, which seemed to be in line with most coverage of British royalty. (Such fluff is a grim necessity, given how little the family feeds the media.) But that headline crossed some kind of line for journalist Yashar Ali, who quoted an Ottawa Citizen tweet on the story with the words, “Oh fuck off.” Because it’s 2017, the resulting Twitter firestorm led the Citizen to delete this disturbing “partner content,” although the piece survives elsewhere, including at the National Post.