Dolly Parton got her big break on The Porter Wagoner Show writing "I Will Always Love You" as a goodbye as she left to become a country music superstar and actress. She wrote many hit songs, but for my money, it's "Jolene" all the way.

In this 1959th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with former CP24 news anchor Kelly Linehan about why she quit the business and what she's up to these days. This episode is exactly 1:00:24.

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This past weekend, I wrote about the amped up trade war between Canada and the United States. I woke up on Saturday to news that trade talks fell apart, and learned Prime Minister Mark Carney would address the nation later that day. I just assumed CBC Radio One would air this speech live. I was wrong.

Instead, it was Under the Influence, a podcast CBC Radio One airs on weekends. Isn't the entire point of CBC Radio that they'd air a speech from the Prime Minister at this significant point in Canada's history instead of a pre-recorded podcast? What exactly is the mandate of CBC if not to do exactly that?

I was surprised and disappointed. Do better, CBC.

In this 1958th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Toronto Sun sports journalist Mike Ganter about his lengthy career in sports media. This episode is exactly 1:29:19.

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Soraya Roberts was a culture writer who wrote the book In My Humble Opinion: My So-Called Life and who has contributed to Harper's, Vanity Fair, The L.A. Review of Books and other publications.

Perry Rosemond, an unsung hero of Canadian television, has passed away. Perry came up on Toronto Mike'd during my conversation with John Byner as he produced the first two seasons of Bizarre.

As Ed Conroy tells us, he created King of Kensington and worked on such key children's shows as The Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup, Sesame Street Canada, and Fraggle Rock. Most recently, Perry Rosemond executive produced Alan Zweig's When Jews Were Funny.

Here's what Ed wrote on the Retrontario Instagram page.

Retrontario is saddened to learn of the passing of another unsung Titan of 🇨🇦 📺 - Perry Rosemond.
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Perry is best remembered for creating The King of Kensington, however he had a tremendous and far reaching career: He helped shape the direction of the CBC’s children’s department in the turbulant 1960s, working on The Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup, Sesame Street Canada, and later in the 80s, Fraggle Rock.
In 1966, Perry created a revolutionary news series for the CBC entitled Through the Eyes of Tomorrow, using only young people as reporters, directors and editors. In 1976 he gave a young John Candy an early break in The David Steinberg Show, and was instrumental in the early days of TVOntario.
A true maverick of the small screen and a Canadian legend, we salute Perry Rosemond and our thoughts are with his family and friends 🙏

Here is the official obituary for Perry Rosemond.

ROSEMOND, Perry C.M. - Passed away peacefully on August 20th, 2026 surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Max and Mona Rosemond (Magid). Perry is survived by his devoted wife Nora Rosemond (Niddery), loving father and father-in-law of Michael and Erica, and Calvin, and devoted grandfather to Maxwell.

Perry spent his childhood in Winnipeg's North End, in a bustling household of 14 Jewish immigrants whose resilience, humour and warmth would define him, and inspire his passion for the creative arts. He began his career as an actor. At the age of 18, he was a founding member of John Hirsch's Manitoba Theatre Centre. Early in his career, he applied for an entry level job as a production assistant at CBC Winnipeg, but was given the offer to direct the musical variety show Red River Jamboree. He went on to write, create, direct and produce international television for over 50 years. Some of his credits include: The Johnny Cash Show, Donny and Marie Show, Tom Jones Show, Fraggle Rock, David Steinberg Show, Good Times, Bizarre, Super Dave, ABC Silver Anniversary, The Juno and Gemini Awards, Hockey Night in Canada, and directing 15 seasons of Royal Canadian Air Farce.

Most recently, he executive-produced, When Jews Were Funny, which was named best Canadian Feature Film at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival.

Perry began his decades of association with CBC Toronto as head of school and preschool programming, where he produced Mr. Dress Up and Friendly Giant and also wrote and developed a Canadian edition of Sesame Street.

Perhaps his most iconic contribution to Canadian television is the creation of the King of Kensington series. Inspired by the neighbourhood characters of his youth, Perry based the show on the archetypal maven that everyone comes to for advice, and who can solve everyone's problems but his own. The show gave Canadians something rarely seen at the time, a warm, funny, and deeply human portrait of a multicultural neighbourhood; it became a landmark in Canadian television.

In 2003, Perry was appointed a member of the Order of Canada, a national recognition for a career that entertained, educated, and made Canadians laugh.

But Perry never measured his life by accolades, he measured it in smiles. He lived to spread laughter and joy. It was his way of making people feel seen and valued. He will be dearly missed and forever loved.

I woke up on Saturday morning to news that Canadian and American negotiators were unable to finalize a trade deal and PM Mark Carney was suspending trade talks with the United States and recalling its negotiating team.

Late breaking story on the CBC....

Asked for specifics of the Americans' last-minute changes to terms of a trade deal, Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined three examples. He said Americans looked to change the scope of tariffs on Canadian auto content, made efforts to restrict Canada's ability to have other trade deals around the world and made efforts to restrict Canada's protections of language, culture 'and in effect, our sovereignty.'

Earlier, Carney said the U.S. tried to restrict Canada's ability to strike new trade deals with other countries.

Carney said the United States "asked too much and offered too little". Most of us would agree that no deal is better than a bad deal, and I wouldn't trust a deal signed by this American administration regardless. Most Canadians support this decision to suspend trade talks, and retaliate against Trump's tarriffs dollar for dollar. This, my fellow Canadians, is a full out trade war between Canada and the US.

Allan Woods writes in the Toronto Star that Mark Carney has cemented his post as leader of the anti-Trump resistance.

Doing a deal under the conditions Carney described would clearly have undermined Canada’s pivot to new markets by putting Carney firmly under the thumb of the U.S.

As the prime minister described it, he was faced with a trade agreement that was suddenly transformed into an attack on Canadian sovereignty, an attempted psychological annexation that could have turned Canada into an American client state, a sort of North American Belarus.

It does, however, jive with Trump’s repeated 51st state taunts when he returned to the White House.

And Trump’s National Security Strategy said of America’s neighbours in the Western Hemisphere: “We want other nations to see us as their partner of first choice, and we will (through various means) discourage their collaboration with others.”

Since Trump first threatened to make Canada the 51st State I've consistently been disappointed by fellow Canadians travelling to the USA for pleasure. Whenever possible, buy Canadian, and at the very least do not buy American. This trade war will have economic consequences but we must stay united in the resistance and take the financial hit to protect our sovereinty.

Trump's comments yesterday were to suggest Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one. I agree with him on that one count. We are not the 51st state and will never be the 51st state.

In this 1957th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with stand-up comedian Lahna Turner about her late husband Ralphie May. This episode is exactly 56:04.

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On this 1957th episode of Toronto Mike'd, and 56th episode of TOAST, Mike is joined by Rob Preuss and Bob Willette as they kick out their favourite progressive rock songs. This episode is exactly 2:04:51.

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Welcome to this week's Open Mike. I'm Mike and I'll be your master of ceremonies for the day.

Feel free to use this space to vent, rant,  share a story and/or ask a question of the FOTM hivemind.

After 18 years at Bell Media, and 13 seasons of The Social, Melissa Grelo is moving on. In related news, The Social is shifting away from traditional daytime television broadcasting to become a video podcast.

I know Melissa a little via my relationship with Dana Levenson, and I've always been keen to have her as my guest on Toronto Mike'd.

Prior to launching The Social, Melissa Grelo hosted CP24 Breakfast.

In this 1955th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Eric Veillette, a journalist and television correspondent currently writing a book about going to the movies in Toronto. This episode is exactly 1:17:12.

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I made this happen!

In this 1954th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Michael Longfield, Executive Director of Cycle Toronto, about what's next in Toronto's fight to save 19km of bike lanes from being demolished by Doug Ford's PC Party. This episode is exactly 31:27.

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Frank Beard was the long-time drummer of ZZ Top.