Exploring the Canadian blogosphere

September 8, 2005 5:46 PM

I need more cancon in my daily reading! The blogosphere and RSS-news-sphere are very American and I want to round out what I'm reading with a Canadian perspective. What Canadian blogs and bloglike things would I enjoy reading?

I'm specifically interested in things that might be categorized as news, science/tech, left politics, law, food, automotive and motorcycle, modern home design and architecture, books and libraries, music, and the Canadian equivalents of Kottke, Anil Dash, and folks like that, but things you think I'd like outside of those areas are welcome too.

I'm already reading CBC and Globe and Mail news and Macleans features, Accordion Guy, Michael Geist, Moco Loco (Montreal), said the gramophone.. and that's where I run out of ideas. What am I missing out on?

posted by mendel to society & culture (15 comments total)

Have you ever read rabble? There's no doubt about it's bias, but it is a pretty interesting read nonetheless.
posted by purephase at 5:58 PM on September 8, 2005

It's not a blog, but for Canadian news I recommend the Toronto Star. It has, to me at least, a nice liberal slant. For photography, Daily Dose of Imagery is excellent.

(I realise these aren't really what you asked for, but they are Canadian, and worth a look if you haven't already seen them)
posted by Elpoca at 6:52 PM on September 8, 2005

I've posted this link a few times... Spotlight on Military News and International Affairs is great for geopolitics and covers Canadian News and Canadian Editorials before it does International News/Editorials. The articles get updated every weekday as the day progresses, so a good time to start checking it out is at lunch.

Oh, and Rick Mercer has had a blog up for a few months now and it's a fun read.
posted by furtive at 6:56 PM on September 8, 2005

Paul Wells (RSS), Tart Cider (Atom), and, of course, your fellow Ottawa-area MeFites.
posted by mcwetboy at 7:29 PM on September 8, 2005

I find the blog by Mark Evans to make for interesting reading. It would fall under the "science/tech" part of your request...with a focus on telecom.
posted by bachelor#3 at 7:50 PM on September 8, 2005

Oh, I also enjoy Michael Geist's writings. They're regularly referenced on Slashdot whenever anything regarding internet legislation is news in Canada.
posted by purephase at 8:16 PM on September 8, 2005

BlogsCanada is probably a good place to start.
posted by arto at 8:48 PM on September 8, 2005

Peace, Order and Good Government, eh?
posted by Popular Ethics at 9:00 PM on September 8, 2005

I like On The Fence (written by National Post arts writer J. Kelly Nestruck), Zoilus (a fantastic, literate musicblog by Globe writer Carl Wilson), the aforementioned Inkless Wells, and Whimsy, Inc. (with its focus on street art and game design). Chromewaves is a good Toronto-based musicnews blog, the Canadian equivalent of Largeheartedboy but (happily) with more editorial.

If you read Gramophone you've probably already seen it, but Popsheep is one of my favourite mp3blogs in the world, and it's Canadian.

To be honest, though, the Canadian blogosphere's not as great as it ought to be, given broadband penetration. I remember feeling a lot of frustration when I went hunting for canny, thoughtful (or even genuinely funny) coverage of the Belinda Stronach thing.
posted by Marquis at 2:05 AM on September 9, 2005

How about THIS Magazine's blog? Andrew Potter just started a blog, too.
posted by girlpublisher at 5:40 AM on September 9, 2005

Antonia Zerbisias, of the Toronto Star, has a blog at http://thestar.blogs.com/azerb/. She's mildly amusing and insightful.
posted by GuyZero at 6:50 AM on September 9, 2005

Go to YULBlog and browse around and you'll find lots of great blogs from Montreal. Check out the Expats section for YULbloggers who have moved to other parts of the world as well.
posted by mikel at 6:56 AM on September 9, 2005

A lot of Montreal blogs are listed on YULBlog. Some are in English, some French, some both. If you read French, Voir's blogue de Martineau can be interesting.
posted by zadcat at 6:59 AM on September 9, 2005

(Hi mikel!)
posted by zadcat at 7:00 AM on September 9, 2005

The Amazing Wonderdog offers hands-down the funniest and most spot-on political commentary in the country.
posted by kowalski at 9:17 AM on September 9, 2005