Help me know what's happening in the frozen northlands
January 31, 2025 3:39 PM Subscribe
Having moved (back) to Canada several years ago, I find that I'm still not as aware of what's going on in the country as I would like to be. Where do you get your Canadian news?
I live in Southwestern Ontario, but my local paper is pretty light on news content beyond local affairs. I am mainly looking to find good sources of national news, and Canadian perspectives on international news. I'm open to paying for subscriptions, but what is worthwhile? I'm open to traditional outlets like newspapers (although I'd be reading/subscribing online only) or internet-only journalism sites, Substacks, etc. I'm much less likely to watch video or listen to podcasts, although if you have some that you love, please go ahead and recommend them.
Currently, my main news source is The Guardian, but it doesn't have much Canadian content. I am personally coming from a pretty leftwing/socialist perspective, but I don't want only far-left sources.
So, where do lefty Canadian MeFites get their Canadian news? The Globe and Mail? The Toronto Star? CBC? Other things that I don't know about? Please tell me what you're reading and what you like about it!
[I found this question but it's from 2017 so I thought I'd see if there are new recommendations since then.]
I live in Southwestern Ontario, but my local paper is pretty light on news content beyond local affairs. I am mainly looking to find good sources of national news, and Canadian perspectives on international news. I'm open to paying for subscriptions, but what is worthwhile? I'm open to traditional outlets like newspapers (although I'd be reading/subscribing online only) or internet-only journalism sites, Substacks, etc. I'm much less likely to watch video or listen to podcasts, although if you have some that you love, please go ahead and recommend them.
Currently, my main news source is The Guardian, but it doesn't have much Canadian content. I am personally coming from a pretty leftwing/socialist perspective, but I don't want only far-left sources.
So, where do lefty Canadian MeFites get their Canadian news? The Globe and Mail? The Toronto Star? CBC? Other things that I don't know about? Please tell me what you're reading and what you like about it!
[I found this question but it's from 2017 so I thought I'd see if there are new recommendations since then.]
My Canadian media diet is: Toronto Star, CBC (I know, I know) but the local coverage is great,Kingstonist(independent news site), The Walrus, and The Local. I pay for the Star and Kingstonist.
I confess I hate read Macleans and Toronto Life.
I'll be bookmarking this question as I'd love to find more Canadian news sources.
And yes, I do provide phunniemee with all the CanCon.
posted by Kitteh at 3:49 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
I confess I hate read Macleans and Toronto Life.
I'll be bookmarking this question as I'd love to find more Canadian news sources.
And yes, I do provide phunniemee with all the CanCon.
posted by Kitteh at 3:49 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
It is not left-leaning, but news aggregator National Newswatch captures most of the big news in Canada. I like it because it also includes policy pieces from a variety of sources.
posted by rpfields at 4:10 PM on January 31
posted by rpfields at 4:10 PM on January 31
Add in The Breach and The Narwhal to the good suggestions already here.
posted by kate4914 at 5:03 PM on January 31
posted by kate4914 at 5:03 PM on January 31
Canadaland podcast and Halifax Examiner for me. Also (maybe weirdly) the canada.gov.ca Instagram account (maybe not for you but others may enjoy)
posted by hydrobatidae at 5:32 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
posted by hydrobatidae at 5:32 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
Mod note: Links fixed kate4914, let us know if they don't link to the correct sites!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:15 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:15 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]
I'd recommend CBC, but they've deliberately borked their RSS feeds so you can't read them in a reader app, so probably not
posted by scruss at 7:15 PM on January 31
posted by scruss at 7:15 PM on January 31
ditto the Tyee & Narwhal.
posted by juv3nal at 7:36 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
posted by juv3nal at 7:36 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]
CBC is really good for a moderate dive into federal and provincial news. I find that Aaron Wherry is good writer on federal politics and I’ve actually learned quite a bit from reading his articles. The Globe and Mail is good for some things but not really my cup of tea, and even less so for the National Post.
posted by ashbury at 8:32 PM on January 31
posted by ashbury at 8:32 PM on January 31
Agree with The CBC, The Narwhal, The Tyee and The Local. Also The Canadian Press and Canada’s National Observer.
posted by as_night_falls at 9:26 PM on January 31
posted by as_night_falls at 9:26 PM on January 31
Mod note: One comment removed. Please just answer the question and avoid side jokes or commentary. AskMetaFilter has stricter guidelines when it comes to answering.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:56 AM on February 1
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 6:56 AM on February 1
Specifically with CBC I recommend catching Rosemary Barton and the weekly At Issue panel discussions, e.g.
To some extent Canada displays a bipolarism between Ontario and the West (Alberta) and I think Alberta Views is worth a look if you want to expand your scope a little. You may want to subscribe to labour/union newsletters, regional and national.
posted by ginger.beef at 9:33 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]
To some extent Canada displays a bipolarism between Ontario and the West (Alberta) and I think Alberta Views is worth a look if you want to expand your scope a little. You may want to subscribe to labour/union newsletters, regional and national.
posted by ginger.beef at 9:33 AM on February 1 [1 favorite]
One comment removed. Please just answer the question and avoid side jokes or commentary. AskMetaFilter has stricter guidelines when it comes to answering.
I didn't notice my comment got deleted until someone else told me.
It wasn't a joke, I literally do get all of my news about Canada from here on Metafilter, from Kitteh's FPPs. "Take advantage of your natural, local resources, as they are fantastic" is absolutely an answer to this question. Kitteh has been doing excellent on the ground work for years to make MeFi less America-centric, and as such Metafilter has become a decent aggregator of Canadian news and someone who's already on Metafilter would be enriched to follow her.
When I'm joking you'll know it.
posted by phunniemee at 12:11 PM on February 2 [7 favorites]
I didn't notice my comment got deleted until someone else told me.
It wasn't a joke, I literally do get all of my news about Canada from here on Metafilter, from Kitteh's FPPs. "Take advantage of your natural, local resources, as they are fantastic" is absolutely an answer to this question. Kitteh has been doing excellent on the ground work for years to make MeFi less America-centric, and as such Metafilter has become a decent aggregator of Canadian news and someone who's already on Metafilter would be enriched to follow her.
When I'm joking you'll know it.
posted by phunniemee at 12:11 PM on February 2 [7 favorites]
My main source of Canadian news is The Toronto Star. My news feed will also pull things from the CBC, National Post, and Calgary Herald but the latter two are always annoying op-eds and not any actual news, I'd remove them as sources but I think it's a good idea to see what other Canadians are inflicting themselves with. Reddit knows I'm Canadian and will show posts from various sources as well. These other sources can supplement what's in The Star but I don't normally see anything in them that isn't also in The Star.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:11 PM on February 3
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:11 PM on February 3
I read most of what you and others have listed but find a lot of it misses Québec which is about a quarter of Canada's population. I'm also not keen on how Ontario-centric a lot of the shared publications can be and find perspectives in both Québec and francophone Canada are often quite different from the rest of (anglo) Canada.
If you read French (or have auto-translate in your browser) the following are options, especially for/from Montréal.
LaPresse - independent, online-only
Le Devoir - independent
Le Journal de Montréal - Quebecor, large media conglomerate, more right
More generally
Radio-Canada
In English there is The Gazette (Postmedia, large mostly US-owned media conglomerate, more right) and a handful of hyperlocal papers. I enjoy the Westmount Independent. I also often flip through - or click through - university student publications for different perspectives.
posted by narcissus_and_ambrosia at 10:56 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
If you read French (or have auto-translate in your browser) the following are options, especially for/from Montréal.
LaPresse - independent, online-only
Le Devoir - independent
Le Journal de Montréal - Quebecor, large media conglomerate, more right
More generally
Radio-Canada
In English there is The Gazette (Postmedia, large mostly US-owned media conglomerate, more right) and a handful of hyperlocal papers. I enjoy the Westmount Independent. I also often flip through - or click through - university student publications for different perspectives.
posted by narcissus_and_ambrosia at 10:56 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
More specific to Toronto and even more granularly west end Toronto, I volunteer and occasionally work for local non-profit paper the West End Phoenix. They hand-deliver locally (I’m a delivery boy!) but mail all over the world.
posted by chococat at 8:14 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
posted by chococat at 8:14 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
It looks like it's straight out of 2004, but Canada News - Castanet.net mostly republishes Canadian Press stories and have working RSS feeds
posted by scruss at 10:45 AM on February 6
posted by scruss at 10:45 AM on February 6
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posted by number9dream at 3:41 PM on January 31