Where's Walt(o) now? Notes from Ed.

Ed. here. Walt has left me to shovel out our cabin in the pines while he is at an undisclosed location in the Great No-longer-white North. Tomorrow night he and Poor Len Canayen and two of Walt's trusted agents will sit in the middle of a large room, surrounded by TVs and computers, tracking and discussing the returns from the Canadian federal election. Many a good time will be had by all. Or not, as the case may be.

Walt has predicted the result of said election. He thinks Trudeaumania II will produce a Liberal minority. (Lifetime pct .976.) The Liberal minority, he says, will have been elected by the visible minorities of Canada's three big metropolitan areas: Vancouver, Montréal and, above all, Toronto.

The Canadian press -- not to be confused with Canadian Press -- labour under the delusion that their endorsements matter. The Toronto Star endorsed Justin Trudeau's Liberals. No surprise there, the Red Star being so liberal, so PC as to make any other endorsement impossible. La Presse, of Montréal, also chooses le Parti Libéral, for reasons which make sense in that city.

The oddest endorsement of this election -- perhaps of this century, so far -- comes from the good grey Globe and Mail. The Glob's editor, David Walmsley, is an Ulsterman, who could hardly be expected to plump for either M Trudeau or Mr Mulcair, both Cafeteria Catholics. But he couldn't bring himself to stand up for the dictatorial Steve Harper, so penned a leader calling on Canadians to vote for the Conservatives, on condition that Mr. Harpoon resign immediately after winning!

No, dear reader, Ed. kids you not. See "Globe and Mail mocked on Twitter after endorsing Tories but not Harper". Mr. Walmsley evidently thinks it possible to suck and blow at the same time. Best Tweet: "I endorse the Globe but not the Mail." Poor Len's comment: "It's like calling the Montréal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup, providing they trade Carey Price for Jonathan Bernier." (Canuck readers will doubtless understand that one.)

Speaking of les Glorieux, with last night's victory over Detroit, they have now won the first six games of the new season, the best start in the history of the club. Sadly, the very fine game was once again not available to Francophone (= French-speaking) fans residing west of Québec who don't subscribe to Robbers ridiculously expensive NHL Centre Ice package.

The game was telecast, in English, on Hockey Night in Canada on the CBC, with the Toronto game relegated to CITY. But the TVA coverage, which should have been on "Le forfait en français", was not. Channels 423 and 424 were dark, once again. See "Canada's team MIA from 'Hockey Night in Canada'" (WWW 11/10/15). If you're a Bell customer and subscribe to the "NHL French package", complain!

That's it from this corner of the woods. Walt will return on Tuesday, or possibly Wednesday depending on how long it takes him to dry out.