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How Toronto’s Papers Covered Trump vs North Korea and Dart Guy
Will Torontonians get to see the Leafs finish the playoffs before Trump declares WWIII on North Korea?
Illustration by Brett Lamb
In Front Page Challenge, Torontoist analyzes the best and worst of Toronto’s major dailies.
Toronto’s basking in last night’s thrilling overtime victory by the Leafs in Game 3 of their playoff series against the Washington Capitals. It was the first home game of the series for our boys, who won their last Stanley Cup 50 years ago, just before the Beatles released their classic LP Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Will the Leafs return to the finals with a little help from their friend Dart Guy? Or will Trump cancel the whole post-season by starting World War III after nuking Pyongyang with the finality of the last piano chord from “A Day In The Life”?
The Globe and Mail
The Globe puts Toronto’s thrilling overtime victory against Washington on the front page—a victory “no one predicted,” says the headline, which is strange since they played before a capacity crowd of presumable Maple Leaf supporters at the Air Canada Centre, but perhaps such hyperbole is to be expected during such a rare event as a post-season hockey game in Toronto. The Globe also reports on the Ontario government’s plans to implement a new housing tax for non-resident real estate speculators in an attempt to cool down the red-hot market in Toronto, and below the fold is an article on the escalating international tensions between the dictatorial leader of a strange personality cult that has been threatening to blow up the world, and Kim Jong-Un, the chairman of North Korea.
National Post
“No DAME ever ran MARATHON” is this morning’s eye catching headline, but before you ask if former publisher Conrad Black has regained control of his old newspaper, don’t worry, this is a historical quote from someone criticizing runner Kathrine Switzer when she became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon; she did it again on Monday, 50 years after breaking this barrier. The Post also reports on the poor, deluded saps in this country who think sugar and fat are more hazardous to one’s health than marijuana, with just over a year to go until pot legalization. One of the Post‘s most popular regular features is Ottawa columnist John Ivison’s monthly column about how the Trudeau Liberals have peaked too soon and are doomed in the next federal election. This month’s installment argues that you shouldn’t be fooled by the good news about the growing economy and job numbers; at some point, the economy will take a downturn, and when that happens, “Prime Minister Selfie” is in big trouble.
Toronto Star
The Star is packed with big stories this morning: U.S. Vice President Pence’s trip to Asia to warn North Korea not to try blowing up America if they know what’s good for them, questions about whether Premier Kathleen Wynne will really run for re-election in 2018 as her government considers implementing a basic monthly income pilot program for low-income families, and a grandiose hockey column from Bruce Arthur that writes about a first-round Leafs playoff victory as if David had just slung a rock between the eyes of the mighty Goliath:
That was the Leafs. When they did panic—and make no mistake, there were long stretches when they were teetering on the edge of a breakdown, with the puck a live fish and the Capitals one play from putting this thing on the top shelf, away from the kids—they righted themselves. They played the game.
Metro Toronto
Of Toronto’s five daily newspapers, Metro stands alone in providing a front page reference to Toronto’s newest cult hero, Dart Guy, who, like Batman, is the hero Toronto deserves, though with that unlit cigarette hanging from his lips providing free advertising for the tobacco industry, perhaps not the one it needs right now, which may be why Metro declined to put his actual face on the cover. Metro is also jazzed about the planned transformation of John Street into a pedestrian-oriented cultural corridor that would run past some of the city’s biggest cultural landmarks (Rogers Centre, the CBC Broadcasting Centre, Bell Lightbox, the Hooters at John and Adelaide, the Art Gallery of Ontario).
Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
With playoff fever raging in the 6ix, the Sun is all about the sports this morning, with the paper splurging on the licensing fees to reproduce lyrics from Olivia Newton John’s 1981 hit song “Physical” in their Raptors headline, and a main feature celebrating Tyler Bozak winning it for the Leafs in an overtime thriller. The Sun has blown a golden opportunity here to put Dart Guy on their cover, perhaps with a accompanying profile by intrepid Sun columnist and longtime Buds Booster Joe “Night Scrawler” Warmington, who has no doubt been pestering Dart Guy for an exclusive.
This week’s winner: The Toronto Sun wins this week by doing what they do best: putting the Maple Leafs on the cover, this time during hockey’s post-season, a very rare occurrence. Let us enjoy this while it lasts.
Illustration by Brett Lamb
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