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| Amybeth McNulty, the star of the book’s coming Netflix adaptation, “Anne With an E,” near her home in County Donegal, Ireland. |
Prince Edward Island has long held an international profile thanks to a fictional redheaded orphan named Anne Shirley, the protagonist of the 1908 novel “Anne of Green Gables.”
Willa Pakin writes in the Times Magazine that Polish resistance fighters carried the book to the front and that because of Japan’s large number of postwar orphans, it became part of the school curriculum in the 1950s.
The orphan’s story has been adapted and readapted endlessly. Now it’s back on television. “Anne,” as it’s known on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where its first season winds up on Sunday, is a much different take than earlier film and television productions. It was written and produced by Moira Walley-Beckett, a Vancouver native now based in California. Ms. Pakin writes that “the cheerful novel has, in Walley-Beckett’s hands, become much darker.” Given that Ms. Walley-Beckett’s previous work includes writing for “Breaking Bad,” that shift may not be entirely a surprise, and holds the potential to offend Anne loyalists.
Next month the show will start streaming in the United States on Netflix under the title “Anne With an E.” Canadians who have missed the show can still view it on the CBC’s site until the end of the year.
Turmoil To my knowledge, Hollywood has yet to portray journalists dashing around the world to cover trade talks. As someone who has reported on several negotiations — including the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement — I’d suggest the studios keep it that way.
While the outcome of trade talks often has a powerful influence on a large number of lives and trade issues can stir political passions, trade negotiations usually move at a stately pace and occur mostly in secret. The closest they generally come to drama is the inevitable wait until a final deadline before a deal is announced.
Over past week or so, however, President Trump brought some drama to the somnambulant trade world. First his administration used the latest round in an endless lumber dispute with Canada (the first trade story I covered and one my children can likely inherit if they wish) and an obscure dairy dispute to bash Canadian trade policy. That was soon followed up by suggestions that the president was about to sign Nafta’s death warrant.
Then that zig was followed by the zag of an announcement that Mr. Trump wasn’t going to rip up Nafta, at least for now, but renegotiate it. The change was partly the result of a coordinated effort by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico.
While it’s possible that state of affairs may have spiraled off in yet another direction by the time you read this, it’s more likely that Mr. Trudeau’s government will be focused on figuring out what Canada wants from any talks. We’ve prepared a look at four industries that may become hot points. Mr. Trudeau’s office is also likely hoping that any negotiations will follow the plodding traditions of the past.
Symbolic Catherine Porter was in British Columbia this week on an unrelated assignment when she also found herself looking into the world of totem poles. One result is a fascinating Facebook Live video in which the master carver Christian White shows how he makes them at his workshop in Massett on the Haida Gwaii archipelago. I asked Ms. Porter what prompted her interest: “Haida Gwaii and totem poles are married in my imagination. But I assumed most of the ones I saw on the streets of Old Massett were either relics or copies from distant Haida history — before smallpox, the Indian Act, the potlatch ban, residential schools. Then I stumbled into Christian White’s carving shed, to find his son chipping away at a 62-foot cedar log.” Watch for a story about Mr. White’s work, coming soon.
Old Stock Volkswagen dealers in Canada have quietly dusted off and put back on sale cars that were frozen in inventory in 2015 because of the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. The cars have the first part of a new emissions control fix installed and they’re being offered with extraordinary discounts. But I found one expert who cautions that this may be a deal to avoid.
Shooting Star Kevin O’Leary, the investor made famous by reality television, was the last of the 14 candidates to join the race to replace Stephen Harper as Conservative leader. Unexpectedly, he dropped out this week, citing his lack of support in Quebec. The complex voting system, and the sheer number of candidates, still make the race impossible to call as it enters its final month.
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| A stream of hot, fast-moving gas, nicknamed Steve, glowing over Porteau Cove Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada, in May 2016. |
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