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In this issue...

• Is this even constitutional?? Hockey Night in Canada bids adieu to CBC!

• Social media star John Davis of Coffee Time with John and Momma dies in the middle of a livestream video

• By the numbers X 10 + 1

• CBC Radio's Under the Influence: Canadian marketing triumphs

• Really? Hooters is attempting to rebrand itself into something more family-friendly.

• Before you go: 7 things you may have missed in the news

• Trivia: Did you know?

• Quotes of note

• Check out these delicious recipe compilations from Brian Cormier

• Enjoy the outdoors with the Greater Moncton Walking Group

Is this even constitutional?? Hockey Night in Canada bids adieu to CBC!

There was a bit of a seismic shift in Canadian culture last week when it was announced that Hockey Night in Canada would no longer be aired on CBC.

Article excerpt: "CBC will no longer broadcast NHL hockey games after it and national rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet were unable to come to agreement on a new sublicensing deal that would have allowed the public broadcaster to air games on its Saturday program Hockey Night in Canada.

The CBC, which began televising NHL games in 1952, had operated under that agreement since Rogers Sportsnet acquired the league’s Canadian rights in 2013 for $5.2 billion. Rogers Sportsnet renewed those rights with a 12-year, $11.2-billion deal to begin in October. The CBC previously aired national games on Saturdays, along with all four playoff rounds each year.

The CBC and Rogers Sportsnet announced the change in a joint statement Tuesday.

'After a successful 12-year partnership, Sportsnet and CBC today announced the public broadcaster will no longer carry NHL broadcasts after the current season as it moves forward with a new sports programming strategy following the unprecedented success of the Milano/Cortina Olympic Games,' the statement said.

'Watching hockey on Saturday night is a time-honoured tradition for Canadians, and Sportsnet is privileged to continue delivering that tradition. This has been a terrific partnership, and both parties look forward to continued opportunities to collaborate in the future.'"

Is this even constitutional? It feels so wrong. I know these rights cost a bloody fortune for a public broadcaster, but still. It feels a bit like the Earth has tilted in another direction.

Read: CBC will no longer show NHL games as sublicense with rights-holder Rogers Sportsnet ends. Video: Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) Broadcast Intros from 1977 to 2015.

Social media star John Davis of Coffee Time with John and Momma dies in the middle of a livestream video

Beloved social media influencer John Davis passed away last week in front of horrified viewers during a live Facebook stream as his mother looked on in helplessness.

Yes, I've seen the video - full disclosure - and what it ingrained in me is how we can be fully alive and functional one minute and gone 90 seconds later. Despite his medical issues described below, he wasn't showing any obvious signs of distress in the video until he collapsed.

Article excerpt: “Coffee Time with John and Momma influencer John Davis has died. He was 55.

Davis suffered a medical episode during a livestream with his mother on Wednesday, according to TMZ.

Police in Jellico, Tennessee, told the outlet Davis was pronounced dead at the scene after authorities were called to a residence.

According to Campbell County Sheriff’s Office’s incident report obtained by People, Davis had heart failure, kidney failure, high blood pressure, diabetes and had obstructive sleep apnea.

The incident report also stated the county’s medical examiner doesn’t 'believe there was anything suspicious about the situation surrounding the death.'"

The outpouring of emotion from fans has been amazing to see. John and his mother certainly connected with their followers, who have been left reeling by his sudden, dramatic and very public departure. Understandably, many viewers posted that they were completely traumatized and could not sleep after the event.

Here are links to the Coffee Time with John and Momma channels on Facebook and YouTube:

• Facebook

• YouTube

(Note: For obvious reasons, their last video is not archived on the channels.)

Read: Coffee Time with John and Momma influencer John Davis dead at 55 after suffering medical episode on livestream. Obituary: John Dewayne Davis.

By the numbers X 10 + 1

• 1. 5 ways confident leaders create clarity

• 2. 5 steps to help de-escalate your teen's outbursts

• 3. 13 homemade chilled desserts that are way better than a big tub of Ben and Jerry’s

• 4. Taylor Swift sets new Billboard record with 15th No. 1 hit from Toy Story 5 soundtrack

• 5. Ottawa moves to ban kids under 16 from social media

• 6. New York Knicks end 53-year wait for NBA Championship

• 7. TD Bank holds customer responsible for $15K loss, won't say how account hacking ruled out

• 8. Cancer survivor raises $110K hitchhiking across Canada along Terry Fox's route

• 9. Despite having travel insurance, Ontario man hit with $147K bill after being hospitalized in Mexico

• 10. Fox to buy streaming pioneer Roku in a US$22 billion deal

• Bonus: Chatelaine: 30 refreshing summer desserts to keep you cool

CBC Radio's Under the Influence: Canadian marketing triumphs

The June 18th episode of CBC Radio's Under the Influence with host Terry O'Reilly looked at successes in Canadian creativity as honoured at the recent 2026 Canadian Marketing Awards.

• June 18, 2026 - Creativity is the Most Powerful Business Tool: Canadian Marketing Awards 2026: "This week, we look at the level of advertising creativity north of the border. We’ll talk about a campaign that used real 'sleep talking' to sell mattresses. We’ll explore a remarkable idea that transformed the annual migration of penguins into a protest march. And we’ll look at a campaign that convinced people to donate to a cause that started 45 years ago, but had faded from memory." Click here to listen to the episode.

Under the Influence airs Thursdays and Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on CBC Radio One; Tuesdays at 4 p.m., Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on Sirius XM Channel 169. The show is also available as a podcast through your favourite podcast provider. Click here for the show's on-demand audio archive.

Really? Hooters is attempting to rebrand itself into something more family-friendly.

The Hooters restaurant chain - infamous for its buxom and scantilly clad waitresses - is trying to rebrand itself into a more family-friendly restaurant. Does the above photo look like somewhere you'd take Mom for Mother's Day? Dad, maybe... if he hasn't been hit in the head yet with a frying pan by Mom for agreeing to go.

Article excerpt: "Trying to sell Hooters as a family restaurant is, at the very least, an ambitious exercise.

For obvious orange shorts, tight shirt, chest-forward reasons, the brand has spent decades being shorthand for a very specific kind of dining experience. But according to the company’s current leadership, that image drifted far beyond what the original founders ever wanted, and now Hooters is trying to course-correct before there is, frankly, nothing left to hoot about.

In a recent interview with PEOPLE, CEO Neil Kiefer said the company wants to make the brand feel less off-putting and more broadly appealing. 'It’s a neighborhood place that many families frequent, and singles and couples,' Kiefer said, with the overall plan being to steer the chain back toward a more casual beach bar identity and away from the version that became increasingly more provocative over the years.

That reset is happening after a rough stretch for the company. Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025, and the brand’s original founders later stepped back in to take a larger role in its future. Since then, leadership has been trying to clean up both the chain’s image and the in-restaurant experience."

It seems to be a very strange pivot. Hooters and "family-friendly" have never been synonyms.

Read: Hooters is reworking its image to bring back families and couples. Related: Hooters is rebranding as family-friendly as CEO says, "We've never switched" from being a "neighborhood place".

Before you go: 7 things you may have missed in the news

• 1. Former New Brunswick, physician, MLA, cabinet minister, lieutenant governor and senator Marilyn Trenholme Counsell dies at 92 (see photo)

• 2. Hurricanes capture 1st Stanley Cup title in 20 years after shutout win over Golden Knights

• 3. Walmart+ arrives in Canada, with unlimited delivery, free shipping with no order minimum and Crave, for only $8.97/month – the cost of a single delivery

• 4. Gene Shalit, Today show movie critic, dies at 100

• 5. Patrick Bruel: French singer who cancelled shows in Canada charged with rape, attempted rape and sexual assault

• 6. Anne Schedeen, "ALF's" Mom, dies at 77

• 7. Tick season is longer than ever. Here’s how to protect your dogs and cats

Photo credit: Daniel St. Louis

Trivia: Did you know?

Hakuna Matata - the 1995 Oscar-nominated song from the beloved Disney animated movie The Lion King - is actually a saying in the Swahili language, meaning "no worries". The song lost the Oscar for Best Original Song that year to another song from the movie - Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Both songs were written by Tim Rice with music by Elton John.

Quotes of note

• 1. "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), American novelist, The Great Gatsby author (see photo)

• 2. "What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."

- John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

• 3. "It's a smile, it's a kiss, it's a sip of wine... it's summertime!"

- Kenny Chesney

• 4. "I will always seek to make it summer for you."

- Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

• 5. "Sweet, sweet burn of sun and summer wind, and you my friend, my new fun thing, my summer fling."

- k.d. lang

• 6. "I know that if odour were visible, as colour is, I'd see the summer garden in rainbow clouds."

- Robert Bridges

• 7. "What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

• 8. "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."

- Sam Keen

• 9. "Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it."

- Russell Baker

• 10. "It’s so hot that I saw a funeral procession stop at a Dairy Queen."

- Anonymous

Enjoy the outdoors with the Greater Moncton Walking Group

In June, the group walks in Mapleton Park with meetup in the Rotary Park Lodge parking lot just off Mountain Road in Moncton.

Walking locations for July to September:

• July: Moncton riverfront trail. Meetup in the Classic Burger parking lot.

• August: Dieppe riverfront trail. Meetup at the end of Pointe aux Renards Street.

• September: Riverview riverfront trail. Meetup at the gazebo on Coverdale Road

The group meets for walks every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. New participants are always welcome! For more information, please contact Wayne Harrigan at 506-386-2187 or via email.

About this newsletter

Brian Cormier's Weekly Update is distributed weekly from September to June. If you're reading this newsletter online and want to subscribe, please email me, fill out the subscription form on my website, or subscribe via the "Join Our Email List" button at the top of the newsletter (if you're viewing this in a browser.) This newsletter is not published in July and August and on holidays.