Eugene Levy, Sarah Polley, Jean Chretien, the two Michaels among guests at Biden gala dinner
Eugene Levy, Sarah Polley, Jean Chretien, the two Michaels among guests at Biden gala dinner
Eugene Levy? Check. Sarah Polley? Check. Jean Chretien? Check.
These are just a few of the guests confirmed to attend Friday night’s gala dinner with U.S. President Joe Biden, hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.
The gala is set to welcome a plethora of notable people, and include several performances to go along with a very Canadian dinner.
Perhaps the most famous people on the guest list not named Trudeau or Biden are Canadian film and television icon Eugene Levy—star of the wildly popular “Schitt’s Creek” and Toronto’s very own Sarah Polley, who recently took home Oscar gold at Hollywood’s biggest night for her film “Women Talking.”
Two former Canadian prime ministers—Jean Chretien and Joe Clark—as well as every major opposition party leader will attend. Multiple former U.S. ambassadors to Canada and Canadian ambassadors to the U.S., as well as all of cabinet were invited, however, not all of them can make it.
The two Michaels, Kovrig and Spavor, are also both invited guests to the gala and to Biden’s afternoon address to Parliament, CTV News has confirmed. The two men were imprisoned in China from 2018 to 2021.
Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player, Olympic bronze medalist and CEO of Project 8 will be there, along with actors Charles Lafortune, Mark Critch (“Son of a Critch” and “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”), Gabriel LaBelle (“The Fabelmans”), Oscar winning directors Ben Proudfoot and Daniel Roher, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey and President of the Motion Picture Association of Canada Wendy Noss.
Toronto’s Eric McCormack, best known for playing Will on the seminal TV series “Will and Grace,” will also be in attendance. In a 2012 interview with “Meet the Press,” Biden described “Will and Grace” as having done “more to educate the American public (about LGBTQ2S+ people) than almost anything anybody has ever done.”
Montreal natives and solo artists Charlotte Cardin and Gregory Charles will attend, as well as Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle. Doyle and Cardin are also set to perform before and after dinner service, respectively.
As guests arrive, they will be treated to performances from Métis Jiggers Jaime Morse, Riley McKenzie and Jacob McKenzie—the same group that performed at Trudeau’s first swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall when he became prime minister in 2015. Inuit throat singers Grace Metuq and Tia Qaqaqsiq, Algonquin drum group Eagle River from Kitigan Zibi and Barrier Lake, Que., featuring Yancey Thusky, Jordon Jacko, Awema Tendesi and Steve Wawtie as well as guitarist and pianist Tyler Shaw are also set to perform during reception.
Indigenous Elder Claudette Commanda, an Algonquin Anishinaabe from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, will lead a prayer and blessing after the arrival of Trudeau, Biden, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and their spouses.
Chief NAFTA negotiator Steve Verheul will be there, and all members of the prime minister’s NAFTA Advisory Council were invited, however some cannot attend. Jeffrey Remedios, CEO of Universal Music Canada will also be in the building.
Other notable guests include:
Michelle Douglas, Canadian human rights activist
Helen Kennedy, Executive Director of Egale Canada
Doug Kerr, Executive Director of Dignity Network Canada
Lana Payne, President of UNIFOR
Linda Silas, President of Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions
Nathalie Provost, PolySeSouvient
Marissa West, CEO of GM Canada
Tim Murphy, Chair of Detroit-Windsor Bridge Commission
A New Democrat MP is trying to convince his colleagues to change the rules that govern the House of Commons in a series of ways he says would instill 'democratic controls' on the prime minister's 'unfettered' powers.
Monday morning, the Public Service Alliance of Canada announced it had reached a 'tentative' agreement with the federal government for the 120,000 picketing Treasury Board workers who, since April 19, had been engaged in one of the largest strikes in Canadian history. Here's a rundown of the developments from Parliament Hill as they happened.
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NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh slammed foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's refusal to heed the House of Commons' call for him to step down as 'tone-deaf.'
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The elevated walkway in Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar that collapsed during a school field trip, sending 16 children and one adult to hospital, was last repaired a decade ago.
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Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson formally apologized in the legislature Thursday to former residents of the Manitoba Developmental Centre, one of the country's last large institutional facilities for people with intellectual disabilities.
Gatineau police say officers responded to a call from staff at l’école l'Oiseau Bleu on Nelligan Street just after 10 a.m. Friday about a camera found in the washroom.
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Nearly four years after Jeffrey Epstein's suicide, the AP has obtained more than 4,000 pages of documents related to his death from the federal Bureau of Prisons under the Freedom of Information Act.
A mysterious patch of fluorescent green water that appeared in Venice's famed Grand Canal Sunday was caused by a chemical commonly used in underwater construction to help identify leaks, environmental authorities say.
A pilot and passenger were able to walk away after the small, single-engine plane they were in crashed through trees and between backyard garages on Detroit's east side.
German prosecutors said Thursday that they will examine objects that were found in a search in Portugal last week for clues regarding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, but can't yet say whether they are linked to the British girl who went missing in 2007.
A gay pride flag rose the Wisconsin Capitol on Thursday in a sign of support for the LGBTQ+ community as it weathers heightened attacks from conservatives across the country.
Two Mississippi police officers were shot and one died Thursday during a standoff that started after a man took a woman hostage in a home, law enforcement agencies said.
Bill Blair is blaming Canadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault for the fact he didn't receive a memo warning about the alleged targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family by a Chinese diplomat.
Two prominent gun-control groups are urging the Liberal government to proceed without delay in drafting regulations that will flesh out firearm legislation being reviewed by the Senate.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh slammed foreign interference special rapporteur David Johnston's refusal to heed the House of Commons' call for him to step down as 'tone-deaf.'
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada
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Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
Actor Armie Hammer will not be charged after a long investigation of a woman's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2017, Los Angeles prosecutors said.
Attorneys representing adult entertainers, erotica authors and sex educators on Wednesday asked a judge to put on hold a Utah law requiring porn and other adult websites verify user ages.
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Nikola Jokic got a triple-double in his NBA Finals debut, Canada’s Jamal Murray scored 26 points and the Denver Nuggets had little trouble with the cold-shooting Miami Heat on the way to a 104-93 win in Game 1 on Thursday night.
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The U.S. government's auto safety agency plans to require that all new passenger cars and light trucks include potentially life-saving automatic emergency braking and meet stricter safety standards within three years.
