Munsch to opt for

MAID when it’s time

TORONTO — Children’s book author Robert Munsch says he has chosen a medically assisted death because of his dementia diagnosis.

He made the comments in a profile in The New York Times, saying he hasn’t set a date.

The Love You Forever author, who lives in Guelph, Ont., was diagnosed with dementia in 2021.

He told the Times that he applied for MAID shortly after the diagnosis, and was approved.

When MAID was first legalized in Canada in 2016, candidates — those with a “grievous and irremediable condition” — had to be able to consent to the procedure on the day-of.

But starting in 2021, those with a “reasonably foreseeable” natural death who may lose their capacity to consent could sign what’s called a waiver of final consent, which allows them to go through with MAID even if they can’t consent day-of.

That opened the door for more dementia patients to access MAID, but there are still some limitations because the waiver has to have an expiration date attached to it.

Munsch told the Times that he watched one of his brothers die from Lou Gehrig’s disease and go through invasive interventions. He said he might choose to go once his communication is impaired.

Neil Young birthday

celebration set

TORONTO — More than a dozen Canadian musicians plan to mark Neil Young’s 80th birthday with a fundraiser in November.

An organizer says Serena Ryder, Dallas Green, Jim Cuddy and Donovan Woods have hopped on the bill for NY80: A Celebration of Neil Young and His Music, set for Toronto’s Massey Hall on Nov. 12.

CBC Radio personality Tom Power will host the unofficial birthday celebration with proceeds going to music education charity MusiCounts.

Others slated to appear include Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards, Joel Plaskett, Julian Taylor, Matt Mays and Tom Wilson and his son Thompson Wilson.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through the Massey Hall website.

The concert is being put on by Howl Entertainment owner Dale Gago, who tells The Canadian Press the set list will span Young’s entire catalogue of music.

He says he also intends to extend the invitation to the Toronto-born Young himself.

Emmy ratings climb

from all-time lows

LOS ANGELES — Ratings for the Emmy Awards have continued their climb from all-time lows as the television industry looks to shake off the shakeups of recent years.

About 7.42 million viewers tuned in to watch the Nate Bargatze-hosted 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS, according to Nielsen company data released Monday by the network. The night’s big winners were The Studio, Adolescence, The Pitt and late-night host Stephen Colbert, who got a huge outpouring of support from the Peacock Theater audience.

It was the most-watched Emmys telecast since 2021, and was up eight per cent from the 6.87 million that watched the Shogun-dominated ABC telecast in September 2024.

Sunday’s show was up more than 70 per cent from the all-time low of 4.3 million from the Fox telecast of January 2024, which was delayed by months because of Hollywood’s writers and actors strikes.

A Giant role

for Lithgow

NEW YORK — John Lithgow is returning to Broadway in a play that might change the way we read bedtime stories to our kids.

The two-time Tony Award-winner will star as Roald Dahl in Giant, which explores accusations of antisemitism against the beloved writer of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach.

“You go back and read his writing after seeing the play and you see dark strains in it, which you knew were there,” says Lithgow. “But you suddenly see it in a different light when you see this play.”

Giant, by director-turned-playwright Mark Rosenblatt, won the Olivier Award earlier this year for best new play in London and earned Lithgow his first Olivier. Performances begin in New York on March 11.

— from the Free Press news services