Canadians are wishing Steve Paikin farewell as the longtime host of TVO’s “The Agenda” announces the end of the flagship program after 19 years.
Paikin made the announcement in an open letter, where he confirmed that his departure from the current affairs show was a mutual agreement that was made when he signed his current contract three years ago.
Paikin says TVO will be launching a new show in the fall to replace “The Agenda,” which first aired in 2006.
The host went on to say that while he’s enjoyed his time on the show, his full-time work with TVO has created a large workload resulting in working late nights and seven days a week, which has kept him away from pursuing other projects.
“I realized that if I ever wanted to tackle some of the other things on life’s to-do list, I just couldn’t do them and host a daily show at the same time,” Paikin said.
On top of hosting “The Agenda,” Paikin has spent a total of 35 years as an anchor for four TVO programs, including co-hosting the #onpoli podcast with John Michael McGrath.
Paikin says that he doesn’t want to “overstay” his welcome and potentially have viewers get tired of seeing his face, so he’ll be walking away in June.
The announcement has left Canadians feeling emotional as they wave goodbye to the show and Paikin who spent nearly two decades fronting it since it was created.
“We will miss him,” one Reddit user said.
“You’ve earned a few days off Steve, good luck to you,” another user said.
One Reddit user went on to say that “Paikin is a national treasure.”
Meanwhile, some users are calling the end of “The Agenda” “a great loss.”
But according to Paikin, Canadians are not going to be losing him completely, in fact he’ll still be hosting several TVO programs, including #onpoli and “TVO Today Live,” and he’ll still front the YouTube show “Ontario Chronicle.”
Paikin says that TVO has been too important to simply walk away, and these next steps will see him transition into a part-time role.
The final show of “The Agenda” will air on June 27.
