He was best known for his roles as Lt. Jim Hogan in the 1985 CTV television drama series Night Heat (1985–1989), Frank Rittenhauer in the comedy film Tommy Boy (1995)[3] and the Judge in Chicago (2002).

He shared screen time with Brenda Fricker and Miranda Richardson in Swann (for which McCann received a Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Genie nomination), Nicolas Cage in Trapped in Paradise, Kevin Bacon in The Air Up There, Sam Waterston in A House Divided, Peter Weller and Judy Davis in Naked Lunch (which garnered a National Film Critics Society award), Brooke Shields and the late Al Waxman in What Makes a Family, and Kurt Russell in Miracle.

[4][5][6] Originally produced by Norman Lear in its first season, the series was the first "interactive sitcom" of its kind, wherein the first half of each 30-minute episode presented a vignette dramatizing the events in the lives of the Baxter family, and the second half was an "instant analysis" talk show segment, giving a live studio audience and guests an opportunity to express their opinions about the topic being presented that week.

Directed by the renowned Canadian documentarian Donald Brittain, the mini-series was a 6-hour CBC and NFB co-production that aired to great popular and critical acclaim.

One year later, McCann joined the ranks of such celebrated performers as Lorne Greene, Kate Reid and Gordon Pinsent, when he won the Earle Grey Award.