Toronto mulls deep service cuts to begin meeting $774M budget shortfall
In the effort to reduce a budget shortfall of $774M in the City of Toronto, we may find that the city our forebears worked so hard to create will be…
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Tim Hudak’s Hypocracy is Apparent in Recent Immigration Debate
Perhaps Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak would like to find a new issue with which to drive a wedge between the Ontario electorate and Premier Dalton McGuinty. Why? Because in…
Feel Safer Post-9/11? Feel $92B Safer?
Earlier this week, the non-partisan (but left-leaning) Rideau Institute released a report on Canada’s defence spending since 9/11 entitled The Cost of 9/11 and the Creation of a National Security…
Belated Review: ‘Ethical Oil’ by Ezra Levant
Dear Ezra Levant, Oh, Ezra. High off the success of your influential book Shakedown that targets the gross injustices perpetrated by Canada’s various Human Rights Commissions, you have written a…
Jack Layton: Our Politics are Poorer for the Loss
The unthinkable happened twice this year for the federal New Democrats: their charismatic leader Jack Layton took them as close to the Holy Grail of Canadian politics as you can…
DNA evidence enough to cause concern over invasive Asian Carp
This past week, a multi-agency fishing expedition got underway looking for Asian Carp west of Lake Michigan in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. After catching a 19-pound Asian Carp…
The Politics of Wind Power: Liberals look to ‘John Tory’ Tim Hudak
The Ontario Liberals sent a message to the future this week: it warned Conservative Premier Tim Hudak that if he wants to keep his absurd, long-standing promise to put a…
Torontonians beginning to realize you get what you pay For(d)
Running through the public and media discourse during and immediately after the ‘Historic Toronto Council Sleepover,’ as it will be etched forever in city lore, were two dominant threads that…
‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’: Bloomberg gives fight to Big Coal
Not content to have merely taken on the gun lobby, the tobacco industry, and the anti-gay marriage crowd, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has set his sights on picking…
GPO answers AMO’s call for a comprehensive waste strategy
On June 30th, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario issued a press release that challenged all political parties in Ontario “to demonstrate how they will support waste diversion strategies that…
Are the NDP too dependent on Jack Layton?
I’ll be brief this time, because I know every pundit and their brother will be covering this story and making this speculation. But it’s worth asking – are the NDP…
Long-term thinking needed in the fight for Ontario’s Green Energy future
While in Vancouver last week as part of a First Ministers meeting, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made a direct link between subsidies paid out to the oil and gas industry…
Riding to ‘Save Jarvis’
At last count before the event started, the RSVP on Facebook claimed that about 900+ people would be attending the ride to ‘Save Jarvis.’ But like anyone who has thrown…
Ontario and Equalization Payments: ‘have-not’ actually means ‘has-no-oil’
In the two years since Ontario officially joined the ranks of the ‘have-not’ provinces, the volume of equalization payments received has jumped 534%. That’s right – 534%. From the first…
Parks Canada the Institution: Celebrating 100 years of Canada’s National Parks
No one can accuse Parks Canada of not pulling out all the stops to celebrate its 100th birthday in style. The Parks Canada website has been overhauled to reflect this…
AMO targets Tim Hudak over ‘eco-fee shell game’
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) issued a press release yesterday afternoon attacking Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak over his – and his caucus’s – confusion regarding eco fees.…
Compromising on Bike Lanes at Toronto City Hall: Pt. II
Yesterday afternoon, when onlookers in the crowd spotted Ford staffers handing out voting sheets to ‘Fordnation,’ as the right wing of Council is known, we who were there to support…
Fighting for Bike Lanes at Toronto City Hall: Pt. I
“Dammit. My phone died.” “You can use mine.” “That’s okay. I kinda knew it would happen. I didn’t have time to charge my phone today on my morning off. ‘Cause…
Out on a Limb: In Defence of the (Political) Moral High Ground
This may be terribly naive of me (and I’m not ruling out that possibility, to be fair), but I am going to go out on a limb and make the…
Thinking about the universe in a post-shuttle world
Coming fast on the heels of Canada’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the official handing over control from Canadian to US armed forces is another milestone ending in Canadian – actually,…