Toronto gets a C+ on the annual Smog Report Card. Most of the blame for the low grade goes to the city's financial crisis, which is stalling transit improvements and other environmental initiatives. The rest of the blame goes on YOU. Yes, YOU. In the back. Don't try to point to the person sitting next to you! You horrible polluter, you!

Speaking of smog: oil prices hit a record high. This in response to the U.S. declaring last week that its domestic oil supply dropped by 3.9 million barrels instead of rising by the expected 100,000. In other news, peak oil? What peak oil?

Stéphane Dion says a Liberal government would consider reversing the GST cut. Which is honest politics, because from an economic point of view the GST cut is kind of mediocre if you want to propel economic growth––but not necessarily smart politics, because people hate taxes they see all the time. "Honest and kind of dumb," unfortunately, kind of sums up Dion in a nutshell. Of course, the point is moot because the Liberals voted for the budget anyway.

J.K. Rowling writes book technically not about Harry Potter. One copy of The Tales of Beedle The Bard, which is a storybook for children in the Harry Potter universe, will go up for charitable auction next month; the other six have been given away as copies. That's all the copies that will be printed until Rowling decides she wants another couple of hundred million dollars.

And the Raptors beat Philadelphia in their season opener.

Photo by fermata.daily from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.