It’s 10 p.m., and the Groove Bar on the Danforth (“the farthest east in Toronto I’ve ever come to do comedy,” more than one comic tells us) is steadily filling as stand-ups keep arriving, coming from sets in other bars and “rooms” around the city. Practically everyone in the bar, packed by the time we [...]

A summary of Jack Layton's political successes and failures seems insufficient when describing him, because he was not your average politician. He was a political construction man, and a masterful one. When he ran for the NDP's leadership in 2003, the party was moribund; eight years later, it has replaced the Liberals as Canada's de facto party of the centre-left. He did it by organizing the NDP—traditionally the most disorganized and chaotic of Canada's political parties—into a machine capable of fighting for and winning seats across the country. Jack Layton rejuvenated the left in Canada to an extent absolutely nobody thought was possible when he became the party's leader—well, nobody except Jack, of course.

Photo by Irene Duma. Canada lost one of its most beloved artists and personalities when author, screenwriter, musician, and teacher Paul Quarrington passed away in his Toronto home this morning. Quarrington, 56, was diagnosed with stage four cancer in May but continued to work on a wide range of projects, including laying down tracks for [...]

Yesterday, surrounded by his wife, daughter, brother-in-law, and friends, musician Haydain Neale died at Mount Sinai Hospital following a seven-month fight with lung cancer. Lead singer of jacksoul, Neale was born in Hamilton and left his university studies in 1994 to form one of Canada’s best-known funk-soul groups. In August of 2007, Neale was involved [...]

Illustration by Marc Lostracco/Torontoist. The passing of the King of Pop last Thursday inspired different reactions. Tweeting about it and frantically downloading his discography were two popular ones. In Toronto, rather than mourn, people celebrated his legacy by moonwalking all over Yonge-Dundas Square. And we suspect a slew of tribute shows are already in the [...]

Photo by Tim Leyes. Watching an Allan King film is like being uncomfortably trapped inside a series of someone else’s highly personal moments. Devoid of narration, his documentaries often feature long, uninterrupted takes of critical human events, but never with any whiff of sensationalism. Astonishingly, King’s authority as a documentarian was cemented right from the [...]

A ten-year-old Toronto girl with a lemonade stand is more than three-quarters of the way to raising $100,000 for heart and stroke research. For purposes of comparison, when I was ten years old, I really liked riding my bike. Former Liberal MP Charles Caccia died of a heart attack on Saturday. The highly respected MP [...]

Ottawa to introduce new fuel economy standards. They will be “at least” as stringent as American fuel economy standards. In response, David Suzuki blew upon a party horn sarcastically and waved a tiny flag, his derision apparent to all and sundry. Bobby Fischer dies at 64. The former world chess champion was famous for beating [...]

Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee win the Iowa Democratic and Republican caucuses. The caucuses, which are the first real test for any American presidential candidate, delivered powerful margins of victory for both candidates. However, Iowa alone does not guarantee you the nomination—just ask 1992 Iowa caucus winner Tom Harkin. Legendary Star sportswriter Milt Dunnell passes [...]

We’re going to take a break from our usual Torontoist style in this post because the passing of John Harkness, the film critic for Now magazine since its inception in 1981, is something that has particular importance for me. As the writer of Torontoist’s weekly “Film Friday” column, which, as you know, very often quotes [...]