Hello minority government! The New Democrats have announced that when the Ontario legislature opens for business next week, they’ll introduce a private members’ bill to remove the provincial portion of the HST from home heating bills. Normally this kind of proposal would just be the political voguing of a third party with no actual power, [...]

Photo by Christopher Drost/Torontoist. David Miller announced today that the City of Toronto has discovered, in its most up-to-date analysis of its finances, that its 2009 budget surplus is $100 million higher than previously calculated. This will enable the City to make adjustments to its operating budget and plans for the next two years, allowing [...]

Shelley Carroll speaking at the Board of Trade. Photo by Hamutal Dotan/Torontoist. In a breakfast speech delivered at the Board of Trade this morning, budget chief, city councillor, and prospective mayoral candidate Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) did not pull her punches. Her bottom-line message: there are no easy fixes for Toronto’s financial [...]

Playing the odds on stable transit funding. Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist. The City released its 2010 draft operating budget today, and…at least it’s balanced [PDF]. The budget is largely a survival strategy for overcoming this year’s projected shortfall, and was followed up by a sweeping outline of everything we’re doing right [PDF]. Despite the recognition [...]

Illustration by Kyra Kendall/Torontoist. Technically, in 2002, Ireland did it before us―but, on this continent anyway, Toronto was the first to institute a fee on plastic shopping bags. Washington D.C. recently became the first U.S. jurisdiction to follow our example, when its bag fee legislation came into force last Friday, January 1. Though outwardly similar [...]

Six days ago, we told you that City Council was about to discuss a proposed new sign bylaw and tax. Today, they finished. After seven years of campaigning by public space and arts activists, two years of research and work by city staff, and a day and a half of debate in the Council Chamber, [...]

76 Church Street. Photo courtesy of Illegal Signs. The billboard industry is—obviously—in the business of getting messages across. This they have managed to do, with a vengeance. In anticipation of today’s City Council debate on a proposed new billboard bylaw and tax, the billboard industry has been using its own platform to communicate its deep [...]

Photo by Michael Chrisman/Torontoist. Late last night the City’s proposed new billboard bylaw and tax [PDF] cleared a major hurdle, unanimously passing through the Planning and Growth Management Committee on its way to a hearing before the full City Council. The meeting ran ’til about 11 p.m. and had to be moved from one of [...]

Today doesn’t mark any kind of numerically significant anniversary for the fire that destroyed six buildings near the intersection of Queen Street West and Bathurst Street on Feburary 20 of last year. There’s no nice, round number of days, years, or months to occasion this post. The timing here might be inconvenient, but then so [...]

We’ve been at City Hall a fair number of times, but it wasn’t until this week that we had the rather delightful experience of being met by a beatboxing duo at the front door or rocking out to OutKast in the Council Chamber. The occasion for this upending of formality? A town hall meeting, hosted [...]

Opposition critics are calling the review of the controversial provincial health tax a sham, pointing out how Dalton McGuinty has already acknowledged that the tax would not be eliminated and the review was going forward only because it’s required by law. The premier at first denied the charge, but upon hearing it repeated, said, “Oh, [...]