Toronto's city councillors have voted to change the rules governing their office budgets, which includes the elimination of alcohol with meals with staff, mileage compensation to and from City Hall, and compensation for raffle tickets or silent auction bids. On the bright side, Torontoist's corporate booze budget is at an all-time high. Statistics Canada recently released data indicating that Canada's crime rate is at a 30-year low, with reductions in violent crimes such as......

Latest transit update from the Torontoist Action News Team Live Info Centre, Your Only Source For All TTC Strike News: if you're a regular TTC rider, GO Transit doesn't want you. A spokesperson for GO has advised that that they're already operating at capacity with their regular passenger load, and don't plan to run any additional buses or trains in the event of a TTC strike. Speaking from Chongqing, China, Mayor David Miller said......

A new free service called Operation Red Nose launches tomorrow that provides volunteer designated drivers to get drunks and their cars home safely. The service already runs in places like Sudbury and Aurora, and now festive partygoers in the Distillery District can try it out this Wednesday, December 12 to Saturday, December 15. The program is fairly flexible since drivers can request service as often as necessary to get from one place to the......

Over on Q107 on Monday afternoon, Max Webster frontman turned DJ Kim Mitchell was sounding quite enthusiastic about Tuesday's show. It seems that in an effort to bring attention to drunk driving and the negative effects of alcohol, he's going to have two on-air personalities (Maureen Holloway and Ryan Parker from Derringer In The Morning) drinking throughout his show, presumably getting progressively drunker and stupider as the afternoon wears into the evening. An expert......

Remember when you were like fifteen and it was a TOTAL BUMMER that you couldn't buy alcohol, because, you know, you weren't of age yet? And now that you've been legal for what seems like an eternity, and you're older and wiser, with many formative life experiences behind you, you realize that not being able to buy booze at the age of fifteen was probably a good thing, and likely prevented more than a few......

The National Post is reporting today that Coyote Ugly––the raunchy, almost-a-strip-club-bar that inspired a Jerry Bruckheimer movie that everyone, including Piper Perabo, forgot about five years ago––will open up its first Canadian "saloon" next year at 220 Adelaide Street West. Coyote Ugly is upfront about its intentions: on their website, the bar explains the "business plan" of its first owner, Lil' Lovell, was "beautiful girls + booze = money." The organization's slogan is "Don't Just......

Premier Dalton McGuinty says that he is not prepared to follow Quebec's example and ban cell phone use while driving, in spite of studies showing that the practice is more dangerous than driving drunk. McGuinty said that "some people also distract themselves by drinking coffee, eating and applying makeup while driving" and he wouldn't know where to draw the line. Because if you can't stop one stupid and extremely dangerous practice, there's no point......

Sales of hybrid cars like the Prius are booming not only because drivers wish to spend less on gas and reduce their emissions, but because they want everyone to know they're driving a hybrid. Today the Ontario government proposed a plan that might add an additional layer of smugness to your vehicle: a conspicuous green license plate. If a vehicle met certain specifications of a to-be-determined rating system, the Province would issue the special......

Employees of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission, which now oversees the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation, will not be permitted to buy lottery tickets in Ontario. A representative of the affected staffers complained, "why do you think we wanted to work here in the first place?" before shotgunning a 40-ouncer of Absolut and collapsing to the ground. Who says you can't go home again? Well, if you're former Canuck Conrad Black, Judge Amy St. Eve does.......

A survey by British research firm Skytrax has named Air Canada the best airline in North America. Travelers who have endured experienced the Air Canada business model of surly staff, vanishing meals, and rising fares will marvel at how low the bar for airline excellence on this continent has now been set. BabyFirst TV is coming to Canada. The first television channel aimed at babies will soon be offered on cable and satellite systems......

This weekend is going to be a scorcher. Lured by the siren song of the ice cream truck, it will be hard to resist that choc-vanilla twist cone, or Rocket Pop. Then there’s always the convenience store on the corner for a Strawberry Shortcake or Freezie. Of course, after too many of these sweet treats, your bikini or swimming trunks have a snugger fit than you were hoping for while strutting your stuff on the......

The first time Torontoist encountered Dave Meslin was at the August 2004 Trampoline Hall at the AGO's Walker Court. Ostensibly speaking about "Drinking Games," Mez instead develivered a speech about his first experiences with alcohol, the hegemony of mixed drinks, and the backwardness of the cup half-empty, half-full metaphor. It was one of the most spectacular things we have ever heard. This Monday, July 9, Mez makes his return to Trampoline Hall, this time......

You can't make this shit up. This morning at a press conference, Diamond Estates Wines and Spirits Ltd. announced their plans to build a $12-million, 45,000 square-foot Dan Aykroyd Winery, just off the QEW in Beamsville, Ontario. Done by Moriyama + Teshima Architects, the winery "will pay tribute to the region’s terroir and to Dan Aykroyd's 30-plus years of work in film and television by showcasing some of his favourite memorabilia throughout the building."......

Remember when, if someone was shot on the streets of the GTA, neighbours would appear on TV saying something like "I'm shocked—you just don't expect things like this to happen here?" Those were the good old days in Kensington Market. Violent crime has always been part of the area (usually it's attributed to drugs or alcohol), but a spate of seemingly random shootings has neighbours a little freaked out. On May 15, a 24-year-old......

This Victoria Day weekend, two things will be on the minds of many Torontonians—beer and BBQ. The weather is good, you’re hanging with your friends, and you just want to kick back and chill with a cold one and a burger. You may have heard about what BBQing can do to your health and the environment, but let’s face it, it’s hard to resist the smoky aroma wafting from your neighbour’s backyard. Don't stress yourself......

First incandescent light bulbs, now toilets: at the recommendation of David Miller, the Ontario government will consider banning conventional toilets to promote low-flush toilets. Low-flushies use only 6 litres of water per flush, while regular toilets will use anywhere from 13-25 litres to flush. Not only would the ban save Toronto 26 million litres of water per day, it would eliminate the need for $60 million in water and sewage-treatment capacity. Here's a ban......

Yesterday, a friend wrote: We should work to accept that it is unknowable whether one (person, perception, point of view) is objective or subjective. The problem is that there's no test to know, or, if there is such a test, we have no way of knowing that the test works. Tonight: throw the test out the window, folks! It’s House of Anansi’s Poetry Bash, featuring new books by Dennis Lee, Barbara Nickel, Erin Moure, and......

Hunter S. Thompson is notorious for his alcohol abuse, his gun collection, and most importantly for developing a new style of journalism called Gonzo. This new style blended fact and fiction and often removed objectivity by placing the author in the starring role. When the Ryerson Review of Journalism needed to raise funds for its upcoming issues, they decided to throw a party, and once again place Hunter S. in the starring role. Decadent and......

Torontoist was very saddened to learn of yesterday's passing of Canadian animation legend Ryan Larkin. In an article last December about his station ID tags for MTV Canada, Torontoist wrote of Larkin:Between the groundbreaking (and Oscar-nominated) Walking in 1969 and his equally revolutionary follow-up, Street Musique, three years later, Ryan Larkin cemented his status as among the most daring and brilliant animators of his time, taking hand-drawn animation to a previously-unseen level of surreal......

It seems to us that everybody we know has been under the weather lately. So we called Dr. Herveen Sachdeva, Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health to find out what diseases are out there and how we can avoid them. Q. Is it just us, or has cold and flu season, just like the freakishly cold weather, arrived late this year? A. The cold weather has more of an effect on......

In our last report on Drum Circle, Toronto's weekly celebration of drum and dance, one commenter lamented, "Its going to be a looooong [sic] winter without it...:(" Fear not, faithful reader, for the beat goes on. Attentive readers may remember that the dreadlocks, wooden beads, glowstick poi and djembe drums that have come to characterize the event were causing grief for a pair of older residents near Trinity Bellwoods, claiming the event held in......

Not only are you eating rice noodles out of that Styrofoam takeout container, you may be feeding yourself tasty carcinogens. Oh, and you'll pollute the environment when you toss the container in the garbage (or on the sidewalk, for all the difference it makes). Of course, that won't matter if the styrene in the Styrofoam gets to you first. But this is a scenario that can be avoided! NaturoPack is here to help. The......

Between the groundbreaking (and Oscar-nominated) Walking in 1969 and his equally revolutionary follow-up, Street Musique, three years later, Ryan Larkin cemented his status as among the most daring and brilliant animators of his time, taking hand-drawn animation to a previously-unseen level of surreal impressionism. He was the rising star of the NFB, the protégé of, and successor to, Norman McLaren, but the pressure to top his earlier triumphs exacerbated his already-present problems with drug-......

It's that time of year again when Torontonians spend much of their time indoors incubating disease. Though cold temperatures causing sickness is an inexplicably persistent myth, we do know that most of our risk comes from being inside more often with other people. Transit riders should be pleased to find that the metal pole they're holding on to is only cleaned once a week. Torontoist feels that we're all a little too uptight about germs......

Photograph of Rick Santorum conceding defeat with his family by Gene J. Puskar/AP The -ists this week had politics on the brain. And what goes better with politics? Partying-- that's two great tastes in one. Oh, and Kevin Federline...can't forget about Kevin Federline. That's three great tastes in one. -Bostonist discussed two big state issues-- what sort of math constitutes a marriage and what kind of alcohol can be sold in most grocery stores.......

In Rome, at least 1 person has died, and 10 more have been seriously injured in a subway collision involving two trains. It has been over 10 years since the Russel Hill incident here in Toronto. The Toronto Star's editor-in-chief Giles Gherson and publisher Michael Goldbloom resigned on Monday. Goldbloom wrote about the declining newspaper industry in his resignation letter. Canada's prison system is systemically discriminatory against aboriginals, according to the ombudsman for inmates. Also,......

Tomorrow night at 7:01 pm is the start of a 12-hour, all-night extravaganza called Nuit Blanche. Everyone we talked to seems to know that it's happening (thanks to cover stories in Now, Eye and the Toronto Star), but when pressed, few of those asked were clear on exactly what Nuit Blanche was, nor exactly what they're supposed to do. We thought Torontoist should step in and clear things up. In a nutshell: There are......

If you're like Torontoist, you like to have a good time. You also like to save your money to be able to afford those aforementioned good times. Get ready to fork out more cash because the Ontario government has given Toronto new taxing powers, and the savings go directly to City Hall. The new legislation gives Toronto's city council the ability to impose more municipal taxes on alcohol served at bars and restaurants as......

An update on the Chinatown area murder we mentioned yesterday. Her boyfriend has been charged with second-degree murder and police are saying that he did not have to force his way into the apartment building. The Star's story is here. The Sun gives a few more details and the Post as well. City councillors will be debating the 2015 World's Fair bid today. Council is expected to endorse the bid despite the fact that a......

This Thursday night newmindspace prove their organizing might with a Holiday Subway Party. Aside from the TTC fare, attendance is free. Meet at the west end of the Kipling station platform to catch the 11:11pm train eastbound along the Bloor-Danforth line. Although these events aren't sanctioned by the TTC, in the past they've watched closely, but haven't halted the party. What To Do: * dress up in a fancy costume or silly hat *......