Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a "behind the scenes" glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Successful election campaigns require money, and that funding obviously has to come from donors. I've noticed a number of misconceptions about how political campaigns are funded, probably due to the fact that election financing laws have changed frequently......

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a "behind the scenes" glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Right before Christmas (and just days before the deadline) the prime minister finally called a by-election for the riding of Toronto Centre, left vacant by Bill Graham last summer. He also called by-elections for three other ridings across......

After weeks of non-campaigning, the provincial election campaign officially opened with a bang yesterday, as Dalton McGuinty warned voters that if they don't vote Liberal, the Tories will form the next government. While true, the comment seems unnecessarily hurtful to poor Howard Hampton. Muslim groups say they didn't ask for it and don't need it. Parliament says they don't like it and didn't legislate it. Regardless, Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand stands by the......

Hi, My Name is Chris, and I'm a Politician I have a confession to make. I'm not like you. I'm not a normal, well-intentioned, benefit-of-the-doubt receiving human. Of course, I don't actually believe that. I phrase it that way because when I was first nominated as a candidate for the last federal election, that's how a lot of my friends reacted. They couldn't understand it. Running for Parliament wasn't something people they know did. They......

Water rates are due to rise nine percent in the New Year. City officials also say that similar rate increases will probably happen every year until at least 2012 - the city's water pipe infrastructure simply needs the money. For those wondering how this affects your "real" costs - a typical four-person household spent $429 on water in 2006. Assuming a nine percent increase every year, that means the same household will spend $720......

The city's right-wing councillors are trying to gang up on Mayor Miller and his budget. The Star reports that councillors Ootes, Minnan-Wong, Stintz, Shiner and Feldman strategized and decided that an item-by-item debate was not necessary. Instead council will be voting on the broad principles of the budget. The move is seen as a way to "sharpen" the debate perhaps adding fuel to the barely smouldering Pitfield vs. Miller flame. We're going to pull a......

"...Ianno is completely useless," writes blogger Andrew Spicer in a recent Torontoist comment. "Why isn't [a Canadian political scandal] finding its way onto the nation's political blogs?" asks Siri Agrell in this Maisonneuve article that we've referred to more than once. Well, it appears as if both comments have been addressed. Tony Ianno, incumbant Liberal in the federal Trinity-Spadina riding, might not be that useless afterall, and Can-bloggers might not be that 'pussy.' It seems......