Premier Dalton McGuinty has fired off a whiny letter to the PM complaining about Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's public criticism of Ontario and its tax laws. Flaherty, who apparently counts all time lost when he's not psychologically bitch-slapping his governmental inferiors, responded by calling McGuinty a "big stupid crybaby." Time to start prying out grandma's fillings—the price of gold hit a record high of US$984.95 an ounce in London this morning, and experts predict......

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman has caused a furor with his comment that he'd be willing to test-drive an adult diaper to see if being left in soiled diapers for hours on end is really all that bad. Critics say he isn't taking the issue of sub-standard care in nursing homes seriously, which seems a bit harsh, since there can't be too many politicians who'd be willing to spend a day crouched in their own......

A three hour Blackberry outage affected millions of people across North America yesterday, leading to much wailing and handwringing over the temporary unavailability of a technology that didn't even exist ten years ago. Truly we are a nation of whiners. The Toronto Maple Leafs braved the cold to hold an unannounced outdoor skate at Withrow Park yesterday, where they were cheered on by 300 local grade-schoolers. Following the warmup, the kids formed a pickup......

A protest outside the Toronto office of Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty Thursday drew attention to the housing crisis in Canada, demanding that resources spent on military action in Afghanistan be diverted to provide an additional 1% of the federal budget for social housing.......

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset. Probably the most stirring piece of art displayed in Toronto this year, Scott Sørli's "Common Sense Revolution" [PDF] juxtaposed......

With self-check-in a success at airports around the country, Air Canada is preparing to implement a system that would see passengers check and tag their own luggage. Coming in 2009: who wants to learn how to fly a plane? In spite of fears that we might not be as greedy as last year, yesterday stores were jammed with eager bargain hunters seeking shiny stuff. The crush is expected to continue through the rest of......

A large part of the downtown core from College to Queens Quay and York to Bayview, was blacked-out for about 2 ½ hours yesterday. In response, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said that Toronto has the ability to generate all the power it needs and certainly wasn't getting any more from the Province, while Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty agreed, adding that Torontonians should stop whining and being all dependent on electricity. Web search giant......

A massive fire at a townhouse complex on Jarvis Street near Mutual resulted in the death of an unidentified victim on Saturday night. Construction on the townhouses had been abandoned for ten months and the building was being inhabited by squatters, says a resident at the adjacent Radio City condo tower. Novelist Norman Mailer died this weekend. Kim Ruehl at Seattlest has a nice eulogy: "He was, as most great novelists are, a complete......

The Entertainment District got a little more entertaining early Monday morning as an innocent bystander was wounded in a wild movie-style shootout involving at least four gunmen. Mayor David Miller called for a crackdown on gun smuggling as part of his strategy of blaming all problems in Toronto on forces outside of his control. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled tax cuts yesterday, including corporate and personal income taxes reductions and a one-cent drop in......

Benny Hinn arrives in Toronto this weekend. True story: when I was a kid I used to look in the TV listings, see the listing for "Benny Hinn," and wonder why the TV guide was misspelling "Benny Hill." (Da da da DEE DEE da da da da, da da da da da da da da, da da DEE DEE da daaaaaa.) White House firmly states that Omar Khadr isn't going anywhere. The Star notes that......

In yet another show of contempt for the residents of Toronto, Transportation Services and "Clean and Beautiful City" staff have opted to put the models of the City’s proposed street furniture on display to the public for one day only; they will be visible in the City Hall rotunda from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, April 4. This is a project that will determine the look and feel of all of Toronto......

The Conservative government is expected to announce their new budget today, emphasizing both tax cuts and new additional spending. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty wasn't even particularly coy about the Conservatives' budget being a major attempt to disincentivise (Torontoist thinks that's a word) an election, claiming that Canadian families will like it and "vote for it." He then double-dog-dared the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois to vote against the budget. He then triple-dog-dared them. When......

Every week (or so), two Torontoist staffers square off to debate an issue that's important to our city. We invite our readers to join the debate in the comments section following the post. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty met with the big banks last week in an effort to get them to lower or eliminate the fees Canadians pay for banking at ATMs. The response was chilly. Scotiabank and National Bank have already dug in......

Gas shortages continue to plague Ontario and Quebec and it isn't getting better anytime soon. Hybrid owners laugh manically as the world slowly crumbles around them. Mad Max-style mayhem ensues. Mayor David Miller unveiled his plan to bring a one-cent share of the GST to Toronto. Miller's secret weapon? Green-coloured buttons and posters. Predictably, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty responded with a resounding "no way man." Sources close to the Mayor say he will counter with......

That guy in North York who accidentally let loose his pet giant cobra into the ducts of his semi-detached house pled guilty to mischief yesterday. He also had a poisonous viper in his bedroom and a second cobra that he accidentally left at work. How the hell do you accidentally leave a poisonous snake at work? No, seriously, how do you do that? What major malfunction do you have to have to forget about......

When the feds handed out $37 million for improving security on transit systems nationwide yesterday, Go Transit received $5.3 million, $4.3 million went to Union Station, but the TTC received only $1.46 Million, just shy of the $17 million it asked for. "It's like handing a bum a dime and saying, `Go buy a cup of coffee,'" said Howard Moscoe, distractedly pushing a rusty shopping cart full of discount surveillance cameras. Meanwhile, federal Finance Minister......

The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. is still in turmoil. The Corp. has been without a board chair since the summer. What's worse, Queen's Park, Ottawa and the City couldn't decide who should be appointed to the chair. What's worse Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has been meddling in the affairs of the TWRC. The city is getting a new $29 million arena. It's the first new arena built in the city in 25 years. The......

Jane Pitfield and David Miller are going to be seeing a lot of each other until November 13. The round of mayoral debates has started and both of them came out swinging for their first debate last night according to the Star. Incineration and David Miller's record were two of the big issues. Jane Pitfield's anti-panhandling bylaw stumbled yesterday when the Policy and Finance committee decided that the city should look into existing laws to......

David Soknacki, the right-winger picked by David Miller to be his budget chief, has announced that he is retiring from politics and will not be running for re-election in Ward 43 - Scarborough East this fall. Some councillors see this as another sign that Miller can't work with others who don't see his viewpoint. In the past, Soknacki has openly criticized the Mayor and his allies. Nonetheless he's earned the respect of many from Miller's......

Every couple of years, everyone outside of Europe in North America decides to become soccer fans. Can that feeling of excitement be sustained over the regular season? Well, in the middle of World-Cup Fever, our Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty gave $27-million to construct Canada's first soccer stadium. Total cost: $62-million. Expected completion date: May 1st, 2007... 10 months from now... The new stadium will be built at Exhibition Place and will be home......

Our favourite civic phallic symbol is turning 30 soon, June 26th to be exact. It's still the world's tallest free-standing structure (what does this mean anyway?). The Toronto District School Board is facing a budget shortfall of about $85 million. But it won't make any cuts without first holding a public meeting. In the meantime, the trustees are feverishly lobbying Queen's Park for more cash. Lots of TTC news today. First talks with the union......

Union Station is getting a $100 million facelift. Commuters will not just be getting wider platforms but a whole new one when engineers and construction workers finish moving a sewer by 2008. In other transit news, ridership is up all over the country but especially in the GTA. GTA ridership increased by 4% despite rising prices and crumbling infrastructure. Council restricts garage sales to two a year. The reform was designed to take out those......

We had a healthy discussion on animal band names on this blog and noticed that Zoilus has been having a rollicking talk on yet another naming trend, the professional occupation or as Zoilus puts it "Yuppie Band Names." What's with these bands called Editors, or Architects (or The Architects)? It's the flip side of the Wolf/Bear/Eagle names, I suppose. But what's next - "Personal Finance Consultants"? Why not just say what you really mean and......

Remember actor Jim Carrey in his break-through performance as the exuberantly goofy private eye in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective? Now think of that same year, 1994, when the talented Canadian appeared as an unlikely superhero in The Mask with Cameron Diaz. Do you recall the hyperactive green-faced character's famous catch-phrase? Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara does; it's "Smmmokkkkkkin'!" And now you have to pay more money to do so, as Ontario raised the price of......

Amid renewed concerns of the efficiency of the LCBO, the provincial government has appointed some sort of panel in attempts to modernize the liquor board. While Torontoist didn't actually sit down with panel organizer Greg Sorbara, that didn't stop us from conducting a hard-hitting interview with the Finance Minister. Here's the exclusive: Torontoist: Hi Greg! Minister Sorbara: (no answer) Torontoist: So what's all this we hear about the LCBO? Minister Sorbara: [The current system of......