In a world where the squeaky wheel gets the grease, cyclists may be a little too well-lubricated for their own good. No matter how much noise they think they're making, cyclists just can't seem to push their agenda as well as, say, the Canadian Automobile Association can push theirs. Into this breach is stepping the Toronto Cyclists Union, the latest in a series of formal and informal organizations to try to help Toronto cyclists......

Sarah Lazarovic––curator of the garage-based Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada––is painting a portrait of a Torontonian (be they grannies or gardeners or Gord Perks) every day for one hundred days. Each Monday, we'll feature one of those portraits here. Stephen Lewis talks heritage and democracy tonight, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ontario Heritage Trust. Dessert is also involved.......

Sarah Lazarovic––curator of the garage-based Montrose Portrait Gallery of Canada––is painting a portrait of a Torontonian (be they grannies or gardeners or Gord Perks) every day for one hundred days. Each Monday, we'll feature one of those portraits here. This is Mr. Golden Star, proprietor of a Thornhill burger joint that some consider the best in town. Now into his 80s, he can still be seen manning the till into the wee hours, trying to......

The corner of Dundas Street West and Indian Grove used to host McBride Cycle, a 21,000 square-foot motorcycle retailer with some ninety-seven years of history behind it. As of last September, however, the store is no more, a death caused in large part by motorcycling companies cancelling agreements with dealerships like McBride's around the country. Beginning in the spring, the building was slowly demolished, and now there is little more at the corner than......

Feeling nutty and proud of it? David Miller has proclaimed July 14 as Mad Pride Day in Toronto, which aims to recognize and empower a much marginalized group: those who have experienced oppression at the hands of the psychiatric system (psychiatric survivors and consumers) and those who generally have been stigmatized by their mental health issues. In the same way that the gay community has reclaimed the word "queer," psychiatric survivors and consumers have empowered......

Health Canada reports that over half of Canadian kids aged five to 17 are not physically active enough for optimal growth and development. The number of overweight boys ballooned from 15 percent in 1981 to 35.4 percent in 1996; the percentage of overweight girls expanded from 15 percent to 29.2 percent. In less than a generation, obesity in children tripled. As anyone who has tried to lose a few kilos knows, it is easier to......

Spring has finally sprung in a big way, just in time for Earth Day. Tomorrow, why not try something new, while also doing your part to help save the planet? Number three on the “Top 10 Actions” to help the environment on the Earth Day Canada website is try eating meat-free at least one day a week. The reason according to them is this: a meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plant-based......

Last Thursday's 20th Anniversary bash for Artscape was a who's-who of Toronto arts philanthropy: the guest list boasted big names from around the city like Councillors Joe Mihevc and Gord Perks, Toronto Arts Council Executive Director Claire Hopkinson, Poet Laureate Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, and more. It was an evening of being seen, sampling a whirlwind of savoury hors d'oeuvres and trading congratulatory speeches with some of Toronto's most influential arts personalities. Artscape can......

This week, we wandered about the city and did a design analysis of election signs. This post doesn't exactly constitute voting advice -- unless you're often swayed by snazzy typography. At the same time, it's our belief that a terrible sign can tank an otherwise promising candidate and vice-versa. So what about the hotly-contested mayor's race? We have to admit that Pitfield's fiery red-on-yellow has an energy and passion that's missing from Miller's way-cool blue.......

Gord Perks, well known environmental columnist, activist and NDP candidate in Davenport during the last federal election, is running for city council in Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park). Current councillor Sylvia Watson will be running in a September provincial by-election to try and fill the seat vacated by Gerard Kennedy. Perks wasn't able to unseat Liberal Mario Silva in Davenport but Ward 14 is another matter. He'll undoubtedly get help from the NDP and MP Peggy......

Torontoist found himself nodding along in agreement with Gord Perks' latest column in Eye which goes on at some length on how politicians, and most importantly Premier McGuinty, is continuously telling the City that many of our priorities (transit, downloading, etc.) are political impossibilities. Dale Duncan, on the Eye blog, keeps up this train of thought with some quick research. Premier McGuinty, it seems would love to fix all of our problems but can't. "Premier......

Environmentalist and NDP candidate for Davenport Gord Perks's dream has come true... he has been carted away to a recycling facility. Photo taken on Appleton Ave. last Friday.......

MDM: Recycle! Chorus: Incinerate! MDM: Divert 100% of our waste! Chorus: Impossible unless we burn, baby, burn! Mayor DM has faced hurdles aplenty, but waste diversion has the sting of the impossible attached to it. It's a laudable goal, diverting 100% of our waste. But experts say it's but a green dream unless we burn at least some of our waste. And, according to enviroguy Gord Perks, by way of Dr. Gridlock, "It's making your......