Omar Khadr's lawyers recently released video footage of Khadr's interrogation by CSIS agents in hopes that the video would embarrass the Prime Minister and garner sympathy from Canadians. Unsurprisingly, the PM's office wasn't hearing that noise. Clearly these lawyers don't know how hard it is to embarrass Stephen Harper. Speaking of Canadians in trouble in the States, Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page was arrested in Fayetteville, New York for possession of cocaine and marijuana.......

Photo by ettml from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Although Torontoist has always been known for its sunny disposition and positive outlook on life, we have on a few occasions been less than effusive in our praise of the de facto real estate web search king, mls.ca. A poor (very, very poor) search function, crappy pictures (when available), and often useless information (telling us a property is in "C03" doesn't narrow it down very much)......

Waterfront Toronto considers corporate naming scheme. On the one hand, yes, it's a travesty. On the other hand, does anybody call the Skydome anything other than the Skydome, regardless of what Rogers wants us to call it? Feist sweeps the Junos, winning all five awards for which she was nominated. Feist wisely kept everything in perspective, explaining in her victory speech on Saturday (yes, the Junos, like all Canadian awards shows, stretch things out......

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.......

City backs away from plan to buy its own sidewalk food carts. And to think, it only took about ten thousand "what the hell is the city doing buying food carts, just let people buy their own damn food carts" comments and articles for the City to get the message! Toronto is getting more responsive every day, it really is. Canadian Border Services Agency says that Vancouver International Airport needs more patrols and security......

Poor OCAP. They can't even complain about the police watching them without the police watching them. At noon on Wednesday, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty held a press conference (not a rally or an action or a march but a press conference) at the northeast corner of Dundas and Sherbourne, and there was about one police officer for each person in attendance (around twenty). As eight or so cops casually observed the conference from......

Last week, we reported on a confrontation at College and McCaul Streets where a cyclist stabbed a motorist in the neck and face with a screwdriver. Police have arrested Yonan Inwia for assault, but give no further details. It's stories like this that need Rosie DiManno: "Yonan Inwia fell roughly to the ground, his hands reaching out in a Christ-like fashion to break the heavy fall. Little did Yonan know, today he would be......

Knitting: it's not just for grandmas anymore, but you already knew that. It's not just for crafty hipsteristas either. A group of teachers at Highland Heights Junior Public School have started a Knitting Club to help keep inner city kids out of trouble. Many of the students come from public housing, so the school relies heavily on fundraising for a extracurricular activities. When the idea of the Knitting Club was first conceived, the teachers......

When trying to solve the problem of the lack of affordable housing, the thinkers and planners and innovators and design enthusiasts come up with some pretty creative ideas. Like the IKEA House, for example, or the notion of shipping container architecture. A group of Toronto activists are proposing a "use it or lose it" bylaw "that would see vacant and underutilized buildings and spaces expropriated by the City and redeveloped as badly needed affordable......

Former Torontoist contributor Ted Healey came across a great find at the Wellesley & Ontario condo and townhouse development known as "The Star of Downtown." Previously the subject of an Ugly Stick here on Torontoist, the condo's advertisements have seen plenty of scorn since they were put up. The latest addition to the front facade is thanks to someone named Defy, who has decided to give a voice to the gay urban professionals artificially......

Welcome to Sponsoronto. This week, MasterCard offered the city money to reopen outdoor ice rinks in December, which were to be closed as part of budget cuts. Though Torontoist will be glad to see the rinks open, accepting corporate donations/sponsorship can be a slippery slope. What’s next—Home Depot Public Housing? Pepsi Public Schools? Photo illustration by Kevin McBride.......

The Real Toronto's hook is relatively simple. Filmed in the summer of 2005 by a now-24-year-old Russian immigrant nicknamed Madd Russian, it aims to show that "Toronto, known to most as a world class city has another side to it. This movie shows the reality of living in housing projects and some of the most run down areas in the city. This footage includes interviews with gang members, drug dealers and some of the......

In spite of legislation passed by opposition parties requiring the government to achieve Kyoto standards by 2012, the Conservative government has presented their original plan which doesn't even come close. A spokesperson said "We wanted to meet our Kyoto obligations, but it looked like it was going to be really hard." The government did say they were commited to ensuring that future generations had a climate of some kind. The Three Amigos summit ended......

Proving that New Democrats actually are allowed to have a sense of humour, former provincial cabinet minister and federal candidate Marilyn Churley commented on the dearth of women in the Ontario legislature by suggesting that there were not enough Janes and too many Dicks in provincial politics. You go, girl. Speaking of dicks at Queen's Park, Citizenship Minister Mike Colle has resigned after the Auditor-General revealed that his office had awarded more than 32......

Ladies and gentlemen, your humble critic is a little verklempt. Quite touched, were we, by the outpouring of support for our endeavour, and the flood of new Facebook friends we’ve open-armedly received since our maiden voyage on Torontoist last week. We have, it seems, touched a nerve; we're grateful to Torontoist for helping us, er, touch it. But on with the show. All the wishes Bad Buildings received were not sunshine and roses. Oh, no.......

If you're looking for something to do tonight, swing by City Hall between 7:30-10 p.m. to check out a free forum titled "Stepping Up The Environmental Agenda in Food, Housing and Lifestyles." Guest speakers include (taken from the official site): FOOD—Mike Schreiner, an award-winning social entrepreneur who has recently joined Local Flavour Plus as Vice President after 10 years as the co-founder of WOW Foods, a Toronto-based home delivery service for organic food that aims......

The Tories unveiled their plan to fight climate change, which broadly speaking involves polluters paying, although not very soon or very much. Cue predictable environmentalist outrage, and Environment Minister John Baird pointing out that the Liberals didn’t even have a fake plan. Buzz Hargrove is pleased, though. An unlicensed daycare in Riverdale was closed down after a child was injured there. An anonymous parent said that the kids in the centre were “healthy, well-stimulated,......

Comedians Dawn Whitwell and Elvira Kurt wanted to start a comedy movement. So they created Girls School, an all-woman comedy tour featuring some of Canada's most hilarious performers. The reason they chose the name and the all-lady lineup relates to research showing that students in all-girl schools perform better academically than those in co-ed schools. It follows that female comics would feel freer on stage with some sisters. The movement is gynocentric, but the comedy......

Torontoist reader Brandon Teed sent us the above photo and asks:I was walking to class the other day on University just south of College when I saw this sign. I ended up thinking about it all lecture and on the way home had to snap this picture. My question is, what's the deal with this sign? It seemed pretty proper and not any 'random protesting tactic sign.' Do you know any info behind it?......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. • The big story this week was the arrest of six kids for the murder of a 17-year-old boy in the Flemingdon Park area. On July 15, 2006, the victim was stripped and assaulted over several hours by a group of people outside a housing complex on Grenoble Drive, finally succumbing to......

It may be the least-sexy part of an already un-sexy concept (i.e. The Provincial Budget) but the end to GTA pooling is quite significant indeed. For the last few years the 905 municipalities have put hundreds of millions of dollars into a big pool to pay for Toronto's social program costs. The provincial government used to pay for social programs across Ontario (and now will again) but as part of one of his many......

We're guessing most of you are hungover from St. Patrick's Day. Some of us are too. But still, we're going to muddle on through our green haze and give you (drum roll please...) this Week In -ists. We start with SFist which broke the -ist record for comments with nearly 500 comments on a post about our Mayor's girlfriend. She responded back on charges that she's not a "girl's girl" and, whoo boy-- the......

Police have closed the Gardiner Expressway after baseball-sized chunks of ice began flying off the CN Tower. Flying chunks of ice? Closing the Gardiner? Good ol' Mel would've just brought in the army and called a wrap on the day. Power has finally been restored to homes affected by last Thursday's ice storm. The only people who could possibly still be without power are those who have failed to notify Toronto Hydro, a spokesman......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. The strangest thing that police have been dealing with this week was ice falling off buildings, notably the CN Tower. In other news, however: don't check your coat with a gun in the pocket; another day care centre is defrauded; someone sets fire to a Toronto Community Housing facility; Fester meets......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending a......

Toronto's overwhelming reception of Al Gore yesterday prompted David Miller to toughen his stance on climate change. Mayor Miller promised an aggressive change in policy on pollution, transit and construction, which will be formally proposed in late March. The Ontario government may have come up with a way around the new U.S.-Canada passport rules. A new super-secure driver's license is in talks, which would feature "laser engraving, holograms, currency-like print quality and other security measures......

Tomorrow night, the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design is welcoming Yoshiharu Tsukamoto to lecture about the Practice of Lively Spaces as part of their spring 2007 lecture series. Tsukamoto was born in Kanagawa, Japan and obtained his doctorate in Architecture at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He and his partner Momoyo Kaijima established Atelier Bow-Wow publishing several books investigating the urban landscape in Tokyo. Their practice has also won several awards, including the NAX......

As the world holds its breath, teetering precariously on the cusp of the Super Bowl (well, at least in America), the wheels of the -ists keep on turning. Austinist was in a musical frame of mind as they listened to the new Shins album, updated the SXSW band listings and got called "punk rock" for their efforts by MTV. And an ice storm swept through the area. Bostonist said goodbye to John Kerry's plans for......

If you’ve ever lived in one of Toronto’s older homes (like Casa Loma, pictured left) or apartments, you have probably wondered this: Why do the city's otherwise charming Victorian houses lack closets? The most frequently given "explanation" is that in olden times, homes were taxed by the room, and that closets were included in this count. Another legend offered up by amateur historians is that, back in the day, people only had a couple of......

Drake, you ho, this is all your fault. The Ontario Municipal Board has approved a high-rise residential project on Queen Street West at 48 Abell Street, just steps from the Gladstone and everything hipsters cherish about Toronto's arts scene. Developers intend to build 7 condos in total with affordable housing, and the ratio of "normal people" to "artists with cool hair" will be thrown into upheaval. Unfortunately, there's not much that we or neighbourhood-preservation......