Here's a riddle: What walks throughout Canada, weighs more than a Brit, but less than an American, and can help stop global warming? No, it's not Sasquatch. It's not Kyoto. Stumped? We'll give you a hint. It's the average Torontonian's carbon footprint! According to Zerofootprint, a not-for-profit environmental organization, the average Torontonian's carbon footprint sits at 8.6 tonnes per year—more than a fully-grown African elephant! Zerofootprint teamed up with the City of Toronto to......

Left to right: TTC market research director Mike Anders, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, irate civil engineering Engineering Science student Ryan Campbell, and Giambrone executive assistant Kevin Beaulieu. "Isn't this just a quasi-communistic redistribution of wealth?" asked a student at the microphone, receiving hearty applause from a good chunk of the audience. He was inquiring about the new U-Pass being proposed by the TTC, which Mayor David Miller, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, and Vice-Chair Joe......

While the word "nutcracker" might evoke some painful mental images in some, for many it's a familiar part of the holiday season. The original ballet was composed in Russia by one Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, and The National Ballet of Canada has been performing The Nutcracker since 1964. James Kudelka did a revamp of the choreography in 1995, and since then The National Ballet's Nutcracker has become what The Globe and Mail has......

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......

Photo by ilkrender. The Toronto Reference Library will be celebrating the big 30 this Friday, and you're invited to its open house birthday party. Beginning at 10:30 a.m. with Breakfast Television host Kevin Frankish, Mayor David Miller, and architects Raymond and Ajon Moriyama, the event includes poetry readings, music, artist demonstrations, library tours, workshops, etc. The library will also launch Your Stories, a collection of personal narratives about the library's role in the lives......

Mayor David Miller passed a compromised version of his contentious land transfer and vehicle registration taxes yesterday. The taxes will raise only about $175 million of the $414 million estimated budget shortfall, and will add about $3,700 to the price of the average home. "I think it's a vote of confidence in Toronto," said the Mayor inexplicably about the plan to layer more costs onto taxpayers in a city with a hollowed-out manufacturing base,......

Photo by Marc Lostracco. With all the recent hubbub over taxes, cutting costs, and shutting down elements of the TTC, folks have been a little concerned about the fate of everyone’s favourite public transit system. While Mayor David Miller continues to passive-aggressively beg Ottawa and Queen’s Park for funding, many wonder if it’s possible to run the TTC without it. Haven’t we been a big, tough, independent city in the past? Can’t the Toronto......

Three elephants from the Garden Brothers circus escaped their handlers and took a brief tour of a residential neighbourhood in Newmarket last night. The elephants aren’t kept in cages but do have a rope around their foot to keep them from wandering, which doesn’t work. Local residents said that after initial alarm they were delighted with the unexpected early morning zaniness. Good news for traveling half-wits—airport screeners have been instructed to issue a warning......

The flags will be at half-mast Thursday at all civic buildings and an entire city is saddened by the loss of "Honest Ed" Mirvish at the age of 92. The Mirvish family has released public details about the funeral: Friday, July 13 Beth Tzedec Synagogue 1700 Bathurst Street, just south of Eglinton Avenue [map] 11:00 a.m. (a strictly private family Shiva will follow) Donations can be made in lieu of flowers to the Ed......

The Toronto Public Library is the only good thing to have come from amalgamation. One of the worst things to have come from amalgamation, on the other hand, is City Council's insistence that everything that it doesn't do is a result of not being able to afford to do it, and that everything that it does do is a result of not being able to afford not to do it. Last Wednesday morning, June......

At random intervals, 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. This past week, there was considerable uproar when it was revealed that Toronto emergency vehicles would be forced to remove magnetic decals saying “Support Our Troops.” However, following much public outcry, and the deaths of three more Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, Mayor David......

Everybody’s talking about the weather—now’s your chance to get out and do something about it. Mayor David Miller is inviting everyone in the city to attend the Climate Change Action Forum this Sunday, April 29 at Exhibition Place. The Forum is a venue to discuss and shape Toronto’s plan for tackling the related menaces of air pollution and global warming. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about greenhouse gases and climate change,......

Good news for Mayor David Miller—there's one place in the GTA where he can hang without being mobbed by crazed fans. According to a survey by the Scarborough Civic Action Network, more than a third of Scarboroughites don't know who the mayor is, and only a quarter know the name of their councillor. Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, possibly dismayed by his lacklustre Q-Score, characterized this lack of civic-mindedness as "irresponsible and lazy." SCAN......

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. Last week, a panel discussion at City Hall kicked off a campaign to extend voting rights in local elections to Torontonians who are not citizens. Although Mayor David Miller supported the idea during last years municipal elections, thus far no provincial political......

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. At Toronto Summit 2007, Mayor David Miller launched a campaign to get the Federal government to share one cent of the GST with Canada's cities. Toronto's share of one cent of the GST would amount to an estimated $400 million, but so......

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......

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......

So last night was the Oscars: Ellen DeGeneres was surprisingly enjoyable; there were not many upsets except perhaps The Departed for Best Picture (really?); Canada only won one award, Best Animated Short for The Danish Poet; Gwyneth Paltrow resembled a giant prawn. And not in a good way. Yesterday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty went to Washington to persuade the U.S. to delay the new passport requirement for border crossings. McGuinty promised info-rich driver's licenses and......

Al Gore brought his now famous slideshow to a sold-out crowd at the University of Toronto last night. Outside, a very Canadian phenomenon—the "friendly picket"—was taking place with signs that read "Welcome Al" and "Heed The Goracle." Inside, former Ontario premiere David Peterson introduced Gore as a "moralist, philosopher, thinker, teacher, doer, and rock star." "I love you Al," someone yelled from the upper seats of Convocation Hall once the first burst of applause had......

If you were at the Yung Sing Pastry Shop on Baldwin Street yesterday morning, you could have eaten some yummy buns with the Food Jammers. Yay you say. But wait, who are the Food Jammers? They are the hosts of the television show of the same name that take a humorous, thoughtful and often absurd look at eating and preparing food. A typical episode will find Food Jammers' Christopher Martin, Micah Donovan and Nobu Adilman......

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. Way back on December 18 2006, video surveillance cameras were placed in 3 locations near Dundas Square in downtown Toronto in an experiment to see if they would serve as a deterrent against crime. Last week, after less than a month in......

If ACTRA's quasi-strike isn't enough of a blow to Canada's dwindling film industry, another one recently hit that will also give American productions another reason not to shoot in Toronto. Which is great, because no one likes money -- especially American money. Word on the street is that TEDCO and Mayor David Miller recently mandated the imminent closure of the Pier 28 Cinespace Studios. The lot is 140,000 sq feet which is big enough......

Ed Mirvish: theatre tycoon, city hero and...turkey giveaway guru? People lined up overnight outside Honest Ed's for the 19th Annual Turkey Giveaway on Sunday. Now approaching age 93, Ed himself was sadly not in attendance, but son David Mirvish took over greeting duties. City Homicide #64, if you're keeping track: 26-year-old Mississauga resident, Dennis Kwame Oppong, died after being shot in the head near Front and Spadina early Sunday morning. The victim had been convicted......

Yesterday, the first in a series of public meetings with the United States Coast Guard resulted in the suspention of live-fire machine gun drills on the Great Lakes until greater safety and environmental inquiries are made. The live-fire drills have been operating on all five lakes since January, only recently gaining public attention and inciting outrage in the recreational boating, fishing and cottaging communities. The U.S. Coast Guard, a division of the Department of......

In a bizarre and tragic scene yesterday, former Toronto Blue Jay (and current New York Yankee) pitcher Cory Lidle perished after flying his plane into an apartment building in New York. The United States heads to the United Nations hoping for a UN resolution that will impose sanctions on North Korea. And North Korea threatens retaliation if Japan goes ahead and imposes sanctions in response to last weekend’s nuclear test. And George W. Bush denies......

Mayor David Miller doesn’t want to meet with him; neither does Police Chief Bill Blair. But that hasn’t stopped Lou Hoffer, the national director of the Guardian Angels of Canada, being named one of the 10 most important people in Toronto by Macleans. There’s no question that, for better or worse, he and the Angels have brought a discussion of law, order and the city’s fraying fabric to the fore. Don’t believe all the bad......

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......

Hey Toronto! Today is the launch event for the first ever Humanitas Festival, "A festival of what was, is and could be Toronto". Starting at 6pm at the Cooler By The Lake Tent at the foot of Yonge Street, at the water’s edge, you can come on down and Join Mayor David Miller, City of Toronto Poet Laureate Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, NOW Magazine’s Alice Klein and CBC Radio One 99.1 host Garvia Bailey......

On Yonge Street just north of Elm Street, in front of the store in which 15-year-old Jane Creba killed by an errant bullet, a group of about 200 gathered to mourn the deaths of all those killed by guns in 2005. There was a moment of silence before each candle was dedicated to a shooting victim; one candle for any one of the 52 victims. Organizer Himy Syed placed his candle down for Jane......

Mayor David Miller will be giving a Remembrance Day address at a service at Old City Hall this morning at 10:30. The service will also include a Colour Party Parade and music by the 7th Toronto Regiment Band, RCA and the Elmer Iseler Singers. Ceremonies are scheduled to take place all over the city.......