1. Get Mike Harris to co-author it.......

Photo by Jonathan Goldsbie. According to a December 2004 article in the Globe, Mike Harris is (or at least was at the time) the chairman of video advertising company Onestop; he got on board "in return for an equity stake" in the business. Presuming that he still has that stake (and why wouldn't he? he may be evil, but he's not stupid), Harris became a richer man two weeks ago, when the Toronto Transit......

Everyone's favourite appropriately-named party leader hasn't been having a great time over the past few months. Ever since John Tory's upsetting dual loss in October's provincial election, the vultures have been circling over him. Both established and grassroots party members have been calling for Tory's head, and they'll finally have a chance to oust him at the Progressive Conservative Party's General Meeting at the end of the month. The anti-Tory camp's main argument is, simply......

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......

Photo by matthewfromtoronto from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Ten years ago today, Premier Harris forced us all to play. On January 1, 1998, Metropolitan Toronto's six constituent municipalities were merged into one, creating Canada's largest city and a strangely powerless political behemoth. The popular view at the time was that the so-called Megacity was born largely of political vengeance. It's conveniently forgotten that many advocated for amalgamation before the fact, only to predict death, destruction,......

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. The story of Dudley George produced many heroes and villains during the almost twelve years between his killing at......

Reader Cy Goldsbie (yes, relation) sent us the above photos of a box that popped up in St. Clair station over the weekend. Marked "DEPOSIT PUBLIC CONSULTATION SURVEY HERE," the box is at the "end of the southbound platform tucked into the alcove of the non-working elevator." (In other words, they're about as conspicuous as what Joe Clark calls the TTC's "intentionally hidden online complaints form.") So what's the deal? At the TTC's emergency......

The so-called Three Amigos Summit will take place this week at a resort in Montebello, Quebec, where the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico will meet with business executives to discuss stuff that's none of your business. Incidentally, the tag line for the 1986 movie The Three Amigos was "They're Down On Their Luck And Up To Their Necks In Senoritas, Margaritas, Banditos And Bullets!" Dalton McGuinty will commit the provincial government to taking......

Torontonian Vanessa Delsooz (not pictured) has organized an impromptu protest of proposed TTC cuts next Saturday July 28th at Nathan Phillips Square at 1 p.m. The rally will reportedly be outside the law, since it takes longer than a week to secure a permit for such things. Also, the office that issues protest permits just got eliminated due to budget cuts. (Just kidding. We think.) What those who gather will be protesting is, however,......

It seems that many people believe that the City of Toronto doesn't need to levy taxes in order to maintain a high level of City services. If only the City had its finances in order and cut back on spending, they say, then there would be no financial crunch. In response, Mayor Miller likes to point out how many cutbacks there indeed have been and how much contracting out is already taking place and,......

Faced with a distasteful choice between imposing unpopular new taxes or recommending draconian budget cuts, City Council came up with the ingeniously gutless idea of deferring the decision until after the provincial election in October. The premise is that maybe that the province will agree to once again pony up for the social service costs that it downloaded under Mike Harris. Or maybe the City Hall lotto pool will win the 6/49, like, forty......

You want a greener city? Prepare to pay $4 million per year in taxes to plant and maintain trees. Alternatively, you could covertly plant them yourself with your own funds. We hear that chicks dig tree planters. Transit officials are testing the Presto card in Mississauga; a refillable swipe card that allows you to travel between Mississauga Transit, GO Trains and TTC while only paying for one fare. Eventually, the project will be extended......

Toronto's tap water places third in blind taste test. So the next time somebody from New York tells you how awesome it is there, you can say "well, sure, but our water is delicious." Professional wrestler Chris Benoit found dead along with wife and son. Police are investigating it as a double murder/suicide. For those of you who do not follow wrestling, the "Crippler," born in Montreal and raised in Edmonton, was quite possibly......

Recycling plant fire closes the 407. Officials commented how deeply ironic the fire was. "It's a recycling centre and it's contributing to smog!" (Not ironic: rain on your wedding day, good advice you just didn't take.) Canadian soldier killed near Kandahar, two wounded in roadside bomb blast. Trooper Darryl Caswell brings Canada's military death total in Afghanistan to 57. The Sopranos comes to an end with an episode that, depending on your viewpoint, was......

The soldier killed Wednesday in Afghanistan has been confirmed as Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede. The 30-year-old grew up in Burlington, Ont. but lived in Grand Forks, B.C. until he left for Afghanistan a month ago. He was killed along with six others when a rocket flew into their Chinook helicopter. The Ipperwash Inquiry was released yesterday. Commissioner Sidney Linden says that he believes that both federal and provincial governments were responsible as well as......

A source at City Hall recently warned that the ONESTOP Media Group, which operates the advertising screens on TTC station platforms, will soon make another play to put video ads inside subway cars (the Toronto Public Space Committee successfully warded off their last attempt). The new cars the TTC has ordered will have video displays, anyway (see after the jump), but as of yet there are no plans for them to be used for......

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......

The TTC was coasting for a long time on its "best transit system in the world!" laurels before Mike Harris cut it down to size. In fact, the commision was so happy with itself that it failed to notice that transit systems in other large cities were doing all sorts of neat-o things. For example: while we all love losing tiny TTC tokens (or even occasionally finding them in the laundry) other transit systems......

A small Cessna crashes into Lake Ontario after losing power. The three passengers had minor injuries but were all rescued by emergency workers. 11-year old Godfrey Wignarajah received an award from Toronto EMS yesterday. Godfrey calmly called 911 when he realized his grandfather had difficulty breathing. Sadly, his grandfather died of a heart attack but Godfrey's calm impressed emergency responders and the 911 dispatcher that received his call. The Halton trash incineration idea gets batted......

The Star leads with a story leaking the fact that the McGuinty government is going to announce that they'll want to build more nuclear plants now that their plans to scrap the province's coal plants aren't going forward anytime soon. Despite other coal plants staying open the Lakeview Generating Station did come down this morning. City Pulse reports on the dramatic demolition of the plant. On another environmental matter, York and Durham have given the......

By now, most everyone in the city knows of the single most unfortunate event in Toronto this year: On Boxing Day, while shopping, 15-year-old Jane Creba was killed by errant gunfire. Six other innocent bystanders were also wounded. Just as any other human being in this city - or rather anyone else privy to this story - we feel deeply affected by this. And, as it should go without saying, our utmost sympathies to any......

Hurry hard? Not so fast, curling freaks! The Brier Championship, considered the premier in Canadian curling, may not roll into Toronto until at least 2008, says the Canadian Curling Association. The tournament has been a widely popular event in western cities including Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Edmonton (this year's host) and Regina (next year's curling hot spot), but most likely won't see the Upper Canada area for 3-5 years. Thousands of curling enthusiasts, including Men With......