Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams addressed an enthusiastic crowd last night at the Hot House Cafe on Church Street, as part of what organizers billed as a "Summer Celebration" of the Irish peace process. Adams is on a speaking tour of North America to thank supporters of Friends of Sinn Fein, a non-profit fundraising group whose Canadian chapter, located in Toronto, was launched by Adams in 2001. Adams was one of the principle negotiators of......

Michael Ignatieff has one, Olivia Chow has one—what if Stephen Harper had a Facebook account? Kagan McLeod and Steve Murray of the National Post created a photoshopped speculation of such an occurrence for Posted this morning. Stephen is "just an ordinary dude that loves leading you!" He's a fan of Battlestar Galactica, Choclair, and petting awesome kittens. Check out the full version here.......

Canada's second-last WWI veteran dies at 106. Percy Dwight Wilson (pictured) lied about his age to enlist in the army at the age of fifteen. Is that not amazing? Torontoist thinks that's amazing! Provincial Grits to announce a green energy plan that will be more aggressive than the federal Tory plan. The announcement is scheduled for June 11th and has already been leaked to the Star, so a reasonable scenario is that the government is......

Mayor Miller is announcing today that there will be a major competition to redesign Nathan Phillips Square. Olivia Chow wants her colleagues in Ottawa to stay away from Porter Air. The upstart airline is starting flights on October 23rd. A fire broke out in a Humane society foster home early this morning. A brave boyfriend saved many of the animals but sadly two cats died. Higher residential property taxes has 905ers pissed off at......

Maybe they're just tired of Howard Moscoe but the TTC committee unanimously voted to approve the Bombardier deal. The $499 million deal still has to go through council where we're sure there'll be an acrominous but ultimately futile debate. Pressure from Ottawa got an Iranian Canadian former U of T prof freed from an Iranian prison. The man had been accused of espionage and kept in solitary confinement. Ok drivers, get it while its cheap.......

Another death on the Gardiner. A motorcyclist died in an accident around 7:30 pm. Earlier reports blamed racing but a police detective said the biker was most likely trying to perform a wheelie when his bike flipped over and killed the rider. Palais Royale will be getting its parking lot. This fall, the city will be paving over a median on Lakeshore Boulevard to provide parking space for the renovated club. The city is breathing......

Nonono, Canadian Idull Kalan Porter did not strike it big, but expect to see his name strewn across airplanes this year. (unaffiliated) Porter airlines is slated to begin operations on Toronto's City Centre Airport. Their first destination will be Ottawa, with Montreal, NYC and Chicago coming later. This new development is not coming without a fuss. Locals are angry and expect more noise and pollution to the area. Porter president Robert Deluce stated that......

The last time a vote was this close the Supreme Court had to be called in. Last night's Downtown and East York final for City Idol went to three ballots and a run-off before Desmond Cole (shown here in between Boy Reporter and fellow finalist Karen Sun) was picked by a raucous crowd at Lula Lounge to be downtown Toronto's first City Idol. Cole will be running in Ward 20 alongside former TV broadcaster......

While everyone was stressing out over the TTC wildcat strike almost two weeks ago Olivia Chow made an announcement that she will be introducing a private member's bill to the House of Commons that would amend the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act to include sideguards on trucks! Olivia, we miss you over at the concrete clamshell, and little things like this remind us why. There's also a petition here that you can print out. Thanks......

From their no-doubt hilarious training centre,Second City launched a new bunch of comic hacks into the world yesterday with Da Tory Code, their inaugural comedy writers showcase. With a healthy balance of political debate and general Canadian hosery, the players joked about Osama becoming a Scientologist, used five-pin bowling and Korn to describe electoral reform and sang the praises of the Terry Schiavo diet (too soon?). But the undoubted highlight of the show was when......

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......

The OPP report that 800 traffic tickets were given out on this province's busy highways. The worst offenders included a woman not wearing a seatbelt to be able to play with her chihuahua, and a driver in his underwear holding a bottle of vodka. Six teens attacked a woman selling fireworks out of her truck. They set her vehicle on fire nearly killing her and her son. The six teens, all between 14 and 19,......

Adam Vaughan has put down his camera and picked up his political boxing gloves. He filed his nomination papers and is now an official candidate in Trinity-Spadina, the ward vacated by Olivia Chow when she was elected to Parliament earlier in the year. Long-time community activist Tam Goosens and former Olivia Chow assistant Helen Kennedy are also slated to run in the ward. Media outlets are drooling over the fact that one of their own......

On Monday night most NDPers were pretty happy. The party got more seats, more votes and Olivia Chow was elected. One let down was Marilyn Churley's defeat in the Beaches to Liberal incumbent Maria Minna. Churley had given up her seat at Queens Park to run federally and now her political career is in doubt. We expect Churley to be a little bit upset but threatening to run against the mayor as reported in......

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......

Barring any last minute grovelling from Paul Martin we'll be waking up to an election campaign tommorow. Like last time the GTA is going to be a major battleground and the Liberals and the NDP are already bringing out their heavy hitters. Michael Ignatieff will be running in Etobicoke-Lakeshore despite some complaints amongst the riding association about his acclaimation. Will the third time be the charm for Olivia Chow? She lost a little over a......

The Federal and Municipal Governments have locked arms in a quest to get adult Ontarians fit by 2010. They think bus shelter posters by For Better or For Worse' Lynn Johnston will help do this. We know the adult Ontarians love them some FBFW, but won't it take a bit more than that to get folks walking and talking? Yes. The City is also spending $547,069 to establish walking programs, create better signage and......

City Council is saying no to nightclubs, putting a moratorium on new clubs in clubland for at least the next year. Thank goodness for Lucid. We kid. Joe is where it's at. Council is putting the kibosh on new Walmart Dancehalls because things are getting "out of control," according to one Olivia Chow, who says new condo dwellers will be none too happy about their noisy nabe. Though we're no fan of the Saturday night......

The ads have been running in NOW for over a month, and yet every time we see them we can't help but chuckle aloud while pointing to the goofy cartoon of Mr. Olivia Chow. Why a turtleneck and beret? Is there some band of evil conservatives trying to paint Layton as a baguette drinking, wine eating John Kerry type? Layton, who may or mayn't have invented the municipal bike lock, has invented the party chairman......

A tipster sends us the following mangled city o' toronto press release. Though the city hasn't been able to help the homeless find housing, they've found an ingenious way of helping settle the recent immigrant pop. To wit:Councillor Olivia Chow, Chair of the Community Services Committee, visited a bus shelter in Scarborough to unveil new posters designed to raise awareness among non-English-speaking Toronto residents and visitors that they can obtain emergency service in over 150......