The latest census stats show conclusively that the poor are either getting poorer, or that they're not. The Star toes the OCAP line, rambling about free trade and crappy jobs, while the Post weighs in for the plutocrats by observing that family incomes have actually grown across the board, and that the income stats are misleading anyway. As Torontoist likes to say, you load sixteen tons, and what do you get? Another day older......

Prime Minister Stephen Harper won't be attending the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, but says that it has nothing to do with the current situation in Tibet. A cautious Canada walks the middle ground of diplomacy, earning the emnity of the Chinese government without even making a useful political statement. Tory MP Tom Lukiwski has apologized for homophobic remarks he made on video back in 1991, when he referred to "homosexual faggots with......

The hosts of Re-Inventors, Jeremy MacPherson and Matt Hunter, put one of their "re-inventions" to the test against Olivier Jean, a speed skater and Olympic hopeful, at the Ricoh Coliseum this week. The propeller strapped to MacPherson's back was based on a patent registered in 1948 by Horace M. Morrill, who intended the device to "provide a portable manually supported propelling unit" for people on skates, boats or bicycles. The race, a promotional event......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Each Sunday, the editors of every site—from LAist to Londonist—choose their most interesting article, a list which is compiled into the network-wide feature Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse. Gothamist went to the scene of the Trump Soho construction collapse, which left one construction worker dead and others injured (an indirect culprit––Manhattan's hot real estate market, causing rushed construction jobs).Shanghaiist is confused by media reports as......

London's transit story of the week—if not the year—was Tuesday's re-opening of St. Pancras rail station after £800 million (that's $1.6 billion) of renovations. Not only does the station provide London with a new terminus for a high-speed 300km/h rail link to Paris and Brussels (with a planned stop at the 2012 Olympics site in east London along the way), but it also upgrades the city's regional and suburban rail connections and improves access......

After decades of being situated as an icon of Queen Street West, it has been revealed that Citytv will be moving to a new high-profile location: Dundas Square. Since Rogers Communications announced plans to acquire Citytv, there has been much speculation about what would happen to the legendary Queen Street studios. The solution became the former Olympic Spirit complex at the south-east corner of Dundas Square. Built for $42 million in 2004, the building......

Our friends over at Spacing Magazine have officially launched their foray into a whole new blogging environment, Spacing Montréal. Covering the urban environment five hours down the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, Spacing's new blog looks at many of the same public space issues in Montreal (in a refreshing mix of both official languages) that the newly-rebranded Spacing Toronto examines here. It may be worth noting the many parallels between Toronto and Montreal that make it a......

The Ontario government will spend around $27 billion on nuclear power between now and 2025 in a bid to keep the lights on in the province. If history is any indicator, the nuke plans will be characterized by inefficiencies, unanticipated delays,and massive cost overruns, but will at least ensure that future generations have access to a secure supply of radioactive waste. 14 teens have been arrested in a series of violent muggings in Toronto's......

Let's be real, folks. It might be a while until we host the actual Olympics. So clear your calendars August 24–26 and join an estimated 50,000 guests that will be attending the next best thing: the World Cyber Games Canada Championships being held right here in our very own Toronto. Two hundred professional gamers will compete for cash prizes and the chance to represent Team Canada in the WCG Grand Final in Seattle next......

Torontoist vs. Torontoist is an occasional feature that has two of our staffers debating an issue that is important to our city. We invite our readers to join the debate in the comments section following the post. Last week, Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive Chris Rudge (who Torontoist believes may have been separated at birth from David Miller) floated the idea that Toronto should seriously consider putting together a bid to host the 2020 Summer......

Pope Benedict XVI asserts that Catholicism is the only true church. The document he approved states that other Christian churches are "defective" and not true churches. Pope Benedict also plans to bring back the Spanish Inquisition and witch burnings later this year. Canadian Olympic Committee wants Toronto to try yet again to get the Olympics. Because if lackluster support for bringing the Olympics here twice wasn't enough the first two times, surely the third time......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay tribute......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

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......

Statistics Canada reports a national population increase of 5.4% since 2001, yet downtown Toronto only experienced an increase of 0.9%. The boom is being attributed to immigration, which experts predict will be our only means of population growth by 2030. It seems everyone is happy to settle in the suburbs as towns like Brampton (33.3%) and Vaughan (31.2%) are growing as fast as houses can be built. Milton has grown an astounding 71.4%. I......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing—what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as they wrote......

Spring appears to have, er, sprung, at least temporarily, in most of the Ist-A-Verse, so naturally, we're all feeling pretty good. (Yes, we know that spring doesn't officially start till later this month. Just let us enjoy our weather!) And that makes us that much more eager to share all of the nifty things we're up to... Over at Sampaist, spring has more than sprung: it's sweltering! But, as everyone knows, museums are an ideal......

Today is the last chance to see Gordon Halloran’s stunning Paintings Below Zero ice art installation at Nathan Phillips Square as part of the WinterCity festivities, so get down there already! Halloran’s unique technique involves arranging coloured panels of ice into abstract shapes that emphasize the ice's texture and natural crystalline structures. The piece evolves as the panels freeze and melt, colours blend together, and the opacity of the ice itself changes. Past installations......

If you’re hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs “so are you nakie” to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of......

Seriously, who needs the Olympics when you can have a horde of bike messengers take over the streets of Toronto for one long weekend. According to Unknown Toronto, we'll be hosting the 2008 Cycle Messenger World Championships. The event is usually held over the labour day weekend and attracts messengers from all over the world. We don't recommend going to Jet Fuel that weekend. Photo by Mute* from the Torontoist Flickr Group......

For the past four years, La Carrera has been busy turning itself into a Harbord Village institution. Everyone recognizes the bright orange bike shop across from Central Tech and next to The Original Patty Deluxe. Torontoist admits we were a bit dismayed when we saw the "We're Moving" in their window, but delighted when we realised they were just moving down the road (over near Harbord and Robert) to a roomier new location. To......

Hey, have y'all been using our new "Recommend this" feature at the bottom of each post? This week we're bringing you the "Most Recommended" posts from across the -ist world, as well as recommending some of our own. Phillyist thinks that readers recommended this post the most because "most of our quieter readers (probably) agree with us that rude commenting sucks." Know what else sucks? Philly's not getting the Olympics, but they are getting thinner.......

What would the Olympics be without Brian Williams? Apparently someone at CTV asked the same question and didn't like the answer. So not only has the CBC lost the TV rights to the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver they'll also be losing the man who had anchored their Olympic coverage for three decades. We chose to read the Star's story on this first because they weren't directly involved in the coup. We also point you......

If the chatter surrounding recent results from speed skating, pairs figure skating or the entire history of hockey is to be believed, then a little adversity in the form of cold, hard outdoor ice just might be the secret ingredient in Olympic Glory. Possibly the best thing we can do for winter sport in this country is grab the nearest child we are legally permitted to guard and take places and head on down......

It's probably because of the recent Olympics but Torontoist can't help but feel extremely proud of the amazing work that Canadians are doing all over the world and particularly in our world dominating neighbour to the south. By now most of you know about the honour being bestowed on former Canadian turned American news anchor Peter Jennings in New York City. The ABC anchor, who passed away last year, is having a street renamed after......

Jeremy Wotherspoon has blown it again. After his silver medal at the 1998 Nagano games, the Canadian Speedskater has been at the top of Rick Tocchet's odds sheet ever since. Yet he continues to disappoint in Olympic competition. The three-time World Cup 500m champion was average at best, finishing ninth today. This comes after he tumbled to the ice in Salt Lake City four years ago when he was also a heavy favourite. American Joey......

For the first time in his young NHL career, The Crosby Show airs in Toronto, as hockey phenom Sidney Crosby takes to Canadian ice for the first time in his professional career against the Leafs tonight. The Cros faces off against impressive Leaf rookies Alexander Steen and Kyle Wellwood before playing the Montreal Canadiens later this week. (That information was only provided to make the title of this post work.) This visit is important, however,......

Howdy! It’s Christmas time again, that time of year where you’re either so insane with loneliness that you’ll choose to be in a cold dark cinema just to feel like you’re near people, or that you’ve been driven so mad by the constant attention of your family that you’ll choose to be in a cold dark cinema just to feel like you’re alone. So what will you see? First up is Brokeback Mountain, which......

The true story of two British track athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics. One is a devout Scottish missionary who runs for God, the other is a Jewish student at Cambridge who runs for fame and to escape prejudice. God, fame, escaping prejudice, qualifying for the Francophone Games/Jeux de la Francophonie: All valid reasons for running in this Sunday's Toronto Waterfront Marathon. There's that, and of course the mega-concert of "Canadian classic rock band......