Say hello to a "prudent" budget. Stéphane Dion criticized the bill for being ineffectual, but of course not so ineffectual that the Liberals would vote against it and force an election. (Elsewhere, Thomas Walkom points out that the budget includes a new system of income tax shelter that will, and I am sure you are surprised by this, primarily benefit wealthy Canadians.) Julian Fantino complains about "discount sentences." Apparently, the idea that experienced criminals......

If you're like most snow-hating Torontonians, your weekend plans are changing with the weather. Suddenly, the thought of spending Friday night in high heels and club lineups has all the appeal of an ice bath. Forget new outfits or dinner spots, you're looking for new releases instead. Should you also be looking for a way to broaden your horizons, impress your intimidatingly smart date, or celebrate the Chinese New Year and Canadian cinema, look......

So, Molson Canada decided to do a "Twist and Score" promotion and offer the winner an iPhone. Cool, right? There's only one little problem. They said the phone would be available in January on the Rogers Wireless network, which Rogers is denying—they claim there was never a deal with Molson and they refuse to comment on whether Rogers will be the official carrier whenever the iPhone finally comes to Canada. Rogers spokeswoman Odette Coleman basically......

Repo! The Genetic Opera!––the upcoming musical about an organ donor program that goes horribly horribly wrong––is (surprise!) filming in Toronto. Though there are a bunch of other half-decent actors in the film, Repo! is most notable for its star: Paris Hilton. Sooooo...yeah. That's something. Anyway, the production is looking for about 200 unpaid extras (men and women between the ages of 25 and 60) to dress up all nice and pretend to be opera......

Warren Kinsella has a diatribe in today’s Post (that’s National, not Midtown) about trashy celeb magazines. Their circulation is up, Time’s circulation is down, more people care about P. Diddy than national politics, yada yada yada. At the end he encourages us to "pick up quite a few more copies of The Economist and U.S. News and World Report. And the National Post, naturally." Right. So since Kinsella seems to consider the Post totally......

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......

Yahoo! just released a new entertainment blog/website-thing called omg!. The enthusiastic exclamation-pointed acronymic name—and pink-on-black elements of its colour scheme—should be familiar for anyone who's ever read Toronto-based celebrity/entertainment/queer blog !! omg blog !!. Now, Frank from omg blog is accusing Yahoo of ripping him off. The argument is not without merit: as Frank says in an entry posted this morning, !! omg blog !! has been around with its current graphic design since......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

On Saturday, at 401 Richmond's Red Head Gallery, artist Robin Pacific began giving away her entire personal library of 1,670 books in a conceptual art installation called "Shelf Portrait." If you heard about this over the last couple of weeks and it occurred to you that a well-publicized giveaway of free, interesting books in downtown Toronto on a Saturday might draw a bit of a crowd, well, you were right. Torontoist is happy to......

Oh boy! Contests! This one comes courtesy of Vice Records, and is for two free tickets to Brooklyn band Favourite Sons's show at the El Mocambo on Friday Saturday night as well as a copy of the group's new record, Down Beside Your Beauty. The show also features openers The Drones and Devastations. For those curious, here are a few MP3s to check out: ▪ Favourite Sons - Hang On, Girl ▪ Favourite Sons......

With the elections coming up and voter turnout so low, we got to thinking how to get more people interested in Toronto politics. Paris Hilton, eat your heart out.......

If this green arrow were real it would crush several hundred teenie boppers and a few dozen talentless musicians on Sunday. Sadly, it's not real. What is very real is the Much Music Video Awards and the resulting noise from screaming adoring fans and traffic confusion from out-of-towners who forgot that MuchMusic actually occupies real space and once a year holds a large award ceremony. Guests this year include Paris Hilton (and the resulting......

Dear reader David overheard this gem outside the Hyatt hotel last week: Paris Hilton Type 1: ...no, that's not where Yonge and Sheppard is. Paris Hilton Type 2: Oh? Paris Hilton Type 1: Yonge and Sheppard (makes cross with arms) is where Yonge meets Sheppard.......

Following in the footsteps of Paris Hilton, SJ Parker outed her fragance at the former Eaton's Thursday. Something like 3,000 fans showed up to greet the Footloose star, though they were mostly there because of her "other" work. That's almost more than they can draw to an Argo's games. Maybe there should be an Argo-scented perfume? But seriously, we'd rather talk to Matthew Broderick...When does his scent hit shelves? We've heard rumours it'll be called......

Restaurants: Xacutti, Brunch...

If you haven't seen the commercial where Paris promises it's gonna be HOTT in Toronto tonight....heads up on Queen Street tonight boys, cause Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert are in town to promote their highly anticipated screaming-chick-horror-flick House of Wax. John Street's already blocked off, apparently they're expeciting a bit of a crowd? Yep, that's two "it" girls on one crowded little red carpet, for a "special" live event at 7pm on Much Music. Torontoist......

It appears that Mayor Miller has been telling all of council how he feels when Dalton McGuinty ignores him. And while he stopped short of crying over his gavel, the Mayor had no problem venting about the PM's inability to return a phone call. That's just, like, common courtesy man! Moreover, the McGuinty camp, while not in possession of enough time to call Dave back, has had time to talk about not having time to......

For lovers of new music and concerts, Friday night often means making tough decisions. Do you check out the local up and comers, or do you see the established favourites? Or, do you maybe pay a visit to the band just passing through? This particular Friday is no exception, with the Tragically Hip and Joel Plaskett rockin' the Air Canada Centre and Badly Drawn Boy stopping in at the Palais Royale. But really, the Hip......