Dalton McGuinty unveiled a new plane yesterday, which will be used by the OPP to deter dangerous drivers on Ontario highways. To encourage courteous motoring, the plane is armed with four Maverick air-to-ground missiles and a 30 mm cannon capable of piercing two inches of armour plate. Actually the plane just reports bad driving to ground units, but I'd bet my idea would be more effective. A proposal to scrap the Lord's Prayer in......

Toronto's extensive work on the silver screen reveals that, while we have the chameleonic ability to look like anywhere from New York City to Moscow, the disguise doesn't always hold up to scrutiny. Reel Toronto revels in digging up and displaying the films that attempt to mask, hide, or—in rare cases—proudly display our city. Wherefore art thou (and thine career), Kenneth Johnson? In our very first Reel Toronto column, we established a core principle: Toronto's......

Today's ad features your stereotypical 1950s architectural professional: trenchcoat, tie, hat (preferably a fedora), and a fistful of building plans. The building this dapper construction supervisor is depicted next to would quickly become one of St. Clair Avenue's architectural landmarks. Pigott Construction was based in Hamilton, where company president Joseph Pigott contributed heavily to the community as a president or board member of institutions such as McMaster University and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.......

It's been thirteen years now since the Royal Ontario Museum's McLaughlin Planetarium was shut down. The utilitarian building––half a dome unceremoniously shoved on top of a rectangular prism––was, until recently, all but forgotten, obscured by construction offices for the extremely un-utilitarian Crystal being built around the corner. When those construction offices moved out in December, however, leaving a mass of wide open space that hadn't been wide open for several years, the Planetarium quietly......

At first we assumed it was Scientology. After all, who else has the money to produce and purchase space for such glossy anti-pharmaceutical ads, which have been popping up all over transit shelters and buses in Ontario and Montreal? Google wasn't much help, and their Blog Search just pointed us to other people as perplexed as we were. And poor spellers with domination fantasies. Searches of domain registrations weren't particularly fruitful, especially after the......

Dalton McGuinty plans to form a committee to look for ways of replacing the daily recitation of the Lord's Prayer at Queen's Park, a practice which he says does not properly reflect Ontario's diversity. The Lord was unavailable for comment. If you're planning a trip to Thailand, don't forget sunscreen, mosquito repellent, and a lightweight Kevlar vest. A Mississauga scientist travelling in northern Thailand with his wife was the fourth Canadian to be shot......

Every weekday morning, bright and early, we feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It's our way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Queen's Park BY .NATALIE......

Extreme cold alert! Be forewarned that this extreme cold is not extreme in the sense of "it is totally radical like Doritos and Mountain Dew," but rather extreme in the sense of "it can kill you if you stay out in it too long." Environment Canada will discuss the prospects of the extreme cold's effect on totally shredding slopes with your snowboard later today. Barack Obama thumps Hillary Clinton over the weekend, with impressively......

In this occasional feature, two Torontoist staffers face off to debate an issue that is important to our city. We invite our readers to join in the debate in the comments section after the post. For the first time since amalgamation, City Council has been presented with a budget that doesn't require a new round of hand-outs from Queen's Park in order to balance. The price of this achievement is high. Along with new land-transfer......

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. No federal politician this year was a bigger embarrassment to Canadians than Environment Minister John Baird, and in a......

It snowed a whole lot. Of course, you probably didn't need Torontoist to tell you this, unless you've been on a serious World of Warcraft run all weekend. In which case you are probably trapped inside your home, and soon will perish—which probably gives you just enough time to make it to level sixty! Panel to seek more family-friendly Ontario legislature. The panel will look at cutting out some evening sittings, setting up an......

It looks like there will now be a reprieve for all of you filthy, dirty scum who have dared to engage in file-sharing, downloading, and the elusive but nonetheless nefarious "time-shifting." Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice has, for now, backed off on plans to introduce a new and comprehensive copyright bill to the House of Commons, at least until late January of 2008. The new bill was supposed to be introduced this week. The......

Photo by David Topping. A mysterious bag discovered in an alleyway beside the Royal Ontario Museum at about 7:00 p.m. tonight has shut down all traffic––pedestrian and vehicular––on Bloor between St. George and University and on Queen's Park southbound from Bloor and Harbord. UPDATE (10:45 p.m.): CTV is now saying that police have found "what appears to be a pipe bomb," and that the building was (half-)evacuated (contrary to what we were originally told).......

For the last 50 days, Donna Dillman has been on a hunger strike to protest uranium mining in eastern Ontario. Tomorrow (Tuesday), she brings that fight to the steps of Queen's Park, and she'd like you to join her. Donna, a grandmother, is concerned about strong scientific evidence that particles released into the air and water during uranium mining and processing contribute to increased rates of cancer and organ damage, especially in children. The CBC......

Ever marvel at the architecture of Casa Loma, Osgoode Hall and the Ontario Legislature in Queen's Park? Those lovely red-brick buildings, dear friends, are the legacy of Toronto's vernacular building material—sweet slabs formed from the banks of the Don herself. From 1889 to 1980, the Don Valley Brick Works made some of the highest quality brick in the land. Why, in 1893, the Don Valley brick was crowned Best Brick at the Chicago World's......

Dual protests are set for tomorrow afternoon in Vancouver and Toronto in an effort to maintain media awareness of the misuse of force by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that led to the death of Robert Dziekanski, captured on video by a witness. The video, since viewed (in its various incarnations) by millions of people, documents a confused and clearly agitated Dziekanski sweating and pacing until a fatal confrontation with four RCMP officers killed......

If you like crowds, candy, and Christmas, but hate––absolutely hate––having time off of work, celebrating holidays at the proper time of year, and snow, this weekend's Santa Claus Parade is your month-too-early Mecca. Now in its hundred and third year, the parade will begin on Sunday, November 18, at 12:30 p.m., traveling from Bloor and Christie, east along Bloor to Avenue, south on Avenue, around Queen's Park, and further south along University to Queen.......

TTC EMPLOYEES WANTED PAY: 26.58/hr JOB REQUIREMENTS: • Able to be rude and unhelpful • Must be constantly late • Willing to waste tax payer moneyTTC service, union wages, and graffiti. If this post gets fewer than thirty comments, we'll be very sad. Thanks to Corinne Alstrom for the tip! And thanks to the people who helped decipher the hard-to-read middle bullet point. Photo taken by Jonathan Goldsbie, at the southwest street-level entrance to......

Hey, remember Nuit Blanche? You know: that all-night cultural art thing a little over a month ago that maybe wasn't all that great. That thing. While the city did a pretty spectacular clean-up job, they've missed a spot: a sign sturdily attached about ten feet up a pole outside the Isabel Bader Theatre at Queen's Park and Charles Street on U of T campus still welcomes visitors to Zone 3, and invites them to......

More than a week of protests in Toronto against the violence in Burma culminated last night with the Global March for the People of Burma. The demonstration began at 6:00 p.m. in front of the Chinese consulate on St. George Street before making its way to Queen's Park, where a vigil was led by monks from the city's Buddhist temples. According to the Toronto Star, hundreds heeded the call from Amnesty International and other......

With the provincial election upon us, Toronto's Davenport riding is in for a shakeup as a new candidate enters the fray: Lucky, Felis catus siamensis. Presumably asking for a ballot write-in, Lucky's campaign statement outlines a concern with the declining quality of life in Toronto's neighbourhoods, and promises to bring accountability to the riding. "If something stinks, I'll sniff it out," he says. "I'm your best pest control." And why should Torontonians send a cat......

"Skeletons Out for a Walk" by emcnamee. There is a lot of madness to look forward to this week. Nuit Blanche madness (covered very soon by Torontoist), book sale madness, and literary events madness spread throughout the city. Torontoist will give you the lowdown on everything we can this week so you can sort it all out in your head. To settle down pre-Nuit Blanche jitters, you can check out the Art Aloud: Scotiabank......

Last Monday was not just the start of the Ontario general election campaign—it was also the beginning of a campaign to change the way we elect our representatives to Queen's Park. On October 10th, Ontarians will vote on a proposal by the Citizens' Assembly (a randomly-selected group of 103 Ontarians) to switch to a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system, similar to that used in some other countries including Germany and New Zealand. A few......

Proving that New Democrats actually are allowed to have a sense of humour, former provincial cabinet minister and federal candidate Marilyn Churley commented on the dearth of women in the Ontario legislature by suggesting that there were not enough Janes and too many Dicks in provincial politics. You go, girl. Speaking of dicks at Queen's Park, Citizenship Minister Mike Colle has resigned after the Auditor-General revealed that his office had awarded more than 32......

An anonymous source inside Queen's Park told us earlier today that Aileen Siu—she of the "ghetto dude"–calling fame—has, as of this past Monday, resigned. No details at this time (or, likely, ever) as to whether she did so voluntarily or because she was asked to, but at least this mess is over. Now, hopefully, both she and Evon Reid can move on with their lives. What Siu said was stupid, but she's paid for......

Flush with the success of their campaign to publicly insult women and minorities, the Ontario government has taken the bold step of verbally abusing the entire City of Toronto. Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty yesterday indicated he wasn't inclined to share any of the billions of dollars that the province sucks out of Toronto each year, blaming the looming fiscal crisis on the City's failure to use its shiny new tax powers, and by implication......

The Star reports this morning about U of T political science student Evon Reid (pictured). Reid applied for a job at Queen's Park as a media analyst earlier this month and was waiting to hear back when an e-mail from Aileen Siu, a part-time contract employee (whose contract is probably about to end prematurely), landed in his inbox on Friday morning. Siu's e-mail simply read: "This is the ghetto dude that I spoke to before."......

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,......

Today is the First Nations National Day of Action. According to organizers The Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the event is a chance for all Canadians to call for "immediate action to improve [aboriginal peoples'] quality of life." Basically, bands from across the country are demanding the government work with First Nations to gain control of the programs, services and decisions that affect their lives. At noon, there will be a peaceful demonstration supporting......

Ottawa denies entrance to Nelson Mandela's wife. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was supposed to give a speech at a fundraiser gala last night, but was told that she was denied a visa because she had been previously convicted of kidnapping and fraud. The fact that she was allowed in the United States three weeks ago means nothing. Come on, the U.S. never lets anyone in! The Ontario government is handing over $4 million to keep kids busy......