Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a "behind the scenes" glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician. Right before Christmas (and just days before the deadline) the prime minister finally called a by-election for the riding of Toronto Centre, left vacant by Bill Graham last summer. He also called by-elections for three other ridings across......

Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday in a bloody suicide attack that killled at least 20 other other people. Anyone thinking that this news isn't sufficiently Toronto-centric should hope that the destabilization of this nuclear-armed extremist-incubator state doesn't have much direct impact on Toronto, because if it does it's likely to be in ways that are not at all fun. Climate change remains in the news––Environment Canada have declared the dramatic and......

In a September news release, the University of Toronto announced in a roundabout way its intention to sell the historic David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill to the highest bidder. Opened in 1935 and home to the second-largest telescope in the world at the time (and still the largest in Canada), the Observatory was overrun by light pollution by the 1960s. Although no longer very suitable for visual astronomy, the DDO continues an active......

If you have ever driven up Yonge Street towards Richmond Hill, you probably couldn't help but notice the Vishnu Mandir Hindu temple and its landmark statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Alongside the temple is the unique Canadian Museum of Hindu Civilization, which is presenting an ambitious Festival of India this weekend. The festival promises to be an authentic expression of Indian culture, with innumerable local artists performaning alongside many that are being imported from the......

According to Doug Flavelle, "there are a lot of women with guitars in their closets." His studio, Guitar Girl, aims to get them out. The studio, which opened its doors in a loft-like space at Queen and Greenwood in September 2006, offers guitar lessons solely for girls and women. The focus is on six-week group courses, though they do some private lessons and have held Rock 'n' Roll camps during March Break and summer......

Parking metre rates to rise by at least 50 cents. City drivers complain that it makes shopping more expensive. City cyclists point at the city drivers and laugh. The city drivers responded by shaking their fists and telling the cyclists to get the hell off the road. At this point, things deteriorated rapidly. Elsewhere, the era of free parking is coming to an end in Missisauga. Delegates at the Thailand conference approve a global warming......

Despite loud public complaints, Toronto City Council has begrudgingly approved Astral Media's street furniture bid with a few conditions: reduce the total amount of per square foot advertising, guarantee that all billboards follow city bylaws, estimate how much energy will be used illuminating advertisements, and ensure there is no loophole in the contract which would allow Astral to screw the city over. The council was more enthusiastic about endorsing a $159.5 million taxpayer-financed office......

The Lunch Express rides again. It's a shuttlebus service that takes office workers in Markham and Richmond Hill to nearby shops and restaurants so they don't have to drive their own cars. Assuming you count Quizno's as a "restaurant." Admittedly, they GOT A PEPPER BAR! And a pepper bar is important. For starters, it makes the Quizno's food taste like peppers, instead of like nothing. Dalton McGuinty loves himself some garbage incinerators. The controversy over......

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......

Toronto officials are currently engaged in a last-ditch effort to save the 2015 World's Fair. Is it just me or would the Expo be a colossal mistake? In semi-related news, Christopher Hume doesn't think Toronto is on the road to a better future. With election day fast approaching, David Miller makes his final campaign pledges. A Richmond Hill man, missing for 28 hours, turns up at a police station. I'd been counting down this......

Robert Wiszniowski gets 14 years for killing and dismembering his wife, Rose McGroarty, in Parkdale last year. Motive? She caught him smoking crack and threatened to call police. The TTC started installing security cameras on its 1,500 buses and 250 streetcars yesterday. Howard Moscoe says it's all part of a response to a "terrorist threat lingering over all transit systems," but more importantly, they're expected to deter crime and prevent driver injury. A woman was......

Last month I wrote many nice things about VIVA. Last week, after missing the GO Bus from Markham to Toronto by seconds, I decided that it was a good opportunity to take an impromptu test ride on VIVA. I feel as though I may have been taken a little (not a lot) by the initial VIVA hype. Here's my reaction after trying the system out: Travelling on a Friday at noon, I caught my......

Earlier this week, York Region launched its new rapid transit service: VIVA. Although a VIVA vehicle looks like a bus, sounds like a bus and even sort of feels like a bus, they’re marketing it as the unbus, to trick car drivers who would otherwise feel shame riding in the common people’s chariot. But they have a good excuse as the VIVA bus service is so much more than the bus service we’re used......

Torontoist happened upon Richmond Hill golden boy Emanuel Sandhu accidentally. In a dizzy fog of self-loathing a few months back, we sat through a full hour of televised ice skating. But our cynical heart was warmed by the bravura performance of Montreal-trained Sandhu, who blew everyone away and took home gold as an alternate. Now, he and the equally cute Cynthia Phaneuf have both won gold at Skate Canada, and Torontoist can only say hurrah.......