TTC does end-run around Toronto Preservation Board. The TTC wants the right to redesign 63 of its 69 stations. Heh. We have 69 TTC stations. Never noticed that before. Heh. Ontario budget released. The budget contains small business tax cuts (not as large as Jim Flaherty would like) and small amounts of additional spending on infrastructure in public service (not as much as Howard Hampton would like). In short, it is the classic Liberal budget......

Being a TV reporter is dangerous work. Just ask intrepid reporter Rob Leth, who set out on a fine sunny day to do a typical fluff piece in Riverdale Park. We're still unclear about what exactly he was hoping to accomplish with a camera and his "trusty stopwatch" at the bottom of the toboggan hill. He could have been timing a toboggan race or demonstrating how quickly sledders could lose control. Or maybe it......

Photo of Christian Landers by Jessica Landers. If you're a white person and you haven't heard of Stuff White People Like, you've probably been too busy watching entire seasons of The Wire on your IKEA couch with your Asian grad-school girlfriend, sharing iPod earbuds and a vegan stirfry, and having irony-fortified arguments about Wes Anderson movies, Barack Obama, and whose turn it is to take out the recycling. Congratulations, whitey: you've finally got a......

Plagued by complaints, the City of Toronto has finally gotten around to ticketing some homeowners who don't clear the snow in front of their property. A city spokesperson said they prefer not to send out inspectors in the winter because it's so difficult to get around. Anxious to cement a reputation for self-serving indifference to the public interest, more than 99% of TTC workers have voted more to reject their most recent contract offer.......

So, you may have noticed it snowed this weekend. If you don't believe us, go check out the Toronto Star's website, where nine out of ten local stories are about the snow, people dealing with the snow, and celebrities talking about the snow. Notably absent among them: the probable cause for all of this snow. Rare meteor lands somewhere near Georgian Bay. This would as opposed to the common, everyday type of meteor that......

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. lampost through the blizzard BY -LIYEN-......

City councillor, unintentional humourist, and Torontoist favourite Councillor Rob Ford has grabbed himself some headlines again. He refuses to apologize for his comments on Wednesday, "the Oriental people, they're slowly taking over...they're hard, hard workers," because his sweeping generalization was intended as "a compliment." However, a spokesperson for the Canadian Council of Lazy Asians has said that the remarks were "deeply offensive." A devout Sikh man has lost his bid to overturn the law......

It snowed again last night, so if you're going anywhere, it'll probably take you a long time. However, we're getting another storm on the weekend so you might as well wait before you start shovelling. Actually, it'll be spring in a couple of weeks anyway so if you have enough cans of SpaghettiO's, it's probably best to just stay home til then. The Bank of Canada slashed interest rates by fifty basis points yesterday,......

Mark Oliver Tessaro just sent us a link to the video above, of an unbelievably fun-looking do-it-yourself ski-hill that he and his roommates built in mid-February on their Kensington Market deck. Says Mark of the hill: I live with 3 other guys above a used clothing store in Kensington Market and we have a ridiculously large deck. A few weeks ago this meant that we also had a ridiculously large amount of snow on......

Detail of photo by the Frankfurt School from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.. This week is Freedom to Read Week, a national event that encourages Canadians to value their right to choose what they read, and to recognize the individuals who fight to protect that right. Celebrations against censorship are happening across the country—locally PEN Canada is presenting an evening of readings and performances to promote a new anthology, Writers Under Siege: Voices of Freedom......

Your reaction to snow depends on the circumstances. The frequency of dumps the city has received so far this year has caused grumbling about blocked streets, dirty mounds higher than the average citizen and many a wish for spring to speed up its arrival. Conversely, as long as the roads outside the city are passable, lovebirds, families and outdoor enthusiasts looking for an escape from the city have headed up to Muskoka resorts like......

The Village of Yorkville Park rang to the sound of chisels and chainsaws on Saturday as ice sculptors took part in the Bloor-Yorkville IceFest Festival Ice Carving Competition. More images after the jump.......

Snow globes, ice sculptures, and an ice bar...sound like an arctic paradise? Even if you're sick of slipping on the white (and sometimes yellow) stuff, you're still invited to Bloor-Yorkville's IceFest Festival this weekend—and you don't even have to get your feet wet! IceFest ent-ice-s with enough of the cold stuff to carve out a ship—and that's 25,000 pounds! By donating five bucks to the Heart & Stroke Foundation, you buy yourself a pose......

Imagine what the Caddy would think of this month's snowfall. The car wouldn't bother waiting for a driver to take in the greyhounds before the next storm strikes. Cars were sold at the northwest corner of Bay and Grenville for over 80 years, starting in 1925 with a dealership owned by General Motors of Canada president Sam McLaughlin. Addison took over in 1955 and remained until the lot closed last March. The heritage-designated building......

Happy Family Day! Happy, that is, unless you're part of the seemingly endless parade of business owners, executives, police officers, parents, people who have to work today, cynics, bitter old men, or plain old ne'er-do-wells in general who believe that Family Day is going to ruin life—and, more importantly, the economy—as we know it. Well, buck up, kiddo. It's just not that bad. Just how curmudgeonly do you have to be to focus your......

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. Solitude (Winter Is...) BY LEPAGEJP......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. ChiefBY BEEMBAG Untitled BY TAYLOR ZHOU Edge of NightBY ~EVIDENCE~ MasseyBY METRIX X UntitledBY REBOOTYOURCOMPUTER stop by for a swingBY SYNCROS UntitledBY SQUEAKYRAT UntitledBY......

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. Snowflakes. BY AUBREYARENAS......

Forget death and taxes: the one real constant in life is breathy local news coverage of almost any kind of weather. Watching TV news reporters acting bewildered by temperature fluctuations or any amount of precipitation, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the giant dome that has maintained the city's perfect 21° year-round weather for hundreds of years had just broken down, letting sandstorms, radiation, and monsters invade the city from the post-apocalyptic wasteland that......

Today launched Dear Toronto, a new independent videoblog site by Adam Schwabe, Ryan Couldrey, and Rebecca Black. The trio had previously collaborated at BlogTO, but recently decided to branch out on their own to focus on strictly video-based content. It's only Day One, but Dear Toronto already has two posts up: one for Video Games Live and one for Art Attack. The videos vary between interviews and pure camera work, with whimsical music played......

Each week, Torontoist shows off the most interesting, creative, and cool submissions to our Torontoist Flickr Pool. We're especially partial to photos that show our city in a new light, highlight a recent event, and remind us why we live here. Join the Flickr pool and show us what you've got. Fourteen TablesBY ROOM929 WhitneyBY .NATALIE Angels of the UndergroundBY Air33 Canadian WinterBY [RAPHY] why don't you save meBY -STACEY- streetcar......?BY SYNCROS Snow StormBY MV10......

The Tory minority government is double-dog-daring the Opposition to force an election over their crime bill. Prediction: Stéphane Dion will grumble and pretend he doesn't care, Jack Layton will howl impotently, and the Bloc will negotiate another billion dollars for folk-dancing in Rimouski. Stephen Harper is truly the alpha Parliamentarian in this bunch. Did you know that Toronto has already gotten as much snow this winter as the past two winters combined, and that......

When we think of Disney our minds don't usually jump to wedding dresses, but players in the Canadian bridal industry are hoping you’ll think cartoon princesses when planning your grown-up “special day.” It only makes good marketing sense given that the big, white wedding dream is often one we come up with, or get forced upon us, in childhood. If you manage to keep that (perhaps unrealistic) dream alive, why not be honest about......

It's snowing again! This gives Torontoist yet another opportunity to bust out a pretty picture of streets clogged with snow, and it gives the rest of Canada the opportunity to go, "Hey, how come those Toronto folks can't deal with a little snow ha ha ha don't they have plows?" Then we say, "No, we don't have enough plows, fuckers, because it turns out everybody else is entirely happy to suck money off us......

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. Untitled BY AARDVARK.......

Wee Willie of Wiarton, Ontario can sure cast a long shadow. Not this year though—yesterday was Groundhog Day and Willie says we’re in for an early spring. While the weather predictions of an albino groundhog may not be entirely accurate, an early end to Toronto’s gray, slushy winter is certainly welcome. Thanks, Willie! Illustration by Kevin McBride.......

Last night a gaggle of H2O architects descended upon the quiet Leslieville intersection of Queen St. East and Jones in order to convert a barren streetcar shelter into a snow palace. Organized by the TPSC subcommittee "Art Attack," the event was designed to enhance the original reasons behind Toronto's boxed bus stops—being shelter—while replacing ad space with icy ingenuity. Torontoist joined a team of over a dozen amidst last night's storm for the construction......

Walking through Grange Park during today's snow storm.......

If anybody remembers last year's Snow Day, an ill-fated attempt to make snow in Trinity-Bellwoods Park with a defective snowmaker that lead to a giant snowball fight, you may be pleased to learn that exactly one year later, there is actually a bunch of snow on the ground, and the plan is the same. It seems the lesson about controlling Mother Nature has been learned, and our collective prayers have been answered. Tomorrow, join......

Good morning university and college students, and good news: you don't have to go to school today. The University of Toronto updated its website shortly after 9 a.m. this morning to say that "Due to severe weather conditions on Friday, Feb. 1, U of T Missisauga is closed, U of T Scarborough is closed as of 10:00AM, and U of T (St. George) is closed as of 11:00AM. University buildings are closed and classes......