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......

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).......

Police had to quell trouble at the One Bloor condo site yesterday, as queue-jumpers moved in on agents and spotholders who had been standing in line for as long as a week. Although the interlopers were ultimately forced to the back of the line, many of those waiting were still too late to buy a unit in the development. One dissatisfied linestander said, "When do I get my iPhone?" A Caledon couple won $18.5 million......

The Ontario Coalition For Social Justice and Make Poverty History believe there need not always be dissonance when electioneering and rock n' roll meet. This Monday's Vote Out Poverty gala at Massey Hall promises to be a "coming together of people from all walks of life and political allegiances gathering for an evening of entertainment united by a desire to reduce poverty in Ontario, Canada and the world," and will feature a multi-partisan mashup......

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......

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......

The crime rate in Canada dropped 3% last year, hitting its lowest overall rate in 25 years, with the GTA one of the least criminally inclined of Canadian cities. Politicians and police agencies will want to take credit for the decline, but the explanation can more likely be found in recent census data which noted the accelerating codgerization of Canadian society. The Conservatives fell 3 points in opinion polls last month, in spite of......

Airy, high ceilings. Store shapes and frontages that smashed the standard box shape. As grocery stores evolved from small neighbourhood branches into large supermarkets in the 1950s, new trends in architecture were seized upon to draw in consumers with the promise of a shining, ultra-convenient future. The unveiling of the design for the city's new City Hall in late 1958 gave Dominion a prime opportunity to unveil sketches of new styles of supermarkets as......

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......

Three years ago, Frank Warren printed 3000 postcards inviting people to share a secret with him. Long since he stopped handing these first postcards out at subway stations and art galleries, he continues to receive secrets from around the world. Each week, Warren posts some of these on PostSecret, the largest advertisement-free blog on the internet. He has also published three books compiling some of these secrets: PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives, My Secret......

Toronto's overwhelming reception of Al Gore yesterday prompted David Miller to toughen his stance on climate change. Mayor Miller promised an aggressive change in policy on pollution, transit and construction, which will be formally proposed in late March. The Ontario government may have come up with a way around the new U.S.-Canada passport rules. A new super-secure driver's license is in talks, which would feature "laser engraving, holograms, currency-like print quality and other security measures......

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford dead at 93. Not really much to say here: he was by all accounts an extremely decent man who served honorably. (Unless you are of the belief that all politicians are by their very nature forked-tongue devils, which is not the most uncommon belief out there.) I suppose Chevy Chase has one less go-to joke in his arsenal, though, which makes this an extremely sad day for Chevy Chase.......

The motion to reopen Parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage was thrown to the curb, kicked a few times, then repeatedly stabbed with a rusty knife. Charles McVety, head of the Canadian Family Coalition, says his group will not give up the fight against same-sex marriage because "the people of Canada are not going to let this go." (Of course, a solid majority of the people of Canada support same-sex marriage, and a bunch more......

When the feds handed out $37 million for improving security on transit systems nationwide yesterday, Go Transit received $5.3 million, $4.3 million went to Union Station, but the TTC received only $1.46 Million, just shy of the $17 million it asked for. "It's like handing a bum a dime and saying, `Go buy a cup of coffee,'" said Howard Moscoe, distractedly pushing a rusty shopping cart full of discount surveillance cameras. Meanwhile, federal Finance Minister......

In Rome, at least 1 person has died, and 10 more have been seriously injured in a subway collision involving two trains. It has been over 10 years since the Russel Hill incident here in Toronto. The Toronto Star's editor-in-chief Giles Gherson and publisher Michael Goldbloom resigned on Monday. Goldbloom wrote about the declining newspaper industry in his resignation letter. Canada's prison system is systemically discriminatory against aboriginals, according to the ombudsman for inmates. Also,......

Jane Pitfield got herself some media attention by calling Mayor Miller a liar. "He hasn't been truthful with the taxpayer, and there have been many people who unfortunately have been lied to by David Miller, and I'm one of them," she was quoted at a press conference. The Mayor's team calls the attack a desperate ploy. No word on whether pants were on fire. She also called the mayor "soft on crime." The OPP will......

Hello, class! Ron isn't here today. I will be your substitute Ron. The TTC will be reviewing a controversial no-compete proposal from Bombardier for new TTC subway cars today. An offer exists from Siemens to fill the contract for much less (we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here); however, the Bombardier contract would mean increased tax revenues in Ontario that TTC chair Howard Moscoe argues would outstrip the additional costs. During a fact-finding......

Three hit and runs in Etobicoke over the weekend has killed one and injured five others. Two of the hit and runs were possibly sparked by earlier disputes. Sgt. Cam Wooley, our favourite OPP officer, regales us with tales of idiotic drivers on Ontario's highways. Highlights include a man driving without a license with other adults in the car who did, and concerned citizens who told officers that the speeder they were ticketing was also......

City election officials are having a hard time figuring out whether lots of people on the voting list are actually eligible to vote. This may have a direct affect on municipal campaign financing. Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy can't spell Siemens but does uncover that TTC comissioners actually voted for an open bidding process for buying new subway cars. Somewhere along the line this was ignored in favour of the deal with Bombardier. The city......

Toronto had eight shootings over the weekend. Eight. Two of them were fatal. The Star focuses in on the night-time shooting outside a 7-11 at College and Spadina. The Sun gives a rundown of the gun violence in the GTA this weekend. A tree grows on Adelaide. The City's tree planters are falling apart. The urban forestry department said they're getting some new ones but they probably won't be enough. Little Portugal lives to cheer......

City council is debating a Sunday noise ban today but only in low-density residential neighbourhoods. Howard Moscoe, pointed out that this idea is discriminatory, "More than half the people in the city live in highrise buildings. People who have condos deserve as much right to noise protection as people wealthy enough to own a single-family home," he said to the Star. Howard we agree with you on this one. A 25-year old is clinging to......

Sorry for that headline. These stray microwaves could be an answer to looming the energy crisis in Toronto. Instead of throwing out microwaves and air conditioners, as Mayor Miller might suggest with his preference for conservation, the Ontario government will be building a gas-fired power plant along Toronto's waterfront property. This of course comes after The Ontario Power Authority rejected a proposal for a 550-megawatt gas-fired plant on the site of the old Hearn......

The Ontario government is always looking out for the little guy. Well, not always. But this week for sure. November 15 marked the beginning of Consumer Awareness Week in Ontario. The week is dedicated to helping normally helpless consumers learn more about their rights and responsibilities in the marketplace, according to the Ontario government website. This year’s slogan: "Smart consumers are good for business." Minister of Consumer and Business Services Jim Watson has been preaching......

The Ontario government has a new message for the province's unfrozen raw fish: You can swim, but you can't hide! Starting Jan. 1, 2005, Ontario will take a swipe at the illness known as anisakiasis by banning unfrozen raw fish in restaurants. Unfrozen raw fish (street name: "sushi") can very rarely carry a parasitic roundworm that burrows into the stomach or intestine. The Ontario crackdown on unfrozen raw fish will force the sushi chefs to......