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. Running for office is an extremely rewarding experience, but it's not without sacrifice and set-backs. All of us are doing this because we honestly believe in the process and the ideas we bring to the table. We believe......

New glass recycling program will save local municipalities millions of dollars. It turns out that you can turn used glass into other things than smaller bits of broken glass! Stephen Harper threatens to sue Stéphane Dion for libel over allegations of bribery. Harper, long an advocate of tort reform, explained that while limiting the ability of people to sue is generally a good thing, he didn't mean that it should apply to him. Tory......

You know those nagging questions that pull you out of sleep at four in the a.m.? Like, how do you pronounce Roncesvalles? What does Fresh put in their vegan pancakes to make them taste better than the “real” ones? Where can you find unisex jeans, flushable cat litter, a cheap blowjob, your city councillor’s voting record, an overarching purpose in life? Is there anything north of Bloor? Torontoist wants those questions, partly for our......

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Each Sunday, the editors of every site—from LAist to Londonist—choose their most interesting article, a list which is compiled into the network-wide feature Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse. Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's......

In the best campaign commercial since HuckChuckFacts, Chris Bosh has assumed the identity of a Texas used car salesman in order to try to drum up votes to make it to this year's NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans. Bosh has appeared in the All-Star game for the last two years. Last season he was voted into the starting lineup for the first time, but achieving that feat again became nearly impossible when Kevin Garnett......

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. That’s right. We said it. Hate is a villain. Torontonians spend a whole lot of time complaining. It’s only......

An excuse to post Feist's "1234"? Yes, please. In October, i (heart) music asked 30 music bloggers across the country––Torontoist included––to rank the 10 hottest Canadian bands in 2007. What defined "hottest" was up to each panelist to decide; we figured it meant "rank good bands by their popularity," and voted accordingly. One month later, with 150 bands receiving nominations, i (heart) music announced the top 33, with Feist edging out the Arcade Fire......

Election day is tomorrow, which provides a good opportunity to look back at how election ads were handled in the past. Today's selections come from the 1955 campaign, which Premier Leslie Frost's Progressive Conservatives won in a landslide on June 9th (83 PC, 11 Liberal, 3 CCF, 1 "PC Independent"). The "Big Blue Machine" was firmly entrenched, remaining in power for the next 30 years. York Centre was a new riding for the 1955......

Wednesday is Election and Referendum Day. And because Torontoist believes that voting is the least you can do as a citizen of a democracy, we don't want you to have any excuse for not casting your ballots—unless, of course, you're under eighteen years of age, not a Canadian citizen, and/or not a resident of Ontario. (Although the residency requirement is somewhat flexible: you can still vote if you left Ontario sometime in the last......

"It's hard to beat the system / when we're standing at a distance / so we keep waiting / waiting on the world to change." - JOHN MAYER How Do You Get To Massey Hall? I don't know, I only came close. I can at least tell you that practice has nothing to do with it. I'd practiced my speech a lot. Last night I was invited to represent my party (the Green Party of......

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......

Policy Monday is a weekly feature during the lead-up to the provincial election where Torontoist will dive into the mean and gritty world of public policy, turning a critical eye at a specific area of the policies and machinations of the four major provincial parties. Photo by Metric X from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. One of the biggest election brouhahas over the past few months has been the issue of faith-based schools. Ever since John......

The CBC is reporting that the provincial government announced an ambitious new project today to revamp Kipling Station and turn it into a major transit hub for Etobicoke and Mississauga. The announcement came from Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield and Environment Minister Laurel Broten early this afternoon. The new station, which will be owned and operated by GO Transit, is set to have an inter-regional bus terminal and will connect Mississauga Transit and GO buses......

Apparently, we really really really wanna zig a zig, hah. The CBC reports today that the Spice Girls are coming to Toronto in January 2008. Toronto's Spice Girls fans (there are, apparently, some) "outvoted fans in Rio, Chicago, Paris, Baghdad and Alice Springs in an online contest to get the group to perform in the city." (This is why Baghdad is on that list, by the way.) 'Cause if there's anything this city is......

He was a disaster with a ponytail mohawk, and somehow he made it to seventh place. We’re awesome, and for some reason we’re getting nowhere. Though Toronto consistently produces the greatest number of aspiring singers in the Canadian Idol auditions (and delivers the most top 22 finalists of any city), no Torontonian has made it to the top 10 finals since the first season. Voting largely depends on the contestants’ regional followings, and while Newfies......

Photos of trey anthony, Dawn Whitwell, and Gein Fence courtesy of Get Your Lit Out. Dear readers: please help give an author a chance to get married on the midway at this year’s Calgary Stampede. Really! While living in Toronto, Scarborough-raised Natalee Caple wrote many fine books, among them The Plight of Happy People in an Ordinary World (Anansi), and Mackerel Sky (Thomas Allen). We are sad we’ve lost her to Calgary, but thrilled......

Summer: the official season of barbecues, cottages and having a nice cold beer. To honour the finest microbrews in the GTA and Ontario, The Bar Towel is once again asking for the public to vote for the 2007 Golden Tap Awards and have a voice in who should go home with one of the eight coveted awards. The main competition in the GTA categories is the Mill Street Brewery, especially now that they have their......

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......

By now you've surely had a chance to read the complete, final report of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, right? No? Ok, but you're at least familiar with what changes they've suggested we make to our provincial voting system, yes? Or, maybe you have no idea what any of this is about? Ok, let's start there. Because last Tuesday, Toronto witnessed the end of one process and the beginning of another that could make......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay tribute......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

Every week (or so), two Torontoist staffers square off to debate an issue that's important to our city. We invite our readers to join the debate in the comments section following the post. Last week, a panel discussion at City Hall kicked off a campaign to extend voting rights in local elections to Torontonians who are not citizens. Although Mayor David Miller supported the idea during last years municipal elections, thus far no provincial political......

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like......

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......

With the sun out, the temperatures high, one can only think of one thing—what's going on in the World of the -ist's? Bostonist dug deep to uncover Barack Obama's unpaid parking tickets, their Governor's latest ethical lapse, and a plagarizing sports writer. Chicagoist had everything in twos: two views on having the Olympics, losing two members of their Super Bowl team, and two music festivals. DCist put their noses in legal books as they wrote......

Perhaps you can best describe it as a scavenger hunt with a lot of creative freedom. Within a 24 hour period, amateur and professional photographers alike were given a roll of 35mm film with only 12 frames to capture their interpretations of 12 secret themes for the 4th Toronto Photography Marathon. Having already taken place on February 17, final shots submitted by participants will be displayed at The Gladstone (1214 Queen St. West) for your......

Each week, Torontoist chooses the most interesting cases from the Toronto Police Service crime blotter. All charges are alleged until proven under law. The incidence of crime, like in election voting and retail sales, falls during periods of cruddy weather. This was a pretty uninteresting week for the criminal element in Hogtown, underscoring our reputation as one of the safest big cities in the world. Still, we had some armoured truck action, a Viagra......

We'd like to start this week's run-down by wishing a very happy birthday to parent blog Gothamist, which turned four on Friday. If it wasn't for them, the rest of us wouldn't be here. They celebrated their birthday by nabbing an interview with Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he's working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur, the......

Opposition parties pass Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez' private member's bill that requires the government to meet international Kyoto targets. It passed 161-113 with all Tories present voting against it. Stephen Harper insists that there are better ways to make Canada environmentally friendly that don't cost us money, and he will tell us what they are any day now. Ontario mother is the first person in North America to be kept alive using an external......

The Weblog Awards (affectionately referred to as the "Bloggies") are -- to borrow a quotation from Ron Burgundy -- kind of a big deal. In the blog world, they are our Oscars, except that instead of a brilliant gold statuette, eternal fame, and hot dates for the rest of your life, the prize is, well...uh...online bragging rights. But bragging rights are bragging rights, dammit, and we were delighted when we found out last night......