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. Signs, signs, everywhere signs. The beginning of the year marked the first anniversary of a controversial and radical ban of all nearly outdoor advertising in São Paulo, Brazil. While Toronto's advertising problems are certainly not as serious as São Paulo's,......

If you're anything like us, you've always dreamt of riding the subway without pants. You'll finally have your chance on Saturday, during the first ever Toronto No Pants Subway Ride. The idea for a pantsless ride originally came from the good folks at Improv Everywhere in New York, where the ride is in its seventh year. While Toronto already imports far too much culture from other cities, this is just too awesome of an......

Urbanist is a photo series that will look at developments, architecture, trends and activities happening in various cities––including our own––to inspire the urbane urbanist at home to make Toronto a better place. While Toronto has been making headlines in recent years for its investment in artistic institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, and the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Ottawa has been in the spotlight of late because......

Canada's first same-sex marriage was performed here, and according to 2006 census data released today, nearly a quarter of same-sex common law couples in Toronto have officially tied the knot. Strangely enough, hetero marriages haven't crumbled en masse since the unions became legal country-wide in 2005, nor have people started lobbying to marry their pets. Someone should tell the Americans. This is the first time that the question was asked on a census, with 7,465......

The Real Toronto's hook is relatively simple. Filmed in the summer of 2005 by a now-24-year-old Russian immigrant nicknamed Madd Russian, it aims to show that "Toronto, known to most as a world class city has another side to it. This movie shows the reality of living in housing projects and some of the most run down areas in the city. This footage includes interviews with gang members, drug dealers and some of the......

The so-called Three Amigos Summit will take place this week at a resort in Montebello, Quebec, where the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico will meet with business executives to discuss stuff that's none of your business. Incidentally, the tag line for the 1986 movie The Three Amigos was "They're Down On Their Luck And Up To Their Necks In Senoritas, Margaritas, Banditos And Bullets!" Dalton McGuinty will commit the provincial government to taking......

Every five years, the bean counters at Statistics Canada dole out the census numbers. Well, the 2006 model is in the showroom, the tires are getting kicked, and those who care about such things are saying things like, "Hey, Toronto is STILL the biggest city in the country!" Indeed, Toronto's population has grown—albeit by a mere 0.9% in the last five years—to include 2,503,281 urban dwellers.It's not surprising that the suburbs have been experiencing......

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canada Council for the Arts, the organization wants us to get involved in their "50 for 50" Arts Challenge. Canadians are invited to meet the challenge by engaging in 50 arts-related activities over the course of the year. Do not fret if you’ve neglected the arts since Jan 1 due to laziness and winter hibernation; there's still ample time to reach the goal in the 45 weeks that......

While Toronto may the grandest of all cities, it cannot compare to Kitchener-Waterloo for annual large-scale beer and schnitzel-infused mayhem. Bier steins! Saurkraut! Onkel Hans! Lederhosen! Oompah bands! Bosoms barely contained by dirndles! Oh Glorious Bavaria! The K-W has fifteen Festhallen, which are open to the public for a small entrance fee and boast rowdy polkas and delicious sausage. You already missed Rocktoberfest with Sloan, but let's face it: if you live in Toronto, you've......

Bars disguising themselves as non-bars is a habit that goes back to the tragic days of prohibition, when Chicago speakeasys tried to pass themselves off as restaraunts and department stores. Those in the know would ask for the equivalent of "cold tea," and say lots of great slang like "What's the rumpus?" and "Is she your twist?" While Toronto has always been prohibition-free, that's never stopped us from following a hip trend, even if we're......

Who doesn't love trees? They're shady, clean the air and if we had more of them in the city we'd probably have fewer smog days and heat waves. While Toronto is better than most American cities in terms of tree cover there are patches of the city where trees are pretty neglected. Let's face it, a tiny little box on the concrete sidewalk isn't the best place for a tree's roots. Especially when most Torontonians......

While Toronto residents fumble around in their linty pockets, for tokens most small, or tickets most crumpled, Mississauga('Leading today for tomorrow!) is streamlining its transit ticketing operations, and creating one seamless payment card. The smart card, which uses a microchip to deduct prepaid monies from its total, will be available acrross the Saug by 2007. Riders won't need transfers either. Director of Mississauga Transit, Bill Cunningham hopes the smart cards will "stimulate ridership growth." TOist......