Newsstand: June 30, 2015

Today is a leap second day! Since we all have a spare second, let's catch up on the news: Olivia Chow could defeat Adam Vaughan, John Tory thinks weed should be decriminalized, and the Mystery Tunnel keeps on giving.

By David Hains • Illustration by Matthew Daley

A new poll shows Olivia Chow could defeat MP Adam Vaughan, but it would be a close race. The Mainstreet Technologies poll commissioned by the Toronto Sun puts the prospective heavyweight match-up with Chow at 36 per cent and Vaughan at 30 per cent among voters in the new downtown riding of Spadina-Fort York. The poll comes with a margin of error of 3.87 percentage points, which means it’s a statistical tie. While Chow does better among decided voters, leading 44 per cent to 36 per cent, Liberal voters feel stronger in their support than NDP supporters, and are less likely to switch.

John Tory says marijuana decriminalization would be “a positive step forward for Canada.” Toronto’s medical officer of health will study the implications of the issue this year at the behest of the Toronto Drug Strategy Implementation Plan. Whether the mayor eats Doritos and philosophizes late at night remains unknown.

You know how Pan Am Games ticket sales aren’t going that well? Apparently, the Games got an unexpected boost in sales when the news broke about the Mystery Tunnel near York University. All those mentions of the Mystery Tunnel and Pan Am Games security might have contributed to a spike in sales around the same time, although Games officials can’t quite put their finger on the economic impact. If only they had Mystery Tunnels all the time.