October 14, 2015 at 4:00 pm

news

Extra, Extra: Anne Michaels is Toronto’s New Poet Laureate, Jays Fan Tries to Catch Game in Jail, and the City Could Spend $100 Million Fighting Poverty in 2016

By Sarah Niedoba

Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.

Photo by -sina- from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Toronto’s new ambassador for poetry and literature has just been named, and it’s poet and novelist Anne Michaels. Michaels takes over the role from predecessor George Elliot Clarke. She is best known for her two novels, Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault, along with her five poetry collections, the most recent of which (Correspondences) was shortlisted for last year’s Griffin Poetry Prize. She hopes to use her honourary position to create access to the City’s “huge international library” of multicultural authors.

How far would you go to watch today’s Jays playoff game? Toronto Police received a call from a man in St. Jamestown asking to be taken to jail so that he could watch the game. The die-hard fan was nowhere to be seen when the officers arrived, which is just as well because there aren’t actually any TVs in Ontario police stations, as it turns out. The more you know.
$100 million is not pocket change, and it’s what Toronto might spend to combat growing income inequality. Deputy Mayor Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre–Rosedale) says the money would be “cobbled” together from sources such as “federal-provincial money, a reallocation of (City) budgets and some may be new money.” The new proposal, TOprosperity, will be discussed at council’s executive committee meeting on October 20. $40 million from Ottawa would be allocated for affordable housing projects, $10 million would go to energy retrofits for older apartment buildings and additional infrastructure in key neighbourhoods. The remaining $50 million would require the City to double its spending on poverty reduction from 2015.
From today’s edition of 12:36: Doug Ford makes a new media pal. During an appearance on CBC’s Power and Politics, Doug said he and Rob appeared at Stephen Harper’s Etobicoke rally yesterday because they just happened to be in the area. At the end of the interview, host Rosemary Barton asked whether the drop-in was the start of a bid for the Conservative leadership. “Oh Rosie, you’re the best,” chuckled DoFo. ( Want more 12:36? Subscribe to it now.)