GraphicMatt.com Archived MetroNews.ca columns and blog posts by Matt Elliott

ArchiveOctober 2015

One year later we're still asking John Tory: What is SmartTrack anyway?

John Tory in 2014. A full year after he was elected mayor, a whole lot of questions about Mayor John Tory’s biggest and most expensive campaign promise remain frustratingly unanswered. We just don’t know much about SmartTrack. The unanswered questions aren’t minor, either. This isn’t just me wondering about nerdy details. These are fundamental questions — existential ones. Questions like, hey...

Toronto needed a new federal partner — now we have one

A camera operator waits for the start of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau's event in Montreal on Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. More than anything else, Toronto needed a new federal partner. Now, at last, we have one. With the Liberal Party having secured a commanding majority in the House of Commons and Justin Trudeau set to become Canada’s next Prime Minister, the complexion of a bunch of important...

Middle class gets campaign attention as poverty looms in Toronto

A homeless man sits on a city grate to keep himself warm wearing only a jacket in the frigid temperatures. A question as you head to the polls today: heard anything about Canada’s middle class lately? If you’ve been following the federal election at all over the last few months then, yeah, you have. Talk of the “middle class” has dominated the messaging from all three leading parties right up...

Ranking the worst aspects of Toronto council's ranked ballot rejection

Coun. Justin Di Ciano, the ringleader of the push against ranked ballots, attends his first council meeting in December 2014. Even though there’s a good chance their decision won’t end up meaning much – the province is likely to push forward with planned electoral reforms anyway — there are many terrible features of Toronto City Council’s 25-18 vote against ranked ballots last week. So...

Irrelevant issues overshadow real needs in this election

Donmount Court is a new affordable housing subdivision off of Carroll Street in East Toronto. There are just two weeks left before Canadians go to the polls, so here’s a quick update on the election feelings I’m feeling: tired, frustrated, disappointed. I had high hopes this would be an election about the kind of issues that matter to those of us who live in Canadian cities. But it hasn’t really...

Toronto needs civic pride right now, and Blue Jays fever can help give us some

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons celebrates after winning the first baseball game of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, in Baltimore. Toronto won 15-2 to clinch the American League East. With the division clinched and the playoffs coming, the Toronto Blue Jays have obviously done a whole lot of good. They’ve reignited Toronto’s interest in baseball...

GraphicMatt.com Archived MetroNews.ca columns and blog posts by Matt Elliott

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