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

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Matt Elliott: Toronto's shelter shortage is a crisis by design

It gets cold every year, writes Matt Elliott, and every year a version of the same shelter shortage crisis plays out. Almost five years ago, during a bitterly cold February in 2013, I wrote a column for this newspaper about Toronto’s homeless shelter crisis. Back then, the shelter system was running at about 95 per cent of capacity each night, well above the city’s target of 90 per cent. Shelter...

Matt Elliott: Here's a New Year’s resolution for you — run for council, make a difference

Toronto voters will elect 47 councillors and a mayor in the Oct. 22 municipal election. Forget going to the gym. To hell with pursuing new skills or hobbies. This year I've got a much better New Year’s Resolution for you: you’re going to run for Toronto City Council. I know what you’re thinking. “Matt, I’m not qualified.” But here’s the good news: neither are half the people who have been...

Matt Elliott: Beautiful skylines, squirrel statues, goats and a profound love of Toronto

The goats at Riverdale Farm are among the most “absurdly” wonderful things Matt Elliott enjoyed this year as he explored the city from a fresh perspective. The holidays are a time for taking stock of the year. For me, that’s easy. Here’s what I did in 2017: I walked. I walked a lot. More than four million steps, according to my pedometer app. It’s a distance of about 3,000 kilometres...

Matt Elliott: Welcome to Toronto's golden age of transit

Mayor John Tory chats with commuters Sunday as one of the first trains rolls on the Line 1 extension. If you’re reading this on a subway train right now, look up. Find the subway map installed somewhere over your head. And notice: the map got bigger. It officially happened Sunday when six new subway stops opened on the north end of the Spadina line. TTC subway service now goes all the way to the...

Matt Elliott: Scarborough subway escapes scrutiny despite mistakes and missteps

Protestors gathered at City Hall voicing their concerns about the Scarborough subway, which critics are already calling a white elephant. One of the protestors came dressed as one. Toronto’s current Scarborough Subway plan began with a fundamental misunderstanding of the truth. At a Toronto City Council meeting in July 2013, hours before councillors first voted to formally replace the approved...

With tax hikes off the table, Toronto city hall considers… fundraising: Elliott

Mayor John Tory speaks during a Toronto Board of Trade luncheon in Toronto. Is a GoFundMe — Toronto edition in the works? We might not be too far off, writes Matt Elliott. The draft city budget presented at Toronto city hall last week has a problem: a $95 million problem. Though the budget was presented as balanced with a residential property tax increase once again kept in line with the rate of...

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

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