ArchiveJune 2012

By: Metro Canada Published on Fri Jun 29 2012 Hey, Government of Ontario: you're really not proving to be very good at funding and building transit. That's about the only conclusion I can draw from this morning's press conference delivered by Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli. Though ostensibly held to celebrate final cabinet approval of the four Transit City light rail lines...

By: Metro Canada Published on Thu Jun 28 2012 Where was Mayor Rob Ford on Monday, when the Toronto Pride flag went up at City Hall? No one seems to know for sure. And that's not okay. The mayor couldn't even be bothered to come up with an excuse for why he skipped out on the welcome ceremony for a world-renowned cultural festival that injects millions of dollars into the local economy...

It's one of those quiet weeks at City Hall. Not a lot is happening. Meetings are being cancelled because councillors aren't showing up. And the rest of the city seems preoccupied by the fact that is ridiculously, eye-meltingly hot outside. So in lieu of real news, we turn to wild speculation about the 2014 municipal election. This week, we got word that well-known NDP MP Olivia Chow is...

By: Metro Canada Published on Thu Jun 14 2012 Call it a City Hall miracle. On Monday, Mayor Rob Ford's generally very conservative Executive Committee endorsed the idea of a regional working group tasked with looking at a funding strategy for transit expansion in the Greater Golden Horseshoe—a funding strategy that will almost definitely include increased parking fees, road tolls and/or an...

Toronto Council Scorecard I will give every member of Toronto City Council a big pile of nickels if they promise never to debate plastic bags again. That's probably unlikely, though—especially now. Last week, Council made the surprising decision to ban single-use plastic shopping bags starting January 1, 2013. Depending on who you ask, this is either a sensible decision—one that follows an...