ArchiveMarch 2015

By: Metro Published on Mon Mar 30 2015 The two most recent Toronto mayors have made the trek to sunny Austin for the South by Southwest music festival. Coming back, both ex-mayor Rob Ford and Mayor John Tory — who made the trip earlier this month -— have talked about making Toronto a “music city.” I’m not sure I get what that means. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against mayors taking trips...

By: Matt Elliott Metro, Metro Published on Wed Mar 25 2015 Mayor John Tory had a lot to say Monday after Toronto ombudsman Fiona Crean’s announcement that she would be leaving at the end of her term, in part because her office had been denied five of the six new positions she said were needed to properly do her job. But here's the core of it: “I can only say that my objective in the coming...

By: Matt Elliott Metro, Metro Published on Mon Mar 23 2015 I’ll be blunt: I hate the Sunshine List. The list, published under the Ontario Public Salary Disclosure Act, discloses the names and earnings of all public-sector workers making more than $100,000 in salary and benefits. Every year, the release of the list sparks a maelstrom of media and public attention. Last week, news that more than...

By: Metro Published on Mon Mar 16 2015 Presenting his first municipal budget to Toronto city council last week, Mayor John Tory made it clear that, for him, there’s only one path worth taking — the hard one. “It’s the easy way out to say let’s just have three or four per cent put onto property taxes,” he explained, arguing that he and most of council were elected by people who didn’t vote for tax...

By: Metro Published on Thu Mar 12 2015 Most people with even a passing interest in politics have a pretty defined view of the difference between left-wing politicians and right-wing politicians. Sure, it’s simplistic, but also pretty pervasive. Left-wing politicians, the story goes, are all about spending money to expand programs and create new ones. Right-wingers, on the other hand, are more...