Liveblog: Oct. 2 City Council meeting
City Council’s back from summer holidays with a jam-packed agenda, featuring plastic bags, the Port Lands, Casa Loma, the budget, that ombudsman’s report, and more! Continue reading →
Rob Ford is often in his element on talk radio, where his freewheeling angry everyman approach is a perfect fit for the medium. But when you’re the mayor dealing with a sensitive and nuanced issue such as the Danzig Street shooting, that doesn’t cut it. Ford was widely criticized … Continue reading
From the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale: McGuinty’s government announced last year that it was giving another $10 million to TAVIS over two years, bringing the total to about $35 million since 2006. McGuinty suggested Tuesday that expiring funding for programs in Toronto’s 13 “priority neighbourhoods” could now be extended, but … Continue reading
What works: community-led interventions, reducing poverty, taking a neutral public health approach. What doesn’t: stigmatizing already marginalized communities, being “tough on crime”, being racist as hell. Continue reading
The Globe and Mail reports that influential ‘bagman’ (a campaign fundraising bundler) and prominent Cassels Brock lawyer Ralph Lean has signed up for a Ford Nation passport in 2014. Aside from a brief sojourn as a David Miller booster in 2006, Lean has long supported conservative politicians, and speaks of … Continue reading
A quick roundup of the best links from the past few days. On OneCity, the best analysis comes from exactly who you would expect. Torontoist editor Hamutal Dotan delivers a nuanced and thorough look at what OneCity got right and wrong and the larger lessons we should learn from this … Continue reading
Emma Jenkin Originally published at her blog. No, seriously. I love this. “Austrian Town Turns Itself Into Virtual Library” Scattered around the city of Klagenfurt are 70 QR codes and NFC chips. When you scan them with your smartphone, you are taken to a site where you can download a book from … Continue reading
Just after the epic twist in Toronto Bag Ban Saga, Mayor Rob Ford bemoaned a lack of civic engagement in Toronto. “Sometimes I get so frustrated because the people are just sitting back listening but they don’t pick up the phone, don’t go down to city hall, they don’t ask … Continue reading
During this week’s OneCity debate, Rob Ford did not say a word. Although unsurprising, this should be jarring; the mayor really should comment on $30 billion plans that dominate the city’s news cycle for weeks, even if said plan ends on a whimper. Later that day, he rose to speak … Continue reading
In the first instalment of a twice-monthly feature, Toronto Citizens will discuss messaging, political strategy and tactics with Ontario Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Director Trish Hennessy and Massey fellow and U of T political academic James McKee. This week: Whither OneCity? David Hains: OneCity made a dramatic splash when … Continue reading