We don’t officially have political parties in Toronto municipal politics, but voters should know that organized political factions exist. One of the most influential is Progress Toronto, the activist group backing Olivia Chow and a slate of candidates pushing policies that would make this city worse.
Move over, The Walking Dead. This is the flopping dead.
But these are not actors, and this is not Halloween. These real people often look like corpses in the seat next to you on the TTC subway or streetcar. Thankfully, they usually are still alive. But they can be so still and awkwardly positioned that it can be hard to tell sometimes.
On Friday, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that there was no Charter right to bike lanes — and delivered an utter spanking to the judge below their rank who said otherwise. Not only was it a victory for those who prefer car to bike, it was a victory for democracy.
Before the case was overturned, it stood for the principle that elected policymakers had to submit to “expert” evidence on matters of mere traffic planning to avoid breaching the Charter rights of the masses. Justice Paul Schabas of the Ontario Superior Court arrived at this conclusion last year in hearing out the advocacy group Cycle Toronto, which had complained about the Ontario government’s plan to remove a bike lane along a major thoroughfare downtown.
The gap in Toronto’s mayoral race is widening, leaving challengers scrambling for traction.
New numbers released Thursday by Liaison Strategies show incumbent Olivia Chow holding a comfortable 11-point lead among decided voters, gaining 2% since Aug. 7 as main challenger Brad Bradford lost 2% support over the same time period.
(Soft paywall go incognito)
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has a simple message for voters in Toronto when it comes to drug policy: Don’t follow Vancouver’s example — it won’t lead to good places.
If you drive or walk the streets of Toronto, the zombie-like creatures now occupying our public spaces are not a shocking scene anymore. They aren’t there by accident, though. They are there due to decisions by so-called progressive politicians to liberalize drug laws.
Chris Alexander is either running the strangest campaign for mayor that the City of Toronto has seen in some time, or is actually making a subtle bid for a very different job: to be Toronto’s poet laureate.
On Monday, Mr. Alexander posted on X: “A bed is for the worst night of your life. A home is for the rest of it. My job as mayor is both.” We can infer that the statement is some new form of
Haiku, because it makes no sense as political communications. (Is Mr. Alexander saying he will expand shelter spaces? He doesn’t elaborate. Will he rip up zoning regulations? Nothing on that either. Perhaps he will rephrase in iambic pentameter.)
“Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow declined to endorse involuntary treatment, and instead said she will continue backing other methods, pointing to supportive housing models that also offer mental health and addiction services, like Dunn House.”
OTTAWA—The mayors of some of Ontario’s largest cities are pleading with the province to explore options for involuntary addiction treatment as a tool to fight the current homelessness and drug crisis.
“We need to not be afraid of having the difficult conversations,” said Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, also chair of the Ontario’s Big City Mayors caucus, which represents 29 of the province’s largest municipalities.
“We are ready to have a conversation without prescribing what the outcome of that conversation will be,” she added, noting that provinces like Alberta have introduced involuntary treatment models that could be looked at.
Ontario’s top court has cleared the way for the province to remove bike lanes in Toronto, overturning a lower-court ruling that found the plan created an unconstitutional risk to cyclist safety.
The Ontario Court of Appeal’s ruling says there is no Charter right to bike lanes and the government is free to change or repeal policy choices made by previous governments, even if it goes against expert advice.
A little good news.
Olivia Chow was not elected as the development industry’s mayor. Yet three years into her term, her administration has assembled the most ambitious municipal housing agenda Toronto has seen since amalgamation.
That is not the same thing as solving the housing crisis, which is real and persistent. It is, however, a record worth taking seriously.
This week offered the clearest evidence yet. Standing in Scarborough, Mayor Chow and Prime Minister Mark Carney announced more than $2.7 billion in federal investment, alongside more than $700 million from the city of Toronto, to advance 18 projects representing more than 5,600 rental homes.
Just what we needed more “announcements”.
Why we were living in a virtual “announcement desert”!
There’s nothing like the smell of a crack pipe in the morning!
This morning's episode of Toronto is not a real place. Crack smoking and beer drinking early O'clock on the 505 streetcar. Toronto Transit Commission TTC party streetcar. @ttchelps @MayorOliviaChow @TPSMyronDemkiw pic.twitter.com/sgpqIoAwoc
— Mr. Toronto Lawyer (@selwynpieters) August 6, 2026
How Toronto festivals this year were upended by congestion, cancellations and crime — and what we must do to fix it
It has been a summer of thwarted celebrations.
Marquee street festivals in Toronto were cut short, moved out of the city or cancelled outright over issues with financing, space, violence and thefts.
Some organizers say growing security costs and concerns since the deadly vehicle attack in Vancouver last year and shootings at Salsa on St. Clair last month made their events too expensive to host. This was worsened, they say, by the World Cup siphoning away corporate sponsorship money this year, forcing local events to make do with less. Even Taste of the Danforth, one of the city’s most storied, well-funded festivals, had supporters petition the federal government this week for more help with payments.
Olivia Chow remains firmly in the driver’s seat in the Toronto mayoral race while newcomer Chris Alexander sits in third place with the support of about 10 per cent of decided and leaning voters, a new survey suggests.
The survey of 1,000 Torontonians was conducted between Aug. 4 and Aug. 5. by Liaison Strategies, about one week after Alexander officially entered the race.
Toronto votes stupid every time.
How many close calls and wake up calls are needed before somebody starts admitting this!
On the same day where it could have been necessary to plan two more cop funerals comes information for the second time there’s been arrests connected to international terror groups who allegedly hired people to shoot up the U.S. consulate.
“It’s out of control,” said Toronto Police Association President Clayton Campbell.
Pic – Toronto Coat of Arms – Diversity our Strength
The organizer of Afrofest, one of the largest celebrations of African music and culture in North America, is blaming the city for the cancellation of this summer’s festival, which has been running annually for nearly 40 years.
“There’s a lot of anger in me,” said Peter Toh, executive and artistic director of Afrofest. “What happened is by design. We have never been accepted in the Beaches, only tolerated.”
It’s implied racism was the cause of course. Africans built the Beaches after all.
If this keeps up Toronto will soon be facing a shortage of mass shooting venues.
Five Toronto police officers found guilty of misconduct for comments on Muslim outreach podcast
An investigative report by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) has found misconduct against five officers after a police-run podcast praised the post–October 7 surge of converts to Islam and was perceived to downplay Hamas support at anti-Israel rallies.
The Project Olive Branch Podcast had been launched by TPS as an outreach tool, to build trust amongst the Muslim community, according to police documents. It was to be “light hearted” and “foster open and engaging discussions.” The first episode aired without incident, the second, at 47 minutes, aired March 10, 2025 and received 142,000 views. It was reviewed by three supervisory colleagues, yet stirred controversy.
No one ever gets fired in Canada and you can bet they are DEI hires.
