Ottawa has enacted mortgage rules that are a bitter pill for new prospective homeowners to swallow, but they are a very clever way to try to cool the nation’s housing market and keep many from sinking under the weight of too much debt. [pullquote]The federal government has tinkered with the rules around mortgages six times […]

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The August 21 twin train derailment on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) line at Dupont Street is a reminder of just how much of a potential disaster is ticking away on our doorstep. It adds urgency to what is no longer a theoretical conversation. The two CPR freight trains failed to execute a safe pass […]

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MORE how nice!: A clear path! by Dot Tedline (August 2016) Planning! by Train Waits (July 2016) Water, water, everywhere! by W.H. Consin (June 2016) How to meet your quota! by Otto Mobile (May 2016) A carpet of green! by Don Mower (April 2016)

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Six years in a federal penitentiary. Given the judicial constraints in this case, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Then has delivered a fair sentence to Constable James Forcillo of the Toronto Police Service for the attempted murder of Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar three years ago. A jury had previously found Forcillo not guilty […]

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MORE how nice!: Planning! by Train Waits (July 2016) Water, water, everywhere! by W.H. Consin (June 2016) How to meet your quota! by Otto Mobile (May 2016) A carpet of green! by Don Mower (April 2016)

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The Toronto Police Service’s recent crackdown on 45 pot dispensaries, many of which are just steps from the Annex, signals the City of Toronto’s frustration with the federal government’s lack of progress on the decriminalization of marijuana, as well as the need for a framework regulating the production, distribution, and sale of the green bud. […]

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Canadians are rejoicing at the return of the census, after the mandatory long-form census was axed by the former Conservative government. The widespread enthusiasm for participating in the count is serving both as a declaration of the importance of evidence-based decision-making and as a guilty verdict on how wrong-headed the Harper regime was for cancelling […]

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Supervised drug injection sites are on their way to Toronto if local councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) gets his way. The rookie member of city council finds himself on many civic bodies, but at the Toronto Board of Health, he is the elected chair. Cressy announced the initiative in late March after the board […]

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The newly minted Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, wasted no time in announcing rules further restricting the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) ability to “backstop” loans to homebuyers. Effective Feb. 15, 2016, purchasers of homes whose purchase price exceeds $500,000 will be required to put at least 10 per cent down, which is up […]

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“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people […]

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