44 Walmer Rd. faced changed to its character in 2001 In his Aug. 24, 2015 column for The Globe and Mail, “A pop art prize”, Dave Leblanc points to Alfred Holden’s May 2001 column in The Annex Gleaner about 44 Walmer Rd., a design by renowned architect Uno Prii. Leblanc reminds us that the questions […]

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A tree that keeps fighting back By Alfred Holden, Given up for lost, great elms soldier on. Extinction was predicted. I remember the news stories around 1970, so prone were the trees to deadly Dutch elm disease, which is still very much with us. But if you believe in evolution, or if you don’t, pull […]

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A review from when the Lillian H. Smith Branch was new In the October 1995 edition of The Annex Gleaner, Alfred Holden reviewed the then new Lillian H. Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library. On this, the branch’s twentieth anniversary, we thought we’d take a look back at what we thought then. You be […]

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Pick a plan, the real enemy is inaction For me, there is very little doubt that carbon needs to be priced. The only question is what mechanism we use as a nation to price it for the most effective carbon reducing strategy. I had the fortune of hosting the “Why Should I Care?” forum on […]

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Seven notorious twentieth-century women come alive in solo show By Annemarie Brissenden It turned out that Zelda was most comfortable in the bathtub. For Elizabeth Smart, it was doing dishes in the kitchen. Or so Dora-award winning actress Nicky Guadagni discovered as she rattled around a big, old farmhouse, coming to grips with the seven […]

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It’s as though the Conservative Party of Canada is making it up as it goes along. There is very little meat in their policy platform outside of the rhetoric of getting tough on crime, keeping a steady hand on the economy’s tiller, and protecting us from terrorists. The platform plank, the Home Renovation Tax Credit, […]

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A platform comparison with an environmental yardstick The federal riding lines have been redrawn for this election and we are no longer in the old riding of Trinity-Spadina. Instead, the Annex is now situated in the riding of University-Rosedale and we have several strong contenders to be our member of parliament. Current MP for Toronto […]

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Lucky to have top professional in Canada, says producer By Annemarie Brissenden It all happened somewhat by accident. When Kei Yano attended a meeting about a play that dramaturge David Ferry wanted to stage in the neighbourhood, it wasn’t with the intent of landing a contract. She was there to represent the Palmerston Area Residents’ […]

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Build stronger cities By Adam Vaughan When it comes time to vote in October’s federal election, will this city try to make a point, or will Toronto residents make a difference? It’s an important question. Recent elections and modern politics are increasingly reduced to ballot questions. The public debate is degraded by attack ads and […]

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Residents and business-owners vow to battle proposed development By Annemarie Brissenden Kensington Market is once again preparing for battle. In what’s becoming an increasingly familiar story in this part of Toronto, an application to replace a non-residential automotive rental facility at College Street and Augusta Avenue with a mixed-use development has the area’s residents and […]

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Simple, tasty, and healthy I try very hard to bring the right little seasonal gift to anyone I visit in their home for a BBQ, or summer gathering. Unless it is an assigned dish for a potluck or a BYOB, I am loath to arrive with yet another little package of shortbread cookies. No point […]

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