In the end the only number that matters is 71.
Everything else pales. The unsurprising, lifeless re-election of John Tory as mayor. The handful of upsets and pleasant surprises at the council level. Even the uptick toward a more inclusive representation in City Hall, greater (but still unequal) gender balance, fewer pasty white faces (the Tory caucus, I’ll call them). A typical election night in its disappointments and triumphs. Continue reading
After reading The Local’s September article, How Toronto’s Councillors Became Nearly Unbeatable, I did a little creative calculation myself, tabulating the average time the 19 incumbents running for re-election on Monday have spent at Toronto’s City Hall. 
Close observers will immediately spot a discrepancy with my math. 19 incumbents? But there are only 18 running. What gives? Continue reading
Stuck in Toronto traffic? It’s as bad as you think it is – and likely to get worse, the headline in Lex Harvey’s Toronto Star article this morning, stating the absolute obvious to anyone who tries to get around this city by any mode these days.
The aggravating thing (along with the commute) is that little of this was unforeseen, unexpected, out of the blue or, despite the flux and instability created by Covid, beyond our control to manage. We weren’t blindsided. We were unprepared. Chronically, habitually unprepared. Continue reading