Results tagged “daltonmcguinty”

As predicted by Spacing—and now confirmed by the National Post—the federal government is set to pump around $1 billion into the Sheppard light-rail transit line, described as the most "shovel-ready" of the TTC's Transit City LRT routes (the Star reports that construction is now expected to begin this fall). Today's announcement, made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty at the Transit Commission's Hillcrest Complex, follows last month's commitment by the provincial government of $9 billion for Transit City and other Toronto-area public transit initiatives. Still no word on funding for the city's coveted Bombardier Flexity streetcars, however—a fact sure to keep Mayor David Miller and TTC Chair Adam Giambrone grumbling, though they'll likely tone their complaints down a notch, at least for today.

We become unreasonably annoyed when bands release self-titled (non-debut) albums. With the obvious exception of Beatles-biting Weezer-style colour-coding, this approach strikes us as lazy and uncreative—at best, a misguided attempted at minimalism. We feel the same way about the title of the new Star Trek movie (i.e. "Star Trek"). "Fast & Furious," however, seems to breach through to a new level of demented beauty; following on The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the streamlined title of the new one has become a discussion point in and of itself, with most reviews making sure to allude to it. Certainly that's the only thing about the movie that interests us. Well, that and that it's the fifth feature from director Justin Lin, whose 2002 debut Better Luck Tomorrow (sort of like Goodfellas set in a high school) once marked him as one of the most promising American filmmakers of the early part of the decade. Too bad what happened.

Public transit across the GTA got a big boost today from the provincial government, with Premier Dalton McGuinty giving the go-ahead to four major projects worth a combined $9 billion. Included is the $4.6 billion Eglinton LRT line, a key part of the TTC's Transit City plan. The thirty-kilometre line could be up and running by 2016, assuming construction begins as planned next year. Also receiving funding is the $1.2 billion Finch LRT line, running from Humber College on Highway 427 to Don Mills subway station. Rounding out the pack are $1.6 billion for improving and extending the Scarborough rapid-transit line and $1.4 billion for York Region's Viva bus system. All of the projects must still go through the environmental assessment process.

At 11 a.m. today, more than two hundred irate truck drivers will besiege Queen’s Park, demanding their right to push the pedal to the metal when necessary. Various groups are up in arms over Bill 41, a piece of legislation passed in Ontario last June that requires large rigs to carry engine microchips restricting their maximum speed to 105 km/h.

Dalton McGuinty announced this morning that he is a little over a day away from introducing back-to-work legislation to immediately force an end to York University's strike. According to a statement released on the Ontario premier's website, McGuinty feels that "there is no reasonable prospect of a negotiated settlement between York University and CUPE Local 3903. The sides are in a clear deadlock, and despite our best efforts to bring the sides together, that has not changed." "Having exhausted all other options," McGuinty writes, "I will be recalling the legislature as of Sunday at 1 p.m. for the purposes of introducing back to work legislation. I am asking MPPs from all parties to provide unanimous consent for immediate passage of the bill so that students can get back to school this week." [via 680 News]

David Miller and David Cronenberg will be present today for the opening of Filmport, the new high-end film production facility that's ready to go just as Toronto's film industry collapses under the weight of a high-value loonie. On the bright side, if nobody wants to use Filmport, it can hold millions and millions of sport coats.

Opposition critics are calling the review of the controversial provincial health tax a sham, pointing out how Dalton McGuinty has already acknowledged that the tax would not be eliminated and the review was going forward only because it's required by law. The premier at first denied the charge, but upon hearing it repeated, said, "Oh, I thought you said 'scam'. Yes, the review is definitely a sham."

This year to date has seen the wettest June and July ever in Toronto, and we're only a couple of centimetres of rain away from breaking the rain record for the whole summer. That should shut up the "global wetting" skeptics.

Many fast-food chains and grocery stores are reintroducing tomatoes to their menus after the American tomato salmonella outbreak last week. Officials for the stores said that they waited until everybody had forgotten about the salmonella thing before bringing back the tomatoes, and that in future they hope to make us forget about bad things faster.

Dalton McGuinty wants Fiat to build its new North American factory here in Ontario. McGuinty emphasized Ontario's history of auto manufacturing, and also the province's sheer desperation to replace thousands of lost jobs from the American Big Three automakers gradually collapsing. McGuinty then said, "No, seriously, we'll do anything to get the plant. AN-Y-THING." Then he winked.

Barack Obama inched closer to the Democratic Presidential nomination last night, winning North Carolina pretty decisively and holding Hillary Clinton's victory in Indiana to a near-tie. Pundits and prognosticators alike agreed that at long last, Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the nomination were almost totally nonexistent, now that America has finally come to terms with the fact that Barack Obama is black, y'all, he's black, y'all, he's blackety-blackety-black, y'all.

Dalton McGuinty unveiled a new plane yesterday, which will be used by the OPP to deter dangerous drivers on Ontario highways. To encourage courteous motoring, the plane is armed with four Maverick air-to-ground missiles and a 30 mm cannon capable of piercing two inches of armour plate. Actually the plane just reports bad driving to ground units, but I'd bet my idea would be more effective.

"Next stop, Quarter Pounder" is something you could be hearing on the subway in the future, as City Council agrees to look at selling station naming rights to corporations. However, TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc calls the study a "waste of time" and says the idea should be rejected, presumably because he's polled all 1.5 million riders and knows that they'd rather pay higher fares than suffer the indignity of a subway stop named after a basketball shoe instead of a 19th century Brit. Say, what if they sold the naming rights to Subway? Everybody wins!

The McGuinty provincial government last week announced an end to the clothesline bans that have been active in some Ontario communities. Now’s your chance to show off your unmentionables to the neighbourhood. If you don’t have a clothesline, you’re in luck: Toronto Hydro is giving away 75,000 clotheslines to Toronto residents over the next few weekends.

Dalton McGuinty has said no to calls from health officials in London Ontario to raise the legal drinking age in Ontario to 21. Drinking at 19 has become a rite of passage for young people, like acquiring a driver's licence or genital warts.

Good news for all those who get mild motion sickness when they stare at the seventies-style, geometric orange carpet in the atrium of the Toronto Reference Library—it was announced earlier today that the Provincial government will be contributing 10 million dollars to the campaign to renovate and expand it. The total cost of the project, which will take place over the next five years, is estimated at 30 million dollars—the other two thirds coming from the City of Toronto and the private sector.

Cows cause traffic tie-ups on the QEW. Best line of story: "We have someone en route with rodeo experience." Rodeo experience. To get a cow to move off the damn road. (Did nobody just try waving food in front of the cow's face?)

Torontoist Environment Editor Chris Tindal is currently engaged in a federal by-election campaign. This weekly column is an attempt to offer a behind the scenes glimpse into what it's like to be that mysterious Other: a politician.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has fired off a whiny letter to the PM complaining about Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's public criticism of Ontario and its tax laws. Flaherty, who apparently counts all time lost when he's not psychologically bitch-slapping his governmental inferiors, responded by calling McGuinty a "big stupid crybaby."

Toronto Zoo to go green. The Zoo will now focus on biodiversity and sustainability while presenting animals from around the world in small, depressing, joke-like habitats that offer a crude mockery of how the animals would prefer to live, focusing on the fact that while their lives in the zoo might suck, at least nobody is killing these animals for fun, as would frequently happen in the wild.

"There is nothing more valuable to families than time together. And yet it seems tougher than ever to find, with so many of us living such busy lives." So declared Dalton McGuinty on last October's announcement of a new holiday: Family Day! And McGuinty's right: work is hard, days off are totally sweet, and families are pretty great!

TTC promises more buses, new routes, candy. Okay, they're not promising candy, but over the next year there will be gradual extra service along all of the TTC's major routes to lessen the impact of crowding. In 2009: possibly we get candy.

Dalton McGuinty plans to form a committee to look for ways of replacing the daily recitation of the Lord's Prayer at Queen's Park, a practice which he says does not properly reflect Ontario's diversity. The Lord was unavailable for comment.

It's snowing again! This gives Torontoist yet another opportunity to bust out a pretty picture of streets clogged with snow, and it gives the rest of Canada the opportunity to go, "Hey, how come those Toronto folks can't deal with a little snow ha ha ha don't they have plows?" Then we say, "No, we don't have enough plows, fuckers, because it turns out everybody else is entirely happy to suck money off us and not give us any of it back." Then they punch us, and we punch back, and it ends with black eyes and everybody drunk at the bar... no, wait, that was that wedding we went to last week! Never mind.

Kennedy Station will remain closed today, at least for the morning. So, if you live in Scarborough, enjoy those shuttle buses.

Unless you're just coming off a three-day bender, you already know that Australian actor Heath Ledger died in New York yesterday, an event covered by the media with the familiar dead celebrity combination of prurience and gravitas. Still, he was good at what he did and he had a little girl and it's sad.

Apparently 6% GST is still being charged in parking lots at Pearson airport, in spite of the fact that the tax was lowered to 5% on January 1. The overpricing is being blamed on a system glitch that is being "worked on," but in the meantime, the GTAA plans to keep the extra cash for themselves. A spokesperson explained, "If you don't like it, then you can fly out of another international airport in Toronto."

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.