Tag: Toronto

One week in, Occupy Toronto draws 1,500 to downtown rally

Over a thousand people marched from the camp at St. James Park through downtown Toronto to Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday, one week after the beginning of the Occupy Toronto protest. “I think it’s really exciting and I’m really glad to see this big mobilization today,” said activist and researcher Emily Paradis, accompanied by her teenage son and his friend. After a week and extensive media coverage, it was still unclear…

Protesters occupy downtown park in Toronto version of Occupy Wall Street

Hundreds of people were still gathering in St. James Park on the east end of downtown Toronto late Saturday for the Occupy Toronto protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Earlier, reports said about 3,000 people rallied and marched from Toronto’s financial district to the park, the group’s chosen occupation site, at the corner of Jarvis Street and King Street.

The movement, which is against increasing financial inequality and excessive corporate influence in politics, arrived in Canada with…

A Modest Proposal for the City of Toronto (VIDEO)

Sometimes, there’s a little bit of Jonathan Swift in all of us. Mary Hynes is no different. Last week, this feisty senior living in North York, Ontario had some modest suggestions for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his plans to make serious budget cuts, affecting the city’s services, most notably the public library system. She got the opportunity to deliver her comments to the mayor in person at the Executive Committee’s Core Service Review panel…

2010: The year of confusion – From Rob Ford to Burlesque, the year that made no sense

I must admit, I’m a bit confused. I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to write about here. It’s a year-in-review piece, so at least the time frame is solid, but the subject matter, hmm, that’s another story. You see, I don’t really have a clear beat. I started off 2010 as a theatre writer, but now that’s done by others and occasionally me, at least when it comes to burlesque shows (heh heh, but seriously, check out my reviews of Blood Ballet and Glam Gam). I do write about news and politics, even in this space, but I’m not the only one, so this can’t be a year in the news piece. I could write about the year it was for FTB. (and in fact I will, but that’s coming up New Year’s Eve, not here.) So I guess I’m just going to have to talk about the year in random things that caught my attention.

The Wrath of Grapes

The mouth of the great white north is at it again. Don Cherry seems to make headlines whenever he speaks, whether it’s practicing the gentle art of bigotry in front of a national audience on Coach’s Corner or speaking at the inauguration of the newly elected conservative Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford. In the past, Cherry has belittled Europeans and French Canadians and slammed the Canadian government for not supporting the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Most recently he insulted anyone who rides a bicycle or takes public transportation to work, not mention every liberal in the country.