Toronto’s next election gets a new character

A mayoral cakewalk, interrupted

Toronto Star @TorontoStar

Prominent urbanist Gil Penalosa joins Toronto mayoral race

dlvr.itProminent urbanist Gil Penalosa joins Toronto mayoral raceThe 65-year-old best known for founding non-profit 8 80 Cities is now the highest profile challenger to Mayor John Tory.

Gil Penalosa will bring a professional passion to debating John Tory by being the first notable challenger to the mayor of Toronto. Summer in the city has been marked by tales of park maintenance mismanagement involving garbage and washrooms. Tory is also losing a deputy, as Denzil Minnan-Wong won’t be running for re-election after 28 years in office.

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What’s left for the NDP now

Jagmeet Singh @theJagmeetSingh

Instead of helping you, the Liberals are fixated on protecting the profits of telecom giants The Rogers outage that impacted millions is a prime example of the dangers of a telecom monopoly A Rogers - Shaw merger will only increase prices & create an even larger monopoly

Fallout from the Rogers outage supplied Jagmeet Singh with a premise for the NDP to critique the Liberals he not long ago arranged to support. New Democrats are also calling for $1,000 in immediate inflation relief, blaming other parties for “protecting the ultra-rich.”

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The return of mandatory airport testing for fully vaccinated travellers. Canadian airport delays led to a suspension of the practice, which turned out to be for only five weeks. Meanwhile, as Ontario gets around to allowing booster shots for everyone 18 and up, Health Canada approval has arrived for COVID-19 vaccines designed for kids under five.

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It don’t run in their blood

A stretch of eight losses in 10 games seemed like a good time for the Toronto Blue Jays to fire manager Charlie Montoyo. The team then won the first one under interim manager John Schneider. Next up is finding how they fare against a Kansas City Royals missing 10 players who’d rather stay home for a reason:

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan

News: The Kansas City Royals will be missing nearly 40% of their roster for a series this week in Toronto because the players are not vaccinated, including a top trade target. Details free and unlocked at ESPN:

es.pnRoyals without 10 unvaccinated players at TorontoTen Royals players, including four of their top hitters and two of their best starting pitchers this season, will not travel to Toronto for this week’s four-game series because they have not received the COVID-19 vaccination.

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“We consider that the CRTC has overstepped its authority with respect to the independence of the public broadcaster.” That’s the view from CBC/Radio-Canada, which is appealing a censure for a French segment which repeatedly used the N-word. The complainant received an apology, but the CBC is defending the context.

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Finally, a quest to fetch $27M

Mean Girls gets its due in the recent shopping mall history book Meet Me by the Fountain by Alexandra Lange, thanks to the movie immortalizing the peak of Toronto’s Sherway Gardens. The legacy also includes a Bridle Path mansion which had a $14.8 million price tag seven years ago, which is currently back on the market for nearly double that: