Job one for the new council: end developer donations

Now what? With this year’s municipal elections history, the question becomes what should our new-old council do first? Answering that question is complicated by the reality our mayor and councilors are elected individually and independently. We don’t have political parties at the local level, either traditional or uniquely municipal parties. While that can be positive […]

Developers get to change rules, the rest of us not so much

If it’s become acceptable — routine really — for developers to apply to bend municipal planning strategy and land use zoning regulations to green-light projects that don’t fit within the rules as they are, should it not be just as possible for ordinary citizens to seek similar exceptions to red-light those who plan to do things […]

Monday morning this and that

An innovative anti-cyberbullying law that seemed to its framers like justice in the heat of an emotional moment has turned out to be a “colossal failure.” It not only couldn’t stand the test of a Charter challenge but must also, immediately, be struck from the law books. That’s the problem with creating legislation in the […]

Canada’s ‘worst deadbeat dad’ responds

Vrege Armoyan describes the moment his 16-year marriage ended — it happened on Thursday, October 22, 2009 — as if it is unraveling before his eyes, in real time, instead of one in a series of unhappy personal-life footnotes, now nearly four years past. The story — in Vrege’s telling — begins six days earlier, […]