The Toronto Observer

A special budget meeting at Toronto city hall was interrupted on Monday in order to hear an apology from Councillor Rob Ford for a perceived racist comment made recently.

When it comes to the world of socially responsible investing or SRI, the University of Toronto and several other Canadian campuses continue to receive a failing grade. Searching for answers to this fact leaves even Michael Jantzi, one of Canada’s leading spokespersons on social investment and corporate social responsibility issues, scratching his head.

An anti-smoking activist believes that laws preventing smoking in cars containing children will work. The McGuinty government has endorsed proposed legislation to ban adults from smoking in cars with children under the age of 16. Earlier this month at the Hospital for Sick Children, McGuinty said that the government will introduce the legislation this spring.

Amarjeet Chhabra has a problem with the lack of accessibility at city hall. As a person with polio, she has trouble getting to certain places. “I find the doors very heavy and for a person like myself, I have trouble with it. For a person in a wheelchair, it’s problematic, especially since the handicap button [...]

In the state of Washington, when drivers injure cyclists with their cars they be prosecuted. Dave Janis, a cyclist in Seattle, claims the creation of a bicycle union there improved cycling safety. “We want to ensure that when drivers hit cyclists with their cars they are punished appropriately,” Janis said.

Dan McTeague is sitting in his local office on a Thursday afternoon working the phones, riding herd on his blackberry and generally keeping busier than a Southern sheriff the day after moonshine was invented. This is hardly unusual for the Pickering-Scarborough East MP who, aside from being a family man, has been keeping on top [...]

A noted Toronto political scientist calls the federal finance minister’s actions before the tabling of the Ontario budget unprecedented. Last Monday, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty called a press conference on the eve of Ontario’s budget day. He then strongly suggested what he wanted to see in Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan’s budget, calling for [...]

In 2003, American activist Rachel Corrie died protesting the demolition of a Palestinian house on the Gaza Strip. In 2006, a play based on her diaries premiered in London, England. Niki Landau, the artistic director of Theatre Panik, wants Torontonians to experience the play. “It was put on three times in London and it won [...]

Diners will find an additional expense added to their bills at certain restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area this week. UNICEF has launched the Tap Project for the first time in Canada, in recognition of World Water Week. From March 22 to 29, five Canadian restaurant brands – Swiss Chalet, Milestones, Montana’s, Kelsey’s and Harvey’s [...]

Toronto hospitals use thousands of instruments for various procedures every day. Most patients assume the instruments meet sterilizations standards. Statistics Canada says that precautionary procedures minimize the risk of transmitting infectious diseases through blood transfusions.