Spacing Toronto

Look Back in Anger

The New Deal, touted as a game-changing agreement between City Hall and Queen's Park, hasn't delivered

By Michel Nayrouz

Whether it is the scouring of Ontario Place or the war against bikers, it seems the Ford government is getting away with just about everything it sets out to do, and that is no coincidence. In 2023, the Ontario government and the City of Toronto trumpeted an intergovernmental effort, dubbed the New Deal, and the enabling legislation, Bill 154, which received Royal Assent just over a year ago. This deal saw the uploading of the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway to provincial... Read more

Housing

OP-ED: Why Toronto must act on Ombudsman’s recommendations on refugee shelter and housing

Toronto City Manager and City Council have made a mistake by refusing to endorse the recommendations brought forward by the Ombudsman regarding refugee shelter
By Alexandra Flynn and Elizabeth McIsaac
Bikes

Wheeling through Toronto with Albert Koehl

Sabat Ismail does a Q&A with the longtime cycling advocate about his new book
By Sabat Ismail
Housing

PODCAST: Spacing Radio 084, Two housing carols

In this episode: two different perspectives on housing in Canada
By Spacing Radio
Community

A place of refuge

Sanctuary offers support and hope for those in need in the heart of Toronto
By Shiri Yeung
Infrastructure

For Metrolinx, Queen and Spadina is an idling-bylaw-free zone

Idling dump trucks at Ontario Line construction site are spewing pollution
By Peter MacCallum
Waterfront

Follow the money to Ontario Place

The auditor-general's scathing review of the Therme deal once again raises questions about the source of the spa's cash
By John Lorinc

Traffic

The high cost of on-street parking

With cycling infrastructure facing a mortal threat, it's time for the City to banish on-street parking on transit arterials
By John Lorinc
Traffic

LORINC: Singing the gridlock blues

Toronto has reams of info on traffic flows, yet the City hasn't made it easily available to residents
By John Lorinc
Photos

Old Gables and Pizza Slices: 648-656 Spadina Avenue

Photographer Peter MacCallum documents the evolution of a commercial strip that has fed generations of university students
By Peter MacCallum
Walking

EVENT: Strollin’ — an evening talking about walking November 28

Celebrating the new edition of Shawn Micallef's book Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto and other ways of walking and exploring
By Spacing
History

Excerpt: Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Conflict in Blackface

Spacing contributor Dr. Cheryl Thompson's new history of Blackface theatre and politics in Canada
By Cheryl Thompson
Waterfront

The scouring of Ontario Place

Photographer Steven Evans has captured the devastation wrought on the one beautifully landscaped west island
By Steven Evans

Culture

The Ultimate Guide to the Best Songs About Toronto

In the Fall 2023 issue of Spacing (coming soon to a store or mailbox near you), we shine a spotlight on five “Toronto Troubadours” — musicians “dedicated...
By Todd Harrison
Pandemic

LORINC: The pandemic is about cities

Viruses, in the abstract, don’t care much about their host organisms, beyond the latter’s on-board, physiological defenses. Yet it’s clear the coronavirus...
By John Lorinc
Waterfront

What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 1)

The investigation by Ontario Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk into the Ford government’s removal of 7,400 acres of prime farmland and wetlands from the...
By Ian Darragh
Housing

LORINC: The Tories’ use-it-or-lose housing ruse

On the north-east corner of Bathurst and St. Clair West sits a snazzy purpose-built condo sales office, ostensibly there to promote Foret, a giant...
By John Lorinc
Waterfront

Q&A with Steven Evans on photographing Ontario Place

With the chaotic Greenbelt scandal swirling in the background, the updated plans for the Ford government’s deeply contentious and destructive scheme...
By John Lorinc
Waterfront

What’s really happening at Ontario Place? (Part 2)

Sequel to Part 1 of “What’s really happening at Ontario Place?“ Ontario Place was conceived by Conservative Premier John Robarts in 1968 as an...
By Ian Darragh

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