By Jessica Murphy, Parliamentary Bureau OTTAWA – Canadians would pick a tax hike over waving goodbye to freedom 65 when it comes to pension reform, a new survey suggests. A poll by Abacus Data indicates 57% of Canadians support keeping the age of eligibility for Old Age Security at 65 even if it means cutting [...]

I decided to get a little serious in my Metro column this week. You may not know that Calgary has been named the Cultural Capital of Canada for 2012. Insane, right? Who knew! For the next 12 months, this city will be celebrating all that makes it wonderful with spectacular shows, once in life time [...]

Because Toronto’s more movie obsessed than a Quentin Tarantino screenplay (yuk yuk), Torontoist brings you Now on Screen, a weekly roundup of new releases. Click on any film title for our review.     Miss BalaDIRECTED BY GERARDO NARANJO Showtimes     The InnkeepersDIRECTED BY TI WEST Showtimes     The Woman in BlackDIRECTED BY [...]

A family-run Etobicoke restaurant makes rotis and doubles for a loyal clientele.

I knew it was going to be a good meal when a regular customer invited me to his table to try his food and listen to anecdotes about his love for the restaurant. Drupati Doubles & Roti Shop, located at 975 Albion Road in Etobicoke, inspires this kind of devotion in many of its loyal [...]

A new antiquarian and collectables bookshop finds its place on College Street.

As the final chapter is written on a trilogy of Toronto indie bookstores, it may not seem like the time is right to launch yet another one. But after just three months of plotting, Peter Sellers and David Newel have done just that. As of this fall, Sellers & Newel Second-Hand Books, a shop that [...]

Dear Readers; The bleeding heart, left wing liberals are crying in their collective beer again! Instead of condemning this guy for his remarks, they should be congratulating him, since he has nothing to apologize for! —————————————————– Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, whose daughter Julie was raped and murdered in 2002 in Sherbrooke by a repeat sexual offender, has [...]

From a media release:

All canadian cast in coc’s canadian premiere of SAARIAHO’S LOVE FROM AFAR, one of the 21st Century’s great operasFebruary 2 – 22, 2012 at the Four Seasons Centre, Toronto Toronto – This February, the Canadian Opera Compan…

From a release:

THE OFF BROADWAY ALLIANCE presents 20at20Buy tix to 36 Off Broadway shows20 minutes before curtainfor only $20 each• Continues through February 6, 2012NEW YORK CITY – The Off Broadway Alliance will again sponsor 20at20, the bi-annual…

From a media release:

FEBRUARY AT THE ROYAL CONSERVATORYLes Violons du Roy with Bernard Labadie and Maurice Steger, and Eliot Fisk in their Koerner Hall DebutsMusic From Across the Middle East Series Continues with Yasmin Levy and Omar Faruk Tekbilek…

We’re still wishing for a full-length album, but in the meantime this 7-inch release is pretty great.

Local pop rockers Donlands + Mortimer have slowly built hype for themselves, playing occasional shows over the last few years. There’s no mistake D+M put on a great live show, and yet the group is one of those bands you just ache to hear on a recording: the musicianship of the team is so strong, [...]

The landmark’s evolution from a showcase of the province’s achievements to a family amusement park.

Born out of what could be called “Expo 67 envy,” Ontario Place was originally designed to be a park where the cultural and economic accomplishments of the province could be celebrated, with a side order of entertaining diversions. While the early exhibits flopped, Ontario Place became a spot where children played, teens saw their favourite [...]

From a release:AN UNCOMMON WOMAN  Official selection, African Diaspora Film Festival 2010
Now available on DVD  
NEW YORK CITY – An Uncommon Woman by Burkinabe filmmaker Abdoulaye Dao is now available on DVD in the USA.Mina is tired of her …

From a media release:

Harbourfront Centre celebrates Black History MonthKuumba presented by TD – Feb. 3-5, 2012
TORONTO, ON (February 2012) – In celebration of Black History Month, Harbourfront Centre proudly presents the 16th edition of Kuumba, a…

From a media release:

New Release from Little Known Government of TriBeCaStan:Capital New Deli Found to Have Irregular Time-Space ContinuumEverGreene Music – February 7, 2012

TriBeCaStan: News Alert. This morning Aljazzeera reported that the question…

From a media release:

TheatreRUN presents the world premiere ofThe DoubleAn original adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic comic-neurotic-thrillerTwo actors and one musician with a double bass collide in a schizophrenic feast of site and soundFebr…

The Freshman.

Early in Yvette Farkas’ book, Toronto Graffiti; The Human Behind the Wall, pioneering graff writer Ren is quoted as saying that in 1981, the dearth of graff writers in the city caused him to temporarily abandon the art form. Ren says to Farkas, “No one else was doing it so I stopped for a while.” [...]

According to Mayor Rob Ford, taxpayers emphatically want subways, not streetcars. But maybe, just maybe, they would also like remixes.

After Rob Ford’s infamous “It’s all about subways” comments during yesterday’s weigh-in/press scrum, some media outlets found it almost too easy to find holes in the mayor’s attempts to defend himself. Whether it’s the National Post simply publishing Ford’s words verbatim, or the Grid’s Ed Keenan restructuring them, with the simple power of artfully placed [...]

From the corner of Queen and Yonge, a clothier proudly states their support for organized labour.

Given the whiff of union-bashing in the air as municipal labour strife looms, it’s hard to imagine a headline such as the one employed here by clothier Philip Jamieson being created by a similar business these days. While today’s vintage ad appeared in a publication dedicated to covering the union movement, it does suggest that [...]

It means contending with the elements in addition to the opposing team, but U of T’s women keep coming out to play flag football in the snow.

Sports coverage tends to focus on major league teams, but every day in Toronto people make fun (and sometimes wacky) activities an important part of their lives. Sporting Goods looks at some of these. When the University of Toronto’s powderpuff football teams practice on the open field between Hoskin Avenue and University College, passersby stop [...]

The local hip-hop producer’s classic rock–inspired side project has become an online hit after receiving a Twitter boost from his buddy Drake.

Toronto-based musician Slakah the Beatchild is best known as a hip-hop and R&B producer, having made beats for artists like Drake and Melanie Durrant. On his latest album, The Other Side of Tomorrow, the first release from his “band” The Slakadeliqs (“band” in quotes, because he does it all himself), he changed direction and paid [...]