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Yes. Especially given that the two don't particularly get along. Ford would much prefer the city had a police chief in the style of Julian Fantino than someone like Blair, who is big on community policing. I do tend to agree with those who dismiss this as mostly irrelevant. Either you're...

I'd agree that there is something embarrassing about the content of the 911 calls, which is why Ford didn't immediately release them. Blair has confirmed repeatedly that the tapes would be released if Ford asked for them. My take on the CBC thing: they probably should have held back a bit, and...

Journalists do have an obligation to verify allegations as much as possible. Otherwise, you're the National Enquirer. That said, it sounds like CBC had enough independent reports of the 911 call that they felt it was a solid bet for a story. Should they have waited and got on-the-record...

I'd argue that the mayor of Toronto *should* get international press coverage every now and again, but obviously we'd be better off if the circumstances were better than they were here.

I tried to reverse engineer a narrative that makes sense and explains all the weird stuff that happened over the past week. It goes like this: Mary Walsh tries to interview Rob Ford in his driveway. After initially looking like he might (warily) play along, he grows concerned that Walsh might...

Is that place really 25 feet square? Like, five feet wide and five feet long? Surely they mean metres.

This Hour has 22 Minutes is a mostly unfunny news-comedy show that makes fun of politicians in a really boring and white bread way. They make no attempt to be incisive with their messaging. It's just dumb jokes. MTV Canada does not air programming that includes the uncensored ("unbleeped")...

I'm not sure whether other New York State municipalities have the power to levy an income tax -- the city-to-state relationship differs greatly from the city-to-province one -- but I'm not sure it matters. Toronto got the power to implement new revenue tools because it asked for that power. The...

This is weirdly arbitrary. Toronto is the largest city in Ontario and Canada and as such bears the burden of funding programs that other municipalities don't. It's very uncommon for large cities to rely heavily on property taxes for revenue. (For comparison: the top 35 largest US cities take, on...

There is, yes. And unless you have ideas on ways in which the city can cut $300 million from the operating budget, removing the LTT will only result in property tax hikes to make up the difference. Yes, paying the LTT sucks, but taxes often do. It hasn't hurt the real estate market in any...

Juan: Absolutely, many of those accomplishments emerged with other people in council or in the community, but the mayor traditionally does get to share credit for such things. No slight was intended. He ran his campaign against a bridge to the island airport. No bridge was ever built. The...

The multi-level McDonalds location would give them some nice visibility from the street. But the two old and abandoned bank buildings at 205 Yonge Street are undoubtedly the best spot for a huge Apple store.

Off the top of my head: Waterfront Toronto; Green Lane Landfill; making garbage an entirely rate-supported program; securing $8 billion from the provincial government for transit; Streets to Homes; new streetcars and subway cars; Regent Park redevelopment; cultural festivals like Nuit Blanche...

Taking $60 million off revenues with no idea how to make up for it. Real smart. Which will most assuredly lead to a huge arbitrated wage settlement for union members over the next couple of months. In one part of the city. So far, he's run the city off more than $300 million left over in...

Yeah, seriously. All he had to do was smile -- which he was initially, if you watch the video -- and talk to the lady for two minutes. Dozens of politicians have been capable of this. Instead, this whole thing blew up into a four-day news story.

The Star, the Toronto Sun and the Globe & Mail also have the story, though the Globe is claiming a source told them the mayor did not use profanity specifically. The media has been camped out in front of Ford's office all day, waiting for a statement.

The last time Ford was forced to apologize we got a party out of the deal: http://torontoist.com/2009/02/the_robby_ford_picture_show/

Earlier this week, Rob Ford told reporters he was already out campaigning for 2014. And today he revealed a new slogan.

I went by this afternoon and saw a closed-by-landlord notice on their property at King & Sackville -- the renovation of which seemed to stall out months and months ago -- but nothing on the restaurant itself at King & Power, save for a notice they'd be closed today due to basement flooding.

That's not the way approval ratings work. Ford's down from a 60% approval rating earlier this year.