Toronto

I was just getting back into the playoff swing of things and looking forward to taking in a Marlies game at the Ricoh, hopefully… Then the Marlies gave up three goals with under ten to go in Game 6 last night and lost out to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Meanwhile, the Bruins are walking over [more…]

“I live near Montreal.”Thanks to Mayor Rob Ford, I’m considering lying when people ask me where I live, the way people from Cleveland say they’re from Moore, Okla., because even with the tornado damage, Moore would manage to notice its Sowell serial killers and Castro dungeoneers.The Star’s rolling thunder story of a crack video isn’t a day that will live in infamy, it’s more of a bunch of weeks. What if there’s worse to come?Just before voting day on Oct. 25, 2010, I warned readers that voting for Ford was like agreeing to a one-night stand while under the influence. Ford voters were irate. Are they happy now? I’m not happy to have been proved right, I’m horrified.“This is the only thing I know about Toronto,” one American commenter said Monday, and my blood froze. Margaret Atwood, New-York-without-the-stuff, friendly multiculturalism, Janet Carding’s ROM, all this is to be lost because of a mayor who veers between Sad and Angry, between Lashing Out Emotionally and Just Plain Lashing Out — you know the type — but never ventures near Smart.As I type this, Ford’s brother Doug is clipping his nails in council. That I need to specify “fingernails” is how low we have sunk. He could put someone’s eye out.There have been 42 low points in Ford’s mayoralty, as detailed by the Star, from sexist and racist slurs, to drunken arguments in public, to a chaotic home life, to repeated court hearings on alleged financial wrongdoing, to, oh dozens more, a relentless sordid drip.I’m worried that unless he resigns, he’s going to punch a baby in the face or run himself over. I’m waiting for spontaneous Ford combustion, right there on the sidewalk.Ford had a brother in arms Tuesday. Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced the nation and wouldn’t mention the words Nigel, Duffy or Wallin, or even the number 90,000. Ford had many more words to avoid but the Harper-Ford stance was the same. Toddlers think that if they close their eyes, you can’t see them.Harper and Ford closed their eyes on Tuesday but journalists milled around (you can do this on Twitter) in shock. Don Draper’s advice from Mad Men — “This never happened. It will shock you how much this never happened” — does not apply in politics.Voters are different from journalists. They observe politics, they don’t live and breathe it. Busy voters get a glimpse of shamelessness bordering on theft and it stays with them. They don’t move on to the next thing. They sense they’re being treated with contempt and do a slow burn.I have slid into sympathy for Ford many times — partly because he is so overweight that I fear he will die in front of us and partly because he occasionally seems affable, a male quality I enjoy — and been disappointed, sometimes within minutes. I cannot forgive his physical threats against Daniel Dale, a journalist whose prose and moral character I admire.On the notorious video, Star journalists Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan heard Ford say this as he appeared to drug himself with his sinister companions: “Everyone expects me to be right-wing, I’m supposed to be this great . . .” And then he lost his train of thought.What was he planning to say?End this sentence aloud: “I’m supposed to be this great. . . “White hope.”“ Big pillock.”“Pathetic omni-shambles.”“Melting shelf of bad habits.”Or perhaps a genuine version of those awful labels people use as I.D. on their Twitter feed. “Dad. Husband. Lecher. Mayor. Football coach. Foodie. Magnet-hound. Hopeless at all seven.”Or just write: Rob Ford: Quandary incarnate. A desperate futile we’re-done-here. A Mt. Edith Cavell of disappointment. A mind so thick that it makes light rays go ben

Dancing to Market by cookedphotos Photoist is the first post we publish every weekday morning, featuring an image (or two) by a photographer in the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

OTTAWA—Sen. Mike Duffy billed two Conservative campaigns $510 for appearing alongside candidates in Nova Scotia during the 2011 federal election, while also receiving an allowance for being in Ottawa on Senate business.The new details of apparent double-dipping are contained in documents from Elections Canada that include invoices Duffy submitted to the 11 local Conservative campaigns he helped out during the last federal election.The invoices show that Duffy arrived in Truro, N.S., on April 20 that year, spent the night in a hotel and then campaigned the next day with Conservative MP Scott Armstrong there and in Amherst, N.S.Duffy billed the Armstrong campaign $409.91 for two hotel rooms (one for him and one for a policy adviser travelling with him on his campaign tour through the Maritimes), room service, gas and its share of a rental car spread out between the seven ridings he visited on that trip.The invoices from Duffy show up in the returns of only six Conservative candidates for that period, but it is possible a seventh campaign covered expenses directly rather than waiting for the senator to submit an invoice.He also campaigned that day with Conservative candidate David Morse in Kentville, N.S., billing that campaign $100.33 for gas and the rental car.An examination by auditors at Deloitte of his spending and travel patterns, meant to establish how much time he spent at his declared primary residence in Cavendish, P.E.I., revealed Duffy had also claimed to be in Ottawa on Senate business that day, billing taxpayers to cover his mortgage, meals and incidentals.Duffy refused to meet with the auditors or provide the additional documentation requested.Armstrong said his campaign complied with Elections Canada rules by claiming the Duffy expenses in its financial return, but noted the senator should not have also been collecting money from the federal government.“If you’re not on parliamentary business, you shouldn’t be claiming a per diem,” Armstrong said in an interview Tuesday.Armstrong said the tour of the Maritimes was organized by the Conservative Party of Canada.Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said in an email Tuesday the Conservative campaign was not aware Duffy was collecting a per diem from the Senate while campaigning in Nova Scotia and having his expenses covered by the campaign.Duffy resigned from the Conservative caucus last Friday in the wake of a revelation he had accepted a personal cheque from Nigel Wright — who has since stepped down as chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper — to cover $90,172 in improperly claimed expenses.Elections Canada documents show at least five more days on the campaign trail for which Duffy had his expenses covered by Conservative campaigns while, according to Deloitte, he also claimed to be on Senate business.The Deloitte review does not say whether Duffy, who has not responded to multiple requests for comment, was also claiming a Senate allowance for those days.Duffy submitted an invoice for $209.01 to the campaign for Conservative candidate Sandy Lee in Yellowknife, N.W.T., that included two taxis and airport parking associated with both a tour of the GTA with Harper and a trip up north.The invoice says the unspecified hotel costs were charged directly to the campaign and the flights from Ottawa to Toronto, to Yellowknife and back to Ottawa were covered by the Conservative party.The days listed for the taxis in Toronto are April 5 and 7, days when the Deloitte review says he was outside Ottawa on Senate business.According to a Twitter post from Lee, he was with her on April 8, another day the Deloitte review says he was on Senate business.The Elections Canada documents also show Duffy received $169.45 each from the campaigns of GTA Conservatives Joe Oliver, Wladyslaw Lizon, Gin Siow and John Carmichael for flights between Ottawa and Toronto, taxis and a night at the Holiday Inn in Yorkdale for a tour of the region on April

Ke$ha is facing a backlash from officials at America's Parent Television Council (PTC) after footage of her drinking her own urine was shown on TV.

While the contents of the video have not been made public, a picture of the mayor in a sweatshirt standing beside 21-year-old Anthony Smith also surfaced last week as news of the video broke

As mayor refuses to clarify his response to claims he smoked crack on video, civic leaders fear scandal has impaired council’s business of governing

No lead can be too big in the NBA playoffs.

The San Jose Sharks aren’t going away.

Our minor league system went 2-2 today. Buffalo Bisons (26-18) beat Charlotte Knights 8-7 Ricky Romero pitched 5 pretty good innings, but then he walked 4 straight batters to start the 6th (apparently the first one on 5 balls, the umpire messed up). Before that he went 5 innings, allowed 2 walks, 4 hits, 2 k, 2 earned, which would have been a big step forward. Then it all unraveled. Dustin McGowan pitched for the 2nd time for the Bisons. It did not go well, he gave up a walk, got a fly out, 2 singles, another walk and then was pulled. 2 hits, 2 walks, 3 earned, 1 out. It was all going to smooth. Thad Weber: 2.2, 3 hits, 1 walk, 2 k, in his first appearance since we picked him off waivers. Neil Wagner: 1.0, 1 k. Win. 0.96. Mike McCoy: 1 for 3, walk. .211/.324/.256, 9 steals. Jim Negrych: 3 for 5, double, k. .394/.455/.591. Josh Thole: 2 for 4, k. .336/.411/.496. DHed today. Mauro Gomez: 3 for 5, 2 k. .266/.345/.516. Ryan Langerhans: 2 for 5, double, k. .248/.351/.531. Andy LaRoche: 3 for 5, 2 double, k. .302./359/.489. Mike Nickeas: 1 for 4, double. 113/.203/.132. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (23-23) lost to Portland Sea Dogs 5-3 Deck McGuire: 6.0, 9 hits, 4 earned, 3 walks, 3 k. Loss. 4.78. Tyson Brummett: 2.0, 1 hit, 1 earned, 1 walk, 2 k. Blown save. 5.91. Kevin Pillar: 1 for 5, double. .325/.367/.462. Clint Robinson: 2 for 3, triple, walk. .303/.404/.461. Brad Glenn: 1 for 4, double, k. .255/.350/.423 Amadeo Zazueta: 1 for 4, double, k. .231/.254/.262. Dunedin Blue Jays (25-17) lost to St. Lucie 5-3 Casey Lawrence: 5.2, 6 hits, 3 earned, 1 walk, 4 k. Loss. 3.74. Tyler Ybarra: 2.1, 1 walk, 3 k. 5.11. John Anderson: 1.0, 0.00 in 2 games. Jonathan Jones: 2 for 4, double, steal. .218/.282/.295. Nick Baligod: 1 for 4, double. .301/.356/.373. Shane Opitz: 1 for 3, walk, k. .231/.333/.308 in 4 games since moving up from Lansing. Lansing Lug Nuts (19-23) beat Lake County Captains 8-5 Taylor Cole: 5.0, 7 hits, 4 earned, 4 walks, 1 k. 4.60. Justin Jackson: 2.0, 1 hit, 2 k. 1.93. Tucker Donahue: 1 walk, 1 k. 5.91. Win. Wil Browning: 1.0, 1 k. Save 2. 0.36. Christian Lopes: 1 for 2, 2 walks. .321/.356/.426. Kevin Patterson: 2 for 4. .250/.327/.479. Gustavo Pierre: 3 for 4, 2 doubles, 5 RBI, 1 steal, 1 caught. .290/.288/.490. Still looking for his first walk. Chris Hawkins: 2 for 3, double, walk, steal. .21/.266/.298.