u/beef-supreme

Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford is calling for mandatory addiction treatment. CBC’s Ali Chiasson breaks down Bradford’s remarks and the reaction.

Where would cyclists go, though? Bradford, like Ford, says side streets. But that’s another old congestion canard thoroughly disproven: Toronto doesn’t have continuous, citywide side streets due to a century or two of haphazard development, natural landforms and railways to dodge. It does, however, have a handful of main streets that largely follow the old colonial concession grid, so most forms of transportation have to take the same few roads.

Perhaps we can blame the British for these woes, but traffic congestion debates today are like medieval discussions of chest congestion: there are all kinds of wacky, unscientific ideas for how to cure it. Especially during an election.

Especially if they can be used as a wedge. If lanes are removed, cyclists will still have to cycle on main streets, making them more dangerous for all users. Wedges can be sharp on all sides and have unintended effects.

I often wish all the attention being put on bikes could be consistently applied to motor vehicles as they are a far bigger threat to human life and limb. When it comes to acceptable risks, however, we as a society have decided cars and convenience are worth the carnage.

Bikes are easier to blame — making them an ideal wedge issue. Imagine if we could tackle the root causes of congestion and safety risks honestly and directly.

Gift link

https://www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?t=9778d8fc-5b1c-456c-8f9c-b7a14367eddd

Excerpt: These days, when Tuli Parubets goes out for dinner, she dresses up and makes a date of it. It wasn’t always that way. She used to dine out four or five times a week, but rising costs have cut that down to just a couple of outings, making each meal feel more like an occasion. The 47-year-old mortgage broker points to everything from the new 18 per cent baseline tip to $24 cocktails as the reason she’s become more selective.

A 2025 Restaurants Canada report found three in four Canadians are eating out less (and it’s 81 per cent among those aged 18 to 34). “I am specific about where I eat and what I try,” Parubets says. As the cost of dining rises, so do her expectations: friendly service and personalized attention from owners have become essential.

Five years ago, according to Prime Seafood Palace and Our House Hospitality Company director of operations Keegan Ferguson, a fine dining room in this city was a mix. “You had occasion tables, but you also had regulars on a Tuesday, industry people, someone stopping in for a dozen oysters and a glass of Chablis on the way home,” he says. “That casual layer has thinned out considerably.” He’s found that guests arrive researched: they’ve read the menu online, seen the room, know what they want before they sit down, come with specific questions about dry-aging, about where the fish came from that morning, about the producer on a given bottle. “The questions are sharper than they were three years ago,” Ferguson says. “When a guest is dining out four times a month, one imperfect night is a rounding error. When they are dining out once a quarter and they chose you, there is no next time to make it right. Every table is a first impression and a final impression at the same moment.”