In The News

This month CNN's travel website offers a comprehensive guide to the tourism highlights of Toronto.

In hotels, it likes the Ritz-Carlton and the Drake, among others. For dinner, Canoe, Acadia and Black Hoof make the cut. And for "restored" attractions, it makes a case for the Distillery District, which started out as the Gooderham and Worts distillery in the 1830s.
 
"It produced millions of gallons of whiskey and spirits in its more than 150-year history, surviving a fire and a brief period of prohibition before shutting down in 1990. After a stint in the 1990s as the top film location in Canada, developers renovated the complex and reopened it in 2003, giving new life to the largest and best-preserved collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America. Its car-free, brick-lined streets and restored buildings are home to galleries, boutiques, cafés, restaurants, dance studios, a craft beer brewery and a sake brewery."
 
Read the whole story here
Original source: CNNGO

In PricewaterhouseCoopers' new Cities of Opportunity 2012 report, Toronto ranked third overall.

Though it was bested on the main list by New York and London, who took the top two spots respectively, Toronto's twin sibling in many of the report's focus areas was, as often as not, Stockholm, Sweden. There must be something about living in the north that builds certain strengths.
 
First, Toronto and Stockholm made a joint appearance in the health, safety and security section.
 
"Most of the leaders we spoke to emphasize the need for a safe and secure city as the keystone of a healthy community. After that, good education is most widely cited as a springboard for future success," states the report. "In fact, our own Cities of Opportunity analyses have shown that good housing correlates in a highly positive way with the attributes of an economically strong city. They may be cold, dark, or far from the madding crowd, but Stockholm, Toronto, and Sydney again demonstrate balanced success in education and health, safety and security."
 
The two cities also did well in the intellectual capital and innovation section.
 
"There is little difference in this year's overall rankings, as Stockholm and Toronto once again finish first and second, respectively. Although there seems to be a marginal degree of slippage for Stockholm from last year—when it ranked first in three variables (including the now superseded R&D category), as opposed to finishing first this year in only two—what is more worrisome for the Swedish capital is, again, its result in math/science skills attainment. Last year, it just missed ranking in the top 10 by only one place; this year, however, it ranks number 13, tied with the four American cities in this country-level measure. Toronto, however, is even more impressive this year at number two than it was in 2011, finishing in the top 10 in all nine variables in this indicator."
 
As for transportation and infrastructure, Toronto shared the list's top spots with Asian cities. A change in criteria to better reflect better reflect a city's transportation and infrastructure experience for residents and visitors eliminated most of the European and American competition.
 
"None of the top five this year was in the top five last year. For instance, Singapore, which ranks first this year, ranked 17th last year. Seoul and Toronto, tied for second place this year, ranked ninth and 15th, respectively, last year. Tokyo has also moved up, albeit only two places, to number four, while number-five Hong Kong has also moved up two places. In the end, Toronto is the only non-Asian city in the top five—as opposed to last year, when the top five cities were exclusively European or American."
 
Read the whole report here
Original source: pwc

The audacious redevelopment proposal from David Mirvish and architect Frank Gehry for the site of King Street's Princess of Wales Theatre has taken a lead role on the international media stage.
 
"The project, the brainchild of Canadian theatre impresario and arts patron David Mirvish, involves erecting three condominium towers, each 80 to 85 stories high," reports Reuters UK. "At the base of the buildings will be two six-story podiums that will provide retail space, seminar rooms and lecture halls. Two new museums will be constructed, including one to house a contemporary art collection owned by the Mirvish family."
 
"'We hope to deliver a streetscape that is evocative of old Toronto,' said Gehry, 83, who was born in the city and is known for his iconic designs, such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles."
 
David Ng points out in the Los Angeles Times that this is not Gehry's only big downtown overhaul. "Gehry is involved with another downtown revitalization project in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. Long in the works but so far unrealized, the Grand Avenue Project has been the subject of intense local debate and a number of delays."
 
Over at Playbill, the attention was on what Toronto might lose—one of its biggest theatre venues.
 
"Whether Torontonians will be sentimental about the venue remains to be seen," writes Kenneth Jones. "The theatre, named for Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, before her death, was a gathering spot for mourners at the time of her passing. Flowers and candles were laid there by the public in the days after her tragic death."
 
Read the full stories here, here and here
Original sources: Reuters UK, Playbill and LA Times

Reuters India reports on an e-commerce conference that has Canadian banks and telecom providers figuring out ways to introduce smartphone digital "wallets" into the Canadian market.
 
"Canada's financial services landscape is dominated by six large banks, but hundreds of smaller foreign and domestic lenders and credit unions also offer payment products."
 
"The country, however, is considered an ideal test-case for the mobile wallet technology, with high smartphone penetration, a tendency to upgrade those phones frequently, and widespread use of systems such as Interac, a debit payment network owned by a group of Canadian financial institutions."
 
Read the full story here
Original source: Reuters India

Should Toronto create an LGBT-centric school along the lines of its new Africentric school?  
 
Victor Hoff at the Queerty blog looks at the pros and cons, starting with an advocate, student Fan Wu.
 
"Wu is proposing the creation of a charter school devoted to academic excellence, open to all but providing a safe haven to LGBT students. Similar schools exist in the US, including the Harvey Milk School in New York."
…
"But not everyone in the community agrees with the plan. In fact, some of the most vocal opponents include members and supporters of the gay community, like Toronto P-FLAG president Irene Miller. 'What you're doing is saying: 'If we take away all the kids who are being bullied, then the bullying stop,' says Miller. 'What we should be doing is take away all the bullies and the bullying will stop. It's the wrong end of the stick.'"
 
"Activist Raymond Miller (no relation) also takes exception to the idea but argues the problem needs to be addressed much earlier than freshman year. 'By the time [students] get to high school, they've already learned to hate. The hell for me was ages 7 to 14. I was getting the gay slurs around age 8 on a daily basis.' Mr. Miller's solution? Take Wu's proposal and apply it to the existing public-school system: 'It's not just gay kids that need to learn about LGBT people throughout history and our worth. It's the non-gay students.'"
 
Read the full story here
Original source: Queerty.com

In town for TIFF, Mark Juddery, a New York-based columnist for Australia's Canberra Times, found Toronto more bike-friendly than the Big Apple.
 
"…The bicycle lanes are far safer. This is partly because so many people cycle in Toronto, and partly because the city is so laid-back that motorists don't care if they have to slow down behind a cyclist."
 
Using a Bixi, Juddery visited Harbourfront and stumbled across the Vegetarian Food Festival.
 
"There, I sampled the best vegetarian sausages I've ever tried, courtesy of a company called Field Roast. (Before you accuse me of introducing shameless advertising to this page, let me point out that I can't imagine you can buy these in Australia. If you can, please let me know, and I'll send them a bill
 
Read the full story here
Original source: Canberra Times
 

Why should UK students consider coming to Canada for university or college? A piece this week in The Independent looked at the benefits and challenges and crossing the pond for schooling.
 
"At first glance, everything about North America and Canada seems to be on a bigger scale and it can be intimidating. Whether it's the size of the breakfasts or the black bears, there are some weighty things to consider, and that doesn't change when considering committing to that transatlantic flight and studying overseas. It's a big decision to suit big countries, but as many students find out there are a large number of reasons to give study in the US and Canada some serious thought."
 
"First among them might be the volume of choice available. With over 4,000 institutions in the US and 10,000 degree programmes on offer in Canada it's hardly surprising that thousands of UK students chose to study across the pond last year (4,500 in the US alone). However, the geographical spread of institutions and the sheer size of both countries also makes it unlikely that those electing to study abroad will find themselves surrounded by Brits."
 
"Breaking up all that wilderness are towns and cities with radically different personalities, home to a range of educational institutions and offering cultural experiences to suit every taste. Perma-sunlit LA or the iconic bustle of New York need little introduction, but there's the hilly eccentricity of San Francisco or Chicago's breezy chic to consider in the US; likewise Quebec's old town is steeped in history while Toronto's futuristic skyline towers over a tolerant, diverse city famed for music and film, as well as a multicultural population."
 
Read the full story here
Original source: The Independent 

In a Q&A with Time magazine, Ian Goldin, director of the Oxford Martin School and a professor of globalization and development at the University of Oxford, discusses how the global recession, high rates of unemployment in developed countries and a rising tide of xenophobia might tempt rich countries to shut the door on immigration. He gives Toronto as an example of why that would be a bad idea.
 
"What's the best way to prevent a backlash against migration?"
"I'm not politically naive. I'm not recommending open borders, though that might be an ideal to work toward, just as we have with free-trade negotiations over a period of around 50 years. For now, the first thing is to recognize that migration has not been managed well enough. Migrants bring with them short-term, local costs, whereas the benefits are society-wide and long term, so there is a mismatch. Whether we're talking about Lampedusa, the island off the coast of Italy that is the first port of call for refugees from Tunisia, or Slough, a British town with a large migrant population, local people understandably feel that immigration is a burden. It's a national issue that needs to be managed on the national level. Second, leaders need to be more honest. What's depressing about the current status quo is that there's no empirical evidence to support this view that immigrants take people's jobs, swallow up resources and are a drag on the economy. But the myth is propagated, despite the fact that, depending on how far you go back, we're all immigrants. In Britain, Queen Victoria grew up speaking German, and somehow she still came to be seen as this symbol of Britishness. We create huge myths all the time, instead of focusing on the facts. For example, if rich countries were to admit enough migrants from poor countries to expand their own labor forces by just three per cent, the world would be richer, according to one estimate, by $356 billion a year. Toronto is made up of 50 per cent immigrants, and it's consistently ranked as one of the best cities to live in the world. We need more data, and less hearsay."
 
Read the full story here 
Original source: Time magazine

The New York Times takes a tour of the 840-square-metre penthouse in the new Toronto Four Seasons hotel complex that sold last year for CDN$28 million, the most expensive condo sale in the history of the country. The 1960s unit was designed by Philip Johnson after the building was bought by developer Jon Love in 2005.
 
"And while the Toronto real estate market is thriving, thanks to its history of stable prices and a vacancy rate of less than one per cent, it is not known for luxury penthouses with prices exceeding 30,000 dollars per square meter, or about $2,900 per square foot."
…
"Mr. Love estimates that there are probably fewer than 100 people in the Toronto market that could buy the landmark condo, but the city has been attracting wealthy foreign investors, who see the market as stable and the Canadian economy as robust because of its abundance of natural resources."
 
"And real estate agents say it is those buyers—predominantly from Russia, the Middle East and South America—who are mainly responsible for the impressive statistic that sales contracts exist for 88 percent of the 52,695 condos under construction in the city.
 
Read the full story here
Original source: New York Times

As Canadians wait with bated breath for the arrival of US retailer Target, Seattle-based Nordstrom announced it will open stores in Cadillac Fairview malls across the country, including one in Toronto in the fall of 2016, reports Business Week.
 
"'This is a significant milestone for this company,' said Blake Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Inc. during the press conference. 'We are very excited about this opportunity to be part of the country.' He noted Nordstrom has 15,000 credit card customers from Canada to date."
 
"But he cautioned there's a learning curve even though the market is nearby and customers speak English. 'We are the new kids on the block, and there's a lot to learn,' he added. 'There are cultural differences.'"
 
The Toronto location will built at Toronto's Sherway Gardens.
 
Read the full story here
Original source: Business Week

There was a little festival in town last week and our ears are still ringing from all the buzz about it.
 
Although the Toronto International Film Festival brought droves of reporters and critics to town, the focus was clearly on the screen this year. The Guardian reported that the offbeat romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook, from director David O. Russell, took the people's choice award.
 
"Toronto has no jury but its top prize is nevertheless a useful indicator of future Oscars success: previous winners include The King's Speech, Precious and Slumdog Millionaire."
 
The Wrap's Steve Pond had mixed reviews of TIFF's offerings, but still praised the festival.
 
"Toronto is still the best place to see a whole lot of very good movies."
 
"Yes, TIFF programmers served up some disappointments. (I didn't care for Hyde Park on Hudson, except for Bill Murray's performance, and felt that the makers of The Central Park Five could have told the same story far more succinctly and effectively.)"
 
"But the festival's lineup of documentaries was strong and deep, including the horrifying and riveting The Act of Killing and the eye-opening likes of Mea Maxima Culpa, How to Make Money Selling Drugs and Artifact. And more often than not, I liked the narrative films I saw, even if it was a struggle to stay alert during the first hour of Cloud Atlas when that hour happened to be 9-to-10am."
 
"The consensus, which solidified during the front-loaded first weekend and endured even as more dubious titles debuted later in the festival, is that this year's festival offered far more winners than losers, more happy surprises than clanking disappointments…. And now it's time to see how many of those titles will survive outside of Toronto."
 
Read the full stories here and here
Original sources: The Guardian and The Wrap

A show of drawings by Micah Lexier has caused Vancouver writer Robin Laurence to contemplate the artist's amazing output and the breadth of his reach in Canada and the US.
 
"Micah Lexier must be the busiest artist in Canada," writes Laurence in The Georgia Straight. "Acclaimed for his conceptual drawings, sculptures, installations, books, and collaborative projects, he certainly is one of the most creative. In addition to his newly minted exhibition and bookwork at the Burnaby Art Gallery, he has just closed a two-person show (with Winnipeg artist Michael Dumontier) at Artexte in Montreal and will see its companion publication spotlighted at the New York Art Book Fair this fall. He also recently designed a wall work at the Drake Hotel in Toronto and produced a subtle installation for Oh, Canada, the prestigious survey of contemporary Canadian art on view through April 1, 2013, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art."
 
"All of this in one short period in a 30-year career that boasts some 90 solo shows, nationally and internationally, and a correspondingly impressive number of group exhibitions, artist's books and catalogues, temporary and permanent public artworks, private commissions, collaborations with writers, and web projects. Oh, and did we mention that Lexier is also a generous curator of other people's art?"
 
Read the review of the Burnaby Art Gallery show here
Original source: The Georgia Straight

The Daily Commercial News and Construction Record reports that Toronto's Sugar Beach has won yet another design award, "the sixth major design accolade that the park has won since opening in July 2010."
 
This time it's an honour award from the American Society of Landscape Architects, recognizing the efforts of Claude Cormier + Associés, Inc.
 
"The sugar factory creates a surreal industrial backdrop, where gantry cranes offload mountains of sandy raw sugar from giant tankers moored in the slip," writes the ASLA on its awards page. "With the fragrance of sugar in the air, the park's conceptual reference is experienced in both sight and smell. Sugar as concept was used to establish a language for many of the elements throughout the park, from the red and white bedrock candy stripes on the park's two outcroppings, the soft confection-like pink of the umbrellas, and even the candy cane pattern on the stainless steel ventilation pipes for the fountain mechanical room buried under the promenade."
 
"Canada's Sugar Beach was created to have a strong identity to draw visitors ultimately for an experience of the park's unique setting of lake and city. It is a space that unites opposites, without conflating them, to allow for an experience of both nature and culture, work and play, production and consumption — a microcosm of the urban phenomenon where participation relies on which direction you position your chaise and fix your gaze."
 
Other winners include Lafayette Greens: Urban Agriculture, Urban Fabric, Urban Sustainability in Detroit; Quarry Garden in Shanghai Botanical Garden, Songjiant District, Shanghai, China; Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus – New Academic Complex, Mesa, Arizona; 200 5th Avenue, New York; Powell Street Promenade, San Francisco; Tudela-Culip (Club Med) Restoration Project in 'Cap de Creus' Cape, Cadaqués, Catalonia, Spain; Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, Orange, Texas; Winnipeg Skating Shelters, Winnipeg, Manitoba; National 9/11 Memorial, New York; and Sunnylands Center and Gardens, Rancho Mirage, California.
 
Toronto's Yorkville snagged The Landmark Award.
 
"While small in size, Yorkville's park has played an important role in the revitalization of the neighborhood since its completion in 1994. The neighbourhood has continued its redevelopment with several new high-rise buildings rising along the edge or near the park. Recently, the park underwent some restoration work, but its original design integrity as a distillation of regional ecology, along with its role as a neighborhood connection point, remain as strong as ever. The park is owned and maintained by the City of Toronto Department of Parks, Forestry and Recreation. The Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area takes an active role in the management and programming of the park."
 
Read the full stories here and here
Original source: The Daily Commercial News and Construction Record

In what seems to be a summer-long love affair with what Toronto has to offer, the New York Times has published a photo essay showcasing Bloordale's art scene.
 
"A couple of years ago, artists began colonizing Sterling Road's boxy brick buildings for studio space, and dealers are now transforming once unoccupied industrial and retail spaces into buzzy galleries. Along Bloor Street West, hip restaurants and shops are popping up to serve both Bloordale's new arrivals and the curious rediscovering a once-neglected part of town."
 
You can see the slide show here 
Original source: New York Times

While Toronto is busy this month playing its role as a world film city, Rebecca Nicholson of the UK's Observer newspaper is calling attention to the city's music scene.
 
"Toronto seems a relatively unlikely candidate for the rock 'n' roll atlas: but the largest city in Canada has a healthy music scene, if an unshowy one," writes Nicholson. "In fact, it's said to be one of the best places in the world to be a musician. There are grants and loans available to bands of various levels of success, doled out to help with the expensive business of touring and making videos. This comes partly from the government and partly from the country's TV and radio broadcasters, who are legally required to pay into a 'talent development fund' as well as to give a certain amount of airtime to local artists (there is a similar model in place in France). And some of this music money goes to events such as the Polaris Prize, which has just given its sixth award for best Canadian album of the year."

Along with Nicholson's disdain for Bryan Adams and Celine Dion (who have stars on Canada's Walk of Fame), you have to overlook the Arcade Fire photo on the page. Imagine it's Drake.
 
Read the full story here
Original source: The Observer