Justice in Toronto 1: quick LTB evictions and Ontario standard lease

There has been a lot of talk about “access to justice” (or a2j), the SRL crisis and corruption / underperformance in Canadian courts. While increasingly case law can be found on CANLII, what is often missing is details, and for obvious reasons: getting the details wrong may result in libel lawsuits. However, we believe that making non-identifying details public - i.e., the “story” - can help shed some light on how the litigation industry works (or doesn’t) in our city.

Did I inspire Steven Levitt of Freakonomics daughter test?

Months ago I wrote a quick summary of my comments in an Economist debate on legalizing prostitution. I was going to use them to write an essay, but have yet to do so. Instead, I recently discovered a source for an apparent mistake and also a flattering echo of my thoughts.

The war on bikes

As the municipal election is approaching, seemingly mundane and inoffensive subjects get thrown in the electoral fight. Bicycling, a no-brainer to those who have one, is now an opportunity for mayoral candidates posturing.

Randall Barrs shooting

The shooting of a criminal lawyer in downtown Toronto in broad daylight has left many of us scratching our heads. Let’s try to add to the speculation, shall we?

Voting in Toronto: Chrystia Freeland vs Jennifer Hollet

#cdnpoli #elxn42 Advance voting for the October 19, 2015 Federal election is starting today, continuing throughout the Thanksgiving long weekend, and with that in mind, we'll be taking a brief look at our candidates and the issues of this election.

TVO’s The Agenda summer shows

Coming from Eastern Europe, I have never been too impressed with public television. There seemed to always be overblown egos fighting for disproportionately small issues. Even the “world-class” BBC seemed to always get facts wrong at least regarding our country (and possibly many others). In Toronto, however, things seem different.

Jared Lee Loughner and Gun Crime

A subject often debated by libertarians is gun ownership and gun control. Though I suspect most libertarians would, like me, prefer as few restrictions on gun ownership as possible, I suspect that left libertarians might actually prefer outlawing guns altogether, which would mean that Second Amendment issues are not necessarily a Libertarian universal cause.

posting photos and videos without permission

A while back, I was contacted by a friend of mine from another country asking for my help regarding a former (or existing? can’t remember) colleague who had created a page on Facebook titled “the incompetent ~”, where ~ was her real name, and also using her photo. She had filed a request with Facebook to have it removed, but Facebook refused, citing free speech rights that did not exist in that country’s legislation. More recently, here in Canada, a friend of mine told me a story of similar blackmail and I decided to take a more serious look at what can you post and cannot post.

2018 Oscars non-winning Nominees

After having gone through the big winners of the 90th Academy Awards, I thought the non-winning nominees are also worth a look. Winning is tough and occasionally, it’s not the best movie that wins, but rather the one that makes the best Oscars marketing effort.

Stockwell Day redefines reality

In our first ever roundup of Canadian political news, aptly titled "free lunch coffee", we're looking at the news du jour. We don't like what we find, but maybe you will.

Bureaucracy Quotes Collection

A few choice quotes on the magic of bureaucracy. It’s somewhat reassuring to remember that many others have endured the pain of having to deal with bureaucrats, and here are their thoughts. Take solace in schadenfreude!

2018 Oscar (90th Academy Awards) Winners

I was with a bunch of friends on Oscars night, and though I suggested we watch it, they’d have none of it, so we ended up watching Elysium on Netflix instead. Still, curious as I am to see who won and what movies I should keep trying to watch, I’m publishing the winners list here, along with my comments.

Canada’s March To Corporatist Fascism I - Fintrac

I have been planning a series on Canadian fascism for a long time, and now events have far surpassed me.