Are There More Bunnies in Toronto?
I never used to see rabbits in Toronto. Then they were everywhere. Then I lost my mind.
End Times at Ontario’s Roadside Zoos?
Ontario’s lax regulations have made the province the “wild west” for exotic animals. But as public concern over animal welfare grows, some zoos are buckling under the pressure.
The Cormorant Wars
The Toronto waterfront is home to the largest colony of cormorants in North America. And now they're spreading—squawking, puking, leaving toxic guano. Inside the fight between residents, conservationists, and governments over the most divisive and persecuted bird on the planet.
Welcome to the (Urban) Jungle
Growing a city means constantly pushing up against the border between the urban and the wild. From coyotes to cormorants, how do we share space with creatures we don’t always like?
The Battle Over a 475-Metre Bike Lane on Marlee Avenue
In Toronto, even the most modest bike lane proposal is met with outsized anger and fear.
In the Annex and Crescent Town, Two Sides to Toronto’s Density Dilemma
The Annex had fewer residents in 2021 than 1971. The towers of Crescent Town had far more. How the uneven, illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto.
The Transit Boss Torontonians Love to Hate
When Phil Verster was announced as Metrolinx’s CEO in 2017, there was universal praise. But with an $856,000 salary and a tenure defined by cost overruns and years of delays to projects like the Eglinton LRT, critics want him out. How did it go so wrong?
After 20 Years, Torontonians Will Have to Wait Even Longer for an Accessible TTC
Until this September, the TTC reported being on-track to meet its 2025 deadline for provincially mandated accessibility improvements. The transit authority had two decades on the clock—where did it go wrong?
Minor Tweaks to Road Safety Policy Won’t Get Us to Zero
City council just approved a series of changes to Toronto’s Vision Zero program—but the improvements fail to address a key weakness in the way the program is run.
“Canada’s Worst Obstacle Course”
Metrolinx has promised Toronto a more interconnected tomorrow. As it rips up some of the city’s busiest streets, is it paying enough attention to the safety and wellbeing of Torontonians today?
At Jane and Finch, a Fight for Community Space
Metrolinx is building a maintenance shed in the middle of their community. These residents are fighting to make sure they get something in return.
Growing Up on the 36 Finch West
It takes me two hours on transit to visit my mom in Rexdale. Can a transit line begin to connect a neighbourhood that sometimes feels a world apart?
The Slow Fight for Rapid Transit on Finch West
After more than fifty years of talk, northwest Toronto is finally getting an LRT. But as the new line brings higher rents, changing businesses, and on-going construction, residents are demanding a say in how their community will change.
Welcome to Finch West
The LRT doesn’t open until next year at the earliest, but it’s already transforming Toronto’s northwest.
For Scarborough Bus Riders, a Long Wait Gets Longer
The TTC is implementing a new round of cuts to bus services on March 26. Many of the biggest wait time increases are in Scarborough.
The Brutish Lives and Hideous Deaths of Toronto Rats
Rats are cunning, ravenous, daring, disgusting. They stand in for everything squalid and dysfunctional about urban life and we will never be rid of them.
The Deadly Inequality of Toronto’s Vision Zero Rollout
An investigation by The Local using FOI requests, city-wide speeding data, and analysis of council minutes, reveals a system that makes wealthy downtown neighbourhoods safer while leaving lower-income inner-suburban communities to fend for themselves.
New Downtown Councillors Will Have a Tough Job from Day One—Managing Development
With an exploding population, constant building, and wards the size of small towns, the candidates who win Toronto’s downtown seats will inherit problems, and possibilities.
Pulled Off Wheel-Trans and Forced onto the Subway
Cost-cutting measures will push thousands of paratransit users onto the TTC, with disabled and elderly riders forced into gruelling bus and subway trips.
The Great (Surprisingly Expensive) Outdoors
Introducing kids to nature is how you build the next generation of environmentalists. But how do you make outdoor education in Toronto affordable and accessible?