Sometimes I'll have a good idea of what's on the agenda for the next day, and then a monkey dressed in a tiny shearling coat escapes from a car outside a Toronto IKEA and everything goes bananas.

The facts right know are as follows: Sunday afternoon in a chilly parking lot near Leslie and the 401, bemused shoppers spotted a nattily dressed primate running amongst cars. After a brief chase, security guards cornered the jacketed simian until Animal Services arrived. According to the Star, a rep from the North York division said the animal was in shock but has "calmed down now that we've been feeding it some grapes."

The owner of the rhesus macaque turned himself in around 5 pm and will likely face a fine and the loss of his animal to a sanctuary. Keeping certain exotic animals, particularly ones smart enough to open a cage door from the inside, is forbidden in Toronto.

According to by-law No. 28-1999, it's illegal to keep any "non-human primate" in Toronto. Hybrid wolf dogs, sloths, tigers, hyaenas, kangaroos, badgers, elephants, alligators, emus, and "screamers," whatever they are, are just a selection of the animals the city doesn't want outside of its zoos. Australian sugar gliders - by the way - are totally fine.

Here's the best of #ikeamonkey on Twitter.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo by "dzd_lisa" on Instagram.

After returning from a four year soul-and-cuisine-searching trip though Europe and Panama, Chefs Tobey Nemeth and Michael Caballo, who also happen to be husband and wife, decided to settle down in their old hometown of Toronto and open up Edulis just south of King West. A true labour of love, it occupies the former space of Anton Potvin's Niagara Street Cafe, where Michael ran the kitchen for years. Tobey, who was the Chef de Cuisine at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, has slipped into the role of Restaurant Manager, bringing her passion to the front of the house.

When did you and Michael dream up Edulis?

We have books and books and books of notes from years and years of talking about it, and it slowly coalesced into an idea. The first challenge was finding out where we wanted to do it. We thought for a long time it would be in Spain, my husband is from Spain. We tried Vancouver, Victoria, and just never felt that connection. I think what was always missing for us was the people, that amazing web of love and support, our suppliers, our regulars. The moment Edulis was born was when we found out Anton was selling this restaurant. We were actually running a hotel in Panama at the time, and that was it. From that moment it just started taking on a life of its own.

What prompted you to make the switch from back of the house to front of the house?
Michael and I had always planned to do it this way. We've always had this fantasy of a European country restaurant run by a couple. It's a simple place, warm and personal. The restaurant won't be open when we're not both here. We want to be here.

Your website is very open; you allow for customer feedback which is responded to. That's pretty rare.

Yes, we're not trying to be cool.

One of the things you mention on your site is that you won't be serving foam on anything and you're not Top Chef.

It was really just kind of a joke. When we came back to Toronto there was a lot of pretention and coolness and it wasn't backed up with hospitality and I think that (hospitality) is such an important part of this business. There was so much talk of Top Chef and we were both approached to be part of it at different points. It's the kind of thing that's so much fun and I actually think it's a great display of skill and ability...I think it's really tough to do, but all of a sudden there was just this total frenzy about it.

Do you miss cooking during service?

I actually spend probably the first half of service in the kitchen expediting and garnishing, so I feel like I get enough. But I do miss the intensity of a busy line sometimes, like at the Wine Bar or other busy kitchens I've been in. It's just fun.

Were there any new or unexpected challenges moving from the kitchen to the dining room?

Not really, I enjoy people, I like talking to them. I think the biggest challenge is making sure people have the experience they want; the food, the wine, the service. People come in here to have a really special evening, so there's always that nervousness to make sure you get it right, but I'm really lucky to have really great staff here, and that makes my job a lot easier. Other than that I approach everything like a cook: I'm not a sommelier, I'm not a restaurant manager, I'm a chef first. We make our wine list and we drink wines like cooks, we choose wines because they're delicious and they complement the food and don't overwhelm the food, we don't choose wines because they fit into a certain category. We just do what we believe in and we stand behind it.

What is your input into the menu?

The menu changes a little bit every day. Sometimes Michael does it totally by himself and sometimes we'll sit down and talk it out and try to figure out a certain element, for instance we'll try to figure out the garnishes or how it's going to work for service, because there are only two people in the kitchen without my help. So I'm more of a sounding board, probably. It's a great thing to be able to have a dialogue with someone who gets it.

Did you always want to be a chef?

Maybe without knowing it. I've always cooked since I was old enough to stand, I would stand at a stool at the counter. I'm Hungarian, I grew up cooking things like Schnitzel, I used to stand at the counter and bread the schnitzel, so I grew up with that in my blood. My Hungarian grandparents owned restaurants; my Chinese grandfather on my mother's side sold restaurant equipment and owned a soft drink bottling plant in Saskatchewan, so maybe it was meant to be. Since making this decision I've never looked back. It's who I am; it's the best job in the world. It's one of those jobs where you get to have a job that's also your hobby.

So going back to how you're not trendy or trying to be cool...one of the most important food trends in Toronto right now is local or slow food, and although you're not completely local, I know that you're a big fan of foraging. So first of all, how do you find the time to do that?

Well, we don't do all our own foraging, Michael only does that when he can, and if he could I know he'd be in the forest every day, but we work with a lot of pickers.

One of the things that I found to be such a relief when we left Toronto four years ago is that we didn't have to listen to the trumpeting of local-shmocal all the time. I find there are just so many Chefs who just make a big production out of it and aren't actually following up. It's so much more important that people are creating long term relationships with farmers and working with them year round and are not just fair-weather friends.

A lot of Chefs are only buying tomatoes at peak tomato time; they're not buying their kale from farmers in January. That's where the whole system becomes more talk than reality. We try to stay away from making a big deal out of it. We don't work with any middle men, we only work with farmers. But we also believe in the beauty of the world as a marketplace. Cheese is a good example, and I'm always going to work with citrus, I love citrus, we'll always have it on the menu. We sometimes get European mushrooms; we get truffles from Italy and Croatia. I think you can't exclude that, it's what makes living in a city like Toronto wonderful.

It's about creating a balance between those things, it's about supporting local agriculture, and it's about buying meat that was raised humanely. We've tried to stay away from trumpeting it; we don't use it as a marketing ploy. To me, what's important is establishing relationships with people, so when we came back to Toronto we worked with all the same people we worked with before; it was one of the great joys of coming back here. But we don't splash it all over our menu, we don't splash it all over our web site, we just believe that's how food should be.

The people who are buying industrial dairy or factory farm chickens, those are the ones who should have it on their site. It was just such a relief when we moved to Italy; to them foreign stuff is from an hour away, and they had to bring it in because the local stuff isn't ready yet. You're not going to find tomatoes on the menu here in the winter. Ever. It's just not what we do.

How do you secure your suppliers or decide when you're going to work with someone new?

We don't really work with a lot of new people, we're really happy with our suppliers. We're a small restaurant, and we work with a small group of people and they have our loyalty. I love that it's a small handful of suppliers, and we're the same with our wine agents too. Since we've been back to Toronto there's been one or two that weren't around before, like Fisherfolk, a really small, family fun company that acts as a conduit from the fishing boats directly on the East Coast, so we buy whole fish from them, lobsters and mussels.

They're kindred spirits, they look at food the same way we do, they look at their employees the same way we do. Other than that, it's all the same people we worked with before, Soiled Reputation, Cumbrae, Monforte Dairy, we'll always work with those guys forever, they're our family. They really welcomed us back and supported us, and they'll have our loyalty for life. So I guess we don't look for anyone new, but if we were to, our expectations would be high.

You have an interesting cocktail menu. Who is your Mixologist?

We're the Mixology department. I really hate canned soft drinks. Nothing bothers me more than being in a restaurant and seeing someone eat a beautiful meal and drinking a canned soft drink. It's as ridiculous as drinking some really heavy duty red wine with something delicate. So we just wanted to offer something adult, and fun, and not so sugary. We try to come up a lot of seasonal stuff, like right now we have wild cranberries and lingonberries. We try to come up with something delicious and if we can make it into a nice adult soda we do, and then we try to have the staples around, like if you want a gin and tonic or rum and coke we can still do them, we just make our own version. For the most part people love them.

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

Most underrated ingredient? Salt

A Chef that inspires you?Daniel Boulud

Best culinary tool?Vita Prep. It's the best blender in the whole entire universe.

Dish you can't live without? Spaghetti Bolognese

Favourite Toronto restaurant?Black Hoof. That's a loaded one. That's really tough.

What's one food trend that needs to end? Sliders. The slider enrages me. Why do you want three small hamburgers instead of just one?

What would people be surprised to find in your fridge? A huge variety of hot sauces

Writing by Sara Connelly

December has already been a busy month for restaurant openings in Toronto but no cuisine has made as much progress in the past 10 days as the sometimes derided Thai eating landscape. With some notable exceptions aside, Thai cuisine in this city is often criticized as too North Americanized. But thankfully, Thai chef Nuit Regular's imprint on Toronto continues to grow with the openings of two Toronto restaurants - the new location of Sukhothai (run by her extended family) and this new spot on Church St.

Find out more in my profile of Sabai Sabai in the restaurants section.

Gift ideas for the Toronto music fan on your list

It's holiday time and what better present is there to give than the gift of music! It's doesn't have to be literal, though, as there are plenty of musical presents one can give other than CDs or vinyl. Here are some music-themed gifts for you to choose from, perfect for those music-loving pals of yours!

Doublenaut posters
Toronto's Andrew and Matt McCracken have designed some of the city's best music posters, as well as non-music posters, for musicians in and out of Toronto. For an affordable price of $20, you can buy your friend a unique silk-screened poster of their favourite band. We suggest the wicked green Ty Segall one or a special Metz poster from their October record release show at the Horseshoe Tavern — there are only 75 in existence! $20

Indie Rock Colouring Book
Why listen to your favourite artists when you can colour in pictures of them instead? This fun colouring book is something that is suitable for people of all ages, whether you're a diehard fan of bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the New Pornographers or if you simply want something fun for your daughter (you can educate them on all of these great bands while you're at it!). Bonus: not into indie music? There are metal and country music versions of these books! $10, also available at the Drake General Store, Sonic Boom.

CBC Radio bag
This is the perfect gift for your music loving, CBC Radio listening friend. This stylish light brown bag is an ode to Canadian Broadcast Company's old design and logo and even boasts a thick, comfortable strap. It's lightweight and the perfect size for books, music and all your necessities. $40, Available at the Drake General Store.

A Young Lions Music Club card
This is the gift that keeps giving. The Young Lions Music Club offers a variety of discounts and exclusive ins at events and parties around the city including their very own monthly DJ nights as well as discounts at Hawker Bar and 69 Vintage. Best of all? The card is free!

Abbey Road Studios
For your Anglophile music lover: what better than to treat them to these wonderful Abbey Road-themed coasters! This pack of six coasters, featuring images from the legendary British recording studio, is just dose of British love they need - and they're practical!
$22, Available online (see above link) and at the Drake General Store.

BOOKS

Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk, by Sam Sutherland
Perfect for punk fans, Perfect Youth: The Birth of Canadian Punk chronicles the rise of the Canadian punk scene, focusing on the overall scene across the country as opposed to a particular city as some books do.

Too Much Trouble: A Very Oral History of Danko Jones, by Stuart Berman
The Grid's Stuart Berman follows up his 2009 book, the Broken Social Scene bio This Book is Broken, with yet another oral history of a Canadian rock star, Danko Jones. Through interviews with friends, fans and Jones himself, this book delves into the successes and failures in the musician's decade-plus career.

1982, by Jian Ghomeshi
CBC host and Canadian personality Jian Ghomeshi has been considered a national treasure of sorts, entertaining us on the radio every day. But now, he has decided to enter the book-writing business as well, penning his first book 1982. The memoir details his experiences with music throughout the years, from being a self-professed Bowie fanatic to his Iranian heritage.

Far From Over: The Music and Life of Drake, by Dalton Higgins
Even though Toronto rapper Drake hasn't been around for that long doesn't mean that someone can't write a book about him. Have you seen the number of Justin Bieber books out right now? Canadian hip-hop writer Dalton Higgins tackles the life of Aubrey Graham in this book, giving us the most comprehensive document of his life so far.

Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972, by Dave Bidini
Acclaimed author and musician Dave Bidini is back. In Writing Gordon Lightfoot: The Man, the Music, and the World in 1972, Bidini documents the week leading up to the 1972 Mariposa Folk Festival through a series of letters written to folk icon Gordon Lightfoot.

5 ALBUMS FROM TORONTO BANDS IN 2012

Wilderness of Manitoba - Islands of Echoes
This folk-rock group followed up last year's When You Left the Fire with this gorgeous album fit for the fall and winter months. Filled with soul-soothing harmonies, Islands of Echoes steps it up a notch from their previous release with more rock elements that create more dimension in their already full sound.

Evening Hymns - Spectral Dusk
Emotionally charged and sonically gripping, Evening Hymns put out one of the best albums of the year with Spectral Dusk. The album chronicles the passing of lead singer Jonas Bonnetta's father and each track not only paints a beautiful picture of Bonnetta's late dad, but also the relationship they had.

Metz - Metz
This local band burst onto the international scene this year after signing with indie-rock heavyweights Sub Pop Records. Since then, the band has caught the eyes of buzz blogs everywhere, making us ever so proud to have seen them at small venues like Parts & Labour once upon a time.

Jason Collett - Reckon
Broken Social Scene alum Jason Collett released a new album this year, one that's more political and outspoken than anything he's ever put out. Still infused with the same acoustic guitar-rock vibe that we've come to know, Collett's conviction to address the failing economic crisis really charges up the album into a something that everyone must hear.

Crystal Castles - III
Everyone's favourite electronic duo returned this year with a new album. Entitled III, the Toronto act's third album is their best yet, elevating their already infectiously aggressive beats to a new level that's sure to satisfy any fan of dance music.

The best pizza slice in Toronto is proof that, along with a good coffee shop, no neighbourhood is complete without a decent place to get a slice. Because after all, is there a more perfect food? A fully loaded slice contains starch, dairy, protein and veggies; just add an apple and you've got your whole food pyramid in a meal you can eat while walking.

This list blankets the town, with the downtown thick with slices, a single chain that's on its way to blanketing the city, and a single slice in the far north of Richmond Hill. You'll find the classics everywhere - cheese, pepperoni and veggie - alongside a lot of specialties, some gourmet highlights, and at least one exotic newcomer that could change the way we look at pizza.

Here are the best pizza slices in Toronto.

See also:

The best pizza in Toronto
The best pizza delivery in Toronto
The best calzone in Toronto
The best Italian restaurants in Toronto

The short answer? Dundas West. Ossington Avenue still has all the right ingredients to be considered one of Toronto's hippest hoods, with great restaurants, shopping and even a little real-estate-related brouhaha that helps to keep neighbourhood talk lively and interesting. But the effect of all of this Ossington retail brawn and booze is rising rents, which tend to force galleries off Ossington once their leases are up. Of course.

A number of years ago, however, the area was ripe for gallery development. Still arguably in the up-and-coming phase, Ossington was a trendy alternative to rising rents on West Queen West with spaces that afforded actual room to showcase various types of exhibitions. For new galleries, it was a win-win.

And then, there were some who got in way ahead of the curve. AWOL Gallery is just one such example, laying its roots on Ossington Avenue over ten years ago. "There was nothing when we first came here," recalls AWOL co-founder Sandra Tarantino. "For us, affordability was the main thing. At that time, there were a lot of karaoke bars; it wasn't the trendy area it is now with restaurants and shops."

Said trendiness, naturally, drives up rent. And for many galleries, such as MKG127, which recently migrated up to Dundas West, the rising rent proves too much of a financial burden. "Basically, we were forced to leave; the landlord wouldn't renew our lease," says gallery director Michael Klein. "He wanted to open a bar or something."

MKG127 landed on Ossington back in 2007, a time when, according to Michael, the street offered a "weird mix of residential and commercial." He estimates at least half of the businesses operating on the street weren't there when MKG127 moved in. "Once the street got a bit of a reputation," he says, "people jumped on the bandwagon."

For some galleries, however, the financial pressure of setting up shop in an up-and-coming area is all part of a calculated risk. Gallery TPW is a unique sort of example, operating originally at 80 Spadina for 20 years before moving to Ossington in 2007, and more recently, to Dundas West.

"We just about doubled our operating costs when we moved from Spadina to Ossington," says TPW executive direction Gary Hall. "But we wanted to be more visible, and Ossington certainly achieved that." Gary says the long-range vision for the gallery has always been to establish its own building, a goal that he expects to meet in about two years.

"Our lease expired here, and our landlord wanted a significant increase — it was already more than we could afford. So we moved to a smaller space here [on Dundas] to save money on rent." Gallery TPW hopes to finally move into its own space on Queen West between Lisgar and Abell streets following condo construction on the block.

The effect of this slow migration on Ossington galleries still operating on the block remains unclear, but Angell Gallery manager Joey Chiu doesn't seem too perturbed. "It's a very close community, and I think it still will be despite some galleries leaving," she says. "It has been beneficial that so many of us have been so close together," she adds.

"Often, if someone comes in, we'll recommend they check out a certain exhibit at another gallery nearby." I ask Joey if the idea that Dundas West might be the next gallery "destination" offers any enticement to relocate. "Not really," she replies confidently. "If the rent gets too expensive, that would probably be our only incentive to move." Wait for it?

Photos from the Gallery TPW Facebook page

Toronto's first fully separated bike lane arrived on Sherbourne Street this fall, for the first time giving bikers the opportunity to move north and south through the eastern portion of downtown without mixing with traffic. But despite a rolled curb segregating autos and bikes, there have been numerous instances of cars using the narrow lane for on-street parking.

The curb was designed to allow emergency responders, TTC Wheel-Trans, garbage trucks, and snow removal vehicles to pass over the top while acting as a barrier to everyday traffic. Unfortunately, by making it easier for those that need to reach the curb, the city has also made it easy for drivers to illegally block bike traffic.

At last month's city council meeting, a similar separated cycle lane for Wellesley and Hoskin was given the green light. According to David Dunn from the city's Cycling Infrastructure and Programs department, a temporary rubber curb will be bolted to Wellesley east of Yonge in 2013. Between then and 2014 the same system of raised and separated lanes will gradually be installed between Parliament and St. George streets, the entirety of the bike track.

"For the section that will be reconstructed in 2014, both a street level or raised cycle track design will be investigated. Sherbourne provides examples of both of these types of permanent cycle track designs - "raised" from Gerrard to King and "street level" rolled curb design from Gerrard to Bloor," Dunn says in en email.

The exact look hasn't been finalized yet, but it's likely to match what's already in place on Sherbourne and under construction on Queens Quay at the expense of all on-street parking and left turn lanes.

Cities like Vancouver and Montreal separate traffic in a much more dramatic way, using concrete planters or high curbs in some cases, making it much harder for confused delivery truck drivers and motorists to blunder onto the bike track.

Given that the city has a chance to learn from the problems on Sherbourne Street should it too look at alternative ways of marking the edge of the bike lane, or should we spend that money educating drivers and ticketing those that break the rules? Is our current method the best since it allows access to the curb to those who need it?

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo: "New Sherbourne Separated Bike Lane" by Martinho from the blogTO Flickr pool.

The Pinball Cafe has shut its doors, a victim of the recently legislated moratorium on new restaurants and bars in Parkdale. If that sounds strange given the fact that the cafe opened back in February, one need only recall the trouble that its owners encountered with municipal by-laws shortly after it opened.

Call it a war on fun or just bad planning on the part of the owners, but the cafe's original licence was refused on account of an old zoning by-law (No. 438-86) that specifies that "only 2 pinball or other mechanical or electronic game machines is permitted in a 'restaurant' or a 'place of amusement.'"

The owners eventually decided to reduce his inventory of pinball machines to just two so as to comply with the by-law and then reapplied for a business permit. The problem is, of course, that by the time it was reviewed, the moratorium on new restaurants and bars had been passed, and the application was subsequently denied. (Note: see Gord Perk's comments in the update below)

A matter of fact note on the cafe's Facebook page lays out the situation, but gives little hope that the business will reopen its doors. Contributors to an Indiegogo campaign to help raise funds for the cafe's liquor licence have been informed that they'll be refunded their donations within a calendar year — not exactly an auspicious sign.

Unsurprisingly the initial reaction to the Facebook note and on Twitter has been a mix of disappointment and outrage. There's little doubt that this is unfortunate turn of events for what was a great addition to the city and the neighbourhood, but it's probably unfair to characterize the closure as simply another example of Toronto's notorious propensity to fight fun.

Yes, the original by-law is dated. But at the risk of coming off as an asshole (I liked the place), I'll point out the obvious: had the owners complied with the by-law in the first place, the business would almost surely have opened way before the moratorium took effect. And yes, operating with two pinball machines would have made the branding of the place a huge challenge, but given the outcome, it was probably the way to go.

Update (1:57 p.m.)

Area councillor Gord Perks has just posted a note on his website in regard to the slew of inquiries he's received about the Pinball Cafe's closure. And it would appear that the business's note on Facebook doesn't tell the whole story. Here's what Perks has to say:

"Some of you have called me about the closure of the Pinball Cafe. Evidently, the owners have claimed that they were closed by order of the City of Toronto. I have confirmed today that The Pinball Cafe was not ordered closed by the City of Toronto. No City staff issued any order against the Cafe. In fact, according to Jason Hazzard, co-owner of the Cafe, this establishment has never had a business licence.

The owners had a zoning issue to overcome in order to get a licence. I met with the owners of the Pinball Cafe in February of this year and urged them to get a business licence and offered them suggestions for two possible ways to do this. They could apply to the Committee of Adjustment to allow for a "variance" from the zoning rules, or they could ask City Council to change the zoning of this property. It appears the owners did neither.

Evidently the owners also claim that the Interim Control Bylaw (ICB) controlling new business applications on Queen St. is to blame. To be clear the ICB cannot close a legally operating establishment.

I am sad to see Pinball go, but it was a decision of the owners to operate without a licence, and their decision to close."

Photo by Morris Lum

Photo by *Imperialis* in the blogTO Flickr pool

THEATRE | It's A Wonderful Toronto
In this musical comedy piece by Matt Baram, Mayor Rob Ford is preparing for the opening of a performance that is intended to up his approval ratings when he begins to realize that it may not present him in the best light. As confrontations happen between the cast and crew of the performance and Ford's personal image consultant, the Mayor threatens to end it all by jumping from the balcony teaching all of Toronto a valuable lesson about politics, civic duty, and the holidays. Starring Aurora Browne, Brandon Firla and Paul Bates, the production opens at Theatre Passe Muraille tonight.
Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson Avenue) 7:30PM $25-$30

MUSIC | A Merry TSO Christmas with Colin Mochrie
Toronto Symphony Orchestra plays Christmas classics in tonight's opening presentation of A Merry TSO Christmas with full narration of classic stories like "The Night Before Christmas" by Colin Mochrie. Accompanied by the Etobicoke School of the Arts Chorus and conducted by Jeff Tyzik, the programme includes songs like "O Holy Night" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Only three shows will be performed in total with a matinee and evening performance happening on Wednesday in addition to tonight's premiere.
Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe Street) 8PM $29-$110

MUSIC | St. Lucia with Gold Fields
South African choirboy turned Brooklyn pop musician, St. Lucia has been around the world and stops in on Toronto for a show at the Drake tonight. With his self-titled debut EP released in 2012, the classically trained musician has turned to pop Africana with a heavy 80s influence that has made him an indie fave in New York. St. Lucia will be joined by Gold Fields, the five-piece neo-New Wave Aussie band that has just come off tour with Diamond Rings, making for an awesome night of new music at the Drake. Tickets are available on TicketWeb.
The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen Street West) 8PM $12

FILM | Freshest Goods Classic Holiday Movie Night--A Christmas Story
Manifesto Festival is celebrating the 12 days of Christmas over the course of three weeks with double bill Christmas film screenings happening each Tuesday. Tonight, the 1983 classic A Christmas Story, about a boy named Ralphie and his BB gun, will be shown at the festival headquarters along with A Charlie Brown Christmas. In the spirit of the season, donations are required to gain admittance to the cinema and are accepted in the form of cash (minimum $5), non-perishable food, toys or gently used clothing.
Manifesto Festival (37 Bulwer Street) 7PM by donation

POLITICS | NOW Talks presents: Occupy The Mic with David Miller
In the second installment of the popular Occupy the Mic series, former Toronto mayor David Miller hosts an unconventional town hall meeting with music, comedy and discussion that probe civic issues. Looking for solutions, Miller sits down with NOW editor and publisher Michael Hollett with performances by singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer and comedian Graham Chittenden as they fight the good fight with some harmless entertainment along the way. Tickets are available at the NOW offices and at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (506 Bloor Street West) 9:30PM $15

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR:

• Deirdre Kelly at Toronto Reference Library
• The Book Revue presents: The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• "Madness of My Mind" Book Launch

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Photo by swiminto in the blogTO Flickr pool

A list of Rob Ford's preferred candidates for the boards of several of Toronto's public agencies that was emailed to three of the mayor's allies on council was not available to ombudsman Fiona Crean during her investigation into the matter. The list, unearthed by the Toronto Star, was exempt because it was part of correspondence between councillors, which is protected.

Integrity commissioner Janet Leiper oversees conduct between the mayor and councillors but she has been asked to stop issuing reports until Rob Ford's conflict of interest appeal has finished.

You know what they say. When the going gets tough, the tough take some "personal time." Rob Ford was spied heading out for an early Christmas vacation yesterday by a fellow traveller at Pearson airport and the mayor's press secretary George Christopoulos later confirmed Ford had skipped town for an unknown destination, possibly the family condo in Florida.

Darwin, Toronto's best dressed rhesus macaque, was taken yesterday to Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, 100 kilometres north of the city, where he'll likely remain permanently. The primate's spirited escape attempt at an Ikea store caught the attention of the world's media after he was photographed wearing a shearling coat and a diaper. Best of luck, Darwin.

Yesterday was a rough day on the roads. A total of nine pedestrians, including a baby and an elderly man, were hit in separate incidents as numerous motorists were caught out by slippery, low-light conditions. All the collisions occurred within 43 minutes between 6:41 and 7:24 and all but one required hospital treatment.

The legendary Horseshoe Tavern at Queen and Spadina is turning 65 this week. The venue started out in 1947 as a strictly country-only bar but later shifted its focus to rock and roll, hosting concerts by the Rolling Stones and Bryan Adams.

Home videos of Darwin the Ikea monkey have been posted on the Toronto Star website by his former owner who apparently isn't so concerned about staying anonymous any more. In this one, Darwin brushes his teeth.

IN BRIEF:

• Police board denies Chief Bill Blair's cash request [The Star]
• 3 newborn polar bear cubs die at Toronto Zoo [CBC]
• Ikea monkey Darwin as seen on home videos [The Star]

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo: "Tracking Progress" by Shakethatchicken from the blogTO Flickr pool.

It was a long time coming, but the TTC last month signed off on PRESTO, provincial transit agency Metronlix's contactless payment card system, with a promise to have readers in every bus, streetcar, and subway station in time for 2016. The card, which holds a balance uploaded from a credit or debit card, is also compatible with other regional transit services, including GO, making it easier than ever to pay a fare in the GTA.

The scope of a widely adopted instant payment system could potentially be very broad. What service in Toronto couldn't be made better with a quick way to pay? According to Robert Hollis, the managing director and VP of PRESTO, it would actually be very easy to hook up readers to BIXI bike stations and Green P municipal parking meters.

"From a technology point of view, that's the easy part," says Hollis, "you can get a proximity reader on a number of devices so the ability to tap a card is really about having the equipment — the bigger challenge is how you're going to manage the payments in the back end."

The main hurdles to expanding PRESTO beyond transit are federal rules that govern all forms of currency within Canada. "If you're setting up an e-purse payment system you have to follow Canadian Payment Association rules," continues Hollis. The CPA oversees all electronic payments from ATM debit card withdrawals to a credit card pre-authorizations. A total of $179.4 billion of transactions were processed under their stewardship in 2011.

"Our focus is on transit we're still rolling out across Ontario...so our resources will be focused on what we believe is our prime objective. Once we have cards in people's hands I think it says to us 'what other things could we do with that card'...we have been looking since day one for opportunities to expand our card, it's just not the highest priority for us right now."A focus on transit doesn't rule out BIXI, taxi companies, parking lots, and ferries adopting PRESTO. I would argue Metrolinx's next move after getting the TTC up and running should be to go to these companies and work out a way of making contactless payment seamless across all forms of transit in Toronto. Paying for a coffee and a newspaper, as one can in New Zealand with the Snapper card, might be a long way off but there's no reason why renting a bike or hopping over to the Islands can't be as simple as waving a card.

Adding other businesses such as Tim Hortons or Gateway Newstands, the company contracted to operate convenience stores and bakeries within the subway system, to its roster at a later date could be a nice sweetener for its users.

UPDATE: 15:14

Kevin McLaughlin, president of Autoshare, says his company approached Metrolinx about using PRESTO cards as a form of ID for customers collecting a vehicle. He says so far the reception has been decidedly lukewarm even though he believes his company falls under the umbrella of "transit," Hollis' focus.

"We want to work with PRESTO," he says, "I don't want to be negative towards them because I'm not, [but] sometimes it's unfortunate when we see folks in Montreal who basically get a greener light to start talking about these ideas and yet meanwhile we're ready to go."

"It just seems like in this day and age when government is struggling with transit and you've got this huge opportunity you should be looking at other cities to see what they're doing with [fare cards]. It's almost a scandal that we're not doing something with it."

That said, Autoshare is likely to go ahead with PRESTO integration with or without Metrolinx. The readers the company is installing its cars will authorize pick-ups using a unique ID number stored on each card without debiting the balance. McLaughlin also hopes to accept similar contactless cards from Montreal's transit system.

Metrolinx released a statement in response:

"PRESTO has spoken previously with Autoshare. They are aware of our mandate, and while we understand the potential for expanding partnerships in the future, today our focus is to integrate transit - and we are doing that."

What are your thoughts? Is Metrolinx right to stick to traditional transit systems or should it be working with companies like Autoshare and BIXI to develop additional uses for its cards?

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Images: Derek Flack/blogTO and Metrolinx.

This week on DineSafe, the People's Eatery on Spadina brought with it a little more than breads and circuses. Most notably, insects. After about four slaps on the wrist over the past year for so-called failures in "pest control," the restaurant was finally shut down this week for failing to "prevent an insect infestation." Who would've seen that one coming?! Also on the DineSafe low list this week is Sushi Hana on Yonge north of Wellesley, which has been doing pretty well since its closure back in February, only to regress back to its dubious sanitary ways. Here's a look at some of the offenders on DineSafe this week.

Ba Le Sandwiches(538 Dundas St W)
Inspected on: December 3
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 3, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Inadequate food temperature control

Delimark Cafe (895 Don Mills Road)
Inspected on: December 6
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 0, Significant: 2, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Inadequate food temperature control

Feng Mao Barbecue Restaurant (4035 Gordon Baker Road)
Inspected on: December 6
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 2, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Failure to protect food from contamination

Midnight Coffee and Restaurant (2965 Islington Ave)
Inspected on: December 5
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 10 (Minor: 4, Significant: 4, Crucial: 0)
Crucial infractions include: N/A

People's Eatery (307 Spadina Ave)
Inspected on: December 6
Inspection finding: Red (Closed)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 0, Significant: 2, Crucial: 1)
Condition(s) for closure: Operator fail to prevent an insect infestation

Souvlaki Express (745 Mount Pleasant Ave)
Inspected on: December 4
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 9 (Minor: 3, Significant: 4, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Inadequate food temperature control, failure to protect food from contamination

Sushi Hana (591 Yonge St)
Inspected on: December 4
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 2, Significant: 2, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Failure to protect food from contamination

Tony's Café & Grill (1111 Finch Ave W)
Inspected on: December 5
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional Pass)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 2, Significant: 2, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Failure to protect food from contamination, inadequate food temperature control

Cool Beer Brewing Co., located near the intersection of Islington and the Gardiner, probably doesn't immediately spring to mind when you're asked to name the breweries currently helping lead Toronto's craft beer surge. And yet, while you may have never had a Cool Lager, a Millenium Buzz Hemp Beer, or a Stonewall Light, it's almost certain that you've had a beer brewed at Cool Brewery.

That's because aside from brewing their own award-winning beers Cool Brewery also provides contract brewing and co-packing facilities for a dozen other local brewing companies, meaning their 28,000 square foot facility in Etobicoke is actually responsible for a lot of the great craft beer currently being enjoyed across Ontario.

I had a chance to speak recently with Cool Brewing's Andrew Costa and their brewmaster Adrian Popowycz about what exactly goes on at Cool, why canning machines can be so tempermental, and why they consider themselves the Kevin Bacon of craft beer.

Can you tell me a little bit about the the history of Cool?

Andrew: Cool Beer Brewing Company was founded in 1997 by Bobby Crecouzos in Brampton, Ontario. Bobby had a vision to brew quality, all-natural beers and started with his flagship brand, Cool Lager, a 5% blond lager. By 2003, Cool was sufficiently well-established and launched another high-quality beer, Millennium Buzz Hemp Beer, a 5% hemp-based amber lager made with the finest BC hemp, dark roasted Alberta malt and choice German hops.

With Cool Beer Brewery expanding, in 2005 we outgrew our home in Brampton and moved to a state of the art, 28,000 square foot facility in Etobicoke at 164 Evans Avenue. Four years later, Cool launched another brew, Stonewall Light, a 4% smooth, refreshing, light lager with a hint of lime, which currently is still our newest beer.

Because Cool relied heavily on word of mouth, we were able to keep price points for all three brands low to appeal to customers. And while we originally started out kegging our beer for distribution to restaurants, during the growth and expansion of the brands, we started bottling all three brands and selling it in the LCBO and Beer Stores across Southern Ontario.

All three beers, by the way, have won awards at the Canadian Brewing Awards and the Ontario Brewing Awards. Most recently, Millennium Buzz Hemp Beer won Gold at the Canadian and Ontario Brewing Awards and Stonewall Light won Gold at the Ontario Brewing Awards.

You guys have slightly different price points and packaging than other brewers, right?

Andrew: A few years ago, we moved away from the standard six packs and offered something unique and different; a four pack at a reasonable price. Cool Lager and Millennium Buzz Hemp Beer are both offered in four packs. Cool Lager is four beers for $5 plus deposit and Millennium Buzz Hemp Beer is four beers for $5.50 plus deposit.

I know that Cool Beer Brewery offers contract brewing services to other brewers. What exactly does that entail?

Andrew: Cool Beer Brewery is fully equipped to co-pack or contract brew high quality beer, or any other alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage. Our co-packing and contract brewing capabilities are targeted towards existing commercial brands with existing volumes or commercial licensed breweries looking to develop brands or holders of a brewing permit looking to build a brewery but require a co-packing bridge/solution.

What exactly does that mean?

Andrew: Once approved, Cool brews the recipe, bottles and/or kegs the beer and packages it. We are not responsible for sourcing ingredients, bottles, packaging, or coordinating distribution for the other brewery.

What can brewers expect to pay to start a contract brewing operation?

Andrew: If they are new to the business, they should be prepared to invest in the business with a start-up capital of no less than $250,000 to $300,000.

How many breweries currently contract brew out of your facilities?

Andrew: Currently, a dozen breweries contract brew out of Cool Beer's facility.

When I visited recently with the guys from Hogtown Brewing, I chatted briefly with brewer Vince Marsman about your new canning machine. He indicated that you guys were really excited to get it up and running, but that you've been having some issues with the machine. What's the deal?

Adrian: Unlike linear can fillers which basically pour beer into an open can at atmospheric pressure, Cool's new filler uses a counter-pressure approach in which the can is filled under pressure. This counter-pressure technique minimizes risk of airborne contamination. Furthermore, it allows much more flexibility for the brewer to can beers of different styles, carbonation levels, and temperatures — not to mention filling cans at much higher speeds. It can easily be argued that cans are actually better for craft beer because a can seam is more hermetically sealed than the crown of a bottle.

As for the issues, can fillers that operate at over 180 cans a minute are intricate, precision-built apparatuses that require finely-balanced components to operate smoothly and there is little room for error. Because of this they are very expensive machines.

This machine is one of the first — if not the first — in North America from this particular manufacturer. Like any newly-designed machine, there are always unforeseen and unexpected events and issues that creep up during commissioning. Add to this the fact that the machines are manufactured overseas and it can add another level of complexity because getting parts on a timely basis can sometimes be a problematic. While we would have preferred to be up and running by now, we can certainly state that we now have very intimate knowledge of the machine, which will benefit us moving forward.

How many brewers do you have on staff? As the Cool brewmaster, what's your relationship with the other brewers who come in and use the facilities? For example, I know that the Hogtwon guys hired Jay Cooke to brew their beer, but are there other contract guys who will essentially just hand you a recipe? How does that work?

Adrian: At Cool the quality of our beers is paramount. For a brewery of our size we have one of the best labs around. We know exactly what the quality of our beer is and will not release anything that does meet our specifications. We apply this dedicated approach to all of our contracts. We treat every contract brew and co-packaging project as if it were our own. No short-cuts and everyone's 100% committed to do their best efforts. This is why cool is such an attractive place for contract work. We are sort of the Kevin Bacon of brewers because there are probably about six degrees of separation between us and all other Ontario's craft breweries. Most of them have some reason to come to Cool.

Andrew: At present we have one brewer, Vince Marsman, who has been with Cool for five years and yes, Adrian is our Brewmaster. He is an ex-Brewmaster at Black Oak and Great Lakes, and joined our team as of September. Adrian liaises with the other brewers to make sure everything is set up according to the wishes of the contract brewer.

Adrian: Every contract brewer has a different level of involvement. Although due to legalities they are not allowed to physically be involved in the process, they can certainly be there to advise and make decisions regarding their brews. For some contract brewers, Cool has been brewing for them for years and they will simply want technical updates on the progress of their brews, whilst others want to babysit their beers . Most, once they feel comfortable that we would brew their beer exactly as they would, will let us proceed with minimal involvement.

After all, Cool has been around for 15 years and has an enviable track record for quality and consistency. Although the house brands may not be the most "out there" in terms of styles, they actually are the hardest to brew as you can't hide imperfections behind lots of hops or spices.

What is your capacity at Cool? How much beer can you/do you produce?

Andrew: Cool Brewery is equipped with two German copper kettles and 37 holding tanks. We produce approximately 25,000 hectoliters of beer annually for our own brands.

Adrian: Our batch sizes can range from 70 to 140 hectoliters

Cool Beer is distributed to over 350 Beer Stores, 380 LCBOs, and approximately 550 licensees across southern Ontario. They'll also be adding cans of their brands to their line-up by the end of the year. For more information about Cool, visit their website,, or check them out on twitter @CoolBeerBrewCo.

Photos by Jesse Milns

The product of a collaboration between between Montreal's WANT Les Essentiels De La Vie and New York's Maison Kitsune, this design shop offers a bevy of slick and, in some cases, downright luxurious items targeted at the discerning traveller with a little pre-flight time to kill. Buying stuff here might not make you a shoe-in for the mile high club, but it'll ensure that you look the part.

Read my profile of WANT Passport in the design section.

Winter in Toronto can be the pits depending on your disposition. I know more than a few people who pseudo-hibernate during the season's coldest periods — and who can really blame them? Forgetting the mildness of last year, it tends to get rather unwelcoming out there. Our forebearers, it would appear were a braver bunch. The Toronto Archives are littered with photos of city-folk out and about in the ice and snow making the most the cold weather.

And while most of the things they got up to remain familiar to us — there's hockey, skiing and tobogganing, of course — other activities like ice-boating have disappeared over the years, despite the fact that they look like they were a whole lot of fun. The inner harbour was a more active recreational space when it was guaranteed to freeze over. That time has passed, but we still have the photos.

Ice boating!

Ice-boating on the inner harbour

Outdoor skating

While outdoor skating remains popular, the venues are decidedly less pretty

Tobogganing

Torontonians used to take their tobogganing very seriously (check out the one with the light on it!)

Hockey

You didn't need artificial ice back then...

Skiing

Urban skiing was a far more common site in the 1920s

Curling

Outdoor curling!

Ice fishing

Why dress down to ice fish?

And, naturally, snowball fights

Some things never get old...

See also:

• Vintage photos of winter in Toronto
• Vintage photos of snow in Toronto

Photos from the Toronto Archives

The cost of fixing the rapidly deteriorating Gardiner Expressway has been back in the headlines recently as the city's budget committee discusses whether or not to commit to a proposed ten-year, $505 million program of repairs necessary to stop the road from falling down.

The concrete cladding and internal metal structure are all in urgent need of attention if the city wants to avoid more falling material, but fixes are going to come at a cost regardless of whether we decide to pay for it in the way the city desires. In short, the bill has arrived and we have to pay up somehow.

So what are the alternative routes the city could take?

TEAR IT DOWN

One way the city might save a cash is to partly demolish the highway and put the repair money towards a revised road east of Jarvis. A tunneled stretch through downtown (very expensive with the lake so close and the quality of the soil) or a total rebuild of the existing street are pretty much out of the question.

According to a 2009 study cited by Matt Elliott at Metro, just eight per cent of commuters to the downtown core used the Gardiner. Taking the road out completely would be viable if there were decent alternatives to the road, like subways or suburban commuter rail like GO. To handle the bodies displaced by the loss of the elevated highway there would need to be significant service increases on the Lake Shore line, which currently runs roughly every 30 minutes at rush hour.

TOLLS

Toronto isn't really used to the idea of paying to use highways but there are numerous other countries that charge drivers to use high-traffic or maintenance heavy roads. Drivers using the Sydney Harbour Bridge and tunnel, for example, are required to toss a coin into a bucket before they're allowed to proceed downtown. A small toll could also reduce traffic, which is something everyone can get behind, and the money could also be used to fund new public transit.

From previous discussions we know road tolls have the potential to rake in serious cash for the city. A 1-cent per kilometre toll could generate $1.5 billion for repairs and provide much-needed transportation funding for Metrolinx's next wave of Big Move projects.

PAY UP

$505 million is a serious chunk of change. If the current budget gets the green light, the cost of the repairs will be spread out over ten years but the disruption caused by carrying out the work will likely not improve traffic flow in the short term. This also doesn't solve the problem of having a major highway scything through the downtown core creating a barrier to the waterfront.

Issues like that might be secondary at this stage but I hope it at least factors in to the decision.

TURN IT INTO A PARK

I'm an optimist, but I seriously doubt anything like this could happen. Turning the Gardiner into a High Line North would undoubtedly be neat but I suspect the resulting tourism dollars would be tiny compared to keeping the highway running under a toll.

But why not build a park on top of the highway, making it a sort of automobile sandwich with a filling of CO2? A half-hearted proposal from back in 2010 by Quadrangle Architects suggested partially roofing the Gardiner and planting an seven kilometre walkable park up top. The "Green Ribbon" didn't make it beyond the concept stage but there's always a chance, right?

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo: "Gardiner Eastbound" by John Elmslie from the blogTO Flickr pool.

Photo by dtstuff9 in the blogTO Flickr pool

BOOKS & LIT | Going Rural turns Urban: A Launch for All Citizens
Both This is Not a Reading Series and Conundrum Press present a book launch for Serena McCarroll's All Citizens tonight at The Gladstone Hotel. McCarroll is an established artist originally from Vancouver who settled in a tiny town in Saskatchewan where she and her partner set up a café and art shop which they named "All Citizens". This book began as McCarroll's blog on her experience of her travels and setting up this special location that served as a meeting place, and "cultural centre" in a vast rural landscape. Tonight's event will launch the book, and will include musical performances from Wax Mannequin, Laura Barrett, and Magali Meagher.
The Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West) 8PM $5 (free with book purchase)

FILM | The End of Time - Canadian Theatrical Release | Toronto & Montreal
Director Peter Mettler's latest film, The End Of Time, takes on the subject humans have been grappling with since the dawn of civilization: the nature of Time. Our perceptions of this phenomenon are explored, and some unanswerable questions raised with disaster, ritual, and science in both the foreground and background. Tonight is the Toronto opening of this film, and while there are several showings throughout the day (beginning at 1:45pm), the 6:45pm screening will be followed by a special Q & A with Mettler himself.
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West) 6:45PM and 9:15PM $12

MUSIC | Christmas at The Garrison
The Second Annual Christmas at the Garrison goes down tonight! This is definitely the season for getting out there and celebrating with friends and family, but this event also keeps in mind the charitable and 'philanthropic' aspect of the holidays, and you can avoid a cover charge by bringing three non-perishable food items with you. The lineup is a good one, too: Let's Build Machines, Rival Boys, and Broken Bricks will deliver the goods, with DJ Phil along for the ride as well. There will be plenty of prizes to win from local businesses, as well. All proceeds go to the Daily Bread Food Bank.
The Garrison (1197 Dundas Street West) 8PM $10

COMEDY | Switch Off: Kings of Yuletide Edition
Touch My Stereotype, a well-known sketch comedy competition, hosts Switch Off tonight at The Comedy Bar on Bloor, and it's a special holiday edition, dubbed Kings of Yuletide. Three all-male comedy duos will grace the stage and have you in stitches throughout the evening: Ned and Dave, Fratwurst, and Sushi Boys. The audience will decide the winner of each round, and there will be a food challenge to follow that will not be for the faint of heart.
Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street West) 9:30PM $10

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR

• Hawksley Workman @ Trinity-St. Paul's
• Joel Plaskett Emergency @ The Horseshoe

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo by Nicole Wong in the blogTO Flickr pool

A troubling report revealed by Global News says there's a high risk a heavy truck could "punch through" the thinning deck of the Gardiner Expressway if the roadway continues to deteriorate. The report also reveals that city crews are actively engaged in preventing more chunks falling on to the road below. The surface is only 185 mm thick in places compared to 225 mm on other elevated sections of road.

The former owner of Darwin the Ikea monkey says she's worried the little macaque will miss her now he's been relocated to a sanctuary in Sunderland. In an interview with CP24, Yasmin Nakhuda said she and Darwin bonded during a trial ownership period and would even travel with her to work. She hasn't ruled out fighting to get the monkey back. "There are no books out there to teach you how to raise a monkey," she said. "I'm what's best for him." Should Darwin stay put?

Since Rob Ford's on vacation our desire for scandals leads us to London, where councillors are set to consider a motion that calls on mayor Joe Fontana to step down while a criminal case against him is pending. The charges stem from allegations Fontana used federal funds during his time as a cabinet MP to cover the cost of his son's wedding reception, something he denies.

We discussed the Beer Store monopoly in the summer but now PC leader Tim Hudak has privatized booze back in the spotlight Star columnist Martin Regg Cohn is also talking ditching the utilitarian misery boxes in favour of, shock horror, suds in convenience stores.

The plight of Darwin the monkey has reignited debate about Toronto and Canada's exotic animal laws. Devised at various times, the mix of regulations allows certain animals in some areas and not others. Should Toronto relax its exotic animal laws provided the owners are checked?

New ideas for Eglinton Avenue in preparation for the arrival of rapid transit are thinking big. Bike lanes, development proposals, and concepts for new public spaces could all be on the cards in the coming years for the previously transit-neglected stretch.

IN BRIEF:

• Toronto's budget committee takes input on how to balance budget [National Post]
• Posted notices about disciplined doctors leave public confused [CBC]
• Anti-native racism common in Toronto health care [The Star]

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Photo: "XTC" by Dominic Bugatto from the blogTO Flickr pool.