Frances McInnis | torontolife.com

Rob Ford doesn’t go mute when faced with Toronto Star reporters

(Image: Christopher Drost)

After scaring the crap out of finding Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale near his house on May 3, Rob Ford vowed not to participate in press conferences if any Star reporters were present. That resolution lasted all of eight days. Today, at a Pan Am Games event, Ford addressed the crowd and took questions in a media scrum, despite the fact that his least-favourite newspaper had sent a journo along. Though we don’t usually like when politicians break promises, in this case, we’re glad Ford has decided to play nice. [Twitter]

The Informer

Mediaocracy

May 11, 2012 | 11:02 am

Kevin O’Leary is taking over the world—or at least Toronto’s media

(Image: Pummax)

Between Dragons’ Den, Redemption Inc., The Lang and O’Leary Exchange and appearances to flog his book, we thought Kevin O’Leary had all the media exposure anyone could want. Apparently we were wrong. O’Leary has taken one more step towards total ubiquity by signing up to appear daily on Newstalk 1010’s Live Drive With John Tory to serve up business and financial analysis (and a controversial outburst or two, we’re sure). We wonder what he and Rob Ford will chat about by the water cooler—and how many times he’ll say his own name on air.

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My Name Is Lucre

May 10, 2012 | 3:48 pm

Banks will probably stop dropping crazy amounts of cash on blockbuster deals

At a conference this week, Royal Bank of Canada CEO Gordon Nixon explained that banks are simply no longer able to spend absurd amounts of money on one big deal—just absurd amounts of money spread out over lots of smaller deals. According to Nixon: “The ability to do capital-dilutive transactions from a regulatory perspective is just about nonexistent.” Translation: tougher regulations and higher capital standards have made it nigh-impossible to replicate the blockbuster deals that characterized the oughties (for instance, in 2007, TD Bank spent $8.3 billion to buy a New Jersey bank to support its big push into the American market). Now financial institutions must hunt for smaller, strategic acquisitions. Struggling banks in Europe are the likeliest targets—but we’re sure that if the banks have the money, they’ll figure out a way to spend it. [Globe and Mail]

The Informer

Ford Focus

May 9, 2012 | 4:35 pm

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Daniel Dale won’t face charges for standing near Rob Ford’s house

(Image: Christopher Drost)

Having found no evidence that Daniel Dale looked over Rob Ford’s fence, stepped onto his property or shot any photos or video, police investigators have decided not to charge the reporter for hanging around the mayor’s house last week. Ford has accused Dale of standing on cinderblocks (something Dale hotly denies, and even questions his ability to do) to peer over the mayor’s fence and take photos of his backyard. However, a policewoman told Dale that a surveillance video Ford gave to the police contained no evidence of either—and, this afternoon, after snooping through Dale’s BlackBerry with the reporter and his lawyer, police told him that they have closed the investigation. So, no charges for Dale. And Dale and the Toronto Star have said from the start that they won’t press charges against Ford. Can everyone just stop talking about this now? Probably not. [Toronto Star]

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Tech Wars

May 9, 2012 | 3:48 pm

QUOTED: a marketing professor compares RIM to Hogwarts and its new executives to Muggles

(Image: Kathryn)

It’s almost as if you would hire a Muggle to lead Hogwarts.

—Markus Giesler, a Schulich School of Business marketing professor, trying to describe why making Frank Boulben chief marketing officer of Research in Motion is as risky as replacing Albus Dumbledore with Dudley Dursley (if that last bit doesn’t mean anything to you, start with this). Although Giesler praises RIM for looking outside the company to fill the position, he argues that Boulben lacks the deep knowledge of the consumer marketplace that the company needs to charm smart phone users. Or boy wizards. [Toronto Star]

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Political Whoas

May 9, 2012 | 12:11 pm

• TCHC reaches across border to pick a new CEO [Toronto Star]
• New public housing boss readies himself to clean up after turbulent year [Globe and Mail]

Gene Jones, the new TCHC boss, used to go on nighttime drug raids

(Image: Toronto Community Housing)

The Toronto Community Housing Corporation has been muddling along without a permanent CEO since Keiko Nakamura was fired last year, but the scandal-ridden agency has finally found its guy. And he sounds pretty awesome. Not only does American Gene Jones sport a cool moustache, he has also cleaned up several troubled social housing agencies across the U.S., most recently the Detroit Housing Commission. And, in a Q&A with the Toronto Star, Jones explained that, when he was director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency, he’d suit up in a flak jacket and accompany police on middle-of-the-night drug raids to experience a neighbourhood’s crime dynamic firsthand. Even the $750-million repair backlog and mass firings at the TCHC don’t faze him. Jones told the Globe and Mail that the shenanigans outlined in the Auditor General’s reports were “typical” in the U.S., “so there’s nothing here that they’ve done that I haven’t seen being done.”

The Informer

The Sporting Life

May 8, 2012 | 11:02 am

VIDEO: the Canadian Paralympic Committee gets us pumped for London 2012

This minute-long video for the Canadian Paralympic Committee (which went viral this week after being posted on Mashable) is an impressive cinematographic feat. Starring short-distance runner Alister McQueen, the ad illustrates the kind of dogged determination that paralympians need for their long and often difficult journeys to the Games. What else requires dogged determination? Making a really awesome ad all in one single take–which is exactly what BBDO Toronto, the communications agency that came up with the concept, did. There’s also a making-of video (see below) that reveals how director Mark Zibert, CGI artists and a huge crew pulled it all off. Bring on London 2012.

The Informer

Mediaocracy

May 7, 2012 | 3:33 pm

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Sun News Network’s David Menzies makes Rob Ford’s radio show that much more offensive

Rob Ford ceded the spotlight to David Menzies on his show this week (Image: Blind Nomad)

The Sun News Network’s David Menzies managed to be more controversial than Rob and Doug Ford on the brothers’ radio show this week (considering Mayor Ford’s comments on the show have already landed him in trouble on two separate occasions, that’s a feat). In the wake of the Daniel Dale brouhaha, the conversation this week repeatedly returned to the “left-wing media” and their treatment of the mayor—about which Menzies had plenty to say.

The Informer

The Sporting Life

May 4, 2012 | 11:13 am

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QUOTED: Tim Hudak explains what the Toronto Maple Leafs and Justin Bieber have in common

—Progressive Conservative leader and Boston Bruins fan Tim Hudak, on why Toronto’s home team is just like the prank-loving, Jesus tattoo-sporting pop star. Though Hudak praised the city for having “the best damn hockey market in the world,” his warm feelings don’t extend to the perenially struggling Leafs (he calls their plans to rebuild “another way of continuing to strive for mediocrity”). So, what does the naysayer think could help? He told the Globe and Mail that competition from another Southern Ontario team would force the Leafs to pull up their socks (we’re looking at you, Markham). Although we agree with Hudak that the woebegone Leafs need to get their act together, we doubt alienating both the Bieber-loving and Maple Leafs-loving demographics is a smart political move. [Globe and Mail]

(Images: Tim Hudak, Ontario Chamber of Commerce; Justin Bieber, Adam Sundana)

The Hype

From the Print Edition

May 2, 2012 | 4:30 pm

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Camera: Michael and Diane Budman host a private screening of Frank Marshall’s new doc in their Forest Hill home

By Frances McInnis | Photography by George Pimentel

Camera: Movie Night at the Budmans

February 29. It wasn’t quite musical chairs, but there was a flurry of seat swapping between courses during a dinner at the Forest Hill home of Michael and Diane Budman. The buzz was mostly about a new ESPN documentary by Hollywood producer Frank Marshall that they’d just previewed in the basement theatre. Right to Play centres on Budman’s friend, Johann Olav Koss, the founder of the humanitarian sports organization of the same name. Things started slow as Budman spent a few minutes figuring out the DVD player, leaving the guests in the dark. (Martin Short couldn’t resist: “It’s a triumph, Frank.”) After dinner, Short nudged musician Stephan Moccio, his fellow judge on Canada’s Got Talent, toward the piano and delivered a semi-improvised, mostly nonsensical song that referenced bin Laden, deadbeat dads, dirty beards and Navy SEALS, and left the crowd howling. The moral of the story: when throwing a dinner party, always invite a comedian.

The Informer

Tech Wars

May 2, 2012 | 2:39 pm

Reaction Roundup: Is BlackBerry 10 all that it was supposed to be?

At the annual BlackBerry World trade show in Orlando yesterday, Research in Motion top dog Thorsten Heins unveiled prototypes of the new BlackBerry 10 devices that should have been out a long time ago be launched to the public later this year. The phones, which will be distributed to developers so they can get busy on creating apps, look like mini-PlayBooks, with a 4.2-inch screen, a fancy predictive keyboard and an improved camera. This is a make-it-or-break-it device for RIM—it’s widely acknowledged BB10 has to succeed if the company is going to survive. So, does it look like RIM has the product that will save it? Here’s a roundup of what the pundits, analysts and developers are saying about the new devices.

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The Harrowing Present

May 2, 2012 | 10:44 am

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Kristyn Wong-Tam brings the battle over the long-gun registry to Toronto

The recently cancelled long-gun registry has been a contentious issue in federal politics for years, but the next part of the battle could be fought in Toronto’s city hall. Following in the footsteps of David Miller, who was pro-registry, Kristyn Wong-Tam will introduce a motion at the next city council meeting asking Ontario to fight to maintain the data and allow it to be used by police, and the city’s lawyers to research how they could intervene. The Conservatives—who celebrated the registry’s defeat in February with a classy cocktail party—want to delete all the information collected by the registry since 1995. The Quebec government’s against the purge and Mississauga council already voted unanimously in favour of maintaining the records back in December (for which Hazel McCallion trotted out her fierce “tough on crime” face). It’s yet another example of Mississauga beating Toronto to the punch. [Globe and Mail]

(Images: Guns, simonov; Kristyn Wong-Tam, Christopher Drost)

The Informer

To Market, To Market

May 1, 2012 | 4:29 pm

Vote on Toronto’s best new architecture for this year’s Pug Awards

One Bedford, one of this year’s Pug Awards nominees (Image: Gary Baker)

The time has come again for architecture buffs (or bored Internet users) to vote in the annual Pug Awards, Toronto’s people’s choice awards for architecture. Last year, the TIFF Bell Lightbox won in the commercial category and the 75 Portland building won the residential prize, and this year there are some similarly high-profile projects in the mix: the Ritz-Carlton, the Shops of Summerhill and the One Bedford condo building. However, we’re disappointed to see that many of the candidates have a certain tall, glassy sameness about them. Head to the Pug website to vote “love it,” “like it” or “hate it” on each of the 44 nominees and help choose which among them will receive this, er, lovely trophy.

The Informer

Black Watch

April 30, 2012 | 12:17 pm

Conrad Black’s getting out of jail, but he may not be able to move back to Toronto

(Image: Charles LeBlanc)

America’s haughtiest jailbird, Conrad Black, is getting out of the slammer this weekend—and thinking longingly of Toronto. After serving more than 38 months for financial misdeeds, the media tycoon and former Canadian citizen wants to move back to the city where his wife, Barbara Amiel—and several beloved dogs—live. However, Black’s fate is in the hands of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney since Black renounced his citizenship to take a seat in the U.K.’s House of Lords (of course, there’s also the whole convicted felon thing). If the baron is allowed onto Canadian soil, he already has at least one invite: his epically loquacious memoir, A Matter of Principle, was nominated for this year’s National Business Book Award, which will be announced May 28 at a downtown hotel. See you there, Conrad? [CBC]