Michael Cooke, the Toronto Star’s tabloid-minded editor, is on a mission to expose the corruption and crookedness of the city’s secretive establishment. Every week brings a new target: the premier’s office, Marineland, the College of Physicians, and always Ford, Ford, Ford
It was early December of 2011, and Kevin Donovan was hellbent on publishing an exposé of Ornge, Ontario’s $150-million-a-year air ambulance service. Donovan, who runs the Toronto Star’s investigative team, had already spent two years sniffing around the company. Though he didn’t yet have the facts to back up his hunch, he was convinced something was amiss. He decided to take a chance and write a story about precisely what he didn’t know: how much Chris Mazza, the doctor who created and ran the publicly funded agency, and his vice-presidents were being paid. It was a Sunday, typically a slow news day, so Donovan figured the piece was a shoo-in for a front-page placement the next day.
The Toronto Star created a city-wide firestorm when 
Do not ask Rosie DiManno about her weekend. On Saturday, the Internet took aim at 
Not even McDonald’s can avoid Toronto’s condo onslaught. The fast food giant sold its property across from the Royal Ontario Museum to a company associated with developer Bazis International, which plans to combine the site with several neighbouring lots and build a tower of some 30 stories. While the all-night McDonald’s—with its multiple levels and surprisingly posh decor—has already closed, U of T students and Golden Arches devotees 
The Toronto Sun, home of Sue-Ann Levy, 
This morning, a judge booted Rob Ford out of office, finding that the mayor had breached conflict of interest law in February by 
David Mirvish’s plan to tear down the Princess of Wales Theatre and build three 80-plus-storey Frank Gehry–designed condo towers on King Street isn’t very popular. When he announced his intentions, the city’s pessimists were quick to complain: the towers were too tall, too garish, too dominating, and would add way too many new people to a downtown core already straining from rapid expansion. I’m not sure the project’s critics are right. Global cities have giant, imposing towers that seem vaguely threatening. They have unusual skylines. They are impossibly dense. Skyscrapers can be exciting and dramatic, which is what the Gehry towers promise to be. At the very least, I admire the ambition of the project. David Mirvish, who already wields influence in Toronto as both a theatre impresario and an important collector of 20th-century art, is about to make an indelible mark on the cityscape. His father, Ed, occupied a significant role in the city, and now Mirvish is using the money and the position he inherited on his own terms.
1. Denial: Rob and Doug Ford
