Silver-Powers: John Tory's decision
There are good reasons for him to run for mayor in Toronto, but by doing so he'd be breaking his word

Granatstein: Five reasons why Tory won’t run
Johnny come lately? Nah, Johnny won’t come at all.

Travers: Census clamour wakes sleeping nation
Prime Ministers are rarely more vulnerable than when they shoot themselves in the foot

Fiorito: Stolen binder holds boy’s medical history
Nancy Manocchio’s Toyota Highlander was stolen recently; in it was a binder containing six years’ worth of records relating to the health of her autistic son.

Gray: What makes Jim Watson run?
Put yourself in Jim Watson's shoes. Why would he want to be mayor of Ottawa? It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Gardner: Why our drug policy is 'inconsistent' with all available evidence
It's safe to assume most people have never heard of the "Vienna Declaration." And that simple fact helps explain why public policies that fail -- policies that do vastly more harm than good -- can live on despite overwhelming evidence of their failure.

Robson: I've come for your data
Congratulations! You have been specially selected to receive the Robson Long Form Questionnaire. Please answer all questions honestly and in detail or you will be obliged to sit through a five-year round table on federal-provincial relations in the post-Meech Era.

Siddiqui: Civil servants shine amid Tory darkness
Tony Clement, not the the head of Statistics Canada, should have resigned.

Travers: Harper’s ideology hurts his popularity

Mandel: Hazel McCallion's son keeps it under his hat
It’s not easy being the son of the nation’s most famous mayor.

Brown: A libertarian solution to the census debacle
If you’re unhappy with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to make the long-form census voluntary, there’s an easy solution that doesn’t require any action by the government.

Royson: Ending the state of denial
The Mississauga inquiry reveals just how much needs to be changed about how business is done in that city, with or without Hazel at the helm.

Goldstein: Has Canada lost the will to fight?
Is it just me, or is announcing to the enemy when you plan to stop fighting a war an admission of defeat?

Goar: Even Helena Guergis doesn’t deserve this
Helena Guergis may be a political embarrassment with a trouble-prone husband but she deserves justice.

Benitah: Oshawa voters being led down dangerous path
For the last four years, Toronto Budget Chief Shelley Carroll has helped decide how much it should cost to send your kid to camp and which city service to cut in order to save some cash.

Perkins: New Hamilton stadium won’t have Pan Am track events
Wherever they build it, soccer will come instead for the Pan Am Games with the track and field program in Toronto.

Globe Editorial: The RCMP is still broken
New leadership seems essential if the Mounties are to regain the country's trust.

Toronto Sun Editorial: As RCMP issues mount, inquiry needed
Dudley just can't seem to Do-Right these days.

Ottawa Sun Editorial: Impaired legislation the right move
After all the controversy sparked by the HST and the eco fees fiasco this summer, it seems the Liberals are finally behind something that went right: The implementation of new regulations that prohibit drivers 21 years of age and younger from having any alcohol in their systems.

Ottawa Citizen Editorial: Seeking sanctuary
The Ontario government is offering to install wireless Internet service to at least one provincial park because campers have apparently complained about feeling cut off from civilization -- to which we say to those pathetic, e-mail addicted "campers": toughen up. 1:21pm

Windsor Star Editorial: Driving rules
Starting Sunday, young drivers in Ontario will face stiff new regulations when it comes to drinking and driving. It's zero tolerance for anyone 21 and under who gets behind the wheel. Have one drink -- even if you're legally allowed to, even if you have your full licence -- and you can receive a $500 fine, have your licence suspended for 24 hours and face other sanctions.

Windsor Star Editorial: Confidence grows in downtown core
The opening of an eclectic group of new businesses in the city's core is a sign that economic confidence is slowly returning, says the executive director of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association.

Toronto Star Editorial: RCMP brass need oversight
“The issue with (the Commissioner) was not just his autocratic leadership style, but the way in which he articulated it. He expressed himself in passionate (some say intemperate) ways, with little regard or apparent respect for those with whom he was...

Toronto Star Editorial: A failure to communicate
Governments are often undermined not so much by the substance of their decisions as by their inability to communicate them in a clear and timely fashion. So it is with the current Liberal government at Queen’s Park.

"The Mother's Milk of Politics"
Here’s an Ontario election result for you to ponder: The NDP comes in first at 39%, the LIBs are second with 35% and the PCs come third with 22%. No, not an actual election with actual votes but a pretty good surrogate.

Ontario Tourism rejects NDP's web-hosting claim
Ontario's Ministry of Tourism says its websites are hosted in Canada, not in the United States as the opposition claims. 3:21pm

Former immigration board adjudicator sentenced to 18 months in prison
TORONTO, Ont. -Former immigration judge and city councillor Steve Ellis has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Back in April, Ellis was found guilty of breach of trust and bribery. Ellis was...... 12:20pm

Food makers must cut back on salt or face regulations, report says
Task force calls for substantial cut in salt levels, new guidelines on daily intakes, and uniform serving sizes 12:21pm

Party system touted as way to ease voter choice
A municipal party system may make it easier for voters in Toronto to pick from long lists of council candidates, although it comes with a number of pitfalls, says a longtime political watcher in Vancouver. 11:56am

Tip leads cops to child-porn bust

Disturbed by what they found on a computer, friends of a man they were hosting at their Little Britain home called police. Durham detectives confirmed the man was viewing child pornography and the British national was arrested. 12:08pm

Ottawa finances on track but provinces face ‘hard choices’
Jim Flaherty could balance books a year early, Conference Board says 12:22pm

Hospital ERs to get extra $5.8M in funding
Ottawa-area emergency rooms will be getting $5.8 million from the Ontario government to reduce wait times, according to an announcement Thursday morning. 12:18pm

Ottawa cop who aided gangsters kicked off force
An Ottawa cop convicted of using a police database to assist East Indian gangsters has been given one week to resign from the force or face dismissal. 1:16pm

County mayoral races take shape
WINDSOR, Ont. — With six weeks before municipal election nominations close, the mayoral races in Essex County are clearer. 11:50am

Limoges mulls mayoral run
WINDSOR, Ont. — Rick Limoges has spent two days meeting with a “cross-section of the community” and while the former city councillor and federal MP has not formally decided to run for mayor, he talked Wednesday as if he is poised for the challenge. 11:54am

Ontario won't yet fund studies on new MS treatment
Saskatchewan is ready to fund clinical trials of a new procedure that could offer hope to people with multiple sclerosis, but Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says his province won't yet follow suit

Hikes to hydro and gas bills surprise many residents
Thousands of Ontarians are being hit with a double shocker this month. Their hydro bills have jumped 15 to 20 per cent, and the bills for at least 100,000 Enbridge gas customers are at least triple what they expected.

Conservatives praise three provinces for introducing cap-and-trade system
Critics say move by Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia reduces pressure for federal action

New U.S. regulations could bring clean-air dividend for Ontario
Southern Ontario expected to benefit as Washington readies to more tightly regulate coal-fired pollution

Realty Corp. axed staff days before OPP raids
The Ontario Realty Corporation did a major housecleaning — firing some staff and restructuring a department — just before police raided government offices as part of a corruption prob

Eco Fees Should Not Be Scrapped: Watchdog
Gord Miller says if not with eco fees, we will have to pay for the disposal of hazardous materials through taxpayer-funded recycling programs or a degraded environment.

How Tony Clement kept his head – and a drowning swimmer’s – above water all week
Amidst a firestorm over the census, Industry Minister tweets on wedding, river rescue and train ride to Hell

Rooster at hand for Ford 'chicken' insult
While a man dressed in a yellow rooster suit lurked nearby, George Smitherman's campaign manager Bruce Davis called Rob Ford "chicken" for refusing to participate in a one-on-one talk radio debate with Mr. Smitherman.

Toronto Hydro users may have to pay $8 million in class-action settlement
Toronto Hydro consumers may have to cover the utility’s share of a $17-million class-action lawsuit involving illegal charges on late payments.

Somalis angered by Toronto police action
Members of the Somali community in Toronto say they're upset with the amount of force used by police to take a suspect into custody last week - a suspect that turned out to be the wrong man.

The curious case of the Scarborough stench
A stench from a local paper mill has invaded Scarborough yards.

Parents doubling care plans for kids
Only five out of 22 schools in Ottawa’s English public school board launching full-day kindergarten programs this September will also provide the extended on-site care before and after class initially promised by the Ontario government.

OC Transpo holds customer appreciation days in August
Refreshments, transit information and promotional items will be handed out, and bus riders will have a chance to win a monthly or annual bus pass, according to a memo sent to councillors by Alain Mercier, the general manager of transit services.

School board blamed for daycare snafu
Poor promotion by the city’s public school board is to blame for the lack of enrolment in its extended daycare programs that has left parents in a bind to find daycare for their children, a local parent council chair said Wednesday.

Candidate declines to reveal specifics of rights complaint
A municipal election candidate in River ward who filed a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal claiming he was harassed, intimidated and discriminated against by city staff and a city councillor over a four-year period says he won’t make his specific allegations public.

London woman survives bear attack
A London woman who awoke to a bear chewing on her arm survived by playing dead during the animal’s violent late-night rampage through a U.S. campground Tuesday.

As Londoners brace for a 17% jump in their power bill, critics say conservation only goes so far
Londoner Arnold Hull won’t be helping the city keep a walkway beside his house safe and clean anymore.

Bid to reopen Junction receives legal setback
Two Windsor businessmen have lost another fight in their battle to reopen The Junction on the city’s near west side.

Windsor council approves small business recommendations
WINDSOR, Ont. — University and college business and finance students could be running around helping local small business owners as soon as this fall with their grant applications and paperwork challenges.

Multi-million dollar marina project coming to Trenton?
One project down, another one to go. That's how Quinte West Mayor John Williams pitched a proposed multi-million dollar marina project to Premier Dalton McGuinty Tuesday morning.[...]

Ontario teen's Cuban ordeal to come to an end, return to Canada pending
CAMAGUEY, Cuba -- Cody LeCompte's tropical island nightmare has finally come to an end.[...]