wrote about colonizers in space for @thewalrus.ca! thewalrus.ca/with-the-art...

Toronto schools have been increasingly calling on lunch supervisors, parents, and other non-teachers to cover staff absences. How often is this happening at your local school? Find out with our search tool here! #OntEd #TDSB thelocal.to/emergency-re...

Some schools used non-teachers more than 1,000x a year; others not at all. You can use our tool, at the following link, to find out how often your local TDSB school relied on non-teachers

Wanna know how often your local TDSB school relies on non-teachers to fill in for staff? @taimhuynh.bsky.social built this nifty tool, with which you can look up any school in the board to find out how often it used non-teachers over the past seven years up to 2024/25 thelocal.to/emergency-re...

Looking forward to chatting with @civictechto.bsky.social next week!

Hey GTA! @thenarwhal.ca is hiring a BIPOC reporting fellow to help us explain how Ontario government policy affects people's actual, everyday lives. More info here, drop questions in the chat if you have them. thenarwhal.ca/ontario-repo...

The role of crossing guard was once seen as an idyllic job meant for local retirees. Today, most crossing guards are poorly paid contract workers employed by private companies, and their job is more dangerous than ever, writes Angela Misri @karmicangel.bsky.social. thelocal.to/crossing-gua...

🧵Searching for the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones. The government is going to miss a deadline to publicly fund all medically necessary services from nurse practitioners. So, reporters today wanted to hear an explanation from the minister. #OnPoli

Rare, great opportunity to come join The Local as a permanent full-time reporter! Looking for someone who knows and loves Peel Region to join the team.

📣Excellent journalism job alert! Come work with us!

Last call to apply for The Local Fellowship 2026! Applications are due tomorrow. thelocal.to/local-fellow...

This month the AIDS Committee of Toronto, Canada’s oldest AIDS organization, closes its doors after more than four decades. Kevin Hurren on its history and unfinished legacy. (Originally published by our friends @xtramagazine.com). thelocal.to/aids-committ...

On today's Question Everything, a magazine editor tries to solve a mystery -- is one of his freelancers trying to trick him? Check out "The Talented Ms. Goldiee" with @nickhunebrown.bsky.social from @thelocal.to podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/q...

📣 Announcing The Local Fellowship 2026—paid positions designed to provide opportunities to early-career journalists from communities underrepresented in Canadian media. This year's Fellows will join us during the fall municipal election campaigns. Applications are open. thelocal.to/local-fellow...

Analysis by The Local shows Ontario’s largest boards receive the lowest per-pupil funding in the province—raising questions about whether the real problem isn’t mismanagement but the funding formula. @wencyleung.bsky.social's latest from our School Board Takeover series. thelocal.to/ontario-scho...

NEW: Meet the private-equity firm -- and its billionaire immigrant CEO -- making millions off some of ICE's cruelest deportation flights. After a five-month investigation, my story for @motherjones.com: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Went to a Sunday afternoon showing of Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie, and died laughing. The entire cinema erupted in spontaneous applause at the end

Called by his ancestors, Ken Johnston walked 1,360 kilometres through southern Ontario to retrace parts of the Underground Railroad. Here's what he learned about Black history in Canada, including the outdoor survival skills needed to escape enslavement. thenarwhal.ca/ontario-nort...

Great reporting (as per usual) on Ontario's healthcare system by the team over at @thelocal.to, with some stellar pieces by @royinori.bsky.social, @rebeccaga0.bsky.social and @wencyleung.bsky.social, among others. thelocal.to/winter-2026/

The always excellent @rebeccaga0.bsky.social tackles the blurring line between medical and commercial in the world of dermatology. What happens when your health care practition turns a medically-necessary appointment turns into a sales pitch for cosmetic procedures? thelocal.to/dermatology-...

A conflict as old as cities themselves! Here’s my story on Toronto’s rats from 2022: thelocal.to/rats-toronto....

Canada is uniquely positioned to break the siege of Cuba—we should be leading a regional coalition to ship oil and aid to Cuba, and prevent the humanitarian crisis that U.S. regime is attempting to deliberately trigger. I wrote about it, and the history of the blockade, for @policyalternatives.ca

Fascinating new data findings from @wencyleung.bsky.social in today's final story of the Cost of Care issue, on the failures of Health811, Ontario's health hotline: thelocal.to/health811-te...

NEW: The Ford government is ending its tuition fee freeze at colleges and universities. Post-secondary institutions will be allowed to increase fees by 2% per year over the next three years. Also major boost in funding for the sector overall. #OnPoli globalnews.ca/news/1166455...

Back when it was Telehealth Ontario, callers could speak with a nurse within seconds or minutes. Now that the service has been replaced by Health811, the average wait time can be many hours #onthealth

Some children in Dilley were so distraught they cut themselves or talked about suicide, parents told ProPublica. They said kids lost their appetites after finding worms and mold on their food, had trouble sleeping, and were constantly sick.

For @thelocal.to i wrote about dermatologists upselling their patients. It’s a trend that critics warn is creating a two-tier system for dermatological care, and may foreshadow what’s to come in Ontario’s health care system more broadly: thelocal.to/dermatology-...

Getting a mole checked can takes months, but Botox appointments are readily available. @rebeccaga0.bsky.social on why dermatologists say their practice is the canary in the coal mine for privatized care. thelocal.to/dermatology-...

After 15 years of construction, the Eglinton Crosstown is finally open! My life has been consumed by Crosstown coverage over the past few months, (as I assume yours has been, too) so here's a quick recap of my work for the Toronto Star:

I love Toronto. ❤️

First impression of Eglinton Crosstown is that it feels more “LRT” than Finch West. On the western arm which is underground, it’s max speed is 56 km/h although it’s capable of much faster.

Maybe I'm biased, but this one-of-a-kind visual guide brought to life by @wencyleung.bsky.social and Michael DeForge might be the most entertaining thing you read this weekend. Don't miss it:

😂

Corporate pressure to earn more $$ is driving pharmacists away, at a time when Ontarians are relying on pharmacists to take on a greater share of health care. Excellent reporting by @kunalchaudhary.bsky.social in @thelocal.to thelocal.to/shoppers-dru...

This is brilliant. Data Illustration by Michael DeForge with text by Wency Leung click through and be amazed!!! (the comparison to diamond studded Rolex watches alone. I can't even.....) Understanding the Eglinton Crosstown in Seven Illustrations - thelocal.to/understandin...

Some spots drawn for thelocal.to, illustrating some of the many delays that led up to the completion of the Eglinton LRT

The tunnelling rate of a mole, Kardashian career-spans, Jamaican patties-per-capita—we had to pull out unorthodox units of measurement to understand the Eglinton Crosstown. Amazing art by the great @michaeldeforge.bsky.social. thelocal.to/understandin...

"Out of 25 transit projects that started in 2011 around the world, from Beijing to Instanbul to Moscow, the Crosstown is the last to open." Also lol at the Jamaican patty cost estimates.

Something fun in advance of tomorrow’s looooooooooooong-awaited opening. thelocal.to/understandin...

7 illustrations to understand the Eglinton Crosstown. I'm aiming to ride it tmrw. The closest station is Oakwood, 500 m north of me. Enjoy local journalism via The Local which created this clever feature @wencyleung.bsky.social #TOpoli #transit #toronto #EglintonLRT #ttc thelocal.to/understandin...

@thelocal.to worked with the brilliant Toronto artist Michael DeForge to create this data illustration to mark the opening of the Eglinton Crosstown thelocal.to/understandin...

Hallway health care metric one of several 'to be retired' from health agency’s public report One emergency physician calling it ‘utter malpractice’ to not release the data publicly www.thetrillium.ca/news/health/... #onpoli

Ontario's corporate pharmacies, like Shoppers Drug Mart, have faced allegations of overworking their pharmacists and setting high targets for medically unnecessary tasks to bolster profits. The resulting burnout, @kunalchaudhary.bsky.social writes, is an impending crisis. thelocal.to/shoppers-dru...

@thelocal.to's Cost of Care issue, publishing through last month and this one, offers deep-dives on the intersection of profit and health care. The shared theme of many of these stories is the modern question of a patient as a customer, or a consumer. The issue so far: thelocal.to/winter-2026/

We're thrilled to introduce Gabrielle McMann, our yearlong early career fellow in partnership with @thephilanthropist.ca! Over the course of this year, Gabrielle will be working together with the Local team, learning the craft of magazine-style community journalism. thelocal.to/gabrielle-mc...

For deep dives into what's happening to health care in Ontario, check out @thelocal.to's The Cost of Care issue, with more stories to come! thelocal.to/winter-2026/

Here's the latest great story from @royinori.bsky.social , explaining the industry behind all those ED and weight-loss drug ads you see on the TTC #ozempic #wegovy thelocal.to/online-pharm...

I had a lot of questions about the millions of online pharmacy ads that have popped up in recent years, hawking hair loss treatment and ED medication and weight loss drugs. @royinori.bsky.social answered them! thelocal.to/online-pharm...

How Privatized Cataract Surgery Helped Ontario’s Wealthiest—and Left Others Behind thelocal.to/cataract-sur...

A booming new industry delivers erectile dysfunction, hair loss, and weight loss drugs straight to your door. @royinori.bsky.social asks: what happens when profit incentives and the convenience of the internet meet the consumer desire for a quick fix to what ails them? thelocal.to/online-pharm...