Until today I didn't imagine that it think it possible to take a train from Union Station to the airport; that's exactly what I did today. Of course, in a twist typical of Hogtown, the airport in question wasn't Canada's busiest, Pearson. It also wasn't Porter Airline's Toronto City Centre; or even tiny Buttonville, just to the north of Toronto. No, if you want to travel by rail to catch a flight in this city, the airport of necessity is Dorval - just outside of Montreal. Given the special promotion that Via is running at the moment, I decided to make the trip in style: Via 'Preference' 1st Class.

How does the other half live then? All told, fairly well, but not nearly as nicely as it's portrayed on the webpage - though maybe it was just my train. The wine was local and quaffable - a Jackson-Triggs Cabernet Franc as the red and an Inniskillin Dry Riesling (curiously in a Burgundy-style s

So the council report on the Gardiner has finally been made public. Amid much rejoicing from those who care about the waterfront, the report recommends tearing it down - or at least tearing down the Spadina to DVP section.

This is very good news, assuming council acts on it. Unfortunately, with the good comes a whole steaming heap of bad.

There was a time, before many of our readership (and indeed, some of our writers) were legally allowed to drink, when a subway closing of 1:40am made sense. At the time Toronto's bars closed at 1am, giving 'late night' revelers the better part of an hour to find their way to the subway. Now, with last call at a later - if still early - time, anybody hoping to ride the Rocket home must say their goodbyes nearly a half hour before last call if they are to avoid the infrequent blue-night busses - or worse, driving home.

If reports are true, this may all be changing in the next few years. Aparently the TTC is commissioning a study on the possiblity of switching - at long last - to 24 hour service; allowing Torontonians to focus more on getting where they're going, and less on the time they're getting there.

Given Gerrard Kennedy's noteriety as one of the most Orange members of the Ontario Liberal Cabinet, it is perhaps no surprise that Cheri DiNovo, a United Church minister, managed to wrest Parkdale - High Park out of Liberal hands, becoming Toronto's newest MPP.

What is surprising - and happily so - is that she managed to do this despite a heavy dose of negative campaigning against her by McGuinty's Liberal party. Traditionally though, this has not been the case. Negative campaigning - anything from casting aspersions about 'hidden agendas' to, as in this case, claiming your oppenent compared Karla Homolka to Jesus (I wish I was making that up) - is very much the Buckley's Mixture of campaigning: that is, it tastes awful, but it works.

Elections, despite Kim Campbell's assertion to the contrary, are times for ideas; they are the perfect vehicle for discovering and debating the candidates' views on how our city should ideally function.

Toronto Council however, seems to be gunshy at the thought of debating anything controversial. They've moved to table a number of decisions until after the election and now, as the Toronto Star reports, they're doing it again.

The Gardiner Report, which examines four possible alternatives for what do do with our downtown freeway, is at the heart of any attempts to revitalise the waterfront. While it certainly wouldn't be impossible to being rehabilitating Torontonians' connection to the lake without knowing what to do with the Gardiner, it certainly would be missing a step. The Gardiner Report is a major piece of work that the incumbants (but not the challengers) for council will know about, and know their opinion about it - but they don't want us to know what they think of that.

Oftentimes helping a worthy cause is, while rewarding, not much fun. Other times, going out and having fun, while enjoyable, doesn't really involve much beyond hedonistsic pleasure. This coming Wednesday, there's a chance to merge the two.

The girls at DoubleScoop are staging their first annual Friends Helping Friends event. It's looking to be lots of fun, with all proceeds going to help the fight to end breast cancer.

While originally the night was planned as a bachelor/bachelorette auction, when push came to shove the DoubleScoop team decided to make it much more inclusive to those in monogamous relationships or just not looking to buy a date. There will be a silent auction, a DJ, and live music by the Sultans of String and plenty of opportunities to have a good time.

It all kicks off at 6:30pm this Wednesday the 30th at Hugh's Room. Should be a blast.