Morning Brew: Potentially record-setting temperatures on tap today, Ford says no to road tolls and audit, Rogers launches 24-hour news station, the Grey Cup is coming to town, and Four Seasons penthouse sells for $28 million
Welcome to the heat, Toronto. Today's temperatures could make it feel like it's a scorching 40 degrees Celsius outside, which has Toronto and GTA under a humidex advisory today. If today's high reaches the expected 32 degrees Celsius then it would break the previous record set in 1944 of 31 degrees. So don't forget to drink lots of water, remain in cool and shaded areas, wear a hat and bust out that SPF 30 sunscreen. And please reserve the complaints â it's better than the rain.
According to his big bro, Mayor Rob Ford will not support road tolls to help fund the Sheppard subway extension despite Gordon Chong's suggestion that they could play a crucial role in generating the $4-billion needed for the project. The mayor said during his election campaign that he was "totally opposed" to road tolls and it looks like he's sticking to that. Councillor Doug Ford said Monday that Chong's job is to consider all options but that, ultimately, council will not accept tolls. I guess back to the drawing board.
Our mayor was busy yesterday with another financial conundrum: the audit of his campaign finances. Ford is seeking an appeal to the city's compliance audit even though he had initially said he had "no problem at all" with the examination. Now Ford's lawyer Tom Barlow is saying the city's compliance audit committee erred in their interpretation of Municipal Elections Act and the audit should be stopped.
Did you think Canada needed another 24-hours news network? Me neither, but looks like we're getting another one anyway. Rogers Communications is launching CityNews Channel in October. The specialty network will integrate Rogers' brands such as the magazines, "Macleans," "Today's Parent" and "Hello! Canada" as well as their 24-hour-radio station, "680 News." So they're pretty much not hiring any new people. Sorry. The initial focus of the network will be on Toronto, putting it in direct competition with CP24.
This should be a lot of fun even for people who don't know anything about Canadian football. Toronto will host the 100th Grey Cup festival and the championship game in 2012. The event is expected to generate a lot more economic activity than it did in 2007, according to CFL officials, because it's going to be "bigger." The festival will run November 16-25 2012.
IN BRIEF:
Photo by Patrick Cummins in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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