Toronto Life April 2022

DIGITAL EDITION FREE FOR PRINT SUBSCRIBERS Your Toronto Life subscription now includes free access to the Toronto Life and FASHION digital editions. In your digital newsstand store, search “toronto life” and “fashion magazine,” download/open the apps and follow the prompts. SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRY To find out when your current subscription expires, check the mailing label. BILLING AND RENEWAL NOTICE Invoice and renewal notices are printed one week before they are mailed to you. With delivery time, it’s possible that your payment or renewal order will cross in the mail with our invoice or renewal notice. FRAGRANCE-FREE ISSUES Some issues of Toronto Life include perfume strips. If you prefer to receive your copy of the magazine without perfume strips, please write to us at the address listed below. MAIL PREFERENCE On occasion,…

Train Wreck Nicholas Hune-Brown’s feature on the Ontario Line outlined the desperate need for better transit in the city, and the vehement opposition to where the line is slated to go. Readers had strong feelings—mostly that the resistance is NIMBYist in nature. “This is an immensely well-done story. It covers all sides of the issues and tries to provide the reader with a lot of perspectives. “One of my favourite passages in the article: ‘The benefits of a subway line…are so distant that they can seem almost abstract. The kid from Don Mills and Eglinton who, 12 years from now, will be able to get a job downtown won’t show up to any town hall sessions. The couple who will move into the apartment building created by transit-oriented development two…

This is my last editor’s letter at Toronto Life. After this issue, I’ll assume a new role as the editor of Maclean’s magazine, the storied national publication owned by Toronto Life’s parent company, SJC Media. I’m thrilled to be embarking on a new professional adventure, but there are many things about Toronto Life—the magazine I’ve been running for 14 years—that I’m going to miss. I was appointed editor of this publication just a few months before the Great Recession of 2008. Our economy was deeply shaken. The stock market crashed, house prices dropped and projects in development came to a halt as financing dried up. It was a nerve-racking time to assume the editorship. But it was an exciting time, too. Toronto was experiencing a massive identity shift, becoming more…

As anti-Putin protests broke out around Toronto, City Hall flew the Ukrainian flag, the Toronto sign and the CN Tower were lit up in blue and yellow, and the LCBO pulled Russian products from its shelves. Those small acts of solidarity might have seemed insignificant, occurring some 7,500 kilometres from Kyiv, but they were just as much about supporting the local Ukrainian community—upwards of 375,000 in Ontario, more than any other Canadian province—as sending a message abroad.…

You’re frequently referred to as “the author who predicted the pandemic” with your post-apocalyptic book Station Eleven, so tell us: what did you know that the rest of us didn’t? I read a lot about the history of pandemics when I was writing Station Eleven and something that became clear is that there will always be another one. Because we hadn’t had a pandemic in this part of the world for so long, my book was perceived as prescient, but I don’t feel like I predicted anything. Were you someone who had a pantry stocked with canned goods before Covid came along, just in case? I started keeping bottled water and some rudimentary supplies, but less because of Station Eleven and more because of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, when Covid…

“I put about 20 per cent of my earnings into a stock portfolio” REGULAR EXPENSES RENT $1,900, including utilities. “All of the restaurants and shops I need are within walking distance, which is great,” says Ahmet. INTERNET $50 a month, for unlimited high-speed internet. “I get a deal because my building has a contract with FibreStream.” PHONE $50 a month, with Fido. FITNESS $105 a month, for a membership at Basecamp, a rock-climbing gym. “I go three or four times a week.” TRANSPORTATION $110 a month, for TTC and Uber. “I work from home, so I don’t leave my neighbourhood that much.” GROCERIES $350 a month. “I shop at Metro every now and then, but I order most necessities, like cleaning products and bulk foods, on Amazon, where they’re cheaper…