Toronto Life March 2024

ENJOY ONE MONTH FREE + $1,450 IN WELCOME BONUSES A new boutique community by award-winning developer Fitzrovia is elevating the rental experience to extraordinary heights. The much-anticipated launch of Elm and Ledbury is finally here—be the first to lease at Toronto’s pre-eminent rental address. Elm and Ledbury presents a diverse collection of spacious designer-crafted studio, one-, two-and three-bedroom floor plans. This exceptional community provides an unmatched array of amenities and is situated in the coveted Garden District of Toronto, near Queen and Church. Emphasizing craftsmanship and quality finishes, such as in-suite millwork imported from Italy, along with on-site hospitality professionals, this rental offers a one-of-a-kind living experience. Not to mention there are some generous perks for residents, for an unprecedented and truly one-of-a-kind offering. TAILORED RESIDENCES TO MATCH YOUR UNIQUE…

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Fear and Loathing Readers were united in their reaction to Rachel Browne’s January-issue investigative feature on Carolyn Krebs, the landlord at 500 Dawes Road. They loved the piece as much as they loathed the subject. “This woman gives all landlords a bad name. According to the article, she’s done this for decades, yet there seem to be no consequences. I remember her from my time as an adjudicator at the LTB. Sad it’s still going on.” —@harry_fine, X “I worked relentlessly to try to improve conditions for tenants at 500 Dawes Road. The city did some remedial action to fix boilers and other things. But it’s time for more serious consequences for this landlord and for decent living conditions for these tenants.” —@Janet_Davis, X “Fantastic. So detailed and 100 per…

In 2016, that list grew two names longer. Amira and Nadya Gill were raised in Etobicoke, the twin daughters of a Tanzanian mother and a British father. Mom and Dad had a rocky relationship, and home life wasn’t exactly bliss, but the twins showed promise in athletics and academics. As high school came to an end, they stood on the cusp of a bright future. Yet their mother, Karima Manji, decided aptitude wasn’t going to be enough. She knew about the many bursaries and grants available to First Nations, Inuit and Métis students in Canada. One glaring obstacle—the family’s lack of Indigeneity—should have been the end of it, but Manji wasn’t your average, law-abiding citizen. A year earlier, she’d been caught stealing $800,000 from March of Dimes, a charity for…

“It’s great to have 600,000 Ontarians with an ownership stake in MLSE”—Blake Hutcheson, p.22 Toronto is famously short on sound stages, and rival studios like Amazon, Paramount and Netflix have had to fight for access to them. To satisfy all that demand, several projects are underway: CreateTO’s $250-million Basin Media Hub in the Port Lands; Cinespace’s 130,000-square-foot expansion at Cherry Beach; and Ryan Reynolds’s 1.2-million-square-foot megahub in Markham, the largest in Canadian history. Until they’re ready for action, Amazon has secured a stopgap: the exclusive use of a whopping 160,000 square feet of new stages, workshops and offices at Pinewood Studios, on Commissioners Street. It’s a huge investment that will prop up Toronto’s film and TV industry. It’s also a bit of cunning on Amazon’s part, preventing its competitors from…

You’re responsible for the pensions of 600,000 civil servants—$130 billion in assets. Is that as stressful as it sounds? There’s a huge sense of purpose that comes with knowing that our work affects one in 11 homes in Ontario. It was especially motivating during the pandemic. Our members are mostly front-liners, such as child care workers and first responders. Heroes. OMERS hit a rough patch at the outset of the pandemic. How did you respond? We’re a bit more conservative than Bay Street in how we manage risk. A lot of our holdings are in real estate, so we woke up with our malls, airports and theatres all shut down. But it’s funny that people focus on those few weeks. From June 2020 to June 2023, we morphed our portfolio…