Innehållsförteckning för July 2025 från Toronto Life

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Suddenly, a door opened and Ford, in a shark-grey suit, filled its frame. Grinning widely, he extended his hand and graciously welcomed me into his office, where we sat across an ornate wooden desk. For the next hour, he patiently and thoughtfully answered my questions. At times, he was defensive and mad as hell. But he also showed exceptional insight and compassion. He railed against his political opponents (Kathleen Wynne, Justin Trudeau, John Tory) in one breath and showered them with praise the next. He candidly addressed Rob’s substance abuse problems and spoke in such a tender, heartbreaking way about his little brother’s last moments that we both teared up. “His breathing was slowing, and I could see the heart monitor, and then it just kind of stopped,” he said.…

Before you were a WNBA exec, you were a Toronto basketball fan. I seem to recall you partying during the Raptors’ 2019 championship run. I grew up enjoying the Raptors but didn’t have the means to go to games. Then superfan Nav Bhatia started letting me sit with him. I’m spoiled: I fell in love with the team watching courtside. I moved to LA in 2015 but flew back and forth during the 2019 playoffs. It was a top-five experience of my life. I could have watched Game 6 in Oakland, but I chose Jurassic Park. I thought nothing would ever top that moment—until I heard that a women’s pro team was coming to Toronto. For a while, women’s sports were caught in a catch-22: potential owners said the market…

IT’S NOT OFTEN that I find myself in a room with some of the world’s biggest celebrities. But there I was, this past April, dressed in a tux and receiving the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for my role in the discovery of GLP-1, a metabolic hormone that is also the active ingredient in Ozempic. It’s wild to think that something I started working on in a lab in Boston in the 1980s—my first real job after medical school—led me to the so-called Science Oscars. Unlike most other science galas, where you’re lucky to get a decent meal, this ceremony is very swanky. It’s held in Los Angeles and attended by bold-face names from the tech world (Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin) and from Hollywood (Gwyneth Paltrow, Jodie Foster,…

Whether it’s to add joy, drama or quiet elegance to your wardrobe, jewellery offers a timeless personal touch to every outfit. Some pieces are only for special occasions and others for everyday wear, but each one reflects the owner’s style and taste. Toronto-based jeweller Jared Brown understands this well—he’s been designing, curating and selling jewellery for almost 20 years as the owner of Jared Brown Designs. Brown began the business in 2007, but his attraction to jewellery stems from his grandmother, who was a jeweller in the United Kingdom. That family history became the foundation of his business, connecting people with pieces they will cherish forever. Luxurious handcrafted pieces, plus personal shopping Jared Brown Designs is known for its carefully handcrafted fine jewellery, with a focus on bespoke bridal and…

“I’m a sucker for Forno Cultura’s amaretti cookies”—BRENDAN CANNING, P. 72 HOME DECOR Curve Appeal $1,399/The Aril chair from EQ3 is proudly made in Canada, with a pillowy silhouette and a wrap-around backrest that feels like a high-design hug. eq3.com Glow Up From $850/Hollis and Morris’s Berm Orb Sconce is personality lighting with strong mid-century vibes. It comes in four solid wood options and a choice of a handblown glass orb or a frosted acrylic lens. hollisandmorris.com Lounge Act $7,500/The Gather Sofa, from Toronto duo J and J Made, is a cloud-like seven-foot-long stunner designed for serious repose. It’s the centrepiece of your open-concept dreams. jandjmade.com Trunk Show $399/Reiner’s Originals has been handcrafting zoomorphic keepsakes in the Blue Mountains for more than 50 years. Their adorable leather elephant is equal…

BEACHES JAZZ FESTIVAL Various locations, July 4 to 27, beachesjazz.com What it’s all about: A whole month of jazzy tunes capped off by one big street fest. Spread across several east-end parks and, for one weekend, a two-kilometre stretch of Queen Street East, the Beaches Jazz Festival draws 50 bands and 1,000 artists every year to entertain its one million attendees. Why you need to go: The festival kicks off with a beer garden in Jimmie Simpson Park, followed by Salsa on the Beach, which transforms Woodbine Beach into a dance floor for salsa, merengue and cumbia. The capstone street fest features more than 30 bands across three nights, including Little Magic Sam, Jackson Steinwall, the Quincy Bullen Family Band and plenty more local acts. Don’t miss: Musical master classes…

ONE MORNING LAST JULY, Ian Elliott and Tyler Shane waited for a call they’d been hoping to receive for years. It was 10 days after their surrogate’s embryo transfer, and after three failed transfers and plenty of uncertainty, they were preparing themselves for another letdown. Then the phone rang. “We’ll never forget her voice,” recalls Ian. “The nurse from Anova told us the transfer had worked—and not only that, but the numbers also looked incredible. She said she had tears in her eyes for us. We felt the joy in her voice. That moment still gives us chills.” That call marked a turning point. After years of effort, the final stretch of their long and often isolating fertility journey had begun. Ian and Tyler had talked about growing their family…

JON GENEROUS had blown through dozens of cam girls. According to his online bio, he was 54 years old and a successful real estate developer with cash to burn but nowhere to spend it. He was single, and he’d already provided his two adult children with hefty inheritances. Nothing he was buying made him happy, and that included the cam girls on MyGirlFund, an interactive sex site similar to OnlyFans. Jon wanted more than the typical snapshot or 30-second clip, though those were not off the table. He wanted thrills, sure, but also something more enduring—emotional connection. In the fantasy market, this pretend, paid relationship with benefits has a name: the girlfriend experience. Jon had the money and the patience. He just needed to find the one. Then, in February…

BRENDAN CANNING has lived in the same King West heritage worker’s cottage for 30 years. “I started renting one room,” he says. “Ten years later, I bought the whole thing.” The neighbourhood has since exploded, most notably with jumbo developments like Portland Commons and the Well now surrounding his little house. Canning has been busy too: Broken Social Scene has a new doc on Crave and plays History later this month, followed by gigs in Ottawa, Saint John and Ireland. He’ll also soon drop a new pop album with his girlfriend, the singer and pianist Cynthia Tauro. Here are his King West go-tos. For British beats KOPS RECORDS “I’m a DJ who never buys digital music, so record shops are integral to my life. I frequent different record stores for…