12 h. ago You can get discounts to 82 different places in Ontario with your Presto card

If you already have a Presto card, you might not know that, besides getting you across the city, it can actually unlock some pretty impressive perks and discounts on attractions, restaurants, and events happening all across Ontario. While some Presto discounts are available year-round, others are available for a limited time only. To get your discount, all you have to do is use a special discount code at checkout for online purchases or show your physical Presto card or digital version in person. Here are just a few examples out of the 82 places you get a discount in Ontario just by flashing your Presto card this fall. Attractions Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) If you're looking for indoor attractions to visit as the weather cools up, you can visit the AGO and use the promo code AGOPRESTO online to get 15 per cent off an AGO Annual Pass. This offer is only valid until Oct. 31.Canadian Automotive Museum Located in Oshawa, this museum is ...

Transport

25 h. ago Don't envy the winner of the federal NDP's leadership contest

Douglas Todd: Debate within the battered left-wing NDP is over whether to go all out to attract disparate groups or focus on winning back blue-collar workers

Politics

26 h. ago Could a U.S. visa fee push tech workers to Canada? Here’s what you need to know

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says he sees an opening for Canada to attract global tech talent now that the United States is introducing a $100,000 fee for temporary visas for workers with specialized skills. But the Canadian tech sector typically sees a lot of migration to the U.S. among high-skill employees — and […]

Society

36 h. ago Ontario once had very bizarre McDonald's locations but they're gone forever

Although most McDonald's locations in Ontario look nearly identical today — with their grey exteriors and red columns topped with the chain's famous golden arches — some outlets had their own distinct quirky character throughout the 1970s and 1990s. As franchise owners worked to set their locations apart from others, many experienced unusual features that have since disappeared, including attached train cabooses to host birthday parties, and even one with a gas station built beneath it. For those who grew up in Ontario during the late 20th century, the sight of a bright red caboose beside your local McDonald's was a staple of childhood. Franchise owners across the province, from Chatham to Stratford, Barrie to Owen Sound, and Orangeville to Mississauga, converted former railway cars into dining rooms and play areas, and birthday party rooms. A McDonald's caboose restaurant in Chatham, Ont., in 1985. Photo: Don McQueen/Old Ont...

Other

43 h. ago Toronto bar that closed after 20 years being replaced by retro

A Toronto bar in a historic building is getting a new lease on life as it transforms into a new concept this October.The Gladstone House's Melody Bar had been a pillar of West Queen West, taking on various appearances and lives over the years, for over two decades, when it suddenly and quietly closed its doors at the end of 2022.Since then, the space at the historic property has sat dormant, collecting dust while the neighbourhood's frequenters grew impatient waiting to learn whether Melody Bar would rise from the ashes, or whether it really was gone for good.Alas, we finally have our answer, and it's the latter, but it's not all bad news.A new chapter is on the horizon for the former Melody Bar, as it prepares to transform into Cassette, a refined take on the classic, retro diner, opening at the end of October.If you're expecting a typical greasy spoon, think again. Cassette is going to pack a serious punch in the style department, while stil...

Other

44 h. ago NDP hopeful Rob Ashton wants to be the guy you’d get a beer — or a cup of tea — with

'We've forgotten how to communicate with workers, for whatever reason, and that's something we'll have to re-learn,' he said

Other

46 h. ago Loblaw closing No Name discount grocery stores in Ontario after just a year

Loblaw Companies Ltd. is slowly winding down its ultra-discount No Name grocery store program, with two of the three pilot locations in Ontario now closed or slated to shut down just over a year after they first opened. The stores were originally launched in September 2024 and gave shoppers access to even lower prices than the company's existing discount chains, like No Frills. The concept aimed to reduce operating costs through shorter store hours, a smaller assortment of products, limited marketing, no refrigeration, and fewer weekly deliveries. At the time, the company said that the stores would help customers save up to 20 per cent on everyday essentials; however, it looks like the concept didn't exactly land with consumers, as its reduced operating costs meant shoppers would have to shop elsewhere for refrigerated items like dairy or fresh meat products. The bare-bones stores carried just 1,300 products, compared to the 7,000 items typically carried in sm...

Other

2 d. ago Scale up efforts to reduce wildfire risk or B.C. faces dire economic consequences: Study

Indirect costs — that include disaster recovery, property loss, environmental damages, and business and health costs — can push the total costs of wildfires 1.5 to 20 times higher.

Events

2 d. ago Toronto chef steps away from fine dining scene to open new casual restaurant

A Toronto chef who cut his teeth in fine dining restaurants across North America is venturing out to do something totally different.Chef Barbode Soudi says that, for the majority of his 20-year tenure working in kitchens across the continent, fine dining was always the plan."I guess my first job was Crush Wine Bar, he said. "But I think one of the most pivotal moments of my career was when I did six months, when I was young, at Eigensinn Farm under Michael Stadtlander."From there, stints at The French Laundry in Napa, Toronto's Lucien, Nota Bene, Black Hoof, and San Francisco's Quince all added feathers to his cap until, ultimately, he returned to the local fine dining scene at Actinolite and Alo."I was always trying to work for the best places and best chefs that I could," Soudi explained. Eventually, he rose in the ranks from sous chef to executive sous chef and, eventually, chef de cuisine at Alo. Then, the pandemic hit. A...

Other

3 d. ago Where to eat and drink in neighbourhood just ranked Toronto's coolest

A Toronto neighbourhood was just named one of the coolest in the entire world — here's everywhere you need to eat and drink when you visit."Coolness" is subjective. In our opinion, anyway. Coolness can't be counted, measured or described. It's as transient as the water in a river. Just ask anyone who enthusiastically wore stretchy tattoo chokers in the '90s. Or the twenty-tens, for that matter.Still, despite coolness's characteristically translucent quality, there will always be places and things that are, indeed, "cool." Typically, it's cool people who call the shots. If a cool person says it's cool, it's cool.How many more times do you think we can say cool in this article? Hint: it's more than you think.That's more or less the methodology behind Time Out Magazine's annual list of the coolest neighbourhoods around the world. The British magazine rounds up the coolest connections its editorial team...

Other

3 d. ago Food prices in Canada keep rising faster than rate of inflation

No, you haven't been imagining it: your grocery bill may have gotten more expensive recently, at least according to Loblaw's September Food Inflation report, which states that food prices have remained above the general rate of inflation due to external pressures.The report, released on Sept. 30, shows that food inflation in Canada rose 3.5 per cent in August compared to the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) at 1.9 per cent."Much of this gap is tied to broader global factors — such as commodity volatility, higher transportation and energy costs in the supply chain, and weather-related disruptions affecting produce and meat," reads the report.One of these weather-related disruptions is due to the unusually low rainfall seen in the Atlantic provinces, Quebec, and parts of Ontario. Due to this, Loblaw said that crops like corn, soybeans, blueberries, and root vegetables were "stressed during critical growth phases," which in turn reduced yields, ...

Economics

3 d. ago Alberta tops in Canada for ‘social mobility,’ Quebec dead last, finds study

Alberta came out on top of a social mobility index that measures how feasible it is for residents to out-earn their parents and improve their living standards

Events

3 d. ago You can now get free beer and wine on all Air Canada flights

Good news for those travelling in the near future, as Air Canada has just revealed it will be expanding its complimentary beer and wine offerings to all flights.Air Canada now offers complimentary beer, wine and Canadian-made snacks on all flights, including those to Mexico and the Caribbean.Last year, the Canadian airline began offering complimentary drinks on flights across Canada and the U.S., as well as internationally.Flights to Mexico and the Caribbean were previously excluded from the offer, but as of Sept. 1, this has now been expanded to include all Air Canada flights.Among those sips offered for free are beers such as Hop Valley, Creemore Springs Premium Lager, Molson Canadian, and Coors Light, as well as red and white wines from Paul Mas.Air Canada is also the only Canadian airline to offer non-alcoholic beer in-flight, with the addition of Heineken 0.0.The Canadian airline has also added some new snacks to its flights. For those travelling before 10 a.m., MadeGood M...

Other

3 d. ago What to eat at first Toronto outpost of restaurant chain made famous by Guy Fieri

Vancouver's Peaceful Restaurant has finally opened its first location in Toronto, bringing Northern Chinese cuisine to the Annex.Peaceful Restaurant had already been a local favourite across Metro Vancouver for 15 years by the time Guy Fieri rolled into town in 2013, to feature the restaurant on an episode of his show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.The episode further catapulted the restaurant into local legend status, beloved city (dare we even say, province?) over for its droolworthy Mandarin-style cuisine.It was only a matter of time before we got the chance to dust off our chopsticks and try the restaurant for ourselves, and now, nearly 30 years after Peaceful Restaurant's first location opened, we've finally scored our own location in Toronto.At the helm of the whole operation is Executive Chef and founder Charlie Huang.Huang opened the first location of Peaceful Restaurant in Vancouver back in 1998, and tells us visitors from Toronto have been begg...

Other

3 d. ago Toronto shopping and dining destination getting first restaurant

The Well in Toronto already has, more or less, anything you could want, but it’s about to welcome a groovy new nightclub concept.Big things are, seemingly, always going down at The Well ever since it officially opened in late 2023.Recent additions like Taline’s new casual concept Giragi and a Bear Steak Sandwiches location at the ever-popular Wellington Market Food Hall have only kept the lifestyle complex’s stock on the rise.Something new is on the way, though, that could quite possibly change everything.Opening later this fall on Wellington, Noyaa, from Dubai’s Tribes Hospitality Investment group, is finally bringing a much-needed dose of party atmosphere to The Well.The new nightlife destination is a first-of-its-kind for The Well, whose nighttime offerings have been limited to bowling at National or late-night drinks at Aera since its inception, but don’t worry, there will be plenty to eat, too.The nightclub doubles as a lux...

Other

4 d. ago Ritzy new Toronto restaurant from Michelin chef opens this week

A ritzy Toronto hotel is adding a new restaurant that pays homage to Indian and British cuisines to its lineup this week.Toronto's Le Germain Hotel is, in no way, wanting for great food and drink offerings.Its newly refreshed lobby bar, Library, is the stuff that lesser hotel lobby bars dream of, and it's in good company with celebrated restaurants (albeit ones attached to competing hotels) like Akira Back and Nobu just a stone's throw away.Still, the hotel is upping the ante as it prepares to launch its luxe new restaurant, Punch, this Thursday, Oct. 2.A deft blend of British and Indian cuisines, the menu at Punch is the masterwork of Executive Chef Mandar Kulkarni, who has made his name in the Michelin-starred Don Alfonso 1890 kitchen, on top of other reputed restaurants like Buca and Le Select Bistro."I feel privileged to share a menu that reflects my own story and cultural roots," says Kulkarni. Indeed, the story being told on the plate is a deeply personal...

Other

4 d. ago Pending strikes in France set to disrupt air travel industry

France faces new strikes that are likely to disrupt air travel just as the country is losing its attraction as a tourist and business destination because of the political turmoil and higher taxes. A general strike planned for Thursday should have limited immediate impact on the airline industry, aviation authority DGAC said in a statement […]

Other

4 d. ago Ottawa rejette la demande d’exportation des 30 bélugas de Marineland

Une vingtaine de bélugas sont morts dans les installations de captivité du parc d’attractions en Ontario depuis 2019.

Economics

4 d. ago Chunk, at 1,200 pounds and with a broken jaw, wins Alaska’s Fat Bear Week

The contest attracted over 1.5 million votes from fans who watched the ursines gorge on a record run of fall salmon

Other

4 d. ago New study adds to the possibility of favourable conditions for life at Saturn’s moon Enceladus

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Scientists have uncovered new types of organics in icy geysers spouting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, bolstering the likelihood that the ocean world may harbour conditions suitable for life. Their findings, reported Wednesday, are based on observations made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2008 during a close and fast flyby of Enceladus. […]

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