Worth Reading - December 4, 2014

John McGrath on TVO's blog writes about reforming Toronto's City Council. Should elections be reformed? Should the number of councillors increase? Decrease? Would that impact the debate at City Hall?

Martin Regg Cohn writes in the Toronto Star that Premier Kathleen Wynne (OLP - Don Valley West) and Mayor John Tory are aligned politically and should usher an era of more peaceful relations. I'm of the opinion that there are institutional difficulties between Queen's Park and City Hall that means things may continue to be difficult.

The Last of Us is a video game that I very badly want to spend some time playing, but I do not own a Playstation 3 or 4. This article discusses how realistic the fungal zombie-style outbreak is presented in the game's universe.

This is an article about the transformation of Chicago's economy and its impact on its transit system. It's a really interesting idea that the modes of the economy shape transit usage and distribution.Chicago and Toronto share a lot of DNA so I'm sure much could be applied to the other.

Women are woefully under-represented in our legislative bodies. Obviously there are barrier to women getting elected, but Scott Gillmore asks if women should shoulder more responsibility for their absence and intervene.

Edward Keenan wrote a scathing piece in the Toronto Star suggesting that Mayor John Tory has already abandoned his commitment to unite the city. Mr. Tory has named his team and has excluded the progressive members of Council. I think Mr. Keenan is being too hard on the new mayor. I am happy to give him his honeymoon period for a while longer.

The NDP put forward a motion in the House of Commons on mixed-member proportional representation this week.This issue ranks as one of my passions so I was pleased to see the NDP's position made clear here.

Marcus Gee in the Globe and Mail writes on the suburban transit development around Toronto. I think Gee might be a tad too optimistic, but the construction and development is encouraging.

From NOW Toronto, Jonathan Goldsbie writes about Toronto's City Council's race problem. While the piece is about Toronto it be applied to many other contexts.

Desmond Cole travelled to Ferguson, Missouri to cover the stories there for the Walrus. Check them out.