If it feels like major world-changing events keep happening every few weeks, that’s because they are. Since our last issue in late January, the U.S. and Israel started a war with Iran, Israel invaded Lebanon, and the U.S. put a total oil blockade on Cuba.
Closer to home, we learned about the alleged corruption scandal in the Toronto Police Service, known as Project South, which involved the arrest of seven current officers and one retired cop for a range of crimes connected to organized crime. Information allegedly leaked by police was used to carry out the attempted murder of a jail guard.
The police also got a huge $93 million budget increase this winter. (For more on how the cops keep getting more dough, check out pages 14 and 15.)
We can’t promise that things are going to calm down, but the arrival of spring and longer days at least brings new life to the city. Stop and smell the flowers and don’t forget to breathe.
Meanwhile, Mark Carney’s Liberals are inching closer to a majority government with floor crossings and three by-elections on April 13, including in the Toronto ridings of University-Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest. The Liberals haven’t had a majority since 2019.
Pierre Poilievre has been gushing that Carney is implementing all of the Conservatives’ ideas, like making major cuts to public services while giving breaks to big corporations and the rich (see more on page 13).
This should be raising alarm bells for progressive voters, but Carney’s tough-on-Trump posturing has kept him riding high in opinion polls.
While the Liberals are spending a fortune on exactly the kind of military spending Trump wants, it is very unlikely that a Carney Liberal majority would implement programs to benefit regular people in Ontario, like publicly-provided pharmacare (prescription drug coverage) which the Trudeau Liberals promised under pressure from the NDP.
The real question with these by-elections is this: Do you want the Liberals in a majority position where they don’t have to work with other parties, or do you want them to have to make compromises with their choice of the Conservatives, Bloc Quebecois and NDP?
The Grind’s spring fundraiser and events
At The Grind, we’re gearing up for our spring fundraising campaign April 14 to May 5. It has been, well, a grind keeping this publication going for over three years, but we love it.
We’re throwing a couple fundraising events, and you’ll see the announcements for them in this issue. The goal is to raise $100,000, which is super ambitious, but it’s what we need in order to hire two staff members to run the paper and be able to respond quickly when there’s big news that’s going unreported.
Speaking of, we’re being sued for our coverage of a charged incident. We’re not going to say more about it just yet, but we stand behind our reporting and we’re not backing down. We’ll need your support to fight the case and continue publishing.
You can of course donate at thegrindmag.ca before April 14, and make sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on X or BlueSky so you see the campaign announcements.
This article appeared in the 2026 Apr/May issue.