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Nick Kouvalis
City News
Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #17, Nick Kouvalis
Kouvalis is the ultimate guy behind the guy
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TL Events
Toronto Life
celebrates the most influential Torontonians of 2015 at an exclusive cocktail reception
Pictures from
Toronto Life
's Most Influential event at the Four Seasons
City News
Q&A: Nick Kouvalis, the kingmaker behind both Rob Ford and John Tory’s mayoral wins
If you’re planning on becoming mayor of Toronto at some point, you might want to call up Nick Kouvalis. As an architect of Rob...
City News
Is Rob Ford’s reelection campaign being run by amateurs?
At this early point in the 2014 mayoral campaign, nobody has ruled out the possibility that Rob Ford will win reelection, but...
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City News
Campaign wizard Nick Kouvalis won’t help Rob Ford in the next election—unless the mayor goes to rehab
Nick Kouvalis, the mastermind behind the “gravy train” and with it Rob Ford’ s 2010 election win, won’t help with Ford’s...
City News
Rob Ford makes evil ideological genius Mark Towhey his new chief of staff
Mark Towhey just signed up for what is, by most inside accounts, the toughest, most thankless political job at city hall: Rob...
City News
POLL: Who will Rob Ford pick as his next chief of staff?
Now that Rob Ford’ s chief of staff Amir Remtulla has quit to take a gig with the Pan Am Games, sources say there are two main...
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City News
Rob Ford’s chief of staff quits—and there are plenty of rumours about why
Rob Ford is losing a key aide (no, Doug Ford is not making the leap to provincial politics—yet). Amir Remtulla, the mayor’s...
City News
The weirdest mayoralty ever—the inside story of Rob Ford’s city hall
On Newstalk 1010, the sly strains of the Hollies hit “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” offered the first clue. Then...
City News
QUOTED: Doug Ford ignores Nick Kouvalis’s advice and bad-mouths more councillors
— Doug Ford on TTC chair Karen Stintz and conservative councillor Peter Milczyn , two erstwhile Ford allies who have distanced...
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City News
QUOTED: Nick Kouvalis politely invites Doug Ford to put a sock in it
— Nick Kouvalis , Rob Ford’ s campaign architect and former chief of staff, speaking on Doug Ford ’ s sometimes-corrosive...
City News
Has Doug Ford finally become a political handicap for Rob Ford?
Doug Ford’ s antics are finally catching up to him—and his brother. According to a nice piece in the Globe and Mail...
City News
Rob Ford is making moves in the lead-up to the Sheppard subway vote (also, Nick Kouvalis is back!)
Looks like Rob Ford isn’t willing to let his Sheppard subway dream go gently into that good night. While the initial vote to...
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City News
Ontario Conservatives name Richard Ciano party president, hoping for that sweet Rob Ford campaign magic
Apparently hoping to learn a thing or two about, you know, actually winning elections, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives chose...
City News
Marcus Gee wants Metrolinx to endorse a transit plan (for crying out loud!)
After enduring a crummy PowerPoint presentation from Metrolinx, apparently, city columnist Marcus Gee is a little cranky. In the...
City News
The Q&A: Nick Kouvalis is cashing in on his newfound cachet right, left and centre
A chat with the political strategist everyone wants in their corner In a year, you’ve gone from mastermind of Rob Ford’s...
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City News
Doug Holyday basically says firefighting is safe and easy; meanwhile, Nick Kouvalis is up to his old tricks
We already knew that the man behind Rob Ford’ s gravy train campaign is now working for the opposite side by running a PR...
City News
Rob Ford’s anti-gravy strategist is now riding firefighting gravy boat
Looks like the man who helped Rob Ford ride the phrase “Stop the gravy train” all the way to the mayor’s office is now...
City News
Rob Ford’s ex–campaign chief receives a little gravy from B.C.’s HST fight
Here’s an interesting story, reported by the Globe and Mail and flagged by the CBC’s Kady O’Malley . The government of...
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City News
Sheppard subway poised to eat the TTC chief’s job—and maybe Karen Stintz and streetcars, too
The big story this morning from the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail is that the mayor’s office—either Rob Ford himself or...
City News
Nick Kouvalis, the man credited with building Ford Nation, is fomenting a revolution—Tea Party–style
Hey you. Yeah, you on the bike. You, NOW magazine reader, fair trade lentil soup eater, citizen of the People’s Republic of the...
City News
Ford and friends want a municipal by-election in Downsview. Get ready for a “referendum” on the mayor’s term so far
Last week, the Ontario Superior Court ruled that Maria Augimeri ’s narrow Ward 9 victory (89 votes!) in last October’s...
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City News
Ford Nation? Tea Party North? Whatever it’s called, it’s probably not worth much
On Saturday morning the Toronto Star broke the story that Nick Kouvalis , the man who ran Rob Ford ’s winning election campaign...
City News
Rob Ford hospitalized with kidney stones, still answering his phone
This afternoon the mayor’s office announced that Rob Ford had been hospitalized with kidney stones. While he’s said to be in...
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Summer Camp Guide
City News
Summer Camp Directory 2026
Discover our top-rated summer camps for kids of all ages
Wines of the World
Food & Drink
Wines of the World: Rediscover your favourites from
Toronto Life’s
Best Restaurants
From cabernet and merlot to icewine and chardonnay, these wines are primed to pair and delight
Big Stories
Deep Dives
Charm Offensive: The cottage country mortgage broker who lost $101 million of his clients’ money
Sandy Sussman spent decades wooing the upper echelons of Toronto society, becoming their go-to investment guy. He took their money and made a huge bet on cottage country. When the market tanked, he lost it all. Then he did everything in his power to cover it up
Deep Dives
The Monster Cottages vs. the Resistance: Inside the ruthless battle for the future of Muskoka
From Gravenhurst to Port Cockburn, the uber rich and powerful are buying up shoreline for private island compounds and sprawling mega-resorts, radically changing the face of Muskoka and infuriating environmentalists, locals and long-time cottagers
Deep Dives
Dead Reckoning: The executor of their estate was supposed to divide it among their friends and family. Instead, he bankrupted it
When Sami and June Suomalainen died, it fell to the executor of their wills, a lawyer they hardly knew, to sell their million-dollar midtown home and split the proceeds among their inheritors. Seven years and six lawsuits later, the beneficiaries haven’t seen a cent
Deep Dives
These are Toronto’s best new restaurants of 2026
This year’s list includes a 150-square-foot omakase counter, a Parisian brasserie in the Annex, Korean comfort food, Filipino karaoke and a Summerhill seafood spot that’s reinventing the raw bar
Deep Dives
Hoop Dreams: Inside the making of the Toronto Tempo, the city’s newly assembled WNBA team
After years of false starts, months of nail-biting negotiations between the league and the players’ union, and an 11th-hour scramble to build a roster, Toronto finally has its own major-league women’s basketball team. Now it just has to live up to the hype
Deep Dives
Live From New York: Inside the slay-or-be-slayed world of Studio 8H with
SNL
rookie Veronika Slowikowska
Slowikowska is the first Canadian to join the cast of
Saturday Night Live
in more than 25 years. She’s also this season’s breakout star. Now all she has to do is keep crushing it
Deep Dives
Better Call Deepak: Meet drug lord Ryan Wedding’s self-styled cocaine lawyer
The man who represented the infamous drug lord is unapologetically flashy—he has a Lamborghini and two Maseratis and wears $1,200 Louboutins. But did he become an accomplice to his client’s crimes? Deepak Paradkar says he was just doing his job. The FBI says he crossed a line
Deep Dives
The Redemption Tour: The Blue Jays are back. Can they finish what they started?
We’re not over it, but they are. Six months after that devastating defeat, the Jays take the field once more, bent more than ever on winning the World Series. Dispatches from the dugout
Deep Dives
My Life as a True Crime Spectacle: My father’s crimes fractured our family. Then came the press
My dad was the infamous Rolex Killer. The news of his crimes nearly broke me. And ever since, my family has been hounded by reporters, podcasters and true crime fanatics—a whole new circle of hell
Deep Dives
Robby on the Line: Out and about with Robby Hoffman, comedy’s equal opportunity assassin
Larry David is the indisputable king of brutal honesty. But if anyone comes close, it’s Robby Hoffman, the suddenly everywhere comic from whom no group is safe
Deep Dives
Notes on an Academic Scandal: Why did TMU demote a leading advocate of DEI?
Pamela Sugiman, a former arts dean at Toronto Metropolitan University, was a key player in the school’s push for diversity, equity and inclusion. When the backlash against DEI arrived, she was demoted. The school says it was a coincidence. She disagrees
Deep Dives
City of Renters: The dream of home ownership isn’t dead. Maybe it should be?
Scenes from the rent-for-life revolution
Deep Dives
This generation was pummelled by Covid high school. Now the job market wants to replace them with AI
It’s hard out here for a 20-something
Deep Dives
The High Price of Hope: Inside Toronto’s white-hot fertility market
Desperate wannabe parents are betting their life savings on unproven treatments and false promises
Deep Dives
Man vs. Machine: ChatGPT caused him to spiral into delusion. Now he’s suing OpenAI
Last spring, a chatbot convinced Allan Brooks that he had discovered a revolutionary mathematical theory. He says it nearly destroyed him
Deep Dives
Smart City: 20 mind-blowing Toronto inventions that are changing the world
Homegrown innovations that will transform lives for the better
Deep Dives
293 Days Without My Son: I gave up everything to rescue my kidnapped child from my abusive husband
When Valentino was abducted, I knew three things: he’d been taken by his father, he was somewhere in India and I would not rest until I found him
Just Listed
Just Listed
For Sale: 99 Lake Promenade
This classic Hamptons-style home by Chatsworth Fine Homes offers an exciting opportunity to customize a new dream home and build instant value - without the long wait of new construction
Just Listed
For Sale: 92 Arjay Crescent
As luxury buyers become increasingly focused on wellness, privacy, and long-term livability, a new generation of custom homes is emerging – one defined less by excess and more by thoughtful design
Just Listed
For Sale: 171 Durant Ave
This rare property features 2 houses on 1 lot
Just Listed
For Sale: 50 First Avenue
A testament to time presiding over one of Uxbridge's most storied streetscapes, this magnificently preserved circa 1880 residence commands its prominent corner lot with the quiet confidence of a true architectural landmark
Just Listed
For Sale: 7 Bentley Drive
A commanding architectural statement in prestigious Stonegate–Queensway, this newly completed custom residence by Bali Homes Group presents a refined interpretation of contemporary luxury living