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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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Private School Guide
The Private and Independent School Directory Spring 2025
Big Stories
Deep Dives
Dancing Queens: Patrons, staff and performers share their wildest memories of Crews and Tangos, Toronto’s most storied drag bar
Crews and Tangos has been enforcing the rules of the Village for more than 30 years: wear what you want, kiss who you want, but don’t forget to tip the drag queens. With a condo development looming, we asked around for tales from the iconic spot
Deep Dives
The Joy of Sex with Strangers: A Toronto hotwife’s adventures in ethical non-monogamy
Three months ago, I was a suburban mom in a monogamous relationship. Now I’m sleeping with people I meet online—with my husband’s blessing—and we’ve never been happier. Don’t judge us until you’ve read our story
Deep Dives
The Scandal, the Firing and the Fallout: Anatomy of a Bay Street fiasco at RBC
Nadine Ahn was a high-ranking executive at the bank. Ken Mason, her subordinate, was rapidly promoted. Then someone claimed to see them canoodling at the Royal York, tipped off HR and triggered an inquisition
Deep Dives
Edward the Conqueror: The unlikely ascent of Canada’s telecom king
Edward Rogers was dismissed as a meddling nepo baby—until he muscled out his siblings, acquired his competitors, cornered the telecom market and became the dominant force in Canadian sports
Deep Dives
Lady Parts: Inside Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen’s new show,
Small Achievable Goals
The
Baroness von Sketch Show
alumnae have elevated joking about women’s issues to an art. Their new show takes aim at menopause. How funny is that?
Deep Dives
Murder in the Blue Mountains: The story behind the killing of Ashley Schwalm
Ashley and James Schwalm had what seemed like a fairy tale life—two wonderful children, fulfilling careers and a gorgeous home close to the private ski club where they’d fallen in love. Then Ashley’s remains turned up in a burned-out car at the bottom of a ditch, and all signs pointed to her husband
Deep Dives
Dark Horse: Inside the fall of Eric Lamaze, Canada’s most famous equestrian
For years, Lamaze was the world’s top-ranked show jumper, living an enviable life filled with fancy cars, international travel and adoring fans—the kind of life a person might do anything to protect
Deep Dives
Dividing Line: How the Bloor Street bike lane turned the city into a battlefield
A few kilometres along Bloor has become Toronto’s most contested strip of concrete, igniting fights over congestion, safety and the future of downtown
Deep Dives
The Chosen One: At just 23, Scottie Barnes is the new face of the Raptors—and the team’s best chance of salvation
Barnes is shouldering the weight of an impatient, basketball-mad city, a hit-and-miss team, and his own colossal ambitions. Does he look worried?
Deep Dives
Almost
Famous: Inside the Beaches’ rise to rock stardom
A viral earworm about a breakup turned the Beaches into Toronto’s hottest export. Now, the panty-throwing, stage-diving, all-girl rock band is seducing fans around the world
Deep Dives
“I was nearly beaten to death by my partner. The case was dismissed because it took too long to get to trial”
How an overburdened justice system is failing survivors of intimate partner violence
Deep Dives
Brave New Year: The ultimate try-anything-once bucket list for 2025
For inspiration on wonderful, wild and even some slightly reckless experiences to enjoy in the year ahead
Deep Dives
The stars of the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres on finally having a league of their own
After kicking off a new chapter for hockey with the PWHL, Natalie Spooner, Sarah Nurse and Blayre Turnbull are blazing a trail for women in sports
Deep Dives
The 50 Most Influential Torontonians of 2024
Our annual ranking of the people whose courage, smarts and clout are changing the world as we know it
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Food & Drink
The US tariffs are coming for your espresso martini
With Kahlúa no longer available at the LCBO, Toronto bartenders are getting creative
Food & Drink
These Ontario-made booze collaborations are coming to a restaurant near you
Toronto bars and restaurants are partnering with their favourite distillers, winemakers and brewers to produce custom-made drinks. Here, nine crushable new concoctions
Food & Drink
“We have over 100 cases of American wine trapped at the LCBO”: Toronto’s Grape Witches on what it’s like to run a bottle shop during a trade war
It’s not as simple as taking sides when you’re a small business
Food & Drink
Six Toronto restaurants serving up all-Canadian menus
With a trade war upon us, our city’s chefs are taking a stand