The city's mum on why they might bin its recycling business

Plus, Ontario Liberals' plans to best Ford and the losing battle for reconciliation [The Star] First Up [By Kevin Jiang] By Kevin Jiang Good morning. Here’s the latest on Toronto potentially binning its recycling business, how the Ontario Liberals plan to defeat Doug Ford, and Justin Trudeau’s appointee to handle residential school graves speaking out on Ottawa’s stonewalling. DON’T MISS Rene Johnston/The Star star exclusive [City staff think Toronto should bin its recycling business — but the reason is a secret]( Toronto already has the resources and decades of experience collecting blue boxes — and yet, municipal staffers are telling the city not to compete for a contract to pick up curbside recyclables beginning in 2026. Their reasons are being kept under wraps and non-disclosure agreements; that said, the Star has learned some of the city staffers’ concerns. Among them are the new recycling system’s “impossible” contamination standards and “an excessive list of information and technology requirements” that would be difficult for the city to meet. One councillor raised alarms that the process was skewed toward private firms over city staff already doing the job. [Take a closer look at the controversial new system](. - Context: In 2021, Doug Ford’s government made a once-in-a-generation revamp of Ontario’s recycling system, [shifting responsibility for city-run blue boxes to the packaging industries producing that waste]( - More: As industry giants like McDonald’s, Unilever and Loblaws take over Ontario’s recycling program, critics say to prepare for disaster. [Here’s why even key stakeholders are baffled by the new rules](. Blair Gable for The Star star exclusive [Here’s how a former Liberal premier and veteran political strategists are planning to defeat Doug Ford]( Two decades after he toppled a Conservative government and took power in Ontario, former premier Dalton McGuinty finds himself reflecting on provincial politics once more in a rare interview with the Star. With Ford’s party floundering in the polls amid his $8-billion Greenbelt scandal, provincial Liberals are looking to capture lightning in a bottle once again. While McGuinty and other veteran strategists say they’re feeling optimistic, the party still has a long way to go. One point they uniformly agree on is that a Liberal victory won’t be possible unless the party comes prepared with a substantial platform that resonates with the public and a leader who can sell it. [Here’s what else they recommend](. - Meanwhile: Leadership of Ontario’s Liberals is looking more likely for Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, the presumed front-runner who [claimed almost half of the 80,000 members eligible to vote in the race](. - Bad news for: The Ford government, which has been crashing in the polls. A recent “rage poll” found [69 per cent of Ontarians were angry over how the Greenbelt has been handled](. Canadian Press/Justin Tang INDIGENOUS RECONCILIATION [She was tasked with seeking justice for Indigenous children in unmarked graves — now she says Ottawa is stonewalling her]( After more than a year into her two-year mandate, Ottawa’s special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked burials is speaking out on how her work has been limited by Justin Trudeau’s government — and how this feeds into a disturbing rise in misinformation about residential schools. Kimberly Murray was tasked with drafting a legal framework for how the federal government should handle burial sites in a culturally appropriate way, after hundreds of potential unmarked graves of children were discovered at former residential school sites. Yet she consistently ran into difficulties in obtaining records and funding from Ottawa, she said. [Read deeper into the alleged roadblocks to Indigenous reconciliation](. - Miss something? Murray released her interim report in July, outlining her findings and recommendations so far. [Take a closer look at what she found](. - Meanwhile: With the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation just passed, [learn what reconciliation means for Indigenous people and residential school survivors here](. WHAT ELSE What do we do with the Greenbelt? [That question dominated yesterday’s Ontario Liberal leadership debate](. After years of fighting city hall, can this activist behind Olivia Chow’s victory now [make the system work for her?]( How did a man who fought for the Nazis get honoured in parliament? [Canada’s dark history is finally blowing up in our faces](. Just how expensive has Toronto housing become? [Take a look at the reality of today’s buyers compared to the boomer buyers of 1990](. Ontario’s hourly minimum wage rose to $16.55 yesterday. [But advocates argue it’s still not a living wage](. City staff want six-storey apartment buildings in more Toronto neighbourhoods. [But will developers build them?]( MPs say the House of Commons is a circus — [and someone needs to tame it](. Drowning financially? [Here’s what “super savers” do to make those dollars last](. Feeling the sting of inflation, retirees are going back to work. [But there are other options](. Ontario pharmacists can now [prescribe medications for six more ailments](. “We know how they’re built.” [The Jays are sizing up their wild-card matchup with the Minnesota Twins](. Deep Left Field Daily: [The playoffs are upon us](. POV Dreamstime [Artificial intelligence is mining my body and thoughts for profit.]( CLOSE-UP Tannis Toohey for The Star TORONTO: Jim Peavoy, left, Alan Truscott and Rick Middlebrook browse through their high school yearbook from ‘67-68. Almost 60 years after they were soccer champions, [here’s how a song and a world cup inspired this coach to reconnect](. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_200680). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [View in Browser]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. 416-367-2000 [PRIVACY POLICY](