Patrick Brown has broken up with all of us. “The truth is that I was a very difficult person to date,” explained the former Ontario PC leader about his current relatonship, somewhere in his withdrawal note. The long month's journey into reputation rehab included three Facebook posts and a couple Twitter missives, in the ham-handed effort to fight a damaging news cycle that Brown feels came about because CTV fell “into the realm of tabloid gossip.”

The health minister makes an enigmatic exit. Eric Hoskins announced a hasty departure from Queen’s Park by sharing a worrisome looking photo of a print-out letter. But it turns out the vagueness was just because he had to keep his new role in developing a national pharmacare plan under wraps.

“I’m on the back of a train—Wooooo!” Viral attention for a speeding selfie video from the exterior of a moving subway car got to its 20-year-old star pretty quick. He called the TTC to ask what kind of fine he might face—likely between $325 and $425, it turns out—and later explained that he was inebriated at the time. But the Instagram account for hip-hop outlet 6ix Buzz TV is savouring getting the credit for bringing the clip to wider notice:

Yonge and Eglinton becomes Toronto’s most dangerous place. Police issued a public safety alert noting that there have been 11 teen-related incidents around there since January 17. They described the crimes as “mostly swarming-type robberies,” some involving edged weapons. A possible factor: LRT construction keeping stretches dark and quiet.

The winter of trying to get away from all the guns. Mountain Equipment Co-Op is grappling with how to react to a petition that calls for it to remove its stock of products made by gun manufacturer Vista Outdoor. MEC isn't the only Canadian company with such associations: Verticalscope, a digital publisher majority-owned by Torstar, runs over 50 websites about firearms. Shoppers Drug Mart was quick to stop stocking gun magazine Recoil after a complaint from ex-mayor David Miller, who noted supportive reactions, but also some angry dissent:

The Galleria remains a renewable source of outsider art. Plans to overhaul the mall site at Dufferin and Dupont keep grinding forward, but may yet be further revised. The developers still dedicate a few seconds a day to highlighting the artisanal charm of the surrounding neighbourhoods. But a thoroughly honest look at the mall's interior state—and its people, and the coin pony ride—can be found in the pages of the West End Phoenix:

The woman behind #outHedley2k18 reveals herself. Taylor Bowman, a 21-year-old from Manitoba who initiated a Twitter campaign to gather sexual misconduct allegations about Hedley, was motivated by her own allged run-in with band frontman Jacob Hoggard. And now that Hoggard has been accused of rape by a woman who volunteered at a WE Day event, the charity reaffirmed that it severed ties with the band.