About Toronto Life

Toronto Life

Toronto Life is a monthly city magazine covering entertainment, politics, business and life in Toronto, Ontario. Established in November 1966, it is one of Canada's oldest and most decorated city magazines, combining long-form investigative journalism and cultural reporting with service journalism about where to eat, shop, live and explore in the city. Owned by St. Joseph Media since 2002, it has amassed a record 110 gold National Magazine Awards and publishes the widely watched annual ranking of the city's 50 most influential people.

Overview

The magazine's editorial formula pairs serious journalism with city-guide utility. On the journalism side, Toronto Life is known for in-depth exposés on crime, politics, real estate, business and social issues, reported at a depth and length that daily newspapers rarely attempt. On the service side, it publishes restaurant reviews, neighbourhood guides, fashion coverage and lifestyle features aimed at affluent, engaged Torontonians. This dual identity — muckraker and concierge — has defined the title for decades.

The magazine's circulation was reported at 87,929 as of June 2015, with readership of 890,000. Its ISSN is 0049-4194, and its digital home is torontolife.com.

History

Toronto Life was established in November 1966. In 1972 it was purchased by Michael de Pencier, who owned and guided the magazine for three decades, a period in which it built its reputation for ambitious city journalism. In 2002 de Pencier sold the title to St. Joseph Media (St. Joseph Communications), which has owned it since.

Under successive editors the magazine accumulated an extraordinary awards record. Former editors include Alexander Ross (1974–1977), Thomas Hedley (1977–1978), Don Obe (1978–1981), Marq de Villiers (1981–1992), John Edward Macfarlane (1972–1974 and 1992–2007) and Sarah Fulford (2008–2022). The current editor-in-chief is Malcolm Johnston, and the publisher is Jason Maghanoy. Johnston succeeded Sarah Fulford in February 2022, after Fulford's 14-year run leading the title's editorial revitalization and digital transition; she moved to Maclean's as editor-in-chief. Johnston had joined Toronto Life in 2011 as an associate editor and was promoted to senior editor in 2015, making his appointment a promotion from within the newsroom. Under Fulford the brand had undergone what the trade press called an editorial revitalization and a transition into the digital age, positioning the title for the Johnston era. Earlier in the magazine's history, Peter Herrndorf served as publisher from 1983 to 1992, and the St. Joseph portfolio around the title has included the tourism magazine Where Canada, Fashion, Wish and Weddingbells.

The magazine's aggressive journalism has occasionally drawn legal fire. In November 1987 it published a 50,000-word article on the Reichmann family by Elaine Dewar; the family sued for $102 million in January 1988, and after the magazine exhausted its libel insurance, a 1991 out-of-court settlement saw the article retracted and the magazine make what was described as a substantial donation to four charities designated by the Reichmanns. In April 2015, entrepreneur Michael Elder's attempt to block publication of a feature about him was dismissed by the Superior Court, which awarded the magazine $17,000 in costs. Both episodes are part of the lore of a magazine that has treated confrontation with the powerful as core to its mission. The magazine adapted to the digital era with a membership program announced in October 2018, offering access to Toronto Life events and special offers from local venues — an effort to deepen reader relationships beyond print and web advertising.

Content

Toronto Life's journalism spans the city's power structures and its pleasures. Investigative features have taken on organized crime, political scandal, the real estate industry, the courts and the business elite, while cultural coverage tracks the city's arts, food and neighbourhood scenes. The annual "50 most influential people in Toronto" list is the magazine's signature franchise, debated and dissected each year as a barometer of who holds sway in the city.

The title also publishes a roster of annual special-interest guides: Real Estate, Stylebook, Eating & Drinking, City Home and Neighbourhoods. These spin-offs extend the service-journalism side of the brand into standalone products that function as reference works for navigating the city. The magazine's long-form reporting has repeatedly broken into national and international conversation. A 2015 feature by Karen K. Ho, "Jennifer Pan's Revenge: The inside story of a golden child, the killers she hired, and the parents she wanted dead," brought the previously obscure Jennifer Pan murder case to international attention. Johnston himself has continued the investigative tradition: his cover story "The Phone Scammers Next Door" exposed global fraud networks, and his feature "The Hunt for a Killer," about wrongful conviction and genetic genealogy, was developed as a documentary series for CBS Paramount+. He is also the author of a forthcoming narrative non-fiction book about the Vaulter Bandit, the notorious serial bank robber, in development as a documentary.

Coverage & Audience

Toronto Life covers Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area with an audience of city-engaged readers — professionals, homeowners, diners, culture-goers and civic watchers. Its readership of 890,000 makes it one of the most-read magazines in the city, and its influence extends into civic conversation: its exposés have shaped public debate, and its power lists and restaurant coverage move reputations. The magazine's nominations hauls have been a perennial industry story in themselves — 34 nominations in 2003, 25 in 2004 — reflecting a newsroom that competes across nearly every editorial category.

The magazine's journalism has been recognized at the highest levels of the Canadian magazine industry. It leads all current publications with 110 gold National Magazine Awards, including three Magazine of the Year wins in 1985, 1989 and 2007, and it won the Magazine Grand Prix at the 2021 National Magazine Awards. The 2021 jury praised it as alert to the cultural moment, bold in its journalistic exposés, up-to-the-minute in its services reportage and smart about the platforms it uses to deliver content. The awards kept coming into the 2020s: the magazine took a gold medal at the 2022 National Magazine Awards, adding to a tally that already led all current Canadian publications.

Ownership

Toronto Life has been owned by St. Joseph Communications, operating through its St. Joseph Media division, since 2002, when the company acquired it from Michael de Pencier. St. Joseph is one of Canada's largest privately owned communications companies, with interests spanning magazines, printing and marketing services. The magazine's current leadership includes editor-in-chief Malcolm Johnston and publisher Jason Maghanoy.

Digital Presence

The magazine's website, torontolife.com, carries daily city coverage, restaurant and culture content, and the magazine's signature lists and guides, extending the print brand into continuous digital publishing. Recent editor's letters show the magazine engaging with the city's newest anxieties — including, in one 2025 issue, a three-way conversation with a woman, her AI companion and the magazine's correspondent about romantic relationships with artificial intelligence — evidence that the title's curiosity about Toronto life extends to how technology is reshaping it. The membership program and events business give the title a live dimension, while social channels distribute its food, real estate and city-life coverage to audiences who may never pick up the print edition. The challenge, shared with city magazines everywhere, is converting civic influence and strong journalism into sustainable digital revenue — a transition the title has pursued through memberships, events and its guide franchises.

Digital Expansion

In 2015 owner St. Joseph Media named Ken Hunt — who had started at the magazine as an editorial intern — as publisher, putting print, online and events under one leader. Hunt had joined St. Joseph in 2011 when the company bought his independent blog Torontoist and its parent Ink Truck Media; by then TorontoLife.com was publishing up to 30 original stories a day to a monthly digital audience exceeding 1.2 million, more than twice its print readership.