As an NHL defenceman, Morgan Rielly is no stranger to things getting scrappy in the paint, however, his recent legal conflict alongside his wife Tessa Virtue against the city of Toronto has put an entirely new spin on paint battles.
The couple has hired a lobbyist to seek out legal permissions to continue painting the outside of their Rosedale home white after being ordered to stop doing so earlier this week. The house that they purchased for $6.4 million in 2022 has been labelled as a heritage home by the North Rosedale Heritage Conservation District with city staff singling out the red brick masonry in particular as one of the home’s most important attributes.
The city’s heritage department claims that the change from red to white would undermine the character of the property, though ultimately it will be city council that gets the final say on whether the paint job can continue forward or not.
While Tessa Virtue has famously succeeded when it comes to outside judges making a decision in her favour, the recently suspended Morgan Rielly may be less confident about coming out on top of an incoming ruling.
The proposal for seeking out legal permissions to paint the home will be considered by members of Toronto and East York Community Council on June 11, and while a lesser person would make a cruel joke about this being the most notable competition a Toronto Maple Leaf has participated in during June, I will choose to instead only heavily imply such a thing and let the reader fill in the punchline themselves.
Rielly isn’t the only Leaf to make headlines for a non-hockey-related competition this year. Captain John Tavares is involved in a tax dispute with the CRA, something that a good chunk of us can relate to, but probably don’t want to hear when it involves someone making significantly more money.
It’s a year of big changes for the pair, with Tessa Virtue recently announcing her pregnancy as well, the first for the couple that got married last year.
