An Internet Fisherman who uses barbless hooks and this one dimensional world as a way of releasing the frustrations of daily life. This is my pond. You are welcome only if you are civil and contribute something to the ambiance. I reserve the right to ignore/publish/reject anon comments.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Right Wing Bloggers Have Hit Their Objective
It is obvious that The Anonoymous Liberal was bottom feeding and the bait being used by right wing bloggers, Gore hypocrisy, was swallowed hook, line and sinker. AL doesn't seem to understand that we use the same tactics that the left wing does but we do it in a more sophisticated manner and we are satirical in the presentation. Anyway to show that we appreciate AL's and Gore's mission to save the world we attach carbon coupons so they can offset their environmental indiscretions.
To be fair we give equal time to people debunking the debunker. The next cast should be just beyond the lily pad to the left....
More about Gore than the majority of people really want to know.
Holy Crap! Is City Council Lost Their Mind
Oops! My mistake. It is not Toronto City Council and Mayor Miller it is Whitehorse City Council although before the year is out we will probably see a similar newsreport from the Toronto newspapers.
Council approves tax, fine increases
By Matthew Grant
City council has passed four new bylaws covering a variety of issues.
At their weekly meeting Monday evening, members of council voted in favour of raising taxes, increasing parking meter fines, cracking down on people stealing spots at city parkades and thwarting doorway smokers.
“I declare bylaw 2007-11, a bylaw to amend the city’s smoking bylaw, officially adopted,” Mayor Bev Buckway said of the last new municipal rule to hit the books.
The new smoking bylaw, according to city documents, will make it illegal to place ashtrays in a non-smoking establishment or in the buffer area outside the entrances to non-smoking buildings.
The 2007 tax levy bylaw (2007-02) was brought in with the city’s 2007 budget. It will see property owners pay five per cent more in taxes this year compared with last year.
The average assessed home, valued at $132,000, will now be paying $1,634 a year in property taxes compared with $1,555 in 2006.
Property taxes have risen about $200 since 2003.
The bylaw to amend parking fines, 2007-08, will see penalties associated with the city’s 527 downtown parking meters double.
Fines will be going from $5 to $10 when they’re paid within one hour of the offence; from $10 to $25 for payments received before court dates; and from $25 to $50 for fines that have gone to court.
Bylaw services manager John Taylor told council earlier this month the projected increase in parking fine revenue for 2007 is $141,000 and $188,000 for 2008.
The new meter fines will be implemented on April 2.
Parking in spots that don’t belong to you at the city parkades near city hall, council decided Monday, will now cost you $100 as opposed to the previous $10 fine.
“Sometimes we get three, four or five phone calls a month from people who have had someone parking in their stalls,” Taylor told council earlier this month.
Coun. Dave Stockdale said he feels the new parking fines should be implemented on April 1, instead of the next day.
City bylaw officers, Taylor told council in early February, will embark on an information campaign prior to the parking fine increases.
Council won’t be meeting again until after the Canada Winter Games end.
Council approves tax, fine increases
By Matthew Grant
City council has passed four new bylaws covering a variety of issues.
At their weekly meeting Monday evening, members of council voted in favour of raising taxes, increasing parking meter fines, cracking down on people stealing spots at city parkades and thwarting doorway smokers.
“I declare bylaw 2007-11, a bylaw to amend the city’s smoking bylaw, officially adopted,” Mayor Bev Buckway said of the last new municipal rule to hit the books.
The new smoking bylaw, according to city documents, will make it illegal to place ashtrays in a non-smoking establishment or in the buffer area outside the entrances to non-smoking buildings.
The 2007 tax levy bylaw (2007-02) was brought in with the city’s 2007 budget. It will see property owners pay five per cent more in taxes this year compared with last year.
The average assessed home, valued at $132,000, will now be paying $1,634 a year in property taxes compared with $1,555 in 2006.
Property taxes have risen about $200 since 2003.
The bylaw to amend parking fines, 2007-08, will see penalties associated with the city’s 527 downtown parking meters double.
Fines will be going from $5 to $10 when they’re paid within one hour of the offence; from $10 to $25 for payments received before court dates; and from $25 to $50 for fines that have gone to court.
Bylaw services manager John Taylor told council earlier this month the projected increase in parking fine revenue for 2007 is $141,000 and $188,000 for 2008.
The new meter fines will be implemented on April 2.
Parking in spots that don’t belong to you at the city parkades near city hall, council decided Monday, will now cost you $100 as opposed to the previous $10 fine.
“Sometimes we get three, four or five phone calls a month from people who have had someone parking in their stalls,” Taylor told council earlier this month.
Coun. Dave Stockdale said he feels the new parking fines should be implemented on April 1, instead of the next day.
City bylaw officers, Taylor told council in early February, will embark on an information campaign prior to the parking fine increases.
Council won’t be meeting again until after the Canada Winter Games end.
Once Again The Average Canadian Steps Up To The Plate
Whether it is hungry children in Africa, huricanes in some remote part of the world, floods in New Orleans or Winnipeg, 9/11 stranded travelers and the list goes on and on so the response to problems we are seeing on reservations across our country is no surprise but I am concerned that after the initial hype and effort what are the long term results. It seems that in any disaster there are core groups just waiting to line up at the trough offering their assistance but the reality is they are feathering their own nest.
Plight of natives hits home
MARGARET PHILP
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
One woman wants to send hand-stitched quilts. A children's publisher called to donate new books. Teachers have asked to twin their classrooms with those in native schools. And university students have written to volunteer their time once classes end.
Stirred by the suffering of aboriginal people living on remote, dirt-poor, alcohol-ravaged reserves in Northwestern Ontario -- like Third World inhabitants within one of the world's wealthiest countries -- Canadians have flocked to their telephones and computers to donate money, merchandise, time and expertise to a budding cause among Canada's charitable and humanitarian agencies.
Three weeks ago, The Globe and Mail published a story about an unprecedented partnership project to help impoverished reserves in Northwestern Ontario.
Two international relief workers travelled to Canada last month to assess living conditions on two remote reserves and start work on the project. It was the first time humanitarian agencies from overseas have turned an eye to Canada's native poverty.
The partnership, called Mamow Sha-Way-Gi-Kay-Win (an Oji-Cree name meaning helping others without expectation), involves 30 native reserves and a growing roster of social agencies. Their goal is to tap billions of dollars in charitable donations in Canada to tackle poverty and despair on reserves that struggle under a failing regime of federal government funding.
"People didn't realize there were these circumstances in Canada," said Judy Finlay, Ontario's chief child advocate and project co-founder. "They were more than concerned that we had to bring in people from other countries to demonstrate how devastating the circumstances are. So they were somewhat ashamed this was happening in their backyard and they didn't know and they didn't act. So now they're wanting to act."
About $10,000 has been donated, and the phone lines have been buzzing 'in the past three weeks with Canadians promising help ranging from toilets and plumbing equipment to professional services such as psychiatry, psychological counselling, fundraising and information technology.
In the spring, the Rotary Club in Cornwall will send a former Agriculture Canada bureaucrat who has set up farms in developing countries to sample soil and study growing conditions on reserves with a view to starting small-scale gardening and farming.
Decades ago, a few reserves experimented with growing potatoes, but the crops failed. Nowadays, groceries trucked or flown thousands of kilometres cost more than twice what they would in Southern Ontario, and the modern native diet tends to bypass fruits and vegetables for cheaper processed foods.
Among the club's members, Rotarian David Wood said, are "business people and leaders who are just now finding out what's going on up there, who assumed government was looking after things. When they heard of the conditions up there, as Canadians, they're struck. This is supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world. What are we doing with people in our own family of Canadians?"
In Prince Edward Island, Bruce McCallum wants to explore small-scale, bio-energy projects to replace oil heating on reserves, burning wood chips to heat community buildings and some houses.
"They're surrounded by vast forest with all kinds of surplus biomass," the bio-energy consultant said. "You can usually harvest a small proportion of forest, and do it judiciously, and they'd have a sustainable energy supply that can keep going forever."
In Saskatchewan, the Safe Drinking Water Foundation is offering to help overhaul faulty water-treatment systems. Sue Peterson, who runs the foundation, says that water-treatment technologies are inadequate on most reserves.
Plight of natives hits home
MARGARET PHILP
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
One woman wants to send hand-stitched quilts. A children's publisher called to donate new books. Teachers have asked to twin their classrooms with those in native schools. And university students have written to volunteer their time once classes end.
Stirred by the suffering of aboriginal people living on remote, dirt-poor, alcohol-ravaged reserves in Northwestern Ontario -- like Third World inhabitants within one of the world's wealthiest countries -- Canadians have flocked to their telephones and computers to donate money, merchandise, time and expertise to a budding cause among Canada's charitable and humanitarian agencies.
Three weeks ago, The Globe and Mail published a story about an unprecedented partnership project to help impoverished reserves in Northwestern Ontario.
Two international relief workers travelled to Canada last month to assess living conditions on two remote reserves and start work on the project. It was the first time humanitarian agencies from overseas have turned an eye to Canada's native poverty.
The partnership, called Mamow Sha-Way-Gi-Kay-Win (an Oji-Cree name meaning helping others without expectation), involves 30 native reserves and a growing roster of social agencies. Their goal is to tap billions of dollars in charitable donations in Canada to tackle poverty and despair on reserves that struggle under a failing regime of federal government funding.
"People didn't realize there were these circumstances in Canada," said Judy Finlay, Ontario's chief child advocate and project co-founder. "They were more than concerned that we had to bring in people from other countries to demonstrate how devastating the circumstances are. So they were somewhat ashamed this was happening in their backyard and they didn't know and they didn't act. So now they're wanting to act."
About $10,000 has been donated, and the phone lines have been buzzing 'in the past three weeks with Canadians promising help ranging from toilets and plumbing equipment to professional services such as psychiatry, psychological counselling, fundraising and information technology.
In the spring, the Rotary Club in Cornwall will send a former Agriculture Canada bureaucrat who has set up farms in developing countries to sample soil and study growing conditions on reserves with a view to starting small-scale gardening and farming.
Decades ago, a few reserves experimented with growing potatoes, but the crops failed. Nowadays, groceries trucked or flown thousands of kilometres cost more than twice what they would in Southern Ontario, and the modern native diet tends to bypass fruits and vegetables for cheaper processed foods.
Among the club's members, Rotarian David Wood said, are "business people and leaders who are just now finding out what's going on up there, who assumed government was looking after things. When they heard of the conditions up there, as Canadians, they're struck. This is supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world. What are we doing with people in our own family of Canadians?"
In Prince Edward Island, Bruce McCallum wants to explore small-scale, bio-energy projects to replace oil heating on reserves, burning wood chips to heat community buildings and some houses.
"They're surrounded by vast forest with all kinds of surplus biomass," the bio-energy consultant said. "You can usually harvest a small proportion of forest, and do it judiciously, and they'd have a sustainable energy supply that can keep going forever."
In Saskatchewan, the Safe Drinking Water Foundation is offering to help overhaul faulty water-treatment systems. Sue Peterson, who runs the foundation, says that water-treatment technologies are inadequate on most reserves.
Bolstering The Image Of The Media?
Or perhaps it is more an insight into the IQ of the subscriber.......
ROYAL COMMANDO: Film Queen Dame Helen Mirren admits she didn't wear undies at Oscars...
ROYAL COMMANDO: Film Queen Dame Helen Mirren admits she didn't wear undies at Oscars...
The Mayor Is On A Green Kick
And I would suggest before he turns the city outside of city hall green that he work at cleaning up the volumes of red ink inside city hall by showing some leadership and telling the voters and city employees that they will have to bite the bullet meaning higher taxes and lower wage settlements. He has to notify Ottawa and Queens Park that after a certain date Toronto will not fund programs that are provincial & federal in nature.
The Emporer Isn't Wearing Clothes
The Mayor Has No Balls
The Mayor Needs To Come Up For Air.
The fair thing and the green thing
Privatize Public Transit
Let those who use the system pay for it........
A lot rests on the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. So much rests on it, yet in terms of integrating land use and transportation planning, it's not clear where the accountability rests, because there is no region-wide policy council."
"The funding is unclear and the accountability for land use planning either requires a strong provincial hand, or incredible municipal co-operation."
Anne Golden, chief executive, Conference Board of Canada
"We need to take advantage of private sector capital."
Rob MacIsaac, GTTA chair
"It's a wonderful use of long-term money. There's a huge appetite by people like us that have large pools of long-term money that's available to be invested. And quite frankly those are the type of opportunities that fit exactly with our goal."
If municipalities float transportation or transit projects, "I think they would find a receptive group of people to finance those opportunities."
Dominic D'Alessandro, chief executive, Manulife Financial Corp., asked if private sector capital is interested
"Toronto has added 40 million rides, which is roughly the size of the Mississauga transit system, in the last three years. If you're going to invest for impact, you need to take established transit corridors. They're not all in Toronto ... The Hurontario corridor in Mississauga is a well-used transit corridor.
"But you have to invest where transit is, if you want to get bang for your buck."
Adam Giambrone, TTC chair
A lot rests on the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. So much rests on it, yet in terms of integrating land use and transportation planning, it's not clear where the accountability rests, because there is no region-wide policy council."
"The funding is unclear and the accountability for land use planning either requires a strong provincial hand, or incredible municipal co-operation."
Anne Golden, chief executive, Conference Board of Canada
"We need to take advantage of private sector capital."
Rob MacIsaac, GTTA chair
"It's a wonderful use of long-term money. There's a huge appetite by people like us that have large pools of long-term money that's available to be invested. And quite frankly those are the type of opportunities that fit exactly with our goal."
If municipalities float transportation or transit projects, "I think they would find a receptive group of people to finance those opportunities."
Dominic D'Alessandro, chief executive, Manulife Financial Corp., asked if private sector capital is interested
"Toronto has added 40 million rides, which is roughly the size of the Mississauga transit system, in the last three years. If you're going to invest for impact, you need to take established transit corridors. They're not all in Toronto ... The Hurontario corridor in Mississauga is a well-used transit corridor.
"But you have to invest where transit is, if you want to get bang for your buck."
Adam Giambrone, TTC chair
The One Cent $150K Miller Campaign
Why the penny plan will be a tough sell TheStar.com - News - Why the penny plan will be a tough sell
February 28, 2007
Royson James
ONE CENT NOW.
What could be simpler than that?
As a campaign slogan, it is short, direct, catchy, punchy, easy to remember. As a way to sum up the desires of Canada's cities to grab tax dollars from the federal government, it is not without controversy.
Apparently, Mayor David Miller's monotone speech delivery had little to do with the lukewarm reception to his ONE CENT NOW campaign, launched before what should have been a receptive crowd of city slickers, gathered Monday for the third City Summit.
So many of the chattering class sat on their hands because they disagreed with Miller's in-your-face strategy that threatens to defeat federal politicians who don't support the cities' goals. They didn't sit cold as stone because his speaking style failed to rouse them from their seats.
Yesterday, as the reviews rolled in, some skeptics felt the media campaign is a poke in the eye that won't get results. Others say it is too focused on Ottawa and lets the province off the hook. Still others feel that Miller had played the ace too early in a contest of wills that will last years. And some say Miller continues to ask for more without offering up any belt-tightening or innovative city initiatives.
Just what is Miller – and the mayors lining up to back him – demanding?
How does the one cent work?
But no one is watching the pennies at City Hall.....
February 28, 2007
Royson James
ONE CENT NOW.
What could be simpler than that?
As a campaign slogan, it is short, direct, catchy, punchy, easy to remember. As a way to sum up the desires of Canada's cities to grab tax dollars from the federal government, it is not without controversy.
Apparently, Mayor David Miller's monotone speech delivery had little to do with the lukewarm reception to his ONE CENT NOW campaign, launched before what should have been a receptive crowd of city slickers, gathered Monday for the third City Summit.
So many of the chattering class sat on their hands because they disagreed with Miller's in-your-face strategy that threatens to defeat federal politicians who don't support the cities' goals. They didn't sit cold as stone because his speaking style failed to rouse them from their seats.
Yesterday, as the reviews rolled in, some skeptics felt the media campaign is a poke in the eye that won't get results. Others say it is too focused on Ottawa and lets the province off the hook. Still others feel that Miller had played the ace too early in a contest of wills that will last years. And some say Miller continues to ask for more without offering up any belt-tightening or innovative city initiatives.
Just what is Miller – and the mayors lining up to back him – demanding?
How does the one cent work?
But no one is watching the pennies at City Hall.....
I Know Where You Are Coming From Angie
Most of the so called bus shelters are nothing more that vertical spaces to post advertising. They should be called wind breaks or something along that line but even that depends on in which direction Mother Nature is breathing......
Standing room only makes for tiring wait at bus shelter
February 28, 2007
Jack Lakey
Staff Reporter
After a long shift at work, it's nice to take a load off one's feet – if there's anywhere to sit down.
On the northeast and northwest corners of Commissioners St. and Carlaw Ave., there are transit shelters for people who ride the TTC buses that wind their way through the port lands. Most of those people are travelling to or from work.
One of them is Joe McIninch, who works at the Toronto Hydro facility near Commissioners and Carlaw and catches the bus on the northeast corner.
McIninch called to say he works nights and is disabled. So when his shift is done, he's plum tuckered and ready to go home.
There are times when he may wait up to 25 minutes for the bus after work – a tradeoff for using public transit. But with no bench in the shelter, he says it can be a tiring ordeal.
"I've had two heart attacks, and it's a hardship to stand after working eight hours," he said, adding a bus driver told him that benches in shelters are usually replaced every couple of years, but the one in this shelter disappeared four years ago and has been missing ever since.
Ironically, one of the city's nice new shelters is across the street and has a bench, but if McIninch were to wait in it, then try to hustle back to the other corner when he spotted his bus, he might not get there in time.
STATUS: Angie Antoniou, who's in charge of transit shelters in that area, said she didn't know why the shelter has no bench, but she would send someone out to see if one can be installed. We'll let you know.
Crackdown On Gangs Not The Success It Seems
This is a mobile society and it is surprising in the number of miles and urban centers you can travel to in an hour so "cracking down on gang activity" reduces the problem in one area but shifts that problem to someone else's backyard. The justice system has to stop allowing gang members out on bail, it needs to speed up their trials and it needs to incarcerate them not allow them to emigrate to neighboring communities. It is not a total solution but it is a start.....
Gangs pushed outside city
Police chiefs outside GTA complain they are seeing more guns and violence as a result of Toronto crackdowns that have forced criminals to seek less heat
February 28, 2007
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter
Windsor police Chief Glenn Stannard says the arrest of an alleged gang member in his border city last month is an example of Toronto driving its bad guys out of town and into other cities across the province.
"Toronto and (police) Chief (Bill) Blair have done a great job in turning up the pressure on issues of guns, gangs and violence. But when they pushed the bubble ... it pushed some of the people out," Stannard said yesterday, echoing comments made a day earlier by Peterborough police Chief Terry McLaren.
Last month, Windsor police charged Kevin Bingham, 34, alleged to be a member of The Gatorz, a street gang that deals in guns and drugs, the Windsor Star reported. A small alligator, which police said was a symbol of the gang, was seized along with crack cocaine from a house which inside was painted green – another sign of gang affiliation.
Windsor police contacted Toronto counterparts and established the link and have identified four street gangs "with connections to Toronto." While Stannard said that a jump in firearm-related crimes in the community of 220,000 might relate to the Toronto influx, it would be unfair to blame the Ontario capital for "all of Windsor's problems."
McLaren, speaking on Monday to an audience at the Peterborough Rotary Club, said Toronto, which has had four major crime sweeps since 2004, has been so effective in ridding its streets of gunplay that gang members and other members of the criminal element are seeking refuge in other cities such as London, Windsor and Peterborough.
Hamilton police Chief Brian Mullan has also stated publicly "there is an influx of Toronto gang members coming to our community."
Part of the gang-sweep initiative came as a result of funding from the province which kicked in $51 million to expand the guns and gangs task force and establish TAVIS, the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy.
Premier Dalton McGuinty – joined by Blair and OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino – is scheduled to make an announcement relating to guns and gangs at Queen's Park today.
But McLaren, president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, suggested it's time for the province to be more even-handed when it comes to giving out money earmarked for the fight against guns and gangs.
He said he didn't know of "any other police service in the province that got any money for guns and gangs."
McLaren wants a provincial strategy to counter gangs as has been done in Toronto.
Gangs pushed outside city
Police chiefs outside GTA complain they are seeing more guns and violence as a result of Toronto crackdowns that have forced criminals to seek less heat
February 28, 2007
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter
Windsor police Chief Glenn Stannard says the arrest of an alleged gang member in his border city last month is an example of Toronto driving its bad guys out of town and into other cities across the province.
"Toronto and (police) Chief (Bill) Blair have done a great job in turning up the pressure on issues of guns, gangs and violence. But when they pushed the bubble ... it pushed some of the people out," Stannard said yesterday, echoing comments made a day earlier by Peterborough police Chief Terry McLaren.
Last month, Windsor police charged Kevin Bingham, 34, alleged to be a member of The Gatorz, a street gang that deals in guns and drugs, the Windsor Star reported. A small alligator, which police said was a symbol of the gang, was seized along with crack cocaine from a house which inside was painted green – another sign of gang affiliation.
Windsor police contacted Toronto counterparts and established the link and have identified four street gangs "with connections to Toronto." While Stannard said that a jump in firearm-related crimes in the community of 220,000 might relate to the Toronto influx, it would be unfair to blame the Ontario capital for "all of Windsor's problems."
McLaren, speaking on Monday to an audience at the Peterborough Rotary Club, said Toronto, which has had four major crime sweeps since 2004, has been so effective in ridding its streets of gunplay that gang members and other members of the criminal element are seeking refuge in other cities such as London, Windsor and Peterborough.
Hamilton police Chief Brian Mullan has also stated publicly "there is an influx of Toronto gang members coming to our community."
Part of the gang-sweep initiative came as a result of funding from the province which kicked in $51 million to expand the guns and gangs task force and establish TAVIS, the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy.
Premier Dalton McGuinty – joined by Blair and OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino – is scheduled to make an announcement relating to guns and gangs at Queen's Park today.
But McLaren, president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, suggested it's time for the province to be more even-handed when it comes to giving out money earmarked for the fight against guns and gangs.
He said he didn't know of "any other police service in the province that got any money for guns and gangs."
McLaren wants a provincial strategy to counter gangs as has been done in Toronto.
Miller Opposes Them So You Can Guarantee They Will Happen
CAR FEES TOUTED AS SOLUTION
You want to reduce congestion then do what I keep suggesting...Start shutting down underground parking garages starting with the one at Toronto City Hall and the Sheraton. Take this space and turn it into homeless shelters.
More Promises From Dalton McGinty
1. Where do the cities, particularly Toronto, get the funding for their share?
2. Will the City of Toronto's penchant for running to the OMB enccourage developers to build affordable housing?
3. Will Toronto city councilors sign a pledge that affordable housing can be built in THEIR backyard.
4. How many affordable housing units will be built and occuppied before the provincial election?
City gets housing boost
McGuinty frees $392M caught in feud with Ottawa to build affordable homes
February 28, 2007
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Toronto will get new affordable housing after Premier Dalton McGuinty finally freed up $392 million ensnared in a fiscal feud with Ottawa.
McGuinty delivered the news to more than 500 business leaders, politicians, urban thinkers, artists and community activists who had gathered for the final day of the Toronto Summit 2007, a two-day conference to discuss ways to improve the city.
A visibly delighted Mayor David Miller, who was in the audience, said it's not yet known how much of the province-wide funding would go to Toronto or how many units would be built.
But with 67,000 families on the waiting list for an affordable home – across the province 122,000 households are waiting – Toronto is expected to get a lion's share of the $392 million.
The need for more affordable housing was one of the issues touched on by participants. Minutes after McGuinty's speech, summit organizer David Pecaut also highlighted the need for road-user fees such as tolls and a congestion tax.
"There is a tremendous willingness to consider what we need to do to raise additional revenues" for the GTA, Pecaut said at the wrap-up session.
McGuinty's announcement capped a conference called to look at developing an action plan for Toronto.
I think I have heard that song before.......
2. Will the City of Toronto's penchant for running to the OMB enccourage developers to build affordable housing?
3. Will Toronto city councilors sign a pledge that affordable housing can be built in THEIR backyard.
4. How many affordable housing units will be built and occuppied before the provincial election?
City gets housing boost
McGuinty frees $392M caught in feud with Ottawa to build affordable homes
February 28, 2007
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Toronto will get new affordable housing after Premier Dalton McGuinty finally freed up $392 million ensnared in a fiscal feud with Ottawa.
McGuinty delivered the news to more than 500 business leaders, politicians, urban thinkers, artists and community activists who had gathered for the final day of the Toronto Summit 2007, a two-day conference to discuss ways to improve the city.
A visibly delighted Mayor David Miller, who was in the audience, said it's not yet known how much of the province-wide funding would go to Toronto or how many units would be built.
But with 67,000 families on the waiting list for an affordable home – across the province 122,000 households are waiting – Toronto is expected to get a lion's share of the $392 million.
The need for more affordable housing was one of the issues touched on by participants. Minutes after McGuinty's speech, summit organizer David Pecaut also highlighted the need for road-user fees such as tolls and a congestion tax.
"There is a tremendous willingness to consider what we need to do to raise additional revenues" for the GTA, Pecaut said at the wrap-up session.
McGuinty's announcement capped a conference called to look at developing an action plan for Toronto.
I think I have heard that song before.......
Mao Miller On The March Again
First Off Lorrie, They Are Politicians Not Adults
And secondly you have to consider the audience they are playing. The antics of politicians is akin to a Punch & Judy Show.
Oh, for a dose of civility in Parliament
By Lorrie Goldstein
In a Parliament of grown-ups, here's what would have happened over the past few days.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "Mr. Speaker, on a point of privilege. With the conclusion of the RCMP investigation into the income trust affair, I apologize for any inference that could be drawn from my own remarks, or those of others in my party, that former finance minister Ralph Goodale was in any way criminally responsible for what transpired. He was not. Sir, I am sorry."
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale: "Mr. Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for his apology and I accept it. But I also accept my responsibility for the incredibly sloppy way I and my office handled the release of the news that we would be not be taxing income trusts just before the last election. Given stock trading patterns just prior to my announcement, there was widespread public suspicion there had been insider trading based on leaks coming from the government. This, in part, precipitated the RCMP investigation. For the incompetent way we handled that announcement, I apologize."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the Canadian people for taxing income trusts after promising I wouldn't during the election. And I apologize to Liberal MP Navdeep Bains. In my anger over the Liberal party's decision to change its mind on the continuation of two anti-terror measures they passed while in government, I wrongly implied, or was about to before I was cut off, that this was being done as a favour to the MP because a relative of his might be questioned as a witness in proceedings one of those measures permits. That was a cheap shot. I apologize."
Liberal MP Ralph Goodale: "Mr. Speaker, I suggested last week that story was planted in the Vancouver Sun by the Prime Minister's Office, by leaking confidential information to the paper. Now that the reporter who broke the story has stated no one planted anything with her and she came up with it on her own, I apologize to the prime minister and the reporter."
That's how grown-ups would have behaved.
Need To Re-define The Definition Of Victim
I don't think that relatives of the perpetrators should be considered "victims" and awarded money from the fund and we have to re-define the whole thing. Victims of crime are eligible for medical treatment under our system but if the "attack" results in injuries that require long term funding I can go along with this but what I can't go along with is this crap about pain and suffering.
Ont. crime compensation system a 'failure': ombud
CTV.ca News Staff
Ontario's Criminal Injuries Compensation Board is a "colossal failure" that needlessly revictimizes people, said the province's ombudsman in a scathing report.
In his report titled "Adding Insult to Injury," Ombudsman Andre Marin says the board has been underfunded for years.
Morin blames successive governments for allowing the board to "embrace lethargy and delay as a survival tactic."
Marin also accused the board of having "an official document fetish," because of what he calls its obsession with having its lengthy application forms filled out perfectly.
"People are having to deal with an avalanche of forms, sometimes up to 51 forms," Marin said in an interview on CTV Newsnet. "Forty per cent of the forms are returned as incomplete, for technical reasons such as 'you put too much information, so redo the form.'"
Marin said he found one instance where an injury victim with the name Wilkins got his form returned to him by the board because he failed to dot the second 'i' on the form.
"It's really a system that's lost it's mission, that's lost its raison d'etre and we're hoping to set it straight today," said Marin.
The ombudsman also details in his report cases of several victims who got what he calls a "lengthy run around." One blind retiree, for instance, had to choose between food and burying her murdered daughter.
He says the government made pious pledges to help victims, but did nothing to fix well-known problems at the board, "pretending to act by studying the thing to death."
Marin launched an investigation after an increasing number of complaints to his office from people who felt they were revictimized by the board's actions.
It takes an average of three years to process a crime victims' compensation claim in Ontario, compared with two months in Quebec and up to six months in British Columbia.
Marin said part of the reason why such an "underground culture of delay" was able to evolve at the board is because of improper funding.
"It had no money. It was starved and forced into this situation and so the first thing we need to do is fund it properly," he told Newsnet.
Morin says while the board is starved for cash, a Victims of Justice Fund, which gives money for programs and services, has an $80 million surplus that the government refuses to use to compensate victims.
"What we need to do is use money from that fund right away. ... Secondly, if we find out we're running a champagne program on a beer budget, make sure you retune it, make sure it's something the government can live with and not hold out a promise to victims of crime that we can't fulfill."
Ont. crime compensation system a 'failure': ombud
CTV.ca News Staff
Ontario's Criminal Injuries Compensation Board is a "colossal failure" that needlessly revictimizes people, said the province's ombudsman in a scathing report.
In his report titled "Adding Insult to Injury," Ombudsman Andre Marin says the board has been underfunded for years.
Morin blames successive governments for allowing the board to "embrace lethargy and delay as a survival tactic."
Marin also accused the board of having "an official document fetish," because of what he calls its obsession with having its lengthy application forms filled out perfectly.
"People are having to deal with an avalanche of forms, sometimes up to 51 forms," Marin said in an interview on CTV Newsnet. "Forty per cent of the forms are returned as incomplete, for technical reasons such as 'you put too much information, so redo the form.'"
Marin said he found one instance where an injury victim with the name Wilkins got his form returned to him by the board because he failed to dot the second 'i' on the form.
"It's really a system that's lost it's mission, that's lost its raison d'etre and we're hoping to set it straight today," said Marin.
The ombudsman also details in his report cases of several victims who got what he calls a "lengthy run around." One blind retiree, for instance, had to choose between food and burying her murdered daughter.
He says the government made pious pledges to help victims, but did nothing to fix well-known problems at the board, "pretending to act by studying the thing to death."
Marin launched an investigation after an increasing number of complaints to his office from people who felt they were revictimized by the board's actions.
It takes an average of three years to process a crime victims' compensation claim in Ontario, compared with two months in Quebec and up to six months in British Columbia.
Marin said part of the reason why such an "underground culture of delay" was able to evolve at the board is because of improper funding.
"It had no money. It was starved and forced into this situation and so the first thing we need to do is fund it properly," he told Newsnet.
Morin says while the board is starved for cash, a Victims of Justice Fund, which gives money for programs and services, has an $80 million surplus that the government refuses to use to compensate victims.
"What we need to do is use money from that fund right away. ... Secondly, if we find out we're running a champagne program on a beer budget, make sure you retune it, make sure it's something the government can live with and not hold out a promise to victims of crime that we can't fulfill."
They Had 13 Years
And they talked about all the grandiose schemes to help the poor, working mothers, cities, etc. and what did we get....broken GST promise, scandals, reduced transfer payments to provinces, etc. but what Dion has going for him is that many left wing liberal supporters still believe in the cradle to grave mentality fostered by PET. Bottom line is Harper and Dion and Miller are talking about MY MONEY and I would love to send less of it to Ottawa, Queens Park and City Hall.
Stephane Dion makes gas tax transfer pledge
Updated Tue. Feb. 27 2007 11:04 PM ET
Canadian Press
TORONTO -- A federal Liberal government would make permanent the current five-year deal that transfers a portion of the gas tax to municipalities, party leader Stephane Dion said Tuesday while stopping short of agreeing to fork over one cent of the GST to cities.
In an election-style speech to delegates attending a summit on Toronto's future, Dion pledged that, as prime minister, he would make research and development, immigration, public transit and the working poor a priority.
Dion suggested he wouldn't be able to honour such commitments if he agreed to a one-cent GST transfer that he said would take some $5.5 billion out of federal coffers.
On Monday, Toronto Mayor David Miller called on Ottawa to provide permanent funding for cities by giving them one cent of every six cents collected through the GST.
While Dion said he's sympathetic to mayors who rely on property taxes which don't "grow at the same speed as the economy" for revenue, he called a permanent gas-tax transfer a "good first step."
"Our cities and communities need stable, long-term commitments, with predictable funding," Dion told conference delegates, noting it would give cities an extra $2 billion a year.
"Our federal and provincial governments don't make decisions based on short-term commitments, and neither does the private sector. We shouldn't ask our cities to do what we wouldn't do ourselves."
Dion cast himself as a prime minister who would "fight" to ensure the municipalities had their needs met "on transit and other infrastructure needs."
"I will work with your mayors and understand their challenges and need for real financial partnership over the long-term."
In his speech, Dion also urged the Conservatives to help the poor by funding the working income-tax benefit, which supplements the wages of low-income earners, to the $2.25-billion over five years proposed by the Liberals two years ago.
He also called on the Harper government to reinstate the national day-care program and promised to invest $250 million a year to cover the indirect costs of university research -- something he said the Harper government has slashed to just $40 million.
A Liberal government would also reinvest in financial assistance for post-secondary students, which Dion said the current government has cut by 70 per cent.
"For the GTA and other university regions to prosper, we need to reverse those cuts," he said. "We need to keep our universities first class universities in the world."
Stephane Dion makes gas tax transfer pledge
Updated Tue. Feb. 27 2007 11:04 PM ET
Canadian Press
TORONTO -- A federal Liberal government would make permanent the current five-year deal that transfers a portion of the gas tax to municipalities, party leader Stephane Dion said Tuesday while stopping short of agreeing to fork over one cent of the GST to cities.
In an election-style speech to delegates attending a summit on Toronto's future, Dion pledged that, as prime minister, he would make research and development, immigration, public transit and the working poor a priority.
Dion suggested he wouldn't be able to honour such commitments if he agreed to a one-cent GST transfer that he said would take some $5.5 billion out of federal coffers.
On Monday, Toronto Mayor David Miller called on Ottawa to provide permanent funding for cities by giving them one cent of every six cents collected through the GST.
While Dion said he's sympathetic to mayors who rely on property taxes which don't "grow at the same speed as the economy" for revenue, he called a permanent gas-tax transfer a "good first step."
"Our cities and communities need stable, long-term commitments, with predictable funding," Dion told conference delegates, noting it would give cities an extra $2 billion a year.
"Our federal and provincial governments don't make decisions based on short-term commitments, and neither does the private sector. We shouldn't ask our cities to do what we wouldn't do ourselves."
Dion cast himself as a prime minister who would "fight" to ensure the municipalities had their needs met "on transit and other infrastructure needs."
"I will work with your mayors and understand their challenges and need for real financial partnership over the long-term."
In his speech, Dion also urged the Conservatives to help the poor by funding the working income-tax benefit, which supplements the wages of low-income earners, to the $2.25-billion over five years proposed by the Liberals two years ago.
He also called on the Harper government to reinstate the national day-care program and promised to invest $250 million a year to cover the indirect costs of university research -- something he said the Harper government has slashed to just $40 million.
A Liberal government would also reinvest in financial assistance for post-secondary students, which Dion said the current government has cut by 70 per cent.
"For the GTA and other university regions to prosper, we need to reverse those cuts," he said. "We need to keep our universities first class universities in the world."
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
The Secret To Longevity
Give up sex but take up smoking.
Man aged 107 forsakes sex for longevity:
Sun Feb 25, 9:24 AM ET
A 107-year-old Hong Kong villager, who still enjoys an occasional smoke, has attributed his longevity in part to decades of sexual abstinence, a newspaper said on Sunday.
"I don't know why I have lived this long," Chan Chi -- one of Hong Kong's oldest people -- was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post during an annual feast for the city's elders.
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have lived a sex-less life for many years -- since I was 30," said Chan, a widower whose youthful bride perished during the Japanese invasion in World War Two.
Chan, from Hong Kong's less built-up New Territories hinterland, was pictured looking sprightly and eating heartily at the banquet.
A former chef, he said a low-fat diet and regular dawn exercises had helped him fight off the ravages of old age.
But the centenarian, who's had no difficulty living a monastic existence for nearly 80 years, admits the pleasures of tobacco have been harder to resist.
"Now I want to quit," he was quoted as saying of his decades-long cigarette addiction. "Maybe the government should ban cigarette sales so I can give it up," he added.
Man aged 107 forsakes sex for longevity:
Sun Feb 25, 9:24 AM ET
A 107-year-old Hong Kong villager, who still enjoys an occasional smoke, has attributed his longevity in part to decades of sexual abstinence, a newspaper said on Sunday.
"I don't know why I have lived this long," Chan Chi -- one of Hong Kong's oldest people -- was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post during an annual feast for the city's elders.
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have lived a sex-less life for many years -- since I was 30," said Chan, a widower whose youthful bride perished during the Japanese invasion in World War Two.
Chan, from Hong Kong's less built-up New Territories hinterland, was pictured looking sprightly and eating heartily at the banquet.
A former chef, he said a low-fat diet and regular dawn exercises had helped him fight off the ravages of old age.
But the centenarian, who's had no difficulty living a monastic existence for nearly 80 years, admits the pleasures of tobacco have been harder to resist.
"Now I want to quit," he was quoted as saying of his decades-long cigarette addiction. "Maybe the government should ban cigarette sales so I can give it up," he added.
Topic Closed
I don't understand whether this is technical issue, reducing the traffic on a server, or whether it a form of censorship; ie: people who are responding are not following the party line. This "issue" came up when I was "surfing" the blogs and ran across rabble.ca, leans to the left, and there was a thread on Little Mosque On The Prairie and there was a large volume of traffic, over a one week period, but then the thread was closed. I personally only watched the first episode and didn't find it "funny" and thought I would give the show a few weeks to do some punch ups and then visit again and make some comments but because the topic is closed I would have to start a new thread.
Both Suzuki & Gore Using Carbon Credits
Why Al Gore can Fart ... but You Can't
Hell, who cares if you burn a bazillion tons of CO2 during that cross country private jet flight … all you’ve got to do is flip some cash to the Carbon Credit police and off you go… conscience free … hassle free … and all for the good of Terra Firma.
click
Posted by Cjunk at 11:01 AM
Hell, who cares if you burn a bazillion tons of CO2 during that cross country private jet flight … all you’ve got to do is flip some cash to the Carbon Credit police and off you go… conscience free … hassle free … and all for the good of Terra Firma.
click
Posted by Cjunk at 11:01 AM
On The Road Again........
Suzuki Bashes Alberta!
"Suzuki said his comments weren't personal, and that he only responded to what reporters told him about 'Stel - whatever his name is'"
Last week the David Suzuki traveling caravan of environmental love came to Alberta. — And like all socialist activists, he obviously didn't come here to praise us.
His first stop was in Calgary were he was invited to speak at that the Altadore elementary school and accept a paltry $835 collected by the students for his foundation. By the way, where does that money really go?
--Terry Pearson
~The Story
"Suzuki said his comments weren't personal, and that he only responded to what reporters told him about 'Stel - whatever his name is'"
Last week the David Suzuki traveling caravan of environmental love came to Alberta. — And like all socialist activists, he obviously didn't come here to praise us.
His first stop was in Calgary were he was invited to speak at that the Altadore elementary school and accept a paltry $835 collected by the students for his foundation. By the way, where does that money really go?
--Terry Pearson
~The Story
The Poor Can Be Given Kyoto Dollars
Poor also need to adapt to climate change, experts say
JULHAS ALAM
Associated Press
DHAKA — The poor must adapt to climate change using local knowledge, experts from around the world gathered at a conference in Bangladesh say.
The experts exchanged information on how local people are coping with heat waves in the mountains of India, floods in Bangladesh and Nepal, droughts in Kenya and soil poisoned by salt in Sri Lanka.
Poor people are already being hurt by Earth's rising temperatures, the experts said, maintaining that adapting to climate change deserves just as much focus as reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
“Global warming is a reality now,” Ian Burton, a Toronto-based expert in climate change, told the Associated Press in an interview on the sidelines of the climate-change conference that started in Dhaka on Saturday and ends Wednesday.
“Rich countries are responsible, but poorer nations are bearing the brunt,” he said, adding that adaptation at the community level is the answer to the problem.
The London-based International Institute for Environment and Development and the Dhaka-based Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies organized the conference to share experiences on local climate adaptation programs across the world.
The conference was being held more than three weeks after the United Nations-backed International Panel on Climate Change, a scientific body charged with assessing the evidence for and risk of global warming, declared it “very likely” that the globe's increasing temperature is a result of human activity.
Many poor countries where a large number of people live on less than $1 (U.S.) a day are most vulnerable to the impact of global warming.
Bangladesh, with a population of 144 million, is a good example how global warming impacts the very poor.
The country is a vast delta that is barely above the sea level, making it prone to flooding from waterways swollen by rain and melting snow from the Himalayas.
Bangladeshi climate-change expert Atiq Rahman said that if the sea rises by 30 centimetres, which some researchers say could happen over next few decades, up to 12 per cent of the population living across the vast coast would be flooded out of their homes.
“Our poor people will suffer more, their future poverty will be much more severe,” Mr. Rahman said.
Melting glaciers on the Himalayas are already causing floods along rivers in Bangladesh, he said.
The melting glacier water carries mud and sand, which is spread during the flooding, filling in some river beds and leading to drought in the north, he said.
Rising sea levels are one factor causing salty sea water to encroach on fresh water in the southwest, he said.
Saleemul Huq, head of the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment and Development, told AP that international policy-makers need to focus as much on adaptation to climate change as on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Vulnerable communities can't sit idle,” Mr. Huq said.
He said poorer nations lack money, resources and technology to stand against the dangerous impacts of climate change.
“It's important to rethink the whole thing and focus on adaptation,” he said.
Jolly Green Giant Not Walking The Talk
Like his soulmate, David Suzuki, Big Al doesn't seem to playing the green game.
POWER: GORE MANSION USES 20X AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD; CONSUMPTION INCREASE AFTER 'TRUTH'
Mon Feb 26 2007 17:16:14 ET
Nashville Electric Service/Gore House
2006
High 22619 kWh Aug – Sept
Low 12541 kWh Jan - Feb
Average: 18,414 kWh per month
2005
High 20532 Sept - October
Low 12955 Feb - March
Average: 16,200 kWh per month
Bill amounts
2006 – $895.60 (low) $1738.52 (high) $1359 (average)
2005 – $853.91 (low) $1461 (high)
Nashville Gas Company
Main House
2006 – $990(high) $170 (low) $536 (average)
2005 – $1080 (high) $200 (low) $640 (average)
Guest House/Pool House
2006 – $820 (high) $70 (low) $544 (average)
2005 – $1025 (high) $25 (low) $525 (average)
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization, issued a press release late Monday:
Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.
Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.
Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.
“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk to walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.
In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.
For Further Information, Contact:
Nicole Williams, (615) 383-6431
editor@tennesseepolicy.org
Dion's Honeymoon Over
Dion may be one Quebecer too many for voters
February 27, 2007
Richard Gwyn
Few Canadian political leaders have undergone as rapid a reversal of public fortunes as has Stéphane Dion in the less than three months since he became Liberal leader.
Comparisons have been made with Stockwell Day's spectacular fall after he became leader of the now-vanished Alliance Party. Day, though, while he did take a deep dive as soon as he put on his wet suit, never started out high.
Dion at his start was genuinely popular. People were intrigued by him.
Sure he was geeky, but he clearly was brainy. He possessed the especially attractive quality of "authenticity," of being someone who was real and who actually meant what he said.
His handicaps are now much more obvious.
On television, he just doesn't look like a leader. On both television and radio, his weak voice simply doesn't make him sound like a leader.
Dion has another handicap that everyone was aware of at his beginning but sort of assumed would go away by itself. This is that he's a Quebecer.
Dion's core problem may be that he's one Quebecer too many.
More
February 27, 2007
Richard Gwyn
Few Canadian political leaders have undergone as rapid a reversal of public fortunes as has Stéphane Dion in the less than three months since he became Liberal leader.
Comparisons have been made with Stockwell Day's spectacular fall after he became leader of the now-vanished Alliance Party. Day, though, while he did take a deep dive as soon as he put on his wet suit, never started out high.
Dion at his start was genuinely popular. People were intrigued by him.
Sure he was geeky, but he clearly was brainy. He possessed the especially attractive quality of "authenticity," of being someone who was real and who actually meant what he said.
His handicaps are now much more obvious.
On television, he just doesn't look like a leader. On both television and radio, his weak voice simply doesn't make him sound like a leader.
Dion has another handicap that everyone was aware of at his beginning but sort of assumed would go away by itself. This is that he's a Quebecer.
Dion's core problem may be that he's one Quebecer too many.
More
Miller's Priority For Queen West Is A Protected Haven
For artists,artisan, artiste, authority, composer, craftsman, creator, expert, handicraftsman, inventor, painter, virtuoso, etc. The rest of you will have to play second fiddle.
Toronto Talks...Mayor is not listening.
Breaking down barriers on Queen St.
Feb. 25.
I have my doubts that the remodelling of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at 1001 Queen St. W. will reduce the stigmatization of those with mental illness. I am 31 and have been a "client" at CAMH and various other mental-health institutions and wards in Toronto and Montreal for the past seven years.
I have been diagnosed and locked up and medicated and put in restraints. The real problems are inside the hospitals, not outside on the grounds or even in the "real world."
Healthy people may look at us and think that what we really want is a place in their realm. That's not always so. My disability is invisible. No one offers me a seat on the subway when I'm dizzy from all of the noises and lights in my head.
But when I sit outside the buildings of the CAMH on Queen W., watching the cars and people finding their way around the hospital instead of through it, I feel safe. I am at last among my own kind, and safe and separate from the world that is so hard to navigate.
Where will the mentally ill of Toronto find their safe haven if CAMH is to become a bustling part of the neighbourhood? Where will we go for that feeling of peace that only comes from being around one's own kind?
Claire Kobayakawa, Toronto
I agree with the comments attributed to Dr. Patricia Cavanagh lamenting the loss of the "asylum" aspect of CAMH. The notion of having major streets cut through the Queen St. W. site, dotted with cafés and retail space, is misguided and shows a profound disconnect between the in-patient population and the administration and redevelopment committee in understanding its own clients' situation.
As a lawyer, I have represented hundreds of the most chronic in-patients of the Queen St. site of CAMH for the last 12 years, and I recently spoke to a group of these clients about the redevelopment. They are opposed. They have a monthly income of $116 as a comfort allowance. Right now, there are a number of places in and around the centre where they are welcome and able to get their coffee and sit among the trees in the park surrounding the site, having a smoke. The place is their home, for better or for worse.
With $400 million, it would have been better to secure long-term supportive housing, to ensure better nursing care and increase staffing levels for current in-patients, or to rebuild an admittedly hideous facility into a beautiful setting.
But the current plan will just make my clients feel worse when everyone else around them is spending $5 on a latte.
They will be much more "other" than they are now.
Anita Szigeti, Toronto
Toronto Talks...Mayor is not listening.
Breaking down barriers on Queen St.
Feb. 25.
I have my doubts that the remodelling of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at 1001 Queen St. W. will reduce the stigmatization of those with mental illness. I am 31 and have been a "client" at CAMH and various other mental-health institutions and wards in Toronto and Montreal for the past seven years.
I have been diagnosed and locked up and medicated and put in restraints. The real problems are inside the hospitals, not outside on the grounds or even in the "real world."
Healthy people may look at us and think that what we really want is a place in their realm. That's not always so. My disability is invisible. No one offers me a seat on the subway when I'm dizzy from all of the noises and lights in my head.
But when I sit outside the buildings of the CAMH on Queen W., watching the cars and people finding their way around the hospital instead of through it, I feel safe. I am at last among my own kind, and safe and separate from the world that is so hard to navigate.
Where will the mentally ill of Toronto find their safe haven if CAMH is to become a bustling part of the neighbourhood? Where will we go for that feeling of peace that only comes from being around one's own kind?
Claire Kobayakawa, Toronto
I agree with the comments attributed to Dr. Patricia Cavanagh lamenting the loss of the "asylum" aspect of CAMH. The notion of having major streets cut through the Queen St. W. site, dotted with cafés and retail space, is misguided and shows a profound disconnect between the in-patient population and the administration and redevelopment committee in understanding its own clients' situation.
As a lawyer, I have represented hundreds of the most chronic in-patients of the Queen St. site of CAMH for the last 12 years, and I recently spoke to a group of these clients about the redevelopment. They are opposed. They have a monthly income of $116 as a comfort allowance. Right now, there are a number of places in and around the centre where they are welcome and able to get their coffee and sit among the trees in the park surrounding the site, having a smoke. The place is their home, for better or for worse.
With $400 million, it would have been better to secure long-term supportive housing, to ensure better nursing care and increase staffing levels for current in-patients, or to rebuild an admittedly hideous facility into a beautiful setting.
But the current plan will just make my clients feel worse when everyone else around them is spending $5 on a latte.
They will be much more "other" than they are now.
Anita Szigeti, Toronto
Cutting Through The Crap
Day 1 has come up with some interesting items.......
Intriguing ideas floated on how to improve the city
Here are some of the proposals presented at Day 1 of the Toronto Summit 2007:
Let the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority run the TTC's subway and give the bus routes to private or private/public bodies to operate.
Great idea.....
Limit terms for municipal elected positions to three, to overcome the near-invincibility of incumbents.
Limit them to two.......
Show that boosting incomes for low-income working-age adults benefits everyone by
increasing social cohesion, economic competitiveness and health.
Mom & Apple pie.....
Generously reward home or building owners who can cut energy consumption to less than a pre-set, stringent standard.
Who sets & monitors the standard....increase in bureaucracy?
Make Toronto an international centre to combat global warming.
Make Toronto a livable city for the property owners/taxpayers.
Keep schools open after class and during holidays to make them a stronger part of communities.
Good idea, staffed by parent volunteers.
Let cities decide whether to allow non-citizens to vote.
Good idea and let's tie councillor's salaries and budget to the voter turnout in their "riding."
Intriguing ideas floated on how to improve the city
Here are some of the proposals presented at Day 1 of the Toronto Summit 2007:
Let the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority run the TTC's subway and give the bus routes to private or private/public bodies to operate.
Great idea.....
Limit terms for municipal elected positions to three, to overcome the near-invincibility of incumbents.
Limit them to two.......
Show that boosting incomes for low-income working-age adults benefits everyone by
increasing social cohesion, economic competitiveness and health.
Mom & Apple pie.....
Generously reward home or building owners who can cut energy consumption to less than a pre-set, stringent standard.
Who sets & monitors the standard....increase in bureaucracy?
Make Toronto an international centre to combat global warming.
Make Toronto a livable city for the property owners/taxpayers.
Keep schools open after class and during holidays to make them a stronger part of communities.
Good idea, staffed by parent volunteers.
Let cities decide whether to allow non-citizens to vote.
Good idea and let's tie councillor's salaries and budget to the voter turnout in their "riding."
At Least With Mel We Got The Odd Laugh
But there is nothing funny about Emporer Miller and merry band of leftwing nutbars and cottage industry entrepreneurs.
Miller's one-cent solution ...
... is going to cost taxpayers a fortune, as it always does with the mad spenders at City Hall
By SUE-ANN LEVY
Permit me to give my two cents worth about Mayor David Miller's latest effort to acquire one cent of the existing GST.
The idea that His Blondness has chosen to spend $150,000 this cash-strapped city doesn't have on a glossy promotional campaign aimed at exacting $400 million a year from the federal government is beyond cheeky.
It's ridiculous -- punctuated by the fact that Miller chose to announce his PR campaign (called One Cent Now) the day before his executive committee is expected to approve a $1.4-billion capital budget which minimally addresses the city's long list of backlogged infrastructure repairs and raises $350-million in new debt.
I'm beginning to believe the mayor and his fawning followers have lost touch with reality.
There he was yesterday -- at the latest liberal-dominated hot-airfest known as the Toronto City Summit Alliance conference -- declaring to a crowd of more than 500 that it's time for the feds to show "fairness, vision and action" by turning over a one-cent share of the GST action.
Miller contended this GST grab was one of three things cities need most, a message he pledges to take to Ottawa and Queen's Park. Cities also want a national transit strategy and in Ontario, an uploading of social programs back to the province.
"It's NOT a bailout, it's NOT a handout, it's OUR money," he said.
That was in itself an irony given that the money belongs to taxpayers -- and there is only one taxpayer, something the socialists forever forget. I couldn't help but laugh, however, when he committed to handling the $400-million yearly purse "with the utmost of care."
He said the money would be used to keep property taxes "reasonable," meet critical capital budget needs, overhaul the city's affordable housing stock and keep neighbourhoods safe.
Not only that, he'd make Toronto the "greenest of the world's great cities."
My goodness, what was in the mayor's lunch yesterday? And here I thought he was already doing all that.
Miller also contended with a straight face that Toronto's credentials for sound financial management "have grown impressively" in recent years. "At City Hall, we've cut red tape and increased financial controls over public funds," he claimed. "We have our fiscal house in order."
Who wrote this bunk? Perhaps I was away from City Hall the day the mayor decided to make his union buddies more efficient by giving up his stubborn resistance to contracting out. I must have been off as well the day he disbanded his efforts to force small businesses who want to do work with the city to pay "fair" -- that is, union wages -- to their employees.
Guess I also missed the day Miller and city manager Shirley Hoy elected to actually honour council's hiring freeze. Oops, I forgot. Miller is planning to hire four more people in his own office, seeing as he is now the city's CEO.
Toronto's house not in order
It's not as if a mayor, who has openly defied any attempts to get the city's house in order, deserves to get $400 million yearly -- with no strings -- from the feds. He wants to talk about fairness? How about fairness for taxpayers?
As Miller stood before the media answering questions -- with a half dozen Ontario mayors clustered around him -- I realized this campaign is just as much, if not more, about promoting himself for bigger and better things (a future run at becoming premier?) as about solving the city's fiscal woes.
In fact, Sarnia mayor Mike Bradley said he hopes Miller will go out on the "federal campaign trail" to sell his GST efforts. "He has rock star potential as a mayor out there," Bradley said.
Just what Toronto needs. A mayor who thinks he's both an emperor and a rock star.
Noted Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong: "We're running hundreds of millions of dollars of debt ... I think the mayor should be very careful about how he spends his money ... this sends another bad signal."
In This Corner wearing Green Trunks We Have Paul Berton
And in the opposite corner wearing denim trunks is Lorrie Goldstein.
The Earth or the Economy?
Lorrie Goldstein and Paul Berton square off on global warming, Kyoto and Canada
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN AND PAUL BERTON
BERTON: Okay, let's start by agreeing that global warming is a catastrophe in the making.
GOLDSTEIN: Okay -- global warming is a possible catastrophe in the making -- just like, in the recent past, global cooling, nuclear winter, the "population bomb," acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, killer bees and a worldwide flu pandemic. Strangely, we're still here. Your point?
BERTON: Not strangely. Miraculously. The nuclear threat still exists. A pandemic is inevitable. Acid rain is a fact. No, we're not dead yet, but you don't need to live in China or even suburban Toronto to know exponential population growth is a threat. The planet is resilient, but it's bending. Are you suggesting it won't break and we can focus on the economy and ignore the environment?
GOLDSTEIN: No, I'm telling you to calm down. Nothing good ever came of acting in a blind panic, running around like Chicken Little, or Al Gore, declaring "the sky is falling." Fall for that nonsense and you're apt to support the Kyoto Accord, which, by the way, really is a "socialist, money-sucking scheme."
BERTON: I accept the sky is not falling -- on us. But ask our kids, or our grandchildren. Surely this debate occurred ad inifinitum on Easter Island, until it was too late. We have no idea how many of history's Al Gores were successful, but the failures are evidenced in the rubble of civilizations from ancient Sumer to Chichen Itza. Environmental degradation killed them all. Today, we're not looking at individual societies, but the entire planet.
GOLDSTEIN: Gee, I thought it was European conquerers who killed off at least some of them. Exxon certainly didn't. Getting back to the present, you implied earlier that I was suggesting "we can focus on the economy and ignore the environment." Ah, the 'David-Suzuki' approach to ending all debate. Tell me, where, exactly, did I say either of those things?
BERTON: Obviously, it is impossible politically and socially to ignore the economy. My point is the economy always seems to win over the environment -- locally, nationally, internationally. One day we'll have no choice. So why not start now with some reasonable restrictions on the economy, in favour of the environment? So we can't meet our Kyoto committments. Does that make the attempt worthy of scorn?
GOLDSTEIN: Of course not. Now, we're get ting down to it. You're right, we can't meet our Kyoto commitments. We never could have even if the Liberals had been serious about meeting them, which they weren't. That makes 90% of the political discussion about this issue in Canada, specifically by the Liberals, Bloc, NDP and Greens, a total fantasy. Stephen Harper had it right the first time. We need a "made-in-Canada" plan and to hell with Kyoto. If only he'd really meant it.
BERTON: Okay, but we can't allow the bar to be low just to appease big business. Kyoto set the bar high for a purpose -- to drive home the message we're dealing with a potential nightmare. And so what if China and India (among others) are the elephants in the room? What's wrong with Canada being an example to the world? It could even be good for our economy.
GOLDSTEIN: There's nothing wrong with Canada being an example. There's everything wrong with Canada being a patsy. While we're savaging Alberta's oil sands and re-igniting western separatism in a futile attempt to meet Kyoto, the big emitters like the U.S., China, India and Russia will go right on doing what they're doing. We should withdraw from Kyoto and set our own course. Yes, let's address greenhouse gases but, even more important, smog, which really is killing us right now, end multi-billion dollar tax subsidies to Big Oil and Big Auto and use that money to help average Canadians retrofit their homes for maximum energy efficiency.
BERTON: Okay, barring the fact Canada will look like an international outlaw, carbon taxes and tough emission targets with strict guidelines (again) may have to do. And, as you have so eloquently written in the past, we should all think twice about our individual carbon footprints. Per capita, we're four times the global average in terms of CO2 emissions. By the way, have you seen Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth? I highly recommend it.
GOLDSTEIN: Not sure about a carbon tax. Let's start with hard caps on emissions and spending less public money subsidizing Big Oil, etc. As for An Inconvenient Truth, yeah, I did my due diligence. But I'd recommend several books as much more informative: Robert Henson's The Rough Guide to Climate Change (the best I've seen on this topic); Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers; James Lovelock's The Revenge of Gaia; and Stormy Weather -- 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change by Guy Dauncey. I doubt even "the Goreacle" could object to that list.
The Earth or the Economy?
Lorrie Goldstein and Paul Berton square off on global warming, Kyoto and Canada
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN AND PAUL BERTON
BERTON: Okay, let's start by agreeing that global warming is a catastrophe in the making.
GOLDSTEIN: Okay -- global warming is a possible catastrophe in the making -- just like, in the recent past, global cooling, nuclear winter, the "population bomb," acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, killer bees and a worldwide flu pandemic. Strangely, we're still here. Your point?
BERTON: Not strangely. Miraculously. The nuclear threat still exists. A pandemic is inevitable. Acid rain is a fact. No, we're not dead yet, but you don't need to live in China or even suburban Toronto to know exponential population growth is a threat. The planet is resilient, but it's bending. Are you suggesting it won't break and we can focus on the economy and ignore the environment?
GOLDSTEIN: No, I'm telling you to calm down. Nothing good ever came of acting in a blind panic, running around like Chicken Little, or Al Gore, declaring "the sky is falling." Fall for that nonsense and you're apt to support the Kyoto Accord, which, by the way, really is a "socialist, money-sucking scheme."
BERTON: I accept the sky is not falling -- on us. But ask our kids, or our grandchildren. Surely this debate occurred ad inifinitum on Easter Island, until it was too late. We have no idea how many of history's Al Gores were successful, but the failures are evidenced in the rubble of civilizations from ancient Sumer to Chichen Itza. Environmental degradation killed them all. Today, we're not looking at individual societies, but the entire planet.
GOLDSTEIN: Gee, I thought it was European conquerers who killed off at least some of them. Exxon certainly didn't. Getting back to the present, you implied earlier that I was suggesting "we can focus on the economy and ignore the environment." Ah, the 'David-Suzuki' approach to ending all debate. Tell me, where, exactly, did I say either of those things?
BERTON: Obviously, it is impossible politically and socially to ignore the economy. My point is the economy always seems to win over the environment -- locally, nationally, internationally. One day we'll have no choice. So why not start now with some reasonable restrictions on the economy, in favour of the environment? So we can't meet our Kyoto committments. Does that make the attempt worthy of scorn?
GOLDSTEIN: Of course not. Now, we're get ting down to it. You're right, we can't meet our Kyoto commitments. We never could have even if the Liberals had been serious about meeting them, which they weren't. That makes 90% of the political discussion about this issue in Canada, specifically by the Liberals, Bloc, NDP and Greens, a total fantasy. Stephen Harper had it right the first time. We need a "made-in-Canada" plan and to hell with Kyoto. If only he'd really meant it.
BERTON: Okay, but we can't allow the bar to be low just to appease big business. Kyoto set the bar high for a purpose -- to drive home the message we're dealing with a potential nightmare. And so what if China and India (among others) are the elephants in the room? What's wrong with Canada being an example to the world? It could even be good for our economy.
GOLDSTEIN: There's nothing wrong with Canada being an example. There's everything wrong with Canada being a patsy. While we're savaging Alberta's oil sands and re-igniting western separatism in a futile attempt to meet Kyoto, the big emitters like the U.S., China, India and Russia will go right on doing what they're doing. We should withdraw from Kyoto and set our own course. Yes, let's address greenhouse gases but, even more important, smog, which really is killing us right now, end multi-billion dollar tax subsidies to Big Oil and Big Auto and use that money to help average Canadians retrofit their homes for maximum energy efficiency.
BERTON: Okay, barring the fact Canada will look like an international outlaw, carbon taxes and tough emission targets with strict guidelines (again) may have to do. And, as you have so eloquently written in the past, we should all think twice about our individual carbon footprints. Per capita, we're four times the global average in terms of CO2 emissions. By the way, have you seen Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth? I highly recommend it.
GOLDSTEIN: Not sure about a carbon tax. Let's start with hard caps on emissions and spending less public money subsidizing Big Oil, etc. As for An Inconvenient Truth, yeah, I did my due diligence. But I'd recommend several books as much more informative: Robert Henson's The Rough Guide to Climate Change (the best I've seen on this topic); Tim Flannery's The Weather Makers; James Lovelock's The Revenge of Gaia; and Stormy Weather -- 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change by Guy Dauncey. I doubt even "the Goreacle" could object to that list.
Mayor Miller Cannot Be A Complete Fiscal Moron
Notwithstanding his educational credentials he just doesn't seem to want get into the ballgame. Let's start looking at less expensive ways to provide services, it is called contracting out, let's start honoring agreements that council makes, let's stop catering to the social in-activists and leeches, you want to eat at my table and sleep under my roof you are going to have to contribute time to keep the city clean,let's take a hardline when it comes to labour negotiations, etc.
GST aid makes cents for city
By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA
Mayor David Miller gave his two cents worth on securing one cent of the GST for funding cities across the country.
"Toronto alone sends $6.6 billion a year more to the federal treasury than it gets back," Miller told a luncheon crowd on the first day of the Toronto Summit yesterday.
"Our citizens do not object to paying our fair share, we know those dollars are used to finance health care and education. But we also know that more of that money has to come back to our city. We need to keep Toronto strong if we're going to keep Canada prosperous."
The One Cent Now campaign -- with lapel pins, bumper stickers and a website (www.onecentnow.ca) -- has the support of other municipal leaders across the country. Miller was joined by the mayors of Sarnia, Hamilton, Brampton, Mississauga, Oshawa and Aurora.
"It's not the total solution to the problem," said Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. "We should be getting social costs ... off the property tax because that is income redistribution and should never be on the property tax."
But Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who attended a summit session earlier in the day, said the city needs to do a better job managing the funds it has before going to Ottawa.
"You can't go to the federal government and ask for money when you're not running your organization as well as you can," Minnan-Wong said. "Because if you just get the money without running your organization better, you're just going to spend that money badly."
Miller said he wants the federal government to include the 1 cents -- about $400 million a year for Toronto -- in next month's federal budget.
GST aid makes cents for city
By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA
Mayor David Miller gave his two cents worth on securing one cent of the GST for funding cities across the country.
"Toronto alone sends $6.6 billion a year more to the federal treasury than it gets back," Miller told a luncheon crowd on the first day of the Toronto Summit yesterday.
"Our citizens do not object to paying our fair share, we know those dollars are used to finance health care and education. But we also know that more of that money has to come back to our city. We need to keep Toronto strong if we're going to keep Canada prosperous."
The One Cent Now campaign -- with lapel pins, bumper stickers and a website (www.onecentnow.ca) -- has the support of other municipal leaders across the country. Miller was joined by the mayors of Sarnia, Hamilton, Brampton, Mississauga, Oshawa and Aurora.
"It's not the total solution to the problem," said Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. "We should be getting social costs ... off the property tax because that is income redistribution and should never be on the property tax."
But Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who attended a summit session earlier in the day, said the city needs to do a better job managing the funds it has before going to Ottawa.
"You can't go to the federal government and ask for money when you're not running your organization as well as you can," Minnan-Wong said. "Because if you just get the money without running your organization better, you're just going to spend that money badly."
Miller said he wants the federal government to include the 1 cents -- about $400 million a year for Toronto -- in next month's federal budget.
Monday, February 26, 2007
A Resource For True Environmentalists
I know all of you are intelligent, caring and objective in your quest to save the world so for those of you who have not bookmarked the following site I am providing the link.
GREENIE WATCH
GREENIE WATCH
Words In Themselves Are Neutral
Who and how it is said/used is an entirely different matter. Those who don't understand this are ill equipped to open their mouth and they are a danger to themselves and society. Want to guess which word is at the center of this controversy?
How to Do Things with Words
The New York City councilman mentioned in this story needs to read J. L. Austin. He doesn’t understand the difference between words and their uses, which is like not understanding the difference between kitchen utensils and their uses. Nor, shockingly, does he understand that words can be used ironically, sarcastically, hyperbolically, metaphorically, and subversively, as well as literally. What a moron.
How to Do Things with Words
The New York City councilman mentioned in this story needs to read J. L. Austin. He doesn’t understand the difference between words and their uses, which is like not understanding the difference between kitchen utensils and their uses. Nor, shockingly, does he understand that words can be used ironically, sarcastically, hyperbolically, metaphorically, and subversively, as well as literally. What a moron.
Follow The Environmental Bread Crumb Trail......
February 26, 2007
A timeline of environmental action
Posted by Steve Janke of the Blogging Tories at 02:38 AM
Related articles: Technorati Cosmos :: Canadian Blog Exchange
In doing to cleanup research on the question of bromine lobbying by key Liberals, I assembled an interesting timeline. It is revealing.
Recall that senior Liberal Party strategist John Duffy was revealed to be a key lobbyist for the bromine industry. Bromines are considered by many environmental scientists to be worse that chlorine in terms of impact on the atmosphere, and compounds that use bromines, such as PBDEs, are persistent in the environment, much in the same way as PCBs are.
The bromine industry, of course, was working hard to avoid an outright ban on the sale and use of bromine compounds, and John Duffy seemed all too happy to help them. So what happened while the Liberals were in power, and then when the Conservatives took over?
Consider this timeline:
A timeline of environmental action
Posted by Steve Janke of the Blogging Tories at 02:38 AM
Related articles: Technorati Cosmos :: Canadian Blog Exchange
In doing to cleanup research on the question of bromine lobbying by key Liberals, I assembled an interesting timeline. It is revealing.
Recall that senior Liberal Party strategist John Duffy was revealed to be a key lobbyist for the bromine industry. Bromines are considered by many environmental scientists to be worse that chlorine in terms of impact on the atmosphere, and compounds that use bromines, such as PBDEs, are persistent in the environment, much in the same way as PCBs are.
The bromine industry, of course, was working hard to avoid an outright ban on the sale and use of bromine compounds, and John Duffy seemed all too happy to help them. So what happened while the Liberals were in power, and then when the Conservatives took over?
Consider this timeline:
I Have Purposely Been Staying Away From Caledonia
Mainly because most of info comes from other bloggers who seem to have their own agenda but I couldn't pass on this report from the mainstream media......
"It's time for the politically incorrect truth to be told."
John Hagopian goes, for the Hamilton Spectator, where other mainstream outlets have feared to tread - the legal facts of Caledonia;
In short, the Six Nations have no legal rights to the lands in question, and have had none for over a century.
They have never had any rights to land in Ontario by virtue of aboriginal title or by treaty. For a tract of land along the Grand River, they obtained in 1784 merely an occupancy permit from British colonial Governor Frederick Haldimand that endured only at the pleasure of the Crown. After 1784, the Six Nations surrendered to the Crown various portions of the Grand River tract, and by the middle of the 19th century all that remained was the land contained in the current Six Nations reserve south of Brantford. That is a summary of their legal rights.
Then, he tackles the mythology.
Posted by Kate at 12:35 PM
But all we get from the government is excuses, excuses.......
"It's time for the politically incorrect truth to be told."
John Hagopian goes, for the Hamilton Spectator, where other mainstream outlets have feared to tread - the legal facts of Caledonia;
In short, the Six Nations have no legal rights to the lands in question, and have had none for over a century.
They have never had any rights to land in Ontario by virtue of aboriginal title or by treaty. For a tract of land along the Grand River, they obtained in 1784 merely an occupancy permit from British colonial Governor Frederick Haldimand that endured only at the pleasure of the Crown. After 1784, the Six Nations surrendered to the Crown various portions of the Grand River tract, and by the middle of the 19th century all that remained was the land contained in the current Six Nations reserve south of Brantford. That is a summary of their legal rights.
Then, he tackles the mythology.
Posted by Kate at 12:35 PM
But all we get from the government is excuses, excuses.......
From The PC Dictionary
February 26, 2007
What leftists do (instead of, you know, anything useful)
Rather than focus their energies on curing cancer or feeding the hungry, leftists seem to spend an inordinate amount of time coming up with new politically correct" words for each other.
Did you know that in a few years you'll be obliged to type "GLBTQ2IA" when you want point out how dumb "gay" "marriage" is? Sheesh. What next?
At Wesleyan University, incoming freshmen are instructed to use gender-neutral pronouns in campus correspondence. As one person wrote on the university’s online Anonymous Confession Board, “I am usually attracted only to people of hir original gender, rather than hir intended gender. As such, I’m afraid that I’m, like, viewing hir wrong, or not respecting hir wishes or something.”
Posted by KShaidle at 5:49 AM | Comments (2)
What leftists do (instead of, you know, anything useful)
Rather than focus their energies on curing cancer or feeding the hungry, leftists seem to spend an inordinate amount of time coming up with new politically correct" words for each other.
Did you know that in a few years you'll be obliged to type "GLBTQ2IA" when you want point out how dumb "gay" "marriage" is? Sheesh. What next?
At Wesleyan University, incoming freshmen are instructed to use gender-neutral pronouns in campus correspondence. As one person wrote on the university’s online Anonymous Confession Board, “I am usually attracted only to people of hir original gender, rather than hir intended gender. As such, I’m afraid that I’m, like, viewing hir wrong, or not respecting hir wishes or something.”
Posted by KShaidle at 5:49 AM | Comments (2)
Harper Delivers! Will McGinty?
And will all of Toronto's problems disappear. Don't hold your breath. The only given here is that Conservatives deliver on their promises. Now let's see what the liberals, ndp and bloc do.....
Budget to bring provincial payouts, lower taxes
Updated Sun. Feb. 25 2007 11:31 AM ET
Andy Johnson, CTV.ca News Staff
The federal government has announced it will deliver the budget on March 19 -- a document that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty signalled will include more money for the provinces and lower taxes.
In November, Flaherty projected $3.5 billion in new spending for the budget; a figure that economists said meant the government could afford little in terms of real tax relief for Canadians. A number of spending promises would have to wait.
But Flaherty said last week that the government's financial picture is rosier than originally projected because the strong economy is pumping unexpectedly high revenue into federal coffers.
In fact, Flaherty boasted the government will be able to afford to fix the fiscal imbalance with the provinces -- a Tory election promise -- and go further than the $2.5 billion in tax cuts already stated to be included in the 2007 budget.
"We're in a sufficient financial situation in Canada to move from fiscal imbalance to fiscal balance and also to reduce taxes," Flaherty said.
The announcement came as speculation about a possible spring election continues to gain strength.
The Tories have already outlined plans for the following:
* a $1-billion plan to let couples split pension income for tax purposes;
* a $725-million corporate income levy cut;
* and $800-million in personal tax relief using interest savings from retired federal debt.
And Flaherty has repeatedly hinted that a Working Income Tax Benefit will be part of the budget. The policy would provide financial incentives to reward people for working, rather than going on social assistance.
That measure, economists say, could cost between $500 million and $1 billion.
Within the $3.5 billion first predicted in November, economists suggested the government would be able to afford key promises such as the Working Income Tax Benefit and measures to correct the fiscal imbalance.
With climate change and the environment at the top of Canadians' priority list according to recent polls, and the Tories striving to improve their green image, there is also a high probability that the budget will include environmental tax incentives.
Impact on the Budget
But extra measures, including broad-based tax reductions such as the promise to reduce the GST by another percentage point, are unlikely to happen, said Frances Woolley, a professor of economics at Carleton University in Ottawa.
In short, Canadians shouldn't expect major personal savings as a result of this budget.
"Perhaps the simplest observation to make is this: $3.5 billion divided by the Canadian population of 30-some million is just over $100 per person," said Woolley.
"So you're not going to see anything that will save the average person a huge amount of taxes or provide a typical Canadian with big benefits - that's just too expensive."
She predicted the budget will include measures that pay high political dividends, such as the Working Income Tax Benefit.
She says such a system would cost much less than a GST cut, would have real benefits to some of Canada's most needy, would be welcomed by the provinces that pay out social assistance and would fuel the job market -- all features the New Democratic Party is likely to support.
"Say you're giving a 1 per cent tax break to someone who's earning $200,000 a year. That costs you a lot of money, but someone who is on welfare might be getting $500 a month, if that -- it doesn't cost you much to make those people better off," Woolley said.
There will also be some creative environmental policies that will have to go beyond Liberal efforts such as subsidizing environmentally-friendly light bulbs, providing tax breaks for people who improve home efficiency, or subsidizing windmills, Woolley predicted.
She said the Tories will have to set themselves apart from the Liberals on environmental issues by doing something different, but she wouldn't predict what that might include.
Finally, Woolley said, the Tory budget can be expected to include at least one major surprise.
"There will also be something we aren't expecting. There always is."
The 1% solution
What the budget almost undoubtedly won't include, she said, is another cut to the GST.
The Tories' election platform included a promise to slash the GST to 6 per cent, then to 5 per cent. It cost roughly $6 billion to carry out the first half of the promise, and there simply isn't room in this budget, nor the will, to complete the promise in the next fiscal plan, Woolley said.
"If you look at the political mileage they got last time from cutting the GST -- in a sense it was a promise so they had to go through with it -- but for the amount of money it cost I don't think they actually got that much mileage from it."
Doug Porter, Deputy Chief Economist at BMO Capital Markets, agreed the GST cut didn't generate the kind of political traction the Tories were hoping for in return to the cost.
He agreed the budget is unlikely to include another GST cut, but pointed out that many of the Tories' election promises were goals meant to be accomplished within a four-year term.
He acknowledged that the Conservatives like to spring surprises, but suggested they will hold off the remaining GST cut as a carrot for down the road.
"They don't necessarily have to do everything in the first year. Ottawa wasn't built in a day," Porter told CTV.ca.
"They can stretch out a lot of these over time and it's quite possible this year's budget will act as an election platform, so they're likely to pledge a number of things more as goals over the next few years. That's not uncommon and it's not unreasonable."
Porter had a slightly more positive outlook on the upcoming budget than Woolley, saying it might not be as slim as it appears at first glance.
He pointed out that budget numbers have almost consistently topped expectations in terms of revenue, and "provided the economy stays on track I think there's a lot more room than the $3.5 billion in the first year."
He also noted that employment numbers and the Canadian equity market are at record high levels, adding to the likelihood that federal revenues will be higher than projected in the fall.
However, extra revenue won't necessarily translate to more programs, since tax cuts and the fiscal imbalance are deep pools that could easily swallow more money, Porter said.
Like Woolley, he said there's little doubt the environment will play a major role in the budget.
"It seems fairly obvious the environment will be another major focus, now whether there will be concrete measures in this budget that actually involve a whole lot of new spending or potential tax relief is debatable, but I think that will certainly be another key focus."
The budget is expected to have funding measures for training and education, infrastructure and science and technology.
The political fallout
This will be the minority government's second budget since winning the Jan. 23, 2006 federal election, and its future could depend on it.
Votes on budget items are considered matters of confidence. That means if the opposition parties vote against the budget, the government could fall and an election would result.
"I believe it will be a good budget, I believe Parliament should support the budget," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live.
The Liberals have indicated they are likely to vote against the budget, but the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP would have to join them for the budget to be defeated.
Harper has so far refused to be baited on when an election might be, maintaining that he wants to continue to govern, and if an election is forced it will be at the behest of the opposition.
Budget to bring provincial payouts, lower taxes
Updated Sun. Feb. 25 2007 11:31 AM ET
Andy Johnson, CTV.ca News Staff
The federal government has announced it will deliver the budget on March 19 -- a document that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty signalled will include more money for the provinces and lower taxes.
In November, Flaherty projected $3.5 billion in new spending for the budget; a figure that economists said meant the government could afford little in terms of real tax relief for Canadians. A number of spending promises would have to wait.
But Flaherty said last week that the government's financial picture is rosier than originally projected because the strong economy is pumping unexpectedly high revenue into federal coffers.
In fact, Flaherty boasted the government will be able to afford to fix the fiscal imbalance with the provinces -- a Tory election promise -- and go further than the $2.5 billion in tax cuts already stated to be included in the 2007 budget.
"We're in a sufficient financial situation in Canada to move from fiscal imbalance to fiscal balance and also to reduce taxes," Flaherty said.
The announcement came as speculation about a possible spring election continues to gain strength.
The Tories have already outlined plans for the following:
* a $1-billion plan to let couples split pension income for tax purposes;
* a $725-million corporate income levy cut;
* and $800-million in personal tax relief using interest savings from retired federal debt.
And Flaherty has repeatedly hinted that a Working Income Tax Benefit will be part of the budget. The policy would provide financial incentives to reward people for working, rather than going on social assistance.
That measure, economists say, could cost between $500 million and $1 billion.
Within the $3.5 billion first predicted in November, economists suggested the government would be able to afford key promises such as the Working Income Tax Benefit and measures to correct the fiscal imbalance.
With climate change and the environment at the top of Canadians' priority list according to recent polls, and the Tories striving to improve their green image, there is also a high probability that the budget will include environmental tax incentives.
Impact on the Budget
But extra measures, including broad-based tax reductions such as the promise to reduce the GST by another percentage point, are unlikely to happen, said Frances Woolley, a professor of economics at Carleton University in Ottawa.
In short, Canadians shouldn't expect major personal savings as a result of this budget.
"Perhaps the simplest observation to make is this: $3.5 billion divided by the Canadian population of 30-some million is just over $100 per person," said Woolley.
"So you're not going to see anything that will save the average person a huge amount of taxes or provide a typical Canadian with big benefits - that's just too expensive."
She predicted the budget will include measures that pay high political dividends, such as the Working Income Tax Benefit.
She says such a system would cost much less than a GST cut, would have real benefits to some of Canada's most needy, would be welcomed by the provinces that pay out social assistance and would fuel the job market -- all features the New Democratic Party is likely to support.
"Say you're giving a 1 per cent tax break to someone who's earning $200,000 a year. That costs you a lot of money, but someone who is on welfare might be getting $500 a month, if that -- it doesn't cost you much to make those people better off," Woolley said.
There will also be some creative environmental policies that will have to go beyond Liberal efforts such as subsidizing environmentally-friendly light bulbs, providing tax breaks for people who improve home efficiency, or subsidizing windmills, Woolley predicted.
She said the Tories will have to set themselves apart from the Liberals on environmental issues by doing something different, but she wouldn't predict what that might include.
Finally, Woolley said, the Tory budget can be expected to include at least one major surprise.
"There will also be something we aren't expecting. There always is."
The 1% solution
What the budget almost undoubtedly won't include, she said, is another cut to the GST.
The Tories' election platform included a promise to slash the GST to 6 per cent, then to 5 per cent. It cost roughly $6 billion to carry out the first half of the promise, and there simply isn't room in this budget, nor the will, to complete the promise in the next fiscal plan, Woolley said.
"If you look at the political mileage they got last time from cutting the GST -- in a sense it was a promise so they had to go through with it -- but for the amount of money it cost I don't think they actually got that much mileage from it."
Doug Porter, Deputy Chief Economist at BMO Capital Markets, agreed the GST cut didn't generate the kind of political traction the Tories were hoping for in return to the cost.
He agreed the budget is unlikely to include another GST cut, but pointed out that many of the Tories' election promises were goals meant to be accomplished within a four-year term.
He acknowledged that the Conservatives like to spring surprises, but suggested they will hold off the remaining GST cut as a carrot for down the road.
"They don't necessarily have to do everything in the first year. Ottawa wasn't built in a day," Porter told CTV.ca.
"They can stretch out a lot of these over time and it's quite possible this year's budget will act as an election platform, so they're likely to pledge a number of things more as goals over the next few years. That's not uncommon and it's not unreasonable."
Porter had a slightly more positive outlook on the upcoming budget than Woolley, saying it might not be as slim as it appears at first glance.
He pointed out that budget numbers have almost consistently topped expectations in terms of revenue, and "provided the economy stays on track I think there's a lot more room than the $3.5 billion in the first year."
He also noted that employment numbers and the Canadian equity market are at record high levels, adding to the likelihood that federal revenues will be higher than projected in the fall.
However, extra revenue won't necessarily translate to more programs, since tax cuts and the fiscal imbalance are deep pools that could easily swallow more money, Porter said.
Like Woolley, he said there's little doubt the environment will play a major role in the budget.
"It seems fairly obvious the environment will be another major focus, now whether there will be concrete measures in this budget that actually involve a whole lot of new spending or potential tax relief is debatable, but I think that will certainly be another key focus."
The budget is expected to have funding measures for training and education, infrastructure and science and technology.
The political fallout
This will be the minority government's second budget since winning the Jan. 23, 2006 federal election, and its future could depend on it.
Votes on budget items are considered matters of confidence. That means if the opposition parties vote against the budget, the government could fall and an election would result.
"I believe it will be a good budget, I believe Parliament should support the budget," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live.
The Liberals have indicated they are likely to vote against the budget, but the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP would have to join them for the budget to be defeated.
Harper has so far refused to be baited on when an election might be, maintaining that he wants to continue to govern, and if an election is forced it will be at the behest of the opposition.
I Can See Me Sharing A Beer With Pat MacAdams
I think we both take a cynical look at life and question, to no avail it seems, the Baskin Robbins issue of the day. Personally I feel these things are brought up so social in-activists can make it into a cottage industry where they suck of the teats of liberal do-gooders in government.
Blasted green giants!
By PAT MacADAM
Ottawa SUN
I hadn’t planned a column about the environment until I received an e-mail from a pal in Oakville. He attended the Travel Media Association of Canada’s annual meeting in London, Ont., last weekend.
He said that David Suzuki, (a.k.a. Captain Ecology), was the guest speaker. Mentioning Suzuki’s or Elizabeth May’s name to me is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.
My opinion of the pair is that they are environmental terrorists who are making a good living playing Chicken Little.
Chicken Little is the character in the children’s story who thought the sky was falling when an acorn fell from a tree and hit him on the head.
My correspondent reported that Suzuki arrived in his big bus (“with his name and photo egotistically plastered along both sides of it”) in plenty of time to pocket a bunch of loot doing book signings before getting a free meal and “making a self-aggrandizing speech. (Can you tell I don’t really care for the gentleman?)
“The Great One submitted to a question and answer session after his talk and one person in the audience stood up to ask him how he could spout on about the environment when his great big bus had been left running outside the London Conference Centre for a considerable amount of time so that he could depart in a warm vehicle.
“He blurted out that it was a diesel. Thereupon, a minion was dispatched to tell the driver to shut the bloody motor off!
“As Louis Armstrong (who usually had to
sit at the back of the bus)
once sang: ‘It’s A Wonderful World.’ ”
Bland leading bland
More
Blasted green giants!
By PAT MacADAM
Ottawa SUN
I hadn’t planned a column about the environment until I received an e-mail from a pal in Oakville. He attended the Travel Media Association of Canada’s annual meeting in London, Ont., last weekend.
He said that David Suzuki, (a.k.a. Captain Ecology), was the guest speaker. Mentioning Suzuki’s or Elizabeth May’s name to me is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.
My opinion of the pair is that they are environmental terrorists who are making a good living playing Chicken Little.
Chicken Little is the character in the children’s story who thought the sky was falling when an acorn fell from a tree and hit him on the head.
My correspondent reported that Suzuki arrived in his big bus (“with his name and photo egotistically plastered along both sides of it”) in plenty of time to pocket a bunch of loot doing book signings before getting a free meal and “making a self-aggrandizing speech. (Can you tell I don’t really care for the gentleman?)
“The Great One submitted to a question and answer session after his talk and one person in the audience stood up to ask him how he could spout on about the environment when his great big bus had been left running outside the London Conference Centre for a considerable amount of time so that he could depart in a warm vehicle.
“He blurted out that it was a diesel. Thereupon, a minion was dispatched to tell the driver to shut the bloody motor off!
“As Louis Armstrong (who usually had to
sit at the back of the bus)
once sang: ‘It’s A Wonderful World.’ ”
Bland leading bland
More
A Pox On Both Their Houses
You would think elected officials could find better ways to spend their time but I would ask Garth whether he would expect to stay in the spousal home if he decided to divorce his wife. The local constabulary would be there in 15 minutes and turf him on to the street.
Outspoken MP defies Tory eviction notice
'It's a waste of time,' and taxpayers' money, argues Conservative-turned-Liberal
Mike De Souza
The Ottawa Citizen
Monday, February 26, 2007
Maverick MP Garth Turner is planning to stage a sit-in at his own Parliament Hill office to defy an eviction notice he says is spearheaded by Conservatives who want to punish him for joining the federal Liberals.
"I'm not about to spend my time packing boxes instead of doing my work," Mr. Turner, the MP for Halton, Ont., said in an interview.
"If they want to move me, they're going to have to snap on their latex gloves, move in there like CSI Miami and pack me up. I'm not doing it. It's a waste of my time."
The office battle is the latest in a series of public spats between Mr. Turner and the Tories since last year, when he criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for appointing an unelected senator and a floor-crossing Liberal to his cabinet.
Although Mr. Turner, an ex-revenue minister in the short-lived government of former prime minister Kim Campbell in 1993, was elected as a Conservative, the caucus voted to get rid of him last fall, accusing him of leaking details of their private discussions.
Mr. Turner has suggested he was silenced for being too critical of Mr. Harper a few days before the government unveiled its plan to fight climate change and air pollution.
Conservative MP Jay Hill, who assigns office space for Tories as part of his duties as the government's chief whip, says Mr. Turner is to blame for the eviction because of his decision to join the Liberals.
In a letter sent to a constituent last week, Mr. Hill said the Conservatives didn't bother Mr. Turner when he sat as an independent, since they held out hope he would eventually return to the party fold.
"Mr. Turner was allowed to remain in a Conservative office during his brief tenure as an independent MP because there was always the possibility he could redeem himself with his Conservative colleagues and be allowed back into our Conservative caucus," Mr. Hill wrote in the letter obtained by CanWest News Service.
"Effectively, when Mr. Turner chose to change political parties and sit as a Liberal member, he chose to change offices. The choice was his and he made it."
Mr. Turner, who joined the Liberals a few weeks ago, calls it a "petty, partisan" attack from an "evil" man.
"I think he's evil to the extent that he's doing something without point, and it seems to be just to mess around a political opponent," Mr. Turner said.
Mr. Turner also noted the Liberals didn't try to push Wajid Khan, the MP for Mississauga-Streetsville, out of his current office when he joined the Tories.
He added that the move could waste thousands of taxpayer dollars, along with the cost of replacing thousands of pages of letterhead and business cards.
The episode has sparked a flood of e-mail complaints over the past week from readers of Mr. Turner's personal website, www.garth.ca .
But Mr. Hill insisted in the letter that taxpayers wouldn't have to pay anything extra for the move, nor for the cost of moving electronic equipment used by Mr. Turner to broadcast interviews and commentary on his website.
Security on Parliament Hill was asked to move Mr. Turner's office equipment and staff within weeks.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
Outspoken MP defies Tory eviction notice
'It's a waste of time,' and taxpayers' money, argues Conservative-turned-Liberal
Mike De Souza
The Ottawa Citizen
Monday, February 26, 2007
Maverick MP Garth Turner is planning to stage a sit-in at his own Parliament Hill office to defy an eviction notice he says is spearheaded by Conservatives who want to punish him for joining the federal Liberals.
"I'm not about to spend my time packing boxes instead of doing my work," Mr. Turner, the MP for Halton, Ont., said in an interview.
"If they want to move me, they're going to have to snap on their latex gloves, move in there like CSI Miami and pack me up. I'm not doing it. It's a waste of my time."
The office battle is the latest in a series of public spats between Mr. Turner and the Tories since last year, when he criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for appointing an unelected senator and a floor-crossing Liberal to his cabinet.
Although Mr. Turner, an ex-revenue minister in the short-lived government of former prime minister Kim Campbell in 1993, was elected as a Conservative, the caucus voted to get rid of him last fall, accusing him of leaking details of their private discussions.
Mr. Turner has suggested he was silenced for being too critical of Mr. Harper a few days before the government unveiled its plan to fight climate change and air pollution.
Conservative MP Jay Hill, who assigns office space for Tories as part of his duties as the government's chief whip, says Mr. Turner is to blame for the eviction because of his decision to join the Liberals.
In a letter sent to a constituent last week, Mr. Hill said the Conservatives didn't bother Mr. Turner when he sat as an independent, since they held out hope he would eventually return to the party fold.
"Mr. Turner was allowed to remain in a Conservative office during his brief tenure as an independent MP because there was always the possibility he could redeem himself with his Conservative colleagues and be allowed back into our Conservative caucus," Mr. Hill wrote in the letter obtained by CanWest News Service.
"Effectively, when Mr. Turner chose to change political parties and sit as a Liberal member, he chose to change offices. The choice was his and he made it."
Mr. Turner, who joined the Liberals a few weeks ago, calls it a "petty, partisan" attack from an "evil" man.
"I think he's evil to the extent that he's doing something without point, and it seems to be just to mess around a political opponent," Mr. Turner said.
Mr. Turner also noted the Liberals didn't try to push Wajid Khan, the MP for Mississauga-Streetsville, out of his current office when he joined the Tories.
He added that the move could waste thousands of taxpayer dollars, along with the cost of replacing thousands of pages of letterhead and business cards.
The episode has sparked a flood of e-mail complaints over the past week from readers of Mr. Turner's personal website, www.garth.ca .
But Mr. Hill insisted in the letter that taxpayers wouldn't have to pay anything extra for the move, nor for the cost of moving electronic equipment used by Mr. Turner to broadcast interviews and commentary on his website.
Security on Parliament Hill was asked to move Mr. Turner's office equipment and staff within weeks.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007
Is This Information Posted On TPSB Website
If not why not? Don't the taxpayers have the right to know where are money is going and didn't Mayor Miller promise us open government? If people have a just claim then take the appropriate action but when they don't they should pickup the costs involved.
Lawsuits drive up legal bills for police
Toronto force faces 400 outstanding claims, as Supreme Court about to rule on case that could mean more litigation
February 26, 2007
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter
Racial profiling lawsuits and other civil actions are threatening to drive up the Toronto police force's legal bills just as the Supreme Court of Canada prepares to rule in a case that could open police to even more litigation.
An upcoming Supreme Court ruling on whether a Hamilton man charged with robbing banks can sue police for negligent investigation could encourage others to go after police, according to law enforcement officials.
While Toronto doesn't release details about how much litigation costs taxpayers, the agenda for a recent conference on municipal and provincial liability stated that lawsuits against Toronto police have cost more than $30 million since 1998.
George Cowley, director of legal services for the Toronto Police Service, disputes any suggestion that lawsuits are exploding but admits the force is seeing some new trends in civil actions, with the largest number of claims relating to racial profiling, Charter violations, false arrest and imprisonment.
Lawsuits are a fact of life for the country's largest municipal police force, with 5,200 officers and an untold number of inherent risks on the job, says Cowley.
"We're not in the business of pleasing all of the people all of the time," he said after appearing on a panel at the Provincial and Municipal Government Liability Conference held earlier this month at a downtown hotel.
Cowley was a Toronto police officer for 29 years before he was called to the bar in 1999.
More
Lawsuits drive up legal bills for police
Toronto force faces 400 outstanding claims, as Supreme Court about to rule on case that could mean more litigation
February 26, 2007
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter
Racial profiling lawsuits and other civil actions are threatening to drive up the Toronto police force's legal bills just as the Supreme Court of Canada prepares to rule in a case that could open police to even more litigation.
An upcoming Supreme Court ruling on whether a Hamilton man charged with robbing banks can sue police for negligent investigation could encourage others to go after police, according to law enforcement officials.
While Toronto doesn't release details about how much litigation costs taxpayers, the agenda for a recent conference on municipal and provincial liability stated that lawsuits against Toronto police have cost more than $30 million since 1998.
George Cowley, director of legal services for the Toronto Police Service, disputes any suggestion that lawsuits are exploding but admits the force is seeing some new trends in civil actions, with the largest number of claims relating to racial profiling, Charter violations, false arrest and imprisonment.
Lawsuits are a fact of life for the country's largest municipal police force, with 5,200 officers and an untold number of inherent risks on the job, says Cowley.
"We're not in the business of pleasing all of the people all of the time," he said after appearing on a panel at the Provincial and Municipal Government Liability Conference held earlier this month at a downtown hotel.
Cowley was a Toronto police officer for 29 years before he was called to the bar in 1999.
More
Toronto Is Not The Enemy It Is Leftwing Nutbars
Who hold Jacobs, Suzuki, Layton, etc. as their heros and measure progress by how they can stop it whether it is opposing affordable housing because artists are more important, reneging on agreements with the private sector; ie: island bridge, Union Station, etc., giving union workers, in return for their votes, lifetime jobs, refusing to look at more effective ways of supplying services and the list goes on.
Toronto has met the enemy and it's Toronto
February 26, 2007
Christopher Hume
Mike Harris would be proud. There was a time when it was up to a heavy like the former Ontario premier to put Toronto in its place.
Now we do it to ourselves.
True, Toronto is the city the rest of Canada loves to hate, but who hates us more than we hate ourselves?
There was a small but revealing instance of that recently when word came that the civic government would spend $6 million to renovate City Hall. Specifically, the money was set aside to cover the cost of expanding the mayor's office and adding a committee room.
But judging from the response, you'd have thought the city had announced it would be stealing money from the mouths of hungry babes so the mayor could feed his overstuffed ego.
Municipal politicians led the chorus of outrage.
"How could he (Mayor David Miller) put this forward given the financial environment we're in?" huffed Case Ootes (Ward 29, Toronto-Danforth), right on cue.
And one can only imagine what poor old Rob Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) was thinking. This is a man whose (very successful) political career is based on his role as a tireless Toronto hater.
Of course, Ootes is right; the city is in a financial mess. But Ootes doesn't go the one step farther to wonder why. Neither do many of his Toronto-hating colleagues on city council. Nor do many Torontonians.
Instead, they prefer to believe the city is the author of its financial misfortunes, that we are unworthy.
If only it were so simple.
The truth is that Toronto has been systemically ripped off by the rest of the country and province for decades. We're the patsies of Confederation and, what's most remarkable, happy to be so.
And now we have internalized the deep and abiding dislike Canada feels for us.
As the Ooteses and Fords remind us, we are the unworthy rich who deserve to be poor. It would be wrong to spend money on ourselves. Our duty is to serve others, keep the federation intact, never mind our own needs.
So instead of demanding the provincial government pay its traditional share of, say, transit funding, or social services, or road maintenance, we blame ourselves because municipal services haven't kept pace with growth.
It's not their problem; it's ours. We're happy to go without so that Rainy River doesn't. We're thrilled to pay more so that Quebeckers won't have to, so that Maritimers have health care and Manitobans keep their highways in good repair. We're thrilled to send billions to Ottawa so it can pay off its debt.
Meanwhile, Toronto continues on its downward spiral.
And yet the Toronto CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) generates nearly 20 per cent of the country's GDP, or $263 billion. This is not an inconsiderable amount.
Still, we're full of fear and self-loathing.
Recently, for example, the city received a raft of new powers from Queen's Park, powers that allow the city to levy taxes, change its system of governance and control development.
How has the city responded? Well, in a word, it hasn't.
If the Ooteses, Fords and other elected city-haters on city council are offended by a simple reno project, just think what they would say about the city imposing road tolls, parking taxes, emission fees.
What in many municipalities – and countries – would be seen as a wise investment is seen in Toronto as mere profligacy.
Where do we get off?
Little wonder the civic infrastructure has decayed almost to the point of no return.
However, as the late Colin Vaughan observed, "All the work that the economists have done has indicated that the Canadian economy is not terribly important to Toronto any longer. It's the North American economy that's important."
In other words, the reality is that Canada needs Toronto more than Toronto needs Canada. Scary thought, but also empowering.
Meanwhile, today and tomorrow at the Metro Convention Centre, the third Toronto City Summit will unfold. Once again, a gathering of well-intentioned experts will tell a gathering of well-intentioned Torontonians what they already know, namely that we could – and should – be doing better.
No doubt about that. But first we must learn to stop hating and love the city.
chume@thestar.ca
Not One Working Paper On Fiscal Responsibility
I also don't see one on getting the best bang for the taxpayer buck by contracting out or a working paper in honoring past council decisions or a working paper about concentrating on the working poor and the truly needy rather than the artistes and the social assistance leeches. Work On Making Toronto Succeed before worrying about Canada.
`If we want Canada to succeed, the major cities have to succeed': Mayor Miller
February 26, 2007
jim byers
city hall bureau chief
Four hundred registrants. Eleven panels. One city.
Some of the best and brightest minds in the city will gather downtown today for the first of a two-day session on how to push Toronto higher on the national agenda and how to improve every facet of Canada's largest city, from improving neglected neighbourhoods to making the city greener to untangling Toronto's transportation knot.
Liberal Party Leader Stéphane Dion, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Mayor David Miller are scheduled to speak about the challenges that face Toronto. Panellists include top city artists, bankers, planners, educators and tourism officials, as well as Ontario Opposition Leader John Tory, venerable Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion and renowned environmentalist Amory Lovins.
Panellists will dive into discussions on everything from how to make the city's government and leadership reflect Toronto's tremendous diversity to bridging the gap between "have" and "have-not" neighbourhoods, turning waterfront dreams into reality and how to create and maintain affordable space for artists and creative businesses.
"I think the City Summit Alliance gives us an opportunity to send a really clear message about the future, not just of Toronto, but of Canada," Miller said last week. "If we want Canada to succeed, the major cities have to succeed.
"The summit alliance is a group of business, labour, non-profit organizations, leaders in Toronto, who share one common message: We need to reinvest in our city in order for Toronto to succeed for everyone."
A Conference Board of Canada report issued earlier this month warned that businesses need modern transportation and other city services if they're to thrive and keep Canadians employed. And it said governments have to realize that big cities need the most investment.
Miller said the summit alliance – the third – is a chance for him to drive home the importance of cities to the future of Canada.
"If our country wants to succeed, jobs are created in the major cities," he said. "We need one cent of the GST. We need a national transit strategy. That's the message I'll be bringing to the city summit alliance and I appreciate their support."
$29.8M To WSIB And Mayor Not Aware Of Problem
$29.8 million is just a drop in the bucket to Mayor Miller and his concept of fiscal responsibility and the fact that it is being caused by his union supporters probably explains why he is looking for scapegoats on the bureaucracy side.
Province brands city a high-risk employer
Designation baffles staff; Miller wants safety record facts
February 26, 2007
John Spears
CITY HALL BUREAU
The City of Toronto has been declared a "high-risk" employer by Ontario's Ministry of Labour because of its poor health and safety record, the city's employee and labour relations committee has heard.
The designation means the city is subject to more intensive and more frequent safety inspections, and pays higher premiums to the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB).
But city staff said they can't find out precisely how much extra the city is paying, and said the ministry won't tell them what other cities share the high-risk designation.
The city paid $29.8 million in WSIB costs in 2006, a figure that's almost unchanged in the past three years.
Among city staff, those working at homes for the aged racked up the most time lost due to accident or occupational illness in 2006, followed by Toronto Water staff, firefighters and paramedics.
A staff report says the high-risk designation was "unexpected, as the city saw a significant decrease in lost time injuries in 2005 relative to 2004: approximately 4 per cent."
Statistics show that the city has 1,840 lost-time accidents in 2006 – about the same number as 2003, but fewer than in 2004 and 2005.
High-risk employers make up about 2 per cent of Ontario's employers, but account for 10 per cent of lost-time injuries in the province and 21 per cent of workplace safety insurance claims costs, according to the ministry.
Toronto was designated a high-risk employer last June, but most members of the employee and labour relations committee said they found out only at, or shortly before, Friday's meeting.
Mayor David Miller asked city staff for a full briefing on the city's health and safety performance before the committee agrees to ratify its health and safety policy, which by law must be reviewed each year.
"It's my personal view that if you have problems with health and safety, it indicates other problems with management oversight," Miller told the committee Friday.
Miller said he was informed last year, when the ministry took the action.
But the designation was made June 28, and since the labour relations committee didn't meet again until last month, no public report surfaced until background material was distributed for the meeting.
The city currently faces one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the death of a building inspector in 2003. He fell to his death through an unguarded stairway opening.
The city faces a charge of failing to provide the worker with sufficient instruction and training.
"My goal is simple: Zero workplace accidents," Miller said in an interview.
If that's not the goal, he said, then managers are essentially lining up their workers and asking: "Who volunteers to be hurt?"
As an interim step, the City of Toronto and its unions have set a goal of cutting workplace injuries by 20 per cent by 2008.
Miller said some "enormous strides" have been made in improving safety, but more needs to be done.
Councillor Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre), who has just joined the committee, said he only recently discovered that the city is considered a high-risk employer.
It's another instance where the city is pleading for more funding from Queen's Park, but where it could reduce its own costs by having a safer workplace, Holyday said in an interview.
"It's not just a matter of dollars and cents; it's a matter of lives and injuries," he said.
The committee has asked for a further briefing, including how Toronto's safety performance stacks up with other cities.
It also wants to know whether poor safety performance impacts the bonuses of senior managers.
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.
Blog Archive
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2007
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February
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- Right Wing Bloggers Have Hit Their Objective
- Holy Crap! Is City Council Lost Their Mind
- Once Again The Average Canadian Steps Up To The Plate
- Bolstering The Image Of The Media?
- The Mayor Is On A Green Kick
- Privatize Public Transit
- The One Cent $150K Miller Campaign
- I Know Where You Are Coming From Angie
- Crackdown On Gangs Not The Success It Seems
- Miller Opposes Them So You Can Guarantee They Will...
- More Promises From Dalton McGinty
- Open Wide...Your Daily Dose of Green
- Mao Miller On The March Again
- First Off Lorrie, They Are Politicians Not Adults
- Need To Re-define The Definition Of Victim
- They Had 13 Years
- The Secret To Longevity
- Topic Closed
- Oscar Wrapup (Killing a few minutes)
- A True Canadian
- Dion's Attempt At Resurrection
- Both Suzuki & Gore Using Carbon Credits
- On The Road Again........
- The Poor Can Be Given Kyoto Dollars
- Jolly Green Giant Not Walking The Talk
- Dion's Honeymoon Over
- Miller's Priority For Queen West Is A Protected Haven
- Cutting Through The Crap
- At Least With Mel We Got The Odd Laugh
- In This Corner wearing Green Trunks We Have Paul ...
- Mayor Miller Cannot Be A Complete Fiscal Moron
- A Resource For True Environmentalists
- Words In Themselves Are Neutral
- And The Oscar Goes To.........
- Follow The Environmental Bread Crumb Trail......
- I Have Purposely Been Staying Away From Caledonia
- From The PC Dictionary
- Harper Delivers! Will McGinty?
- I Can See Me Sharing A Beer With Pat MacAdams
- A Political Question
- A Pox On Both Their Houses
- Is This Information Posted On TPSB Website
- Toronto Is Not The Enemy It Is Leftwing Nutbars
- Not One Working Paper On Fiscal Responsibility
- $29.8M To WSIB And Mayor Not Aware Of Problem
- Liberal Smoke/Mirrors On Kyoto Confirmed
- Tilting Windmills Easier Than Fight The Enemy
- Australian Values
- A Message For All Douche Bags
- This Is About Caffeine Not Global Warming
- Girl On The Right Is Going To Get Letters......
- Security Certificate Decision
- A Message To Entertainers Who Want To Save The World
- The Final Green Posting. TODAY
- Are You A Goreacle
- The Headline Says It All
- Science Fiction & The Oscars
- Revolution In Rosedale
- Ken Needs To Do A Reality Check
- Your Cab Driver Is A Doctor? Layton Should Talk To...
- Take Cars Off The Roads
- Failing To Walk The Kyoto Talk
- An Attack On Citizen's Rights OR
- I Have To Take At Least One Shot At Dion Today
- You Want An Answer To Toronto's Fiscal Problems
- A Glimmer Of Light In The Storm
- If I Was A Developer I Would Tell Toronto
- Look At The Facts
- The Public Disagree With The Supreme Court
- IT'S NOT Y2K BUT...
- You Can't Get Away From The Control Freaks Cassandra
- Exploding The Myth About CO2
- Random Thoughts
- Did Suziki Actually STORM Out Of Oakley Show?
- Where Has The Time Gone
- Suzuki Foundation Addresses Pollution Concerns
- Come On! They Can't Be Serious
- Sending Spies Into A Mosque?
- A Couple Of Tid Bits From The Hill
- There Is More On Our Plate Than Goreism
- Leaders Lead
- The Star's Position On MFF
- A Worthy Project But It Will Have To Wait
- Delivering A Toxic Message
- Can We Count On Gays & Lesbians To Support Bush
- Blogs Are Becoming A Potential Minefield
- Dream On Link
- Choas On The Horizon
- You Know Blogs Have Come Of Age
- Will They Have A Session On Fiscal Responsibility
- Giving Credit When Credit Is Due
- I Favour Locking Up Criminals
- The Re-incarnation Of Bono
- Walking The Talk On Kyoto
- Toronto Talks Mayor Doesn't Listen
- This Would Not Have Happened In Herouxville
- Better Late Than Never
- Are There Parallels To Be Drawn In Canada
- Layton Needs A Primer On Political Responsibilities
- He Is Still Pretending It Is Sept. 10
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