What Is Comrade Miller Up To.......

It's time for positive action by Toronto council

Posted 1 day ago

As a caring Canadian who was born in Toronto, was raised and schooled there, I am totally disgusted and saddened at the attitude of Mayor David Miller when it comes to the subject of handgun control.

Mayor Miller should be told to shut up on his handgun diatribe as he is only making Toronto council look stupid and the city a laughing stock.

Enough of his jabs against the Harper government; surely there comes a time when Toronto council must take some responsibility for the gang warfare that is happening on the streets.

Every one of Toronto' city councillors knows that people kill people, guns don't. Putting the blame on inanimate objects is a total cop-out. A handgun ban would do nothing to take handguns away from the criminals.

We all know what drugs do; their ban has done nothing to curb the drug trade.

Toronto's city council should work with senior levels of government to make a difference.

Toronto once had the best police chief in the land in Julian Fantino but city council buckled to liberal politics and fired him. Fantino called a spade a spade and told the country that the federal long-gun registry had not helped the city of Toronto solve one single crime despite the huge cost of it. That true statement was ignored.

Pressure should have been put on the Paul Martin Liberals to abolish it and put the dollars into more police resources that Fantino asked for.

The waste continues to be ignored despite the fact that there are lots of dollars that could be redirected to programs that would actually help Toronto.

Toronto needs a much-bolstered police service to cope with the crime on its streets and curb the illicit trade in handguns. This will cost lots of hard-earned taxpayers dollars.

There are many of us who would get behind this movement if Toronto would only get it going in the right direction.

Lights out! Sign up for greenhouse gas reduction March 29

Posted By By Bob Owen

Posted 1 day ago

The lights will be off despite everyone being at home for one hour March 29 if the world-wide Earth Hour movement catches on.

The Earth Hour this year will take place at 8 p.m. local time March 29. As the time zones change, the hour will move like a wave around the earth.

Last March 31, the Australian city of Sydney saw 2.2-million residents and 2,100 businesses turn off their lights for one hour. That resulted in a 10.2-per-cent decrease in energy consumption. Put in real terms, it was the equivalent of removing 48,000 cars from the roads for an hour.

Northumberland County resident Leah Murray of Brighton has jumped into the spirit of the event, signing herself and her business up, planning to turn out the lights, microwave and computers for an hour March 29. She'll light her candles and try some night photography with her digital camera. Others are quietly joining her.

Northumberland County Warden Chris Herrington was contacted to see if the county will be participating this year, and is suggesting the county consider it on the recommendation of CAO Bill Pyatt.

Cramahe Township Mayor Marc Coombs says the Earth Hour proposal will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of his municipality. He says the idea it sounds interesting.

Earth Hour was the start of the Sydney campaign to reduce greenhouse emissions by five per cent last year. The one-hour lights-out event demonstrated how simple actions can make the world of difference if everyone takes part.

Through the power of the Internet, the originators of the idea, including members of the Australian arm of the World Wildlife Federation, hope to turn Earth Hour into a global phenomenon.

"From rural towns in the outback to highly populated iconic cities - everyone can take simple steps to make Earth Hour happen," Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore says.

"The event in Sydney created a powerful global message that it's possible for individuals to take meaningful action on climate change - and that's the message we now intend to take to people all around the world," World Wildlife Federation-Australia CEO Greg Bourne says.

As of December 14, Toronto was the only Canadian city to take up the challenge.