...but wasn't/isn't left wing social engineers who have and continue to ban "corporal punisment."
His blondness [or is it his greyness after all these years?], Mayor of Toronto David Miller, will be leaving office in November 2010. But he’s taking a parting gift with him, and it’s not just a watch and a city calender. The socialist mayor who joined the NDP in 1985 has had his share of memories in the provincial capital over the past 6 years. He swept into power in 2003 on the most unlikely of campaign platforms: to stop Mel Lastman’s $22 million bridging of the Toronto Island Airport with the city which would have made the need for a ferry obsolete, made downtown air service more efficient, and bring in much-needed money, so that he could instead “revitalize” the waterfront. And as we all know, the waterfront was revitalized by the Great Wall of Condos they built obscuring the entire lake beyond the Quays. So Toronto didn’t get a bridge for $22 million. But it did cost the federal government $35 million in compensation to the Toronto Port Authority.
David Miller assumed a $344 million budget shortfall when he took power, and began immediately raising property taxes. He promised to limit it to a modest 3% each year. After increasing spending in 2004 and 2005 without breaking that promise [by robbing the city reserve fund], he then shifted property tax from businesses to homeowners. Budget shortfalls continued to plague his office, and property taxes went up to 3.8% in 2007. Spending had increased $1.7 billion since 2003, and to offset that, David Miller proposed a series of taxes, including a whopper of a steal, the 1.5% land transfer tax. He insisted Torontonians wanted to pay the new taxes.
Then there was the garbage strike. A five-week city worker strike ended with a deal so good for the unions that CUPE accepted when “the city removed ‘the last concession’ from the table”, giving them a 5.6 per cent pay raise. During a recession.
Now David Miller is on his way out, and because City Hall severance policy states that councillors get one month’s salary for every year they serve in council to a maximum of twelve months, he’s get $166,985 a year from this November. The compensation is based on his salary received during his last year, which means that although he served as mayor for only six years, he’s getting paid as though he did it for twelve:
“He (David Miller) has been an elected official since 1994, and it will take some time for him to find another position,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong in defence of the golden handshakes. “If you want to attract good people to serve on council, there has to be a reasonable amount of capacity to transition into a new career.”
Geez, and here I thought the normal routine was a subway token and a map to the Employment Insurance office. Silly me. David Miller is also entitled to $3,500 in “career counselling”. Maybe someone can finally give David Miller the advice he needs.
Afrodissident Afrodissident - South Africa
September 30, 2009 02:42 ETOn Saturday night, forty or so armed men went on the rampage in Durban’s Kennedy Road...
While gay rights activists claim official support, the government could not guarantee their safety.
During the weeks in which Suaad Hagi Mohamud was stuck in Kenya, pleading to be allowed to return to Canada, nobody owned the story like the Toronto Star.
Update: New Star version adds details of government's case. Purely coincidence, folks.
The Star championed Mohamud without reserve, assigning reporters to regular updates pleading her case while columnists wrote heart-tugging pieces deploring her treatment and questioning what kind of government could treat an innocent woman so harshly. When the Canadian diplomat handling the case returned to Canada the Star gave it front page treatment, ensuring maximum humiliation. When the time finally came for Mohamud to return to Canada, the Star sent a reporter over to accompany her home. (She's our victim! hands off!)
Then, on Monday, information began to emerge that suggested the case wasn't quite as cut and dried as the Star would have us believe. The federal government filed documents detailing the reasons Canadian officials in Nairobi had doubted Mohamud's claims. Referring to the documents, the CBC reported:
Ottawa blogger Stephen Taylor blows the lid off the secret location of Michael Ignatieff's woodsy television ads.
Liberals have been loath to disclose the exact location of the site, except to say it was a "real forest," wasn't digitally inserted, and was somewhere in Canada.
Taylor says he's nailed down the location, and it's in ... Toronto. Cherry Beach in downtown Toronto to be exact. He even provides photos.
It seems to me the reason David Miller isn't running for a third term as Toronto's mayor is obvious.
Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is correct. Canadians have indeed lost "confidence."
Does Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have a Toronto problem?
Four months into the 5 cents plastic bag tax, one city councillor is demanding answers on the bylaw's success.
Next year's planned 9% water-rate hike and a 2% increase in garbage bin fees will go ahead even though this summer's 39-day municipal workers strike saved the city $33.2 million.
Welcome today to the latest instalment of "Life at Socialist Silly Hall," where some of the (post-garbage strike) rats have wasted no time deserting a sinking ship.
It may be too late for Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby to distance herself from Mayor David Miller, according to one of her Etobicoke colleagues on city council.
Furious George isn't going anywhere -- yet.
Or at least, putting an Islamic flavor to it...
Within the case, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice was also faced with the issue of whether the Court is willing to enforce a traditional marriage contract under Muslim law, known as maher. Basically, this entitles the wife to a sum of money [$20,000.00 in this case] that is given to her upon marital breakdown as agreed by contract. Contracts for maher are seen as being intrinsic to Muslim law as the money given to the woman is part of the husband’s moral obligation. It is important to note that the maher is an agreement paid to the spouse in addition to and without prejudice to the husband’s obligations under the Ontario Family Law Act. Both parties did not obtain independent legal advice and neither party provided financial disclosure. At the culmination of the martial ceremony, neither spouse retained a copy of the marriage contract. However, given that setting aside a marriage contract is a discretionary power of the Court, the Court in this case found that given the nature of the terms were simple and the husband understood his obligation, the Court upheld the marriage contract.
After a morning of wet, windy weather yesterday, Environment Canada is predicting more of the same...
If you already dislike Michael Moore, Capitalism: A Love Story (Overture Films), his latest documentary/ provocation/performance-piece/decoupage project isn't likely to win you over. And if you love him without reservations, this movie has nothing to tell you that you haven't already shouted through a bullhorn at a "Free Mumia" rally. But is there anyone who falls cleanly into that latter category of unabashed Moore love? The hulking Michigander's 20-year career as an agitprop prankster, his stalwart refusal either to go away or to hone the blunt instrument of his demagogic style, has made Moore a problem for the left and the right. Even those who largely agree with Moore's politics are often mortified by the delivery system: the juvenile stunts, the easy demonization of his opponents, the deliberate donning of blinders when a cogent counterargument comes along.
And yet, and yet: There's something touching, even a little bit noble, about Moore's eternal willingness to serve as America's shame-free populist gadfly. Woven into the two hours of loosely connected anecdotes that make up Capitalism is some information about Moore that, if I knew it already, hadn't registered before: He's a lifelong Catholic, educated at parochial schools in Flint, Mich., whose childhood dream was to enter the priesthood. He interviews several priests in this movie, including the one who officiated at his own wedding. Seeing Moore as a working-class altar boy somehow put his strident buffoonery in a different light: Perhaps all the goofy posturing and put-on naivete is Moore's way of playing the holy fool.
Liberal MP David McGuinty fired a shot at Conservative economic forecasts today, in a critique that could easily be used to question the acumen of his brother Dalton's Ontario government.
In Ottawa, the federal Liberals announced that they would be tabling a motion of non-confidence in the Harper Government. The phrasing of the motion is not yet known, but it is expected to come before the Commons for a vote as early as Thursday. Of course, given that the NDP has signaled its support of the Conservatives, the Liberal motion -- barring anything dramatic -- is simply hollow posturing, and can be safely filed under "irrelevant."
What is interesting, though, is who the Liberals tapped to make the announcement to the public: Ottawa-area MP David McGuinty, the Liberal critic for Environment and Energy, who is also the younger brother of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
I hate to tell Dwight Duncan that I told him so.
With it's whopping $8.7 billion budget, Toronto can afford to lose David Miller -- and not for his often criticized lack of frugality.
Updated: Mon Sep. 28 2009 4:51:50 PM
ctvtoronto.ca
Toronto's Mayor David Miller said Monday his job is "business as usual," but admitted it will be harder getting things done on city council now that he's announced he won't be running again.
"The good news from perspective is that I had a very ambitious mandate from the 2006 election. All of it's underway ... and it's about making sure those things happen," he told CTV News Channel on Monday.
Miller, who announced last week he won't seek re-election in 2010, highlighted some of those issues as:
"If I needed to get a lot of legislation through council, you're right, it would be tough. But most of the things we need to do are done," he said.
The city has 44 councillors plus the mayor, but the City of Toronto Act had expanded the mayor's powers. Miller noted the mayor is the only municipal politician elected city-wide "and has the moral authority to implement the agenda he's elected on," he said.
Miller hinted it might be time for some councillors to move on, although he praised allies such as Councillors Adam Vaughan, Gord Perks and Adrian Heaps. "All three of them are excellent, and I think that vitality is something that is really needed," he said.
Council has conservative and liberal factions. The conservative councillors are worried about the ramp-up in spending and taxes that has taken place since Miller became mayor in 2003.
One thing that seemingly hurt Miller's standing with the public was the handling of the 39-day municipal workers strike, the resolution of which seemed to satisfy no one.
Miller suggested that was a temporary setback in public opinion. "When I walk around Toronto, people are terrific," he said.
He insisted the city won the strike. "If you look at labour relations settlements across the province of Ontario, we got what we wanted, significantly less than other settlements all across this province for the past decade."
Miller said he ended an obsolete sick leave plan, but it will only be phased out over time.
The mayor argued he couldn't say the city had won between the time the deal was reached and the vote, and that's the period in which public opinion was formed on the issue.
Critics of Miller said the mayor promised even greater concessions from the union and didn't deliver, while others wondered why a strike was necessary for the deal that eventually ended the dispute.
Miller had been active on the national stage in trying to promote a new deal for cities with the federal government in terms of funding. He gave credit for former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin for starting the ball rolling and to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper for maintaining and adding to the arrangement.
"That shows it was the right thing to do," he said. "If Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal aren't succeeding, Canada isn't. If we do succeed, Canada as a whole as a much better chance."
An appeal court has confirmed that Canadian taxpayers must pay $6,000 for the “pain and suffering” endured by U.S. multiple murderer Gregory McMaster who injured his knee after prison officials deliberately failed to promptly replace his worn-out running shoes.
While 1 in 3 families cannot afford to get their kids involved in organized sports......From Glenn Beck’s new book Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government
Profits=Progress: In January 2006, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin announced 314 new public projects as part of his rebuilding effort after Katrina. Over two and a half years later, just six of them were complete. Conversely, Wal-Mart had 126 of their stores damaged in the hurricane; 110 of them were up and running within ten days.
'Hockey Insider' writes new book as 'a public service for fellow Hockey Dads, and Moms'
More than one million people use the Toronto Transit Commission every day, relying on its network of four subway lines, 11 streetcar routes and more than 140 bus routes to transport them through their daily lives.
Lots of work left for the Transit City mayor
In his announcement last week that he will not seek re-election in 2010, Toronto Mayor David Miller stated that each of..
In opting for family over politics, Miller sets a terrific example. But the real reason for Miller's early exit is probably hidden in the subtext of his stunning announcement 14 months before the next election.
He feared he might lose, and opinion polls bolstered...
With incumbent David Miller's announcement Friday that he will not be seeking re-election, the 2010 race for the Toronto mayoralty is now wide open. Let there be a wide range of good choices for the voters.
Even before Miller's announcement, both Deputy Premier George Smitherman and former provincial Conservative leader John Tory had hinted strongly that they would be candidates. They represent, respectively, the centre-left and centre-right. And Miller's departure may also open up room for city councillors who are further left or further right. That would cover just about the full political spectrum and give voters lots of choice.
But the mayoral campaign ought not to be fought solely on the basis of ideological labels. This city is at a turning point and faces a staggering array of problems. If they are not addressed with pragmatic solutions, Toronto could begin a long, slow decline. Some of the problems:
This list is not meant to be exhaustive. There are other issues that could be added. The point is that an open mayoral race gives us a chance to debate them. We should not throw the opportunity away.
For as long as politics has existed, crime and punishment has been a promising political issue.
If city councillor Michael Walker has his way, Toronto voters won't just be picking a new mayor and council in the 2010 election -- they'll also be weighing in on the province's harmonized sales tax.
So much for socialist solidarity.
How about Mayor Mammo?
The toughest budget the amalgamated city of Toronto has ever seen is now in the hands of a potentially lame-duck mayor who will never face the voters again.
That's what all of the usual suspects would label the Conservatives if the Tories had thrown a female candidate under the bus like the Liberals just did.
Remember that the next time some overblown episode like this happens — and you get invited to 100 different Facebook groups screeching about how sexist Stephen Harper supposedly is.
With all the breathless hysteria usually employed by bloggers who rail against their enemies from bedrooms in their parents’ basements, Liberal Environment Critic David McGuinty said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s failure to appear at the United Nations this week had “shamed” Canada. Mr. McGuinty — brother of Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton — went on to repeat the new Liberal claim that under the Tories, Canada has lost respect and importance on the world stage.
Both contentions are utterly ridiculous.
Instead of lining up in New York to hear the likes of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi drone on incessantly about the failures of the West and the virtues of dictatorial Islamist government, Mr. Harper chose to tour a Tim Hortons plant in Oakville, Ont. to mark the corporation’s return to Canadian ownership. We’ll bet that Mr. Harper’s priorities, while obviously galling to smug internationalists such as those populating the Liberal brain trust, are entirely in keeping with those of most Canadians. The average Canuck probably doesn’t care much for the rarefied (and largely useless) goings on at UN headquarters, but given that six of 10 cups of coffee-shop coffee sold in this country comes from a Tim’s outlet, he or she probably cares deeply about the operations of the country’s largest fast food chain.
I hate to say it — because he writes for a rival newspaper — but Rex Murphy today provides the perfect deconstruction of why Michael Ignatieff has failed to inspire Canadians:
Mr. Trudeau's braininess was sexy, Mr. Ignatieff's you merely gather from the résumé. Mr. Trudeau wowed on contact. You're supposed to be impressed by Mr. Ignatieff. That dreadful feeble Ignatieff-before-the-trees ad, with its anodyne “we can do better” slogan, is breathtakingly pointless. It radiates the very absence of message or point that presumably it was constructed to dispel … What we have so far from him is a credentials candidate, a list of qualifications, all neatly typed on very fine quality paper. On the page, he's great. He'd make the perfect university president. But where is the touch of style and manner, the evidence of real passion infusing new ideas, that connects him to, or makes him a vessel for, the shared aspirations of an entire people? Where's the leader quality?
"The news sparked international condemnation. U.S. President Barack Obama used his weekly Internet and radio address Saturday to offer Iran "serious, meaningful dialogue," while warning that it will face greater isolation from the international community if the country fails to co-operate on nuclear non-proliferation."Updated Sun. Sep. 27 2009 8:17 AM ET
We’re doing it for the children. For years, Shelf Life has resisted the idea of taste-testing packaged macaroni and cheese, not only because all neon-coloured meals make us nervous, but because the topic seems over-explored. Is there anything consumers don’t know about this stuff? We know that, per capita, Canadians buy more of it than anyone else. We know that sales have shot up in the wake of an uncertain economy. We know about the folk rumour that the box is healthier than the contents. We know that a certain brand has become preeningly aware of its status among students, so its TV ad campaigns riff on dorms, sex and cooking mac and cheese on radiators.
Once you roll back all the edu-speak and the gobbledegook, you get to the core of what all-day kindergarten is really all about: All-paid daycare.
Thirty-five days, 6,500 doors, three pairs of shoes and 7,851 votes later, I had the time of my life.
Andy And I might be losing Comrade Miller but now we Have Depends Smithermon......"I accomplished what I set out to do."
The next time Toronto council meets, everything will be the same but nothing will be as it was.
| David Miller | 299,385 | 43.26 |
| John Tory | 263,189 | 38.03 |
While George Smitherman wants to be known as the man who would be mayor, John Tory is the guy who should sit in the big chair at City Hall.
Mayoral prospects Smitherman, Tory maintaining low profile
The City of Toronto, pre- and post-amalgamation, has had just two progressive mayors, and neither made it past a first term. In fact, David Miller held onto office for longer than John Sewell and Barbara Hall combined.
Toronto Mayor David Miller will not seek a third term.
Mayor David Miller’s high spending ways while in office have left the city in financial ruins, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Over and over I asked myself, how does a skilled politician walk into an election year facing a $500-million budget hole at the very least, and the prospect of horrendous property tax hikes and TTC fare increases?
by Royson James
Toronto Mayor David Miller surprised City Hall yesterday by announcing he would not seek re-election next year, deciding instead to focus...
The Sunshine Cathedral, Jamaica's only gay church, gives parishioners a community, in secret.
I started the day Monday (September 21) sitting at the back of a banquet hall at the downtown Hilton watching 1,000 T-dot business folks give a lukewarm welcome to what had been billed as a major speech by Michael Ignatieff outlining his economic vision.
