Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Decision Time McGoonty...
...do the unions or the government run the education system?
Public sector wage freeze could lead to strikes: CAW
Premier Dalton McGuinty tours the newly constructed Pope John Paul II Elementary School on Pebblecreek Dr. in Kitchener on Aug. 30. Leading him on the tour is Principal Pam Garbutt, Leeana Pendergast and John Milloy.
Peter Lee/Waterloo Region Recor Tue Aug 31 2010
CAW says Ontario could see an end to years of public sector labour peace if McGuinty sticks with wage freeze plan
The high cost of Ontario high school
44 minutes ago
Ontario school boards are charging for classroom supplies, textbooks, and other curriculum-related items that amount to “user fees,” says People for Education. Homegrown Terrorists? Does No One Recall Oka, Caledonia...
Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: The jihadists’ William Hung
August 30, 2010 – 2:20 pm
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
If you want to be afraid of Canada’s terrorist-infested future, read David Harris in the Ottawa Citizen. We’re all doomed, basically. If you’d prefer to be confused, confounded and perplexed, read the Citizen‘s or The Globe and Mail‘s editorialists: There’s no way to tell who’s a terrorist and who isn’t these days, but it’s our duty to keep an eye out for them — each and every one of us — so let’s get to work!
Meanwhile, the National Post‘s editorialists wish more extremists would make fools of themselves on Canadian Idol. “Jihadis present themselves as serious, dignified people in a serious, dignified struggle,” they argue. “Yet the dominant impression of [Khurram Syed] Sher now is of a somewhat sulky and self-conscious buffoon” — “a sort of jihadi William Hung.” Ideally, this would convince other would-be terrorists that only losers want to blow things up on Parliament Hill.
Read More
If you want to be afraid of Canada’s terrorist-infested future, read David Harris in the Ottawa Citizen. We’re all doomed, basically. If you’d prefer to be confused, confounded and perplexed, read the Citizen‘s or The Globe and Mail‘s editorialists: There’s no way to tell who’s a terrorist and who isn’t these days, but it’s our duty to keep an eye out for them — each and every one of us — so let’s get to work!
Meanwhile, the National Post‘s editorialists wish more extremists would make fools of themselves on Canadian Idol. “Jihadis present themselves as serious, dignified people in a serious, dignified struggle,” they argue. “Yet the dominant impression of [Khurram Syed] Sher now is of a somewhat sulky and self-conscious buffoon” — “a sort of jihadi William Hung.” Ideally, this would convince other would-be terrorists that only losers want to blow things up on Parliament Hill.
Read More
Bike Couriers?
Jonathan Kay: The cyclo-martyrdom of Darcy Sheppard, and the real threat to bike couriers
August 30, 2010 – 1:31 pm
Wojtek Arciszewski / National Post
Cyclists protest the death of Darcy Allan Sheppard in Toronto on Sept. 2, 2009.
Yet in the year since Sheppard was killed, a cadre of his mourners insist that the privileged Bryant was the beneficiary of a conspiratorial cover-up. Even some mainstream journalists have helped create a sort of victim cult around Sheppard, presenting him as a road-safety martyr in the tribalized battle between vulnerable cyclists and nasty motorists.
Witness, for instance, Jennifer Yang’s article on the front-page of the Toronto Star‘s Tuesday city section, detailing a “memorial” bike ride staged on Sunday, by the city’s bike couriers, and led by Allan Sheppard, Darcy’s adoptive father. One of the organizers was Sonia Serba, who is quoted in Yang’s piece, and helped produce a rap-music video dedicated to the idea that Bryant got off the hook only because of his wealth and connections. “Another killer is walking the streets,” the video tells us. “Only, this one doesn’t wear gang colours. He drives luxury cars, and smokes fine cigars.” (The full lyrics appear here — and though I disagree with the premise of the video, I’ll admit some of them are clever.)
Read More
Posted in: Canada, Full Comment, Uncategorized Tags: Toronto, Michael Bryant, Jonathan Kay, Darcy Allan Sheppard, Cycling, Road Safety, Bicycle Couriers
Porter: Confessions of an ex-warrior cyclist
Tue Aug 31 2010
Catherine Porter rides her new bike, Mary Poppins style and follows the rules. 
Finally Accountability Might Come To Silly Hall...
Rossi promises voters right to recall
Rocco Rossi promised Toronto voters on Monday they’ll have the chance to fire him before the next election if he doesn’t live up to his promises.
Voter recall fine as last resort: Editorial
Total Recall isn’t just an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, it’s how he became the Governator
...and then we get smoke and mirrors from Depends Snivelman;
Voter recall fine as last resort: Editorial
Total Recall isn’t just an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, it’s how he became the Governator
...and then we get smoke and mirrors from Depends Snivelman;
Smitherman's plan to save city's heritage
George Smitherman unveiled his five-point plan to preserve Toronto’s heritage on Monday.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Mainstream Media's Vision Differs Dramatically From King Rally
But Glenn Beck Is The Crazy One
Posted by Kate at 6:28 PM
King’s Dream Endures
08/27/2010 01:29 PM ET - The majestic grounds of the Lincoln Memorial belong to all Americans — even to egomaniacal talk-show hosts who profit handsomely from stoking fear, resentment and anger. So let me ... More »
The Battle Continues...
- Costa Rica's gay rights activists have sought a different path than those in the US.
Iggy Moment
MPs' summer travel left big carbon footprint
The planes, trains and automobiles MPs used to travel to the nation’s capital this summer for 10 special committee meetings pumped more than 23 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — more than four times the amount an average Canadian ...
Canadiansense |Sunday, August 29, 2010
Christie Blatchford
The logic behind Rob Ford’s bid to derail the ‘gravy train’
...at the same time we have to appreciate that politicians do tend to embellish the facts:
Rob Ford can’t take full credit for Woodbine Live
The mayoral candidate says he was instrumental in bringing the $1-billion project to the city‘We’ve accomplished enormous things,’ Miller says at his council’s last meeting
Tsk! Tsk! How The Mighty Have Fallen...
Conrad Black: American apocalypse
Conrad Black August 28, 2010 – 9:11 am
Adam Tanner / Reuters
As one whose recollections of the American presidency go back to the august, relatively tranquil, unchallenged majesty of the terms of General Dwight D. Eisenhower — and of the respected ex-presidents living in that era, Herbert C. Hoover and Harry S. Truman — I can only look with dismay and amazement at what has happened to that great office. It is now clear that this marked the end of a golden age of the U.S. presidency.
The United States now is in a shockingly deteriorated condition. It is debt-ridden, hobbled by grievous failings in honesty of government, integrity of the justice system, competitiveness of the education system, anomalies in immigration policy, insupportable health-care costs, a presidency that has almost no credibility, a foreign policy that has foundered on the appeasement of Iran (as well as absurd nostrums such as the pursuit of a non-nuclear world and the war on global warming) and an economic policy that has been an epochal failure. The second half of the double dip yawns before us like the Grand Canyon, and it will be deeper and longer than the first, until leadership provides the radical solutions that are required. Read More »
Posted in: Full Comment, U.S. Politics Tags: Republicans, Barack Obama, Democrats, Conrad Black, Recession, health-care reform
Conrad Black August 28, 2010 – 9:11 am
Adam Tanner / Reuters
As one whose recollections of the American presidency go back to the august, relatively tranquil, unchallenged majesty of the terms of General Dwight D. Eisenhower — and of the respected ex-presidents living in that era, Herbert C. Hoover and Harry S. Truman — I can only look with dismay and amazement at what has happened to that great office. It is now clear that this marked the end of a golden age of the U.S. presidency.
The United States now is in a shockingly deteriorated condition. It is debt-ridden, hobbled by grievous failings in honesty of government, integrity of the justice system, competitiveness of the education system, anomalies in immigration policy, insupportable health-care costs, a presidency that has almost no credibility, a foreign policy that has foundered on the appeasement of Iran (as well as absurd nostrums such as the pursuit of a non-nuclear world and the war on global warming) and an economic policy that has been an epochal failure. The second half of the double dip yawns before us like the Grand Canyon, and it will be deeper and longer than the first, until leadership provides the radical solutions that are required. Read More »
Posted in: Full Comment, U.S. Politics Tags: Republicans, Barack Obama, Democrats, Conrad Black, Recession, health-care reform
Know Thy "Enemy?"
Saturday Interview: What Mohawks want...
Graham Hughes for National Post
Grand Chief Mike Delisle says Mohawks want to be recognized as an independent nation.
Edited interview by Diane Francis
Miller's Voter Base Was Concentrated "Below Bloor Street"...
...nothing has changed.
Hume: Poll reflects a clash of cultures
by Christopher HumeEditorial: The legacy of Miller's council
Sat Aug 28 2010
Toronto City Council’s four-year term, now drawing to a close, featured both stark antagonism and remarkable achievement. It opened with such acrimony that an official photo session had to be scrapped as councillors shamelessly squabbled over who...Persichilli: Toronto’s future, not Ford’s past, should be the issue
Sun Aug 29 2010
The bad news about municipal electoral campaigns is that they are too long and often boring. But they are necessary. Through them, candidates communicate their electoral platforms and give the public and media a chance to debate the validity of their... The Problem...
...is that once the race does start the number of people lining the course is dismal and those that do take part have their own agenda; ie: social in-activists, unions, evironuts, etc. and many are voting against someone rather than for someone.
Porter: Mayoral race? What mayoral race?
by Catherine PorterNo One Can Deny That The Needs/Desires Of Panhandlers Are...
...not much different than our needs/desires but we must remember that pandhandling and homelessness are two seperate issues. Panhandling has become a cottage industry!
How panhandlers use free credit cards
Joanne Mitchell, 60, and an acquaintance panhandle at a subway entrance at Union Station.
Jim Rankin/Toronto StarSat Aug 28 2010
The Star gave credit-card-like gift cards to five panhandlers. Each purchase, and each returned card, tells a story.
...and so does this:
...and so does this:
Toronto’s first Victoria’s Secret opens in Yorkdale Shopping Centre
Miraculous, Incredible bras touted by supermodels on hand to open first store in Toronto
Artsy-fartsy deal stinks to high heaven
Joe Warmington
Just what the east end needs: A hippie-style commune for poor, starving artists.And paid for by you!
Perhaps, no matter who is elected by the voters Oct. 25, we can also let the future tenants, and those leftist councillors who slammed this disgrace through, decide who the next mayor is, too?
Why not? They just do whatever they want anyway. All other rational thinking disappeared a long time ago.
“There is a dearth of housing in this area for artists,” Councillor Pam McConnell said in somehow trying to justify this disgrace.
What there is a dearth of is common sense on city council.
But what there is an abundance of is communists, socialists and blatant waste-a-holics.
The stench of this deal hits one’s nostrils from miles away because every part of the purchase of the circa 1899 Harris House heritage home at 450 Pape Ave. to create subsidized rental work and living spaces for artists stinks to high heaven.
Despite staff originally not recommending it, and saying there was no money for it, council in a suspect-move decided to go ahead and borrow from another department’s budget about $2.2-million — $1.9-million of which is to purchase the Salvation Army property, once known as Bethany Home for pregnant teenagers, at the corner of Pape and Riverdale and an additional $275,000 for closing costs.
They are making it up as they go — at your expense.
It looks like a sweet deal for so-called artists who don’t seem to want to survive on the market economy like the rest of us have to. Others who want to live in this neighbourhood have to come up with $600,000.
This feels like a heist. Somebody call Chief Bill Blair.
“People borrow money all the time,” says Councillor Paula Fletcher. “It’s an opportunity to do something very positive.”
Positive for whom? For artists perhaps. Not for taxpayers.
“Maybe the city can give it to me,” jokes single mother Donna George, who lives in below standard Toronto Community Housing with her five children. “I am not an artist, but I would like to live there.”
“Artists can get a part-time job to make ends meet,” said neighbour Greg Gherini. “Make it a place for single mothers because they have it tougher.”
Front-running mayoral candidate Rob Ford said he will open up, and rip up, deals like this when he becomes mayor.
“There are 70,000 people waiting to just get into (housing) and now we’re setting up special housing for these people?” Ford told the Sun’s Don “Pistol” Peat. “We can’t afford it.”
Just what is going on here?
“I don’t think they know,” said an angry Councillor Doug Holyday. “I don’t think there is any proper plan for that property.”
I talked to Fletcher last night who admitted, “it could end up as seniors housing or something else.”
You know we are hard on Fletch but I can tell she really believes she is doing the right thing.
“I am sick and tired of the west end getting all of the housing for artists,” she explained.
“Joe, it’s a very low paying job and they struggle. Don’t worry this is going to work out. Next year we will have a social housing provider to partner with and we will get the money back. Next year, we will go there and I will show you. You and me.”
I am already looking for my bandana, paint brush and peace sign.
The alleged redneck and the former commie. It’s a date.
joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca
Your Comments
Friday, August 27, 2010
There Doesn't Seem To Be Any Joy In Going Back To School...
The Debate Continues BUT...
...but only among those victims who survived and defense lawyers like those in the Creba Shooting.
Guns
In the still of the night, when you hear the thump of an intruder with unknown intentions, do you really want to rely solely on the speed of the police to respond, or your ability to summon a frightening tone?
As the debate over the gun registry goes around, it's necessary to remember one salient thing: guns solve more problems than they create and in a situation where the bad guy has the advantage, a gun can even the odds for the victim.
I am not a gal who is lacking in personal confidence but as a petite woman, if I were walking down a deserted street at night and had a choice between packing my purse with a cellphone or a handgun, to protect me in an attack, I know which one would give me better odds of being the one left standing.
As the debate over the gun registry goes around, it's necessary to remember one salient thing: guns solve more problems than they create and in a situation where the bad guy has the advantage, a gun can even the odds for the victim.
I am not a gal who is lacking in personal confidence but as a petite woman, if I were walking down a deserted street at night and had a choice between packing my purse with a cellphone or a handgun, to protect me in an attack, I know which one would give me better odds of being the one left standing.
Why Aren't We Highlighting Those Who Contributed From Day One...
...do a google for Mike Holmes and Frank Stronach as a start.
Hurricane Katrina and the race card: 5 years later
President Obama is headed to New Orleans this weekend to mark the 5th anniversary of Katrina. The papers and airwaves will be clogged with all sorts of retrospectives. My column today reminds you of the ugly racial demagoguery by leading Democrats and “civil rights” leaders from Jimmy Carter to Charlie Rangel to Malik Zulu Shabazz. It’s a divide that has also deepened in Obama’s imaginary age of post-racialism.
Related from Charles Krauthammer: The last refuge of a liberal. “What’s a liberal to do? Pull out the bigotry charge, the trump that preempts debate and gives no credit to the seriousness and substance of the contrary argument. The most venerable of these trumps is, of course, the race card.”
***
Hurricane Katrina and the race card: 5 years later
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010
Hmm! How Will Suzuki Take Credit For Their Return?
...does David speak salmonese and were his concerns heard by the Chief Salmon
It is tough being a fish these days...
David Suzuki: Not Mystified Enough!
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!CBC Fruit Fly Guy, Aug.28 2009 - The number of sockeye returning from the ocean to the Fraser River this year is one of the lowest in the past 50 and follows two years of dangerously low returns. In fact, we have witnessed decades of decline for diverse sockeye populations from the Fraser Watershed, some of which are now on the brink of extinction.
Vancouver Sun, Aug.26th 2010 (link fixed) - Fishery officials estimated Tuesday that more than 25 million sockeye salmon will return to the Fraser River this year, the largest number since 1913.
h/t Peter M.
Posted by Kate
Wacky World...
Bye-bye fido?
Iran’s ayatollahs take aim at man’s loyal companion
To discuss click here - 0 CommentsIran’s religious leaders want to stamp out the increasingly fashionable practice of keeping dogs as pets, citing Islamic tradition that brands man’s best friend as “unclean.” So they have banned all advertising of pets, pet food and pet products. Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi pronounced that that dog owners were “blindly imitating the West” and that “many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children.” This love of pets would result in “evil outcomes,” though keeping animals as guard dogs is fine. And not all animals are a target of Tehran. Since the Prophet Muhammad owned a pet cat, named Muezza, Iranians are free to live with cats and they must treat them well.
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
Hyphenation Of Cultures Continues...
The 'Moderate Muslim' Litmus Tests
Barry Rubin writes:There are relatively few "moderate Muslims" but there are millions of Muslims who are relatively moderate.***
The former refers to people whose main identity is as a Muslim and who explicitly want to reform normative Islam.
In contrast, the latter are those who are equally Muslim but have their primary identity formed by ethnic (Turkish, Arab, Persian, Kurd, Berber, etc.) or national (Egyptian, Indonesian, Indian, Moroccan) loyalty.
Your average Anglo-Saxon Westerner, be he "conservative" or liberal, cannot or will not accept the simple fact that billions of people "have their primary identity formed by ethnic or national loyalty" -- what used to be called "race."
While these Westerners, right and left, are busily burnishing their images as "citizens of the world," millions of these billions giggle and plot their demise.
These Ango Saxon Westerners think their multicultural co-workers share their "enlightened" views, and will side with them when the time comes.
They are mostly mistaken.
This fault line doesn't always look like you'd expect, by the way.
I once worked at a very famous charitable organization that, being based in Toronto, boasted a large staff representing an array of races and faiths.
And, this being Toronto, it came up at some meeting or other that one group we'd be funding that year served the supposed "needs" of supposed "homeless" "transsexuals."
Around the very large boardroom table, gasps and tsks could be (just barely) heard.
They all came from my Asian and black female co-workers, who, after the meeting, were seen whispering to each other, arms crossed, their heads tilting around, birdlike, to see if anyone important could hear them.
At a later meeting -- one limited to the white people who actually made the decisions (and me) -- there was much smug amusement at the silly, backward reactions by those silly, backward co-workers.
This was a few years ago, before Toronto officially became a white minority, immigrant majority city.
The shift in the way tens of millions of dollars in charitable donations will be allocated across Toronto will be fascinating to watch (hopefully from a very great distance...) over the next ten or twenty years.
Asians do not approve of putting old people into nursing homes, for example. And they don't have a lot of time for "the homeless."
I doubt a lot of the city's Muslims feel like giving money to battered women's shelters.
The examples will multiply.
And no one will talk about it, of course.
Except me.
# Kathy Shaidle
You Have Got To Love Danny...
...like most newfies he gets what he wants by kicking ass not kissing ass!
No apologies for protecting Newfoundland and Labrador
 Danny Williams: I am disappointed, yet not surprised, by the nasty attacks on me in the National Post. I certainly can take the criticism. Where I draw the line is at mean-spirited insinuations and inaccuracies about our province and its people. MORE... |
| Canadians paying for Williams's bully tactics |
Comrade Miller's Demise...
Hume: Miller leaves city divided as never before
August 25, 2010Christopher Hume
Only David Miller knows for sure whether he’ll miss being mayor of Toronto, but it’s a safe bet he won’t miss council meetings.
As he presided over his last such gathering on Wednesday morning, it was business as usual. That meant talk about everything from cash-in-lieu-of-parking in North York and waste-activated sludge control to a monumental flagpole in Emery Village and the plight of elephants at the Toronto Zoo.
As gripping as these issues undoubtedly were, things didn’t get going in earnest until council addressed itself to the city’s newly harmonized zoning bylaws.
How appropriate that one of Miller’s last acts as mayor was to deal with an issue that dates back 12 years to amalgamation.
If council approves the new 2,700-page zoning bible, it will mean that there will be only one legal definition of apartment, not five. It will also set minimum height in downtown Toronto at three storeys.
“We can’t ignore this forever,” chief planner Gary Wright told those assembled. “It’s time now to enact this law.”
Indeed, but as so often seems the case, no matter how critical city business may be, it has about it the whiff of ridiculousness. The councillors don’t help a whole lot, even when on their best behavior.
Still, the occasion could not have been lost on Miller. He has talked publicly about his pride in what he accomplished as mayor. But at what cost?
At this point, Miller’s legacy could best be summed up in two words: Rob Ford. Miller might like to talk about Transit City, Toronto, “the greenest city in North America,” or the Mayor’s Tower Renewal, but for many voters he is the guy who caved to the unions last summer and raised vehicle registration fees and real estate transfer costs.
Though a recent opinion poll claims Miller would win re-election easily, many Torontonians are so enraged at him they’re willing to vote for Rob Ford. In fact, they have put the Etobicoke councillor in the lead to be the city’s next mayor. Ford now sits more than 10 points ahead of his closest rival, former provincial cabinet minister George Smitherman.
But as the harmonized bylaw debate made clear, Toronto still hasn’t come to terms with amalgamation; the current election is all about the unfinished issues created by that forced union.
What Miller — and many others — didn’t realize is that a progressive urban agenda does not play well in the suburbs. What seems obvious and necessary to city-dwellers comes as a direct threat to suburbanites.
Toronto has become a community divided as never before. There is anger in the city, anger looking for a target on which to focus. Who better than our city councillors?
But watching council going through the motions this week, it was clear the Miller’s time is over even before it has ended. There was a feeling that the players were simply going through the motions, that they recognized the action has moved to a different stage, and that council itself has become strangely irrelevant.
Miller did his best to stay focused, delivering an impassioned defence of the harmonized bylaw. But the first question, from Scarborough’s Mike Del Grande, killed any hopes for intelligent debate.
Isn’t it true, he asked, that the new bylaw will mean one size fits all? When not even councillors bother to read the fine print, you know the city’s in trouble.
But given the din of the campaign being waged beyond its walls, City Hall seemed quiet and peaceful; the calm before the storm.
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
This Is What Took 6 Years And $6M to acheive...
...and the cost was probably much more when we add the time spent by city employees and the lefties on council and the mayor's race criticize Ford for worrying about the nickels &dimes.
Zoning Bylaw Gets Common
Fri, 2010-08-27 06:29.
The new bylaw will be searchable using an interactive program over the internet. It took six years to refine it and roughly six million dollars to pay staff and consultants in order to get the details of everything perfect.
Listen to a report by NewsTalk 1010's Amber Gero.
Among some of the changes; Homes must be 250 metres apart when built.
There are some new parking standards for the city as well.
Any new buildings near subways or streetcars, now require fewer parking spaces than those that are further away from transit.
Another amendment is no propane storage facilities within 500 metres of a residential area, also new car lots are forbidden from opening in industrial areas.
One hit to the service industry, restaurants located below Bloor Street are not allowed to open rear patios.
For those living in residential and residential apartment zones, council also prohibited charging for visitor parking.
Using Our Money To Appeal A Court Ruling...
THE MAYOR
...that says it is against the law for councilors to steal our money to resolve their personal problems.
No wonder taxpayers are fuming
Last Updated: August 26, 2010 6:56pm
After he waxed poetic about how he was really doing it for the “public” and not at all for the motley cast of characters who’ve hitched their wagon to his star, councillors voted 24-14 to appeal a recent Ontario superior court ruling that said council didn’t have the power to pay the legal expenses of two city councillors fighting audits of their 2006 election spending.
The court ruling, released July 19, quashed the bylaw that made the legal payouts to Adrian Heaps and Giorgio Mammoliti — of $83,375 and $95,973 respectively — possible.
But that didn’t bother council one bit. Led by the feckless Miller, they simply crafted their own bylaw that would allow the money to be provided to the two councillors in the form of grants.
That motion was merely a technicality since both councillors already have their $179,348 in payouts.
“It is shameful ... we should be upholding the integrity of elections,” Miller said. “We should be ensuring that people aren’t risking their house or their family’s future in order to stand for office and commit public service.”
It’s obvious to me that our so-called “strong” mayor and esteemed lawyer didn’t much like that the Toronto Party for a Better City and Councillor Doug Holyday chose to go to court to fight council’s move to make the illegal payouts — and horror of horrors, won.
The decision Wednesday night should have been a slam dunk — had this council been led by a mayor who actually practises what he preaches about leading with integrity.
(I repeat, is it any wonder taxpayers are mad as hell and not prepared to put up with this nonsense anymore.)
It was all handed to Miller and Co. on a silver platter in the form of advice received by the city’s very pricey outside counsel, Alan Lenczner.
In his confidential Aug. 11 opinion, obtained by the Toronto Sun, Lenczner recommends that the appeal be “abandoned” — noting he does not see a “reasonable prospect” for it to succeed.
City solicitor Anna Kinastowski advises council in her confidential report of Aug. 23, also obtained by the Sun, that it will cost upwards of $40,000 for the appeal and another $25,000 if the city loses and is forced to pay costs.
She does not provide figures on what has been spent on the court case to date.
But Lenczner doesn’t stop with his advice not to appeal. He suggests that while the court could not order the city to retrieve the money from the two councillors, he suggests the city do so anyway.
“The city may grant them time to make the payments but the demand should be made,” Lenczner writes.
In another opinion, provided on Aug. 18, Lenczner says that there is “no lawful bylaw” that can be crafted to address the reimbursement of councillors Heaps and Mammoliti retroactively.
Kinastowski, in her report to council — which she recommended be made public but has not — even gives Mammoliti and Heaps an easy out, suggesting they be allowed to raise the money they need to pay back from private donors!
She writes that the integrity commissioner, Janet Leiper, has offered to be available to spoon-feed them advice on how they can do so while still complying with the gifts and benefits provision of the code of conduct.
Ah, yes. Makes me wonder what she’d say about their appeal for funds using their councillor letterhead.
Seriously, the whole situation is absolutely absurd considering on the very same day (Wednesday) mayoralty frontrunner Rob Ford had his knuckles rapped for using his letterhead to solicit private funds for his football foundation.
Holyday said Thursday this will just keep adding to the city’s legal bills and is a “blatant disregard” of the taxpayer.
“These people seem to think they’re above the law,” he said. “They’re doing all this in aid of their own.”
Murray Maltz, of the Toronto Party, echoed Holyday’s sentiments.
“This is nothing more than an attempt to try to do what the courts have already told them is illegal,” he said.
“Clearly this shows a lack of good faith and continual breach of their fiduciary duty to the taxpayer ... it’s obvious council simply intends to ignore the law no matter what.”
sue-ann.levy@sunmedia.ca
THE VOTE TO APPEAL
YES: Paul Ainslie, Brian Ashton, Shelley Carroll, Raymond Cho, Janet Davis, Glenn De Baeremaeker, Frank Di Giorgio, Mike Feldman, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Adam Giambrone, Mark Grimes, Pam McConnell, Joe Mihevc, David Miller, Howard Moscoe, Case Ootes, Joe Pantalone, John Parker, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Kyle Rae, Bill Saundercook, Adam Vaughan.
NO: Mike Del Grande, Rob Ford, Suzan Hall, Cliff Jenkins, Norm Kelly, Chin Lee, Gloria Lindsay Luby, Peter Milczyn, Ron Moeser, Frances Nunziata, Cesar Palacio, Karen Stintz, Michael Thompson, Michael Walker.
MIA: Maria Augimeri, Sandra Bussin, Adrian Heaps, Doug Holyday, Giorgio Mammoliti, Denzil Minnan-Wong, David Shiner
James: Councillors back down on funding legal battles
The city’s executive committee drops a hot-potato issue as lawyers tell them to accept defeat on making taxpayers cover their post-election legal bills.THE STATUS QUO!
Let them eat snacks
Circus atmosphere reigns at Toronto City Hall as politicians defend free food for city councillors
Mammoliti's vision of grandeur
Giorgio Mammoliti is one step closer to having the biggest pole in North America.
Council likes Icescraper
Hockey rinks in the sky have been approved in principle by city council.
Augimeri says suburbanites on learning curve
The lefties are really going wild.
Suburban councillors irate over comments
Two of Toronto's suburban councillors were quick to take issue with fellow Councillor Maria Augimeri's "learning curve" comments.
The Big Question Is...
...do we want to maintain the status quo?
Some councillors question Ford's vision for Toronto
City Hall arrogance tough to stomach
Not only does their extravagance knows no bounds, but so does their arrogance.
Housing plan for starving artists
City council approved spending about $2 million to turn an old Salvation Army rooming house into affordable housing for artists....how about housing for single working mothers???
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Exemplifies The Problem At Toronto Silly Hall...
Council wouldn't accept Ford as mayor, Rae says
A departing veteran Toronto city councillor suggests that if Coun. Rob Ford wins the mayoral race on Oct. 25, he will be a powerless leader....it is not about serving the needs of the "voters" but rather protecting their individual fiefdoms. Spending $12K to throw his own retirement party is a prime example.
Councillors take shots at 'Mayor Ford'
Some left-leaning Toronto city councillors weren’t pulling their punches when asked how they feel about the thought of Councillor Rob Ford becoming Toronto’s next mayor.
Davis gets police check, fires back at Moscoe
Last Updated: August 25, 2010 7:21pm
Incumbent Ward 15 councillor Howard Moscoe made some mischief on Tuesday, floating a motion requiring potential civic candidates to submit to pre-nomination police checks.
Moscoe’s motion included a list of candidates disqualified from the 2003 municipal election, including Davis, a former city councillor and a member of the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Davis charged out Tuesday to get a police check to prove he doesn’t have a criminal record.
Toronto Police told Davis it would take 15 days for him to have a check done. York Regional Police did it in 15 minutes.
“In order to respond to Councillor Moscoe’s smear, I actually had to leave the City of Toronto and go to York Region,” Davis said. “It’s a terrible example of customer service in Toronto and Mr. Moscoe is partly responsible for that.
“Why does it take 15 days to do in Toronto what it takes 15 minutes to do in York Region?”
Davis pointed out if council were to approve Moscoe’s motion, candidates likely wouldn’t be able to get their police checks done in Toronto in time for nomination day.
“It would be impossible for candidates to spend money in the City of Toronto to get a police check done in time for nomination day,” he said.
don.peat@sunmedia.ca
Council slams Ford without debate
Toronto city councillors sanctioned mayoral candidate Rob Ford on Wednesday for violating city council’s code of conduct with no debate on the report from integrity commissioner Janet Leiper.
Living The Legacy Of Comrade Miller And The Left...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Just In...
Is There Nothing That Obama Can't Do?
Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war
Via
Posted by Kate
If Panda Was Coming From Barnum And Bailey...
Giorgio Mammoliti to join zoo staff in China for panda negotiations
After hours of debate, councillor offers to cover the $7,000 cost himself
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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.