I Wonder Why We Don't Hear More About East European "Mafia"

Christie Blatchford


Owner of home gutted by fire once a high-profile marketer
 
Canada makes it easy for the MobEastern European mafias, Mexican mafia, Nigerian mafia, the Yakuza .... the skittish, cartoon-like manner in which these people operate. ...ttp://www.nicaso.com/pages/doc_page34.html

THE STAR: More Police NOT Needed...

Young man shot to death near River Street

Dance Gypsie, Dance...

'Romas from Eastern Europe are what normal people call gypsies'


James Fulford explains:

They typically want a better life so much that they’re willing to steal it.

***

And they're flooding into Canada as you read this.

# Kathy Shaidle

When Will Leftists Take A Share Of The Blame...

...and publicly name and condemn the anarchists, social in-activists, punks. and the gawkers that led to confrontations with police. There is no question that some people were taken into custody under questionable circumstances but it makes me think of the "when you are up to your ass in alligators there aren't many choices."

I Might Of Missed It BUT...

...how would the candidates for mayor, city councilors and school trustees deal with Gangsta activity and shootings in their communities. I have watched a number of the one hour Goldhawk TV presentations and not one word about the problem.

Gunfire erupts in Lawrence Heights Wednesday night

By CHRIS DOUCETTE, Toronto Sun

Two men were wounded by bullets in Lawrence Heights late Wednesday.

Let's Get This Straight...

Taxman eyes cops' pay duty


By TOM GODFREY, Toronto Sun

Some 3,500 Toronto Police officers who take extra work on their days off are being audited by the Canada Revenue Agency over their “paid duty” assignments.

...police officers are taking "paid duty" for which they get paid over and above their salaries and they park at station parking lots. CRA wants them to pay taxes for parking for those times they are not actually "on duty."  Sorry fellows I agree with CRA. If my employer provides parking at no charge it is considered a taxable benefit. One proviso...it applies to all police departments.

What Is The Bullet Penetration Factor...

...comparison between an aluminum and wood tree. Google "Oakwood and Vaughan shootings" and this might give a more accurate vision of what the area needs.

Community supports aluminum palm tree

By DON PEAT, Toronto Sun

Some Oakwood Village residents were raising their aluminum palm tree as a symbol of hope and unity a day after a council candidate vowed to chop it down.

Sorry Too Little Too Late...

...http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/ explores the missed opportunities and the results of the rehabilitation period which was used by the new OPP Commissioner for not charging him before he left the country.

Fantino vows to track down Canadian charged with promoting genocide

Police Do Their Job But...

...judiciary makes a farce of the system.

'Spring clean' through drug dens nets 131 arrests 

...and within hours 75 perps are out on bail.

Lock up the real criminals: Editorial

The Tories’ tough-on-crime legislation, and its recent yanking of the troubling two-for-one credit for pre-trial custody that gave kisses even to gangbangers, was a long time coming.

No need to to build more prisons...open "gulag" style of camps in the most northern reaches of the country and put them to work building housing for indians, re-forestation, etc.

Another Parade Harper Won't Fund...

Protesters prepare for G20 demonstrations

 View larger image

In this file photo, a woman walks hand in hand with her child at a G20 protest in Pittsburgh, Friday Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

No butts about it, city loses during G-20 meet

By JOE WARMINGTON, TORONTO SUN

Maybe now they can use the Rogers Centre to host those crazy G-20 protesters?

Would We Deny Police Officers The Same Rights...

as we would rapists, pedophiles, gangstas, cop killers, etc?

Concerns persist about police note-taking when officers use lethal force

Colin Perkel, THE CANADIAN PRESS

03 May 2010 06:04

TORONTO - Senior investigators are concerned that police involved in using lethal force are being "coached" or are tampering with evidence after such incidents, new court documents reveal.

The documents and transcripts, in the case of two unrelated killings by police, raise concerns about the ability of Ontario's Special Investigations Unit to determine whether the killings were justified.

The concerns by SIU investigators centre on delays by police in notifying the unit after a shooting and possible contamination of the scene and witness accounts.

Of key concern is whether the notes of officers are accurate and reliable given that police involved are first submitting draft accounts to a union lawyer, and only then turning over a version to civilian investigators.

"Are we into an area where the police officers are coached?" said Denis O'Neill, a longtime investigator with the SIU, according to examination documents filed in the case.

"It's not the right thing to do, and that's what I believe."

Accurate and reliable officers' notes are critical because they are "the best vehicle to get at the truth," O'Neill testified, according to a transcript obtained by The Canadian Press.

During separate confrontations in June 2009, provincial police shot dead two mentally disabled men, Douglas Minty and Levi Schaeffer.

Families of the two men want Ontario Superior Court to declare that some police practices following such incidents may be illegal and damaging to the integrity of the system.

A hearing on the merits of the families' application - which contains the allegations not proven in court - is expected to take place next week.

Police lawyers have emphatically defended the handling of such cases.

Ontario law mandates the civilian SIU probe potential criminal wrongdoing when police are involved in causing death or serious injury.

In Minty's case, the SIU was notified almost 90 minutes after a police constable pumped five bullets into him during a tense confrontation - and only after the police association was called and a representative went to the scene, documents show.

In addition, police drove two civilian witnesses to the detachment in a vehicle before notifying the SIU, and the incident was discussed during the ride, said Angela Mercer, lead SIU investigator.

"My main concern was tampering of evidence," said Mercer, according to the transcripts.

"They should have called us right away. It just delayed the investigation in the whole, and it gave enough time for the police to organize what they were going to do."

O'Neill said he believed the practice of having a single lawyer act for various officers involved in a shooting was "widespread," while Mercer said it appeared no one in police leadership had ever addressed the various concerns.

In a public statement last year, the director of the special investigations unit, Ian Scott, blasted the note-writing process that flowed from Schaeffer's death as unreliable.

He said confidential drafts of the notes were first "approved" by one union lawyer who represented all the officers involved.

"The notes do not represent an independent recitation of the material events," Scott wrote, saying he was unable to determine whether the officer who pulled the trigger had committed any crime.

Scott also sounded the alarm last October in a letter filed as part of the proceedings to the commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, Julian Fantino.

Fantino was dismissive in his response.

"Your position as director of the SIU grants you no authority over how police notes are prepared," Fantino wrote, according to the documents.

The police union and its lawyers have staunchly defended the approach, saying the notes given the SIU were a "very accurate depiction" of events. They denounced any suggestion of collusion as "preposterous."

One lawyer for the officers said any suggestion of wrongdoing by the officers in contacting legal counsel "would suggest that every citizen in Canada is wrong in communicating with legal counsel when they are under investigation."

NO TAX $$$$ To Fund Hate Groups Unless Of Course...

Readers mull Pride funding

April 22, 2010

Pride festival on Yonge St.

CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR

Re: Dispute threatens funding for Pride, April 19
The attempt by city bureaucrats to censor freedom of expression at Pride is an outrage. If expressing the opinion that Israel practices apartheid (a view shared by both Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter) violates their “anti-discrimination” policy, it’s a policy that needs an emergency rewrite.
There is no human right not to be offended or to “be comfortable” at all places and times. Pride’s origins are in political struggle, not corporate sponsorship. Politics always involves (sometimes heated) disagreements. If that makes some people uncomfortable, they are perfectly free to stay home.
John Wilson, Toronto B’Nai Brith’s definition of hate speech is very convenient — if you’re fronting for a repressive government. According to your story, the Zionist lobby group finds any comparison of Israel and apartheid South Africa “inherently hateful.” If this is so, why do they not avail themselves of Canada’s laws against hate speech? Because they’re not that stupid.
Rather than risk losing in court, which they would if they prosecuted the use of the word “apartheid” to describe the apartheid-like conditions under which the state of Israel forces Palestinians to live, B’Nai Brith and its fellow travelers want to impose their extra-legal definition of hate speech on a public more easily swayed by emotive appeals than by the often hard to come by facts about the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and its many crimes.
Stephen Kerr, Toronto Elle Flanders, a member of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, which participated in the last Pride Toronto, states that “this has nothing to do with anything other than criticism of Israel.” I find it amazing that a homosexual woman would denounce Israel, the only country in the Middle East where gays are able to live openly and freely. In any other Middle Eastern country, including the Palestinian territories, homosexuals are ostracized, imprisoned, or executed. Ms. Flanders states that she is a “big Jew-lover,” but one has to wonder.
Dr. Jerome Edelstein, Toronto The city or any level of government shouldn’t be in the business of using our tax dollars to promote or block events like the Pride Parade. The businesses that benefit and people who wish to attend should put up the necessary funds to run the event.
The city believes its anti-discrimination policy was likely violated by QuAIA (Queers Against Israeli Apartheid), and has received complaints about the use of the phrase “Isreali apartheid.” Some people feel uncomfortable about the use of those words and some people like myself feel uncomfortable about the event itself and I have chosen not to attend.
The government’s role is to protect our choices, not to use our tax dollars as carrots and sticks.
Vedran Saciragic, Toronto Councillor Kyle Rae and city managers Mike Williams and Ceta Ramkhalawansingh are threatening Pride’s funding if they don’t ban QuAIA. Their reasons include the charge that a marcher wore a crossed out swastika, a well-known anti-racism symbol, and that criticism of Israel’s many violations of international law makes some people uncomfortable.
In 1980, I co-founded Gay Asians Toronto, one of the first groups for racialized queer people in the city. By the end of the decade, I marched in the Pride parade with the Simon Nkodi Anti-Apartheid Committee, a gay and lesbian group against human rights violations in South Africa. In 2009, I marched with QuAIA, a queer group in opposition to human rights violations in Israel/Palestine. Social justice is a key issue and a proud tradition in the queer community and at the parade, especially for those who sit on the margins of social power.
That city politicians and bureaucrats would use threats to censor human rights debate from our gay march, especially on such obviously spurious grounds, is presumptuous and arguably homophobic.
Richard Fung, Toronto

Israel’s attack was provoked

April 22, 2010

Re: Spreading a message of life, death and peace, April 18
Oakland Ross’s portrayal of Dr. Abuelaish, the Palestinian doctor who “refuses to hate,” is appallingly unfair to Israel. I sympathize with the doctor losing members of his family, which is tragic. However, Mr. Ross provides no context whatsoever for Israel’s actions. Instead, he provides a litany of reasons why Dr. Abuelaish should hate Israel. 
Without context, these reasons serve only to inflame the reader against Israel and Jews.
One example: “It was the Israelis, after all, who prosecuted the war that splintered Abuelaish’s family.” Israel did not want to go to war when it attacked Gaza. It had no choice. Israelis were being bombarded daily by dozens of rockets aimed at its schools and homes.
After Hamas ignored many warnings, Israel’s only option was to invade Gaza. The article is similarly filled with many other misleading allegations, damning Israel (and by extension all Jews) without context or explanation.
David M. Sherman, Toronto We can just hope together with Dr. Abuelaish that peace, which only results from truth and justice, will someday prevail in that troubled land.
Jaime Oksemberg, Toronto

Palestinian support for Nazis casts shadow over Gaza conflict  

Racial Profiling...

Toronto man faces 13 charges after gun spotted at pot rally

TORONTO - Toronto police have charged a man with 13 offences after a handgun was spotted at a pro-marijuana rally. 22 April 05:26

Dispensing Justice...

SIU Probes Fatal Shooting

 

Mon, 2010-04-19 05:39.

Cheryl Camack

 

The province's Special Investigations Unit has been called in to probe what led to the shooting death of a man following an early morning chase on the waterfront.

The incident started when police began following a car in the area of Leslie and Commissioners Streets at approximately 1 a.m., Monday. Soon after officers stopped following the vehicle.
A short time later, the car was spotted at foot of Cherry and Commissioners Streets.
Police reportedly set up a roadblock and then opened fire when the driver steered the car right at them. One officer was struck by the car and the driver fatally shot.
The officer was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital with minor injuries, while the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.
The SIU is asking anyone with information to contact them at 416-622-0748 or 1-800-787-8529.
The SIU is called in to investigate reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

(with additional files from Suzette Francis)

The Judicial System Finds You Innocent...

...but not leftwing politicians and media. I have to agree with Christie after listening to hours of discussion on a number of talk radio shows. Let's be clear I am not judging his innocence or guilt but it is obvious that the collection of evidence and arrest procedures leaves something to be desired.

 

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

Jaffer being painted as guilty shows the real double standard 3:19 AM EST

Jaffer plea deal 'not so unusual': lawyer
Drunk Driving Case; Details can limit potential for conviction. Even the judge in former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer's speeding, drunk driving and cocaine possession case called his plea deal to careless driving, with a $500 fine and no criminal record, "a break." 

Political stereotypes, joined at the hip Rex Murphy: The Guergis and Jaffer stories reinforce the idea that politicians observe one set of rules, ordinary people another. If the reports of Cabinet Minister Helena Guergis's high-octane deportment (temper tantrum, boot hurling.. MORE... 

...and from SDA we have:

March 13, 2010

"Now, leaving aside the facts, just for a few years..."

Everyone knows the details already, but the basic facts are essential here: former MP Rahim Jaffer was charged last year with drunk driving and drug possession. Several days ago, under an agreement reached between his lawyer and an Ontario provincial Crown prosecutor, Jaffer pleaded guilty to lesser charges. The provincial prosecutor said there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction on the more serious charges; according to this report, police sources said that "a rookie OPP officer failed to follow proper procedures during a strip search of Jaffer."
Now, keeping in mind that at the time he was charged Jaffer was neither a Conservative MP nor working for the Conservatives in any capacity whatsoever (they had long since elbowed him out of the nomination race in his riding), and that his plea deal was reached with the Crown prosecutor, not the judge, in a provincial jurisdiction that the federal government absolutely has no say in, take a look at a sampling of what various media and opposition members had to say:
David Akin: "Turns out the judge in the case, Doug Maund, is a long-time Tory." Jane Taber: "Stephen Harper’s tough-on-crime Conservatives were accused of being not-so-tough when it comes to one of their own..." Akin, again: "Jaffer's former caucus colleagues immediately tried to distance themselves from the (Crown prosecutor's) decision." Peter Mansbridge, introducing the top story on The National: "As a Conservative Member of Parliament Rahim Jaffer was known for his tough stand on crime. Now, the opposition says he's a Tory example of another kind: hypocrisy!" Liberal MP Anita Neville, seen bellowing in the HOC on The National: "The Conservatives are conspicuously silent...when the law is being flouted by one of their own." Toronto Lawyer Russell Silverstein, on The National: "You know, when the public sees somebody charged with drunk driving and possession of cocaine who's politically connected..." Unidentified man-on-the-street, on The National: "Ex-Conservative MP, married to the Minister of State for Women's Affairs - I mean obviously they're going to drop the charges, they had no choice." (all emph. mine)
The attempts to attach Jaffer's actions to the Conservative government ("one of their own") were pure partisan ridiculousness, and almost laughable; what was not even slightly laughable, in those several days of coverage, were the efforts of various media and opposition members to raise, in a sideways fashion - i.e., without being accountable for it - a constant insinuation that the Conservative government interfered behind the scenes in a decision made by a provincial crown prosecutor. For two days and nights, a serious allegation which there was no evidence for became unmistakably threaded into the subtext of the coverage of what was, unaccountably, the biggest news story in the country.
While various other media members also joined in, it was once again the CBC who led the charge, displaying a perfected reversal of the sort of coverage they gave the Liberals. When in 1996 Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien was ordered by a judge to answer a charge of assault, and Quebec's Justice Minister announced a few hours later that he would not allow the case to proceed, there were no insinuations that there had been any political interference. When Jean Chretien's son Michel was charged in 2002 with sexual assault, illegal confinement, and sodomy, the mother of the victim stated that she had been pressured by a sitting Liberal MP to not press criminal charges. She said the MP told her -

"...(Chretien) is the Prime Minister, he has all the power and he will fight this case for Michel. Then she told me that 'a lot of dirty things are going to come up about your past and the media will be there'...I almost changed my mind (about pressing charges) because of that."

Remember the CBC's top-of-the-hour news story on that? Well, me neither, because there wasn't one. And yet somehow, in the last two days, a provincial crown prosecutor's decision, in a case involving a former MP, now a private citizen, somehow managed to become attached, with great deal of hyperventilating outrage, to the Conservatives. How does that happen, exactly? Only Mansbridge's hairdresser knows for sure, but consider, in isolation, the CBC's decision to nationally broadcast, in their top-of-the-hour story, the following statement:

"Ex-Conservative MP, married to the Minister of State for Women's affairs, I mean, obviously they're going to drop the charges, they had no choice."

Interesting. Suppose some non-taxpayer-funded news network - let's call it Fox News Canada - aired an unidentified man-in-the-street's assertion that Michael Ignatieff beats his wife if she leaves dirty dishes in the sink. The network, and the reporter, would surely be required to provide some evidence to back up the statement or else face very serious consequences. It wouldn't t even begin to suffice, as either a legal or moral defense, one wouldn't think, for the network - or the reporter or the producer - to say "hey, we didn't say that at all, it was some guy in the street." To the contrary, the only justification for airing such a statement would be if it was made by a known public figure, at which point there might be some justification for covering it, albeit without repeating the allegation, and only in the context of a story noting that politician X made a serious allegation about Ignatieff without any proof to back it up; there could certainly be no journalistic justification whatsoever for airing such a statement from some unidentified man in the street, and any broadcaster who aired such a serious accusation without proof would be liable for it, and held to account.
Someone at the CBC made a decision to broadcast, coast-to-coast, an unidentified individual's statement that a particular provincial Crown prosecutor - someone who has a name, a professional reputation, and a family - rendered a decision based not on the law he's been sworn to uphold but on political interference from someone outside his jurisdiction, and that our sitting government illegally interfered in a court case in a provincial jurisdiction - and all without one single shred of evidence.
Was it urgent, serious, and of public importance for the CBC to nationally broadcast a categorical, unproven allegation of serious wrongdoing made by an unidentified member of the public? Was the unidentified individual's honest statement of opinion in any way based on fact? Has the CBC - would the CBC - ever broadcast an allegation of serious wrongdoing by a Liberal government that had absolutely no basis in fact?
No, no, and no.
Vile, unethical, unprofessional journalism - and it only costs us a billion dollars a year.
You know, there oughta be a law...
Posted by EBD at 7:15 AM|

 

Leftwing View....

 Council needs to take away the 'blue elephant's' toys

John Sewell

05 March 2010 05:00

 

There was a gigantic blue elephant in the room that councillors didn’t notice the other night. It was gobbling up spare change and money that should be used for other services, but no one said a thing about it.
Instead, city councillors tried to find other money by raising the rent on daycare centres, changing user fees on city programs, selling off the city’s ski operations, golf courses, and maybe Toronto Hydro, too. They also agreed to raise property taxes.
Why didn’t they notice the animal that has grown bloated on all the taxpayer money it has been grabbing for itself? 
Because the blue elephant is the police department, and councillors never want to question what it wants.
Other city departments were told to cut expenditures by five per cent. The police department was allowed to increase its budget by $33 million, to $888 million this year from $854 million  last year. The police will grow by an extra 134 new staff members this year — even though crime has been falling for the past 10 years and the police answered fewer calls last year than the year before.
Why are our elected officials afraid to recognize the elephant in the room?
Because they fear that if they did, they would be accused of being soft on crime.
Because they know that those who have been critical of the police have been attacked by the Toronto Police Association and finally decided to step aside. That’s what has happened to Alan Heisey, Judy Sgro, Olivia Chow, and Susan Eng, to name just four.
The blue elephant is a bully scoffing money needed for other city services.  We should red-line the blue elephant and make it do with the money it got last year. That would free up an extra $33 million
The city council budget meeting is not for another month. In the interim, will any councillor or mayoralty candidate acknowledge the elephant in the room and take away its toys?

Reality

Last week, four youth centres in the violence-plagued Keele and Eglinton neighbourhood closed their doors in reaction to the murders of two ...

Murder No. 5 – Keele and Eglinton

Two men shot near Dufferin and Eglinton. Toronto police Emergency Task Force officers join the search for the suspects at the scene of a ...

And it goes on and on and on......

 

First Step...

...turn police officers back into crime fighters rather than social workers with guns.

Now is the time to discuss city's massive police budget

PATRICK CORRIGAN/TORONTO STAR

By Harvey G. Simmons

Fri Feb 26 2010

 

As the candidates for mayor of Toronto jostle for position, each of them has suggestions for dealing with the city's budget deficit: outsource Toronto Hydro, says Rocco Rossi; get the province to kick in more money, says Joe Pantalone; do business in a different way, says Giorgio Mammoliti; freeze hiring for all but essential services, says George Smitherman. (7)

The "I VOTED FOR CHANGE" McGoonites Will Try To Shift Blame...

...to Harper, to society, etc. but in this case the judicial system is provincial.

McGuinty skates around tragedy

Justice system failed woman hit by fleeing van

By Joe Warmington, Toronto Sun

Sara Attayee won’t be joining Premier Dalton McGuinty and his family any time soon for a skate on the Rideau Canal or for a tasty Beavertail.
The 26-year-old Toronto woman is dead.
Her sister, Addela, 45, her niece Mariam, 18, sister-in-law Fahemah, 38, and family pal Nadia Nadia, 34, would have loved to be there too.
They are in hospital.
But go for your skate, Dalton, these grieving people in wheelchairs would just slow you down, anyway.
Of course, it doesn’t change the fact that the province you purport to run must shamefully accept its share of responsibility for the weak justice system that contributed to this.
This horrible tale happened Monday in Scarborough when a van — allegedly fleeing police from a stolen property scene — was travelling 100 km/h and slammed into a Honda Civic at Pharmacy and Lawrence — killing Attayee and sending the rest to hospital.
And guess who allegedly was driving the getaway van?
Yes, it was none other than Robert Clifford Smith, two days out of jail, and allegedly out breaking into homes again. It seems the rehabilitation is not going well.
“Dangerous” is how Det. Christopher Higgins described Smith on March 20, 2008, after he was allegedly actively trying to engage police officers in vehicle pursuits of him.
Higgins told reporter Bryn Weese “the sad thing is he was arrested Jan. 21, he’s got over 100 criminal convictions and the judge let him out the next day on bail.”
Sun crime reporting legend Rob Lamberti was telling me at one time the man known for “burglaries, dangerous driving, failing to comply with court-release orders, having cocaine to sell, possessing coke and marijuana, plus obstructing police was wanted by six Toronto Police divisions, and Halton and York police.”
And yet they kept setting him free.
Poor Sara would never have known their paths would cross.
Now Smith has 57 new criminal charges against him, on top of more than 100 previous convictions.
Sara will still be dead. But have a nice skate, Dalton.
“We are suffering,” her brother, Islamuddin Attayee, said Friday.
We all know her death will be glossed over. In fact, it’s seemingly only a matter of time before Smith is out on bail because that appears to be what happens every time Smith goes before the courts.
“It’s sick,” said Joe Wamback, founder of the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation. “We had this creep in custody and could have protected society.”
He’s right. We knew who he was and what he was capable of. But this is a case of catch-and-release justice in Ontario. Will anyone be held accountable for this disgraceful death?
Of course, there is no special investigation into what judge seemingly allowed Smith to leave jail when he did. Instead there is a Special Investigations Unit probe into Toronto Police’s pursuit of the notorious career criminal’s escape from his latest alleged robbery.
Former crown prosecutor and victim’s advocate Scott Newark summed it up best:
“So a guy with 100-plus convictions gets seven months in July 2009 for more drugs, break and enters, breaching court orders, dangerous driving, gets out of jail, (allegedly) does more break and enters, (allegedly) steals another car, drives while disqualified, flees from police and (allegedly) crashes into a car killing one woman and injuring four others and we’re investigating the police for chasing him?
“Only in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario.”
And just try to find out what judge let him out, or even a proper list of his convictions. A day in court trying to dig this out would have made communists in pre-1991 Moscow blush. This tape was bright red.
My feeling is instead of having the SIU investigate the police, who do their jobs, they should be investigating the crowns and judges who in this specific case may not have.
There should also be an investigation into why there is no progressive sentencing for repeat offenders or electronic monitoring for when they get out of jail. There should be a public record of charges available and a record of which decisions each judge makes so we can keep track of who is good and who is no good.
Of course Sara will still be dead either way and once again Dalton will skate.
joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca

Over 63 Years How Many Shootings Ocurred At Sportsman Show...

...or at the gun clubs at Union Station or Hart House?

The missfires of the Toronto gun ban - CKA Forum

15 posts - 6 authors - Last post: 7 May 2008

As of May, Toronto city has banned handguns. Since then, there have been almost a shooting a day. "Will it put an end to all ...
www.canadaka.net › Board index › Politics › Canadian Politics - Cached - Similar
 
Man found shot to death in west-end stairwell

Dad-to-be shot in stairwell

By TAMARA CHERRY, Toronto Sun

For four hours, a young father-to-be lay riddled with bullets in a northwest Toronto stairwell before someone finally called police about his lifeless body.

Cellphone Journalism? An Apt Description...

...but it makes you wonder where are these champions of freedom of expression when we have acts of violence and murder on our streets on almost a daily basis.

Defensive TTC workers want to push back

Updated: Mon Feb. 08 2010 2:49:58 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

Some TTC employees called for a work-to-rule campaign in response to sustained criticism from the public and their boss, but it's unclear if the protest got much traction.
Customers told CTV Toronto such a move would simply slow things down and didn't support any job action.
The Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113, didn't sanction the protest by employees, who got a dressing-down from TTC general manager Gary Webster on Saturday.
"We are in the customer service business, but some of the behaviour our customers have encountered recently would suggest otherwise," Webster wrote in a message to his 12,000 staff.

"As employees, you -- and you alone -- are accountable for your actions. The culture of complacency and malaise that has seeped into our organization will end."
There have been photos posted of collector booth operators either sleeping or watching DVDs on the job, and a video emerged last week of a driver leaving his bus sit for seven minutes while he went for a coffee and to use a washroom. That operator has been suspended.
The union plans to hold a news conference on Tuesday to speak about customer and labour relations. But on the weekend, a Facebook group sprung up to give voice to operators' frustrations -- Toronto Transit Operators Against Public Harassment.
One must request to join the group. It contains photos of bad passenger behaviour, showing mounds of litter left behind and people sitting with their feet up on seats, among other things.
There were some public postings on another Facebook group: Employees of the TTC.
One person who identified themselves as an operator wrote on Saturday: "I have my Blackberry by my side and it's ready to start video taping my unruly and non paying passenger on my bus. Then I'll upload to Youtube (sic) and then send them to all the papers and all newsgroups to show the world what we hard working TTC employees have to deal with everyday.
"The cellphone journalism door swings both ways."
When he criticized a member of the public for engaging in "TTC bashing," that person responded: "So you can bash riders just because you're an employee? Very mature. 'Two sides to every coin' right? It's sad that so many people experience the same disrespectful treatment. I understand theres (sic) many shitty riders who try to scam the system, but how about not taking it out on nice decent riders who are just looking for a little help on their way."