Friday, March 11, 2011
Where Were The Mainstream Media...Especially THE STAR?
TCHC: Looking beyond the spin
By Lindsey Reed
Fri Mar 11 2011
Losses on the stock market? Appliances from China? Splitting purchase orders? Holt Renfew chocolates? What was TCHC thinking?
By Lindsey Reed
Fri Mar 11 2011
Losses on the stock market? Appliances from China? Splitting purchase orders? Holt Renfew chocolates? What was TCHC thinking?
Do You Not Have To Be A Canadian?
Province ordered to explain why natives excluded from jury pools
2011/03/11 07:45:22
The Ontario Court of Appeal ordered a senior court administrator to testify about what’s being done to include people living on reserves and ensure juries reflect a cross-section of the community (4)
2011/03/11 07:45:22
The Ontario Court of Appeal ordered a senior court administrator to testify about what’s being done to include people living on reserves and ensure juries reflect a cross-section of the community (4)
EXACTLY!!!
I'M NOT AN AVID SPORTS PERSON SO COULD SOMEONE EXPLAIN EXCTLY WHAT WAS WRONG WITH WHAT iSAW AS A BODY CHECK INT THE BOARDS...
Gary is taking it to extremes for effect...
Berry:Fans hold answer to NHL violence
When you’re dealing with someone who’s 6’9″, it’s not often you get to feel very high and mighty. But there’s no question that Zdeno Chara’s turnbuckling of Montreal Canadiens’ winger Max Pacioretty has left the Boston Bruins behemoth looking awfully small. When your best possible defence to very nearly breaking someone’s neck is that you didn’t really mean to, people are going to get on their high horses. As with any form of unimpeachable moralizing, though, those high horses are leaving a sizable trail of excrement behind them.
By far the largest pile belongs to the Quebec prosecutors who recommended a criminal investigation and the Montreal police that are following up on that suggestion. Either both have some die-hard Canadiens fans in uncomfortably powerful positions, or they’re both in desperate need of a cheap public relations boost, because there is no other reason to suggest why this is any of their business whatsoever. Read More »
Berry:Fans hold answer to NHL violence
When you’re dealing with someone who’s 6’9″, it’s not often you get to feel very high and mighty. But there’s no question that Zdeno Chara’s turnbuckling of Montreal Canadiens’ winger Max Pacioretty has left the Boston Bruins behemoth looking awfully small. When your best possible defence to very nearly breaking someone’s neck is that you didn’t really mean to, people are going to get on their high horses. As with any form of unimpeachable moralizing, though, those high horses are leaving a sizable trail of excrement behind them.
By far the largest pile belongs to the Quebec prosecutors who recommended a criminal investigation and the Montreal police that are following up on that suggestion. Either both have some die-hard Canadiens fans in uncomfortably powerful positions, or they’re both in desperate need of a cheap public relations boost, because there is no other reason to suggest why this is any of their business whatsoever. Read More »
Wise Move By Mayor...
Chris Selley on TCHC: Outrage comes too easily to Ford’s critics
Comment
In the least shocking news of the week, Case Ootes was officially “revealed” on Thursday as the interim managing director of Toronto Community Housing — a one-man board of directors, essentially, to replace the seven members who resigned last week in the wake of the Auditor-General’s scathing report, and the four holdouts fired by city council on Wednesday. The long-time city councillor, who retired last year only to wind up as Rob Ford’s Mr. Fix-It — he also headed up the Mayor’s transition team — isn’t taking what you’d call a conciliatory line, exactly. But compared to some of the Mayor’s pronouncements, he sounds downright Solomonic.
The big question: Will CEO Keiko Nakamura be fired? Mr. Ford’s preference is clear: He already asked for her resignation, and was rebuffed. Mr. Ootes, however, says he hasn’t made up his mind.
“I have to have a full understanding of what exactly the issues are surrounding the CEO, and I can’t do that at this point,” he says. “I will get a better feeling for that once I meet with staff and meet with her” — a process he hopes will begin Monday.
His power to terminate employees will, he says, “be used as necessary and very judiciously and with a great deal of thought.”
In a statement, TCHC said “we look forward to working together with the city-appointed managing director to implement all of the recommendations made by the Auditor General and to serve tenants.”
As for the widespread assumption that Mr. Ford intends to dramatically alter the landscape of social housing in Toronto, Mr. Ootes urges calm. “We need to leverage the moneys we have to the maximum extent possible to provide [social] housing to the greatest number possible. And that might require different [service delivery] options,” he says. But, he insists, “there shouldn’t be any worry about my feelings as to the need for social housing and the need for the city to support social housing.”
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday echoes that view. He says the much-discussed idea of “privatization” is something of a misnomer (though it must be said that Mr. Ford hardly eschews its use). “[Privatization in] its true form would be you’d sell off all the buildings, or you’d sell off the water system, and someone else would forever run that as their business and you’d take the money and go the opposite way,” he says. “That’s not what people are thinking here. We’re talking about perhaps outsourcing the property management. … If anything, we’d be attempting to have more resources available to make [tenants’] lives better.”
Some will cheer, others will scoff. That’s how it works nowadays in this ideologically riven town. Ultimately, the only way for Mr. Ford, Mr. Ootes and their allies to prove their intention not to “disrupt anybody’s life,” as Mr. Holyday puts it, is not to disrupt people’s lives. Whatever your political stripes, you might as well let them get on with it.
That’s what made the late night Kabuki city council meeting on Wednesday so bizarre.
At times, you’d have thought they were debating selling off every last TCHC building for pennies on the dollar, when in fact the outcome of the meeting was relatively banal, necessary and preordained: The board holdouts were going to be turfed. It could have happened Tuesday morning if progressive councillors had wanted it to, and we’d now be 36 hours closer to having a new board. (Council has until June 14 to install it.)
Indeed, much of the drama could have been avoided entirely if the four remaining board members — councillors Maria Augimeri and Raymond Cho, and two members elected by the tenants — had tendered their resignations like the others. They can all run again. The only thing they’ve really accomplished for their admittedly principled stand is to diminish their chances of winning.
That’s not to say they should have had to resign, or that they did anything wrong, or that Mr. Ford couldn’t have expressed his displeasure with the board and senior staff more tactfully. But the Mayor always had the votes to clear out the board.
The shouting, the grandstanding, the fist-pounding outrage, the catcalls from anti-Ford tenants in the gallery were all well and good. Democracy in action. Process is important, and this process was flawed. But people whose rhetorical volume dials bottom out at eight always have trouble being heard in times of genuine crisis.
Comment
In the least shocking news of the week, Case Ootes was officially “revealed” on Thursday as the interim managing director of Toronto Community Housing — a one-man board of directors, essentially, to replace the seven members who resigned last week in the wake of the Auditor-General’s scathing report, and the four holdouts fired by city council on Wednesday. The long-time city councillor, who retired last year only to wind up as Rob Ford’s Mr. Fix-It — he also headed up the Mayor’s transition team — isn’t taking what you’d call a conciliatory line, exactly. But compared to some of the Mayor’s pronouncements, he sounds downright Solomonic.
The big question: Will CEO Keiko Nakamura be fired? Mr. Ford’s preference is clear: He already asked for her resignation, and was rebuffed. Mr. Ootes, however, says he hasn’t made up his mind.
“I have to have a full understanding of what exactly the issues are surrounding the CEO, and I can’t do that at this point,” he says. “I will get a better feeling for that once I meet with staff and meet with her” — a process he hopes will begin Monday.
His power to terminate employees will, he says, “be used as necessary and very judiciously and with a great deal of thought.”
In a statement, TCHC said “we look forward to working together with the city-appointed managing director to implement all of the recommendations made by the Auditor General and to serve tenants.”
As for the widespread assumption that Mr. Ford intends to dramatically alter the landscape of social housing in Toronto, Mr. Ootes urges calm. “We need to leverage the moneys we have to the maximum extent possible to provide [social] housing to the greatest number possible. And that might require different [service delivery] options,” he says. But, he insists, “there shouldn’t be any worry about my feelings as to the need for social housing and the need for the city to support social housing.”
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday echoes that view. He says the much-discussed idea of “privatization” is something of a misnomer (though it must be said that Mr. Ford hardly eschews its use). “[Privatization in] its true form would be you’d sell off all the buildings, or you’d sell off the water system, and someone else would forever run that as their business and you’d take the money and go the opposite way,” he says. “That’s not what people are thinking here. We’re talking about perhaps outsourcing the property management. … If anything, we’d be attempting to have more resources available to make [tenants’] lives better.”
Some will cheer, others will scoff. That’s how it works nowadays in this ideologically riven town. Ultimately, the only way for Mr. Ford, Mr. Ootes and their allies to prove their intention not to “disrupt anybody’s life,” as Mr. Holyday puts it, is not to disrupt people’s lives. Whatever your political stripes, you might as well let them get on with it.
That’s what made the late night Kabuki city council meeting on Wednesday so bizarre.
At times, you’d have thought they were debating selling off every last TCHC building for pennies on the dollar, when in fact the outcome of the meeting was relatively banal, necessary and preordained: The board holdouts were going to be turfed. It could have happened Tuesday morning if progressive councillors had wanted it to, and we’d now be 36 hours closer to having a new board. (Council has until June 14 to install it.)
Indeed, much of the drama could have been avoided entirely if the four remaining board members — councillors Maria Augimeri and Raymond Cho, and two members elected by the tenants — had tendered their resignations like the others. They can all run again. The only thing they’ve really accomplished for their admittedly principled stand is to diminish their chances of winning.
That’s not to say they should have had to resign, or that they did anything wrong, or that Mr. Ford couldn’t have expressed his displeasure with the board and senior staff more tactfully. But the Mayor always had the votes to clear out the board.
The shouting, the grandstanding, the fist-pounding outrage, the catcalls from anti-Ford tenants in the gallery were all well and good. Democracy in action. Process is important, and this process was flawed. But people whose rhetorical volume dials bottom out at eight always have trouble being heard in times of genuine crisis.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Why Did It Take So Long...
A leaky roof, a rotten basement and a closet full of skeletons Mar 05, 2011 9:56AM EST
At the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, just about everything that could go wrong did
The dying cry of Toronto's leftover left Mar 09, 2011 11:23AM EST
Blocking Ford’s attempt to clean house at the TCHC is defending the indefensible
At the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, just about everything that could go wrong did
The dying cry of Toronto's leftover left Mar 09, 2011 11:23AM EST
Blocking Ford’s attempt to clean house at the TCHC is defending the indefensible
THE WINNER...
and THE LOSERS!
City Hall's clearly defined battle lines
By SUE-ANN LEVY, City Hall Columnist
They came in droves Wednesday evening.
There were the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) tenants like Susan Gapka and Pat McEndry whose only job seems to be hanging around City Hall and making deputations.
I noted leftist consultants like Sean Meagher, president of Public Interest Strategy and Communications and Katrina Miller, who has just joined Meagher’s firm after shilling for the Toronto Environmental Alliance.
I spotted CUPE 416 president Mark Ferguson and his counterpart, CUPE 79 head Ann Dembinski as well as John Campey, executive director of Social Planning Toronto.
When I left the chambers to file this column, I saw former Federation of Metro Tenants Association (FMTA) executive director and now paralegal, Dan McIntyre out of the corner of my eye.
The Council Chamber was packed with the gravy train-enabling, public teat-sucking, union-loving crowd fighting for life as they knew it Before (Rob) Ford.
This is war, ladies and gentlemen.
Today, new Mayor Rob Ford has the audacity to remove the entire board of directors of the TCHC for sitting on their thumbs as millions of dollars were gambled on the stock market, spent on obscene visits to spas, Muskoka resorts and pricey restaurants and thrown into sole-source contracts with suppliers in China.
My goodness, shame on the new regime for wanting that money to go directly towards improving the quality of life for tenants living in bed bug-filled, decrepit, flooded units.
The people in the crowd have themselves convinced that some day soon Canada’s largest housing authority will be privatized, once CEO Keiko Nakamura is shown the door.
Not that the TCHC will be privatized.
And before the trees are in full bloom, the new regime will take the necessary steps towards contracting out half of the city’s garbage pickup.
Horror of horrors.
This is war.
Mark my words.
Last night’s show from various leftist hangers-on and despicable leftist hypocrites on council — like Adam Vaughan, Pam McConnell, Paula Fletcher, Joe Mihevc, Gord Perks and newbies Kristyn Wong-Tam, Sarah Doucette and Mary Fragedakis — had nothing to do with the fate of the tenants living in TCHC buildings.
It was about battling the kinds of changes at City Hall that will lessen their power, influence and shall we say, the good times they’ve enjoyed for the past seven years.
Yep, the party’s over and they know it.
For if they really cared about tenants, they wouldn’t have spent nearly two days blowing hot air and wringing their hands about whether due process had been followed and whether the audit report should have been debated first before council decided to remove the board.
For goodness sake, if they were so concerned, I don’t recall one of them — not Vaughan, McConnell, Fletcher, Mihevc, Perks or the three newbies — attending last Thursday’s TCHC board meeting.
They could have heard it all directly from Auditor-General Jeff Griffiths.
Did any of them actually read Griffths’ report? It’s been available for 10 days now.
Wong-Tam — who put forward a so-called “compromise” motion to keep the four people still on the board along with a new managing director — claimed she was “concerned,” about the future of TCHC and its tenants.
What a bunch of crap.
Mihevc, rushing to support her “elegant” motion as he called it, chimed in with his own thoughts about Ford engaging in an “abuse of process” for having the nerve to be decisive and wanting to clean house.
Perks insisted that public confidence won’t be restored if Ford and Co. “throw out the rules in a crisis.”
Well, I’ve got news for all of them.
They don’t care one bit about tenants and they don’t care about transparency.
They’re out of touch with public sentiment, too. A just released Ipsos Reid poll has put Ford’s approval rating at 72%.
Some 71% of Torontonians surveyed said the new mayor has the right priorities in mind.
It could have been a slam dunk.
But the leftists care only about hanging on to the gravy train.
The battle lines have been drawn, folks.
Fasten your seatbelts. We’re in for a bumpy ride.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
The Ones Who Should Be Censured Are...
News for indian giverCBC Pundit Censured for “Indian Giver” Comment
The famously brash O'Leary used the term “Indian giver” during a heated exchange with his co-host Amanda Lang about the potential takeover of Saskatchewan's ...
1) INDIAN BAND LEECHES
2) PETTY ASS POLITICALLY CORRECT BEAURACRATS
Lorne Gunter: Audit of band’s finances underlines need for accountability
As near as I can tell, the federal Indian Affairs and Northern Development department is at war with itself over whether or not to hold First Nations bands accountable for the billions they receive each year from Ottawa. About a third of the department’s bureaucrats favour greater transparency and accountability – regular outside audits, reporting of band politicians’ compensation, subjecting native governments to access to information laws and human rights complaints. The other two-thirds adhere the politically correct view that it is culturally insensitive to demand answerability – to do so amounts to an almost-racist accusation that the band councils cannot be trusted to manage their own affairs.
But as a taxpayer, I want transparency. Ottawa spends $8 billion to $11 billion annually on aboriginal programs, more than $3 billion of which is sent directly to band councils. I want to know what my money is being spent on and I am no more concerned for the cultural sensitivities of First Nations bands than I am for the bureaucratic sensitivities of federal departments and agencies subjected to scrutiny by the Auditor General. Read More »
The famously brash O'Leary used the term “Indian giver” during a heated exchange with his co-host Amanda Lang about the potential takeover of Saskatchewan's ...
1) INDIAN BAND LEECHES
2) PETTY ASS POLITICALLY CORRECT BEAURACRATS
As near as I can tell, the federal Indian Affairs and Northern Development department is at war with itself over whether or not to hold First Nations bands accountable for the billions they receive each year from Ottawa. About a third of the department’s bureaucrats favour greater transparency and accountability – regular outside audits, reporting of band politicians’ compensation, subjecting native governments to access to information laws and human rights complaints. The other two-thirds adhere the politically correct view that it is culturally insensitive to demand answerability – to do so amounts to an almost-racist accusation that the band councils cannot be trusted to manage their own affairs.
But as a taxpayer, I want transparency. Ottawa spends $8 billion to $11 billion annually on aboriginal programs, more than $3 billion of which is sent directly to band councils. I want to know what my money is being spent on and I am no more concerned for the cultural sensitivities of First Nations bands than I am for the bureaucratic sensitivities of federal departments and agencies subjected to scrutiny by the Auditor General. Read More »
Friday, March 04, 2011
Let's Give THE STAR Credit For Ingenuity...
Anarchy Is Anarchy...Ask The Residents Of Caledonia...
Lorne Gunter: Nothing will improve on reserves until Aboriginal politicians are accountable
When the subject gets around to accountability of on-reserve First Nations government, the debate always follows a familiar pattern: Aboriginal politicians claim to be in favour of greater transparency. Non-aboriginal politicians take them up on their stated aims and introduce laws that would apply accountability standards similar to those covering off-reserve politicians. Aboriginal politicians then insist their non-aboriginal counterparts failed to consult them before introducing their bills and insinuate the proposed laws are racist. This backs off the non-native lawmakers and everything goes back to Square One, which is where many First Nations politicians wanted things left in the first place.
What many First Nations’ politicians had not counted on this time was the impact revelations about their exorbitant salaries – uncovered over the past year by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation – would have the debate.
Read More »
When the subject gets around to accountability of on-reserve First Nations government, the debate always follows a familiar pattern: Aboriginal politicians claim to be in favour of greater transparency. Non-aboriginal politicians take them up on their stated aims and introduce laws that would apply accountability standards similar to those covering off-reserve politicians. Aboriginal politicians then insist their non-aboriginal counterparts failed to consult them before introducing their bills and insinuate the proposed laws are racist. This backs off the non-native lawmakers and everything goes back to Square One, which is where many First Nations politicians wanted things left in the first place.
What many First Nations’ politicians had not counted on this time was the impact revelations about their exorbitant salaries – uncovered over the past year by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation – would have the debate.
Read More »
If They Want Freedom And Democracy...
...let them spill THEIR OWN BLOOD!
Terry Glavin: From Libya to Palestine, the future is there to be helped
As the Arab revolution has rolled out from Tunisia to Bahrain and the very real prospect of a failed-state humanitarian catastrophe looms from Tripoli to Sana’a, the rest of us are hectored and harried to just sit there, do what we’re told, and don’t even think about doing anything that some Islamist crackpot might want to call an imperialist military intervention.
“Thousands of Libyans will die if America and NATO enter Libya,” we are admonished. Who said that? It could have been German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. It could have been the so-called Canadian Peace Alliance, or the alliance’s mentors in the Khomeinist tyranny in Tehran, or the usual American “troops out” retreads. That is what they all say, after all, but in this case it isn’t even Charlie Sheen. It is what Muammar Gaddafi says, and for good measure he’s tossing in the familiar spectre of Islamist terrorism as the thing we should worry about the most about the Arab uprisings.
Read More »
Terry Glavin: From Libya to Palestine, the future is there to be helped
As the Arab revolution has rolled out from Tunisia to Bahrain and the very real prospect of a failed-state humanitarian catastrophe looms from Tripoli to Sana’a, the rest of us are hectored and harried to just sit there, do what we’re told, and don’t even think about doing anything that some Islamist crackpot might want to call an imperialist military intervention.
“Thousands of Libyans will die if America and NATO enter Libya,” we are admonished. Who said that? It could have been German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. It could have been the so-called Canadian Peace Alliance, or the alliance’s mentors in the Khomeinist tyranny in Tehran, or the usual American “troops out” retreads. That is what they all say, after all, but in this case it isn’t even Charlie Sheen. It is what Muammar Gaddafi says, and for good measure he’s tossing in the familiar spectre of Islamist terrorism as the thing we should worry about the most about the Arab uprisings.
Read More »
Rex Puts Human Fraility In Perspective...
Western culture, brought to you by drunkards and bigots
Rex Murphy: In the long-running whose-life-is-more-like-spring-break competition between the Italian leader and the biggest, highest paid TV ‘actor’ it’s hard to call a clear 'winner'
Rex Murphy: In the long-running whose-life-is-more-like-spring-break competition between the Italian leader and the biggest, highest paid TV ‘actor’ it’s hard to call a clear 'winner'
The Problem Is Bigger Than The Board...
...it needs a change in philosphy. Long wait times, poor maintenance response, lifetime occupancy, etc. etc.
Housing board finally did right thing
By SUE-ANN LEVY, City Hall Columnist
I can guarantee you they’d never seen it before. Looking like a pack of deer caught in the headlights, the seven now deposed
Beyond the crisis: Fresh ideas on public housing
Fri Mar 4 2011
When it comes to the future of social housing in Toronto, there’s more to talk about than scandal and privatization. (2)
Housing board finally did right thing
By SUE-ANN LEVY, City Hall Columnist
I can guarantee you they’d never seen it before. Looking like a pack of deer caught in the headlights, the seven now deposed
Beyond the crisis: Fresh ideas on public housing
Fri Mar 4 2011
When it comes to the future of social housing in Toronto, there’s more to talk about than scandal and privatization. (2)
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
The Operative Word Joe Is "SHOULD" But...
...will it be the right heads and how about the city councillors who sat on the board while all this was going on?
Fiorito: Heads should be rolling at TCHC
Tue Mar 1 2011
Lavish contracts, extravagant spending, and no controls: the public housing corporation has a lot to answer for. (37)
Fiorito: Heads should be rolling at TCHC
Tue Mar 1 2011
Lavish contracts, extravagant spending, and no controls: the public housing corporation has a lot to answer for. (37)
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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.