Even "The Editor" Decrys Panhandling

And I couldn't ask for any better support in my campaign against the leftists on Toronto City Council.

In a perfect world, David Miller would get reamed out by a panhandler

Friday, September 22. 2006

Panhandling is here to stay

Toronto councillor and mayoral candidate Jane Pitfield proposed a new bylaw to prohibit panhandling on the streets of Toronto that was soundly defeated by Mayor David Miller and his left-wing cronies.

By next January, Pitfield's official title will be "ex-councillor" and David Miller, Howard Moscoe and company will have four more years in which to oversee the further decay of Canada's largest city. And panhandling will be here to stay.

The left always have the same answer to why nothing more can be done about panhandling on city streets. Aggressive panhandling is already illegal under the Safe Streets Act that was brought in by the Tory government in 1999 and any further moves against the beggars that litter the streets would likely be found to be unconstitutional.

Aggressive panhandling under the Safe Streets Act is defined as threatening, obstructing, following or using abusive language towards others while soliciting money. Aggressive panhandling is not the problem on the streets of downtown Toronto -- panhandling is. If people could walk the streets of downtown Toronto for four or five hours and only be accosted once, it wouldn't be a problem if that one panhandler did not act in an aggressive manner. But the beggars are so numerous that even those who are non aggressive are enough, as Jane Pitfield said, to kill tourism and kill business. The NDP-led council couldn't care less about business and as far as tourism is concerned, they figure that as long as their vision of the waterfront eventually becomes a reality, the tourists will come.

Unlike the enforcement of laws concerning cutting down trees on your own property, smoking and using chemicals to kill weeds, ending aggressive panhandling is not a priority in this city. Besides, the police are far too busy raising money for the city by busting drivers during anti-idling blitzes. As long as there is no will to enforce a stricter bylaw, the law will be just another piece of paper.

Posted by Editor in Ontario at 20:33