A Must Read.......

An unhealthy approach

There’s a strain of well-meaning people on both the left and the right who mistakenly think the best way to encourage better choices is to rigidly restrict people’s range of choices.

Look no further than the volume of do and don't when it comes to Toronto Silly Hall recycling!

You can see it in the US federal government’s approach to reducing unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. They deny funding to programs — both at home and abroad — that mention condoms as a preventative tool, on the demonstrably mistaken theory that people who don’t know about condoms will not have sex. You can understand their thinking, even while acknowledging that it is childishly naïve and, in the case of foreign aid, criminally stupid.

You can see a similar logic in a much different context in the City of Toronto’s recent fumbling of the street-food file. Wanting to expand the range of options available from sidewalk vendors beyond hot dogs, and given the power to do so by the province, the city refused to just license a whole slew of new vendors to sell all types of new foods. Fearful that Torontonians would make unhealthy choices when left to their own devices, Councillor John Fillion has attempted to get the city to build 13 of its own carts and lease them to vendors who will provide healthy options. As a result, we still have no options at all more than a year after the law was changed to much fanfare.

Read on.....