It is a tantalizing question for Conservatives especially today when it appears the Liberal Leader, Justin Trudeau, is expressing fondness for the unelected Senate because it is a bulwark of support for Quebec versus Canada. Mr. Trudeau is quoted in Montreal over the weekend as saying, “We have 24 senators from Quebec and there are just six from Alberta and six from British Columbia. That’s to our advantage.” The remark has Albertans raging and many Tories in Ottawa expressing similar anger. But perhaps they are chuckling behind their hands. The appointed Senate has traditionally been a target of popular dislike in Canada. That does not seem to have changed. Some people note that if the Senate were abolished, Canada would be one of the few countries in the democratic world with a so-called unicameral (or one-house) legislature. But there are some notable ones and they are eminent democracies too. New Zealand dumped its upper house in the 1950s because like Canada’s senate, it was unelected. Sweden also ditched it’s upper house. Interestingly, the Swedes had an elected upper house which was constantly warring with the more popular lower house. Sounds like the U.S. Finally enough was enough and Sweden has gotten along just fine for more than 50 years with a unicameral legislature. If the so-called Red Chamber were renovated it would make a very nice meeting room.
Crack video rumours: The word is Extortion
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There is a broadly reported but unattributed story this morning that someone on Mayor Ford’s staff raised the question of what the mayor’s office should do if it was possible to find the cellphone crack video that has shaken the city. It is said that Mark Towhey, the mayor’s chief of staff, was shocked by what he took to be a suggestion that the video might somehow be obtained and that he called the police. This led to the police asking questions at the mayor’s office and also, apparently, to Mr. Towhey’s dismissal. The story goes that he did not tell the mayor that he was going to call the police. What sound judgement on Mr. Towhey’s part. The act of buying the video from (as we are told) crack traffickers would be one end of criminal extortion. Metro
Gypsy Moth Chopper thunders over Moore Park
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It’s hard to fall back to sleep at 5 a.m. with the Gypsy Moth Chopper overhead. Counting the passes of the spray bird is not like counting sheep. But at shortly after sun-up this morning the job was completed, fearful children notwithstanding. On a couple of sweeps it sounded as if the chopper was coming right through the bedroom window. By our count the helicopter made eight passes across Moore Park. It seemed to be at pretty much tree-top level in the ravine. Elsewhere perhaps, a little higher altitude was taken. Let’s hope the spray works and we can put the Gypsy Moths away for another few years.
No 58 Bessborough was worth waiting for
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It’s been a long haul for neighbors on Bessborough Drive during the rebuild of 58 Bessborough. It’s close to two years but the new home is now finished, landscaped and ready for a family. The picture on the left was taken last September.
Bayview tenants facing eviction to meet Thursday
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Residents of the Kelvingrove and Glen-Leven apartments on Bayview Ave who are facing eviction will have a meeting Wednesday, May 29, 2013, with the local representative John Parker (Ward 26) and members of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations. There will also be city staff on hand. The effected tenants, numbering perhaps 100, are invited to gather in the hall of St. Anselm’s Church on Millwood Rd at 7 p.m. The apartments are ultimately owned by the Civil Service Superannuation Board of Manitoba. Through holding companies the board served the tenants with notices early in May telling them to leave their premises by September 1, 2013. The notices were structured in a two-stage process in which tenants could sign off on their agreement to leave and receive some free rent until they are gone. Those who refused to agree to this would be subjected to the legal process by which the board would seek eviction notices under the landlord and tenant act. Just how easy or feasible this would be remains unclear. The effected units number some 67 out of 119. The remainder, 52, are already vacant as the landlord has not been leasing spaces for some time. The apartments were built in 1939 by a local contractor, Howard Talbot, who went on to become mayor of the Town of Leaside. The units are frequently referred to as the Talbot apartments.
Ford aides quit, he is sorry for “maggots” remark
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The CBC and other media have received a statement saying that Mayor Ford’s press secretary George Christopoulos and deputy press secretary Isaac Ransom have resigned their positions on what is called a matter of principle. The Mayor’s office said that Sunny Petrujkic has been appointed interim press secretary. Also today, the mayor apologized for calling the media “a bunch of maggots” durng his radio program on Sunday. CBC
Toronto Bike Month underway until June 30
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Toronto Bike Month is underway. It wil rn from May 27 to June 30 and feature more than 100 events that promote cycling, including rides, guided bike tours, art shows and film screenings. Bike Month’s official launch is being highlighted by Bike to Work Day Group Commute. For today’s event, cyclists from all over the city met at the intersection of Yonge and Bloor streets at 7:30 a.m. for a group ride to Nathan Phillips Square. Other community events happening during Bike Month in Toronto include an evening reception and conversation with Gabe Klein, Chicago Commissioner of Transportation, on May 27 at the Glenn Gould Studio, hosted by Share the Road Cycling Coalition and Toronto Centre for Active Transportation, a ceremonial plaque unveiling with the Huron-Wendat Nation and a ride on the Finch Hydro Corridor on June 15 and a Bike Month Wrap Party on June 25 at the Gladstone Hotel, hosted by Cycle Toronto
Metrolinx taxes everyone for a plan no one wants
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Dear Premier Wynne: A 14% HST is an insanity
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A more recent curse of our democratic system has been the preoccupation of politicians with their legacy. We see this in the common theme among politicians at all levels for an underground transit system that will whisk people from one side of the GTA to the other in minutes. No doubt that would be nice. But at what cost and what real payback? Whether you like the St. Clair Street right-of-way or not, it has sliced merely two minutes off of a trolley ride from Yonge Street to Weston Rd. And as the bureaucrats at Metrolinx, the Ontario agency that plans and organizes transit, lay out ideas for raising $2 billion annually to support transit, are they too, like the politicians, dreaming of a transit system that will be a monument to their time in office? You get the feeling that the generals at Metrolinx are ready to fight the last war. Canada is on the cusp of electric and natural gas technology that will revolutionize bus travel. It seems possible to create buses that are cheap, clean and highly flexible in traffic and routing. No doubt the great transit thinkers will poo-poo such ideas. It’s the same in the area of waste. Politicians cling to the disastrous notions of burying garbage rather than burning it for energy and heat. Ontario is carrying crushing debt. The idea of adding a percentage point to the provincial portion of the HST is insanity, as is an increase on gasoline taxes. The message to the Ontario government should be to slow down and re-think transit based on what’s really needed.
Yay! 1978 Apple computer, 1938 Superman comic
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There’s something wonderful about the emergence of popular artifacts like an original Apple computer. This is one of the last working models known to exist, having survived from its assembly by Steve Wozniak in his parents garage in 1978. It fetched some $660,000 from an anonymous bidder. Different, and much more of a surprise, is the sudden appearance of an issue of Action Comics No 1 from 1938 featuring a crazy hero named Superman. This is quite a story too as you will learn by listening to the video.
Visa debit cards won’t process in some shops
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Some Starbucks locations continue to have trouble accepting the new Visa Debit cards issued by Canadian banks. This sign was in an Eglnton Ave. W. Starbucks on Sunday (May 26, 2013) where the staff said they are having the most difficulty with the TD Visa Debit. The move by the banks to collaborate with Visa against their own Interac system has caused much confusion and in some areas more than a little resentment. In the early going, it was found that transactions were being settled over the Visa system rather than Interac, costing merchants more to process them. Many are concerned that this is the beginning of the end for Interac, regardless of what the banks claim. It is the most efficient and inexpensive debit system in operation in North America. And incidentally, is that a credit card or a debit card you have there?
Thorncliffe Park a feline enclave in dog dominion
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We know that the affluent neighborhoods that lay all around South Bayview love — just love — their dogs. It must be said however that they can also afford them. Overall, with the exception of two areas, dogs outnumber cats by almost two to one in Toronto. Data from Toronto’s open data site shows this. Both the apartment-heavy Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood and the tiny-condo area of the financial centre in the downtown core are both cat country. The rest of the city, though, belongs to the dogs.