Frantic Friday as Keesmaat runs, suggests Toronto secede

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Former City planner Jennifer Keesmaat has come out of the shadows to declare that she will run against John Tory for mayor this October. Keesmaat who has long been thought to have such ambitions, made her first political observation and it was a dandy.

As the tweet shows, Keesmaat is pondering secession from the province. There is no legal basis on which such a thing can occur of course but the vision of Toronto as a sort of North American Singapore may appeal to some. Wait a second, they flog people there. Will New York City, Tokyo and Buonos Aires wish to  secede also?

FRANTIC FRIDAY

So it has been a frantic Friday so far. In addition to the Ford City Council bombshell, the Ontario government has declared it will permit private sellers to retail marijuana (end of police raids one would think) and now the former planner declares for mayor.

Keesmaat to enter Toronto mayoral race, Brown running for mayor in Brampton

 

Ford blames fat Council for “failure to act on critical issues”

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Premier Ford confirmed Friday morning that he would introduce legislation to reduce the number of Councillors in Toronto from 47 to 25 to match federal and provincial riding boundaries. In making this announcement, the Premier laid the blame for “crumbling infrastructure” .and gridlock instead of transit. “I consulted with thousands of people right across the city and every person I talked to said you have to reduce the size of government,” he said. “No one has ever said to me ‘Doug we need more politicians.’ In fact it is the opposite. People tell me that we have too many politicians making it hard to get things done and making it harder to get things built,” Ford said Friday. Mayor calls the changes disrespectful of the City. He said found out about the changes after reading a report in the Toronto Star Thursday. He conceded however that Ford mentioned it during a meeting they had recently. “I sort of dismissed it on the basis of saying well that is not something that could be done and the matter was dropped. I didn’t have the sense he was pursuing it,” Tory said. “This is not right, this is not fair, it is not respectful of the people and it is not a proper process to be followed when it comes to a major decision having to do with our democracy.”

Ward changes could make for some classic electoral battles

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The expected legislation to reduce the number of wards in Toronto from 47 to 25 has the potential to see popular incumbents running against each other in the October election. It is purely speculation but the enormous riding of Don Valley West would become a ward. It is the natural turf of popular politicians like Jaye Robinson and Jon Burnside. Might they battle it out? Well known Councillor Josh Matlow would, it seems, find himself running in St. Paul’s. But it would be a ward twice the size of the current Ward 22. Who might he face? The reported changes will leave voters in the north end of what was Toronto Centre (Moore Park and Rosedale) thrown into the federal riding of University-Rosedale rather than the newly planned Ward 34 including Greektown, Moore Park and Rosedale. All across the City, candidates will be remaking their strategies. Here are current federal ridings on which it is said the wards will be based.

Beaches-East York
Davenport
Don Valley East
Don Valley North
Don Valley West
Eglinton—Lawrence
Etobicoke Centre
Etobicoke—Lakeshore
Etobicoke North
Parkdale—High Park
Scarborough—Agincourt
Scarborough Centre
Scarborough—Guildwood
Scarborough North
Scarborough—Rouge Park
Scarborough Southwest
Spadina—Fort York
Toronto Centre
Toronto—Danforth
Toronto—St. Paul’s
University—Rosedale
Willowdale
York Centre
York—Simcoe
York South—Weston

Mayor Tory calls Ford scheme “not respectful” of Toronto

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Speaking at 8.30 a.m. Friday, Mayor Tory criticized the Ford government plan to cut the number of City Councillors from 47 to 25 just three months out from a municipal election. He said Ontario Premier Doug Ford is “meddling” with the City’s affairs and that the Premier should not be interfering at a point where hundreds of people have begun campaigning and fundraising for the Oct. 22 vote. “You just don’t change the rules in the middle of the game,” said Tory, adding that the process by which the province has chosen to go about the move “is absolutely not right.”  Tory said he will file a motion to hold a referendum on the question of reducing the size of City Council in the form of a ballot question in the upcoming election.

 

Councillors respond to Ford plan to reduce size of Council

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Ford set to shrink Toronto Council to 25 members from 47

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As many as 25 veteran politicians seem certain to lose their jobs at City Hall as the Ontario government prepares to slice City Council from 47 to 25 seats, according to published reports. The move, expected to be announced Friday, throws October’s general election into confusion. The move will pit incumbents against each other. Jennifer Pagliaro of the Star says the plan is to align City wards along the same boundaries as federal and provincial ridings. Global News says the legislation could be introduced as early as next week. It says that Queen’s  Park will return the chairmanships of both Peel and York Regions to appointed positions. Former PC leader Patrick Brown and former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Del Duca were vying for these jobs. Premier Doug Ford has scheduled a news conference for Friday morning to make an unspecified announcement.

CITIES THE CREATURES OF THE PROVINCE

The absolute authority of the Ontario government to legislate for the City of Toronto is as old as the British North America Act. It was easier to do before the City became an international metropolis with presumed authority over much of its own business. But there is no question about the legal authority to  make such changes. That authority is why there are no road tolls on the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway. But the polar distance between Council and the PC government is stark. Council has just finished expanding itself from 44 seats to 47. This was done in the name of better representation. Conservatives tend to view large elected bodies as costly whereas many Liberals say fewer Councillors make it easier for lobbyists to manipulate votes at Council. It also makes more political jobs. Stories Thursday night say the changes will save taxpayers $25 million a year.

Subway love, where’s Mollie and Sultan of Car Subscription

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Lester and Marilyn Dimit
Mollie Tibbetts
Fred Mitchell

The faces of love (left) are poetic after all these years. Lester and Marilyn Dimit, 84 and 83, were snapped riding home on the New York subway from a night of dinner and music at the Lincoln Centre. The anonymous photo went viral and was seen by their daughter-in-law. In Iowa, Mollie Tibbetts has vanished from a small farming community while jogging and the town is desperately trying to find her. And in Toronto, Fred Mitchell is arguably the Sultan of Car Subscription. That’s the pricey business arrangement by which a motorist gets new car after new car, pretty much on a whim. This CBC report is interesting but long on excitement and short on costing. A rich person’s game.

Mt. Pleasant/Merton Esso goes pay-at-pump on outer edges

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Pin needed at pump.

Recent days have seen the Esso station at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Merton St. make payment at the pump mandatory, but only in the outer lanes. That’s pumps 3 and 1 on the west side and 12 and 13 on the east side. Staff say the move is in response to “huge” losses to gas-and-dash thieves at all hours. Until now, the gas felons have preferred the outside lanes as a means to a fast getaway. Your pin is needed for payment at the pump but if you gas up at an inner pump you can still tap to pay inside.

Easy to guess how non-swimmer allowed on Algonquin trip

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Teacher Nicholas Mills
Jeremiah Perry
Big Trout Lake

No one knows nor is anyone saying what teacher Nicholas Mills was thinking when he permitted Jeremiah Perry, and other boys who had failed their swimming tests, to go along on an excursion to Algonquin Park last year. The ability to swim was a requirement for the chance to join the field trip. As is well known, Jeremiah drowned when he slipped under the water at Big Trout Lake some 300 kilometres northeast of Toronto. Mr. Mills, 54, was the team leader that day. He also had overall responsibility for planning and execution of the trip. It was part of the school board’s program of trying to help kids who are academically, socially or emotionally challenged. Now the C.W. Jeffereys Collegiate teacher is charged with criminal negligence for permitting Perry to go on the trip. Others might have done the same. Rather than deny Perry the broadening experience and inclusion that the trip represented, they would have found the risk/reward odds favoured letting the boy go. That would have been against the rules and wrong. But it is easy to understand.  CBC

Demi Lovato concert off as she’s treated for drug overdose

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A Toronto benefit concert that was supposed to feature a performance by Demi Lovato has been cancelled, following reports that the singer was hospitalized for a drug overdose earlier this week. The RBCxMusic concert was set to go Sunday at RBC Echo Beach (Ontario Place). Jason Mraz was also on the bill and proceeds from the show were intended to go to Kids Help Phone. RBC says tickets purchased for the event will be automatically refunded — Sarah Murphy Exclaim!

Load of water bottles on Signet Rd. causes traffic diversion

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Water, water everywhere/Nor any drop to drink — Coleridge Photo: cristina@cristina_p3

Traffic was diverted off Signet Rd. near Finch Ave. Thursday after hundreds of bottles of water fell off a truck. Cristina@cristina_p3 grabbed this shot and tweeted it.

Vic Park Grannies flower pot folly seen nearly 90,000 times

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Emptying planter makes it easier to carry
Ready to go
Looks there’s a camera

The “removal” of two planters from a location near Victoria Park Ave. and Eglinton Ave. by two older women has become an understandabe source of comment and fascination for many people. It is posted to Leaside Community among other places. It is closing in on 90,000 views in just a few days. Posts at LC Thursday say the women are “caught” although there is no information on just what has happened. For many, it is a sad realization that seniors are not always the wise and trustworthy souls we expect them to be.