Morning Brew: Ford fails to rally enough votes, U of T students say debate was a snoozefest, Brian Burke is sour about Leafs losing out on the playoffs, and the Lingerie Football League is coming to Toronto
I guess Mayor Rob Ford doesn't always get what he wants. In one of his most significant defeats since taking office, Ford failed to rally enough votes to stop an amendment from left-leaning councillor Adam Vaughan that undermined his right-leaing motion. Vaughan's amendment sets minimum sizes for all municipal boards, commissions and corporations, killing a motion created by the executive committee--and Ford loyalists--that would have condensed the boards of several cultural organizations in the city. However, due to a technical issue, Vaughan's wording means that a modest counteraction now applies to all 119 arms-length agencies and corporations that the city operates--not just the cultural boards in question. Ford's side then of course spun this as a victory for the mayor.
The CBC has a report on five U of T political science graduate students who watched last night's debate and ultimately deemed it a snoozefest. With interest declining with each successive federal election, Lindsay Mahon, a 25-year-old second-year political science PhD student, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the strongest argument when he warned of the possibility of yet another election if a minority government is elected. "It's just exhausting," she said. All students agreed that the surprise of the debate was Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff, even calling him "charismatic."
Maple Leafs general manager, Brian Burke, doesn't mince words. At a press conference held Tuesday, Burke was asked about how he felt missing the playoffs for the third straight season. "This has been a long, slow, torturous process for me," he said. "I don't like it. I don't like being out of the playoffs. I take it personally. I'm sour about it." He also got sour when a reporter asked of a vague "consensus" opinion the Leafs needed to change coaches. Burke responded: "We don't run this team by consensus -- I don't give a rat's ass what the consensus is." If only the rest of the team had that kind of fire, then maybe...
But I'm pretty sure this sports team will help take fans' mind off the Leafs missing the playoffs: The Lingerie Football League is coming to Toronto. Yes, the game where bodacious ladies play football in their skivvies is making their first international franchise in Canada. The founder and chairman of the league, Mitchell S. Mortaza, believes the move to Canada could do wonders for the ladies' careers in entertainment. Like posing for Playboy and Sports Illustrated--basically anywhere in which they're scantily-clad. The Toronto team will debut this fall. A Canadian franchise is slated for 2012.
IN BRIEF:
Photo by katyharmer in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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