Morning Brew: Ford speaks about layoffs and cuts, 20,000 Torontonians paid the vehicle registration tax, stolen Daily Bread Food Bank truck found, and Toronto mosquitoes found with West Nile
Mayor Rob Ford finally spoke about this week's budget talks in an interview on AM640 yesterday. During the interview, the mayor didn't rule out lay-offs, bemoaning that the city uses 80 per cent of its budget on labour costs alone (it's more like 50 per cent), and is looking to bring down that number to 20 per cent. Ford also said property taxes could rise three per cent "at the very, very most" and said that front-line police officers would not laid off, but the old ones sitting behind a desk probably would be.
Turns out there were 20,000 Torontonians who had to pay the $60 vehicle registration tax after city council repealed it last year. As if it didn't already suck enough to be born between December 16-31, we were stuck with being the only ones in the city who had to still pay that fee. In defense of the unfairness of it all, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said the city had already budgeted for that revenue. Yeah, and based on this week's news of layouts and cuts, it seems like it helped plenty.
Looks like the thief who stole a Daily Bread Food Bank delivery truck on Thursday night had a change in heart. Or maybe he realized he wouldn't go very far driving such a conspicuous truck that's the only one of its kind. Either way, police found the truck on Friday.
Leave it to the Sun to remember this: it's been 20 years since Gwen Jacobs was arrested for being topless in public. She was later charged and fined $75, but five years later, the Ontario Court of Appeal ended up overturning her conviction and giving back her money. It's considered a milestone for Canadian women, equal rights and all that, but few women exercise this right. Because sometimes women don't get enough unwanted attention with their clothes on.
IN BRIEF:
- Toronto mosquitoes tested positively for West Nile
- Argos lose to Alouettes
- Toronto home sales stable this month
Photo by Dan Cronin in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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