City
Morning Brew: March 16th, 2009
Photo: "Parkdale 500" by Ste&We, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Although the heart of the issue lies in a country thousands of kilometers away, we're seeing repeated demonstrations right here in Toronto. This afternoon, protesters against the ongoing military actions in Sri Lanka will be aiming to make a human chain that stretches from Yonge & Bloor, down to Front, across to University, back up to Bloor, and across to Yonge again. Not be honest, I'm not sure how snarling evening rush hour for one day is going to impact our federal government's inaction, but if the protesters can pull it off, it'll surely get their attention.
A wealthy Toronto Bay streeter has been ordered to pay over $30,000 monthly in temporary child support to his five-year old daughter. At what point does such an arrangement become inappropriate? Is this essentially a transfer of wealth, rather than child support? I know that kids can be a financial burden, but no kid I know needs that kind of support.
Pubs and parties in the suburbs were the scenes of stabbings this weekend. Peel region saw it's 4th homicide when a bar fight escalated to a fatal stabbing, and up in Richmond Hill, a house party turned nasty and three ended up with knife wounds.
Misleading headline of the morning goes to Adrian Morrow at the Star. The man was not robbed for a stick of lip balm and keys. He was being mugged for his wallet, but the robbers weren't able to get it before fleeing.
The Hell's Angels U.S. headquarters called, and they want their stuff back. The return of belt buckles, jackets, and Christmas cards, all bearing the Hell's Angels logo and that are currently being stored in Ontario following raids here in 2006, is being requested.
And after an icier than usual winter, the City of Toronto is facing a reported 533 lawsuits related to injuries sustained on city property not cleared of ice in 2008. This comes with a price tag of an estimated $5.5 million in settlements and legal fees. Yikes.
Discussion
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And about the child support, it really does seem like wealth distribution. Lets face it - the kid isn't getting 30K/month, the wife is. Most kids don't need $360,000 to be taken care of.
...
"The husband says he does not oppose any retroactivity award for child support, since he now admits he did underpay in the past and now realizes the error of his ways."</blockquote>
So this level of support, being "temporary", is at least partially inflated in recognition of the disproportionately low support paid up to this point.
There does seem to be a lack of clarity here as to the purpose of "child support": to provide for a decent standard of living for the child after a marriage dissolves (and scaling that standard of living with the non-custodial parent's income), or providing a standard of living for the custodial parent <em>and</em> the child that scales with the non-custodial parent's income. The latter is fine as far as I'm concerned, but deserves a name that captures its broader purpose.
"Canada gave Sri Lankans,whom i like to call "now Canadian" a new life, health care, education, basically a civil life in comparison to their past."
You have to be kidding. Most of the SriLankan left the country due to the war and not for a "new life, health care, eduation and so called civil life".
Sri Lankan community is not getting any special treatment from the Canadian governement. Tamil Sri Lankan community work and pay the tax just like everyon else in the country.
When there was Genocide going in other country, Canada got involved so why not for Sri Lanka too?
Also Canada is a G8 country, we have an army in Afghanistan killing villagers remember? Maybe you'd rather we focus on a whiter cause?
You have a warped sense of history if you think the U.S.'s involvement in the Middle East was/is a humanitarian issue. It's even more warped if you think that's what caused 9/11.
I have no problem pulling the race card because I'm white and born here and can clearly see how are system works and is biased against skin colour. If you want to see what Canada can do to support a country, research it's involvement in Israel last year when it invaded Palestine. No one was condemning Jews for what Sri Lankins are doing now.
Stopping traffic isn't going to get anyone to care about the plight of the Tamils....and crying about that fact doesn't change it.
So you missed Sid Ryan, President of CUPE calling for the boycott of Israeli acedemics? There was huge condemnation of the Israeli actions - and BTW - not all Israeli's are Jews, and not all Jews and Israeli's.
It is also incredibly unlikely the government will get involved for two main reasons.
1) With the war in Afgahnastan being a very touchy issue, the last thing the government wants to do is send out more troops to another nation.
2) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are considered to be a 'terrorist' organization in many countries around the world. Good luck getting the government to support their cause, <b>especially</b> considering their ties to other terrorist organizations that would love to see the Western World and Israel wiped off the planet.
Oppression takes place in everybody's life in some way sometimes.
My thought is that the "now" in "now Canadian" implies that the person with such a label is considered "less" Canadian. If that isn't the case, why the qualifier? Seems to me it just brings us right back down to "us" and "them".
Are they going to block emergency vehicles too?
I'm sure they'll have the endorsement of the transit and York TA unions at this move... I hope they're comfortable with their new peers.
Actually nowadays if you're born in Canada you do get to be Canadian, unless you're parents are diplomats. If there are other exceptions you would do us all a favour by updating the wiki on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_citizenship#Birth_in_Canada
I think the tone of your first post was part of why I picked up on this. It just seemed to be saying "YOU should be thankful for all WE have given you. How dare you ask for our help [and, in the case of some other posters, "how dare you disrupt our daily commute for YOUR problem half way 'round the world"]?"
I hope the Tamils get their independence, but as long as they are using child soldiers, they won't get an ounce of my support.
People are being a bit to idealistic here. As sad as it is we don't have the resources to solve every problem the world has. We can only do what we can. Sound cynical? Probably. Realistic? Yes.
The Canadian government keeps talking about pulling troops out of foreign conflicts. Is the Canadian government un-Canadian?
Some troops don't support the war, please, go tell them they're un-Canadian.
My Dad was a dance, and my mom a party
The Canadian government would be stupid to take their side.
Hey Toronto Star, bring back Get Fuzzy!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/getfuzzy/
And as for your claim that they invented suicide bombings, please elaborate. Is there any proof whatsoever?
Hats off to the Tamil community for sticking together as a community and trying to get the world to see what's going on their homeland.
As someone said above, Tamil people pay taxes and do all the other shit Canadians do in their day to day lives. If they as a community decide to protest the war in Sri Lanka that's their prerogative. They live in a country with freedom of assembly. No doubt they appreciate that fact on days like today. Just because your typical Canadian is lazy and passive when it comes to the political process doesn't mean everyone is. This protest is probably going to get upwards of 25,000 people out. It's interesting to compare those numbers to the number of people who came out for the rallies for and against the Liberal/NDP/Bloc coalition, especially considering the size of the Tamil community in Toronto.
That people are going to have to deal with traffic today is such a White Whine sort of problem. (http://whitewhine.tumblr.com/) Those of us in the first world truly have it rough. Suck it up people.
FYI the Toronto Tamil population is the largest of their kind outside of Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, they're chanting and speaking with loudspeakers in a language other than English, so I couldn't understand any of what they're saying. I guess I can't get to know more about their cause while running into the protest, since I can't understand what they're saying.
Because?
<em>FYI the Toronto Tamil population is the largest of their kind outside of Sri Lanka.</em>
FYI, that amounts to 250,000 or so people. So today 1 in 10 people from the Tamil community is planning to be at this protest. (Roughly, anyway) It's impressive.
The Canadian Army in Afgan village for NO good reason
and when they get killed for stepping on bombs(and not saving anyone); they are brought back to Canada as HEROs. Highways are blocked for hours. Why isn't anyone whining about that?
<em>these white whines built the joint so if you dont like the whine, stick that cork someplace and get out.</em>
You should probably read some history books about this country. Or watch more of those heritage minutes on CBC. There are better sources for information than the Heritage Front newsletters. There have been immigrants from India, China, Japan living here for a very long time now.
You do your community a disservice by calling "hey assholes, support my cause!"
- Or, would anyone care?
This conflict is ongoing on the other side of the world. I see *zero* national interest for Canadians to care about. The LTTE lost, now it's time to get on with peace talks and settle. The Tamil population wants the western world to give them what 20 years of fighting could not. If you disagree, go fight OVER THERE.
The entire premise of this "demonstration" is a farce. Could you imagine a demonstration by Japanese Canadians after WWII to resist a Japanese surrender? My how the mighty have fallen. The LTTE LOST, they need to surrender, end the fighting, and pursue a POLITICAL solution, not beg/plead/DEMAND that the west intervene as their white knight.
Yet, here I am, in *my* homeland, and I am acosted on the street being told that I "must" care for these poor freedom fighters.
I don't care.
Now, get the hell out of my streets.
And to me blocking traffic isn't going to win hearts.
If the worse part of your day is traffic, you're doing alright.
And for the record, the LTTE can go fuck themselves for all I care. People are too quick to make assumptions about me and my politics because of my last name. Fuck that shit, also.
I hope you supported the TTC and York TA strikes then.
God forbid people try protesting in a constructive way.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/603135
"Is there anyone who ever remembers changing their mind from the paint on a sign? Is there anyone who really recalls ever breaking rank at all for something someone yelled real loud one time? Everyone believes in how they think it oughta be " - Belief by John Mayer.
You yelling into a megaphone is not going to make Harper et al stand at the ready, listen to your message and act accordingly. Gah, I hope my ride home isn't too bad. Let them protest. Let them get their message across. Let their cries be heard but please, please, please, don't make rush hour traffic worse by blocking the roads.
The protest doesn't seem effective in a political sense. The US/EU and UN haven't been able to stem the Sri Lankan government much, it's very unlikely that Canada can. One use of the protest could be to spread general awareness about the conflict in Sri Lanka, but the protesters are flying a lot of LTTE flags and that effectively negates that effort by tainting it by associating it with what the public perceives (rightly or wrongly) as a terrorist group.
This seems like venting. The Tamil community in Toronto is large and powerless. There's nothing they can do to change what's happening in Sri Lanka, but standing in the streets together as a group, chanting, seemingly changing the course of the world around them (if only by being noticed and slowing traffic) likely assuages some sense of frustration that comes out of powerlessness.
It's a mild inconvenience in the grand scheme. Maybe spend the time thinking about the parts of the world where misery and death is the rule and be happy that your biggest worry pales in comparison.
But, why should I be inconvenienced at all? As I said, this has *zero* to do with Canada. Zero. Canada is not a participant, and frankly isn't going to do anything to stop it.
Faulty logic here... can I go protest and block all the York TAs, or CUPE employees, and their cushy jobs, hell, even detain them from showing up at work if my economic situation is worse? Yes, that is a very *clear* way to solve a problem. It would only be a 'minor' inconvenience afterall... nobody works until *I* do. Entitlement ++
It's clear to everyone that isn't a child that two wrongs do *not* make a right. Irritating people on the other side of the world who have had *nothing* to do with conflict is a surefire way to lose support FAST.
Liberals always gets confused about such things.
LTTE has genocided 1000s of muslims in their areas. They are no better than the Sri Lankan govt. It is like they have an ethnic cleansing competition!
Flying the LTTE flag negates any objectivity that this protest was meant to have and it brings home a disturbing message, there is huge support for terrorist groups in Canada.
They're venting, as far as I can tell, and they're allowed to do that on public property in Canada. There is no requirement that protests be logically cohesive or that they make any sense at all.
It's a democratic country, people can freely protest and inconvenience other people on any number of issues, be it Sri Lanka, the Middle East, the USA, baby seal clubbing, whaling, or whatever. If you don't like it, go to a country where protesting is banned. :-)
As was said earlier, if the biggest complaint you have is that you have to endure some traffic on the way home, then you can endure that (incredibly minor) inconvenience and think about others who are far less fortunate.
I doubt a few hundred neo-nazi's with swastikas blazing would be given such a polite treatment by the police or powers that be. I also believe that it would be very easy to host a rally every single working day for a multitude of reasons (environment, labour, tuition, this political party, wars, peace, etc) is that equally acceptable? Should we limit how often our lives can be disrupted by such bullshit?
"As was said earlier, if the biggest complaint you have is that you have to endure some traffic on the way home, then you can endure that (incredibly minor) inconvenience and think about others who are far less fortunate."
Well it's nice of you to decide what I can endure and what I cannot. How egalitarian of you. In the real world, what about the loss of productivity from all the noise? What about the courier companies who lost business? Taxis? Shops along Yonge? I am sure the impression of tourists to this city are going to increase with tonight's news coverage of a rally for a BANNED TERRORIST group; surely tourism will get a boost from this rally. Are these businesses lucky enough to be entitled to such a treatment, with real quantifiable losses, in exchange for the latte liberal promise of "thinking about those less fortunate"...
Puh-lease, spare the realists the newspeak and realize that I don't spare a thought for those on the other side of the world, just as the rest of the world could care less for you, or me for that matter.
And at what point did we close the books on being able to protest injustice. Did it just happen and I missed it? You're right, we could close down the roads every day for a new and deserved reason, and maybe if we did, something would start getting fixed, both in this city/country, and the world in general. The society we live in, and in which you exhibit your uncaring, distasteful attitude, is built upon the work of people who used the right to assemble and protest. You don't get to declare the game closed because you want to be able to take cab to buy something you probably don't need. Get your head out of your ass.
It IS quite nice of me to decide what you can endure and what you cannot, because you clearly have trouble deciding that some traffic on a Monday afternoon drive home is not on the same level as innocent people being shot and killed in camps that they cannot leave.
Also, please note that there is a very real difference between the Tamil people and the LTTE, one is a terrorist group, the other is a group of people.
His child is entitled to be raised at a comfort level at least as high as the wealthiest parent in teh relationship. He was a selfish asshole, but at least he's making amends now.
The simple fact remains, that the LTTE flag was flown openly by several THOUSAND protestors. I know the difference between the Tamil people and the LTTE, do you? How many Tamil people now live HAPPILY in Colombo? (HINT: More than you think)
Are you aware that the LTTE REGULARLY uses child soldiers? Suicide bombers? How about the FORCED extortion of THOUSANDS of Canadian Tamils? This was all reported by Human Rights Watch, so you don't need to take this asshole's word for it.
I believe I have studied the issue to a degree that I can comfortably state the this protest was about getting the western world to give the LTTE what 20 years of civil war has not, a "homeland". Well, a homeland is not mine to give. We have all seen how well that played out with Israel and Palestine. This conflict will only end when the Tamil people stop supporting the LTTE and work towards a stable peace accord.
Atrocities have been committed on all sides. War is ugly.
What we *should* be advocating is a surrender of the LTTE (they lost) and new DEMOCRATIC elections in Sri Lanka. Anything less is a victory to one side, and plants the seeds in the loser for tomorrow's conflict (I.e. Israel-Palestine).
Lastly, I have the right to not give a f*ck about this conflict, the protestors, the LTTE, or even the entire Eastern Hemisphere. Canada is all of our homeland. Leave the baggage at home. I have yet to understand what Canada has to do with this conflict. The story from the Star quotes a protestor as saying:
" It has been systematic genocide for 61 years and we want all Canadians, including non-Tamils, to stop it"
Again, I stress my point, why Canada? What did Canada do to become involved in all of this? Or, as I see, is this an internal struggle in Sri Lanka, that has attracted a large useless protest that interrupts my day for no discernible benefit?
I would happily suggest to the protestors... if you want something done right, do it yourself.
I couldn't care less.
At this point, I don't really think the Tamil community is working to claim any tactical concessions or victories. And I really don't think many people are deluded enough to think that a new Tamil homeland is going to be a viable option. As far as I can see, these people are scared for their families and friends and countrymen back home, the stories coming out of that area are horrible, with (as you said) atrocities being committed to civilians by both sides.
Whatever the goals of the organizers of this protest may have been, there didn't really seem to be a unified message (which is probably a mistake, on their part). If there had been one, and it had been pro-LTTE, then I would have been strongly against the message. But as far as I can see it, the real accomplishment of this protest (and hopefully, the main goal) was to bring more and more attention to the conflict. And I don't think that's ever a bad thing.
And really, what would it cost the Canadian government to try and intervene, to push politically or try and rally international attention to the war and the humanitarian concerns? To you or me or the average taxpayer, it would cost essentially nothing. I feel that first world countries owe a debt of responsibility and aid to the people of developing nations. I suppose we just disagree on that.
Also, a lot of the lack of support for the Sri Lankan government by the Tamil people is due to historic policy patterns that have resulted in systematic inequity. It's hard to support a government that doesn't treat you the same as another citizen.
To be honest, I would be happy enough if the Canadian government really did work towards democratic elections, but they haven't shown any indication of caring one way or another. Maybe the protests will help change that. That's why I support them.