City
Morning Brew: April 27th, 2009
Photo: "The texture of posters long past" by Ad|Cam, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Monday morning traffic in the downtown has been snarled [CP24], due to a protest by thousands of Tamils. Protesters have converged on University Avenue, which has been forced police to close it to cars between College & King, and both Dundas and Queen are now also closed from Spadina to Bay (although it's reported that streetcars are able to slowly get through).
Swine flu has landed in Eastern Canada, and Toronto is bracing itself [Star]. If anything, the hype/fear serves as a reminder that we should be vigilant in fighting viruses by practicing proper washing, sneezing into our sleeves, and shaking feet instead of hands. It also brings back memories of SARS... and... whatever happened to those invading killer bees?
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Should we have better checks and balances in place to ensure that food servers are not spreading communicable diseases? A Tim Hortons in Newmarket is the latest food service outlet to be dealing with Hepatitis A [NP]. If workers were required to provide proof of vaccination, this wouldn't likely be an issue.
Auto workers at Chrysler have voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting huge cuts to their benefits in order to keep their jobs [G&M]. About $19/hr equivalent will save the automaker some $240 million annually. Down in the US, it's rumoured that today will bring news that a whopping 21,000 jobs, and the Pontiac brand [CP24] are going to be cut by GM.
If Toronto were to score the 2015 Pan Am Games, an athlete's village in the West Don Lands development area [Star] could be a huge boost to the waterfront. Housing, sports facilities, and a transportation hub east of the downtown core makes sense to me.
Discussion
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Me thinks you're thinking of Hep C. A & B are the ones covered by Twinrex and it ain't free.
free health care? check
now all you need is a comment about free education and amnesty for illegals and you're done!
By the way Andrew, I haven't been watching the news, how's capitalism been doing lately?
To some people these are freedom fighters...
The only protection they have against what they see as a hostile state towards them.
Those numbers don't consist of just wages. It costs a company more than just your wage to keep you working for them. There are benefits and other costs involved. Wages are about 40% of that (or at least they were before the cuts: 38% wages, 27% health benefits, 35% other= $76/h)
Not sure how the $57 per hour was reached. More might have came out of benefits than their actual wage.
Once this illness is more or less under control, more should be done about maintaining public awareness of Influenza (number one killer on the charts for decades), in general:
http://www.torontocitylife.com/2009/03/31/rhume-for-improvement/
If we want to revitalize and boost the waterfront we can still do it and not waste a bunch of money doing it for the PAN AM games. Most cities that have created athletes villages to be repurposed later haven't done so successfully. Lets create the waterfront with the final purpose that we want it to be. The Pan AMs games is an excuse. Its not the olympics. Its great for the atheles, its great to watch top level athletes compeating against each other, but people just aren't that intrested in these games. If I told you the games were on this afternoon or tonight you wouldn't be watching them, you wouldn't be out at a bar spending money watching it on TV.
I'm surprised more people are outraged that the city has decided to push these through without asking us if we mind if they spend $1.4 billion dollars that could be better spent.
Because they're mostly dead now.
But then, this is Toronto. What was I thinking?
BUT Sri Lanka is systematically killing the Tamils. Tamil Tigers may be a terrorist organization, but it's Tamils are not.
Here is a revolutionary idea. Help the people who are being oppressed and murdered by their government and make the need for "terrorists" obsolete.
The Tamils have used horrible tactics that i don't agree with. But Canadian Tamils have a point. What is happening in Sri Lanka needs to stop.
Continuing...
As a result, I don't see it being possible to support Tamil independence without supporting the Tigers. I highly doubt the Tigers would give up their power so easily. It is their desire to run the government of an independent Tamil nation (they already almost do)
And really, how does this involve Canada and the United States in the slightest? <b>Especially</b> given the history of both groups involved. What do they expect the Canadian government to do? And why do they think the Canadian government has any authority to do anything anyways?
ramanan - Its not the traffic that's the major issue, its the cause. I have no problem putting up with a clogged city due to, say, a marathon fundraiser for cancer. I have a huge problem with terrorist sympathizers trying to impose on us and have our government and army support the terrorists.
And Reality Check, waving a flag is not the same as providing material support for terrorists. You should google Thought Crimes. (Maybe you didn't have to read 1984 when you went to school? Or maybe you never went?)
Why exactly is being protested here anyway? First you decide that you don't like the life in your country and want to come to some better country like Canada. And wow, Canada is kind enough to let you in, how excellent! And then your next step is blaming this nice country for not solving the problems that exist in your old country? Fucking brilliant, man.
I was born in London, England. It was a harsh and difficult life, what with the dreary weather, crappy showers, and poorly insulated homes. I'm so glad to live in Toronto now. No, I'm guessing that's not what you meant. You must be assuming every single Tamil person in the city arrived here on some boat from Sri Lanka. Here is some shocking news: not every Tamil person you see is a refugee. Lots of those University kids protesting today are going to be full on Canadians, born and raised here. I know, that must be confusing.