City
Morning Brew: Kitchener gets Federal Economic Development Agency, Drinking and Driving a Bus, Councillor Vacation Limits, Toronto vs. Buffalo Homicides
Photo: "Sailing..." by Froz'n Motion / Cameron MacMaster, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Southern Ontario is really huuurting its way through this recession, but PM Harper has given us some vague hope - in the form of $1-billion (over 5 years) for the new Federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario. Centered in Kitchener, the agency aims to "support economic development, innovation and diversification." In related news, red tape and politicking means that the GTA hasn't seen a single penny in infrastructure stimulus funding since it was pledged 7 months ago. The good news is that it's coming soon.
Driving a public transit bus at 11:30am (or any time!) with three times the legal limit for blood alcohol is not acceptable. A Mississauga Transit employee is accused of just that. I wonder if a conviction is grounds for immediate dismissal, or if the union can manage to work some magic and keep him a cushy office job or something.
Should a city councillor be allowed to take 6 weeks of vacation all at once, or should there be restrictions to prevent those in the position from being absent for such a significant chunk of time? Kyle Rae (Toronto Centre Rosedale) is missing a lot of important action here in Toronto, but I bet the Tempranillo tastes remarkable over there in the Spanish sun.
The TTC is (sort of) opening its arms to artists and art-making institutions, and if there's enough interest generated, we'll see visually stimulating designs featured on TTC monthly Metropasses next year. I say "sort of" because images have to be evocative of Toronto, they clearly stipulate that no compensation will be awarded for artwork used, and submissions can't serve as marketing for the artists or institutions, which kinda leaves little left as motivation to submit, doesn't it? We may end up with nothing but school kids' crayon drawings of the CN Tower (which is ok, I guess!).
I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing (let the debate begin), but I realized this morning that Toronto and Buffalo are pretty much neck-and-neck in homicide counts in 2009.
What happens when you don't renew a web domain (I'm looking at you, TTC)? It gets scooped up by someone else and then hacked into a very weird porn trap (safe for work on first click but beyond that it's your fault if you get into trouble)!
And in case you missed it yesterday (it went viral online and on emailsfromcrazypeople.com before it made its rounds on local sites like, tribe.ca and Torontoist.com), here's a Toronto blogger's story about backpacking in Europe and the hilarity/tragedy/emotional roller coaster that awaited him in his email inbox when he returned:
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(Just wait until all those condos are finished along Charles St. and people realize what a mess that area has become!)
He has impeccable white shirts.
He has embarrasssed himself on several fronts.
There is the adoption agency scandal down around Guelph/Cambridge.
Granted, his wife is more implicated than he is but it still is a millstone to his reputation.
He tried to interfere with the agenda of a scientific conference at Queen's University since part of the agenda didn't square with
his religious beliefs.
He constantly tries to control funding to organisations that don't square with his religious beliefs. So what about ministerial objectivity?
He continually tries to derail any parliamentary committee meeting where he can attend as a member. He brings up the
most petty amendments and asks for the most inane clarifications.
All this, to help stymie the parliamentary process.
Remember when Harper said the government wasn't working and that was the reason for the election? It's Goodyear's doings (and others like him) that provoked that statement.
His only strengths lie below the collar button, just like Stock Day.
...and Buffalo is half the size of Toronto.
It talks about the GTA but maps only those
offenses in the city proper.
Given the fact that Toronto is about 10-11 times
larger than Buffalo, we're considerably safer here.
Also, knifing seems more common here than in Buffalo.
Like I said.
Buffalo is a town compared to Toronto.
I never got why unions protect shitty workers, it shows they support that behavior. Also very true for the police union.
Come on Toronto we can do better than this!!!
I don't know when the idea of employer as parent grew legs...but, it has in unionized environments. Suddenly, it's the employers responsibility to do something for an employee who has put (in this case) the organizations clients in physical danger through lack of responsibility and the choice to come to a job where you drive for a living DRUNK.
There was a time when he would have been fired on the spot.
Those times are gone