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Morning Brew: Toronto remembers Jack Layton and other news
In the wake of Jack Layton's untimely death, there are a host of articles this morning celebrating the NDP leader's life and his love for politics, our country, and our city. Here are some of the highlights:
In The Globe and Mail, Layton is remembered as a "Torontonian first" by his Toronto peers, who helped change the landscape of our city's' politics with his dedication to issues such as homelessness, AIDS, the environment, and putting together a national coalition of civic leaders to press for federal funding.
According to the National Post, a "sombre-looking" Rob Ford said that Layton advised him when he first entered politics, even sitting next to Layton during his first term at Toronto city council. Apparently Layton told Ford to never take things personally, and that "you're going to be surprised on who votes with you sometimes and who votes against you," the Mayor said.
Also from the Post, a controversial op-ed piece from Christie Blatchford, who takes issue with the hagiographic nature of the mourning for Layton. While she makes a few insightful points about the public nature of the politician's life, the article can't help but seem misplaced given its tone and timing.
In the Sun, Sune-Ann Levy, who admits she didn't always agree with Layton's politics, says she "respected him". Also mentioned in the article is former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman, who said Layton brought "a human touch to council."
An article in the Star suggests Layton's impact and legacy reached far beyond Toronto. Layton was teaching political science Ryerson University when he was first recruited into politics in 1982 as former mayor John Sewell's running mate for alderman. Sewell said yesterday of Layton: "He had this tremendous ability to think of new ideas and bring them to fruition." Sewell didn't run in 1984, but, as for Layton...well, the rest, as they say, is history.
OTHER NEWS
Tim Hudak is promising more money form Ontario-born university students as he proposes to alter OSAP guidelines to make more students eligible for loans. Should he be elected, Hudak would scrap an international Trillium scholarship fund set up by the McGuinty government in order to divert the funds to OSAP.
A fight on the 501 Queen Streetcar yesterday has sent one man to hospital. The good news is the altercation did not involve a TTC employee. The bad news is that the suspect pulled a knife and likely scared the crap out of everyone on the vehicle.
IN BRIEF
- Goderich residents given 12 minute warning before tornado hit
- Autopsy confirms body of missing Brampton woman
Photo by Jackman Chiu in the blogTO Flickr pool
Discussion
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and, can we hope to hear that blatchford will be losing her job today? real classy piece she wrote there.
But it turns out the Post is more about attention whoring than news, so what better way to do that then criticize how a cancer patient dies the day of. Not a surprise from Blatchford, she's scum. Every other paper in the city (even the Sun) has already figured out having her on staff is poison. I expected better from the Post.
Blatchford is now trending on Twitter, and a lot of the comments are bang-on:
frozengrapes: I admire the courage Christie Blatchford has shown in her long battle against sensitivity and good taste.
shamruins: christie blatchford reminds me of the quote "all cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness"
Ed The Sock: After her slag on Layton, I'd say Christie Blatchford needs to look in the mirror but Geneva convention forbids cruel & unusual punishment.
Um, where in the article does it say that Hudak's criteria for OSAP is that you have to be "Ontario-born"? That would be ridiculous.
They removed some of the offensive content...
http://www.nowtoronto.com/daily/news/story.cfm?content=182329
Factually wrong? Perhaps not. Morally wrong? Signs point to yes.
And people are indeed allowed to have different opinions. The majority of the public happens to have a different opinion from Ms Blatchford.
She's also coming under fire for posting an article about the media response towards Layton's death 9 hours after it was reported, meaning the article was planned earlier in the day. It's not only inaccurate to gauge media response in the early hours, when emotions are running high, but opportunistic. Her and the NP posted a deliberately inflammatory piece to provoke ire and raise their profile. Accuracy, decency, and consideration for Layton's family should have compelled them to wait until the dust had settled so they could assess things even handedly.
If the Toronto Sun can let the guy's family alone on the day of his death, then so can the Post. At the very least wait until the guy is in the ground.
Anyway it's silly of me to waste "i r serious post" as I suspect you are trolling. Have a nice day :)