MB Toronto
Morning Brew: OneCity takes its first knocks, Rob Ford keeps mum over TTC incident, Spanish fans celebrate on College, and Toronto's bag fee is dead
Karen Stintz and Glenn De Baeremaeker are taking the first knocks to their OneCity transit plan on the chin, saying they will keep fighting for the enormous transit expansion project despite an unfavourable reception from the province. Although a recent poll suggests roughly 80% of people are in favor of the new subway, LRT, streetcar, and bus lines, Ontario's transit and infrastructure minister Bob Chiarelli rejected several key aspects of the plan.
The head of the TTC union, Bob Kinnear, says Rob Ford should explain his side of the incident that caused a streetcar driver to leave his seat last week. According to Kinnear, Ford drove past open streetcar doors, a traffic offense punishable with a $109 fine, and exchanged words with the vehicle's driver. There's been no comment so far from the mayor's office. Should Rob Ford publicly acknowledge the incident or would it be making a mountain out of a molehill?
Elsewhere, Spain beat Italy 4-0 to clinch the Euro 2012 title. At the final whistle, College Street was temporarily closed as crowds spilled from bars into the street to celebrate and commiserate.
Speaking of the mayor, seems like the family tradition of a weekend at the cottage isn't as mandatory as Rob Ford claims. The Grid has pictures of Ford marching in the 2010 East York Canada Day parade, an event that should have clashed with his regular cottage time. The mayor has skipped out on the traditional mayoral march in the Pride parade the last two years to go to his holiday home.
Toronto officially trashed its mandatory five-cent plastic bag fee yesterday but it looks like most large retailers will stick to charging customers until the outright ban comes in next year. Shoppers are being encouraged to switch to paper or reusable bags.
To celebrate Canada Day, the UK National Archives has released hundreds images of Canada, including numerous shots of Toronto. Check them out on Flickr.
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Blue Jays suffer 10-6 Canada Day loss to Angels [The Star]
- Spain's Euro win over Italy has thousands celebrating in Toronto streets [The Star]
- Shooting near Beach fireworks in Toronto injures one [The Star]
- Living on empties: City's bottle-collectors say their hard work pays off -- in cash [National Post]
FROM THE WEEKEND:
- Zelda's will not reopen after electrical fire
- Get to know a Baker: Graham Bower, Paulette's Original Donuts and Chicken
- A brief history of The Ward, Toronto's notorious slum
- Toronto beaches: Sunnyside Beach
- New Kensington jewellery shop combines old and new
- Toronto music blogs that break music to the masses
- Where to surf in Toronto
- Downsview National Urban Park opens in Toronto
- Photos of the 2012 Dyke March
- This Week In Comedy: Doug Funk feat. Denis Grignon, Comic Vision: Last Call, Aziz Ansari, and Premium Comedy feat. Kris Bonaparte
You can catch up on all things blogTO on the go. Download our apps for the iPhone and iPad. On Android? We've got one coming for you too.
Photo: "overlook" by Fion N. in the blogTO Flickr Pool.


Discussion
25 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
It's not as if there's a shortage of Canada Day events in Toronto not linked to Pride for him to participate in.
Find it pretty amazing how his supporters are falling over themselves to defend his lies. They are the first ones that scream about the lies purported by the 'left'
Talk about gravy, 165k a year to campaign.
He attended the 2010 Canada Day parade to campaign for his run for Mayor.
Clearly he sets his schedule to how it benefits him personally and his career aspirations to always get ahead and then lies about it when pressured by his public.
So when something like the streetcar-door issue comes up, they clearly are telling Ford to make no comment, say nothing, make no public appearances, and just wait until the next incident pops up to distract people. And in Rob Ford's Toronto, the next firestorm can only be a week or so away.
Bravo, Ford Disaster Management Team. Bravo.
It takes a moron to defend him.
And this is different from other politicians how?