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Rob Ford's Toronto

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GraphicMatt said:
Ford's budget is shaping up to look very challenging. Cutting the car tax on Jan 1 is apparently going to cost $64 million. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...x-is-axed-on-jan-1/article1829201/?cmpid=rss1



That's a $285 million shortfall. Without a property tax increase, where's the cash going to come from?
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If he were smart, he could start it off by cutting the 100 new police officers. It would be a win-win for him. The police sort of already said they don't really want them, so there's a few bux saved right there.
 
The police have directly said they don't want the new officers, but the money to add them wouldn't be reflected in the shortfall estimate. If he wants to go forward to that, the shortfall will only get bigger.
 
Adding bike lanes to a road costs virtually nothing if added when the road is widened or rebuilt.

Curb lanes are typically 16 feet wide anyways, taking 3 for a bike lane and reducing the curb lane to 12 feet (the same width as the inner lanes, and wider than turn lanes) is not removing any traffic capacity.

As for the Morningside expansion, there is an ongoing squabble between Toronto and Markham over its alignment. Markham wants Morningside to directly link through Donald Cousens Pkwy, Toronto favours taking it straight up to near Eastvale (with the Markham pkway ending at Ninth Line) Markham did not make allowance for the link on its side of steeles when those subdivisions were built, and Toronto doesn't like the alignment necessary to make a direct link as the diversion spends a whole lot of time running through ravines in both cities.

There are reasons for this stuff. It's not just because David Miller hates suburbanites.
 
CanadianNational said:
Just dreadful, all of it. It makes a mockery of the dignified and meaningful civil ceremonies past in that chamber.

Cherry's speech is incoherent, though he managed to say "far-left pinkos" three times.
What strikes me about the Ford campaign so far is the repetition of "advance" propaganda: "he's gonna do this", "he's gonna do that". As if it's already done, a sure thing, a done deal and a divine mandate. Always in the future, all these high-pitched promises.

Ersatz power titles like "Captain", "Sheriff", "Chief", etc, in the media aren't exactly perfuming the lily, either.

It's disturbing seeing the naked power-heavy hierarchism of the right appearing. The G20's abuses, Fantino's preening, Harper's theocratic chill, now Ford. It's not just the supposed ideology that's fueling this stuff that has me worried, but rather the "rule by stupidity" fad that seems to be sweeping everywhere - from the telepolitical ninnies in the U.S. denying science and reason, to the Tories here attempting to axe the Census and stupefy dialog.

This is ugly stuff.
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Wonderful post CanadianNational, I couldn't agree more. I too am disturbed by the rancid undercurrent of anti-culture and anti-intellectualism in conservative politics these days. I'm saddened by the fact that so many people (including educated ones) are willing to buy into this swill.
 
Dear Mr. Cherry,

Your speech to Toronto city council today was one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent address were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
 
nfitz said:
What do churches have to do with respect?

The council chambers should be respected.
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absolutely nothing, save for the fact that for about 1600 years, all members of any western civilization would have understood that a church is a place in which one is generally supposed to comport oneself in a respectful manner.

but you knew that, of course. you were just asking a faux-naive question in an effort to advance/publicize a fairly tiresome 20th century cultural agenda.
 
Don Cherry should have shown respect for Council Chambers. He should look to Paula Fletcher as an example.
 
picard102 said:
City hall isn't a church.
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As Bismarck said, "Those who like sausage and the laws ought not inquire too closely into how they are made."

Politics is certainly a messy business. When there's actual politicking going on we all expect some sparks and heated comments, but this was a prepared formal speech; it's not as though Cherry was in the throws of a heated political debate. These were insults for their own sake, just being mean because you can. You know, what assholes do.

And Cherry saying Ford is honest when he'd only met the man that day! Good lord, put that guy out to pasture.
 
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From the National Post:

Councillors wear pink in playful Don Cherry protest

[Shelley Carroll] said she always thought of herself as more red than pink, being a Liberal. Ms. Carroll put on a light pink suit to “try to have a little fun and get past this.”

For Councillor Janet Davis (Beaches-East York), it was about restoring “dignity” to the colour by way of a hot pink jacket, while Maria Augimeri, in a pink dress and jacket, flashed a pink bra strap to reporters to show she went pink inside and out.
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Good for them, mockery is always a much better tool than anger to deal with things like this.
 
Glen said:
Don Cherry should have shown respect for Council Chambers. He should look to Paula Fletcher as an example.
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LOL.

BTW, I'm told that Ford's speech was much more reasonable, with him congratulating all the new (and old) councillors and talking about moving forward etc. However, I haven't actually listened to it, and most of the articles out there seem to be focusing on Cherry's choice words. How was Ford's speech actually?

An aside: I still remember my first visit to Parliament, as a young lad.

The room was nearly empty, with one poor sod giving a reasoned speech on something or other. The few that were there weren't really listening, and then one backbencher crossed the floor mid-speech and went to talk to another backbencher on the other side of the room. Or so I thought. When he got to the other side he immediately just grabbed her hand and kissed it. Then they seemed to have a very nice quiet and almost intimate conversation, all in the middle of the speech.

Needless to say, I didn't have much respect for Parliament or similar government chambers after that.

SimonP said:
From the National Post:
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Bah! Where are the pix!
 
Glen said:
Don Cherry should have shown respect for Council Chambers. He should look to Paula Fletcher as an example.
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Yes, I too recall the incident where Paula Fletcher in an invited speech yelled at a constituent and then the mayor shook her hand and said 'That was great!'
 
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