The Bulletin is Downtown Toronto's Best Read Community Newspaper

Volume IX No. VIII

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

News Index


	Top Stories
	Local News
	City Politics
	Arts & Life
	Port Authority and Airport
	G20 Before and After
	Editorial
	Frank Touby
	Bruce Bell
	Columns & Views
	Letters to the Editor
	Inspiration & Motivation
	Downtown Seen
	Local Business
	Restaurant Reviews
	Local Sports

Calendar

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Letter to the Editor

Columns & Views

David Vallance: To big to be a city, we must become Province of Toronto

I’m again a candidate for mayor of Toronto solely for the purpose of raising the proposal of making Toronto the 11th province. For information on how that could be done please see www.provinceoftoronto.ca.In the 1980s I was very involved with the Annex Residents’ Association. By 1990 it was apparent... Full Story

John Sewell: City’s policing crisis is the scary lesson of G20

As a police officer handcuffed a young woman and stuffed her into a paddy wagon during the G20 summit in Toronto on June 26, he said, “That’s what you get for protesting.”This vignette, told by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, sums up pretty clearly the attitude taken by the police during t... Full Story

Harper sells Canada out to European-based multinational corporations

The Council of Canadians and Canadian Community Economic Development Network today warned premiers to keep municipalities, water utilities and other provincially important agencies out of the Canada-EU free trade negotiations as premiers were set to discuss the proposed agreement during their annual... Full Story

CPP changes could affect you

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is changing, with some new rules taking effect as early as 2011. The changes will affect people about to start collecting CPP retirement benefits, as well as those already drawing them. Here are some tips on how the changes might affect you from Chartered Accountant Tin... Full Story

Tips for first-time homebuyers

Tips for first-time homebuyers For many, buying a home is one of the first – and biggest – goals in life. But the process of finding that first house and arranging to pay for it can also be one of the most complicated tasks in life. Especially when finances are limited, the market is pricey and ther... Full Story

John Sewell: Hopeful signs police abuses may be addressed

As I sat in the Toronto Police Services Board meeting I was concluding—to my surprise—the board is learning. The board now seems ready to take effective action to look into what the police did during the G20 meeting at the end of June. Many of us thought it would never agree to do this.Two weeks ago... Full Story

Michael Comstock: Fix tracks, wreck stores

This missive arrived at the Corktown Residents and Business Association from Almaz Yiman, owner of Amadea Spice Market at 526 Queen St. E.:“As a brand new business I am particularly devastated by this, and it will throw my shop’s finances, already fragile, into absolute crisis. TTC has a constructio... Full Story

No compassion as marijuana raids continue

Quebec Police June 3 conducted raids every medical marijuana dispensary in Quebec. Confirmation of police raids from Montreal Compassion Centre, the oldest dispensary in Quebec, as well as the other 2 clubs, Montreal Compassion Club and Quebec (City) Compassion Centre. This followed last months poli... Full Story

Viewpoint: Publicity hound calls it wrong

Self-promoter J. P. Pampena's lust to get his name in the media spurred a desperate attempt March 10 to second guess Mayor David Miller's planned and well-hyped announcement. The limo company operator and occasional pubic relations flak was among the earliest to throw his fedora into the mayoral rac... Full Story

Viewpoint: Time to dispense with LHINs and District School Boards

Last week the Ontario Health Coalition issued a report that called for the elimination of the province’s Local Health Integration Networks(LHIN). The reason? The LHINs are unresponsive to local needs and are merely an extra layer of bureaucracy (hence, costly) at a time when health care funds and ac... Full Story

The Absurdities of Water Fluoridation (Toronto does it)

Toronto adds poisonous fluoride to your drinking water. It's a toxic waste product and many health officials decry its use as causing bone cancer, mottled teeth and for being ineffective at reducing cavities when drunk.Water fluoridation is a peculiarly American phenomenon. It started at a time when... Full Story

Viewpoint: A tunnel is a bridge

When, in plain English, is a 7-storey-deep tunnel not a “bridge”? When the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) wants to evade the legal constraint that it builds no bridge or “similar fixed link” between the Island airport and the mainland. But Webster’s Dictionary would consider the proposed $45 million t... Full Story

New, or new to you – accounting tips for car buyers

Who doesn’t love a new car? Unfortunately, you pay a huge premium for that new-car happiness. A vehicle is not an investment. It’s a constantly dwindling asset that loses value the minute you drive it off the lot, depreciating by as much as 20 per cent the first year. Then again, new cars come with ... Full Story

Killing themselves for our pleasure?

The Financial Times is reporting on their front page May 27 that nine people at a giant manufacturing facility in southern China where Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard manufacture their products for the US market have committed suicide. The factory is in Shenzen and both employs and houses 300,000 p... Full Story

Michael Comstock: Mayoral candidates try for name recognition

The mayoral election is a long way off. We don’t vote until October and I have been told that nothing meaningful will come out of the candidates’ mouths until after the summer. They are at work making their names known speaking to the more interested political junky groups. I am a member ... Full Story

John Sewell: $100 million windfall for Toronto police

“It’s important work you are doing, so spend what you must, and do what you must.” Maybe they aren’t the exact words that were spoken, but it seems awfully likely that police authorities were given an open chequebook when they were tasked with providing security for the G20 and G8 meetings i... Full Story

Viewpiont: McGuinty, Broten tolerate abuse of youths

It’s outrageous how the Province of Ontario is abusing young people. Laurel Broten should be fired as Ontario’s minister of children and youth services for sitting on her thumbs. Premier Dalton McGuinty should resign in shame.If he has any reverence for the Liberal brand, he’d boot Broten from caucu... Full Story

Paulette Touby: The prayer that is Ireland Park

It was with its usual swirl of pomp and self congratulation that the city made a flowery announcement this St. Patrick's Day that a direct pathway from Queen's Quay to Ireland Park had been forged. They called it a promenade. It did elicit a visit to find a very modest bit of gravel between Lake Ont... Full Story

Big boxes get big tax breaks as city hoses small retailers

Small merchants struggle to continue with specialty shops on the street, battling aggressive parking police, while thin-walled corporate warehouse buildings with acres of un-assessed parking spaces get away paying the city only a third of the property tax per foot.No level of government has ever ack... Full Story

Tricky move captures additional tax money for police

When the city’s budget committee threatened to limit the budget increase to the Toronto police service to $33 million while the police wanted an extra $37 million, the Police Service Board responded with a counter-intuitive strategy that was absolutely brilliant. Sure, said the chief and the board, ... Full Story

Sewell: G20 has got to be haunting Bill Blair’s sleep

Imagine yourself as police chief Bill Blair. It’s New Year’s evening, you’ve gone to bed a few minutes past midnight and then are roused awake by a nightmare. What’s it about? Surely the G20 meeting in Toronto this coming June. It is hard to think of anything that will be more trying for the chief t... Full Story

Comstock: A small town is moving Downtown this year

2010 brings in a new year that will be special and memorable for people living in the city. It will be a year of real change for 40,000 to 45,000 people moving into newly completed Downtown condo units. Being able to cycle or walk to work, live amongst the cultural attractions and entertai... Full Story

Viewpoint: Old Town Toronto ready for Pan Am Games closeup?

Old Town Toronto denizens have seen motorized wheel chairs topple over in winter around the southwest corner of Church and The Esplanade, a spot notorious for the lack of a sidewalk. That is changing thanks to city efforts. And more than one pensioner has been hurt during the years, simply... Full Story

Sewell: Crime is in a 10-year decline, cop’s wages are soaring

It won’t be much of a show down, at the end of the day. The city budget chief, Shelley Carroll, needs $500 million in cuts to balance the city’s budget next year, and she has asked all city departments and agencies to cut their 2010 budget request by 5% from last year. That request has also been mad... Full Story

Comstock: Non-hospital safe-injection sites create skid rows

I am blessed with two sons. One lives in Vancouver, the other in New York City, and so around Christmas travel plans have to be made. I visited Vancouver this month to feel better about NYC for Christmas. Of course, the eco-warriors will argue that we should all just stay put and save the carbon foo... Full Story

Sewell: Cop culture conflicts with school culture

There’s nothing like real life experience to sharpen one’s perceptions about the real world. That has happened in spades with the issue of police in schools. In mid-October, less than two weeks after police made their presence felt in Northern Secondary School, an incident occurred there which was c... Full Story

Comstock: Compassion lacking as bureaucracy crushes citizens

Victims of the system young and old,” reads the headline of Letters to the Editor in the Toronto Star Oct 17. It was a group of letters stimulated by Joe Fiorito’s absolutely great writing about Al Gosling’s death. This happened at the hands of bureaucrats from our social housing services. This trag... Full Story

Viewpoint: Schools are a community asset

Much was written during the budget discussions earlier this year about a motion from one of the Toronto school trustees on the need to create cash for new projects by closing and selling schools. This motion was a simplistic view that often finds its way into the budget deficit fights at the school ... Full Story

Touby: Dalton McHarris & the Harmful Sales Tax

Do you get the feeling they really don’t give a damn about you? Does it seem to you that the labels Left and Right no longer fit the suits who wear them? You’re not hallucinating. There is a misdirection in politics nowadays that has erased those labels in the two major parties.So if you think Dalto... Full Story

Sewell: Do cops really belong in schools?

Police are expanding their presence from 22 to 36 public high schools, and from eight to 12 Catholic high schools in Toronto. In the Catholic system, that means there are police in half the high schools; in the public system, police are in 40% of schools. That’s a big spread from no police presence ... Full Story

Comstock: My Bucket trip

I want to show people my travel photos from this summer. It was the best trip ever; the trip of a lifetime, my wife and I say. But she also says most people don’t want to see all of your travel photos any more than you want to sit down for an hour and look at theirs.Two things worth sharing about th... Full Story

Viewpoint: HST will have real impact on condo owners

When Linda Pinizzotto steps out of her office to show condos to potential buyers, she knows there’s a storm looming on the horizon for her clients. “The HST will have a huge negative impact on affordability and real estate value. I don’t think owners fully understand the ramifications.” Pinizzotto ... Full Story

Touby: Our poll may show most would fire their city councillors

If Downtown were a city of its own—not a bad idea, by the way—there might be an overthrow of the government in the works. At least that’s what The Bulletin’s online poll at www.thebulletin.ca would indicate. (The poll is ongoing for a while longer, so there’s still time to post your own choice. Only... Full Story

Sewell: Cops won’t investigate fellow cops’ misdeeds

A new police complaints mechanism will finally be available in Ontario in the next few months. It’s been a long time coming.When he was premier, Mike Harris scrapped the independent complaints mechanism instituted in the early 1980s, and put in its place a system where police investigated complaints... Full Story

Comstock: The Gardiner should toll for thee

The summer break is over and it is back to the grind. Back to school and back from vacation. Yes, years of the behavioural training based on the school board’s calendar, has set all of us up. We have an incredible desire to get free of routine every summer and get back to business as fall begins. If... Full Story

Viewpoint: Communities are the new frontier

I believe nations are failing us, and that communities are the solution to our problems. When people ask if I'm a Communist, I say, no I'm a Communityist.There's a big difference between a Communist and a Communityist. In fact, they’re opposites. A communityist is a community booster first, and a st... Full Story

Sewell: Cops in schools; tasers; cop brawl; union boss

This Police Accountability Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serving. Our website i... Full Story

Prince of Pot Rally

On Saturday, September 19, 2009, people all over the world ralliedin support of ‘Prince of Pot’ Marc Emery, a marijuana activist andmagazine publisher who is facing a 5-year prison sentence in theUnited States for selling marijuana seeds over the Internet.More than 100 cities across the globe will h... Full Story

McGuinty asked to reward insurance firms at your expense

The current provincial government prides itself on being a champion of the disabled. It points to its role in strengthening the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, establishing an Accessibility Directorate, and setting timetables for change to make Ontario accessible to all its citizens. It’s ironic, t... Full Story

Sellout of Canada in the works?

ACTION ALERT: Demand a say in North America's future The next North American leaders summit – where Canada, the United States and Mexico have met to discuss progress on the Security and Prosperity Partnership – is less than four weeks away and Canadian... Full Story

Salute to a brave and modest nation

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the ... Full Story

Cops brawl; Grits & Tories vote to overfill prisons

1. A fine police brawlIt has become a Toronto police tradition to hold a fight night—Fitenite—every spring to raise money for charity. The event consists of about 10 boxing matches of cops punching cops plus carryings-on appropriate to such an evening. This year, the event was held at a club near T... Full Story

Frank Touby: Veggies breathe CO2—should they pay the carbon tax?

I’m trying to get my head around this global warming/climate change thing and the carbon tax that hapless professor Stéphane Dion was trying to flog in his quixotic tumble to political obsolescence that keeps Stephen Harper in power. And now my brief hero Barack Obama is touting the same or a simila... Full Story

Michael Comstock: Strike proves overstaffed city should trim down

The Bulletin is Toronto’s only Downtown community paper and it seems to thrive against a generally stagnated number of daily newspaper readers. Torontonians can get their news from a variety of media which is one reason daily newspaper readership isn’t growing. Another reason is that all these chann... Full Story

John Sewell: Relax, we’re almost as safe as Guelph

Police Chief Bill Blair has announced that crime in Toronto is down, which is obviously a good thing. Now comes the big question—what does it mean?Chief Blair says that for the first six months in 2009, charges laid for serious crime are down about 12% compared to last year. That’s the drop in the r... Full Story

VIEWPOINT: At last, Conrad may be freed

I’m heartened to learn that my fellow media mogul, Conrad Black, has won a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court on his wrongful conviction of charges laid by a glory-seeking Chicago prosecutor. Now it’s certainly true that Conrad has lost much public sympathy because of his elitist, arrogant attitu... Full Story

Viewpoint: Noise management at the Island airport is a waiting game

Saturday morning. 8 a.m. I wake up to an airplane revving its engines not once, not twice but three times before taking off. Sunday night, I’m drifting off to sleep as a plane lands and guns its engines in reverse thrust after the 11 p.m. airport curfew. In both cases I am jolted awake, setting into... Full Story

John Sewell: Quickie re-hiring of chief costs needed scrutiny period

It happened so quickly that everyone except insiders was taken by surprise. It was as though the event was so contentious and important that the public was not entitled to any prior notice or any chance to mull the matter over in advance. It’s a strange way to do public business, but that’s the way ... Full Story

Michael Comstock: Big apple tops TO in consideration of the public’s needs

Muddy York was once Toronto’s nickname. Sidewalks of wood and coal cinders fell apart every spring as the icy ground heaved and softened. Muddy York was the first urban reference about Toronto. Fittingly, this was a pedestrian appellation. The pendulum of city governance is now crushing the car and ... Full Story

Frank Touby: Want to get rich? Get regulated by Ottawa

While Neocons argue that government regulation is anathema to an effective marketplace, their masters in big business find it just the other way around. Having a government-regulated oligopoly is a sure way to wealth and power for an industry.In many ways the industry and the regulator are natural b... Full Story

VIEWPOINT: Dalton imposes the BS Tax

The guy nobody wanted as Liberal Party leader, Dalton McGuinty, has cursed Ontario with a Tory-style attack on the poor and middle classes. It’s a hellish concoction of the original Tory tax curse of GST and the Provincial Sales Tax to become the new Blended Sales Tax, or BS Tax.It adds 8% to things... Full Story

Touby: Police-state tactic approved by high court

Let’s say you’re walking down Yonge Street with your backpack (or your briefcase or whatever) and a cop thinks (or claims to think) there’s a smell of pot coming from it.The cop uses that superior sense of smell as probable cause to search your backpack. You can’t resist or you’ll find yourself in h... Full Story

Comstock: Council promotes staff interests over those of residents

Biodiversity is a word from the science of ecology which has become an axiom for a healthy world. It speaks to the range of organisms present in a particular ecological community.Healthy bio-diverse planets can be measured by the types of different species, or the genetic variations within them. The... Full Story

Sewell: Cops in high schools

Someone, probably Police Chief Bill Blair, will have to soon make the decision whether police officers should again be put in selected Toronto high schools.About 20 schools have had officers assigned to them since last September. That decision was taken by the chief, with the assent of the school tr... Full Story

Corky Evans bids a meaning-filled farewell

M.L.A. Corky Evans’ farewell speech to the British Columbia Legislature is a most candid, thoughtfully crafted and moving rendition. From “good, old, independent, competitive free enterprise–type businesses, to monopolies, to sixty-year-old men who “sob in [their] pick-up truck”, he shares his persp... Full Story

Touby: Dalton taxes our patiencei—iand everything else

Even before there was history, tax collectors have been the detested scourges on humankind. As far back as cave dwellers, there were thugs in animal skins who forcibly claimed turf and extracted tribute. Today they wear polyester and wool.In the 1980s I was a national radio commentator for the Finan... Full Story

Sewell: Toronto cops have superior Taser protocols

From the point of view of the Toronto police service, 2008 was a successful year in the use of the Taser. According to a report by Chief Bill Blair to the March 30 meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board, officers used the Taser 367 times and no one suffered any injuries.Was the high rate of po... Full Story

Comstock: Small merchants sandbagged by TTC and city hall

For Earth Day I looked at our big-city problems through a green lens. I do believe that green considerations make it easier to be in the middle of the road. It seems more dignified to be in the middle. The left and right, the doves and hawks, the pro and con groups keep feeding the media with poorly... Full Story

Olivia bashes censor-crazed Tories

Canadians interested in hearing international experts deliver anti-war messages will now have to leave the country to do so. British MP George Galloway, who was schedule to talk on resisting the war in Afghanistan, was banned by Harper’s government from entering Canada. “Harper's Conservatives are w... Full Story

City Hall crisis costing Andre his job

There has been entirely too much harm done to the city's hiring intentions. When you consider that senior executive-type staff and managers must be kept on to keep the system from falling apart, it's clear that the only way to trim costs is to trim bottom-level staff. Unfortunate as this is, it's a ... Full Story

VIEWPOINT: Greedy Miller council cashes us in

Greedy David Miller and his council gang are cashing in Toronto taxpayers’ properties to finance his out-of-control spending on ridiculous things like super-expensive streetcars. Things that might grow his "legacy," but don't help and might even hurt taxpayers.He plans, for instance, to du... Full Story

Jury duty? Just shoot me

Maybe it sounds naïve, but I used to think being called up for jury duty was kind of an honour. Hey, it’s an opportunity to serve your community and the justice system.Several years ago I sat on a jury-type “public institutions inspection panel” that got to drop in on places like the Don Jail and re... Full Story

Touby: Second-Rate Olympics R Us

Now, from the clowns at city hall, a new circus! Presenting... Olympics Lite! (Otherwise known as the Pan American Games.) What better way to take a broom to that feeling of less-than-world-class than to sweep up in 2015 where 1999 host Winnipeg left off?Ringmaster David Miller has whipped his counc... Full Story

Comstock: Sidewalk sidelines

The snowplough that is driven down King St. E. this winter has to skip sections of the walk where the transit shelters take up so much of the sidewalk that it can’t fit between the pole and the advertising. Of course this is not directly the result of poor city planning. The rules clearly state that... Full Story

VIEWPOINT: Toronto bans bottled water but not bottled pop

LONDON, U.K. — The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, they say. And to prove it, the city of Toronto has decided to outlaw the sale of bottled water in all municipal buildings, including local arenas.But rather than being an example of smart, progressive action to protect the environment, t... Full Story

Sewell: Gangbanger candidates target of hopeful new program

As we climb out of cold February into the early spring of March, here’s some good news. The federal government has agreed to fund a program targeting youth involved in gangs and violence. It is exactly the kind of initiative recommended by Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling in their report “Roots of You... Full Story

Subway policing may be more feel good than do good

Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 45.This Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serv... Full Story

Island airport bird threat

After reading the Letters to the Editor in the Feb 2009 issue, I am compelled to respond to the twisting of information to suit the NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) that oppose the Toronto Island airport.Brian Isler states that there is "an alarming frequency of bird strikes at YTZ" and "... Full Story

Toronto turns 175 next month

Toronto will celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2009.The City of Toronto was incorporated on March 6, 1834, following a significant increase in demand for public services in the former municipality of York. Prominent journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie was chosen as Toronto’s first mayo... Full Story

We are upbeat about our personal financial prospects

A majority of Canadians expect 2009 to be a year in which the Canadian economy worsens, employment levels drop substantially, inflation spirals, taxes surge, the national debt balloons, and the value of the Canadian dollar depreciates. But despite this record-high pessimism – the highest recorded in... Full Story

Eggleton: Conservative approach worsened Great Depression

As the economic crisis deepens, and many Canadians are worried about their jobs, retirement and standard of living, it is often useful to look back at similar times in Canadian history. By doing so, we can find many lessons from past generations that can guide us. The last great economic crisis of... Full Story

Viewpoint: Are Canadians really this stupid?

Are Canadians really this stupid? My blog is getting scores of replies from voters who claim their votes don’t count because a coalition is going to replace a minority Tory government. That’s nuts. How dumb are these people? If you voted for Stephen Harper or Jack Layton or that doofus Stephane Dion... Full Story

VIEWPOINT: Condo proposals threaten historic King Street East

The oldest prominent commercial street in Old Town Toronto is under attack. King St. E. from Yonge in the west to Parliament St. in the east is designated by city planners as a “Special Street” in an “Area of Special Identity.”Three developers today propose high-rise condos along the street. They ar... Full Story

Bell hell: Unsupportable support

While many Canadians are suffering from job losses and an uncertain economic future, homegrown Bell Canada is—some might say unpatriotically—exporting jobs to foreign lands. So unbeknownst to them, Canadians are unwillingly paying foreign aid by losing the chance to earn paycheques with a Canadian c... Full Story

Viewpoint: At last, an end to Harper and his gang

Editorial minds at National Post have adhered to the Neocon lying point that because the separatist Bloc Quebecois is backing the pending coalition government likely to replace the Tories, there’s something illegitimate about the pact. That is pure baloney. We are thankful that the Stephen Harper re... Full Story

Viewpoint: Bikes versus cars

Last month in the Bulletin the merits of Sharrow lanes were discussed – bike symbols painted on the roadway to remind drivers to share space with cyclists.. But Sharrow lanes or bike lanes, we still have a lot of problems with irresponsible road users. Both drivers and cyclists themselves need to be... Full Story

Viewpoint: Newcomers get favoured treatment over citizens

Our parents and grandparents fought in the World Wars and what good has it done to them and their offspring? Seniors living in poverty after all they have done for this country! Any of the services they get, they pay an arm and leg for. How many of these seniors are being forced into nursing homes... Full Story

Touby: At Christmas we prayed for cool weather

Have a cool yule and a frantic first. That’s from a greeting card I received in 1954 from a classmate at Gesu Catholic School in downtown Miami. I wrote a column in the mimeographed school newsletter about how inappropriate such a “jazzy” greeting was for such a monumental religious event.It was a f... Full Story

Sewell: City spends lots on police, not much on youth

One of the wisest and most perceptive reports on a pressing public policy issue the city is facing was released a few weeks ago: Roots of Youth Violence, by former Chief Justice Roy McMurtry and former legislative Speaker Alvin Curling. The media generally focused on one controversial section of the... Full Story

Comstock: I solved the coffee cup with plastic lid recycling problem

You always expect daylight will fade in the winter months, but it comes as a shock each year that it is dark at 5 p.m.In Old Town there are over 100 home décor stores; many tell me this is a great time to be selling lamps.The brain trips a switch with the loss of daylight and we need lamps. To every... Full Story

Viewpoint: FSE death blow costly

The city’s planning committee has just urged a significant shift in the horrendously complex waterfront transport tangle by excising the very costly, controversial, and nearly dead Front St. Extension (FSE) project from the Official Plan during a meeting on Nov. 13.Although this seems like great new... Full Story

Frank Touby: Chin up! Things really are much better than they seem

I was 14 when I heard the devastating news that a bunch of judges in Washington D.C. had declared that American children would have to share their classrooms with monkeys. In my then largely redneck town of Miami, Florida where the Stars and Bars of the Confederate flag decorated automobiles and man... Full Story

Sewell: McGuinty drags heels on cop accountability protocols

There was considerable optimism 4-and-a-half years ago, in April 2004, when Michel Bryant, Attorney General of Ontario, announced he was beginning a process to determine how complaints against the police could be made into a rational and respectable system. Eight years earlier, in 1996, Premier Mike... Full Story

Comstock: City staff muddlers get credit they don’t deserve

The building of a new St. Lawrence Market North finally made the major media last month. The report by the Toronto Star was accurate but framed by the reporter in Star-eze.That is to say the Star editorializes most everything you read. News, crime stats, the suffering of today’s fresh tragedy, is us... Full Story

Sewell: Cop-budget savings could aid at-risk youth

You never know when constructive debate might break out, so I was surprised when it occurred in the midst of a fairly sleepy meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board on Sept. 20. I had just made a presentation on the recently released compendium of police info found in the 2008 Environmental Sc... Full Story

Frank Touby: When ‘conservative’ was good

There was a time not too long ago when “conservative” stood for something honest and good. It described a political and social position that built North America. It meant honest labour was a high virtue, along with reasonable self reliance, concern for one’s fellow citizens, a sense of fairness for ... Full Story

Comstock: Greens turned me red

I had hoped to vote Green this election. It seemed like such a nice, political party. They have such a wonderful future-looking, save-the-planet bunch of platforms. I mean, what’s not to like? Well after making a modest donation to them, I was shocked to learn they support “safe injection sites.” N... Full Story

Sewell: Are our cops underworked?

The President of the Toronto Police Association, Dave Wilson, has said his goal in a new contract with the Toronto Police Services Board is to ensure Toronto police officers are the highest paid police in Canada. At the moment, the highest paid officers work for the Peel Service—they start at about ... Full Story

Frank Touby: It’s deadly when governments work for corporations

The multifaceted errors of amalgamation and the team that brought Toronto to this sad state of dysfunction are becoming more apparent as time goes on. Big is not best unless you’re also a big warlord like the corporations that rule North America and much of the world.Amalgamation suits big business—... Full Story

Comstock: Badly managed surroundings won’t mar Old Town TO Festival

I was considering what visitors to the upcoming Festival of Old Town Toronto, scheduled for Sept 12 – 14, will find. We are going to have Walking Tour groups raising funds for the Homework Club, led by our local guides Bruce Bell, Richard Fiennes-Clinton and Bill Genova. They’ll be wandering around ... Full Story

Viewpoint: Comstock's Gardiner article intelligent and sensible

I just read a copy of Mike's article entitled: "Think hard before tearing down Gardiner" and wanted to say how pleased I am to finally see someone with intelligence, sound reasoning and sensible rationale report on the Gardiner issue. It is such a welcome relief to read Mike's realistic, well-founde... Full Story

Sewell: Cops spew gobbledygook on gun facts

Gun clubs have been chased out of the city by city council’s decision at the end of June, and that’s apparently a signal that our leaders think that something has to be done about guns. It is difficult to argue with council’s intention, but much remains to be learned about the real world of... Full Story

Comstock: Think hard before tearing down Gardiner

The next time someone talks about the Gardiner Expressway being torn down please review their reasons and weigh their arguments. This could be the biggest mess the East end of Toronto (actually the whole Downtown) might ever have to face. The huge cost, which only converts one type of roadway into a... Full Story

Viewpoint: Preview our new, muchdreaded ‘street furniture’

In May I visited the Astral Media showcase of the city’s new street furniture program on behalf of Cabbagetown2.0, the Old Caggabgetown Business Improvement Area’s public space committee. Overall, it inspired in me a long list of pros and cons, questions and possibilities. For instance, the... Full Story

Sewell: Did Pam let cop board kill useful womens counsel?

Most public figures steer clear of policies to reduce levels of sexual assault against women since it is so tangled and immediately runs into the need to change the way the police force works. But, to her credit, local councilor Pam McConnell waded into this issue almost 10 years ago in the hopes of... Full Story

Comstock: Tax Big Box ‘acres of free parking’

I would like to thank the many folks who have told me they enjoyed and now miss, the Food and History Shows that Bruce Bell and I—helped along by one or more of the St. Lawrence Market merchants—performed each Saturday at noon. The Market is looking into a revival program for the Kitchen West Mezzan... Full Story

Viewpoint: Farce that Launched a Thousand Suicide Bombers

His dying image was spread across front pages of newspapers and television screens worldwide, making Mohammed al-Dura the poster boy for Israeli brutality and Palestinian victimhood. But what if the footage distributed so fervently by France¹s state television Channel 2 was unwittingly misleading? O... Full Story

Viewpoint: Where garbage reigns supreme

A city aspiring to “world class” should be able to deliver on key services under its municipal charter–efficient municipal infrastructure, safe and secure streets, attractive business and residential tax rates. Downtown residents, however, are inundated with rubbish both figurative and non-figurativ... Full Story

Comstock: City hall ignores our greatest source of tourism

This is the time of year to think about house guests visiting you and Toronto this summer. Hopefully these are planned visits by old friends and family you love to see. Of all the city slogans kicked around, “The City of Neighbourhoods” is the best for me. Your visitors should see the city sites and... Full Story

Sewell: Do cops adequately police themselves?

What should happen when senior police managers are unwilling to fully prosecute criminal cases in a timely fashion and their lack of action results in cases being thrown out of court? And what should be done when the cases involve police officers accused of wrongdoing? These are the questions now ho... Full Story

Viewpoint: More bunkum from Joe Volpe

Joe Volpe, Liberal MP and avid Toronto Port Authority supporter, omitted some important facts in parliament yesterday. In a debate on amendments to the Canada Marine Act, he stated: “Despite all the criticisms, it ranks, according to Transport Canada and according to the volume of operating ... Full Story

Comstock: How about a Downtown TTC discount?

I am quite different from Pam McConnell, Kyle Rae and Olivia Chow, because I have a car. I drive it very little, it is 11 years old with only 94,000 kms, and most of that mileage (kilometrage?) is driving to Michigan to visit my sister. But, I don’t think any of these Downtown public servants even h... Full Story

Harper reactionaries call Grits crooked

LIBERALS BYPASS POLITICAL RULES, SEEK BIG CORPORATE MONEYStephane Dion to participate in Secret Corporate Fundraiser, with no donation limits OTTAWA - Today, Conservative Member of Parliament, Pierre Poilievre demanded answersfrom Liberal Leader Stephane Dion about a big money, no limit, Liberal cor... Full Story

Viewpoint: Take off the green beer goggles before voting

March 17 is usually a day associated with Ireland and green beer—but for the residents of the federal riding of Toronto Centre, this St. Patrick's Day is a day for serious decision-making.Calling the by-election on St Patrick's Day is arguably one of the “Greenest” moves made by the Harper governmen... Full Story

Sewell: Spend less for cops, more for youth

Did you hear the story about the cop who made $140,000 last year? He’s a constable with the Toronto police force and that was his take-home pay. Or maybe the Toronto cop who made $102,000 not working a single day last year? He was on leave because he had been charged with extortion, obstructing just... Full Story

Comstock: Tourism helps makes Downtown living rich, exciting

Within the service sector in Canada we find tourism in the crapper. The looney, the border and the people sleeping on the streets are robbing Toronto’s economy of tourism’s value. And tourism is a wonderful thing. Tourism integrates the world, shares the experience of living, creates learning and fo... Full Story

Sewell: Tasers for cops on the beat?

At its next meeting on Thursday February 21, the Toronto Police Services Board will consider a report from the Chief of Police containing a recommendation that the Board write to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to amend the regulations to allow for the expansion of TASER... Full Story

Canada being sold out to Mexico and the U.S.

As some of you may know, Canada is in the process of aligning its policies with those of the USA. Very quietly. Without public debate. It is all part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) signed in Waco, Texas, 2005. This is not a left-right issue -- Martin signed the accord, Harper is ar... Full Story

Sewell: Tasers, cop shift work at issue

Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 39, January 21, 2008.In this issue: 1. Forum on Tasers, February 6 2. Taser International comes to Toronto 3. Police shift work to shift? 4. Dealing with perpetrators of woman abuse 5. Subscribe to the Bulletin *** 1. Forum on Tasers, February 6... Full Story

Viewpoint: Little Norway omission tells of Port Authority-planned fate

In mid-July, the Toronto Star decided to run a contest for “Top Waterfront Park” to see which waterfront park was most popular. For some reason, even when reminded, it decided to leave out Little Norway Park, a major park between what used to be called Lower Bathurst St. and Little Norway Crescent.... Full Story

Sewell: Acquitted? Your records may still follow you

The Toronto Police Services Board alternates its monthly meetings between Committee Room 2 at city hall and the auditorium on the second floor of the College Street police headquarters. But neither space seems to get the seven members of the board into a democratic frame of mind where they exhibit e... Full Story

Viewpoint: Humane society pets living cheek by jowl

I know we can sometimes sound like the boy who cried wolf, but we always operate at the very edge of our capacity because we never resort to euthanasia to keep the numbers in check. People know that if they bring in a lost dog or cat, or surrender a pet to us, that the animal will be housed, fed and... Full Story

Sewell: Limit dangerous cop chases

Maybe police chases are a necessary evil, or maybe there’s an alternative. They certainly happen with great regularity. According to the chair of the police Services Board, Alok Mukherjee, Toronto police were involved in 245 chases in 2006. Mukherjee made the comment after the horrific crash in whic... Full Story

Chow: Pilot projects do not make for a national crime prevention strategy

Over a month after the tragic school shooting of Jordan Manners, the Conservative government, namely Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has failed to address the needs of Canada's biggest city, said NDP MP and Youth Critic Olivia Chow.Yesterday, Minister Day announced 27 new crime prevention studi... Full Story

Frank Touby: Pork barrel’s annual spring passion play

It is an annual ritual that former Liberal MP Dennis Mills condemned city residents to endure each year when the perennial backbencher talked the Jean Chretien government into remaking the failed Toronto Harbour Commission into a federal port authority, against all common sense, common decency and, ... Full Story

‘Straight guy’ to wed woman born a man

Since my last year of high school, 1983-84, when I was 18, I had gone an awfully long time without having a girlfriend, even though at times I desperately wanted one. Going places on my own, especially when I saw other guys with their female partners, not to mention spending a lot of time at home by... Full Story

Comstock: Heal the suffering on our streets

For many years I have loved this city, but seeing the squalour on the streets of our financial district sidewalks, I am beginning to see why a lot of the country thinks Toronto sucks.The greatest crime in Downtown Toronto isn’t Conrad Black’s income manipulations but the inhumane crime of people lef... Full Story

Kids dig Nelson Mandela greening project

With school grounds often resembling parking lots rather than places of inspiration and learning, the need to bring nature back to students is a growing concern for many parents and teachers.Nelson Mandela Park Public School is addressing the issue through the school’s greening committee. The garden... Full Story

Nailing down Conrad as a prosecutor’s trophy

Like most Canadians, I was shocked when my fellow media mogul, Lord Black of Crossharbour (I just call him Conrad), was yanked in front of the Yankee system of justice by that showbizzy prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald who has toppled some bigshots in the States.To get some insight into what my fellow... Full Story

Flanders: Waterfront condos not the kind of focus we need

To Mayor Miller:The proposed condos at the foot of Yonge Street expose this city's total lack of vision for what could be. People are against waterfront condos, but they can't imagine what an amazing focal point this site could be. The citizens of Sidney, Australia saw what a magnificent opera house... Full Story

Comstock: In praise of volunteers

I am a volunteer junkie. It seems I can find the enthusiasm needed to get involved, when certain community projects appear. Over time, you start to recognize those people who re-appear at deputations, talks, displays and the councilor’s ceremonials. These people provide a role that is the very neces... Full Story

Conrad Black is not guilty

As I watch the prosecutorial abuse of my fellow media mogul, Lord Black of Crossharbour, it is apparent how that stilted skit we call a justice system plays to the very stages we erect.Lord Black, or Conrad as I know him, has been targeted by a showbiz prosecutor in the States and it’s interesting t... Full Story

Viewpoint: Inconvenient truths extend to Downtown

The bubble of deceit, pretense and political correctness called Harm Reduction has been burst by the United Nations drug control agency. A stern warning to Health Minister Tony Clement declares that Canada having signed the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is flouting international drug cont... Full Story

Comstock: Old Town Toronto is winning recognition

Before SARS, before Amalgamation, before 9/11, the southeast Downtown of Toronto began to organize itself as a district within the city. How can we bring improvements to the neighbourhood if we are all reading different manuals? We were a long way from being on the same page. There were heritage fol... Full Story

Frank Touby: Tories: Aristocrats, Wannabes or Butlers

Some of you are going to be very offended by this and for that, I’m sorry and I apologize in advance. Because if you’re offended, it’s likely that you’re not among the people I’m going to describe, despite your political label. In some cases you’re just following in the footsteps of your family who ... Full Story

Viewpoint: Quay to the City: Some concerns from a resident/owner

The purpose of this memo is to outline the reasons why I believe the Quay to the City promenade concept will be a mistake for the City of Toronto. As well I have concerns about some of the other elements of the Quay to the City design that will adversely affect residents and visitors.My understandi... Full Story

Comstock: Tax free parking everywhere, including malls

As Mayor Miller contemplates the heady new powers of the City of Toronto Act, his first pronouncement was, why not punish Downtown neighbourhoods with a new tax on parking? Taxing only Downtown’s already high-priced parking is harmful to the economic development of a vibrant, diversified core. This ... Full Story

Frank Touby: David, please be as good as you look

With our recycled more powerful mayor and genuine new decision-making powers for council, we have every reason to expect city hall to turn around this new year. There are a number of things that haven’t been addressed by council in any effective way and with a decided majority of councilors supporti... Full Story

Toronto Dollar founder keeps the faith

At a recent conference on climate change, experts and scientists declared unequivocally that catastrophic times are upon us. One physicist at the University of Toronto said it was already too late. The Titanic has hit the iceberg. Huge disasters of climate change have already arrived and more are i... Full Story

Changes at 51 Div. CPLC

Why get involved in community policing? Let’s see. It’s a venue for information exchange between my neighbours and the police. A chance for a good bitch session. It’s an opportunity to publicize policing strategies to the community. A chance for cop wannabees to sit closer to the sun (once a month).... Full Story

Yes, you’re reading this right: Comstock praises the NDP

All Toronto media completely missed a big story of the Dec. 12 provincial legislature’s meeting.The most amazing thing that morning was the opposition gallery and many other seats packed with 60-70 members of neighbourhood business organizations (BIAs) from across Toronto. They were viewing Ontario ... Full Story

Viewpoint: Tory cancer chemical stance disappoints

Prevent Cancer Now (PCN), a national, non-profit coalition of health, environment, labour and other organizations today expressed disappointment with the federal government’s chemical management announcement. Citing the government’s Chemicals Management Plan website, the group said the so-called pl... Full Story

Don't tear down the Gardiner: YQNA

York Quay Neighbourhood Association wrote to Toronto Star columnist Glen Murray with comments and questions about the Gardiner Expressway, which was his topic on Dec. 3, 2006.It’s always interesting to hear new ideas on the Gardiner Expressway that runs through our neighbourhood. On the waterfront, ... Full Story

Liberals: a united party? Or unite and party?

I attended this weekend’s convention as a delegate for Stéphane Dion, and a reporter for The Bulletin Online, and I’ll say this for the Liberals: they can throw a party. Political folklore has it that you go to Conservative conventions to get drunk, NDP conventions to get stoned, and Liberal convent... Full Story

Comstock: NDP Waffles as problems pile like pancakes

The NDP was founded in 1961. The party has had six leaders: T. C. Douglas (1961-71), David Lewis (1971-75), Ed Broadbent (1975-89), Audrey McLaughlin (1989-95), Alexa McDonough (1995-2003) and Jack Layton (2003-present). The federal NDP has averaged 15.4% of the vote, which is enough to influence Ca... Full Story

Sometimes a bureaucrat can be a public treasure

No matter who gets elected, it’s the civil service who actually are the government. At the most intrusive array of their powers and tasks, they’re the ones who’ll chase you for taxes, stuff you in prison, confiscate your property, even shoot you dead if they think you’re resisting enough to warrant ... Full Story

Viewpoint: Meet the 'Meth'

Our friends in St. Lawrence may or may not wish to hear how some Corktowners are coping with Mr. Gupte’s methadone business that moved from their neighbourhood to ours about three months ago.At the September meeting of the Corktown Residents & Business Association, several people who lived and/o... Full Story

Viewpoint: It's time for a change on Queen East – we need a BIA

We are a group of business people who have been working together for the past two years to form a Business Improvement Area (“BIA”) on Queen St. East. We have all experienced the problems in the area: concerns about safety, the appearance of the street, the effect of these issues on our businesses, ... Full Story

Viewpoint: Shapcott on Pitfield's panhandling pan

Anti-panhandling bylaw: Is it legal?Toronto municipal politician Jane Pitfield has proposed a “quality of life” bylaw to ban panhandling. The law courts have ruled that there is “expressive content” in begging that is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In plain language, people are ... Full Story

Steve screws Toronto

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Beancounters disgrace themselves

A fetid storm of outrage has blown ill at the beancounters’ biggest labour union, aka the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, as their “ethics” watchdog committee farted out the clearance on charges of accounting wrongdoing of former city hall sexpot Wanda Liczyk, the somewhat potato-fac... Full Story

Our Guardian Angels: A blessing or a curse?

Received with high fives from pedestrians, bells ringing on passing streetcars, waves from drivers and scattered applause, the controversial (only-in-Toronto) Guardian Angels began their patrols of Downtown July 13. A dozen or so sauntered from Billboard Central at Dundas and Yonge to what residents... Full Story

Viewpoint: Our bland, blond hope

He was our great blond hope: The man with the broom; the man who was going to make a clean sweep at city hall and rid us of the civil-service ineptitude and backdoor dealings that peppered the place under the Mel Lastman regime in the nasty wake of Mike Harris’ unwanted Amalgamation.The Bad Old Boys... Full Story

Mike Comstock: BIAs are spicing up our core

It’s back-to-school season and once again the weather turned just as St. Lawrence Market’s Buskerfest was in swing.Downtown East was popping with street events this summer. There was a large turn out at Quay to Toronto, to see the style of street architecture that will be used to improve the waterfr... Full Story

Viewpoint: The Docks and the Islanders

In a classic piece of tabloid journalism, the Toronto Sun and radio hotline shows blamed Islanders when the Docks lost their liquor license on Monday, July 24th. In fact, the Docks had no one to blame but themselves.The origin of the dispute goes back almost to the time the complex was built over t... Full Story

Frank Touby: Pols erect ‘money siphons’ to suck out taxes

The recent raise for Toronto’s dysfunctional city council—a curse of the previous provincial government that was operated by yokels—is mere peanuts, according to my friend Slovo the shoemaker.He says he knows exactly why many politicians are willing to raise and spend vast sums of money and devote h... Full Story

Viewpoint: Queen E. BIA is a sucker’s bet

Business improvement areas or BIAs have existed in Toronto since the ‘70s. Back then, BIAs were chiefly concerned with beautifying their business streetscapes to attract shoppers.Merchants determined which projects they wanted to undertake, they approved a budget for the projects and directed the ci... Full Story

Mike Comstock: Local merchants are dying out

Is Toronto still a city of neighbourhoods? That was one of the mottos that seemed to fit, at least, I had hope that it was true. I get the idea of a giant metropolis which is made up of more personable small towns, neighbourhoods that you can know and understand. Over the years I have had the pleasu... Full Story

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