Happy Canada Day - hope it doesn't rain!
Happy 142 Canada.
I'm unleashing the right wing opinion dogs on this one, a comment in the TO Star by Sid Ryan about striking workers and the tendency for employers to bash them into the ground, for as the 649 man says, "I can"
Monday evening Council was faced with an interesting situation over heritage windows. Gary Sharpe, the owner of 4,6,8 King St applied for a heritage permit to replace the 2nd storey windows. LACAC took a look and decided that in order to confirm to Town guidelines (in place since the early 90s) the windows should be repaired not replaced. Mr Sharpe disagreed because he wants to refit with vinyl windows. LACAC stuck to its guns and the application went to Council on Monday. Mr Sharpe, a very popular local businessman was present to see the coordinator of planning present a motion rejecting the application that did not get a seconder - a very unusual situation. Obviously the rest of Council was determined to support Mr Sharp and showed it by not supporting the motion. The Mayor determined that this motion and recommendation from LACAC could not remain in limbo and asked for another motion to dispose of the application. Councillor Stan Frost made a motion that was, by design?, a clever motion that the other councillors failed to understand - they after all only wanted to give Mr Sharpe his windows. SF's motion read"That the replacement windows be of material reflecting latest technologies but must be compatible and fit with the heritage surroundings". Up went the hands in support but in order to comply surely the replacement vinyl must be specially designed to fit the surroundings as opposed to the normal replacement windows. A Machiavellian response.The situation gets murkier as during the debate Mr Sharpe said that he wanted to fit the same kind of window shown on the right (see pic above). These were fitted two years ago with the approval of LACAC. When the BR investigated the situation the conclusion was that the LACAC folks of two years ago were not the same as today - they had lower standards! So how do we achieve consistency? We have to find a way.
We may have to stop following George across Canada as he might get too famous. Another email in this morning from Connie in Moosonee. She says she is looking forward to meeting him. All George wants to do is ride his bike not do interviews. Ah the power of the Internet!
A statement from the former MP of NorthumberlandQuinteWest, Paul Macklin has crossed the wire wherein he has ruled out another crack at the nomination. Throwing the race wide open expect aspirants to be blitzing the riding for support in an election that may or may not come in the Fall. Names being bandied around as horses in the race: local Cobourg businesswoman Kim Rudd, Andrew McFadden from the riding centre and perhaps Christine Herrington from Brighton.
It is Wednesday the 1st today Blogspot is fooling around with the date on the entries.
13 comments:
Toronto union workers didn't rain on the Gay Pride Parade, but they did rain on the Canada Day festivities.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/06/30/matt-gurney-in-patriotic-toronto-pride-parade-goes-ahead-canada-day-gets-the-axe.aspx
At least we know where their priorities are; politics before principles.
First, a reminder to Mr. Keeler that politics, and this strike, are all about principles! I have to agree with Sid Ryan that the union bashing seems especially virulent this time.
On a practical note, I have for years been ticked off that Toronto has failed to get a grip on its volume of garbage. It has failed to be a leader in recycling while other municipalities like ours have taken charge of the issue and done what was necessay.
It's not that I think Northumberland's system is perfect, or that I particularly like paying to put out my wet garbage, but at least we have taken responsibility for it.
For folks in Toronto to be in a fever about what to do with their garbage, when it's only been a week and a half, convinces me even more that they generate too much of it. We only put wet garbage out every other week, sometimes it can go to 3 weeks. If we lived in Toronto we wouldn't even have noticed it on a household level yet. So what's with these people?
Ooh, hot news on the political front. I wonder what the Liberal old boys are thinking now.
I'm looking forward to hearing more about Andrew McFadden, and I suspect I am not the only person in the riding, liberal or otherwise, who has never heard of him until now. Not a good start for a politician.
At least I know Kim (my mother was president of her labour council) Rudd and Christine Herrington, Brighton mayor and former Warden.
Either could take on Rick Norlock without difficulty, and certainly Kim Rudd has the chops to expose him for the cretin that he is.
Haven't seen enough of Ms. Herrington yet to reach any conclusions, but this might be a very entertaining nomination meeting to attend. I'll bring the popcorn.
Well we all know that Gay Pride trumps National Pride; that's the principle.
Insofar as garbage is concerned, Cobourg and other small nit-picking holier-than-thou municipalities do not have to deal with the quantum volume that Toronto has to deal with.
Toronto has been and continues to be the lead creator of wealth in this country. Toronto residents have subsidized via taxes, many of the benefits enjoyed by the rest of the country.
The nation as a whole (the one the unions will not uphold on this one day a year) makes immigration policy; refugees included. We all know that the vast majority of immigrants gravitate to Montreal, Vancouver, but mostly Toronto.
Nevertheless, it is Toronto taxpayers that pay for national policy, not the small parasitical municipalities orbiting it; those municipalities that whine about immigrants busing from Toronto to enjoy parks.
Small towners bloatedly posture but do not have to live half a block away from two story-high piles of garbage, watch rats scampering willy-nilly across playgrounds and schools to get into the pile, late night raccoons tearing bags open and threatening and attacking pets.
How smug & righteous the dime-a-dozen Toronto-bashers!
"It [Toronto] has failed to be a leader in recycling while other municipalities like ours [Cobourg]have taken charge of the issue and done what was necessay."
Toronto was the first city in Ontario to ban the cosmetic use of insecticides and pesticides. That's leadership and taking charge of an issue.
Back to you Mz O'Connor.
On June 18, 2009 Ben Burd said: "Perhaps we should forget all of this “left”, “right” sophomoric nonsense and deal with facts not silly prejudicial opinion"
Yesterday Ben Burd said "I'm unleashing the right wing opinion dogs on this one,.."
Take your own advice, Ben?
In olden days, when times got tough, the powers that be would offer bread and circuses to distract the masses.
With EI bread gone stale, the powerful of today offer only circuses, while their clowns, without rhyme or reason, sound their trumpets, jumping at any excuse to lead a parade.
NB to Wally:
Like the song says, "you say tomAto, I say ToMAHto, let's call the whole thing off".
Was that Cole Porter, George Gershwin or Irving Berlin? Can't remember.
Here's a letter in The Toronto Star from a Toronto resident who, seeing potential for good coming from the strike, says this: "if this strike forces us to face the amount of waste we produce, and reduce it, I'm all for it."
Amen.
Powerful ancients offered bread and circuses to distract the people from their condition.
More recently, our EI bread having gone moldy, they offer us only circuses.
There is nothing inherently principled about a parade, nor anything remotely poetic about about words used as weapons.
Kind hearts are more than coronets.
Leave the poetry to poets who know better than any other human being how to wield words with precision and the full potential of their effectiveness.
Poetasters and other prosaics get to wishy-washy play in the tarpit of language at their own peril and humiliation.
A union is no more principled than a parade, gay or otherwise. A union suspended its principles for several hours to service one parade over another. The reason? Politics.
You threw your red herring on dry land, William.
A union is a collectivity of men and women sanctioned by the rights of free association and assembly, which along with free speech are fundamental liberties.
Both poetry and politics involve the exercise of and require the protection of such rights.
Those who ab-use language to make disconnections between men and women care nothing for liberty. Those who believe that politicians are for target practice care nothing for poetry.
"Those who ab-use language to make disconnections between men and women care nothing for liberty. Those who believe that politicians are for target practice care nothing for poetry."
Those who make such claims are bloated with banality, and the intellectual beauties of analogy, metaphor, simile, etc have rightly fled from their souls
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