Municipal Politics – Page 31

It is all in the staging.

July 30, 2012 by Peter Lowry

The buzzword in Ottawa used to be ‘optics.’ When asked about the optics, it meant you were supposed to understand how things looked politically. Whatever the current buzzword might be must have been flying around last week when Prime Minister Harper agreed to meet with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. There must have been a storm of messages texted back and forth from Harper’s people to Ford’s people to get the meet organized.

The first concern was the meeting place. The standard arrangement is that the junior politician has to go, on bended knee, to the place where the senior politician reigns. That was waived this time because the Prime Minister had a great photo-op (a likely picture in all the major papers and on TV that night) in Oshawa where he could be seen crowing over the supposed success of Harper-style economics and the financial accomplishments of General Motors Canada.

That did not mean that he would then travel to Toronto City Hall. That would send the wrong message. Mayor Ford had to meet him halfway. That meant they had to meet in Scarborough. (And that really is foreign soil for west-ender Ford.) Next they had to agree on a place. Somebody suggested that since they were meeting ostensively to talk about guns and policing, they should meet in a police station. The next trick was to find a cop-shop with a big enough room for the news media, a bunch of flags and egos as big as Ford’s and Harper’s. They found there was such a place.

The advance team from Stephen Harper’s office probably sent out a rush order for more lights and more flags to decorate the room but it looked fine when the media gathered to witness the meeting of these two leaders. The Prime Minister was, as usual, perfectly dressed in a buttoned-up virgin wool suit and finely coifed in his exquisite hairpiece.

Mayor Ford, on the other hand, was himself. With his gut hanging over his belt, suit coat undone, tie askew, unbuttoned sweat-stained shirt collar, spiked hair and jowls quivering, Rob Ford was every inch his worship, the slob.

These are two very different men within a common political vision. They did the meet and greet for the news media.

The media wondered why they were both so closed-mouth about their private discussion. The truth be known, they had nothing to discuss other than a common interest in fishing. Did the media think they would tell them that?

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Three blind mice meet at Queen’s Park.

July 25, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Were the Toronto news media trying to make a point the other day? They were switching from the funeral of the young man killed in a gunfight at a recent barbeque to a meeting at Queen’s park about gun violence in Toronto. The three blind mice were there: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

When considering these three men, it is very important not to confuse ignorance with stupidity. No member of this trio is stupid. They are all intelligent men. Many people confuse Rob Ford’s brashness and the ignorance of many of the things he says for stupidity. This is a mistake. The man is very smart. He knows his constituents and he plays to them. If he turns you off, so what? You probably did not vote for him two years ago. Watch him a year and a half from now. He might decide to win another term and it is likely he can.

Bill Blair also plays his role on the civic stage. He has all the wiles and charm of a highly successful con artist. He has the police services board securely under his thumb. He poses for the news media. He is a cop’s cop. He brings no new ideas or openness to policing in Toronto. And it is at a time when the city is in need of solutions.

And, as for Dalton McGuinty, the man does not even belong at the table. When you consider the brain power available to him and the resources at his fingertips, he was probably laughing at Ford and Blair having to come to see him. He promised them nothing and he gave them nothing. The only concession was that funding for the extra police for the anti-violence program will be allowed to continue. Ford figured that was all he was going to get so he treated it as a win.

What these three men and their many aides and acolytes need to understand is that Toronto does not have a huge gun problem.

But Toronto still has a gangs and guns problem that has to be contained.

Containing young gangs and keeping guns off the street takes a multiplicity of actions. You have to offer our youth more than malls to hang out. You have to give them opportunities in their community. You have to make sure they can get jobs. You have to give them pride in their community. Give them pride in themselves.

And if the federal government is going to so ignorantly let the border leak guns from America then get ahead of it. Offer to teach youth about guns. Give them a place to shoot. Teach them that hoods are the dorks and only use guns because they lack the manhood.

The reason Toronto does not have a larger guns and violence problem is because it has a basically law abiding citizenry. Toronto is a great city. It is a peaceful city. The city needs to keep building on what is great about it.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

The silence of the politicians.

July 20, 2012 by Peter Lowry

In the heat of the summer, politicians head for the barbeques. They leave the cupboard bare for the pundits and commentators. It is a time of renewal and of contemplation. There is little to stimulate the writer.

Yet in Toronto, the guns of the summer are in play. Politicians posture. Police pressure. And people die.

The chair of the police services board in Toronto reads a written apology for the board not protecting the citizens during Toronto’s shame of the G20 two years ago. He apologized because of the report that was released that said the board did not do its job. He apologized and then walked back and sat down in the seat of the chair. He did not have the grace to resign. He did not do the necessary: call for Chief Bill Blair’s resignation.

But Ontario’s Whig Premier McGuinty has offered to solve the gun problem. It must be a measure of his desperation. He has offered to meet with the lame duck mayor who has absolutely no idea what to do to ask him what he wants to do. The premier is ready to throw our tax money at the problem. The mayor has already turned down that type of help from the federal government.

The mayor does not believe in community outreach programs for youth in disadvantaged areas of the city. He does not understand the need for role models to compete with the gangs in the hood. He does not understand the need for programs to compete with graffiti and vandalism. He does not understand the need for community programming that includes crafts, home making, sports, life skills and opportunity for positive social interaction for everyone. He cannot comprehend that it costs a few dollars to do it; it costs far, far more to not do it.

Canadians are, in the main, law-abiding and kind people. Newcomers to our country are eager to share those traits. That is one of the reasons they chose Canada. They did not escape hooliganism in other countries to see their children fall in with hooligan gangs here. There are more important opportunities and we have to make sure the opportunities are available to all.

Our youth are not lambs for the slaughter. The politicians have to speak out in the silence.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Looking for scapegoats in Scarborough

July 19, 2012 by Peter Lowry

The shock of the shooting in Scarborough the other day is reverberating throughout Toronto. People are angry. Their leaders are the losers. Everyone pontificates and nobody has any answers.

Do the kids with guns have to kill as many people as are killed in Chicago to convince the mayor there is a problem? Only a fool plays the numbers game. In a perfect world, one death is wrong. Mayor Ford has his priorities. He was elected to halt the ‘gravy train.’ When he found out there was no gravy train, he could have had the decency to resign. He remains a lame duck politician, mouthing platitudes.

Toronto still has not fired Bill Blair. The Toronto police chief disgraced the city two years ago at the G20 and has been posturing ever since. He beat the politicians to the news media gathering on the Scarborough shooting scene. In full regalia, he promised action, retribution and raised public fears of gang retaliation. The Toronto news media faithfully reported his words.

One problem is that these wannabe Toronto hoods seem to be consistently lousy shots. It keeps the death toll low but it is hell on bystanders. It is never open season on the innocents and it turns the entire community against the malefactors. If there were a properly organized organized-crime element in Toronto, you would think they would have a few surreptitious pistol ranges where the future fodder for gun wars could learn something about gun safety and marksmanship.

But our first priority must be the innocents. It offers opportunities. It opens up entire new lines of clothing for children. Can you just imagine the cute little play suit with Kevlar lining that the child can wear when going with mummy to the Eaton Centre? Or the steel helmet worn rakishly when having the tyke’s face painted at a local barbeque.

Toronto is a big city. It offers freedom and opportunity to people of all races, religions, cultures and interests. It is a city that can do better than a Rob Ford for mayor. It is a city that does not need a posturing mouthpiece for a police chief. It is a city that needs to care about opportunities for the individual in our society. Making that happen is critical to the city’s future.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

The boring bureaucrats of Babel.

July 15, 2012 by Peter Lowry

Big city or small, the bureaucrats are the same. When the council members want to get rid of an unwanted idea, they send it to staff, for study. It is the route to oblivion. The idea is unlikely to ever surface again.

This is brought to mind by the machinations this week of Toronto’s antediluvian city council. They were trying to kill the first sensible plan for public transit since the first subway was built up Yonge Street more than 50 years ago. The council guaranteed many more years of traffic gridlock, lost hours and human tragedy in Canada’s major city. All they did was send it to staff to study.

It is the same in Babel. The best advertisement for this city that has ever been conceived went to the staff to study two years ago and will probably never see the light of day again. Every time they are asked about the particular idea, we hear that another study is in process and it is awaiting the findings. This idea is from a private group that wants to fund a single wind generator on top of the town dump. Visible for many kilometres, the turbine would say to the persons passing through town on the provincial controlled-access highway that Babel is an energy conscious city—a green and conserving city.

Speaking of conserving there was a very interesting proposal to divert the compostable garbage that Babel trucks some hundred or so kilometres away from town. This material is free bio-energy that can be used to generate heat and cooling for large groups of industrial and multiple dwelling buildings. With the city’s new lands that it obtained from a neighbouring municipality, it has the opportunity to plan and do things properly. The city can pre-plan the area allowing for underground piping of high and low temperature water to and from a central facility. The energy source can not only function without smell or noise but could be visually hard to find as well.

In a recent presentation at city hall of updates planned for the local sewage works, the city staff engineers and their consultants found that some local residents were well ahead of them in considering ways to improve efficiencies. They were given various recommendations for improving the volume and usage of the methane gas normally generated. While heat and energy needs of the facility are being offset, they were given several suggestions for expanding the capability and providing low-cost heating and cooling for nearby condominiums.

Oh well, maybe they will see the value in the ideas some day.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

And they still have not fired Chief Blair.

July 3, 2012 by Peter Lowry

How many official reports, complaints, law suits and expressions of citizen disgust do there have to be before Toronto gets around to firing Police Chief Bill Blair? From day one of the G20 weekend in Toronto two years ago, we knew something was wrong. We were getting B.S. from the news media about some five metre law that we knew had to be wrong. We watched in horror as the Toronto police—augmented by personnel from police forces across Canada—allowed a rabid group of anarchists to destroy property on main streets in downtown Toronto. And then we saw police trampling on citizens’ rights for simply being in the way when the police decided to get even.

The police lacked intelligence about the anarchists. They took out their frustrations on gawkers. They arrested innocent people without proper cause. They put the word ‘kettling’ into the Canadian lexicon. They were out of control and nobody in a position to do something about it said a word. It was a total breakdown of civilian control of their police services.

And the civilians who could have stopped what was happening did not even know they had the authority. Prime Minister Harper ignored it. He was busy. Premier McGuinty did not acknowledge it. He was absent. The judiciary took the weekend off. The civil rights people had nowhere to turn. The police were allowed to do as they wished. There was no civilian oversight.

Bill Blair was in charge. We trusted him. He failed us. He must go.

Fire the Police Services Board if you wish but they only did about what you would expect. These people are a fiction of oversight. They are politically appointed and politically motivated. As such they are too easily co-opted to do what the police want. They hardly ask the right questions nor do they understand their role and will always fashion themselves as some sort of super cops.

Retired Judge John Morden wrote a report for the Toronto Police Services Board that boiled down to a severe criticism of the board. They did not understand their job. While these boards act as apologists for the police, they do not bother to understand the need for operational oversight. While board members are errand runners to get the funds that police want to do their job, they fail to question the details of that expense. They fail to represent the public.

But while it is easy for a police chief to co-opt the board for his or her own objectives, the police chief still has to be held accountable for the actions of the officers. Bill Blair was on duty for the G20 weekend in Toronto. Bill Blair disgraced us. He must be fired.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

The blundering burghers of Babel.

June 8, 2012 by Peter Lowry

In medieval Europe, burghers were a class of people from whom city officials could be drawn. They contributed the aldermen, the councillors and the reeves and lord mayors of the fortified cities of the times. They were the priests of the temple. They were not the elite, the dukes and earls of the realm, but the servants of the elite. And in that capacity, they were in a position to control the morals of the day.

The custom continues to this day in Babel. East Babel is home to many of the burghers. They cohabit and procreate in Ward 1, north of the bay. They contribute winning candidates for federal and provincial parliaments. Their progeny dominate city council. And their outdated and oppressive moral codes keep the city chained to the past.

This is why the first time we suggested our train station to nowhere be given life as part of a casino on the bay, there was a chill wind felt from city hall. That was probably the attitude back in the 1990s that closed Barrie Raceway to make way for Georgian Downs. Innisfil has enjoyed revenues of some $4 million a year from Georgian Downs while Babel realty taxes continue to climb.

But Babel‘s burghers are blind to the benefits. Here, in the middle of Babel, on our beautiful bay, we have the ideal location for a convention hotel and a casino-entertainment complex—creating hundreds of permanent jobs with year-round tourism. And with GO Train transportation to the front door, you could not ask for a better location, or a more attractive lake view.

Still, the blue-stocking burghers of Babel cannot see beyond their up-turned noses. They react by saying they cannot compete with Georgian Downs or Casino Rama. That is utter foolishness. It is competition that built Las Vegas into the entertainment capital of the world. The GO trains will enable Babel to compete with a major casino complex in Toronto and both sites will be better for the competition.

What the burghers of Babel do not understand is that it is no longer the right of the majority in a democracy to decide what other people can do. People who want to gamble at a casino have that right. It is not for others to decide for them. Casinos are legal in Ontario. The burghers of Babel should catch up with the times!

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

A Conservative MP speaks honestly: that’s news.

May 29, 2012 by Peter Lowry

David Wilks, MP for Kootenay, BC made news the other day. He spoke honestly and openly with some of his riding people. It was another win for having cameras in cell phones. He was commenting on the omnibus budget bill now being pushed through parliament by the Harper Conservatives. This Conservative MP admitted that he was unable to examine the bill properly.

It appears that Stephen Harper took his wayward MP to the woodshed when it was learned that Mr. Wilks’ comments were on the Internet. He had broken the rules. Back bench MPs are there to vote and say nothing other than they are told to say. Canada’s parliament is no longer a place for debate.

We are, of course, quite safe from any such shenanigans in Babel. The MP for Babel is not elected to think. He is elected as a Conservative nebbish who does what he is told. He accepts the pay and the perquisites of office without ever having to care, to think, to plan or to worry about anything other than re-election.

The MP for Babel is the king of the ten-percenters, the obnoxious grey, self promotion government mailers that come so often in our mail. He has never met a charity that he could not use to promote himself. You can always count on him to rush to his riding if there is another picture opportunity. He has become a master at inserting his name into government news releases without caring or understanding what they are about.

But this pathetic person should not be allotted all the blame. Who picked him to represent the Conservative Party in Babel? Are these Babel party members proud of what they have done? Does he really represent them?

And what does this say about the voters of Babel? Does this person represent them? Did they bother to ask him of his understanding or position on the issues of the day? Did they care to find out if this person could make any contribution at all to our country? Did the person for whom they voted have any qualifications to be a Member of Parliament?

Two years ago, we engaged in a thorough study of voting patterns and attitudes in Babel. With the electoral maps for Babel, municipally, provincially and federally being almost the same, we were able to use voter turn-out and voting tendencies from all levels to conduct the study. The information gathered was used to considerable advantage in the municipal election that year. It also told us who would win in the subsequent provincial and federal elections.

You have to recognize that Babel is made up of various communities. It is not a cohesive entity. It has no identity as a city. The traditional east end (north of the bay) still thinks it runs Babel. The larger numbers of younger homeowners in the south end do not even know the east end exists. Communications in the city is a fascinating challenge. There are no simple solutions.

But what we do know is that there is a strong and shared devotion to this country. If a city ever needed leadership, it is Babel. It needs people who can speak up for it in Ottawa. It also needs people who can speak up for it at Queen’s Park.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Police Chief Blair gets a pulpit.

May 28, 2012 by Peter Lowry

It has been almost two years since Police Chief Bill Blair’s people ran roughshod over human rights at the G20 event in Toronto. Canadians watching the news at that time were horrified at the failure of the Toronto Police, augmented by police from across Canada, to rein in a group of anarchists on a rampage and the following day taking their revenge on helpless bystanders by kettling them in one instance and brutally attacking them in others. We finally had an opportunity to hear Chief Blair’s side this past Sunday on Global Television’s Focus Ontario.

This program is considered a pulpit because it is speaker-friendly. Hosted by John Tory, a former leader of the Ontario Conservative Party and news reader Leslie Roberts, the public affairs program is not known for sand-bagging guests or being particularly tough in its questioning. Chief Blair was allowed to use this friendly venue to go on at some length about how his police are so good at facilitating peaceful protests for our citizens.

It is more than a week since Gerry McNeilly of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director issued his 300-page report condemning police actions at the Toronto G20. The report states that ‘It is fortunate that, in all the confusion, there were no deaths.’

For all the anguish caused and the 1100 people whose rights were ignored when illegally detained by police, the report only recommends that 35 police officers be disciplined. What the report lacks is a condemnation of Blair. He should have been fired immediately after the event. He asked the Attorney General of Ontario under what law he could keep citizens away from the G20 meeting site. He was given the wrong law, he had to know it was wrong and he did not question it.

And then he allowed inaccurate information to be spread about the law supposedly protecting the summit.

The event itself was a failure in intelligence in more ways than one. With combined resources from national, provincial and municipal police forces across Canada, Blair was unable to place sufficient police among the crowds to keep track of what was happening. He was blind-sided by some anarchists who could have been stopped. He left them to their rampage. They did it when he was responsible.

The anarchists were used as an excuse to come down hard on the gawkers and bystanders. The mass arrests were a disgrace for Canada. They were also a disgrace for the politicians who made no protests.

Prime Minister Harper was to blame for wasting our money on a summit in a stupid location. Tony Clement had spent enough on Huntsville for a dozen G20 events.

Premier McGuinty and his Attorney General were to blame. We never saw them when the police were trampling on citizens’ rights.

And since Chief Blair did not have the grace to resign for his part in this, he should be fired. He disgraced Toronto, our province and our country.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]

Toronto casino is a human rights question.

May 16, 2012 by Peter Lowry

What right does anyone have to tell you where or when you can gamble? The Toronto Star is feeding Torontonians sanctimonious claptrap in its fight against having a Toronto casino. The posturing politicians at city hall are worse. They have no idea what their constituents want done about casinos. And if even just one in ten of Toronto’s citizens want to have a casino in the city, what right do those who do not want to go to a casino to stop it?

Grow up TorStar! Act like a newspaper that cares for our rights. Are you going to demand a plebiscite for new churches next? That will be fun. You can spread vicious rumours about the secret rites that might be practiced at prayer meetings. You can warn against the dangers of tithing. You can spread distrust about the morals of the pastor. Do you want a city that will toe your myopic editorial line?

Gambling is not something we should only enable in back rooms, run by sleezebags and with games of questionable honesty. People gamble. It is a very human activity. People were tossing the bones in wagers before they developed dice. Playing cards predate Margaret Atwood. The Roman Church first used the vernacular to call: Under the ‘B,’ three. When the hockey season finally ends, we can still get together for a friendly poker game.

Is there something moral in the Star dissing a casino? Are you purer than the pure? We went to a casino the other evening, had a great dinner, saw a fabulous live show (The Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and won a few bucks at the craps table. We each had one alcoholic beverage all evening and were home in bed shortly after midnight. We cannot figure out what we did that you consider so wrong. And, oh yes, the casino treated us to the dinner and show.

If you are worried about gambling addiction, you are barking up the wrong tree about that. Look at the great job we are doing in Toronto on banning street drugs. We have had years to eliminate alcohol addiction. There are still addicted smokers polluting doorways around town. Barring casinos in Toronto hardly stops addictive gamblers from gambling in Toronto.

Listen up TorStar: Canadians have a right to gamble if they want. Just look at recent elections results and tell us that we do not gamble.

-30-

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]