May 27, 2008
Huge Roadwork Budget Announced, No More Plastic Wine Bags, RIP Sydney Pollack
Ontario will spend more than $2 billion this year to improve provincial roads and highways, widening the QEW and 401 and repairing over 450 kilometres of highway, as well as building and repairing over 100 bridges. In related transit news, the government is spending $5 million on a commission that will study exactly how much cooler cars are than nerdy bicycles, and how many more chicks a guy driving a car gets as opposed to some cycling dork.
However, the Ontario government also wishes to encourage responsible driving, so they're considering legislation to ban the use of cellphones while driving. Because nothing makes you look less cool while driving than when you crash into something.
The LCBO will no longer give out plastic bags. On the one hand, this is right for the environment and all, but on the other hand, LCBO plastic bags were really goddamn good plastic bags. Sacrifice for Mother Earth!
Sydney Pollack died yesterday yesterday at the age of 73. The actor/director/producer was probably best known for Tootsie, which still holds up as a pretty goddamned funny movie, and lots of people have left behind less, so good for him.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board is desperately trying to avoid provincial takeover of its budget and expenses after wasting incredible amounts of public money on personal perks. The TCDSB pointed out that nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus say that provincial regulators should exercise oversight over municipal trustees; not even in a parable or anything.
And finally, the Blue Jays walloped the Royals, sweeping Kansas City in four games for the first time ever. A few more games like this one and they might actually…nah.
Photo by Trevor Haldenby from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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i'm at a complete loss why people who are found out to be stealing money are still employed and are not under criminal investigation.
. . .LCBO plastic bags were really goddamn good plastic bags . . ..
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But a reusable canvas or other sturdy material bag can make its own statement and we'll be
streets ahead in cleaning up the mess that bags
cause.
Think of those towns in Britain where bags are now illegal. Nobody's sweating or grousing.
There's a lot of things you don't know anything about, Torontoist. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand. You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner. A rebel.
I'll bet plenty of people in those British towns did and still sweat and grouse about it.
"lots of people have left behind less, so good for him."
Very true. You so classy Explosively Talented Christopher Bird. Don't let anybody tell you different.
$2 billion on the road budget, and VIA Rail and GO Transit languish. Has anyone heard the budget for inter-city and commuter rail by chance?
This in Wiki: "On October 11, 2007, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced federal government funding of $691.9 million over five years, of which $519 million is capital funding, and the remainder additional operating funding." That is 138M per year. This after 25 years of cutting.
The MoveOntario 2020 Plan has a lot of merit, though.
"The provincial government will pay 65 per cent of the cost — $11.5 billion — out of existing provincial revenue streams. Costs will only begin once construction has been completed, similar to a homeowner’s mortgage. This means the cost will be spread over 50 years."
Tuds