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10 Comments

news

Summer Hits City, Hockey Song Overrated Anyway, Miller Is Green ÜberMayor

By Patrick Metzger

2008_06_06_gm.jpg
It suddenly gets hot today with a forecast high temperature of 32º, meaning newspapers are required by law to run daily photos of people frolicking in fountains. Sprinklers are also acceptable, provided a dog is included in the shot.
Union members angry about the impending job cuts at GM in Oshawa are blockading the entrance to the plant, and CAW President Buzz Hargrove is threatening a strike. The latter would prevent GM from paying workers to produce money-losing vehicles that will rust away in inventory. Pretty weak hand, Buzz.
CBC says they’ll find a new Hockey Night In Canada theme song to replace the 40-year-old “buh buh buh buh BUH buh” thing if they don’t resolve a dispute over rights and royalties by end of day today. A spokesperson said CBC understands the important niche the tune occupies in the Canadian cultural identity, and as a result, they’re particularly interested in “something free.”
Mayor David Miller has been named Chairman of C40, a group of cities around the world working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An honoured Miller said, “Do you think I’ll get to meet Bono now?”
Down south, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton held a private meeting last night, as pressure grows on Obama to choose his recent rival as running mate. However, the point is moot, as everyone knows that Dick Cheney isn’t giving up the job no matter what happens in November.
Photo by sergei.y

Comments

  • Astin

    Well, CBC will launch a nationwide contest to find a new theme song. I suggest everybody across the country submit the current Hockey Night theme as their “original composition.”
    And the CBC continues to dig its own grave.

  • Jonathan Goldsbie

    I like how Veda Hille‘s “Lucklucky” incorporates the Hockey Night theme.

  • dowlingm

    Ken Livingstone was UberMayor and now he’s out of a job. Just a thought…

  • TokyoTuds

    GM should be bankrupt by now, they are so out of touch with reality.
    How about instead of spending $500 million on loans, grants, handouts from government to GM, we scrap the whole plant and re-tool it to make streetcars for municipalities across Canada and North America. Create 2,600 secure, well-paying jobs for people with the transferrable skills.
    ferchrissakes ….
    Tuds

  • Solex


    GM should be bankrupt by now, they are so out of touch with reality.
    How about instead of spending $500 million on loans, grants, handouts from government to GM, we scrap the whole plant and re-tool it to make streetcars for municipalities across Canada and North America. Create 2,600 secure, well-paying jobs for people with the transferrable skills.
    ferchrissakes ….


    And just where will these streetcars run, Tuds? Where else besides Toronto (now in the midst of deciding to build a Don Valley LRT route) will these streetcars run? Where will we export them? To the States, which has a surplus of these lines (and the companies to build them)? Not every municipality wants one, or can even afford one (even if the provincial/state government’s footing the bill.) And cars/trucks will still be needed for certain things, even if the environmental movement won’t admit it.
    Plus, we have to think about the workers who will be unemployed now, and potentially on welfare/UI. What will they do, and what can be done with that area where the factory is? Even with the factory turning out this wondrous streetcar, what will happen if a glut of similar product from Bombardier and other manufacturers puts said factory back in the same place where the GM factory is now? What will be told to the workers then-’Sorry, we were in error?’
    A lot of what you just thoughtlessly said has to be thought through first, and should have been thought through first, before you opened your mouth. A lot of thinking about the workers who will be unemployed first, and their problem/concerns, should be your concern besides having a bike factory or streetcar/LRT factory just because you hate cars.

  • TokyoTuds

    Well, I don’t hate cars, I hate GM cars. I enjoy driving, ands as you said, cars and trucks are needed for “certain” things. Public transit is needed for “certain” things too: commuting, going to school, shopping. And public transit is needed for certain people who can’t drive: low income people, children, the elderly (and yes, for those of us who choose not to drive so much).
    I want to give the 2,600 GM workers union jobs, in a streetcar factory in this case. As I said, it should be fairly easy to train them on a related product. It’s the employees I care about, I could care less about an out-of-touch corporation: as I said GM would be better off bankrupt. I’d choose a Honda or Toyota any day of the week over a GM car.
    By the way, GM used to make trains in my hometown of London, Ontario. Perhaps GM could do a joint venture with Bombardier for an Ontario factory.
    By the way, check out Canada’s own Victoria Transport Policy Institute for research into these issues:
    http://www.vtpi.org/
    Any municipality with over 100,000 people is viable for a serious streetcar system. Again, London, Ontario had a real vibrant streetcar system before WWII. There are about 40 municipalities in Canada of this size, and likely 400 in the U.S. Sounds like a good market to me, but, yes, the governments do have to get behind it and fund it, or there is no market. But roads are no less expensive than public transit routes, and immensely more efficient and less expensive pre passenger mile.
    Solex, I HAVE thought this through rather deeply: the conclusion is to make a serious, concerted effort to increase high quality public transit as it is enjoyed in Europe and Japan.
    Cheers,
    Tuds

  • Solex

    It’s the employees I care about, I could care less about an out-of-touch corporation: as I said GM would be better off bankrupt. I’d choose a Honda or Toyota any day of the week over a GM car.

    About that last statement:good, I agree with you. And to that end, I hope that Premier McGunity gets FIAT to build the factory in Oshawa, so that those 2,600 people can do what they do best; make cars. Not LRT’s that are already made by a ton of other companies.

  • TokyoTuds

    Solex, I think there is probably room for us to agree on many things, but off the top of my head I could only think of Bombardier as a manufacturer of streetcars. The rest I am sure are in Europe (and possibly Asia). Apparently there are zero makers in the U.S. and exactly 1 in Canada (Bombardier). You could use to do a little research before making claims.
    In fact, apparently there hasn’t been an American manufacturer in 50 years:
    http://www.heritagetrolley.org/PlanningRTOL1.htm
    The PCC streetcars of the TTC were from America:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCC_streetcar
    And Labour is asking for jobs making streetcars:
    http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/299098
    The new streetcar lines proposed for Toronto need 360 new cars:
    http://stevemunro.ca/?cat=16
    Modern streetcars go for $5 million a pop:
    http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=7501
    Bombardier already sells overseas as well:
    http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2005/06/24/bombardier-trains050624.html
    Since Bombardier is the ONLY streetcar manufacturer in North America, we have a chance to become the leader in this filed as the streetcar renaissance flourishes. Why let this chance pass us by? There “are a ton of other” auto makers, so who needs Fiat in Ontario?
    Cheers,
    Tuds

  • rek

    LRTs are made by a ton of other companies, but cars aren’t? Ok.

  • x_the_x

    The last six posts have played out like s slapstick drama entitled “Reviving the Centrally Planned Economy”.