Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
Please Insert Station and Try Again
The Art of Not Knowing
If You Tweet It, He Will Come
Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2008--the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months, with one hero and one villain selected by each participating staff member. On Christmas Day: the heroes. On Boxing Day: the villains. And next week, cast your vote to determine the Superhero and Supervillain of the year.
Porter Airlines
For years, operations at Toronto City Centre Airport—commonly referred to as the Island Airport—went unnoticed. Although City Express and Air Canada both offered regional air service from the location dating back to the mid '80s, there wasn't much talk about or use of the flights. That all changed in the past two years with the launch of Porter Airlines. Since its inception, the Island Airport has become a growing travel hub, and what started out as regional service to Ottawa and Montreal has now turned into air travel to a number of cities such as Halifax, New York, and Chicago, the lattermost of which just recently started. Porter initially appealed to business travellers because of its proximity to downtown. That benefit continues to be the airline's number one selling point. But there are numerous other advantages that make you wonder if trekking to Pearson is worth the time and the cost: Porter's cozy terminal lounge, its decent airplane food, extremely short customs lines, a free shuttle from the Royal York to the ferry dock. And despite all the controversy surrounding the construction of a bridge to the airport a few years back, the small ferry ride isn't even a factor because it runs so frequently. (It has a two-minute travel time.) Of course, this isn't to say that Porter doesn't have its downsides, which activist group CommunityAIR will be sure to inform you of. Their opposition to Porter's operations (and its pending expansion to cities like Boston and Philly) is founded in controversial issues such as jet fuel pollution, their claim of poor safety conditions, and noise from the airplanes. There is no doubt that some of these worries need to be assessed, but some are unfounded: the planes can barely be heard from downtown or the waterfront. If anything, it's cool to watch them take off and land from waterfront condos or downtown office buildings. Provided that Porter continues to meet environmental and safety regulations, its services should continue to grow. Downtown Toronto is in the midst of a condo boom, and it only makes sense for the people who will occupy these towers to use Porter's reliable and relatively cheap flights as an alternative to Air Canada and West Jet. BY TIM KILADZE; PHOTO BY -SINA- FROM THE TORONTOIST FLICKR POOL
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Is it any surprise that Jack Layton is a Torontoist "hero"?
In one you refer to Stephane Dion as a joke, then another as a hero. I don't think he is either, but he's the single reason Harper got cockier and more reckless. As for the Clarity Act, big deal - Harper was as much an architect as he was.
High gas prices may be heroic for the environment, but that's all wiped out but the current sub 70 cent levels isn't it?
I like the choice of Bikes and Social Media.
PickleToes, is it any surprise you were the first to comment on this post?
Gauldar: A little, but I knew that you and rek were really the only other contenders.
"...all of this and more was just proof that we can be a very, very stupid country when we want to be. Remember, Dion pretty much wrote the Clarity Act all by himself, which put the sovereignty movement in Quebec to bed for a decade until Stephen Harper decided to open his stupid mouth earlier this year."
YES! Just wish the mainstream media in this country agreed. They really did their best to regurgitate all of Harpers' talking points about the 'weak leadership' of Dion and, sadly, Canadians bought it.
I have feeling the media's tune will change with the new appointed Liberal leader. He's pro-Bush Doctrine, pro-torture and has spent the last 30 years outside of this country but our press will conveniently ignore those facts.
Speaking of facts, here's the opposite of one: "As for the Clarity Act, big deal - Harper was as much an architect as he was."
Dion was both a hero and a villain. It was contingent on him, as leader, to get his message across. He failed miserably at every turn. He's a good parliamentarian and a worthless leader. The Green Shift is great policy, it's unfortunate that he didn't step aside to let a more competent leader sell it.
Ironic that a guy who wrote something called the Clarity Act would be such an incomprehensible communicator. His awful leadership resulted in the greater success of both Harper and Layton, as the Liberal's bled support on both sides. That'll end with Ignatieff, Harper will be pushed to the right and Layton can return to being an irrelevant shouty fringe element.
Thanks for the love, Torontoist :) Newmindspace loves you too.
From Harper's wikipedia entry:
In late 1999, Harper called for the federal government to establish clear rules for any future Quebec referendum on sovereignty.[35] Some have identified Harper's views as an influence on the Chrétien government's Clarity Act.
Public Space Zealots
The radicals responsible for the decline of individual property rights. Yeah, they sound like heroes to me....
How about activists obsessed with creating communism through fascist methods?
Does anyone know about a greasemonkey application that can block comments from trolls? Killfile only works for LJ.
(No, I'm serious.)
@garden_hoe21: This past summer, someone wrote a Greasemonkey script specifically for banning Torontoist commenters of your choice.
*gasp* That's amazing! Thank you!!
David: Haha wow. I'm a preset too!
*kisses you*
Did Svend just cite conjecture on wikipedia in order to prove his point?
Union: If I wasn't so confident about the quality of his character, I'd conjecture that he edited the wikipedia article and added in that paragraph.
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Bills/352/Private/C-341/C-341_1/C-341_1.pdf
This is the Quebec Contingency Act that Harper put forward in 1996 as a private member's bill, a precursor to the similar Clarity Act that Dion produced.
1996...hmmmm. Was that 'Quebec Is A Nation Harper'? Or 'Erect a Firewall Around Alberta Harper'?'Elect the Senate Harper'? Wait it was 'The Government needs the support of the House Harper'!
Dion and Chretien, two Québécois, got their ideas for dealing with Quebec sovereignists from the leader of a western protest party. Got it.
Yes, people can agree on one thing while disagreeing on several others.
Dion, Chretien, Harper all supported the Clarity Act - they share a strong stance in dealing with Quebec separatists just as Trudeau did before them. Did you even read Harper's bill?
I strongly disagree with your choice of East Toronto Community Coalition as a hero. They don't represent the interests of the community as a whole, just the interests of a narrow(minded) subset, as shown here and here.
totally agree. But this is Torontoist we're talking about so you come to expect it after a while.