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Newsstand: June 5, 2012

Alright Tuesday, wipe the sleep from your eyes and pour that orange juice over your head, because it's go time. In the news: the final vote on anti-bullying legislation happens today; city council reacts to the weekend's fatal shooting at the Eaton Centre, and more details about the shooter and the victims; bag fee and youth outreach workers up for debate at city council this week; and the SIU is called in after a man dies in Scarborough.

By • Illustration by Brian McLachlan

As the Liberals anti-bullying bill goes to its final vote in the legislature today, a case is being made for gay-straight alliances to start even before high school. An east end–middle school already has such a club. And with support from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, a symposium was recently held to teach 50 elementary school employees about starting their own GSAs.

Christopher Husbands, the man accused in the Eaton Centre shooting, appeared in court on Monday afternoon. Turns out that court is a familiar place for Husbands, who has previous drug charges and was already under house arrest for sexual assault charges. About the victim, we know Ahmed Hassan was gang-affiliated, according to police, and was explicitly targeted by Husbands.

After the weekend’s fatal shooting incident, the mayor and city councillors have been making both harmlessly hyperbolic and predictably bonkers statements. Mayor Rob Ford called Toronto the “safest city in the world,” while Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) tried to get a debate going about reinstating capital punishment. To be fair, Mammo didn’t just bring up the death penalty in reaction to what happened at the Eaton Centre. He was was also referring to the crimes of Luka Rocco Magnotta, the man who was arrested yesterday after an international police hunt.

Also after the weekend’s fatal shooting incident, city council will vote on whether to save the jobs of 17 youth outreach workers slated for elimination. The 17 jobs on the chopping block represent over half the city’s entire cache of youth outreach workers, which currently sits at 29. The elimination was part of the 2012 budget, but now councillor Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Rosedale) hopes to get enough support for a motion she’s putting forward on Thursday that will see the budget re-opened, with funding for the 17 workers extended for the rest of the year.

Also up for debate at this week’s city council meeting, the five-cent bag fee.

And the Special Investigations Unit is investigating, after a man went through a window and fell 15 storeys to his death after police entered his Scarborough residence.

CORRECTION: June 5, 8:50AM The article previously referred to the Ontario Elementary Teachers Foundation when it should have been Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. The above has been corrected.

Comments

  • Anonymous

    The Toronto Real Estate Board hasn’t let grass grow under its feet, regarding the LTT:

    http://www.letsgetthisrighttoronto.ca

    There’s an advertisement for the campaign in today’s Metro. The ad doesn’t state that the TREB is behind the campaign. I wonder why.

    To take one argument at random, the site’s ‘Learn’ section actually states that the LTT hurts getting around the GTA, blithely ignoring the fact that money from the LTT has been used to pay for the new streetcars. Cherry-picking your arguments and facts doesn’t help anyone.

    They use a quotation from the toupee formerly known as Trump and expect to be taken seriously.

    • Anonymous

      Funny how one of their stock images is not of Toronto……..the one with the obviously New York taxi in the background.

    • Anonymous

      I thought they said the same things when the LTT was first introduced. Aren’t they the ones who artificially inflate prices with phoney bids. Who has not seen or heard of this tactic, the house is not on MLS yet, or has been on the market for a while, as soon as you make a bid another offer has just come in, now raise your offer. Some good ones out there but you do not know who they until after the fact. Lets not forget, before the sales office is even open the units are 70% sold.
      Can’t help but believe any politician that actively supports abolishing the LTT has something to gain.

    • Anonymous

      Suppose the government passed a law confiscating a percentage of the value of your savings. For most middle-class people, most of their savings are locked up in the value of their home, so that is what the LTT amounts to. Not opposed to taxes, but as a homeowner myself the LTT massively sucks as it falls disproportionately on the middle class and makes them poorer.

      • Anonymous

        This is an excellent point because there are no other taxes on savings or the middle class.

        • Anonymous

          Right, so let’s increase the marginal tax rate on the middle class to 99%, because screw them.

          • PSC-TO

            The lower class can’t pay; the upper class won’t pay; so the middle class must.

          • Anonymous

            You’re doing a very bad job of convincing me to vote NDP.

          • Anonymous

            No. The NDP would say: The upper class MUST pay.

      • Guest

        I really don’t think you understand how the ltt works, and massively sucks is a bit of an exaggeration. Its not like its a punitive amount of tax, it amounts to a couple of percent on most transactions. Not only that, but it doesnt hurt people that already own their homes, because it is only charged on the purchase, so sell your home, hold your home, whatever. You will not pay it unless you are buying property.

        • Anonymous

          I understand perfectly how it works, because as a homeowner I had to pay it. The effect of the LTT is that, for the same total purchase price inclusive of fees, you get 1-2% less house. In other words, by instituting the LTT, the government sucked that value straight out of every homeowner’s equity. It doesn’t matter that it’s not punitive. What matters is that the burden is felt most by the middle class, making it poor tax policy. And anyway, a typical tax bill would be around $10,000, a not inconsiderable sum by itself.

          • Anonymous

            10,000 LTT = 445, 000 house price.

            5, 375 to the province
            4, 625 to city

            2, 000 month mortgage payment (give or take)

            A rebate of up to $3,725 will apply to first-time purchasers of both new and existing homes. This means a full rebate for first-time buyers of homes valued at $400,000 or less.

            The Median income in Toronto is about 70k. Which means for the above home, the owner would be paying approximately 50% of their income to just their mortgage.

            It’s not the middle class being hit by the LTT. If it is, don’t buy what you can’t afford. IOW, those that can afford it, can pay it. Your complaints are much adieu about nothing.

          • Anonymous

            Also, I don’t think you quite understand the meaning of “equity”.

          • Anonymous

            Can you educate me then?

            Our 70k earner could certainly afford a condo at around 200k, of which there are plenty. And if it happened to be that person’s second condo, the full purchase price would be taxed.

            You — and others who are in favor of the LTT — seem to be saying that only rich people should own property. That is a damn shame. If you pay a mortgage for 30 years, you are left with a valuable asset that will likely increase in value. If you pay rent for 30 years, what are you left with? Except for a thank-you card from the property owner for enriching him?

            Property ownership is hard for the middle class in Toronto, and the LTT makes it harder. It is a regressive tax that increases income inequality.

      • Anonymous

        “Suppose the government passed a law confiscating a percentage of the value of your savings.”

        They already do. I think TFSAs are the only form of savings that aren’t taxed in some way.

  • Anonymous

    Capital punishment doesn’t work as a deterrent, it costs a lot and bogs down the courts with appeals, and serves a need for revenge rather than justice. Of course Mammo would suggest something that idiotic.

    • Anonymous

      Would you like hookers with that?

      • Anonymous

        I really don’t understand what you’re saying.

        • Anonymous

          They’re saying that you’re either with Mammolitti or against him. So if you don’t support capital punishment, then no hookers for you.

        • Anonymous

          COMMUNIST!!!!

    • Anonymous

      Aside from the costs, revenge, and etc., it’s worth remembering the Stephen Truscott was sentenced to death in the 60s, before being cleared decades later.

      • Anonymous

        That, too.