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Posts Filed Under: Politics

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news

Beach Residents Face Off Against Condo Developers

Residents of the genteel east-end nabe are bitterly divided over a proposed six-storey condo development.

The proposed development site. Photo by lxdesign, from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

The Beach is known for its unique small-town vibe, but a possibly precedent-setting new six-story condo planned for the area has residents fiercely divided over the evolution of their neighbourhood.

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politics

Thoughts on the 2012 Royal Visit

What our latest opportunity to host the royal family says about the emerging Canada of Stephen Harper.

By one o’clock in the afternoon on May 22, two entirely opposing groups of spectators had formed in the Distillery District awaiting the arrival of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. One of them lined Trinity Street all the way down to Distillery Lane: camera-toting clumps of people checking watches and straining to see back toward the main gate as broadcast crews took position. Elsewhere, another group—much smaller, but no less intent—had already come together at the south end of the area, across the parking lot from where the government reception was about to begin. They too were there to see the royals, but placards with messages like “Sever the Ties,” and the watchful presence of a riot squad, indicated that their reasons weren’t entirely welcoming.

In its small measure, it was a condensed sampling of the reception Charles and Camilla have encountered throughout their 2012 tour of Canada, from New Brunswick to Toronto and on to Saskatchewan. And for Canadians, it was also a taste of our country’s lamentable priorities.

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news

Poll Position: Strong Opposition to Casinos in Toronto

Path to popular support for a casino looking unclear.


Recently some provincial and municipal politicians said that Toronto should build a casino on the waterfront. Some people are in favour of this idea, and some are against it. What about you? Do you support or oppose Toronto building a waterfront casino, or are you neutral on the subject?

Strongly approve: 19%

Somewhat approve: 13%

Neither approve nor disapprove: 20%

Somewhat disapprove: 12 %

Strongly disapprove: 33%

Don’t know/no answer: 4%

Poll taken: May 15, 2012
Sample size: 954
Margin of Error: +/-3.2%, 19 times out of 20
Methodology: Automated telephone poll
Conducted by: Stratcom

NOTES: As part of a recent poll, Stratcom asked Torontonians about their attitudes about building a casino in the city. (The casino results were released yesterday to the Toronto Star; results regarding Rob Ford’s approval ratings came out last week.) The survey shows that casino proponents face an uphill battle: not only do Torontonians oppose a casino 45% to 32%, the contingent of those who strongly oppose a casino is markedly high, at 33%. By region, strong disapproval ranges from 29% in York and East York, to a high of 41% in the old City of Toronto. Even Rob Ford supporters aren’t clearly on board: among those who back the mayor, 22% are strongly opposed to a waterfront casino, and in his Etobicoke home base, 33% strongly oppose one.

It’s also not clear that there is much room for movement: while 20% of survey respondents described themselves as neutral on the matter, only 4% had no opinion. Any campaign to try to persuade the public to support a casino would face the challenge that there are relatively few of us who have yet to make up our minds.

Complete poll results are available from Stratcom via the Toronto Star [PDF].

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culture

Historicist: Throwing Intellectual Bombs

Rabble-rousing feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman died in Toronto in 1940.

Mugshot of Emma Goldman, 1911, Library of Congress (LC-B2- 127-11).

Although she only lived in Toronto on three occasions over a 14-year period, and never for more than a year and a half at a time, Emma Goldman had an outsized cultural impact on the city. The well-known anarchist and feminist whom J. Edgar Hoover dubbed “the most dangerous woman in America” filled local lecture halls for talks on topics ranging from birth control and women’s rights to literature, communism, and anarchism. After her death in Toronto in 1940, she become a feature of the Toronto literary landscape, appearing as a character in John Miller’s A Sharp Intake of Breath (2006) and Steven Hayward’s The Secret Mitzah of Lucio Burke (2005). But she spent much her time in Toronto trying to leave it, desperate to return to the United States.
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