Results tagged “georgewbush”

TTC "U-pass" close to passing for students, possibly also hotel workers. If the scheme passes, the TTC will suddenly be crowded once again, rendering all those recent fleet upgrades essentially moot. Hooray for public transit!

David Miller delivered a balanced budget yesterday, thanks to higher property taxes, some fabulous new tariffs, and a one-time infusion of $150 million from the the provincial government. According to Miller, the property tax increase of 3.75% is in line with his commitment to limit raises to the rate of inflation (1.9% in Toronto last year), evidence that the mayor is either math-illiterate or assumes that everyone else is.

Each week, Torontoist examines the upcoming TV listings and makes note of programs that are entertaining, informative and of quality. Or, alternately, none of those. The result: Televisualist.

The Stephen Harper government unveiled its plan for the country in the Throne Speech last night, emphasizing the usual panoply of tax-cuttin', crime fightin', environment dismissin' Conservative virtues. Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe have already stated they will not support the government, while Liberal leader Stéphane Dion will decide whether to force an election after consulting with his caucus. Dion is envied by the other opposition leaders for his massive caucus.

Marcel Marceau dead at 84. Torontoist hadn't heard anything. (Rimshot!)

A 13-year-old boy at St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School in Toronto was arrested after he was found to be carrying an illegal 200,000 volt stun gun in his backpack.The Star quotes school board chair Oliver Carroll as saying that "everyone was shocked." Presumably Carroll was not speaking literally.

Environment Canada reports that this has been the driest summer in fifty years for Toronto, with the city only receiving around half of its usual rainfall. Short-term predictions suggest that fall will be equally dry, with the the long-range forecast calling for global warming followed by drought, famine, plague and societal collapse. Sounds like great picnic weather!

Upwards of 1,500 protesters from Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, and Hamilton marched on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday to protest the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush. Bush will meet today with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Montebello, Quebec on the two-year-old Security and Prosperity Partnership. The agenda is to include emergency planning for an avian-flu pandemic, the recall of Chinese-made toys, and border security. Demonstrators denounced the summit as anti-democratic and warned the public that Canada's sovereignty is at stake, and anti-war activists chanted "George Bush shame on you/Daddy was a killer too." The otherwise peaceful protest ended with one arrest related to a spray painting incident.

Enormous DVD piracy bust in Missisauga. Investigators believe it was making over twenty million dollars a year. This is a huge blow to professional movie piracy in Canada. (Well, at least to that one piracy ring. Other movie pirates probably don't care. And in fact are kind of happy about the loss of competition.) Of course, this is not so much the case to people who just want to pirate movies for their own use, because they can just download them off the internet—oh wait, we're not supposed to mention that bit!

It was only inevitable; indeed, they would say we asked for it. The Secret, the latest in a long line of mega-selling self-help phenomena, is on its way to Toronto. Several "teachers" featured in the original film and the subsequent book will be holding forth on April 14th and 15th at the Westin Harbour Castle. The promotional literature is distinguished by its modest proposal: "The Secret to everything—the secret to life filled with joy, good health, financial freedom, loving relationships, abundant energy, youth: everything you ever wanted." Profundity and provocation are sure to be the order of the day.

Ontario to raise minimum wage to $10.25 by 2010 in new budget. NDP critic predictably says "no, we want it NOW," but Torontoist feels this is one instance where Dalton McGuinty's tendency to take as middling a road as possible has produced just about the best possible result. A twenty-five percent raise in the minimum wage over three years (and what will be a sixty-six percent raise since the Liberals took office in 2003) ain't nothing, not even close.

George W. Bush made his State of the Union address last night. Among his policy initiatives introduced in the speech were a request to Americans to reduce their gasoline consumption by twenty percent in ten years (while simultaneously claiming American needed to increase domestic gasoline production), and a proposal to tax employer-based health plans to pay for HSAs (which don't actually solve the problems facing American healthcare). An annotated and rather niftily clickable rebuttal of the SOTU speech can be found here. However, they cannot rebut the fact that George Bush's chosen example of the ideal American immigrant is Apparently the plaque on the Statue of Liberty is being changed to read "Give us your tall, your agile, those capable of dunking and rebounding with equal facility."

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all. Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary.

It was probably the nastiest mayoral race the GTA has ever seen and it ain't over yet up in Vaughan.

What does the international community say? U.S. President George W. Bush calls the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's effort to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law". The UN and European Union criticize the former Iraqi leader's death sentence. Vatican representative, Cardinal Renato Martino, calls the sentence "eye for an eye vengeance". Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay refused to comment.

Oh boy! Contests! This one comes courtesy of Vice Records, and is for two free tickets to Brooklyn band Favourite Sons's show at the El Mocambo on Friday Saturday night as well as a copy of the group's new record, Down Beside Your Beauty. The show also features openers The Drones and Devastations.

In a bizarre and tragic scene yesterday, former Toronto Blue Jay (and current New York Yankee) pitcher Cory Lidle perished after flying his plane into an apartment building in New York.

The publicity around Death Of A President is much better than the film itself, and this is what's generating the latest buzz: it's an ad for the faux-documentary that both our national newspapers declined to run. According to an article in today's Star, a modified version of the ad will run in that paper which will clearly indicate that it's a theatrical release. CanWest says that their ten other major dailies also rejected the ad. The Globe has yet to make an official comment, but the ad is allegedly against their editorial policy.

Normally we don't like billboards but this one has a bit of charm and moxie so we'll tolerate it for now. It's an ad for an Audiobook store in downtown Toronto that uses George W. Bush in their ads. While some of us may quibble that listening to the Da Vinci Code on CD is hardly reading still it's better than nothing.

"The greatest public anger surrounds local issues (just as most homicides occur between people who know each other). The debate over the war in Iraq is sedate compared with what takes place in planning commissions and city councils. That's where people form solid enemies who last a lifetime. George W. Bush may be scorned by some people, but it's nothing compared with the loathing they'd feel for someone who wanted to open a motorcycle repair shop across the alley."

There's been a number of unfavourable comparisons of Stephen Harper and George W. Bush of late, both in politics, media and of course those silly attack ads. But what of a legitimate comparison, at least in terms of the campaign? Here is George Jr. on his father's failed 1992 presidential campaign:

It's easy to avoid The Game and Fifty Cents. Likewise for Nickelback. It's even pretty easy to stay away from Thornley and the Barenaked Ladies. They don't bother us, and we don't bother them. But there are some bands, SOME bands, that bring us to the brink of violent disgust; it's almost beyond hatred. One example that is often played out here on Mercredi Mixtape is our distaste for Las Vegas corporate rockers The Killers. Most likely the result of some unresolved childhood issues, Torontoist has a hard time sleeping at night simply knowing that these bum-wipes are out there. Usually the finger-pointing and 'rockist' accusations can be heard at this point -- as at a Killers-infested party last Saturday -- to which we can only shrug. What is the reason that decent, law abiding, level-headed human beings can be so easily duped by The Killers?

The Wild West is arguably the most enduring myth in the American psyche. Through hundreds of novels, films and tv programs the violent, extremely bloody and often downright exploitative settlement of the American West has largely been replaced with images of stalwart settlers, and quick-handed, decisive men of action.

President George W. Bush is expected to make his first stately visit to Canadian soil later this month, causing some concern in our nation's capital. As previously reported on Torontoist, a certain federal MP (that's you Carolyn Parrish!) has ridiculed the sitting president and his allies on multiple occasions, one time even calling American people "bastards."

Is it possible that John Kerry's election could actually have a negative impact for Torontonians?