Results tagged “legislation”

The Harper government will introduce legislation to protect consumers more effectively from dangerous products, in part by holding importers more accountable for the goods they bring in. Christmas isn't going to be the same without the traditional lead-laden toys and minor brain damage.

It looks like there will now be a reprieve for all of you filthy, dirty scum who have dared to engage in file-sharing, downloading, and the elusive but nonetheless nefarious "time-shifting."

The good folks at TiVo have decided that now would be the optimum time to unleash their initially-much-talked-about-but-not-so-much-talked-about-anymore product on Canadians, a mere eight years after its release to the U.S. and U.K. markets. (Way to capitalize on a phenomenon, fellas!) TiVo can be credited––at least according to Canada.com––with "making TV watching less of a laborious task," which is a relative understatement considering how exhausting sitting through commercials can be to the average viewer. Don't...

In spite of legislation passed by opposition parties requiring the government to achieve Kyoto standards by 2012, the Conservative government has presented their original plan which doesn't even come close. A spokesperson said "We wanted to meet our Kyoto obligations, but it looked like it was going to be really hard." The government did say they were commited to ensuring that future generations had a climate of some kind.

City Hall ups the road repair budget this year to $230 million, and at the same time admits that it's not even close to being enough to reduce the backlog of required repairs. There ought to be a word that auto-defines as "the debilitating effects of when Toronto doesn't get enough federal and municipal funding," so we could all just say it and save ourselves some breath. Like, "klunge" could be shorthand for that phrase, so when another story like this shows up next week (as we all know it will), we could just say "massive klunge." And we would nod knowingly.

City council says up to 2,500 tonnes of dog poop are deposited in park trash bins every year. This is problematic since our garbage dumps in Michigan refuse to take it. So where should we put our growing heap of canine feces? Councillor Pam McConnell (Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) thinks the city should provide green bins in parks, while Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) doesn't think it's a big deal for dog owners to carry the waste home and flush/compost it. What are your thoughts on this crap?

City considers indexed fees for garbage pickup. This is barely news, really, because we all knew increased garbage fees were coming sooner or later, and we all know they're ultimately necessary (even if some of us don't much like that). But it's nice (or chagrin-causing, depending on your point of view) to see it finally coming about.

It's something that usually only comes up during election time, but in the City of Toronto, wards are designated by numbers. For example, the area bounded by Dovercourt Road to the west, Christie Street and Bathurst Street to the east, the CPR tracks to the north and Lake Ontario to the south is officially known as Ward 19. Nobody really calls area by its numerical name (hey dude, let's party in the 19th tonight!), but just to keep things interesting, both Ward 19 and Ward 20 are unofficially known as Trinity-Spadina. It's kind of a weird system.

Recently, the Toronto Sun reported that over 500 pit bulls have been killed since the breed was banned sixteen months ago. With temperatures in Toronto well below freezing, those still lucky enough to be alive are suffering due to their salt-ridden and frozen paws, unable to lick them because of the muzzles on their faces.

The University of Toronto received $2.4 million in a class-action settlement pertaining to vitamin price-fixing thanks to a court-ordered distribution of penalty funds. Seven other universities received the other $17.6 million in the settlement, including $4.8 million to the University of Guelph. No word yet on what U of T will do with the money, although rumours swirl that the university's president will ask for it all in twenties, pour it out into one room, and try to swim in it.

Few things are more representative of the holiday season than the bell ringers and familiar red shield of the Salvation Army. Ever-present at malls, street corners and inside TTC property, the London-based organization collects cash for its Christian outreach services benefiting 30 million people in Canada and abroad. The Sally Ann is one of the world's largest, richest and most visible philanthropic agencies, recently providing significant relief for victims of Hurricane Rita and support for workers and families of September 11.

The Supreme Court of Canada upholds logging rights for aboriginal citizens. There's a sleazy joke to be made here about wood, but I'm not going to make it. I have standards.

Toro Magazine, free to Globe and Mail subscribers, released its Men of the Year issue yesterday.

Mississauga City Council candidate, Adnan Hashmi, has been charged with impersonating a police officer after his rival, Ishrat Nasim claimed he tried to pressure her landlady into denying she lived in Ward 10, which would make her ineligible to run. All lies, says Hashmi.

In Rome, at least 1 person has died, and 10 more have been seriously injured in a subway collision involving two trains. It has been over 10 years since the Russel Hill incident here in Toronto.

But all agreed one thing: "Liberals, we need to get back to power as soon as possible."

If you're like Torontoist, you like to have a good time. You also like to save your money to be able to afford those aforementioned good times.

The police admit that they've been protecting witnesses and sources to the Jane Creba shooting. They've put up a $50,000 reward and got 20 investigators working on it. Here's hoping they close the case soon.

Three divisions of Toronto Police will be trying out tasers in the coming year the Sun reports. We've written about tasers before and how other jurisdictions have had problems with them. We hope that Toronto Police approach this with caution and aren't trigger happy with their new toys.

A TTC janitor might just be subject of one ot those TTC employee ads after spotting a four-year old boy that was snatched and Amber-Alerted. A 34-year old woman was also arrested.

When it comes down to it, we should all be glad Niagara Falls exists. Yes, it’s a gash in the landscape surrounded by tack, but on the other hand, it’s a guaranteed day you don’t have to look after your friends or relatives when they come to visit. Just put them on a bus and forget about them. The George F. Walker penned film, Niagara Motel could probably do some damage to this tourist trafficking, featuring Glaswegian (and Drew Carey renegade) Craig Ferguson as a drunken janitor, lamenting the death of his wife, who fell off the Maid in the Mist. Intriguingly, the film faces direct competition from Escape from Happiness, the George F. Walker penned play starting on Saturday at the Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst) that has far better reviews.

The Guardian Angels hold their first recruiting session and vow to be on the streets by the summer. The mayor and the chief of police gave them the cold shoulder last time but criticism is a little more muted this time around. Torontoist remains lukewarm on the volunteer crime-prevention group. We'd prefer to see trained police officers doing the job of crime prevention and community policing but can understand how people in the city feel frustrated by gun crime.

It's no secret that the city is cash-strapped. There's a $500 million chasm in the city's budget and rolling back councillor's wages can only put so much of a dent in that huge financial mountain. The city's gotten quite creative too, there was the frightening proposal to give up naming rights to Nathan Phillips Square, which thankfully was shot down.

A couple interesting flip-flops in the new government today - namely a crossing of the floor and an unelected senator and Minister of Public Works and Government Service.

By now, most everyone in the city knows of the single most unfortunate event in Toronto this year: On Boxing Day, while shopping, 15-year-old Jane Creba was killed by errant gunfire. Six other innocent bystanders were also wounded.

The sound of lips smacking echoed through downtown on Saturday afternoon when dozens of women participated in Toronto's first Kiss-In since 1976. To show support for two Montreal women attacked for kissing each other in public, female kissers of Toronto flooded the streets with a smooching protest.

Like most media outlets, Torontoist loves those hot button issues. And right now, what hot button issue is hotter than Canadian spies operating overseas? In a year-end interview with the Edmonton Sun, Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan finally got around to addressing Canada's imminent spy problem.

It's official. Should you want to take that Ontario ice wine you've been saving for a special occasion out to dinner with you, you now can. The province decided to follow Quebec, New Brunswick, Alberta and B.C. in changing the legislation to entice more restaurant customers to come in from the cold, bottle in tow. It's about time, thinks Torontoist. Taking Chateau Diana to Burger King just got that much easier. We kid. Fast food restaurants will likely not be eligible for BYOB licensing.

That health minister of ours. He's more forward thinking than all of Scandinavia put together! While other countries innovate with solar heating, or universal access to higher education, Canada's official health hound, Ujjal Dosanjh. has been busy repeating the following three words: Reduced Ignition Propensity. What does it mean in layman's terms? A mighty good question. You need not fear that your car ignition is losing its will to live, growing passive and despondent at winter's onset. Reduced Ignition Propensity just means our cigarettes will soon go out all by themselves. "We will be the first country to have a national standard to reduce the fire risk of cigarettes," said Dossanjh. Great, thinks Torontoist, but why not just force the country's smokers to switch to Bidis. Not only do they fizzle out every five seconds, but they're the new teen fad.

Dude, it used to be that you could rely on the legion for communal smoking, and a good roast beef raffle every now and then. But Health Minister George Smitherman says that may soon be no more - the smoking that is, not the beef. Despite the GTA-wide smoking ban, an exemption had been in place for private clubs. But Smithy says the new legislation will outlaw smoking in any building that's not a private resident. Guess that's more money for the members to wager on the next 'meat draw.' Torontoist expects we can look forward to some commentary in the pages of the Legion's own creatively named magazine, Legion Magazine. And then again maybe not.