news
Newsstand: December 17, 2009
What’s hot and flaming and coming right for us? Why, the Olympic torch, of course! It was to have left Oshawa at 5 a.m. after a big old celebration at City Hall (dunno who in the ‘Shwa would be up at that ungodly hour) and will make its way through Whitby, Ajax, Pickering (with Brian Orser!), Whitchurch-Stouffville, Markham (stopping to rock out with Suzie McNeil), Richmond Hill, and Thornhill before gracing our fair city with its presence. So, why is this so exciting? Well…um…no, wait. Why is this exciting again?
Good, news, everyone! Industry Minister Tony Clement saw past the hypocrisy of the CRTC’s ruling that Wind Mobile couldn’t play with the big kids because the cell carrier wasn’t Canadian-owned (though it didn’t stop the same bad foreign men who own it to run Yak in Canada for years beforehand), and now we have another choice as to whom we’ll let ream us mercilessly provide us with quality wireless service.
TTC Chair, Ward 18 Davenport Councillor, and all-around sexy beast Adam Giambrone wants to take away the union’s right to strike to ensure that the Scarborough-Malvern arm of Transit City is built before the Pan-Am Games in 2015—and the union wants to give it to him. At least, business manager of the Central Ontario Building Trades Jay Peterson does. What were his exact words? Oh, yes: “…We’re looking to give away our right to strike so that we can count on seamless construction no matter what happens next year.” Sounds good, right? Well, Councillor Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) doesn’t think so. “Unions aren’t known for giving away things for nothing,” he says, “and the right to strike is the power behind the union to a great extent. I’m sure if they’re giving up the right to strike, there’s something in it for them.” He then goes on to remind us that if costs on the ten-billion-dollar project went up by only 1%, it would mean an extra hundred million dollars. Gee, thanks for the tip, Doug! Math is, indeed, hard.
And finally, speaking of the TTC (and as an update to yesterday’s aside in Newsstand), the budget was voted through. And some people bitched about it. Quelle surprise.