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Newsstand: January 11, 2010
The power is back on in the big chunk of downtown Toronto between Yonge and St. George where Toronto Hydro had to cut off electricity to over nineteen thousand people for most of the day on Sunday. At fault was a water main that broke, leading to flooding that forced the power shut-off. Lights were dimmed at a few TTC stations, but service continued in the affected area because the commission deployed its backup power system—which, disappointingly, is apparently not just a pair of jumper cables clamped directly to Adam Giambrone’s (Ward 18, Davenport) reassuring grin.
Trouble, however, was far from over for the TTC. They had to stop subway service between Warden and Victoria Park for over twelve hours, owing to a separate electrical problem with the signals at Warden Station. A shuttle bus between Warden and Victoria Park provided temporary service from 6:00 am to 6:30 p.m., when the problem was finally resolved.
Why the long wait? Maybe it was a tricky situation, or maybe repair crews were just distracted by the thought of around three hundred pants-free subway riders hanging out on their trains in Toronto’s No Pants Subway Ride. While the Sun thinks it’s “every urban adventurer’s dream” to ride the rocket without the stifling inconvenience of jeans, slacks, skirts, and the like, we’ll give you our own brief recap of the revealing incident, later today.
In other news, Michael Ignatieff has a busy schedule ahead of him, despite Stephen Harper’s monumental fuck-you to the electorate. Er, sorry, I meant to type “Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue parliament mid-session for the second time in a year,” but look at what came out. That’s funny. Anyway, Ignatieff, who has already pledged to keep Liberal MPs working despite the parliamentary shutdown, is launching a cross-Canada tour of university campuses to argue politics with university students, which is evidently something he finds soothing, since the tour is being talked about like it’s some kind of vacation for the Liberal leader.
Is it a slow news day? Is the price of sending a letter in Canada rising from fifty-four cents to fifty-seven cents? Well, there’s your answer. Don’t feel too short-changed, though: at least GO train–users and fans of glass roofs can look forward to a more perfect Union Station. There’s your ray of sunshine; now have a happy Monday.