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Newsstand: February 15, 2010
Illustration by Roxanne Ignatius/Torontoist.
Frustrations, fog, and fear. Welcome to the 2010 Winter Olympics! The first few days in Vancouver haven’t gone exactly as organizers hoped, from the weather, to protests, to a finicky torch-lighting ceremony (eye-blowing photos of the torch’s journey and the opening ceremonies found here and here). Most upsetting, however, was the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was killed during a training run down the wickedly fast Whistler track. VANOC says the fault lies on Kumaritashvili for losing control, but still lowered the starting lines for both male and female lugers, causing criticism all around. But Canada ended the opening weekend on top of the podium, when Alexandre Bilodeau won the first-ever gold medal on home soil in the men’s moguls, leaving reigning champ Dale Begg-Smith of Australia with a ski up his rear. Canada is in fourth in overall medals behind the U.S., Germany, and France, with a slightly disappointing silver finish from women’s moguls skier Jennifer Heil and a bronze from Kristina Groves in speedskating. Stay tuned for on-sight and outta-sight reporting from Torontoist’s Stephen Johns.
Toronto will host the G20 summit in June as Canada’s financial centre, so Stephen Harper says he wants to hold the meeting right in the heart of the downtown core. Makes sense right? Wrong. The City of Toronto is fighting the feds’ (unofficial) decision to host the top twenty world leaders at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, ignoring the City’s choice of the much more convenient Exhibition Place. In addition to disruptions to the Blue Jays’ schedule and Gay Pride events, Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) is expecting “serious disruptions” for Torontonians and protests larger than last spring’s Tamil demonstrations. He is organizing a town hall meeting for Thursday, April 29 at Metro Hall (55 John Street) from 3–5 p.m. and 7–9 p.m. to brief all those who will be affected, so hopefully the room can hold the roughly two and a half million people that live in this city.
The Ajax Knights tyke hockey team was in tears after they were narrowly defeated in a tournament outside of Pittsburgh, but not because they lost out on the gold. The roof of the rink collapsed fifteen minutes after the game ended. Fortunately none of seven- and eight-year-old players or their parents were seriously hurt. The cause of the collapse is speculated to be the buildup of snow on the roof of the arena, more like an “old, old, old, old barn.”
It’s like cow-tipping, but extremely racist. “Nip-tipping” is the latest pastime for Lake Simcoe fishermen who get their laughs from pushing their Asian-Canadian colleagues into the water. Trevor Middleton, twenty-three, was sentenced to two years of jail time and three year’s probation for what is considered a hate crime by the Asian community. A night of nip-tipping for Middleton and his intoxicated friends in 2007 ended in fistfights, a car chase, and a horrific accident leaving a man with permanent brain injury. Angers flared in the courtroom at the lax judgment, resulting in the victim of Middleton’s nip-tipping, Ruohang Liu, throwing part of a chair at the window and getting arrested himself.
But seeing as it’s Family Day, let’s end Newsstand on a bright note, shall we? Mayoral candidate George Smitherman may be joined by a new running mate soon—a fourteen-month-old baby boy. Smitherman announced that he and husband Christopher Peloso were approved to be adoptive parents by the Toronto Children’s Aid Society. Smitherman, Ontario’s first openly gay MPP, married Peloso in 2007 and they have been pursuing adoption for the past two years. Critics worry that with the responsibility of this new kind of ward, he’ll be ditching City Hall for the PTA. But Smitherman says he’ll balance work and family, like any other sugar- baby-daddy.
Now go enjoy your free time like you’re a Member of Parliament!