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Newsstand: February 22, 2010
Illustration by Roxanne Ignatius/Torontoist.
So, hockey. The Canadian men’s 5–3 loss to the U.S. yesterday shunted them into a qualifying match for the quarterfinals. Still, it’s cheering to know that Canadians still have the spirit to respond to the Americans’ third goal with “a profane chant not fit for print.” Martin Brodeur is pretty widely expected to be swapped out for Roberto Luongo as goalie, but some media outfit in New York says that depends on the outcome of a video review by coach Mike Babcock.
A bill being introduced to the Ontario legislature today could make the TTC an essential service, barring its employees from striking. David Caplan, the health minister who took the fall in the eHealth scandal from which George Smitherman emerged largely unscathed, will be introducing the proposal in a private member’s bill, which Caplan says will rule out strikes and lockouts and trigger binding arbitration in the event of a breakdown in TTC contract negotiations. David Miller spoke out against the bill, saying that arbitration will result in a worse deal for Toronto. Caplan pointed out that the province had stepped in multiple times recently to pass one-off back-to-work legislation during TTC work stoppages.
Meanwhile, some TTC workers are calling on Ottawa to pass a bill that would make assaulting a bus driver as serious a crime as attacking a police officer. We say “apparently” because the Sun’s main source for that story is the Facebook page “Toronto Transit Operators Against Public Harassment,” which is not affiliated with the transit union. Bill C-314, put forward by an NDP MP from British Columbia, would bring heavier sentences in cases of violence against transit workers.
Barack Obama plans to spend about half a billion dollars per year until the end of 2014 to clean the Great Lakes, according to an environmental plan obtained by the Associated Press. Maybe that’s an easier goal than health care reform? That is, unless zebra mussels can afford lobbyists.
Rocco Rossi, the craziest real contender for mayor (for now?) has had it up to here with your bikes and their lanes. Rossi is decrying City Hall’s decision to move forward with its existing plans to take out the centre lane of Jarvis Street and replace it with bike paths. Calling the plan “a clear affront to democracy,” Rossi took a moment to reassure reporters that he supports bike lanes, as long as they don’t interfere with real vehicles such as cars. Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale), who has pushed for the bike lanes for a decade, says that most residents along Jarvis support the plan. Opposition, according to Rae, comes largely from denizens of North Toronto, whose drive downtown would get two to five minutes longer. The kicker is that opponents of the bike paths are angry at the City for moving forward without an environmental assessment to determine the potential impact of of the roadwork.