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Newsstand: May 31, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid’s effective exile from Pride is barely a week old, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in town Sunday to kick off a little parade of his own. Hey, QuAIA, seeing as you’ve got that nice fresh wound, could you carry all this salt around in it? Right. Now just rub it around for a while. Of course, even the prime minister of Israel has to deal with criticism these days, but luckily the demonstrators dispersed before Netanyahu made his entrance to RICOH Coliseum, where he praised Canadian-Israeli relations. “Our ties, the ties between Canada and Israel have never been stronger,” said Netanyahu, who was, as the Star observed, “speaking from behind bulletproof glass.”
The Glad Day Bookshop, Toronto’s—and North America’s—oldest dedicated gay and lesbian book store and “active archive of gay heritage in the city and beyond,” may soon be the latest small bookseller to close its doors. “They’ve got a very good collection of gay oriented literature, but I don’t know who’s reading any more,” said Councillor Kyle Rae (Ward 27, Toronto Centre–Rosedale). The forty-year-old establishment, which supplies a number of regional libraries as well as its local—and aging—clientele, is suffering the same troubles that have hit beloved independent stores like Pages and relative giants like McNally Robinson. The Toronto Women’s Bookstore just escaped a closing scare, too, but was bought by one of its employees and is ditching its non-profit status in a bid to survive.
Toronto is getting a new museum of Islamic art and culture, courtesy of the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims. The “landmark” site will consist of two major buildings on an elaborately landscaped, seven-hectare park in the middle of Eglinton and Wynford Drive. Designed by a trio of prestigious architects from around the world, the complex will cost $300 million, or roughly the same as twenty-three hours of security for the Toronto G20. Stephen Harper was present for the ground-breaking of the complex. By the time it’s finished in 2013, the Star‘s Christopher Hume thinks it will be the most beautiful gift Toronto has ever received. Gosh, Hume mean it?
Speaking of the billion or so dollars we’re spending on security during the G8 and G20 summits, Auditor General Sheila Fraser announced that she is prepared to audit the expenses after the event. Her aim will be to conduct a sober, thorough post-mortem to determine whether the costs were necessary and handled efficiently. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who now finally has a real scandal attached to his name, welcomed the idea of an audit. Two months ago, the federal government estimated that summit security costs would run to about $179 million.
The Toronto Humane Society, still recovering from a troubled year, has just elected a new board of directors, every one of whom was a fierce critic of former leadership. Voted down in that election was a slate including former Ontario Public Transportation Minister David Turnbull. The victorious slate, “Faces of Change,” swept all fifteen seats in the election, and has been accused of having close ties with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals—a charge that, in the Balkanized world of animal-shelter politics, Faces was obliged to vehemently deny.
And Ontario elementary and secondary schools are badly in need of psych services and social workers, according to a study of 922 schools province-wide, representing about one-fifth of Ontario’s student population. While the rate of mental disorders and learning difficulties is growing, schools are increasingly unable to provide the needed support. By 2020, the need for children’s mental health services is expected to climb by 50%.