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Newsstand June 18, 2010
lllustration by Clayton Hanmer/Torontoist.
Yeah, we bad. The G20 has put Toronto on a select list of spots to which the US government does not want their citizens to travel. The US State Department has issued a travel warning for the city during the period of the summit, noting that at worst even peaceful protests can get teargassy and at best traffic will be a bitch. Mayor David Miller has already put out a stern rejoinder, saying that Torontonians are peaceful, amiable folk, like hobbits but with better restaurants.
In other summitastic news, the Toronto Police Association is calling on Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan to resign after he suggested that police might send in agents provocateurs to rile up demonstrators and justify the big bucks being spent on security. Police dressed like protesters, protesters dressed like police—it’s a crazy, topsy-turvy world out there.
Further evidence that the streets of Toronto are awash in fear: days after mayoral candidate Rob Ford (councillor, Ward 2, Etobicoke North) appeared to offer OxyContin-buying advice to a disturbed voter out of what he says was fear for his family, said constituent is now claiming to be worried about his own safety. Dieter Doneit-Henderson says the idea that he could be a threat to Ford is “absurd,” and that he is considering issuing a restraining order against the councillor (Ford has already filed a criminal harassment complaint against Doneit-Henderson). No word on whether anyone ever scored any OxyContin.
What would you do with fifty million simoleons? Torontoist would buy a cruller and take a taxi somewhere, but you may have bigger dreams. Canadians are lining up for today’s Lotto Max draw, the largest ever in the country with a main prize of fifity mil and forty-five satellite prizes of a million bucks each. Yes, the odds against winning are heartbreakingly long, but if Justin Bieber can get famous, there’s no reason you can’t get rich.
The revamp of service centres along the 400 and 401 highway, which was supposed to be financed by the company awarded the contract to run them, will now largely be paid for out of the taxpayer’s pocket. Two-thirds of the estimated three-hundred-million-dollar cost to upgrade the centres will now be borne by the Ontario government instead of by Host Kilmer Service Centres as originally planned. Government sources are being close-mouthed about details, but say that the money will be recovered over fifty years. Host Kilmer, for their part, expect to pull down one hundred million dollars a year from the centres and probably won’t be wasting any money on lottery tickets.