news
Newsstand: July 7, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
What’s happening? G20 policing will be reviewed, the Monday blackout wasn’t heat-related, and you can choose Canada’s best bathroom.
This G20 stuff just won’t go away. Following a turbulent police services board meeting yesterday, board chair Alok Mukherjee has announced that an independent review will be conducted into police behaviour during the summit. The action goes against comments made last week by Mukherjee and Police Chief Bill Blair, who had originally indicated that they felt no external inquiry was necessary. The reversal may be viewed as tacit acceptance of the idea that random arrests, searches of dubious legality, and the invocation of imaginary laws shouldn’t be considered business as usual.
Hydro One says that Monday’s blackout wasn’t due to high temperatures and excessive demand for electricity, but to equipment failure that could “probably” have happened any other day, and that it was just like any “normal blackout.” Well, that’s a relief. We were worried that it might have been caused by something other than our collapsing infrastructure.
Don’t you just hate houseguests? Evidently Jean-Daniel Lafond, husband of Governor General Michaëlle Jean, agrees with you. It’s reported that during the queen’s visit to Ottawa, Lafond requested that she bunk at a hotel rather than the GG’s residence at Rideau Hall. The awkward part about the whole thing is that the place technically belongs to Her Majesty, and she’s stayed there whenever she’s been in Ottawa since 1951. In the end Jean and Lafond were banished to China for a state visit and the queen and her entourage didn’t have to book a room at the Days Inn.
Hey, you know who would be fun to have around the house for a couple of days? The Dalai Lama, that’s who! He’ll be visiting Toronto in October to mark the opening of the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre and to give an address at the Rogers Centre. The speech will take place on October 22, three days before Toronto elects a new mayor. Word is that His Holiness will come out in favour of Rob Ford.
Last Wednesday, June 30 saw the 407 toll highway hit a new high for single day use, with 454,275 trips recorded as Torontonians ditched the city to fill up cottage country for the Canada Day long weekend. And the great news is that the money we make from the tolls will fund new subways and infrastructure…sorry, what? Oh. Nevermind.
Stand tall, Toronto! Cintas Canada is holding a contest for the best washroom in Canada, and three of the five finalists are right here in Hogtown. Cintas notes that a restroom experience should be “memorable,” although glory holes were not a criterion considered in the selection of finalists. If you want to be a part of this momentous decision, you can vote online here.