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Newsstand: August 27, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
It’s Friday, we’re in love… Ford doesn’t like free food, nobody cares about the election, and more G20 photos for you to review.
Possible future mayor Rob Ford earned the ire of Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) when workers on his campaign took photos of the free post-lunch buffet that council gets when they’re councilling. Ford, who’s built his reputation on objecting to people getting things, said that as mayor he’d eliminate the snack, while Carrol noted angrily that the perk costs less than nine thousand dollars annually. Ford also said that the freebie is “like literally a gravy train” which, if true, raises the question as to whether the equipment could be repurposed for a Union Station to Pearson Airport rail link.
Even with the news that councillors and staff could be losing their lunch if Ford dons the mayor’s sash, rumour has it that some in the chamber are starting to cozy up to the combative councillor from Etobicoke. The buzz is that there’s a lot less heckling and more sycophantic grinning going on as it dawns on municipal apparatchiks that Ford may soon be in a position to hand out more than a chocolate chip muffin. Seems like only yesterday that some left-leaning councillors were suggesting that Ford wouldn’t be able to achieve much as mayor, because others would play the passive-aggressive card and work around him.
But none of that matters to you anyway, because an Ipsos Reid poll shows that 41% of Torontonians are following the election “not very closely” or “not closely at all.” Which may explain the way things are going.
Police have given new bragging rights to a group of suspects they’re calling the “worst of the worst” for participating in vandalism at the G20 mini-riots in June. The cops have released new photos and video from the demos and are asking the public to help identify the alleged window-breakers and Starbucks-haters. Have a look—maybe you’re famous!
Well, this is weird. One of the alleged terror plotters arrested this week is a medical doctor from Montreal who tried out for Canadian Idol in 2008 using a fake Pakistani accent. Khurram Sher’s arrest in London, Ontario shocked friends and colleagues, but may come as less of a surprise to those who’ve watched reality TV and pondered the social dysfunction of many participants.
Two men convicted of manslaughter in the shooting of fifteen-year-old Jane Creba on Boxing Day in 2005 have been sentenced to twelve years in prison. If you’re concerned that the punishment is unduly severe for engaging in a public gun fight that killed a teenage girl shopping with her parents, don’t worry—Louis Woodcock and Tyshaun Barnett will get double credit for time served and be out of jail in three years and seven months.