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Newsstand: September 17, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
If you woke up in your mom’s body today, it’s Freaky Friday! Otherwise, just regular Friday. Newswise, some candidates aren’t talking donors, Rob Ford won’t apologize again, and more anti-bed-buggery legislation is on the way.
In spite of all the hand waving and tongue wagging about accountability in this election, three of the key mayoral candidates are playing coy about who’s filling their wallets. The Globe reports that George Smitherman, Rocco Rossi, and Sarah Thomson don’t plan to release lists of campaign donors until after the election. The law doesn’t require candidates to release the info until five months post-election, but in recent years the convention has been to do so prior to voters going to the polls. Why aren’t they talking? Well, in a nutshell, the Smitherman campaign declined to comment, while the Thomson and Rossi teams offered implausible excuses. No doubt there’ll be more on this.
Cheri DiNovo wants your landlord to make sure you sleep tight. The NDP MPP is introducing a bill at Queen’s Park that would require landlords to be licensed and make the licence renewal contingent on regular bedbug inspections of their properties. A group representing small landlords (property size, not stature) is objecting to the bill, saying DiNovo is playing politics by conflating the issues of bedbugs and landlord licensing. Bedbugs themselves have been ominously silent on the issue.
On the subject of conspicuous silences, Mayor David Miller, who has hithertofore not publicly endorsed any candidate, will be at Dufferin subway station this morning handing out flyers for Joe Pantalone Ward 18 council candidate Kevin Beaulieu. Beaulieu is former assistant to retiring sex-scandalized councillor Adam Giambrone, and by all accounts embraces many of his former boss’s principles. Politically speaking.
Writing about Rob Ford is like binge drinking—you know it may eventually contribute to the destruction of everything you hold dear, but it’s just so much fun while you’re doing it. Anyway, the flamboyant front-runner is sticking to his guns in the face of a threatened lawsuit, refusing to apologize for his comments about “corruption” and “skullduggery” with regard to the controversial Tuggs restaurant deal. Wonder how many times the words “Rob Ford” and “apologize” have appeared in the same sentence in the media over the years? Seriously, you should Google it.
A reminder for north Toronto shuttle bus enthusiasts that this is their lucky weekend. Subway service will be shut down between Downsview and Lawrence West stations from Saturday at 6 a.m until Monday morning. so schedule your transit plans accordingly.
Update: Bruce Springsteen continues not to be playing at the Horseshoe, as well as other venues in town. The Springsteen non-performing is expected to continue indefinitely.