news
Newsstand: September 3, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
Today: Smitherman lets a volunteer have it, trees aren’t worth it, and Bill Blair admits to a G20 muss-up.
Last night’s mayoral debate didn’t just include the candidates. A Rocco Rossi volunteer says George Smitherman swore at her when she tried to hand him campaign material while entering the Hart House. Smitherman said he let the volunteer “have it,” but only because she “attacked” him. Rossi came to the volunteer’s defense, calling Smitherman’s behaviour “completely unacceptable.” Come on, maybe she deserved it.
More conflict. As we speak, Hyatt Regency hotel (that’s the one where all the TIFF magic is happening in a week) employees are picketing outdoors. Members of the union, UNITE HERE, are on a one-day walkout, after talks with the hotel owner passed a midnight deadline, sans new agreement. A union spokeswoman said hotel owners need to stop treating workers as though there were a recession. Picketing was set for 7:30 a.m. and a rally is planned for later this afternoon. They go back to work tomorrow.
Here’s something depressing that you probably weren’t aware of. Some of the city’s trees, though oxygen-giving and pretty to look at, enter into a desperate fight for survival once erected along the sidewalk. According to arborists, trees planted as such lose 80 to 95% of their roots, and go into “major, major shock.” Sure they recover…after two or three years, and some die before they even bloom. At about 450 bucks a pop, that’s not exactly worth it tree advocates say, so plant in ravines and invest in tree-pit technology instead.
And onto the summit that will not end. Another class-action lawsuit has been filed by G20 detainees. The action was filed in Ontario Superior Court yesterday and seeks 115 million dollars. The named defendants are the Toronto and Peel police services boards, as well as the attorney general of Canada. Two Toronto residents who were arrested and held at detention centers are representatives on behalf of more than a thousand class members. The first class action came about last month, when more than eight hundred people held without charge filed, seeking forty-five million dollars.
Well in the wake of all the lawsuits, inquiries, and general discontent with the G20, police chief Bill Blair has for the first time admitted to some mistakes. This would be referring to the detainment of hundreds of people in torrential rain on Queen and Spadina Streets. Though Staff Superintendent Jeff McGuire was previously unapologetic, Blair said yesterday that the release of those boxed in for hours “probably could have happened sooner.”
And finally, some good news if you’re preggers or plan to be. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre launched its new state-of-the-art maternity wing Thursday. The price tag for the facility, which boasts twenty private rooms and Canada’s largest breast-feeding clinic is 188 million dollars. Another feature, TV monitors where moms can watch their own cesarean section…if that’s what you’re into.
Happy Long Weekend!