news
Newsstand: November 19, 2010
Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.
Hi, how about some information? In the news today, police want pedestrians to stop walking into cars, more G20 injustice, and kid finds big-ass maple leaf.
A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that during the municipal election campaign a Rob Ford worker had called John Tory’s radio show during a discussion on police body cameras and suggested that it would be unethical for Tory to jump into the mayoral race. Now the Globe has obtained the actual tape from the show and posted it online. Turns out the caller was actually Fraser Macdonald, Ford’s deputy communications director and Toronto’s answer to Karl Rove, who also orchestrated the fake @QueensQuayKaren Twitter account. Worth a listen just to hear the normally equable Tory get pissed off at being blindsided on his own show.
It’s been a dangerous week to cross the street in Toronto, with sixteen pedestrians hit by cars and one killed. As a result, police are scolding people dumb enough not to surround themselves with two tons of metal, suggesting that with winter weather coming on, cold, wet walkers may risk their own safety in their efforts to get out of the elements quickly. While there’s good sense in paying attention to what Elmer the Safety Elephant taught us back in grade school, the stats from the labouriously acronymed “STEP UP (Safety Tips for Educating Pedestrians in an Urban Population) and Be Safe” [PDF] campaign seem to tell a different story—of 13,126 tickets handed out out during the week ending November 14, only 1,186 went to pedestrians. The Toronto Police Service press release also advises motorists and pedestrians to be “diligent” when using city streets, a puzzling piece of advice that you may do with what you will.
Don’t throw away those high efficiency light bulbs just yet. The provincial government has acknowledged that while hydro rates should drop around 10% next year under the newly-announced Clean Energy Benefit program, they’ll likely jump 45% over the next five years. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan attributed the coming increases to greater reliance on cleaner but pricier energy like wind and solar, and to the cost of maintaining aging hydro infrastructure.
A maple leaf found by a nine-year-old Pickering boy has now been confirmed by the Guinness World Record people as the largest in the world. The gargantuan leaf measures thirteen and 5/8 inches across and is already more famous than you are.
If the various G20 sub-fiascos haven’t driven your blood pressure into stroke territory yet, how about this? While Toronto businesses are struggling to get reimbursed for damages and loss of business during the debacle, residents of Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding in Muskoka are being treated to some $50 million worth of of new stuff from a G8 infrastructure fund intended to help make up for the inconvenience of hosting all those world leaders. Before you get too mad though, be aware that Toronto did get some $27,000 from Ottawa for tree planting.
A Seneca College flight instructor and two of his students were killed when their light plane crashed near Pickering last night. The plane had been cleared to land at Buttonville airport when the control tower lost radar contact, and police were called to begin a search. The cause of the crash is not yet known.