news
Newsstand: December 21, 2010
Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.
It’s a thematic Tues-news, so we hope you like transit and the law: TTC union president says, “If we’re so essential, pay us like police,” Toronto police officer charged with drunk driving, poll shows Canadians mostly have faith in law enforcement, and what if our subways were above-ways?
If the City wants to go calling the TTC flattering names, then they ought to pony up and pay TTC workers at the same rate as firefighters and police, the city’s other essential service workers, says ATU Local 113 president Bob Kinnear. TTC workers’ contracts expire at the end of March, and negotiations on those contracts are slated to begin in February. Last week, city council voted 28 to 17 in favour of declaring the TTC an essential service, which would deny TTC workers the right to strike legally. It remains to be seen what the province will do with that recommendation. Kinnear says his claim that TTC workers should be paid like firefighters and police is a tongue-in-cheek backlash against the “essential service” brand his union doesn’t want.
Speaking of the police, one of the service’s own is charged with impaired driving after allegedly driving into a pole on Dundas Street near Roncesvalles Avenue in the wee hours Saturday morning. Constable Ravneet Dhillon is twenty-five years old and has been on the force for two years. Dhillon remains on paid administrative duty while the criminal proceedings are ongoing and will face an internal investigation once a court decision has been laid down.
In related news, the CBC reports that an EKOS poll shows that cross-Canada faith in police is still high, despite a year that proved rife with controversy over abuse of police power. Even though the poll turned up support for police overall, it also uncovered fissures in that faith: in Toronto, 28% of respondents said that their trust in police has decreased. Despite Ottawa’s reputation for being a staid city of line-toers (it’s ok, we’re allowed to say it, some of us are from there), faltering faith was there at its highest, with just under 45% of respondents saying they trust the long arm of law a little less this year.
Speaking of the TTC (yeah, we know, that was before, but we had an excess of segue this morning), Metrolinx has proved that it’s a “think outside the box and above the ground” kind of place and wants to toss TRAINS THROUGH THE SKY into its discussions with the city. Ok, so they’re called “elevated train corridors,” but tell us that the real name isn’t kind of a downer. An alternative to both subway and LRT, above-ways are less expensive to build than their sub-counterpart, Metrolinx says. So instead of Mole City we could be, like, Flying Squirrel city.
Speaking of flying through the air, are you planning a jaunt to Europe over the next few days? Well, don’t. Just kidding. But do be careful, and do call ahead to make sure your flight is going to get off the ground. With mad weather all over Europe, and England in particular suffering from some apocalypse-style ice and snow, Heathrow’s not doing much in the way of taking in flights. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.