news
Newsstand: February 23, 2011
Illustration by Jeremy Kai/Torontoist.
Hi, do you come to Wednesday often? We’re kind of regulars here. In the news, TTC to get legislated and arbitrated, RCMP didn’t want to kettle you, and poor Rick Vaive.
The McGuinty government acted yesterday on a Toronto city council request and tabled legislation at Queen’s Park to make the TTC an essential service, which would eliminate the right of workers to strike. Union boss Bob Kinnear responded to the news by calling Rob Ford a “coward,” although he stopped short of challenging the mayor to a fist fight after school. Studies have suggested that arbitrated contracts that would be imposed under a no-strike law could end up costing an additional twenty-three million dollars more over a three year contract, while making TTC workers even less amiable than usual.
It appears that police forces in Ontario routinely refuse to co-operate with the Special Investigations Unit, which looks into reports of injuries or death in interacations between cops and civilians. The Star obtained hundreds of letters from SIU director Ian Scott to forces around the province advising them of conduct issues, the majority of which were apparently ignored. If the SIU decides not to lay criminal charges in a case, they have no ability to initiate disciplinary proceedings, but can only “make police forces aware of possible misconduct.” Because when people become aware that their behavior is inappropriate, they always stop.
Speaking of inappropriate police behaviour and excellent segues, the RCMP say that the infamous Queen Street kettling during the G20 summit wasn’t their idea. The Globe reports that even though the Mounties were key members of the Integrated Security Unit that held hundreds of protesters and passers-by in the rain for hours last June, standard RCMP policy is always to give crowds a way out in such situations. We probably shouldn’t be saying this, but if you didn’t dress like a protester, you’d be much less likely to get kettled.
In other key issues of our times, Councillors Doug Ford and Michael Thompson want a relaxation of Toronto’s bylaw against street hockey, saying it goes against “Canada’s hockey spirit.” At the moment ball hockey players can be hit with fifty-five dollar fine, although no one ever has. Ford notes that such a change to the law “would encourage people to get outside and exercise.” Well, that and banning PlayStation.
A police officer told a judge that former Leafs captain Rick Vaive had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood when he was pulled over back in 2009, and also “reeked of alcohol.” The officer also reported “Vaive’s eyes were red, watery and bloodshot, and that he had a wet stain “in the crotch region.” Vaive is pleading not guilty to a charge of impaired driving.