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Newsstand: November 1, 2011
Halloween may be over, but the sugar shakes from all the "leftover" candy you bought for the trick-or-treaters is just beginning. Have some news with that tiny pack of Sour Patch Kids: Rob Ford says he'll pay for the fancy business cards, Doug Ford explains why he doesn't ever have any office expenses, a truck was followed by police for a while, the Air and Space Museum has a friend, and a very special birthday.
Mayor Rob Ford’s office is trying to convince everyone the mayor’s business cards are not a big deal. Sure, using his own family’s company to order extra-fancy grade business cards for him and his staff, even though the cards cost way more than the standard cards printed by the City, doesn’t look great. But some documents released by the mayor’s office prove Ford-owned Deco Labels & Tags won the contract fair and square by beating out two other companies (Ford fans among them, it seems). Also, now that everyone knows about the needlessly expensive contract awarded to his own family’s company, the mayor “has no intention of letting the taxpayers of Toronto pay for this expense.” Ford added he was also going to pay for that pack of Juicy Fruits that just fell out of his pocket.
If the shiny new business cards didn’t satisfy your appetite for stories about the mayor’s spending habits, you’re in luck. It seems all the savings in office expenses Ford’s been bragging about may be due in part to the fact that he gets to pass some costs off on a different budget. Telephone service, for example, no longer comes out of the mayor’s office expense budget, but from city council’s general budget. And not to be outshone, Councillor Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) claims he’s so far been able to avoid office expenses altogether, whether out-of-pocket or out of allocated budget, by bringing pens from home.
But enough about hypocrisy and cronyism at City Hall and more about that five-hour truck chase on the QEW, right?! Where to start? Well, the pursuit lasted for five hours and involved a flatbed truck being followed along the QEW by a bunch of OPP cars and a CP24 chopper. Then the driver put on his indicator, pulled over, and surrendered. Those glued to the action (presumably a sector of society comprised solely of people who work or have worked in newsrooms and the people that love them) were glued to it.
Like trying to dribble a basketball on the beach, keeping the Canadian Air and Space Museum in Downsview Park going seems like a near-impossible task. Just when everyone thought they’d be given a reprieve, it turns out it was just some extra time to pack up before being evicted. The building that houses the museum was deemed a historic site, then it wasn’t. Now, fans of air and space museums are getting a big boost in their support for Canada’s: a letter from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum acknowledging the importance of the Downsview museum. Yes, that Smithsonian.
And before we go, we’ve got a birthday shout out for our friends at the Toronto Sun. The paper turns 40 today. Happy birthday!