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Newsstand: December 12, 2011
It's Monday. Again. Just like it was last week, and will be again in seven short days. Sigh. Also happening: Mayor Rob Ford makes his ballet debut, a controversial citizenship rule change, a Toronto school kid raps for Drake, and three sagas (which are in no way related to Wu-Tang, but rather the LCBO, waterfront, and elephants) continue.
Mayor Rob Ford’s much anticipated debut with the National Ballet of Canada finally saw the light of day (er, theatre lights) at Saturday afternoon’s opening of The Nutcracker. Shaking his fist whilst costumed in colourful Russian Petrouchka doll outfit, Ford escorted the cannon that initiates the ballet’s battle scene. Word on the street says that Ford really enjoyed his walk-on (dance-on?) role, but let’s hope he doesn’t get too comfortable. The arts don’t pay very well.
A new federal rule for those seeking Canadian citizenship may change the face of Toronto, or at least limit those who wish to have the democratic rights of citizens. The rule would require women of the Muslim faith to remove their niqabs or any other items that would cover their faces before taking the oath to become a Canadian citizen. However, this does not mean that those unwilling to abide by this rule would be forced to seek residence elsewhere, as those who refuse to unveil their faces could still remain permanent residents, but won’t be able to vote, hold certain jobs or run for office. Sure to be controversial, the impact of this rule change could be strongly felt right here in Hog Town (hmmm not a very halal nickname) as Toronto is home to 30 per cent of all recent immigrants and 20 per cent of all immigrants.
While Doug Ford wants to build self-esteem via mixed martial arts, maybe all Toronto school kids need is a little bit of face time with Toronto’s biggest-rapper-of-the-moment Drake. Twelve-year old Jake Zeldin, who managed to get backstage at his idol’s concert, had a chance to do just that, and spit some rhymes for the rap superstar. The seventh-grade rapper, who has undergone thousands of dollars worth of speech therapy, and faced difficulty and teasing as a result of a long-term stutter which disappears when he raps, wants to spread the message that you shouldn’t let a small thing get in the way of your dreams. Happy Monday, adults of Toronto. What have you done to spread this same positive message, hmmm? Yup. You’re welcome.
The LCBO pricing saga continues. In an open letter to the Ontario minister of finance last week, the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association demanded that restaurant and bar owners be given the chance to negotiate wholesale prices with the LCBO. Currently, the LCBO doesn’t allow this, so there are no bulk discounts available. This means that bars and restaurants, who are of course in the business of making profits, mark the cost of alcohol up (way up) in order make any money off the deal. If they are paying as much as the rest of us per bottle, this tends to get a little expensive. With the support of some Toronto restaurants maybe, just maybe, this expensive alcohol debacle will soon be behind us. Then we can focus on other issues.
In other “saga continuing” news, our waterfront is back in the headlines, and this time Toronto Centre MPP Glen Murray, former mayor of Winnipeg, is attacking the Waterfront Toronto redevelopment plans that include the creation of 40,000 residential units, one million square metres of employment space and 300 hectares of parks and public spaces (including, among other things, a George Brown campus). Murray’s main concern is that accelerating Port Lands development has the potential to reduce land values in the West Donlands, which are being developed for the 2015 Pan Am Games. He also warns against past development mistakes, such as condos blocking views of the harbour.
Staff at the Toronto Zoo are trampling all over the plans to send three of the zoo’s elephants to PAWS Sanctuary in California. The Toronto Zoo elephant keepers, who are upset because the facility is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, have taken to their Facebook page to complain about the decision. Posts include calling the co-founder of the Sanctuary “an evil, lying man,” and city councillor Michelle Berardinetti (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest), who helped fight to send the elephants to PAWS, a “brainless puppet.” The tusks are really coming out!