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Newsstand: December 20, 2011
Happy Hannukah! And a happy Tuesday too. To celebrate, some news: rail link to the airport will break ground in spring, plans to expand the PATH, York Region tries to limit transit picketers, another report about the condo glut, competition for CKLN's old signal, U.S. mayor outed by Church Street sex shop, and Rob Ford loses at football pool.
Many plans are in the works these days to connect bits of the city. Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on Monday that the Pearson–Union rail link will break ground in the spring, with service starting by 2015. And a draft plan to expand the underground PATH system is being developed for council to vote on next year. So it should be a good year for going places.
York Region is asking picketing transit employees to picket a bit less, filing an injunction to that effect against the striking workers. The Region says they get what picket lines are all about, but these ones are doing a little bit too good of a job of getting in people’s way.
‘Tis the season for labour disputes, as the city’s paramedics are also gearing up for a bargaining battle. A bunch of be-stethoscoped EMS workers showed up at an Ontario Labour Relations board hearing on Monday to sound the siren on making them an essential service. EMS workers and their union, CUPE Local 416, are worried that paramedics will be denied the right to job action and the right to third party binding arbitration, which would leave them with not much, they argue. The City says, nu-uh!.
In condo news, there’s way too many of them. Yet another report from people who write reports (this time Bank of America Merrill Lynch) says Toronto’s condo market is over-saturated with vacancies, and any investors who bought condos to make a profit renting them may be out of luck. And by “luck” we mean people to rent the units. In response to all the warnings that the market is due for a correction, condo builders have one piece of advice: ignore!
Monday was the last day to submit a bid to take over CKLN’s old spot on the FM dial. The old CKLN didn’t try for a new licence, but a new Ryerson-based group did. Along with a Christian broadcaster and the guys who own Proud FM. So that should be an interesting one.
Speaking of a conservative thing squaring off with a gay thing, a Church Street sex shop has inadvertently outed a U.S. politician. Apparently no one knew the mayor of Southaven, Mississippi, was gay until he bought something while on a business trip. Greg Davis has been married to a woman for 19 years and has three young children. He’s run for office on a “conservative, family-values platform.” But when local media asked Davis about the $67 in public money he’d spent at Priape, Davis said he couldn’t keep up the lie anymore and admitted he was gay.
And what would your day be without a little Rob Ford news, right? How about this: the mayor has lost the City Hall football pool for the past three weeks to lefties who aren’t even trying. That’s gotta sting.