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Newsstand: January 19, 2012
It's a real Thursday's Thursday. None of that fancy stuff. In the news: Occupy tents crop up at City Hall, morning radio show chastised for making fun of women, Giorgio Mammoliti wants to cut council in half but thinks 11 per cent is a majority, budget chief is growing weary, and SIU clears officers in Charlie McGillivary's death.
Putting an end to any accusations that Occupy Toronto had lost that occupyin’ feeling, tents sprouted up outside City Hall on Tuesday. The fresh crop of Occupiers set up in solidarity with the Stop The Cuts protests that had a showing during the council debate over the 2012 budget, the debate in which council did, essentially, stop a lot of the cuts. No matter. Occupiers gon’ occupy.
Stay tuned to Edge 102.1’s morning show, gang. They’ve got some great stuff coming up right after this break, including an Our Lady Peace song you haven’t heard since Grade 8 and a mandatory on air announcement about the show’s derogatory treatment of women. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has released a decision finding that comments made on the Dean Blundell Show last May were in violation of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ code of ethics. The CBSC looked into the matter after a formal complaint was filed about the comments, which had something to do with women serving in the military, having periods, and doing chores. Which, you’re right, doesn’t sound that funny, and not just because it’s sexist. Though the station says it doesn’t agree with the findings, it must make the decision known on air at peak listening hours within three days, and again within seven.
Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) is doing some math. First up, Mammoliti’s list of “repeat deputers,” the so-called usual suspects that always come down to City Hall, lured by the chance to wait more than 20 hours in return for three minutes at the mic. After studying the deputant lists, Mammoliti’s assistant found that since the budget review process started, about 11 per cent of speakers had appeared more than once. Still, Mammo thinks that’s a big enough number to get nervous about. Also, the councillor has started murmuring about cutting council in half, so debate is easier to control with his thumbs less contentious. The mayor vowed to cut council down to 22 seats, but not until the last year of his term. We’ll see how quickly that comes.
And speaking of cutting councillors, Budget Chief Mike Del Grande has basically said he’s ready when the mayor is to stop being the budget chief. Del Grande says he’d like to be a “regular councillor,” and he told the mayor he wouldn’t be chiefing the budget committee forever. We’ll see how quickly that comes.
The Special Investigations Unit has found no evidence of wrongdoing in the death of Charlie McGillivary. Two officers were being investigated after 45 year-old McGillivary died last summer when the officers mistakenly arrested the mentally ill man on the street near his Christie Pitts home.