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Weekend Newsstand: January 7, 2012
It's Saturday! Which means there are only two more days until Monday is back, and really, how much fun can you have with that hanging over your head? You're welcome. Today: disheartening news for low income neighbourhood dwellers, Build Toronto to take home a pretty penny, Bell's pimping out old numbers, the woman who may save us from a City worker strike, and the YRT strike saga continues.
Good news, people of north Scarborough, downtown Toronto, East York, and the northeast part of North York: only 160 out of 100,000 of you have a chance of going into cardiac arrest. Woo-hoo! Um, bad news, people of southwest and central Scarborough, western parts of North York, and north Etobicoke. Your chances are a tad higher. More like, 500 of 100,000. Eep. But don’t stress about it. (That will only make it worse!) This good news/bad news story comes to us from researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital, who conducted a study that shows where you live can impact your health. Surprise! Those in areas with lower household incomes and lower levels of education showed a higher risk of cardiac arrest. But don’t panic, low income Torontonians, someday you’ll have fewer bus routes to and from your neighbourhood, which will give your ticker a good workout. Really, the City simply has your best health in mind.
Oh, well isn’t this nice. Looks like Build Toronto execs won’t have to deal with that pesky heart failure problem that plagues those in low income ‘hoods. The City-owned subsidiary tasked with developing surplus municipal real estate has approved an “aggressive private-sector-style salary and bonus system for its senior management team as a means of expediting land deals,” according to the Globe and Mail. Seems like a lot of gravy, but surely everything is above board. And speaking of boards, it just so happens that city councillor/the mayor’s brother Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North), is a board member and chairs the committee that oversees executive pay. Yes. Yes he is.
Even though frozen garbage would be a heck of a lot less offensive than hot, summery garbage, Ontario has appointed a conciliator who will meet with the City of Toronto and CUPE Local 416 on Monday in an attempt to reach a new collective agreement, and aim to avoid a lockout or strike. Denise Small, who, as a veteran conciliator and wife of former Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove, knows a thing or two about the process of bargaining, will be up against the Ford administration who has made its desire to go after job-security provisions that make it difficult for Toronto to contract out services very clear.
Oh, Ma Bell. You love a good prank. Hooking an 11-year-old girl up with a phone number last held by an escort service was a real hoot. Her dad really seemed to think so, too. But who is really suffering here? Think about those poor dudes trying to hook up a lady for the night and they end up calling a SIXTH GRADER. Oops. That might kill the whole desire right then and there.
You know who isn’t working as paid escorts? Miller Transit drivers. They won’t be escorting anyone, anywhere, anytime soon after rejecting a new contract offer.