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Newsstand: February 10, 2012
The weekend greets you like a warm and fuzzy blanket. But don't be weirded out by that metaphor— here's the news: Ford probably can't fire Karen Stintz; the provincial minister of transportation says the Ford Brothers refused to talk TTC over dinner; paramedics worry they'll get screwed over by a collective agreement; and, the pandas are coming.
Among the oh-so-many humiliations undergone by the mayor this week, a new development reported by the Sun likely leaves Rob Ford eating his words. Although he and brother Doug have, following TTC Chair Karen Stintz’s “transit rebellion,” called for her resignation, it turns out a new policy instated by the mayor himself last year will make it pretty hard to get rid of her. Apparently, though Stintz was handpicked by Ford himself (ah, the irony), a new rule gives council—not the TTC—the sole power to appoint and dump chairmen. Seeing as how Stintz is looking quite popular these days, it doesn’t seem like city council will be voting to throw her out anytime soon. Nothing like getting salt poured in a self-inflicted wound, is there?
In other transit news (just kidding, still talking about this), despite the mayor’s claim that Wednesday’s council vote to keep transit above ground was irrelevant (anyone else reminded of a kid yelling “No countsies”! after losing a game? No?), “Dad,” aka the province, says city council actually knows best—about Toronto transit, at least. In fact, the premier’s transportation minister, Bob Chiarelli, says he invited the Ford brothers out to dinner last month to discuss the complex issue of transit, but has yet to receive a response. Awkward.
Toronto paramedics worry they’ll get the short end of the stick in a tentative collective agreement reached between the City and CUPE Local 416, the union representing outside workers. Though the details of the deal won’t be shown to union members until Monday’s ratification vote, sources from the paramedic community revealed they’re worried that, in order for the union to broker a larger deal, paramedics may get, well, thrown under the bus, so to speak. (Yeah, that pun was intended.)
The pandas are coming! Qing Qing and Quan Quan will arrive at the Toronto Zoo next year for a lengthy five-year stay. And, if you were worried those giant pandas would cost you (they so often do, don’t they?), officials have predicted that the animals will bring a minimum five million dollars to the zoo, leaving taxpayers off the hook.
Toronto police didn’t need to shoot a man in a hospital gown, purports a witness to the crime. They probably didn’t need to, no. The province’s Special Investigations Unit will be looking into the case.