news
Newsstand: May 29, 2012
Some Tuesdays call for owl-watching, some Tuesdays call for news-reading. This is a news one, so here goes: fed up with traffic in the sky, polls says we bury it; Conservatives appeal Etobicoke Centre decision; the race for Ward 9 continues; City has a surplus; and the showdown over the GSA naming rules heats up.
A new poll suggests that up to half of the people who were polled are singing the subterranean toll highway…opposite of blues. (Yellows?) Agreeing that gridlock has reached “crisis proportions,” it seems Torontonians and their suburban counterparts are willing to try drastic measures, including digging a 12-kilometr- long tunnel to funnel cars through as an alternative to the Gardiner Expressway. Because why not.
And because of course, the Conservative MP whose election was declared invalid by a Superior Court Judge is appealing the decision. The judge decided that irregularities on 79 ballots in an election that came down to 26 votes was too close, and so ruled the results invalid. In announcing his intention to appeal, Ted Opitz basically said, “79 is still a pretty small number, so let’s just forget it about, eh?”
Speaking of appealing elections, failed city council candidate Gus Cusimano is still trying to unseat Ward 9 councillor Maria Augimeri. (Yes, even though it was revealed just days ago that Cusimano’s campaign may have breached the Elections Act.)
In a sad but predictable move, the Catholic Archbishop of Toronto made a statement Monday opposing the Liberal government’s move to allow any student groups to call their anti-bullying groups gay-straight alliances, if that’s what the students want. The protection of that name would be built into the Safe Schools Act, should the proposed amendment pass. With that it mind, the Education Minister made a less predictable and less sad announcement, suggesting that non-compliance could result in the end of public funding for offending Catholic schools.
From the exciting world of municipal budgets, the first quarter budget report is out and it shows a $70 million surplus. The savings are due to many things, like more money than expected generated from the land transfer tax and less money spent on heating and energy thanks to a mild winter. But as is the thing with the goings on at City Hall, no one can really agree on where all the money came from, where it should go, or if it even exists at all.
And in your weather news, glass and metal rained down around town yesterday. No one was hurt.
To be clear, the article refers to the Catholic Archbishop of Toronto, not the Anglican archbishop. The distinction has been made above.