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Newsstand: October 31, 2014
Happy Halloween, everyone! Don a costume today if only to pretend for an evening that the past week hasn't happened. We certainly will. Before you do that, though, read some news! Rob Ford's tumour hasn't shrunk (but it also hasn't grown), the TDSB will see plenty of new faces, Ontario's proposed worker protection legislation leaves temporary workers behind, and an inside look at Jian Ghomeshi's firing from the CBC.
According to Rob Ford, the tumour that caused him to drop out of the mayoral race is the same size it was when he was diagnosed with liposarcoma in September. The mayor has undergone two rounds of chemotherapy already, and will begin a third on Monday. He told the Sun‘s Joe Warmington that while he was originally upset the tumour hadn’t decreased in size, he is now “treating the fact that, because of the chemotherapy, the tumour has not grown one bit as good news.”
Political commentators have discussed the high rates of incumbent success at the ward level of Toronto municipal politics, where only seven new councillors will join 37 of the 38 incumbents who ran for re-election. The Toronto District School Board, on the other hand, shows promising signs of change (especially for left-wing voters disappointed by Monday’s big-ticket results). 10 out of 22 total trustees taking seats on the TDSB in December were endorsed by unions and ran under the banner of the Campaign for Public Education. Half of the trustees will be newcomers, and the six who defeated incumbents are almost all left-of-centre candidates.
As the Ontario government expedites the passage of a bill meant to enshrine worker protections, temporary worker advocates are concerned the bill isn’t up to snuff. Under Bill 18, an amalgamation of two different bills that failed to pass through the Liberal minority government, companies who hire temporary workers through agencies would bear relatively little responsibility for those workers. Bill 18 would require companies and agencies to take joint responsibility for workers’ unpaid wages and overtime, but all other worker rights would still fall under the purview of the agencies, which often have little to no actual contact with workers once they are hired by companies. The NDP plans to make an amendment to the bill to make both agencies and client companies responsible for all workers’ rights under the Employment Standards Act, but debate will be limited to just a few hours on Monday due to time allocation restraints.
The Globe and Mail has a new development in the ongoing saga of sexual assault allegations against former CBC radio personality Jian Ghomeshi, providing an inside look at the days prior to his Sunday firing. According to this account, Ghomeshi had long been difficult to work with, requiring exacting service from an army of producers and staffers; as contract labourers, some of these employees had no job security should they butt heads with their boss, one of the corporation’s hugest stars. The Globe also details the meetings that took place between last week between CBC managers and Ghomeshi’s team. Ghomeshi had gone to the CBC months ago to report that journalists were asking questions about his sex life, at which time he explained that he was interested in bondage, dominance, and a number of other sexual practices typically regarded as unorthodox. He assured the CBC that he could provide proof that his activities were consensual. With rumours of an investigative piece about to be released coming to a head, the CBC demanded to see this proof on Thursday, Oct. 23. What they saw convinced them they could no longer employ Ghomeshi, and when he refused to apologize or seek treatment at a meeting on Sunday, Oct. 26, he was dismissed.