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Weekend Newsstand: February 14, 2015
In the news today: ongoing budget struggles in city council, Rob Ford is auctioning off a bunch of his "memorabilia," the community and home care workers' strike enters its third week, and a demonstration to remember the three Muslims killed in Chapel Hill this week.
As city council and Mayor John Tory grapple with cuts from provincial housing grants and the need to balance lower funding with providing services, a number of possible solutions are being floated. Outgoing city manager Joe Pennachetti says the city needs a local sales tax, comparing Toronto to other large North American cities like Chicago and New York—the latter of which has dedicated income and sales taxes, property tax, and taxes on cigarettes, hotel rooms, and taxis. Tory remains staunch in his opposition to new or higher taxes, and instead favours having the city borrow money from itself and make funding cuts in order to meet its shortfall. Councillors Gord Perks (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park) and Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) have both proposed new revenue sources: Perks would like to see an increase in the property tax, which would solve the housing grant-related shortfall immediately and for good, while Carroll is trying to re-introduce the $60 vehicle registration tax that council ended in 2011.
Former mayor and current city councillor Rob Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) is auctioning off some of the “memorabilia” he’s collected over the years. While 10 per cent of the proceeds will go toward cancer research, he hasn’t said anything about the remaining 90 per cent. It’s unclear if he’s trying to finance expensive medical bills, needs the money for his family, or just wanted to get rid of some old stuff he had lying around.
As the home and community care workers’ strike stretches into its third week, the ministry of health is recommending they attend arbitration in order to resolve outstanding issues. The Ontario Nurses’ Association, which represents those workers, is pushing for a wage increase that would bring them in line with hospital nurses who do similar work. Community Care Access Centre management, who oversee the workers, has agreed to enter arbitration on the recommendation of the ministry. The ONA, meanwhile, says it’s been trying to get CCAC management into arbitration for weeks. “Now I understand they’re saying, ‘Yes they will,’ but they’re not happy about it,” ONA president Linda Haslam-Stroud told the Toronto Star. “I won’t believe it until I see it.”
Hundreds of demonstrators paid tribute to the three young Muslims killed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina this week. Early police reports have tied the killings to a “parking dispute” but the event is widely seen as racially or religiously motivated among Muslims and social-justice proponents.