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Newsstand: March 3, 2015
Google says it will soon offer cellular network plans—details are scant, but company reps say it won't pose a threat to traditional phone and Internet providers. But, really? If it means cheaper cell phone bills, Canadians are all for a few threats. In the news: the provincial and federal governments will not help pay for Union Station overruns, Kristyn Wong-Tam suggests that term limits would help improve diversity within city council, and the search for Toronto’s own Sugar Man.
A report released Monday says that both the provincial and federal governments have refused to pony up cash to help the City deal with $80 million in cost overruns associated with the Union Station revitalization project. The City asked for $40 million from the Province for the northwest PATH connection, and for $15 million and $25 million from the provincial and federal governments, respectively, to bridge the gap on general project overruns. Those requests were met with a unified “No” from both levels of government. Mayor John Tory did not have much to say about the refusal, except to clarify that negotiations on Union Station costs are ongoing.
City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) says that council term limits would help combat a lack of diversity within municipal politics. In a panel discussion on Monday, Wong-Tam said she supported term limits because they would help break down barriers to get more people from diverse backgrounds elected to city council. “There’s a lot of power in incumbency—that has to change. It’s really difficult for anyone to break through in electoral politics unless you have a lot of power, money, and name recognition,” says Wong-Tam, who has personally pledged to serve no longer than three terms. In a city where 49 per cent of the population are people of colour, diversity is not reflected municipal politics, where 86 per cent of council members are Caucasian.
Finally, take some time this morning to read up on the story of Ata Kak, a Ghanaian musician who has become Toronto’s version of Sixto Rodriguez. In 1993, four years after immigrating to Canada, Kak recorded a debut album, Obaa Sima, in his small apartment near Jane and Finch. An innovative blend of rap, disco, and Ghanaian highlife music, Kak’s music predates any commercial Ghanaian rap album by years; however, it earned only a handful of fans—literally. He only managed to sell three copies of the cassette before his wife’s immigration woes forced him to return to Ghana. Fast-forward to 2002, when Brian Shimkovitz was in Cape Coast, Ghana, where he bought a tray of cassette tapes including a copy of—you guessed it!—Obaa Sima. Shimkovitz was so impressed by what he heard that he set out to find out who Ata Kak was. After a series of dead ends, Shimkovitz noticed that the phone number of a recording engineer listed on the cassette sleeve was a Toronto exchange, so he booked a trip to the city in a last-ditch effort to find him. Shimkovitz was able to track down Kak’s son Jeffery, who was aware of a small yet loyal online fan base his father’s music had attracted. Jeffrey was able to connect the two men via phone and now, 25 years after it was recorded, Obaa Sima is being released digitally for the first time.