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Newsstand: April 6, 2015
Not to talk about the weather all the time, but seriously: snow in April? Some of us moved out of the Prairies for a reason. In the news: Uber is trying to make friends in Canada, a Toronto food bank is looking for donations, and the TDSB will be cutting an additional $7 million from its budget.
Uber is continuing to push into Canadian markets, despite encountering opposition in just about every city it’s set up shop in so far, and despite actually being pushed out of both Vancouver and Calgary. In an effort to stop that from happening in other cities, the company is attempting to mend fences with the regulators and municipal politicians who see Uber as shirking its responsibilities to customers and drivers. While there may be some opposition in Toronto, mayor John Tory has publicly come out in favour of the company’s presence here.
North York Harvest Food Bank is in the midst of a spring food and fundraising drive, the goal of which is to raise $100,000 and bring in 100,000 pounds of food by next Friday. It’s been ongoing for the last month and has brought in roughly $80,000 and 80,000 pounds so far. The drive is intended to raise awareness of the ongoing need for donations, as they tend to thin out when people aren’t thinking about the holidays. The North York food bank helps around 13,000 people feed themselves per month. There are donation bins in a number of grocery stores and fire halls, but online donations are welcome in part because they can be spent on fresh foods.
The Toronto District School Board will have to cut an additional $7 million from its budget in order to both balance its budget and make do with its provincial allocation; it has already made $16.5 million in cuts to balance the current budget. The board didn’t know how much money it would be receiving from the province when it released its numbers. Around 260 jobs were already “eliminated,” while new savings from jobs will come from not hiring people who leave partway through the year. Given their $3-billion budget, board staff were happy they were so close in their estimation of the province’s allocation.