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Weekend Newsstand: April 18, 2015
Today: the next chief of police could be announced this weekend, GO Transit will be upgraded significantly with Hydro One funds, and a deep look at outgoing police chief Bill Blair.
The successor to outgoing Toronto Police Services chief Bill Blair could be announced as early as this weekend. While Blair is still on the job until April 25, the final interviews with the three top candidates for the job were conducted yesterday. Current deputy chiefs Mark Saunders and Peter Sloly have campaigned hard for the job and are known to be two of the finalists; the third is still unknown. However, the Toronto Police Services Board was public about looking outside the city for candidates as well.
The GO Transit network will increase its fleet by nearly 50 per cent and add 700 more trips in the next five years, according to Premier Kathleen Wynne. The massive increases are part of her pledge to deliver a regional express rail network within the next 10 years. Right now, there are about 1,500 train trips per week. In the next five years that is supposed to increase to about 2,200, and then to 6,000 by 2024, when the electrification project for the rails is fully constructed. This ambitious transit plan will be funded at least in part by selling off much of the province’s stake in Hydro One.
Today, the Toronto Star has an in-depth look at the man who’s run the Toronto police for the last 10 years. Bill Blair steps down from the job next Saturday amid controversy over his stance on carding and an increasingly acrimonious relationship with the police oversight board, but he started his tenure as chief by admitting to and denouncing racial profiling on the force. What changed, if anything? How will Blair’s legacy impact the next chief?