news
Newsstand: August 17, 2015
It's a scorcher again, everyone. Hunker down in front of a fan, and don't let anyone give you that "at least it's not winter" business: complaining about the heat doesn't disqualify you from complaining about the cold when it comes. News today: the research on ward restructuring is underway, there are no statistics on black men being killed by Toronto police, and some are arguing the province should pay for certain air ambulance rides.
The first phase of public consultation on restructuring city council ward boundaries has concluded, and the results are in. Restructuring has become an urgent issue with the booming population in many downtown wards, which has added to growing inequality in ward sizes. The largest ward, Toronto Centre-Rosedale, was home to 94,597 people in 2014, while the least-populous ward was St. Paul’s, with just 46,320. The report offers five options: keep the same number of wards but change their size and shape to redistribute the population more equitably; increase by three to 47 wards, changing and removing some existing wards; move up to 58 wards with an average population of 45,000-55,000; cut to 38 wards with an average population of 75,000; or move down to 41 wards, with an average population of 70,000 and boundaries along natural barriers like rivers and hydro corridors. Council is expected to deal with the final recommendations next May.
In the wake of the deaths of Michael Eligon, Jermaine Carby, and Andrew Loku (among many others), protesters and community members in the city are calling for an end to police killings of black men. However, they’re missing a key piece of data: just how many black men are killed by Toronto police. No relevant body, from the independent watchdog Special Investigations Unit to Statistics Canada and the police service itself, keeps race-specific records on police killings. Critics are saying this is tantamount to willful blindness, and have called for such statistics to be not only recorded, but made public.
Service cuts at many hospitals in Ontario have forced patients to take air ambulances to locations that can offer them the care they require, according to some in the province. Many of those same people and groups say the Liberal Party, because of its role in service cuts, should be paying for those ambulance trips. An hour’s trip on the Ornge helicopter ambulance service costs between $8,000 and $10,000, according to Ornge. And if an ambulance trip is not deemed medically necessary, OHIP patients are on the hook for the entire cost. People from outside Ontario are also liable for the entire cost of any air ambulance trip.