3 Comments June 7, 2016 at 4:30 pm

Cheri DiNovo Helps Liberals Draft Parental Recognition Law, U of T Food Could Get Less Gross, and Scarborough Councillor Wants Driverless TTC Buses

Every weekday’s end, we collect just about everything you ought to care about or ought not to miss.

Photo by Josh Allsopp.

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovois working with Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government to draft a new bill on parental recognition for same-sex couples in the province despite being rather chuffed about it earlier this week. The Parkdale-High Park MPP (and now unofficial federal leader candidate for the NDP) first tabled Cy and Ruby’s Act in October 2015; the bill would provide lesbian mothers with equal legal rights to their children, and trans parents would have the option to choose their respective titles on their children’s birth certificates. The legislation stalled in Queen’s Park until last week, when Wynne announced her own bill. “We are working on it with the government right now,” DiNovo told Torontoist. “Clearly I wished they’d just pass this bill and be done with it…But if [they] want [their] own bill, great. Let’s work through this.” DiNovo says she’s also calling on Wynne’s Liberals to settle in court with parents who issued a charter challenge in April, when Cy and Ruby’s Act was delayed.

The University of Toronto’s St. George campus will start running most of its food production in-house, after growing dissatisfaction among students with the pre-packaged and highly processed foods from Aramark, the campus’s current food supplier. The shift mirrors students living with better amenities at home, and a greater palate for local produce and fresh food. The stereotypes of Hot Pockets and late-night Cheeto dinners are fading into the past. Plus, Aramark has been in hot water before, after raw meat, mould, and bugs were discovered in food at a university in St. John’s. All in all, probably a good move for U of T.
Councillor Michelle Holland (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest), thinks the TTC should start investigating driverless buses and report on its preparations for driverless vehicles, instead of the current policy of burying heads in the sand at the sight of the coming eventuality. As far as buses go, the TTC has no immediate plan, but it has taken steps to automate parts of the subway system by 2020. Holland’s request of the TTC comes just after the City started looking into the effect driverless cars will have in Toronto. As exciting as driverless vehicles of any kind are, it’d be nice if we could just take bigger step forward and introduce jet packs and tube travel already.