Rob Ford's Toronto

[ahm]

From the LeSage report, REPORT OF THE REVIEW OF LARGE AND COMPLEX CRIMINAL CASE PROCEDURES:

At the same time, the police and the Crown remain constitutionally independent from one another. The police cannot be directed by any governmental official in their operational duties, in order to protect criminal investigations from political interference. In Shirose, the Court was unanimous in holding that “the Commissioner [of the RCMP] is not to be considered a servant or agent of the government while engaged in a criminal investigation. The Commissioner is not subject to political direction.” The Court adopted Lord Denning’s famous pronouncement, in this regard, to the effect that police officers are “independent of the executive” and, when carrying out criminal investigative duties, police officers are “not the servant of anyone, save of the law itself.”

If you look through the Ministry of the Attorney General's website about Guns & Gangs, you can find information about the Crown working hand in hand with police investigators on major crimes in the pre-charge phase to assist officers with the complexities of disclosure, Charter issues, and other problems with stick-handling a massive investigation through a trial. In Nov 2008, the Ministry announced "Major Case Crowns", who are embedded in police stations, including in Toronto.

It strikes me that if the Crown is involved in advising on Brazen 2 - as they must be, given that they had to be involved in Traveller - then if they had recommended TPS hand it off to OPP or RCMP it would have already been done. The Crown will sometimes throw their hands up in the air, saying there is no reasonable chance of conviction, and give up on a case. It could still happen, but as it hasn't yet, and we know that TPS has invested serious and significant resources (a fucking Cessna? are you kidding me?) so it seems clear that they intend to pursue this all the way to a trial. So I don't think they are going to fail to press charges; and if they do, I'll be glad because it will mean that the Mayor is actually likely not involved in any serious crime. Ultimately, despite how much I loathe the Mayor and his brother's praxis, I do want the city I was born in, live in, and love, to be untarnished of the taint of a criminally charged and tried and convicted Mayor.

 

[newearthling]

I'd say Ford will be arrested the day after TPS turns over the file to the OPP. Laval mayor Gilles Vaillancourt was arrested by the QPP, not the local police.

While Ford's charges will be more the common criminal's rather than under provincial anti-corruption laws, the optics are still better and Ford will have no chance to claim TPS bias on appeal.

We don't know that there won't be corruption charges.

 

[sno man]

The pie chart needs to specify hours. We don't want people assuming that also includes legit off-work time. I assume the "full pie" is 35-40 hours?

They seem to be talking 9-5 so 40 hours less lunch. (only 32.5 (!))

EDIT: They are not deducting lunch, expecting 40 hours...

Rob Ford Work Watch ‏@FordWorkWatch 13h
To make full-time mayor this week, Rob will have to work a mere 21.75 hours Friday. If he shows up: he's yet to work a 5 day week this month

Rob Ford Work Watch ‏@FordWorkWatch 13h
That's a 6 hour day for Rob Ford on the fourth day of week 3. The longest of the week. Total hours for week 3 so far: 18.25

 

[casita]

"Not at City Hall, no explanation given."

Issue him a City car.

Marked or unmarked, doesn't matter. Declarable as a Taxable Benefit. They do it all the time.

But, put GPS in it!

No more using his Escalade for City business.

 

[casita]

They seem to be talking 9-5 so 40 hours less lunch. (only 32.5 (!))

It's either a 40-hour week with a "Running Lunch", or a 35-hour week with an unpaid one-hour lunch.

 

[sno man]

It's either a 40-hour week with a "Running Lunch", or a 35-hour week with an unpaid one-hour lunch.

see my edit... sorry for the confusion.

 

[casita]

see my edit... sorry for the confusion.

Seen.

Thanks for posting that, appreciated!

 

[annonuesr]

Maybe they archive stuff to DV cassettes... Magnetic media is still widely used for backup and archival purposes.

Could not ever see them using tape in the daily workflow though. That is way outmoded.

Beyond backup and archives, DV is still industry standard (in my understanding) for transfer of production materials, particularly for live or straight-to-broadcast recording.

 

[tiffer24]

Ford staffer tossed from Kelly's discussion on gridlock.

reporterdonpeat 10:23am via Twitter for BlackBerry®
"We are extremely disappointed by this" Mayor Rob Ford's spokesman on mayor's staff being tossed out of deputy mayor roundtable.

I'm sure no one wanted the meeting about gridlock and revenue tools derailed by this--

robyndoolittle 10:28am via Twitter for iPhone
"If you hear anyone - I won't so who - say we're broke. It's incorrect" says Pennachetti talking about Toronto's sound fiscal base.

 

[doug]

Maybe they archive stuff to DV cassettes... Magnetic media is still widely used for backup and archival purposes.

Could not ever see them using tape in the daily workflow though. That is way outmoded.

DV? not in this decade.
Offline media is typically stored in a robotic tape archive as .MXF. The tapes are prelabelled and never touched by humans.
Haven't seen DV is years.

 

[GavinTheAlmighty]

"Not at City Hall, no explanation given."

Issue him a City car.

Marked or unmarked, doesn't matter. Declarable as a Taxable Benefit. They do it all the time.

But, put GPS in it!

No more using his Escalade for City business.

I wonder if anyone has tried to attach a remote GPS tracking device to his Escalade. Just toss a magnetic device up into the wheel arches or something.

 

[sno man]

I wonder if anyone has tried to attach a remote GPS tracking device to his Escalade. Just toss a magnetic device up into the wheel arches or something.

Unless he physically removed it, onStar tracks the car, EVEN AFTER YOU CANCEL THE SERVICE

 

[annonuesr]

DV? not in this decade.
Offline media is typically stored in a robotic tape archive as .MXF. The tapes are prelabelled and never touched by humans.
Haven't seen DV is years.

Ah, that makes sense. I was thinking "DV" not in the proper noun sense, but in the generic "digital video on tape" sense.

Recently saw a documentary for a weekly show that runs down to the wire, and delivers the tape (not sure what type) to the satellite uplink for transfer to broadcast studio a couple hours before broadcast. I assumed "DV" in the sense that it's a tape being used to transfer, but I'm not sure what actual format the data's in.

 

[JWBF]

Ford staffer tossed from Kelly's discussion on gridlock.

reporterdonpeat 10:23am via Twitter for BlackBerry®
"We are extremely disappointed by this" Mayor Rob Ford's spokesman on mayor's staff being tossed out of deputy mayor roundtable.

Yes, I was just going to post that. It's just like Ford to send an aide or "proxy" to something he feels is beneath his direct attention, or where he is not wanted, and he not allowed to sit at the adult's table.

It shows that Ford's right to sit in any committee does not extend to his "office".

 

[basic]

Subways.

Karen Stintz.