Rob Ford's Toronto

[canmark]

No wonder people haven't taken to the streets like Rob Ford hoped...

National Post: More than half of Canadians think banning sale of plastic bags a good idea: poll

Fifty-nine per cent of Canadians think it’s a good idea to forbid retail stories from handing out single-use plastic bags to customers, says a new public opinion poll from Angus Reid.

Thirty-nine per cent think is a bad idea, according to the poll, which sampled 1,019 Canadian adults.

The highest support for the ban came from Atlantic Canada, where 63% of those polled are in favour of the concept. Quebec and Alberta are next with 62% each, and then B.C. with 60%.

But only 54% of Ontario residents said they think the ban is a good idea.
* * *
The Angus Reid poll indicated Canadian women, at 64%, and those aged 18 to 34, also at 64%, were more likely to support the ban than others.

More than half of Canadians said they agreed with the practice of charging a fee for plastic bags. Fifty-three per cent of those surveyed said they supported the practice, while 46% said they didn’t.

 

[js97]

This should be implemented at the national level - 5 cent a bag goes to the CRA, where it's then redistributed to support urban forestry and wetland protection.

It's a bit of a pipe dream. It would be a reasonable distribution of the tax as most of the revenue would be generated from more dense populated areas.

Just another form of consumption tax, but going to a good cause

 

[CN Tower]

No wonder people haven't taken to the streets like Rob Ford hoped...

National Post: More than half of Canadians think banning sale of plastic bags a good idea: poll

I think the idea is absolutely rediculous and will really hurt a lot of merchants.

Plastic bottles on the other hand are not good.

 

[Automation Gallery]

I think the idea is absolutely rediculous and will really hurt a lot of merchants.

Plastic bottles on the other hand are not good.

Lol, meanwhile these so called people that think getting rid of bags is a good idea would probably be the same ones saddened by the elimination of plastic bottles. Its all politics

 

[W. K. Lis]

No wonder people haven't taken to the streets like Rob Ford hoped...

National Post: More than half of Canadians think banning sale of plastic bags a good idea: poll

Rob Ford keeps on saying (or misspeaking) that the people support him. Unless you oppose him, then you are ignored.

 

[Electrify]

I'm wondering how anyone made it through the 70s without hearing at least one "Pollack joke." Although perhaps they weren't as big here as they were in the States? (Or maybe you're a post-70s kid....)

Born in 1985. And like I said, I'm only a little bit Polish, with several other East-Central European Jew backgrounds (Czech, Austria, Hungary, etc.) that it is not as if my Polish stands out in any way. In fact, my mom likes to say that we are Jew and not "real" Polish/Austrians/etc. because it seems as if each generation was born in a different country in East-Central Europe!

EDIT: Just saw the mod's request to return to the Ford subject. Post edited to limit further conversation. Eug did ask how I felt about schmuck, and I didn't even realize it could be used as a negative racial term. Though to be honest, I've been called so much BS growing up that you could call me whatever you felt like and I wouldn't flinch.

 

[RC8]

Marcus Gee: Councillor Impulsive, always ready for action

City councillors suffer from an acute inferiority complex. Though they govern a metropolis of 2 1/2 million souls, they get no respect. Theirs is a junior level of government, a little brother to the feds and province, and many voters write them off as little more than pothole fillers.

To compensate, they sometimes attempt to do something grand, like save the planet, and end up wildly overreaching themselves. So it was with last week's surprise vote to ban the sale of plastic bags by Toronto retailers.

Councillors forged ahead regardless, supported by little more than a self-satisfied sense that they were doing “the right thing.” It is far from the first time.

Or maybe their actions are representative of the fact that the people of Toronto are in general a lot more progressive thinking than people elsewhere in the province.

The city should be allowed to experiment with new creative ideas to solve problems, even if they require polishing later on.

 

[adma]

Lol, meanwhile these so called people that think getting rid of bags is a good idea would probably be the same ones saddened by the elimination of plastic bottles. Its all politics

Uh, really? Why would they be pro-plastic-bottle? Last I heard, a lot of leftish/greenish jurisdictions have taken to banning bottled water at council/committee meetings as well...

 

[MetroMan]

Please return to the general Rob Ford mayority subject. I think this side discussion on racial/ethnic perjoratives has ran its course.

Out of curiosity, how negative do you consider shiksa and shegetz? What about schmuck? My ex considered schmuck much more offensive.

Schmuck isn't a racial slur, it's a pejorative word of Yiddish origin used to describe people like Rob Ford, though I don't even think he's worthy of the term - it's too gentle to describe him.

I don't know why people like Eug and JuanLennon continue to defend Ford over this.

Even if you really didn't know that Pollack is a racial slur, you don't use a word for an ethnic group other than the official one (i.e. "Polish", "Polish-Canadian") when you're talking on air to thousands of listeners as an elected official. Even easier: you don't bring up the private details of your family life on a radio show. What point does it serve? This is just common sense and the kind of judgement that most of us have figured out at about the age of 12 unless we are complete social rejects (which I'm tempted to think the Fords are).

The word is "mangiacake." I've always understood it to carry the same connotations as the words "WASP" or "whitebread," etc.

To get back on topic, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get outraged over anything the brothers Ford say/do. Call it Ford Fatigue, I suppose. If they were smarter men, I'd think that they were on a mission to lower the bar for expected conduct so low that Rob actually stands a chance of re-election regardless of campaign gaffes, poor policy, etc. Since they're not smarter men, I'm more inclined to think they share a good deal with attention starved children who act out in class, which may speak to their continued support from an element of society that, rightly or wrongly (and I'd sooner side with wrongly), feel starved for attention themselves.

I agree. The comment was not as severe as bigotry, but it also wasn't something innocent one can just shrug and say 'who cares?' about it.

At the very least, it's about basic manners. Don't eat with your mouth open, don't cut in line, don't use divisive or insulting ethnic nicknames whilst on radio when you're Mayor of Canada's largest city.
People in power have the responsibility of setting an example, because, inevitably, it sets a precedent.

Gaffes like this aren't just bad because they might upset someone. They're bad because they show holes in the intelligence, awareness and skill of the Mayor - or, in this case, the councillor. This undermines people's faith in his abilities, which undermines confidence in his office. Trouble in the office means trouble in the systems that support the city. So here the personal is quite political.

In other news, Ford's executive committee voted against him to keep Riverdale Farm, 5 to 4.

Also - this is interesting -
"Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne is refusing to grant the necessary approvals to sell the Toronto Community Housing Corporation properties – all but one vacant – until a report on the fate of another 619 TCHC homes goes to council in the fall.

The delay, communicated in a May 30 letter from Ms. Wynne, prompted a sharp response from Mr. Ford. His office wrote directly to the premier asking him to intervene."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...prove-public-housing-sell-off/article4250187/

I don't know why people like Hipster duck chose to misrepresent my post.


"Schmuck" is the Yiddish term for the male reproductive organ.

Yeak, so is dick. Google is only a stroke away, but thanks for the etymology lesson..

Indeed. Hence my ex's Yiddish-speaking extended family considered it a much worse insult than what most people seem to think in North America these days. The point is that such nuances sometimes get lost on us. A politician should know better, but I'd be lying if I claimed I knew how negative the word 'polack' can be perceived before this incident.

As Stanley Kowalski says in A Streetcar Named Desire:

I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles. They are not Polacks. But what I am is one hundred percent American. I'm born and raised in the greatest country on this earth and I'm proud of it. And don't you ever call me a Polack.

Born in 1985. And like I said, I'm only a little bit Polish, with several other East-Central European Jew backgrounds (Czech, Austria, Hungary, etc.) that it is not as if my Polish stands out in any way. In fact, my mom likes to say that we are Jew and not "real" Polish/Austrians/etc. because it seems as if each generation was born in a different country in East-Central Europe!

EDIT: Just saw the mod's request to return to the Ford subject. Post edited to limit further conversation. Eug did ask how I felt about schmuck, and I didn't even realize it could be used as a negative racial term. Though to be honest, I've been called so much BS growing up that you could call me whatever you felt like and I wouldn't flinch.

</END POLLACK DISCUSSION>

Please let's get back to discussing how Rob Ford is changing Toronto and how the city will look like when his term is over.

 

[Red October]

Lol, meanwhile these so called people that think getting rid of bags is a good idea would probably be the same ones saddened by the elimination of plastic bottles. Its all politics

Plastic bottles are at least recyclable, while plastic bags aren't and just end up littering the side of expressways and ravines. Come on, man.

 

[canmark]

A list of Toronto's most congested streets seems to refute Mayor Ford's claim that people "don’t want these damned streetcars blocking up our city." None of the most congested streets have streetcars. It's cars that are causing the congestion.

Only two of the 10 most congested streets in Toronto — Canada's gridlock capital — are downtown and none of the clogged arteries have streetcar tracks.

The streets are:

• Bayview Ave. and Sheppard Ave. E., intersection

• Yonge St., Hwy. 401 to Sheppard Ave.

• York Street, Front St. to Gardiner Expressway

• Sheppard Ave. W. and Allen Road

• Leslie St., Hwy 401 to Sheppard Ave. E.

• Lake Shore Blvd., York St. to Bathurst St.

• Kennedy Rd., Hwy. 401 to Sheppard Ave. E.

• Markham Rd., Hwy. 401 to Progress Ave.

• Dufferin St. and Finch Ave. W., intersection

• Black Creek Dr. and Lawrence Ave. W., intersection

 

[W. K. Lis]

A list of Toronto's most congested streets seems to refute Mayor Ford's claim that people "don’t want these damned streetcars blocking up our city." None of the most congested streets have streetcars. It's cars that are causing the congestion.

The standard for the number of people in cars is 1.3 to 1.6 people per vehicle. Hope the study actually counts the number of people in the motor vehicles as well as the number of vehicles, to see how close we are.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Plastic bottles are at least recyclable, while plastic bags aren't and just end up littering the side of expressways and ravines. Come on, man.

Hahaha, you must be kidding..Right

 

[nfitz]

The standard for the number of people in cars is 1.3 to 1.6 people per vehicle. Hope the study actually counts the number of people in the motor vehicles as well as the number of vehicles, to see how close we are.

1.3 to 1.6? In rush hour? That means every 2nd to every 3rd car has 2 people in. That doesn't match my obsevations, especially if you don't count taxis!

 

[Juan_Lennon416]

Work with us or we’ll call an election, Dalton McGuinty warns opposition

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...gang-up-on-liberals-at-finance-committee?bn=1


Ford must be smiling right now