Rob Ford's Toronto

[Kat_YYZ]

So the guy who posted a photo from the hospital yesterday saying that he's next door to Rob Ford and they're going to be cancer brothers, turns out they're not even in the same hospital. The guy is "next door" at Princess Margaret. He posted a comment saying so on his instagram.

Can you get to PMH from Mount Sinai without going outdoors? A lot of these hospitals have connecting tunnels. And inter-hospital programs.
http://www.mountsinai.on.ca/care/sarcoma-unit

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Can you get to PMH from Mount Sinai without going outdoors? A lot of these hospitals have connecting tunnels. And inter-hospital programs.
http://www.mountsinai.on.ca/care/sarcoma-unit

Yes, MSH and PMH is connected underground. All the radiotherapy machines are housed in bunkers and they are located on the Level 2B at PMH.

AoD

 

[LNahid2000]

Can you get to PMH from Mount Sinai without going outdoors? A lot of these hospitals have connecting tunnels. And inter-hospital programs.
http://www.mountsinai.on.ca/care/sarcoma-unit

The two hospitals are literally right next to each other, and you can definitely get from one to the other without going outside.

 

[Cooper]

If you lived on Twitter you easily could come to believe that the Rapture will be livestreamed from Mt. Sinai at 5 PM today.

I think that your prediction of what actually will occur is astute.

Thanks, pud. I don't get why people are jumping to end-of-life scenarios for Rob, assuming his diagnosis is grim. Even if the cancer is terminal, that doesn't mean death is imminent. It all depends on the tumor's size/location and how it (or secondary symptoms, eg. swelling) affect his body. He could toddle along under a palliative program for some time. Or the doctors may decide a particular course of treatment has a chance of long-term success, or that it can slow the progress of disease.

As for today, I think they'll basically say they are starting treatment and will see where it takes them. In other words, they'll talk about they can do, not what will happen. There's a lot of middle ground between life and death.

 

[zang]

Fuck SAL, and I say that as a gay male. After "20 yrs living in the closet and being beaten and left for dead," she's allied herself with a pack of brutish homophobes whose anti-gay bigotry is a huge attraction for their base of neandrathal supporters. To hell with them, and her.

I'd say she hasn't really learned anything that as a victim of violent abuse, she now gravitates to and has empathy and sympathy for a man who has had over two dozen 911 domestic calls, and whose wife ended up in the hospital bruised and beat up. He may not have been charged, but where there's smoke, there's fire.

SAL feeling anything more than pity for this man says she's still a victim and has not transitioned to being a survivor.

 

[Videodrome]

Ann Hui ‏@annhui 18m
RealPAC, which was hosting tonight's mayoral debate, confirms the debate has been "postponed" because of Mayor Ford's health update

The Ford family wins again, although there was already a debate today.

 

[pud99]

Office of Deputy Mayor isn't even mentioned in the City of Toronto Act, which means it's purely a council construct.

The Municipal Act also applies (subject to any modifications to it made by the City of Toronto Act). It is well accepted law that the general powers conferred by the Municipal Act*** enable municipal councils to provide for the appointment of a DM by council and that the City of Toronto Act enables Toronto city council to delegate (or not) that appointment power to the Mayor.

***The Municipal Act confers a number of subject-matter specific powers on councils and places a number of subject-matter specific limits or conditions on the powers of councils. But, subject to any specific rules to the contrary, the Municipal Act also confers on councils general powers. So the issue comes down to whether providing for the appointment of a DM (as some municipalities do and some do not) comes within those general powers; the answer to that is yes.

MUNICIPAL ACT

PART II
GENERAL MUNICIPAL POWERS

Scope of powers
8. (1) The powers of a municipality under this or any other Act shall be interpreted broadly so as to confer broad authority on the municipality to enable the municipality to govern its affairs as it considers appropriate and to enhance the municipality’s ability to respond to municipal issues. 2006, c. 32, Sched. A, s. 8. [emphasis added]

Ambiguity
(2) In the event of ambiguity in whether or not a municipality has the authority under this or any other Act to pass a by-law or to take any other action, the ambiguity shall be resolved so as to include, rather than exclude, powers the municipality had on the day before this Act came into force. 2006, c. 32, Sched. A, s. 8.
...

Broad authority, single-tier municipalities
10. (1) A single-tier municipality may provide any service or thing that the municipality considers necessary or desirable for the public. 2006, c. 32, Sched. A, s. 8.

By-laws
(2) A single-tier municipality may pass by-laws respecting the following matters:

1. Governance structure of the municipality and its local boards. [emphasis added]
2. Accountability and transparency of the municipality and its operations and of its local boards and their operations.
3. Financial management of the municipality and its local boards.
4. Public assets of the municipality acquired for the purpose of exercising its authority under this or any other Act.
5. Economic, social and environmental well-being of the municipality.
6. Health, safety and well-being of persons.
7. Services and things that the municipality is authorized to provide under subsection (1).
8. Protection of persons and property, including consumer protection.
9. Animals.
10. Structures, including fences and signs.
11. Business licensing. 2006, c. 32, Sched. A, s. 8.

 

[sno man]

Trying to save the lives of 200 people and witnessing the death of 119 others. The day shift was faced with the grim task of recovering the remains of those that perished in the fire.

Sort of puts the drama of today's 5 o'clock news into perspective for Toronto residents old enough to remember, and thank-full we never faced anything as bad as that since.

<CSB>I have a second hand brush with that ship/event.. Was in Montreal 28 years ago and had to have lunch at the Acadia Court in the old downtown Simpsons while it was still there and still Simpsons. It was a kinda crazy art deco room modelled on the dining rooms on the classic steamships of the 20's and 30's. Anyway, our waitress that day was a waitress in the dining room of the Noronic for that cruise, it was her first job (and last on a boat).</CSB>

 

[OSS 117]

If you don't think Chow and Layton used Jack's disease to their brands advantage... I have a bridge to sell you. Politicians, like people, are self interested, regardless of where they sit on the spectrum.

And it's not like being politically self-interested precludes being able to feel sympathy for someone else, at least in Chow's case. I have no doubt her well-wishes for Rob Ford and his family are sincere. I also have no doubt that she knows that being very public with that sympathy makes her stand out from Tory's colder approach.

 

[sweetlou]

Already answered. Just piping up to say that this is a perfect illustration of the much-misunderstood so-called 'stripping of the Mayor's powers'.

The Municipal Act gives the council of a municipality the power (amongst many others) to select a DM. The City of Toronto Act (which provides for various forms of special treatment compared to the other municipalities in Ontario) enables the council of Toronto to delegate the exercise of that power (amongst some others) to the mayor. Council did so, by a by-law adopted during Miller's term.

The ability to delegate a power carries with it the ability to withdraw the delegation (just as the ability to adopt a by-law carries with it the ability to repeal the by-law) and the ability to place limits or conditions on the delegation (just as the ability to adopt a by-law carries with it the ability to place limits or conditions on the operation of the by-law). What council did in this instance was to suspend the operation of the delegation by-law - in essence, it limited the delegation of the power to select a DM such that, during the period starting shortly after the "Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine" episode and ending on the first day of the next term, only council has the power to remove Kelly from the position of DM and name a new DM.

Thanks. You (collectively) have removed one of the scariest scenarios I was contemplating.

 

[kbdid]

FWIW with all this talk of how sincere/political Olivia Chow's sympathies are, John Tory was on CP24 at noon discussing whether or not the later debate will take place after the medical update. He said he would discuss personally with Olivia whether or not, as "human beings not politicians" to proceed. So, sympathies all round but they were asking him if he'd contacted the Ford family and I didn't catch the answer.

 

[pud99]

Apparently, the National Club debate wandered into onto the topic of police helicopters. A 'blast from the past':

https://twitter.com/graphicmatt/status/512298499803602944

Presumably the helicopter that Cllr Rob Ford thought could be bought for $1.5M would have included the AA batteries for the remote control.

(IIRC, the cost of the helicopter that The Queen gave Prince William for his birthday was $11 million.)

 

[nfitz]

If you don't think Chow and Layton used Jack's disease to their brands advantage... I have a bridge to sell you. Politicians, like people, are self interested, regardless of where they sit on the spectrum.

Uh, hang on. Jack Layton's last election was only a few weeks before he died. I don't recall any discussion of him having cancer during that election. There were some observations about him using a cane, but the NDP seemed to be going out of their way to keep his health issues out of the news.

If you want to compare Layton to Ford, surely there would have been regular press conferences long before the election, when he first went to the doctor.

I find such a comparison of someone like Layton, to a drug-addicted wife-beating child-abusing racist like Rob Ford to be extremely nauseating.

 

[Oriana]

I'd say she hasn't really learned anything that as a victim of violent abuse, she now gravitates to and has empathy and sympathy for a man who has had over two dozen 911 domestic calls, and whose wife ended up in the hospital bruised and beat up. He may not have been charged, but where there's smoke, there's fire.

SAL feeling anything more than pity for this man says she's still a victim and has not transitioned to being a survivor.

Despite what SAL may have gone through, or what any person may have gone through as a victim of abuse, or whatever stage they're at in their journey, it doesn't give them the right to dump on others.

 

[Videodrome]

Shawn Jeffords ‏@Shawn_Jeffords 1m
Renata Ford arrives at Mount Sinai. Said she's trying to remain positive. #TOpoli

Shawn Jeffords ‏@Shawn_Jeffords 35s
Renata Ford says “we have a lot of faith in the doctors and we have a lot of faith in God.” #TOpoli

Sounds grim...