Assorted content to end your week. – Simon Enoch discusses the costs of turning over a profitable system of public liquor stores to corporate control – as Brad Wall has finally admitted to wanting to do: A privatized liquor market is very likely to evolve into an ‘oligopoly’, where only
Continue readingTag: Rob Ford
Montreal Simon: Rob Ford and the Lost Animals of Far Enough Farm
Well although he personally believes that crack addicts should be jailed not pampered, I see Rob Ford is finally in rehab.His monstrous Fordzillamobile is in the pound.Earlier this week, Ford's Cadillac Escalade was impounded after a 36-year-old woman, Lee Anne McRobb, was charged with impaired driving in Bracebridge while behind the
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Toronto Star: Toronto Councillor Doug Ford Believes Treatment Home for Kids with Autism "Ruined the Community"
Is Toronto City Councillor Doug Ford so contemptible as to verbally attack autistic children residing at a home for children with autism? con·tempt·ible adjective \kən-ˈtem(p)-tə-bəl\ : not worthy of respect or approval : deserving contempt “Contemptible.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 May 2014. The Toronto Star reports that Doug Ford,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia and the Con Bigots
It's International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. A day to remember the millions of LGBT people in the world who are being oppressed, hurt, and even murdered for the "crime" of being who they are.A day to remember that even in Canada, the hatred that kills is still a problem.For
Continue readingCalgary Grit: 10 Years of Blogging
Happy Trails Back when I first sat down to rant about politics on May 15th 2004, I never expected I’d still be doing this over 3,000 posts later. The blog has outlasted 3 Liberal leaders, been through 4 federal elections, and documented my involvement on a handful of losing leadership
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Tim Hudak and the Abominable Gila Monster
OK, I might as well say it. I need an Ontario election just when it's finally starting to feel like Spring, like I need a hole in the head, or Ontario needs Tim Hudak.Because he is a beastly Republican-style Con who would rip a hole the size of a province
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: John Tory’s empty "plan" for Toronto
Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory has penned an op-ed in the National Post claiming to explain what his plan is for Toronto. Usually politicians spend most of their campaigning time spewing platitudes that are cute, but offer little insight into what they actually plan to do. Usually, however, buried somewhere
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Hmm
. @sunlorriehttps://twitter.com/sunlorrie”>@sunlorrie > He wasn’t there yesterday–was hanging out at Tim Horton’s at Dundas/High Park. #topoli&mdash”>https://twitter.com/search?q=%23topoli&src=hash”>#topoli— Sheila Barry (@SheilaB27) May”>https://twitter.com/SheilaB27/statuses/464009640557023234″>May 7, 2014 Kady’s professional opinion: I’d say if — an all-caps, italicized IF — it emerges that Ford et al aren’t being straightforward about rehab, it’s actually over.— kady
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: GFL Update
Apparently: Clr. Perks will move motion on GFL vehicles receiving safety standard downgrade pic.twitter.com/nny3iUXDb8— Ann Hui (@annhui) May 6, 2014 More info here. Maybe this will get real reporters on the case. Also, here’s a scan of the negative report on GFL from the Ministry of Transportation: Much thanks to @neville_park for
Continue readingMaple-Flavoured Politics: The Frenzy Over Rob Ford’s Whereabouts
As I write these words, the Toronto Twitterati are going berserk over reports that Rob Ford, who was supposedly going to the States to enter a rehab program there, withdrew his application for entry into the USA after flying to Chicago. Nobody—at least, nobody willing to talk about it to
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Tragic Love Story of Steve Harper and Rob Ford
Well I think it's safe to say that those two bosom buddies Steve Harper and Rob Ford had a REALLY rotten week.Once they had such big plans to impose total Con domination on the province of Ontario.With the help of the other idiot stooge Tim Hudak… But now it has
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: No wonder Rob Ford is so screwed up. His mother is Dame Edna…
No wonder Rob Ford is so screwed up. His mother is Dame Edna and his father was Nosh from the movie Eat the Rich (see photos above). But seriously folks, you good people of the great city of Toronto, there’s something disturbing about Ford’s mother Diane. Don’t be too quick
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Lorrie Goldstein May Be A Kook, But
…he’s not necessarily wrong about this: Chow doesn’t want Ford out of the race because that helps John Tory: Chow stops short of calling for Ford to resign http://t.co/o6CXaAJfEL— Lorrie Goldstein (@sunlorrie) May 1, 2014 You might make a counter-argument that in places like Scarborough, where there are a lot
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: New Ontario Poll: Pain For NDP, Green Party Rides ROFO Coat-Tails
From here. Meanwhile our gal Kathleen is doing A-OK. And we can assume the Green Party uptick is due to Rob Ford’s recent endorsement. I mean, why not?
Continue readingMaple-Flavoured Politics: Ford Happens
Yesterday (April 30, 2014), I thought that the most exciting political news of the day was the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) laboriously working its way through about 300 amendments to Bill C-23, the so-called “Fair Elections Act.” Exactly as expected, the government-dominated
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Rob Ford and the Downfall of the Moron Nation
Well I suppose it was inevitable. But it sure took long enough. And the damage he did to Toronto and Canada's reputation was incalculable.He's a bully, a bigot, a beast.But he's finally going down. Read more »
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman explains how one’s political values figure to affect one’s view of evidence as to the success or failure of a policy: (T)he liberal and conservative movements are not at all symmetric in their goals. Conservatives want smaller government as an end
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Due to the poor attendance at Rob Ford’s campaign kickoff…
Due to the poor attendance at Rob Ford’s campaign kickoff party, his new theme song could be “Half Empty Halls” by The Evaporators. By most accounts, the April 17, 2014 event was a flop, with low turnout, no “history in the making” moments (another Ford promise broken), none of the
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: ROFO Campaign Kick-Off Wee Bit Of A Clinker
Let the Globe’s Ivor Tossell tell it: This is not a full room. pic.twitter.com/MWER1HiyVC— Ivor Tossell (@ivortossell) April 18, 2014 The view looking forward pic.twitter.com/vCW3nHINEj— Ivor Tossell (@ivortossell) April 18, 2014 The view looking back. pic.twitter.com/Z62P0fP5AA— Ivor Tossell (@ivortossell) April 18, 2014 It’s not that there aren’t people at Ford’s
Continue readingThe Wandering Joe: The Man Who Said Too Little
Ok, I need to make a confession. There was once a time where I would say without too much reservation that, “I would be comfortable voting for John Tory as Mayor of Toronto.” I won’t specify how long ago that time was, but it was well before his campaign officially
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