Legislation aimed at being more responsive to survivors

By Han Dong

Recently, the Select Committee on Sexual Violence and Harassment submitted its final report to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. I am privileged to have been a member of this all-party, non-partisan committee of the Legislature. The recommendations that came out of this committee were developed through the testimonies of those who came forward with personal stories and firsthand experiences. These will help establish a foundation for future action.

[pullquote]The government recently announced a $2.25-million fund to challenge rape culture through artistic projects.[/pullquote]

I am proud of the leadership of Premier Wynne on ending the culture of sexual violence. I also want to thank the Honourable Tracy MacCharles, the Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues, for her tireless work on the Sexual Violence Action Plan.

The legislation, if passed, would help deliver on commitments in “It’s Never Okay”, the government’s groundbreaking action plan to stop sexual violence and harassment.

If passed, the Sexual Violence and Harassment Action Plan Act would make workplaces, campuses, and communities safer and more responsive to the needs of survivors and complaints about sexual violence and harassment.

The act would:

• Require every publicly assisted college and university and private career college to have a stand-alone sexual violence policy and to review it — with student involvement — at least once every three years;

• Enhance requirements for sexual harassment prevention programs and create specific employer duties to protect workers,  including a duty to ensure that incidents and complaints are appropriately investigated;

• Remove the limitation period for all civil proceedings based on sexual assault — and, in certain cases, sexual misconduct or assault — so that survivors can bring their civil claims forward whenever they choose to do so;

• Eliminate the limitation period for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence to make a compensation application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board; and,

• Shorten the time it takes to end a tenancy agreement for people experiencing sexual or domestic violence, to make it easier for survivors to flee abuse.

The Ontario government is supporting these priorities through a broad action plan that includes increased and stabilized funding to community-based sexual assault centres and hospital-based sexual assault and domestic violence treatment centres.

The government is also running a province-wide public education campaign to promote a shift in attitudes and behaviours, and recently announced a $2.25-million Creative Engagement Fund to challenge rape culture through artistic projects.

As your MPP, I would like to hear your comments and suggestions regarding the Sexual Violence Action Plan, or the work of the Select Committee on Sexual Violence and Harassment. I welcome you to visit my website for more information on the Action Plan, and other provincial programs and services.

Han Dong is the Member of Provincial Parliament for Trinity-Spadina. He can be contacted via 416.603.9664 or hdong.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org. His website is www.handong.onmpp.ca.

Razor Management Inc., which operates the existing athletic facility at Monarch Park Collegiate Institute and is installing a similar field at Central Technical School, announced this month that it had received an unexpected retroactive municipal tax bill of $505,000 relating to the Monarch Park facility. It has also been informed that it will face similar levies at Central Tech once that field is up and running.

It’s a bill that will make operating the site untenable for Razor, and as a result, Razor has said it will cease construction at Central Tech, be forced to eliminate youth programming at Monarch Park, and increase the rates for private users by 78 per cent.

In a January news release, Razor claims that the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has ignored a senior staff report recommending a tax exemption for all “championship field partners as the projects were built primarily for the benefit of students”. The company further claims that no other private operator currently providing services to the school board has ever received a tax bill. Yet, the school board has not come to Razor’s defence, and seems prepared to let them wither.

The TDSB’s plan to contract the operation of the field to a private operator has long been a contentious one. The previous condition of the field and track at Central Tech was poor, and soil tests suggest that the field was contaminated. There’s little room in the TDSB budget for site maintenance, and nothing whatsoever for soil remediation.

And so the TDSB touted its partnership with Razor as a panacea: the tainted soil would be removed, the track rebuilt, low maintenance artificial turf installed, and an inflatable dome puffed up during the winter months. The school board has access to the entire facility during school hours, the community gets some free access during the weekends (as well as sponsorship of a community swim program), and the space is available for rent during the rest of the time. The TDSB would be on the hook for $0 and only has to give away access to the site in the off-season and after-hours periods.

However, the City of Toronto and the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA) opposed the plan. Although they had a philosophical beef with the proposal — arguing what they claimed was public land being effectively ceded to a private party — they also were not content with the level of community access, as well as concerned about the visual impact of the giant dome, the merits of artificial turf, and the impact on parking and traffic from new users coming from outside the community.

However, the interested parties — including the TDSB, the HVRA, the city, and Razor — reached a mediated settlement at the Ontario Municipal Board. The terms included a smaller dome, increased community access, and setting up a working group that would address any local concerns on a case-by-case basis.

It appears, however, that opponents of the deal, after conceding the battle, never gave up the war.

A city official (it’s not clear who) appears to have requested a property tax review of Razor’s operations at Monarch Park and Central Tech, leading to the assessment and tax bill. It seems someone would prefer to see Razor fail under the weight of the tax burden, and the TDSB hasn’t yet stepped up to the plate with a ringing endorsement of its partner in delivering a state-of-the-art athletics facility to its students.

To say that this is a cutthroat strategy is an understatement: the opponents of this plan seem intent on ensuring that everybody loses if they can’t win. It’s a scorched earth policy whose biggest victims are the ones the board is supposed to serve: the students. After three years without a field at Central Tech, it looks like they won’t get one anytime soon. And it looks like some will graduate never even having seen anything but a locked fence.

READ MORE ABOUT CENTRAL TECH FIELD:

Construction halted at Central Tech: Student athletes launch online petition by Marielle Torrefranca (February 2016)

Agreement reached for Central Tech field (April 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

To dome or not to dome, that is the question (February 2015) by Terri Chu

Editorial: Mobs don’t rule, nor do pawns (February 2015)

Dome plan inches closer (February 2015) by Brian Burchell

School board appeals ruling and loses, again (October 2014) by Brian Burchell

Editorial: A strategy run amok (September 2014)

Dome plan quashed by courts (September 2014) by Brian Burchell

Raucous meeting on CTS field (April 2014) by Annemarie Brissenden

READ MORE ABOUT CENTRAL TECH:

Central Tech alumni return to mark school’s centennial (November 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Central Tech celebrates 100 years (July 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Aircraft program grounded in 2004 (July 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Cancelled car tax could have made up difference for Toronto

By Annemarie Brissenden

The City of Toronto’s proposed tax-supported operating budget for 2016 rings in at just over $10 billion, but what’s remarkable is what it doesn’t include.

Among the things it doesn’t include are much-needed Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) money, $25 per capita for the arts (a target set in 2003 that has yet to be met; it was to bring Toronto’s cultural spending in line with Montreal’s, which now spends $55 per capita on the arts), funding for an additional 57 paramedics, money for early Sunday morning service on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), funding to increase the number of long-term care nurses who are dedicated to helping people stay in their homes, and money to enhance the Toronto Public Library service offerings with youth hubs, WiFi expansion, and digital innovation.

And all that’s before tackling the city’s capital projects that remain unfunded to the tune of $22.3 billion: the TCHC state of good repair backlog, the George Street revitalization, Lower Don flood protection, and a downtown relief line for the TTC.

Taken together, it’s a basket of necessary items that would not only enhance municipal programming, but also haul Toronto into the 21st century.

“We don’t have the resources to maintain the city we have, let alone the resources to build the city we want,” said Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) at a budget consultation he co-sponsored with Mike Layton (Ward 19, Trinity-Spadina) at the Centre for Social Innovation on Jan. 25. “We have $22 billion in projects we need that aren’t funded, and $67 million in programs we need that aren’t in the budget.”

The shortfalls also highlight just how much impact the city and its services has on our daily lives.

“Municipal governments are probably the most important governments that you deal with in your daily life,” said Layton. “Just about every part of your life is touched by the budget.”

“It is critical,” agreed Cressy. “The context of our city is that we are a growing city…with an increasing demand on infrastructure and services, and our budget is not keeping pace.”

Josie La Vita, the executive director for financial planning for the City of Toronto, explained that unlike previous years, city staff delivered a budget without recommending a property tax rate increase, choosing instead to highlight budget pressures and ask for direction on strategic priorities and “where we should put our limited resources”.

She noted the “goal is not to impact [current] service levels”, and, except for the TTC and the Toronto Police Service (TPS), “almost all city operations came in lower than last year”.

At just over $1.8 and $1.1 billion respectively, the TTC and the TPS represent the largest line items in the budget, something that many in attendance at the meeting questioned.

“Why do police come out every time a paramedic does,” wondered one person, suggesting that first responders might be better coordinated.

Another suggested that police, transportation, and technology are three areas where money is not being spent in ways that we want, and asked, “do we want these three sectors to be as big as they are?”

As to transit, a meeting attendee argued that “we have massively reduced what’s going into the TTC, and haven’t yet met a single monthly ridership target.”

Cressy explained that transit is a particularly pernicious challenge for the city.

“We are the only city in the world that doesn’t get national or state/provincial funding [for transit] on a consistent basis,” he said. “That’s not just a quality of life issue or an environmental issue; it’s an economic issue. We lose $6 billion annually in productivity in the Greater Toronto Area because of gridlock.”

Layton and Cressy believe the city needs to consider a higher property tax increase, pointing out that Toronto property owners pay an average of $3,170, the least amount in property tax compared to the average of $4,182 for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and Ottawa municipalities.

The councillors also suggested that it’s time to explore additional sources of revenue, including adding a sales and/or income tax, which they say is done in other world-class cities. A sales tax in particular would reduce the reliance on people who live in Toronto, and broaden it to include people who visit and work in the city, but live elsewhere.

Cressy added that the much-lamented Vehicle Registration Tax, which was cancelled under the Ford administration, would have brought in $67 million, and made up the shortfall in the operating budget.

READ MORE:

Happy New Year from a new Dad with a new perspective (January 2016) by Mike Layton

Two of the University of Toronto’s distinguished art galleries have merged to create one of the largest university-based art museums in the country. The Art Museum at the University of Toronto — previously the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery and the University of Toronto Art Centre — is also the second-largest museum-standard visual art museum and collection in the city, and will continue to occupy two close physical spaces at Hart House and University College. Sarah Robayo Sheridan has curated the art museum’s inaugural exhibition Showroom, which will showcase a diverse range of work from 48 artists all portraying the influence of lifestyle marketing on the cityscape.

Skyline (2013) by Lauren Woodcock is one of the works featured in Showroom, the inaugural exhibition of the newly launched Art Museum at the University of Toronto.
COURTESY LAURA WOODCOCK AND MKG127

The museum will also host public programs, including two performance series on Feb. 6 and March 5, a curatorial tour on Feb. 11, and a panel discussion featuring Toronto artists on Feb. 24.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

A 23-year-old woman was walking in the Spadina Avenue and College Street area on Dec. 30, 2015, around 3 p.m. when a man pulled her into an alcove and sexually assaulted her. The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is seeking assistance in identifying the late 20s to early 30s suspect, who is described as approximately five feet seven inches tall weighing 140 pounds with an olive complexion, black hair, brown eyes, and dark features. On the afternoon of the assault, the suspect was wearing a blue track jacket with wide white stripes down the sleeves and a blue symbol on the left chest area. He wore two rings on his right hand and a ring on his left pinky finger.

The Toronto Police Service has also requested assistance in identifying a man involved in an early morning sexual assault on Jan. 9, 2016. A woman was walking through an alley near Harbord and Bathurst streets when an unknown man approached her from behind and sexually assaulted her. She escaped from her attacker. The assailant is described as between 20 and 30 years old, approximately five feet nine inches to five feet ten inches tall with a slim build. He was unshaven, had short brown hair, and was wearing a dark hooded jacket or sweater.

A composite sketch of the man alleged to have been involved in a sexual assault at Harbord and Bathurst streets on Jan. 9.
COURTESY?TORONTO?POLICE?SERVICE

If you have any information regarding these assaults or any other crimes, please contact the TPS at 416-808-7474, or leave an anonymous tip at 416-222-8477.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

The Comfort Zone has filed a $23-million lawsuit against the Toronto Police Service (TPS) and former police chief Bill Blair, alleging the parties abused their powers to put the Spadina Avenue after-hours club out of business. After discovering that a 26-year-old man had been seen at the club just hours before his death as a result of a drug overdose, the TPS launched Project White Rabbit, an undercover raid that resulted in the seizure of $35,000 and various drugs valued at $33,000, as well as charges against 33 patrons and five staff. The lawsuit claims that police destroyed video surveillance equipment, and kept patrons and staff handcuffed for up to five hours. Since then, the lawsuit claims, the TPS has raided the club over 50 times, harassing staff and patrons. None of these allegations have been proven in court. It’s the second time the Comfort Zone has pursued a legal claim of this nature; in 2009, it launched a similar lawsuit against then councillor Adam Vaughan, claiming it had been the victim of a systematic harassment campaign aimed at shutting the club down.

—Summer Reid/Gleaner News

Harbord Village plan targets laneways, parkettes

In-ground pinchpoint planters, like the one on Robert Street shown above, act as a curb extension, provide an immovable barrier that discourages drivers from making illegal manoeuvres, and are not subject to the graffiti found on their above-ground counterparts. 
COURTESY SUSAN DEXTER

By Marielle Torrefranca

Harbord Village is aiming to get a whole lot greener.

Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) and the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA), a community-led volunteer organization, have released a joint Green Master Plan, which outlines a series of actions to create urban green spaces in the public realm.

The 16-page document identifies five greening opportunities: using unoccupied paved flankings and corners for trees, bike parking, or seating; encouraging residents to introduce plants into their laneways; opting for in-ground pinchpoint planters instead of above-ground concrete planters; securing under-used neighbourhood space for parkettes; and improving tree planting and maintenance.

“The general philosophy of the plan is easy,” said Susan Dexter, an HVRA board member. “When you look out of your window and you see concrete, could it be planted? Is it wasted space?”

The plan is two-fold, explained Cressy. On one hand, there are the initiatives that have a longer timeline due to bureaucratic procedures, such as greening city-owned flankings and obtaining park space. On the other hand, community-led projects can begin right away.

“We’re seeking to seize the opportunity for greening immediately,” said Cressy.

An example of this is the endeavour to turn laneways into corridors of greenery. Currently, Croft Laneway (just east of Bathurst Street) and Sussex Mews (just west of Spadina Avenue) have been selected as pilot projects.

The HVRA plans to encourage neighbours to bring plants into their laneways, whether that be through placing plant containers along building walls, hanging flowering baskets, or introducing vining along fences and walls.

“[People] want our laneways to feel safe and comfortable and have some identity and character,” said Jane Perdue, who sits on a three-person committee overseeing the laneway project.

According to the report, Harbord Village has more than 25 laneways that can be used as alternative routes for pedestrians and cyclists. However, popular routes are targets for graffiti and vandalism.

To avoid drawing the attention of vandals in the future, the greening style will be kept “rustic”, said Perdue.

“We’re looking at a lot of found material — urns, or containers made out of bricks or fragmented stone,” she said. “We don’t want to make it too precious…we don’t want to be a target [for vandalism].”

Pinchpoint planters (concrete plant containers that perform traffic functions) are also subject to graffiti, so one of the HVRA’s initiatives is to use in-ground pinchpoints instead. According to the report, above-ground pinchpoint planters do not sufficiently slow motorists, as drivers can still dodge around them, and while most of them carry traffic signage, some of them face the incorrect direction on the street.

Their in-ground counterparts act more as a curb extension, and provide an immovable barrier — discouraging drivers from making illegal manoeuvres, while still allowing space for emergency services. The absence of the concrete container also means the absence of surfaces to vandalize.

This is not solely a community-run initiative, however, so the HVRA would need to coordinate with the city for roadwork and construction.

Similarly, the endeavours to green city-owned flankings and corners, improve tree planting and maintenance on main streets, and acquire more public park space, also require coordination with the city.

The HVRA is looking to secure under-used, vacant, or derelict spots in the neighbourhood and turn them into green community parkettes.

“The Bloor Street BIA, independent of us, had located many of the same corners as being potential green space,” said Dexter. “It seems like the constellations have all just lined up, and we’re in a position where we can make transformational change in the neighbourhood.”

This transformational change may not be limited to the planting of trees and scenic landscapes. The HVRA aims to cultivate the ecosystem health within an urban development through its greening initiatives.

Planting trees can also benefit the climate by mitigating the Urban Heat Island Effect; vegetation can absorb the sun’s energy, therefore making areas cooler and reducing power demand, said Dexter, who even performed her own experiment with a household thermometer.

“There [can be] a 10-degree difference,” she said. “From Harbord and Robert streets, I walked south, and by the time I got a little way into the houses, there was a marked difference in temperature.”

However, the association’s self-starting moxie may not be enough to pay the bills on its own.

“In some cases we won’t need additional funding,” said Cressy. “In other cases, we’re having early conversations with community foundations for support.”

While there is no certain timeline yet, Dexter said their next steps include going through council processes.

The link to the Harbord Village Green Plan is available through the HVRA’s website, www.harbordvillage.com.

READ MORE:

Untapped potential: Animating our local laneways (February 2016) by Joe Cressy

Incubating micro-retail: Laneways untapped realm of urban design (December 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Animating our local laneways

By Joe Cressy

Downtown communities like ours face unique challenges and countless opportunities. Almost every day, in conversations at our local coffee shops, in public meetings, and as we connect with our neighbours, we look for ways to work together to build our communities. We look for opportunities to enhance our parks, support our neighbours, and to create new public spaces.

Tucked away near the places we live, work, and play are spaces that can often be forgotten. Places that we can, together, creatively transform to help us enhance our vibrant neighbourhoods: laneways.

[pullquote]We can turn a barrier into a gateway, create new fronts from old backs, and make liability into an asset[/pullquote]

Our laneways offer opportunities at every turn. Some are owned by the City of Toronto, others are private — often, however, they are concrete, dark, and characterized by very little greenery and activity. In downtown alone, we have kilometres and kilometres of space that can be transformed to enhance livability in our neighbourhoods.

Together with local communities, we have been working on three exciting projects to transform these forgotten landscapes. We are looking to enhance our green space, increase housing affordability, and increase the public art and animation of our streets.

In collaboration with the Harbord Village Residents’ Association (HVRA), we have created the Harbord Village Green Plan — a local, comprehensive vision to transform the laneways in the community. The resident-driven plan identifies opportunities to expand and enhance green spaces throughout the neighbourhood, but zeroes in on laneways as a key priority to enhance our green space. Thanks to hard-working community volunteers, there is a solid foundation from which to grow green infrastructure. Croft Laneway has already been the subject of a pilot project by the HVRA to formalize laneway greening. Moving forward, we will work hard on laneway planting, adding green elements, introducing vining, and creating other opportunities to restore and foster ecosystem health.

In the Huron-Sussex neighbourhood, Evergreen and the University of Toronto are working on a pilot project to explore laneway housing in Toronto. The Huron-Sussex Neighbourhood Plan, developed with the Huron Sussex Residents’ Organization and the University of Toronto, envisions dozens of new laneway houses over the coming decades. It’s a vision to provide family-size housing opportunities as part of a plan for broader intensification. Infill development like laneway housing can add density and a more diverse population to the neighbourhood, while the creation of a “living laneway” will connect streets, blocks, and open spaces with a shared street focused on promoting pedestrian priority and green spaces.

A central hub for homegrown arts and culture within our city, Queen West has a distinct reputation for innovation and creative production. Rush Lane, which runs parallel to Queen Street, is a veritable art gallery of street art, murals, and graffiti. You likely already know the lane as the backdrop for Rick Mercer’s weekly ‘rant’. This stretch of Queen Street West itself is included in a designated Heritage Conservation District, yet the surrounding areas continue to change. As the broader neighbourhood evolves, new opportunities to build on the area’s defining creative identity must be recognized and supported. In collaboration with local stakeholders, we are pursuing opportunities to increase the functional capacity of this public right of way beyond simple garbage collection and deliveries. We can turn a barrier into a gateway, create new fronts from old backs, and make liability into an asset. By working together in the community, we can enhance pedestrian-oriented public space, drawing even more visitors to local business, and increase much-needed community amenities and connections in the heart of downtown.

As we grow as a city, we need to ensure that we are building neighbourhoods, and laneways certainly have a role to play in helping this along. Through our partnerships on exciting laneway projects, and our work to invest in all our social infrastructure, we continue to march forward to doing just that.

Joe Cressy is the councillor for Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina.

READ MORE:

City seeking street greening opportunities: Harbord Village plan targets laneways, parkettes (February 2016) by Marielle Torrefranca

Incubating micro-retail: Laneways untapped realm of urban design (December 2015) by Annemarie Brissenden

Book launches, dance festivals, and fashion mark month

#FNLROM returns Feb. 5 with Encore: One Love, a celebration of Bob Marley. The evening includes music, great food, and an art exhibition.
Courtesy ElectriCITY Events

By Dilara Kurtaran

It’s been a little over two decades since Canada officially recognized February as Black History Month, and this year, the wide range of events aimed at honouring the legacy of Black Canadians includes book launches, lectures, and fashion installations.

Local independent A Different Booklist (746 Bathurst St.), which specializes in books from the African and Caribbean Diaspora, will host the launch of Snowball: Brothers 4 Life by former Toronto District School Board director of education Christoper M. Spence at Fuse Restaurant (366 Queen St. E.) on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. The following night at 7 p.m., the bookstore presents Lauren Francis-Sharma and her novel ’Til the Well Runs Dry, which opens with a young seamstress raising two boys in a village in Trinidad.

Later in the month, University of Toronto graduate Robert A. Hill, a historian of Black Radicalism, will present “And Still We Rise: A New Generation Arises for a New Time” on Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. at the Earth Sciences Centre (22 Russell St.), as part of the Munk School’s Centre for United States Studies and F. Ross Johnson Distinguished Speaker Series. Hill is currently Research Professor of History at UCLA and Editor in Chief of the multi-volume edition of The Marcus Garvey & Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers, a multi-volume long-term research project of the James S. Coleman African Studies Center at UCLA.

#FNLROM — Friday Night Live at the Royal Ontario Museum (100 Queen’s Park) — returns Feb. 5 with One Love, a special tribute to Bob Marley. DJ K.I. will play on the Currelly Gallery Mainstage with his hottest reggae, jazz, and R&B tracks, while Toronto natives Feeling the One Drop will showcase their reggae fusion sound from 9.30 to 10 p.m.

In Bronfman Hall, Wan and Chi with DJ Revy B will host an Afrofusion dance class in which attendees will learn the latest dance moves from Africa and the West Indies, as choreographed by Pulga Muchochoma and Esie Mensah.

And don’t miss the Glass Room for Water Carry Me Go, a fashion-art installation featuring Afrodiasporic designers from around the world. Curated by Toronto-based designer Chinedu Ukaba, the designers have each created a garment inspired by water.

For a different kind of art show, consider Black Future Month 3016, OCAD University’s fourth annual exhibition showcasing work from students, alumni, staff, faculty, and the Black community that explores themes of Afrofuturism, Black identity, and culture. The exhibition will open on Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. with a reception at the Graduate Gallery (205 Richmond St. W.), and will run until Feb. 20 at the Graduate Gallery and the Ada Slaight Student Gallery (100 McCaul St., 2nd Floor).

The energy lost in the pretense of plastic recycling

“Why can’t they take black plastic?” asked my partner, staring at the City of Toronto recycling poster. I didn’t have an answer.

The ad, which helpfully reminds Torontonians what goes in which bin, notes that all black plastics are relegated to municipal solid waste. Turns out, black plastic isn’t very valuable. It isn’t accepted into recycling because it is difficult to sort and once dyed black, it can’t be turned back clear. In short, it would cost the city more to accept black plastics than it would get for them. So black plastics in this city are relegated to the landfill.

[pullquote]The ocean is only so big and can be our waste bin for only so long.[/pullquote]

Every time I research plastic recycling, I come to suspect that we should rid ourselves of these programs altogether. Perhaps if people weren’t fooled into thinking plastic was “recycled”, consumption of it would actually go down. Make no mistake; the plastic industry spends a lot of money on “recycling” ads for a reason. Not for one minute do they want you to second-guess your purchasing decision.

What still burns me up (no pun intended) is the refusal of both the city and the province to even put recovering energy from waste on the table. After the Oakville fiasco, I fully understand the power of NIMBYism but landfilling tons of high energy plastic a year, and, worse, allowing it to eventually make its way into our oceans, is an absolute disgrace.

Few things made me more embarrassed than listening to former Premier McGuinty stand in front of a microphone and describe the decision to locate the power plant in Oakville a “mistake”. While cheers of joy sounded off in the west end, my ears only heard “politics now trumps science, professional advice, and efficiency”. This was only for a gas plant, a fuel source that is already in virtually every home in Oakville. Media focused a lot on the political fallout, but few stories have been written about whether or not siting the plant there was the right decision, and it absolutely was from an environmental and efficiency standpoint. Cancelling it was the mistake whose after-effects we will be seeing in the future.

Premier Wynne has promised a new era of politics.

Recovering energy from waste will be highly politically unpopular but a necessary part of our waste management strategy.

Europe, Asia, and the Middle East have been recovering energy from waste for decades now. While there are emissions associated with it, long-term, these generate far less pollution than low level smolders. One landfill fire at a low temperature burn will more than justify recovering the plastic waste. New technologies that allow for very clean and efficient recovery are becoming available all the time. It would mean less natural gas, which is transported at great distance and cost, and it would also mean less plastic finding its way into our oceans.

Over five trillion pieces of plastic are floating somewhere in the oceans. That number is going up every day. Animals often get ensnarled in our plastic waste leading to devastating consequences. The ocean is only so big and can be our waste bin for only so long. Until we get our plastic consumption down to zero, we need to be responsible for breaking it back down into smaller, less harmful parts.

While there are many valid arguments against recovering energy from waste (such as cost, and that it encourages more waste), there are many valid reasons to start using it as part of our overall environmental stewardship solutions. How many more turtles tangled in plastic do we have to see before we accept that sending our “recycled” plastics onto boats bound for China isn’t the greatest of ideas? That’s the reality of what happens to much of what gets thrown in the blue box. Shipping containers are notorious for getting lost at sea. It doesn’t take much of a rogue wave to slosh a few containers overboard. I have very little doubt that some of the plastic waste is what we thought was bound for recycling.

We cannot ignore our environmental responsibilities because they prove politically unpopular. REDUCE, reuse, and then recycle. Until we have the reduce part down, we need a better solution than relying on the latter.

Terri Chu is an engineer committed to practical environmentalism. This column is dedicated to helping the community reduce energy and distinguish environmental truths from myths. Send comments to terri.chu@whyshouldIcare.ca.

Toronto City Opera’s performances are approachable and fun

By Annemarie Brissenden

What could possibly go wrong when a poor peasant who only has eyes for a beautiful landowner buys a magical love potion from an itinerant doctor? Discover the hilarity that ensues in Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, performed by the Toronto City Opera (TCO) this month at the Bickford Centre.

[pullquote]

“Donizetti’s music is so beautiful”—Beatrice Carpino, artistic director, TCO

[/pullquote]

“I really enjoy doing comedies, and Donizetti’s music is so beautiful,” says Beatrice Carpino, the company’s artistic director. One of her tasks is picking what the company will perform each season, and due to the TCO’s unique nature, she typically faces some unusual challenges.

“The chorus [is] not auditioned, so everyone has a different background in music and music reading,” she explains.

The TCO is affiliated with the Toronto District School Board’s continuing education general interest program. The company’s backbone, the chorus, consists of students who have signed up to learn about opera by being in one that is performed on stage. Although soloists have to audition, the only prerequisite for the chorus is that the students know how to read music, and sign up for both the fall and winter programs.

“Chorus members don’t always know what they are getting into,” admits Carpino. “If they can musically handle the experience, they are invited to be in performances.”

It’s the only amateur company in Toronto that stages a full costumed opera, so it’s an opportunity for singers who want to perform for a living to get some experience. For others who have full-time jobs in other worlds, it’s simply a chance to indulge their love of singing on stage.

Carpino, whose affiliation with the company began almost 25 years ago as a soloist, says that “we’re able to bring opera to the general public for a great price, and it doesn’t feel like a hoity-toity experience.”

Now in its 49th season, the company has gained a reputation for being inclusive and approachable for audience members and performers alike.

“The fact of the environment — open, friendly, loving — and the camaraderie we all have with each other” is a large part of the company’s appeal for soloist Tammy Short, who had stopped singing for nine years before returning to join the TCO four years ago.

Fellow soloist Gerald Hannon agrees.

“There’s no sense of superiority, no distinction between the soloists and the chorus,” says Hannon. “I like the democratization [of the company].”

Hannon is a retired journalist who has been with the company for 15 years. He joined as a chorus member, but was asked to audition for a solo part almost immediately because of his speaking voice.

“The secret of singing opera is that it really helps if you’re a man,” says Hannon, explaining that there just aren’t enough men for the parts. “At the audition, the room will be full of women all lined up.”

He has since built a portfolio of comic roles, where he feels most at home.

And L’Elisir d’Amore is right in his wheelhouse.

In what he characterizes as a “sweet love story” of a “simple boy in love with a girl beyond his station”, Hannon sings the role of Dulca Mara, whom he calls the “quack doctor”.

“It’s difficult, but not quite beyond me. I’m signing at breakneck speed, spouting off Italian like there is no tomorrow,” he relates.

Similarly Short — who graduated from university with a bachelor of music — is very excited to be singing the role of landowner Adina.

“I’ve always thought this opera would be so fun to do staged,” she says. “It’s in my comfort zone, and I love singing his music…I love singing the runs.”

Hannon says the opera is hard not to like.

“It’s very melodic, and it’s got a lot of good tunes.”

Or as Short puts it, “when you leave the theatre you’ll be humming the melodies. They stick with you.”

The Toronto City Opera will perform L’Elisir d’Amore on Feb. 26, March 3, and March 5 at 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 28 at 2:00 p.m. The company’s season also includes performances of Die Fledermaus on Feb. 25, Feb. 27, and March 4 at 7:30 p.m., and March 6 at 2:00 p.m. All performances are at the Bickford Centre (777 Bloor St. W.), and cost $28 ($20 for seniors, $15 for students). For further information, or to buy tickets, please visit www.torontocityopera.com.