When an Ontario public servant decided to leak the province’s secret plan to overhaul the healthcare system to the media, Premier Doug Ford shifted into attack mode and demanded an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). It seems the Premier has an affinity for calling in the police, in the hopes they’ll do his bidding. […]
EDITORIAL: It’s not your private police force, Mr. Ford (Spring 2019)
April 23rd, 2019 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: It’s not your private police force, Mr. Ford (Spring 2019)
EDITORIAL: Eight weeks lost to Ford’s madness (October 2018)
October 16th, 2018 · 1 Comment
For some time now, perfume and cologne companies have marketed their wares as if the wearer would be donning a new character, not just a new scent. High Endurance, Wild, and More Swagger are just some of the options on offer, to which we humbly suggest another, Just Swagger. Designed especially for the newly-minted Ontario […]
EDITORIAL: Reclaiming our city (Summer 2018)
August 12th, 2018 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: Reclaiming our city (Summer 2018)
Doug Ford announced his intention to cut Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 members last month. Coming when the municipal election had already begun, without notice or consultation, this move is a threat to our right to be represented equitably and effectively. While this bombshell seems to have taken everyone by surprise, it’s certainly […]
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)
July 18th, 2018 · 1 Comment
In “The Pothole”, the award-winning 150th episode Seinfeld, Cosmo Kramer adopts a one mile stretch of the Arthur Burghardt Expressway after running over an abandoned sewing machine. Kramer decides to make his newly adopted section of a highway a more luxurious experience for drivers by reducing four lanes to two extra-wide ones. What results — […]
Tags: Annex · Editorial · General
EDITORIAL: They’re poor, Doug, not dumb (May 2018)
May 9th, 2018 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: They’re poor, Doug, not dumb (May 2018)
“Folks are working their backs off for minimum wage,” said Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC) leader Doug Ford recently, after announcing he would block a promised minimum wage hike in favour of a tax break. According to Ford, this would give a full-time worker earning $14 per hour about $800 more in net income […]
EDITORIAL: Lessons to be learned from Excessive Force (Spring 2018)
May 1st, 2018 · 1 Comment
Sometimes a mea culpa comes in the form of a memoir. Such is the case with Alok Mukherjee, who was the chair of the Toronto Services Board from 2005 to 2015, a period that included the G20 economic summit in June 2010 in Toronto. In Excessive Force, published last month, Mukherjee considers how police, particularly […]
EDITORIAL: A social contract is a precious thing (March 2018)
March 22nd, 2018 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL: A social contract is a precious thing (March 2018)
In South Africa, Cape Town is about to run out of fresh water. Authorities predict that Day Zero — the last time water will flow from a domestic tap — will hit on July 9, 2018. Three years of drought resulting from climate change has brought a city of 4 million to the brink of […]
Tags: General
EDITORIAL (JUNE 2017): A watershed moment
June 30th, 2017 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL (JUNE 2017): A watershed moment
At 150, Canada has much to celebrate. We are, relatively speaking, an open, democratic, tolerant, and welcoming nation set amongst a vast, beautiful landscape that has few peers. Indeed, called upon to describe Canada, many among us may point to our pristine lakes and rivers. But such an image may yet prove to be a […]
EDITORIAL (MAY 2017): Revoke U of T’s unchecked “licence to build”
May 26th, 2017 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL (MAY 2017): Revoke U of T’s unchecked “licence to build”
The University of Toronto is seeking broader powers to do as it pleases with respect to developing new buildings in certain designated large swaths of its campus. In effect, it wants to be an off-leash development dog, a request that has the community wary. The City of Toronto should be too. Twenty-five years ago the […]
EDITORIAL (FEBRUARY 2017): Clement’s petulance diminishes parliament
March 5th, 2017 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL (FEBRUARY 2017): Clement’s petulance diminishes parliament
Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is contributing little of use to the debate over how best to deal with the hundreds of refugees walking across the Canada-US border through fields and forests. Thanks to Donald Trump’s barrage of rashly conceived executive orders, immigrants to the United States seeking to stay there have become increasingly nervous that […]
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
EDITORIAL (NOVEMBER 2016): Freeland got it done, with flair
November 18th, 2016 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL (NOVEMBER 2016): Freeland got it done, with flair
Getting the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) ratified is a big win for Canada, and an equally big win for Chrystia Freeland, not just our Member of Parliament but also our nation’s Minister of International Trade. We needed this deal with the European Union (EU), if for no other reason than to show the […]
EDITORIAL (SEPTEMBER 2016): Train derailment changes the conversation
September 15th, 2016 · Comments Off on EDITORIAL (SEPTEMBER 2016): Train derailment changes the conversation
The August 21 twin train derailment on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) line at Dupont Street is a reminder of just how much of a potential disaster is ticking away on our doorstep. It adds urgency to what is no longer a theoretical conversation. The two CPR freight trains failed to execute a safe pass […]