Toronto, we’ve dodged the bullet. Commuters can happily go about their business as usual and not scramble to make alternate arrangements to the GO Transit buses. At the eleventh hour, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587 – representing 1,200 unionized bus drivers, ticket agents and office workers - and GO Transit have struck a tentative deal averting a strike. The agreement was brokered by a conciliator. The terms of the deal have not been made public. However, it is common knowledge that two major points of disagreement in the contract negotiations were wages and job security. The workers have been without a contract since June 1, 2007 and have been in a legal position to strike since December 10, 2007.

A strike would have shut down Go bus service completely, disrupting the lives of approximately 30,000 Torontonians. Many of those affected would have most likely looked to the Go Trains as an alternative. However, the union was planning to set up pickets at the Go Transit stations, which would have caused a great disruption in service. Although in theory the strike would not have any effect of the Go trains, it is not known how many employees would have crossed the picked lines. Currently it is estimated that 165,000 Torontonians use the GO trains daily.

Although there is an agreement in principle, in order for it to take effect it must be ratified by GO Transit’s board of directors and in a membership vote by union members. No date for ratification has been announced yet. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Do you think that an essential service like public transit should have the right to strike?

The Land Transfer Tax and the Vehicle Registration Tax are now the law. The Land Transfer Tax comes into effect on February 1. No date has yet been announced for the implementation of the Vehicle Registration Tax because the logistics haven’t been worked out. It is however estimated that the new tax will take effect sometime this fall. But, Mayor David Miller is not done picking your pockets yet. If he was his way your pockets will be turned inside out and you’ll be looking for change on the street.

Since the “Stronger City of Toronto Act”, which granted the city new taxing powers, came into force on January 1st, 2007, Mayor Miller has devoted himself to dreaming up new cash grab tax schemes. Unfortunately he is not very creative. It’s just the same old discussions on the same old items. The City of Toronto is proposing new taxes on:

•    Tobacco
•    Alcohol
•    Parking
•    Billboards
•    New home-buying
•    Driver’s licenses
•    Road toll
•    Entertainment tickets - movies, theatre, and concerts
•    Garbage collection

The only new one on me is the tax on billboards. Otherwise the rest are the old standards in tax proposals. Aren’t there any new items that we could tax? Toronto has had enough of taxes and Mayor Miller knows it. So he proceeds to insult our collective intelligence and call them “revenue tools” instead of taxes and constantly complains that our financial problems are due to insufficient funding from the province or the feds. It’s everyone’s problem but his. Polling has shown that the people of Toronto want the city to get their own house in order and deal with their own spending before they even hint at more taxes. After all, what’s the point of collecting more taxes when the city doesn’t have the brains to make sound fiscal decisions with the money collected?

To sign the No New Taxes Petition, follow the link below.
https://secure.lexi.net/ctf/petitions.php?petition_id=40

Now you don’t even have to run away. Instead you can join the National Circus School in Montreal - one of the most prestigious circus schools in the world and the only one in North America - and study clowning, dance, gymnastics, acrobatics, trapeze, drama, improvisation, and juggling. Established in 1981, the school has 143 students and offers a full-time high school program, two college diploma programs, and a part-time program.

You may be surprised to know that you don’t have to have any special skills to apply. The admission requirements are:

•    Excellent health (medical certificate may be required)
•    Successful completion of entrance examination
•    Completion of primary studies and successful completion of all levels preceding that to which the candidate wishes entry.
•    Good academic standing

However, an ideal candidate will be creative, adaptable, independent, disciplined, love to travel, and be multi-talented. It is recommended that students have taken advanced training in an acrobatic sport or a martial art. And, be prepared for lots of hard work! In the high school studies program each week requires a minimum of 42 hours of attendance, including 20.5 class hours and 21.5 hours minimum of training. The great news is that there is a payoff for all of that hard work. A whopping 95% of all graduates are able to find work in the entertainment field.

The deadline for applications is January 18th. Entrance exams will take place in Toronto on February 7th. To learn more about the National Circus School or to apply follow the link below.
http://www.nationalcircusschool.ca/en/index.asp

Last fall the City of Toronto was thinking of getting into the food services business. They actually wanted to purchase 35 carts and lease them out to independent street vendors. Their plan was to diversify from hot dogs to ethnic fare, making the choices healthier and more in keeping with the diverse ethnicity of Toronto residents. Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it. If I told you that it would have required the City of Toronto to take out a $700,000 would you still think so? No one else did either. Mayor Miller had no choice but to remove the $700,000 loan from the 2008 capital budget – a good move considering the amount of services that he cut citing lack of funds.

Not content to let this ill-fated plan die, Toronto has now resurrected it in a more modest form. It seems that no one really objected to the plan. It was the $700,000 loan that was highly objectionable. The current proposal involves a pilot project with 15 food service carts to be located in public parks or squares this summer. Under the new plan the City of Toronto will purchase the carts and then select where the carts can be located. They will be actively pursuing a private partner to help with the financing. Vendors would be selected according to the following criteria:
•    Financial viability
•    Compliance with city bylaws
•    Experience
•    What type of cuisine they are planning to sell
•    How healthy the food is
•    Reputation

This is bad news for existing hotdog vendors who would not be eligible unless they agree to give up their vending licenses. A full-scale program could begin in 2009. Do you think that the City of Toronto should be in the food service business?

I just don’t get it. It’s not like I don’t get the Internet or social networking. After all, I am blogging. But Facebook is more than just a social networking tool in Toronto. It has become a city-wide obsession. Toronto now has the dubious honour of becoming the first city in North America to break the 1,000,000 user mark. Is this something that we should be proud of?

Here are some facts about the Facebook phenomena:
•    There are currently 59,000,000 active users, second only to MySpace with 100,000,000 users
•    Since January 2007 there are approximately 250,000 new registrations per day
•    Facebook is growing at a rate of 3% per week
•    Facebook is the number 1 photo sharing application on the Internet
•    There are now over 7,000,000 subscribers in Canada
•    Approximately ½ of all Canadians who have Internet access are on Facebook
•    Canada has the most Facebook users outside of the USA
•    Canadian Facebook members are predominantly females between the ages of 18 to 34
•    Canadians spend an average of 5.7 hours on the site
•    The Province of Ontario has blocked the site for government employees during work hours

Facebook has become the social networking darling, especially in Toronto. People are connecting and reconnecting with friends and family across the street and across the globe. The thing that worries me about all of this social networking is that I believe that we are becoming anti-social as a result. We no longer have to get out and engage face-to-face. Instead we engage online avatar-to-avatar. We don’t talk. We e-mail and text message each other instead. As a result of all of this social networking, are we losing our ability to connect and communicate on a human level?

You still won’t stop drinking and driving. The RIDE program officially ended at midnight on January 2nd and these were the results.

•  The OPP nabbed 1,200 drivers
•  In Toronto 217 suspensions were issued and 55 drinking-related charges were laid
•  In Ontario, 334 people have been charged with alcohol-related offences, and another 842 received license suspensions
•  On New Year’s Eve alone, the OPP issued 40 driving suspensions, arrested 13 motorists on impaired driving charges, and laid 148 other charges

What part about NO DRINKING AND DRIVING do these people have trouble understanding? The problem drinkers are so hardcore that the new feature of the RIDE program this year was the institution of an early morning shift created to catch drunk drivers on their way to work. It just boggles the mind!

Although we tend to focus on drinking and driving as a “holiday problem”, the sad truth is that it is an ongoing problem. As a result OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino will continue the RIDE program all year round. This year the RIDE program will conduct spot checks on a daily basis so that hopefully we can make a real difference in getting drunk drivers off the road and punishing them for their crime. Yes, drunk driving is a crime. In 2007 there were 80 alcohol-related deaths and that is just plain murder.

If you see a drunk driver on the road or see a drunken person get into a car and drive away, please call the OPP immediately at 1-888-310-1122 or visit the OPP website by following the link below.
http://www.opp.ca/english.htm

Many commuters, sick and tired of the endless gridlock on the 400 series of highways opted to pay the tolls and take the 407 ETR instead. And as a reward for your patronage the toll rates on the 407 ETR have gone up every year on February 1st for the last 4 years. And this year will be no exception. The 407 ETR, the only privately owned toll road in the province, has raised the peak rate price by more than 8 cents in the last 10 years. Just last year the peak rate price increase was 1.35 cents.

Motorists who use the 407 ETR will not be amused to know that the rate is increasing 9.4% on February 1st for cars, minivans, and SUVs, making the new peak rate price 19.5 cents per kilometer in the “regular zone” – from the 401 intersection in the west to the 404 junction in the east. In the “light zone” - the remainder of the highway from the QEW in Burlington to Highway
401 and from Highway 404 to Brock Road in Pickering – the peak rate price will be 19 cents per kilometer. The off-peak rate in both zones will be 18 cents per kilometer. The rates for single unit trucks will be 38.5 cents per kilometer and for 18-wheelers the rate will be 57.75 cents per kilometer. The big price break will be for transponder customers, who will be offered a 30 % discount on the transponder lease fee if they choose an annual transponder lease fee instead of a monthly fee.

Of course the party line is that the increases are so that the company can continue to add new lanes. What do you think? Is it road improvement or a cash grab?

The Toronto Transit System’s 501 Streetcar has received high praise indeed. It has made the National Geographic’s list of the world’s top 10 trolley rides because it is one of the longest transit routes in all of North America and it is a very scenic route. The 501 Streetcar line is almost 50 kms long and runs from Long Branch on the Mississauga border to the city’s easternmost streetcar loop at Neville Park. Currently it accommodates 43,500 riders per day during the work week. Unfortunately ridership has dropped dramatically in the last 25 years due to overcrowding, delays, unannounced route changes, and the expansion of the Bloor-Danforth subway and the Scarborough RT.

Never-the-less, the National Geographic was duly impressed and will include the 501 Streetcar in a new book called “Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest trips”. You may take the 501 for granted, but she was named one of the world’s best trolley rides. The 501 is not a tourist line. It is an actual transit line used by the people of Toronto and it is one of the longest lines in North America. Traveling on the 501 is like seeing a microcosm of City of Toronto. Here are some of the sites that can be seen along the 501’s route:
•    The Beach
•    City Hall
•    Osgoode Hall
•    Impressive architecture
•    Nathan Phillips Square
•    Queen Street West with its funky shops, art galleries, bars, and restaurants
•    Old mansions
•    New Condos
•    Urban life
•    Industrial areas
•    Suburban life
•    Luxury
•    Decay
•    Parkdale
•    Roncesvalles
•    The waterfront
•    High Park
•    The Queensway
•    Lakeshore Blvd.
•    Long Branch

It really is quite marvelous when you come to think of it, as long as you are not in a rush to get to work and there isn’t a car stuck on the track……

Let’s face it, Toronto drivers are sadly lacking when it comes to winter weather driving. Snow, even in minor accumulations causes havoc on our highways and byways. And the amount of accidents with just a little snow on the ground is just staggering. During a snowstorm our roads are littered with hundreds, yes hundreds of accidents, and vehicles in snow banks and ditches. There seems to be a brain disconnect somewhere. The entire concept of “slippery roads means slow down” doesn’t seem to register. Very few people seem to have any idea of why 2nd gear is included with all vehicles regardless of whether they have manual or automatic transmissions. And since ABS brakes became standard equipment, drivers live with the mistaken impression that they can stop their vehicles on all road surfaces, including ice and snow.

It appears that there may soon be a penalty imposed for stupidity. There is a proposed change to the Highway Traffic Act to deal with drivers who won’t drive correctly for the road conditions – meaning YOU MUST SLOW DOWN in rain and snow. Failure to adjust your driving habits for the road conditions could result in being charged. It is assumed that the charge would be in line with an infraction like tailgating or making an illegal lane change. There is already a similar traffic policy in New York State where police can charge motorists who don’t respect the weather conditions where the law specifically deals with unsafe speed not befitting the road conditions. The Province of Quebec has just passed a law making snow tires mandatory.

Right now there is no accountability for driving inappropriately in bad weather except for an increase in your insurance rates. Do you think that charging drivers will result in drivers slowing down in bad weather?

The Toronto Transit system is stepping up to the plate this New Year’s eve and offering free rides from midnight to 4:00 AM. In spite of the cost - $80,000 – it is well worth it if it will save lives. Drinking and driving is a horrible problem in our society at the best of times, but on New Year’s Eve it is rampant. The TTC is looking for a corporate sponsor to help offset the cost. MADD Canada and the Toronto police are very supportive of the program.

The Ontario Provincial Police five-week holiday season RIDE program is now in effect and the 6 motorists were charged with impaired driving in the first 5 days. In addition, other police forces in the GTA, including the Ontario Provincial Police, are also conducting spot-checks throughout the holiday season. Unfortunately the recent snow storm has affected the number of spot checks in the city of Toronto as they are not set up as frequently in bad weather as the resources are needed elsewhere. Last year officers stopped almost 815,000 vehicles and charged 339 people with alcohol-related offences. They also issued 802 12-hour license suspensions and 365 suspensions lasting 90 days. Ontario has some of the toughest anti-drinking-and-driving laws in North America.

In 2007, 74 people died tragically and needlessly in alcohol-related accidents, which represent a 25% increase from last year. A study by the Traffic Inquiry Research Foundation says Canadians who drive over the legal limit climbed to just over 8%, up from about 5.5% in 2004. The RIDE program will continue through January 2, 2008. Impaired driving is the leading cause of criminal death in Canada. Have fun this New Year’s Eve but DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!