Mayor Miller is delighted with himself. He is taking great pride in Toronto’s balanced budget. But, Toronto’s homeowners aren’t smiling. They are facing a 3.75% increase in property tax as well as the new Land Transfer Tax. Why isn’t anyone reminding Mayor Miller that one of his campaign promises was to keep property taxes at the rate of inflation? Maybe someone forgot to tell him that the rate of inflation according to Statistics Canada is 2.4%.

The prevailing wind is that Mayor Miller should have cleaned his own house before breaking his promise. Why isn’t the budget committee looking for more ways to cut costs? Why should they? The Provincial Government is kicking in 188 million dollars. Queen’s Park is contributing 149 million dollars for transit and in addition they are taking on 39 million dollars in social service costs that had previously been the responsibility of the City of Toronto. Mayor Miller’s detractors say that the only reason that he was able to announce a balanced budget is that the provincial government gave him the money upfront this time instead of having to bail him out down the road.

The City of Toronto actually has 2 budgets - an operating budget and capital budget. The operating budget – 8.2 billion dollars to be reviewed by the budget committee next week - pays for:
• Police
• Fire
• EMS
• TTC
• Waste collection
• Recycling
• Libraries
• Parks and Recreation
• Child care
• Rent
• Fuel
• Electricity

The City of Toronto capital budget – 1.610 billion dollars, which was approved by Toronto City Council last December - pays for:

• Construction and maintenance of roads
• Maintenance and construction of city assets and infrastructure
• Transit vehicles
• Major equipment
• Major facilities

Does the balanced budget sound very balanced to you? And how is Mayor Miller portraying himself as a hero when all that he has done is to break yet another promise?

If this wasn’t so absurd it would be laughable. The Miss Toronto Tourism Pageant is scheduled to take place on February 2nd. Stephanie Conover was invited to be a judge at the pageant by virtue of her win at the Miss Canada Plus Pageant last year. By all accounts Ms Conover was delighted with the honour and accepted the invitation. As part of the process Ms Conover submitted a biography which included among other things, her hobbies – songwriting, knitting, painting, yoga, reiki, and tarot cards.

According to the Mirriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
• Reiki is a system of touching with the hands based on the belief that such touching by an experienced practitioner produces beneficial effects by strengthening and normalizing certain vital energy fields held to exist within the body.
• Tarot cards are any of a set of usually 78 playing cards including 22 pictorial cards used for fortune-telling.

These hobbies set off alarm bells with the Miss Toronto Tourism Pageant director, who managed to categorize Ms Conover as someone involved in the dark side or the occult. Ms Conover was rejected because “Our board of directors has eliminated her as a judge as tarot card reading and reiki are the occult and is not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians. Tarot card reading is witchcraft and is used by witches, spiritists and mediums to consult the dark world.” The letter went on to express hope that Ms Conover would repent.

Shades of Salem! Should we start following everyone who buys tarot cards in any book store or makes a reiki appointment and call in an exorcist to save them or have them burned at the stake if they won’t repent? How many of you “normal” mainstream folks out there own a deck of tarot cards? Have had a tarot card reading? Have had reiki therapy? Beware! You could be labeled as someone who is into the dark side or the occult. Too bad this story didn’t break around Halloween.

When did we stop embracing Toronto’s diverse cultural identity? How could we possibly believe that segregation was the answer to anything? Why in the year 2008 are we taking a giant step backward in racial equality? Last night the Toronto District School Board set back any hopes of racial equality at least 40 years by voting 11 – 9 in favour of opening a publicly funded alternative Africentric school in 2009.

The start-up costs are estimated at $350,000 and the total price should come in around $820,000. The location is yet to be determined. Call it what you want, but “Africentric” means black. And no matter how you try to spin this in a positive light, a black school means segregation.

The mother of murdered teenager Jordan Manners saw the plan for what it was and was dead against it. She spoke impassionedly against the proposal. “Martin Luther King and how many of our fathers fought to come together so blacks and whites could come together, for us to sit in the front of the bus together. I don’t think that we should have a black school. It’s not right,” she said. “Let us all come together and be as one.”

This plan is supposed to do something about the alarming drop out rate among black teens, which is now estimated at 40%. With all of our fine educational minds at work, is segregation the only plan that has a hope of success?

Now that we have opened Pandora’s Box, what next? Would Chinese students fare better in publicly funded Chinese schools? And, what about Greek students in Greek schools? Let us not forget that John Tory committed political suicide by supporting a plan for publicly funded faith based schools. If we are now publicly funding an “Africentric” school, why aren’t we funding Muslim schools and Jewish schools? Where does it all end? But, better yet, why did it begin at all?

If I told you that post-traumatic stress was a by-product of being a police officer or a fire fighter, you wouldn’t think twice. In fact, you’d probably expect it. But somehow the thought of TTC operators suffering from the disorder does make you shake your head in disbelief, doesn’t it? However, the reality is that the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder is among Toronto transit drivers is approximately 4 times that of Toronto police officers.

Currently it is estimated that 200 TTC operators are suffering with the disorder. Before you just dismiss this, perhaps you are not aware of the abuse that is directed at TTC drivers on a daily basis. They are:
• Hit
• Punched
• Kicked
• Swarmed
• Slashed
• Shot with air rifles
• Spit at
• Cussed at
• Threatened

The public is deeply divided on how they feel about the issue. Many radio talk shows have been devoted to the subject and it seems that the majority of callers are not believers. In their opinions the Toronto transit drivers are manipulative union employees who have found a way to take advantage of the system. Is this really the way that the public feels or are the people with the most negative opinions the ones that are calling in the most frequently?

Whether or not you believe that Toronto transit subway, bus, and streetcar drivers are legitimately suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, the accepted claims are resulting in significant absenteeism. Below are the statistics from 2000 – 2005.
• 181 TTC drivers claimed that they suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome
• On the average they missed 49 days of work
• The total number of workdays lost due to post-traumatic stress syndrome was 9,000!

There is no denying that the public is becoming increasingly frustrated and hostile toward the Toronto transit system. Overcrowding, increased prices, frequent route changes, and unreliable schedules are the major complaints. Unfortunately the drivers are the front line and they bear the brunt from the disgruntled public. However, the question is whether this can account for such a high number of employees suffering from this debilitating syndrome. If the answer is yes, then why isn’t the TTC stepping up to the plate and doing something about it?

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