Dear McGuinty Government;

Dear McGuinty/ McGuinty Government;


I know in normal cases you're supposed to exchange pleasantries, in this case I’m going to just go ahead and skip those because I have a lot to talk about and I’m trying not to write a novel here.

I realize that you’re probably never going to read this – and that’s ok. Apparently venting frustration is therapeutic and thanks to the internet, someone is going to read this. My hope is that this someone finds a way to pass this along to you because frankly, you need to hear this. I’m going to tackle this letter one issue at a time. I’m sure you’re aware that the last Ontario Northland Train left Toronto last Friday at 9:30 am. The biggest reason you gave for the cancellation of both the ON passenger and freight trains?  Money. Cash. Cheddah..  

Mr. McGuinty, I know you’re not from around here. I realize that your voting base is stationed in the heart of southern Ontario and I realize that the north is not anywhere close to the top of your priority list. I’m not telling you how to run a province but I am telling you that we matter. There might not be as many of us in the north, but we are just as important as the south and just because our voices aren’t as loud does not mean that they are silent. You are appointed to represent the people of this province, Mr. McGuinty, all of the people of the province.

Mr. McGuinty, by cancelling the passenger and freight train service to Northern Ontario you’ve cut off the north from the south. I know that seems a little melodramatic, but let me put it into perspective. The main use of the train for the people in the north is getting to medical appointments – something you’ve said is alright, because we have suitable alternatives. The alternatives are: very nice friends and family with cars and flexible work days, planes and buses. As someone who has taken all three I can tell you these are not accessible to everyone. Not everyone has access to vehicles – or friends and family that can access vehicles, sometimes driving to southern Ontario is not an option. Flying is ridiculously expensive – before Porter Air came to Timmins it was cheaper for someone to fly Toronto to Trinidad than it was Toronto to Timmins. Some people can’t fly after medical appointments and this leaves them with one option – the bus.

Mr. McGuinty, I’m going to ask you step out of your political role for a second, and think like a human being. You live in Timmins, you have a wife, and kids and elderly parents that live just around the block – they keep “popping” over without calling more than you’d like, but hey! C’est la vie, right? Your mom recently broke her jaw in a car accident and needs to be sent to Toronto for care. Now, your parents aren’t that well off, and you neither you nor your wife are able to take the time off work to drive her there and your dad just can’t make that long trip. She’s not allowed to fly, because of the pressure on planes which means that she has to take the bus. She’s in pain and now she has to sit for 12-16 hours, alone on a bus. Isn’t that frustrating to think about? Well, I know at least one person that this has happened to and contrary to popular belief; OHIP doesn’t always cover travel costs to get to appointments in the south.

Mr. McGuinty, what if this was your family this was affecting? What if it was your elderly parents or grandparents or kids trying to get home for the holidays this was happening to? You are here to represent the province and I, a 21 year-old lifelong Ontarian, am telling you, you’re not doing that. On top of these budget cuts I learned today that ten Provincial Parks are going to have their services cut because they’re costing too much money and not being used enough. Mr. McGuinty, do you go camping? Yes, a huge part of Ontario is the bustling metropolis of the south, but a major identifier of Ontario and Canada is our wildlife and natural resources. I know I’m biased, but there is nothing like a Northern Ontario night by the campfire with family and friends. You are providing a death sentence to a major part of Ontario’s heritage on top of the many Northern jobs you’ve effectively ended. But hey, you’ve saved money, right? How did you come to those decisions? Did you go to all ten of those parks, or did you simply look at a report that ranked them in order of which makes more money? Mr. McGuinty, I don’t have experience running a province, but I can tell you that you’re taking the easy way out with this decision. Easy leadership is cutting something that doesn’t appear to be working, real leadership is fixing the problem.  

Mr. McGuinty, it frustrates me to no end that the future of politics seems to only be going to help the south and focus on the south. Sometimes money doesn’t solve everything, sometimes you have to do the right thing, just because it’s the right thing. Thank you for showing that it’s alright to ignore social responsibility in order to save a couple of bucks. We’re Canadian, we’re known for being proactive in women’s rights, free health care and equality – apparently that is only true if you live south of North Bay. I know you’ll rebuttal this and point out that it’s for the greater good of the province, blah blah blah – but for the greater good, isn’t good enough.

Mr. McGuinty, we teach kids that the most important thing to do is to share and to be fair to everyone around them, despite how they may treat you. This is something we teach kids up until the time they’re adults, when suddenly those rules don’t seem to matter anymore. Looking at Ontario politics I can see why these rules stop mattering. We have a leader in place that openly ignores an entire portion of the population because there just isn’t enough people in it to matter. Mr. McGuinty, every person matters – people are not always statistics and dollar signs, people are important and that’s a value that’s held very dear up north. Canadians are seen as these super friendly people where everyone knows everyone and yes I’m being incredibly biased, but nobody I’ve met embodies that quite like Northern Ontarians. At our very core we are living, breathing and feeling human beings, not budget cuts and losses and increased taxes.

Mr. McGuinty, I’m going to end this letter as I’ve realized it’s getting quite lengthy by asking you one question. At the very core of it, what matters to Ontario?

 
Yours truly;


Kaileigh Russell
21 year, Timmins Resident

Adopt-A-Friend Friday

I realize that I missed last week's adopt-a-friend day, not the greatest way to start this off! Today I will be featuring two feline friends who are looking for a home!

First up is Indie!

Indie is a 5 year old, female, domestic short hair. She'll melt your heart with her sweet little chirps and cute baby face. Indie loves back scratches but isn't the biggest fan of being picked up, she makes up for it with her love of scratches and being brushed. This girl is a percher and loves to take in her surroundings.

What makes Indie special? She's bonded with another cat, Saba. 

These two girls are a bonded pair, which are often times harder to place into homes. If you're able to open your home and heart to these two lovely ladies please contact Toronto Cat Rescue. 

Up next is a gorgeous two year old, male, domestic longhair named Dodger.

Don't let his serious face fool you, this boy is a giant teddy bear. This big boy would love nothing more than a forever home where he can get all the lap time he craves. Dodger needs a forever home where he is the only cat as he doesn't get along well with other male cats. 

This boy had a rough start, he was found abandoned outdoors and picked up by a nice person before being brought to Toronto Cat Rescue to find his forever home. 

What makes Dodger special? Dodger is FIV positive. Cats that are FIV positive do live normal healthy lives, but to make sure of that Dodger needs a life with a healthy diet and little stress.

If you have room in your home for this giant cuddle bug please contact Toronto Cat Resue

Dad wants option of pulling kids out of class based on lesson topics - Headline

This story literally just popped up and it really makes me upset to read. I realize that that's my opinion and where I do respect the fact that he the right to his own opinion, I truly believe this is where ignorance is born.

This Ontario dad wants to recieve advanced notice on all lesson plans in order to be able to pick and choose what his children will be taught. The topics of marriage, family and sexuality are what he wants notice on as he doesn't want his kids to be taught things that contradict his religious beliefs. Now I'm all for freedom of religion and freedom to practice any religion you choose, but not allowing your children to be exposed or to hear or learn about anything that opposes your belief is where ignorance stems from. Ignorance isn't just created one day, it's taught.

The father stated that because he pays his taxes and Canada is a free country that this should be allowed. What's more disturbing was his quote, "My children are my own. I own them. They don't belong to the school board." Ack. You don't own your children, they're not objects; it's alright to pass your beliefs down to them, but don't make them suffer for it.

No they don't belong to the schoolboard but teaching them strictly Christian values and never letting them hear about anything else isn't going to help them be better Christians. The father is saying that if he's denied that the school board is discriminating against his religion.

His kids are both in public school and when asked if he would move his kids over to seperate school he stated, "Why should I send my kids to another school? I pay my taxes...I don't see why somebody else's discrimination should cause me, should influence where I send my children. Not in a free country."

This is where I'll come across a little snippy. Yes, you do pay taxed, as does every parent in that school - what he fails to realize is that micromanaging his children's education for the sake of religion is given his kids special treatment. Not because they're Christians, but that teacher is going to have to curb the lesson plan for those two kids, taking time and energy that could have gone to teaching the rest of the class. I do not agree with declaring discrimination when you're the one making the choice to keep your kids in public school and demanding an education that's different from everyone else. The general public is not Christian, the general public is non-denominatonal as I believe public school should be. I believe that education should exist outside the scope of religion. I reliaze that's unpopular opinion, but it's true. You should learn everything the same as the other person, so if those kids do truly adopt the Christian belief system, they know where non-Christians are coming from. Plugging your ears and saying "lalalalalalalala" when someone says something you don't agree with is ridiculous and to demand the education system allow you to do that, even more so.

By all means please, be proud of your religion - but don't make everyone have to work a little harder because you don't want your children to know about anything outside what you agree on.

Story from the CP24 Article http://www.cp24.com/dad-wants-option-of-pulling-kids-out-of-class-based-on-lesson-topics-1.950047#ixzz265xFk4a9 

Slut-shaming and an open letter to Krista Ford

                I really believe that –as sad as that is – the only reason that this story has made it into the limelight is that the girl is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s niece. Regardless, it proves my point about the entirety of “rape culture” and the common misconceptions about it. It also shows just how empowered victims and support groups are about this.

                Krista Ford tweeted today after the string of downtown sexual assaults, “Stay alert, walk tall, carry mace, take self-defence classes & don’t dress like a whore. #DontBeAVictim #StreetSmart.” The tweet has since been taken down, but can be found to the article linked at the bottom.      

                Ford seems to be, unfortunately, one of the many people that are under the impression that the way someone dresses deserves them of sexual assault and that not looking like a whore will ensure that you’re not sexually assaulted. This seems to be one of the prevailing themes associated with this rape culture, that if you dress like a whore you should be treated like a whore or taken advantage of. I believe that whore is such an archaic word in this day and age, which honestly shouldn’t exist, like the word slut. Who is the reigning force on deciding what a whore or slut looks like? I have a little bit of a v-neck going on today, does that make me a whore? I’m wearing tight jeans, does that mean I’m a slut?

                No. That’s ridiculous! This whole culture that it’s appropriate to rape “whores” is absolutely gruesome. People are people, who cares what they’re dressing like. Why do we choose to actively persecute the victim instead of the aggressor? Ford made a choice to tweet this, instead of warning people to be on the look-out, she told people to #DontBeAVictim, carry mace and don’t look like a whore. It’s interesting that only women dress to deserve being sexually assaulted, what if the string of sexual assaults downtown were happening to men?

                I hate the “don’t be a victim” mentality. Loathe it. Yes, be empowered and stay alert to your surroundings, but you don’t know what people are out there. You don’t know who is going to think of you as their victim and clothes play only a minor role in that. People are not assaulting the clothes, they’re assaulting the person.

                Alice Moran, a victim of the sexual assaults downtown posted the following letter, which I can’t even begin to justice describing.

Dear a lot of people, but specifically Ms. Krista Ford,

In advance I’d like to say I am sorry. This is not the ideal situation to first acquaint oneself with someone and I am mortified. Sorry! However, under the circumstance, I feel like you owe me a moment of your time, even though we’ve never meet.

The circumstance being you called me a whore.

I should clarify: I’m one of the victims of the recent string of sexual assaults in the Annex. ‘Sup? It’s nice to make you acquaintance.

So, you’ve called me a whore. Here we are. This is awkward now, isn’t it? You’re probably wondering if I’m going to challenge you on having been a member of Lingerie League. I’m not, because I’d never slut-shame another woman. I believe you have a right to your body and regardless of how you do or don’t dress it I believe you have a right to respect and personal security. I guess that’s the key difference in our thinking. You could wear a t-shirt that says “I’m literally asking for it” and I’d still advocate for your security.

That’s what I’m asking for this brief moment of your day, for your edification. You’re a woman and you should know that your body is yours and yours alone. No matter how you dress it, you have a right – an actual Charter of Rights and Freedom right – to not be sexually assaulted. You are entitled to life, liberty and the security of person. Welcome to Canada – you live here! If you weren’t aware of your Charter rights, other Canadian things you may have missed out on are double-doubles, good maple syrup, and Beachcombers*, so check that shit out.

For the record, I was sexually assaulted while wearing a knee-length polka-dot dress. The last time I wore that dress, it was to Easter dinner at my Gran’s, where I’m fairly certain I could make little to no money whoring.

With due repect / sorry,

Alice Moran

Canadian / Comedian / Beachcombers Enthusiast

*I love Beachcombers.

                Since starting to write this blog the Toronto Star has posted that as per Twitter, Ford has apologized, stating: “I didn’t mean to cause such an alarm and I apologize if I did. I just want women to be safe.”

                I personally don’t buy the apology, as she didn’t apologize for what she implied, just that people were “alarmed”, however she only has 140 characters to work with. I really hope that she bucks and takes this as a learning opportunity and publicly addresses the comments that she made and the letter that Alice posted to Facebook.

                It’s ridiculous that in this day and age where we’ve got all this good there are still people that believe that based on what you wear you deserve your sexual assault.

                All of the props to Alice Moran, who in my mind is a brilliantly brave woman for standing up against this way of thinking in a way that is nothing but mature and well-thought.

 

Information taken from the following articles:

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/08/30/rob-fords-niece-tweets-dont-dress-like-a-whore
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1249246--krista-ford-apologizes-for-don-t-dress-like-a-whore-tweet-hears-from-assault-victim

Rob Ford: Not happy just killing social programs

                I haven’t done a Rob Ford love-fest post in a while and figured hey he’s done something boneheaded again, let’s blog about! This just blew up on my Twitter through news agencies, where Ford obviously has no concept of, “just stop talking.”

                Photos on Twitter surfaced of big bad Ford driving his Escalade, deeply engrossed in the document that he was reading while on the Gardiner Expressway. Of course the media went after him for this having already been in trouble for driving past a streetcar when its doors were open as well as flipping off a woman and her son who gestured at Ford to hang up his cell phone will driving downtown. What was his response?

                “I was probably reading.” Thank you, Captain Obvious for that statement. That’s not the worst part, it gets better. Ford then goes on to say that “it didn’t affect his driving.” What? Flying down the highway paying the upmost attention to just your driving while simultaneously looking through and reading a document doesn’t affect your driving? I call bull. I’ve read documents; most people can’t even stand on the TTC and read through documents without diverting a large portion of attention. So is he spending that little effort actually reading through important city documents or that little attention to driving and not potentially killing someone?

                Hold on to your pants, because it gets EVEN better. Ford then goes on to tell the media that he’s a busy guy and uses his morning commute to catch up on work and said that “he still kept his eyes on the road.”

You're right Rob, your eyes are

totally on the road...

            Welcome to the real world, Mr. Ford. We’re in Toronto, everyone is busy, everyone has a million and one things to do and everyone has a deadline to get them done by; do not confuse that with giving people a cause for putting others lives at risk for the completion of tasks. Growing up in northern Ontario, I’ve made the trek on the highway from Timmins to Toronto many times, and now living here, I’ve driven the highways around here. There is nothing more terrifying than driving by someone engrossed in reading a book or the paper while driving 100 km/h +. You are not Superman, you cannot react that quickly. This apathetic view on thinking there is nothing wrong with commuting on the highway reading “because your busy schedule,” is crap. You are needlessly putting the lives of people at risk on the roads because you’re too damn lazy to care about other people. There have been COUNTLESS studies down supporting that distracted driving causes preventable injury and deaths with motor-vehicle accidents. If people can’t carry on a simple conversation and not be distracted then how is someone supposed to read a document and still keep his eyes on the road and have it not affect his driving?

                The answer is simply, they can’t.

                Rob Ford, cut the apathetic attitude and directly protect the people of this city and many other cities. Take responsibility for your actions and realize that you can kill someone. YOU. Nobody else in that vehicle. You.

UPDATE:
For a full account of the conversation please see the CBC News story:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/08/14/rob-ford-chicago321.html 

Story taken from the Canadian Press as published by the Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/fp/yourmoney/Toronto+Mayor+Ford+admits+probably+reading+wheel/7088554/story.html 

Photo taken from @CTVToronto

https://twitter.com/#!/search/Rob%20Ford/slideshow/photos?url=https%3A%2F%2Fp.twimg.com%2FA0RT6I3CMAAkKnr.jpg 

GPOF- Gratuitous Post of Ford (again)

I’m really thinking that this blog needs to have a Rob Ford section, it just seems like every time he opens his mouth he needs to be smacked upside the head by reality.

Although he voted no to all social funding programs calling them “hug-a-thug” programs, Mr. Ford seems to think it’s perfectly ok to milk $5-10M out of the government because we need more cops! He was quoted in the Star article saying, “I think $5 million would hire a lot of officers and it would make this city a lot safer and we would get these guns and gangs off our streets, and that is exactly what I want.”

Why don’t we spend a little less money on mass hiring cops to Toronto and spend a little more money actually having them build relationships in the communities they police. I think a huge reason for a lack of communication between police and community is that police still are not trusted. Ford seems to think that you stick any person in a vest and multiply by ten and you’ll have a safer city. That didn’t work in Star Wars for the Clone army, it will not work here. People need to have relationships with the police in this city, why not put that money towards I don’t know, a social program?

I know that paragraph comes across as coming down on TPS, I’m really not. I think that they do a fantastic job of working with what they’ve got. Rob Ford wants a quick-fix and hiring $5M worth of police officers is his way of doing that.

I think it’s funny because after he was under fire for his “hug-a-thug” programs comment he was quoted saying, “How do you measure this stuff? You’re throwing a lot of money at it but at the end of the day you can’t measure exactly how many people are being helped by that,” Ford said. “I’m just saying I don’t want to throw good money after bad and just say, you know, we’re going to throw money at the problem.”

Followed immediately by, “Money talks and BS walks, I’m not going to sit there and listen to some BS and some reports and yadda yadda,” Ford said. “I’ve got a busy city to run, I’m going to go in there, I’m going to ask for $5 million to $10 million, and I want to be able to give that to Chief Blair and tell the chief go hire police officers and let’s get the city cleaned up.”

Your damn right BS walks Ford, I’m suspecting you’ll be walking right out of that meeting with the sound of laughter behind you.

All information and Ford quotes from the Toronto Sun article Toronto mayor to ask premier for up to $10M for more cops by Don Peat.

Rob Ford: Using immigration laws to get gang members out of TO

I…I actually don’t have a good witty remark for this opening statement because Rob Ford is just that much of an idiot. Piggy-backing on my earlier post about gun-violence; Rob has developed a strategy to curb gun violence and gang violence in Toronto; use immigration laws to kick gang members out.

I really really hope that this man is not as dumb as he sounds because what person in the politics in their right mind, in a city as culturally diverse as Toronto, says that the best way to curb gang violence is with immigration laws! No one! Almost all of these shootings have happened in low-income, community-housing areas of Toronto and what does Rob Ford do; says he wants to do something about the gangs by getting rid of the immigrants!

Are you out of your cotton-picking head!? Of course Ford then refused to elaborate on anything in typical Rob Ford fashion, allowing everyone time to go; wait..what? No doubt more people will start speaking up about this soon!

Rob was the only council member to vote against $16 million community grant last week saying social spending doesn’t actually do anything to solve youth violence - HA! Ford aptly named these social programs directed towards at-risk youth “hug-a-thug” programs and stated that have done nothing to help. If I’m interpreting this properly no wonder they don’t, we just need to deport them, because obviously gangs are perpetuated by immigrants.   *FACE PALM*.

According to the TO Star article, Ford’s actually wrong, homicides were at their highest in TO in 2007, and after these “hug-a-thug” programs came into effect there has been a steady decline of homicides in relation to increase in grants given. Obviously these facts are ignoring immigration laws.

This is a huge reason Rob Ford burns me so much, he doesn’t show up to Pride when the CANADIAN MILITARY makes an appearance, votes down almost every social program and then decides that immigration laws make the most sense for gang issues.

Yes, I assume that there is some level of gang activity in at least one of these deaths, statistically it’s probably but the issue is gun violence NOT gang violence. They can be at times tandem but they are not totally exclusive! This idiot of a mayor is the exact reason that people will not be able to feel safe in this city because the tool at the wheel thinks it’s a better idea to throw money into a weight-loss gimmick and ignore obvious problems.

Goodbye Rob Ford, where can we send you away to?

Information taken from the article Mayor Rob Ford wants Ottawa to use immigration laws against convicted gang members by Daniel Dale

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1228864--mayor-ford-wants-ottawa-s-help-to-deport-convicted-gang-members

Gun related deaths in Toronto.

One thing seems to be dominating the papers this past month, gun violence. Almost every day this week someone has been killed due because of shootings in Toronto, which as you can imagine has people on edge.

The week began with the Danzig St. shootings which left a 14 year old girl and a man in his early 20’s dead at a family-friendly BBQ, Tuesday started with a man being found in a soccer field and finally this morning a man was found in a preschool playground dead.

The press is having a field day as Mayor Rob Ford still keeps saying that these are just isolated incidents and Toronto is still a very safe city. Not that I agree with Rob Ford, but I a few gun related deaths can be attributed to just isolated incidents, but the Toronto Star quotes that we’re already at 20 gun related deaths this year! Four of those this week! Of course Toronto Police are doing everything that they can to make sure this city is safe, but I think everyone is looking for 100% peace of mind, and you’ll never find that in a city this big.

There will always be gun violence; the best you can do is keep the population as safe as possible. I think that as hard as it is there needs to be a high level of transparency around the investigations and their links to gang violence. If gang violence is the root cause of many of these gun-related deaths then the public needs to be made aware of it. They need to be told the “territory” of these gangs and where they’re known to hang out/ what they’re known to have done and crimes they have been responsible for. People need to be given this information not to start committing vigilante justice on suspected gang members, but to be able to make decisions to keep themselves and their families safe.

I think that TPS and the City of Toronto need to draft a solid social plan and find the balance in between information that will help the public be safe that does not hinder ongoing and future investigations.

From a personal standpoint I do believe that Toronto is a safe city. I see a lot of police presence whether that’s in vehicles, biking officers, beat cops or my favourite the horseback riding ones; they are here. For the most part they are friendly and a reassuring presence. I live in a bit shadier of an area in Toronto and I don’t fear for my safety walking home alone, I don’t expect to be shot around every corner, but I am vigilant about the people around me because you just don’t know.

All information taken from the article Man shot to death in North York schoolyard by Dylan C. Robertson.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/1228632--man-shot-to-death-in-north-york-schoolyard

Positive thoughts and vibes go to all the family and friends of those affected by the string of gun-related deaths in Toronto.