Xref: utcsri alt.politics.greens:5427 alt.usenet.kooks:10363 tor.general:14783 Path: utcsri!utnut!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!caen!usenet.cis.ufl.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: alt.usenet.kooks,tor.general,alt.politics.greens,eye.news Subject: eye.Net: Three Reasons To Vote For Bob Allisat! Followup-To: alt.usenet.kooks,tor.general,eye.general Date: 26 Oct 1994 19:24:19 -0400 Organization: Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 145 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <38mof3$oet@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 27 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYE.NET EYE.NET ALL ABOUT BOB! Parkdale's Pigasus nets to election victory! by K.K. CAMPBELL Twas a matter of time before someone in Toronto used the net to further their political aims. After all, the White House has been dumping loads of press releases in newsgroups since Clinton took over (check out alt.news-media). Several candidates in Toronto's municipal elections have Internet accounts this election. Parkdale's Bob Allisat (allisat@pcs.org) is one. Back on Aug. 18, eye Net reported how UUNet Canada gave Bob a free account to help Parkdale connect to the net through a free server. In actuality, it was just a pulpit for Bob to rant about his politics -- which are kinda squishy reactionary- green lumpenprole. Bob's anonymous public post service featured some wild accusations -- like one post fingering a Toronto priest for theft, child molestation and Nazism (which is pretty lame flamage on the net but seems to perturb the net.illiterati). UUNet terminated Bob's free account for "the people of Parkdale." Bob defended himself by saying there's no such thing as libel because "information wants to be free." Even completely wrong information wants to be free. Since this would make journalism much easier, eye vowed to back Bob if he went into politics! Well, he's running! And we won't renege on a promise! We'd hoped he'd run for Parliament, but City Hall deserves Bob just as much. Here's our three reasons to VOTE BOB on Nov. 14! *** REASON 1: HUBERT HUMPHREY IS DEAD Before Bob, the last great candidate eye endorsed was Youth International Party's candidate Pigasus -- yes, eye didn't actually exist then, but that's beside the point. Pigasus was a pig. He was a pig named Pigasus. Pigasus ran against Richard Nixon in the '68 U.S. Prez campaign. And Pigasus woulda won if not for the goddamn selfish Democrats running Hubert Humphrey and splitting the Pigasus vote. And what did the people end up with?! Nixon! Well, my friends, today, there's no Humphrey in Ward 3 to split the Pigasus -- err, Bob-vote! *** REASON 2: EMPEROR NORTON: Our other historical political hero is Emperor Norton, whom we consider Bob's spiritual mentor. In 1859, Joshua Norton proclaimed himself "Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico." (You can look this stuff up.) He went around San Francisco making imperial pronouncements, wearing top hats and praying in the street. When he died, 30,000 fans attended his funeral. Every world-class city needs an Emperor Norton in its history. Bob offers several Emperor Norton-ish policies. Like, he vows to round up all Toronto's prostitutes and stick them in a humungous warehouse somewhere in the Liberty- Atlantic area. Also, he believes Toronto is quieter in summer not because lots of people go up north but because whites flee the city in fear of Caribana. Bob hasn't worked out the policies to correct this behavior, but we feel certain it will involve internal passport systems to prevent whites from venturing north of Eglinton during the festival. *** REASON 3: CELEBRATE TORONTO'S MULTICULTURAL HERITAGE When the Brits carved up Africa for imperialistic purposes, one thing they did was set up "tribes," artificial groupings to aid their manipulation of the people. They wanted each tribe to have a "chief" to mouth platitudes and profess to be "for" the populace while, in reality, serving as a witless tool of elite/imperial interests. The Brits insisted locals appoint "chiefs" but, as one British officer recalled, the people would pick "the imbecile, the leper, the syphilitic, ex-convicts, ex-rickshaw boys, ex-domestic servants and so on. Anyone in fact who was incapable or unlikely to exercise authority." It pissed the Brits off to no end. They'd demand someone else and the Africans would pick other cretins until the Brits just imposed their own "candidate." In the spirit of Canadian multiculturalism, eye calls for Torontonians to emulate our African cousins and send Bob to City Hall. FIRST, WE TAKE SWEDEN ... Leonard Cohen has a directory dedicated to his lyrics. Use anonymous FTP to ftp.sunet.se, look in /pub/music/lyrics/c/cohen.leonard -- a 179K file called all.lyrics is supposedly his complete output. Actually, this Swedish site (sunet.se) has a huge collection of lyrics from hundreds of artists, from Chaka Khan to Type-O Negative. Great resource. FTP the complete mess and spread 'em around cyberspace. Download Nirvana to see if you were even remotely close to what Cobain was really singing. ... THEN WE TAKE WATERLOO! On Tuesday, Oct. 11, Ian Goldberg (iagoldbe@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca) triumphantly announced: "As of this morning, Waterloo carries ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens as an active group." The backlash from the Waterloo student body was enormous in the wake of eye Net's hard-hitting OPWARC expose (Oct. 6). RC-guru Jim Mercer (jim@reptiles.org) is proud of Goldberg's emergence from the closet: "That just goes to show you, people with inanimate partners are like everyone else. Your next-door neighbor might have a rubber chicken. Now, if we can only get Ian to tell us some of his experiences in nurturing a caring relationship with his RC." John M. Sellens (jmsellen@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca), evil net.censor at Waterloo, wrote to newsgroup ont.general that he's sick of "people who apparently have nothing better to do with their time [than] complain that we don't happen to have a newsgroup called ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens ." This is exactly the sort of prejudice and hatred we, and other brave fighters of OPWARC, stand against. We shall overcome the Sellens and Archie Bunkers of the world. "Your obvious attempts at keeping PWIP (persons with inanimate partners) in the closet was direct censorship," Mercer shot back at Sellens. "We now see that it takes the power of the press (eye) to make you wake up to the real needs of news readers at U of W. Regular participants in OPWARC know about you and others like you." Fight the power, Jim! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Full issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri can.general:40508 ont.general:22006 tor.general:17482 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general,tor.general,can.general Subject: SPACE FOR RANT: Cable Monopoly Victim Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general,tor.general,can.general Date: 21 Dec 1994 13:42:50 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 81 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3d9sva$7a8@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com Summary: Rot in hell, cable-pirating co-axial-monopolist pigs! I hope you die strapped down in front of the Nix Country Network, and your children get addicted to the Home Shopping Network! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY December 22 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPACE FOR RANT SPACE FOR RANT SELECT THIS, CABLE COMPANIES! by BRENT GULANOWSKI Open Letter to Dan Clark, Director, Customer Service, Rogers Cablesystems c/c: CRTC, eye Dear Unsympathetic Cable Provider: On Jan. 1, you're launching seven new networks, of which I find one, Discovery, mildly intriguing. The rest of the vile, boring lot I refer to as: Death Network, Touche!, ShowCrap Television, Nix Country Network (NCN), Wimmyn's Television Network (WTN) and Repeate De l'Information (RDI). Thank you, but I have no interest in previewing highlights of "your" new networks before they permanently occupy my TV in January. If you think I intend to waste one minute of my time being machine-gunned by "your" TV schlock in my own living room, you've got a lot to learn. Channel lockout has its advantages. Presently, I enjoy intelligent programming on about 12 of your 50-odd channel roster, none of which are TSN, TNN, Headline News, Telelatino or TV5 (whatever the hell that is). I resent your movement of MuchMusic from Basic Service, where it belongs, to "Cable Minus," and replacing it with reverse sexism propaganda (WTN) and a channel (RDI) in a language I do not understand, and will not watch just to get my $0.02 worth. It is obvious to anyone with two brain cells left to rub together that Much is just a hostage in your cable terrorism. As far as Select 1 & 2, how about Select 3: A&E, TLC, CNN, Much and Discovery? Some of your viewers are young, intelligent, English-only speakers. New Rates! Big Surprise, Dave! I hope this means you get a raise for doing such a good job of Customer "Service." But I'm sure that's tricks besides what Godfather Ted just gave himself, and nothing compared to the orgy of cable-rape you're instigating on your "customers." What next, Dave? "Protection" from competitive cable providers? No thanks. You can keep your grotty new channels and MuchMusic, and I'll spend my $8.10 on a real movie. I'm sure enough poor suckers without time to read your "letter" will make up for the lost revenue. Oh, and if you had any trouble with my colloquialisms: Please cease my subscription to Cable Plus starting Jan. 1, 1995. I protest your methods of revenue-seeking and your attempts to manipulate me into purchasing material I do not want, and never asked for. Thanks for taking the time to actually warn me in advance of your upcoming unethical activities, a legal requirement I'm sure that you resented being forced to do by a government that is not yet totally reprehensible. You are a credit to capitalism. Rot in hell, cable-pirating co-axial-monopolist pigs! I hope you die strapped down in front of the Nix Country Network, and your children get addicted to the Home Shopping Network. Sincerely, Brent Gulanowski Toronto Cable Monopoly Victim Hop on your soapbox, and tell us what's bugging you. We might even run your words in this space. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri can.general:41380 ont.general:22650 rec.arts.tv:138352 tor.general:18194 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!news.mcgill.ca!hookup!news.sprintlink.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,rec.arts.tv,can.general,ont.general,tor.general Subject: REEL LIFE: Speciality Channels Followup-To: eye.general,rec.arts.tv,can.general,ont.general,tor.general Date: 4 Jan 1995 12:13:49 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 181 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3eel0d$kqd@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REEL LIFE REEL LIFE EATEN ALIVE BY THE SPECIALTY CHANNELS by LAURA LIND OK, I've said before that television is a brain-eating machine, and I'll stand behind that remark. And, as usual, my New Year's resolution is to watch less of it. But this year my feeble resolve has been superseded by my slightly less wobbly sense of editorial duty. As a television writer it is incumbent upon me to make some sort of mention that there are six new English television channels on cable starting this week. The following is a description of all six with a handy note on which corporations want you to watch this stuff. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRAVO! Suggested Motto: Moses Znaimer has taste! Programming: Moses may know how to buy culture but there isn't much comedy scheduled in the opening week of Bravo! And footage of an Inuit family without any dialogue will not keep viewers awake at 1 a.m. Snore. On the other hand, the hour-long classical video Bela Bartok's Music Collectors Dream kept me awake at 4 a.m. on Tuesday.. Advertising: Bravo! is apparently entirely supported by some self- promoting singer who is trying to sell a mail order record of Andrew Lloyd Webber hits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SHOWCASE Suggested motto: Australians aren't just a bunch of beer-drinking crocodile wrestlers. Programming: Showcase airs British and Australian television in all the slots that U.S. TV would normally go. Some of it is quite good -- the comedic duo Hale And Pace, for example -- but the Australian Snowy is just a period soap opera. KYTV is an inferior British ripoff of SCTV. Advertising: People who watch Showcase are obviously cultured, judging from the ads. They're the kinds of people who like records of instrumental television theme songs, such as Hawaii Five O, MASH and Hill Street Blues. And they wear their hair in the Sophist Twist™, one of those fancy hair doodads that turns the average '90s TV watcher into an extra from The Road To Avonlea. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL Suggested Motto: Animals are more interesting than people (certainly more interesting than Loretta Swit). Programming: Discovery Channel watchers will learn that the U.S. space program is really just an IMAX film production house. That U.S. astronauts might know their astrophysics but they aren't great on geo-politics. For example: "The perspective you get from space is the Earth is happy." Or: "We call it [Australia] the large boring land mass, but we say that in jest." The space cadet show was followed by a discussion of the sex life of ferns. Advertising: The Discovery advertisers are predictable, National Geographic, Nature's Great Escapes Video, and hey, what a coincidence, the 4-wheel-drive "Discovery" Land Rover. As well, the Discovery Channel is sponsored by products that seem as if they were invented by scientists: scoop-away cat litter, Glad cling wrap and Rice Krispies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE NEW COUNTRY NETWORK Suggested Motto: People are big dumb apes. Programming: The NCN viewer will see that country fans are just regular folks, say like that purdy Faith Hill, who drinks champagne in her video, then cooks spaghetti with her Rolex-wearing beau, jus' like them city slickers. Then her boyfriend gives her a pig. Oh yeah, and be sure to watch for Travis Tritt singing for those gay bikers who are line dancin'. If that ain't multicultural I don't know what is. Advertising: There aren't many ads, but if the station doesn't have any VJ's it won't need much commercial support to break even. That means more entertainment for the discriminating country bumpkin. Did you hear that, Steve, Mastah T, Monika, et al? No VJ's! Imagine that! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WOMEN'S TELEVISION NETWORK Suggested Motto: Hey, sister, let's join together, watch TV and do less housework! Programming: Due to some sort of unfortunate error, the second entire day of Women's Television Network's programming is listed in The Globe's TV guide as The Green Hornet -- 21 episodes of The Green Hornet in a row. My boyfriend was pretty excited when he read this. The rest of the WTN listings were similarly garbled. So let's just put this to rest: The Green Hornet, Batman, Mission Impossible, Dynasty and In Living Color will not be staples of the women's channel lineup. Nevertheless, according to a survey done by WTN, comedy is important to women, and there were lots of knee slappers (unintentional maybe) during the first couple of days of WTN broadcast. Photographer Rosamond Norbury said she is working on her second book entitled Guy To Goddess. "It's about drag queens," says Norbury. (Have I got this straight, er ... I mean correct -- the true goddesses are men? ) And here is an exchange from a women's talk show that I believe was called Eavesdropping. 1st woman: "By virtue of the fact that we are women, we see things differently. We know we have to clean the tiles in the bathroom." 2nd woman: "I don't do laundry." 3rd woman: "I have a couple people come in, one of them is a man." 1st woman: "So the man takes out the garbage and the woman cleans the toilet?" Click ... Advertising: Thankfully the WTN adverts aren't continuous feminine hygiene commercials. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE LIFE NETWORK Suggested Motto: The "Get Back in the Kitchen and Do More Housework, Girlie" Channel. Programming: The Life Network is populated by peculiar creatures who are obsessed with arts and crafts. "Screen artist" Rachel Volpone shows how to make a screen from shelves and decorate it with flowers, shawls and photographs. Volpone was followed by a woman "who can take toothpicks, buttons and glue and make them into replicas of the Empire State Building." Mondays the station is taken over by health fanatics who ruined a brilliant Fred Flintstones cigarette ad with footage of some guy who lost his voice box to cancer. No fun. But they followed this up with footage of Paul Molitor squatting in the Blue Jays locker room with a large weighted pipe hanging between his legs. "He [Molitor] explodes straight up through the axis of this pipe," says his trainer. Advertising: Lemon Scent Ivory, Crisco, Nicorettes and diet chocolate bars say, "Stay clean, stay thin, don't smoke, eat chocolate." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:22649 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK -- 1994 eyeLashes Awards Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 4 Jan 1995 11:52:50 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 112 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3eejp2$j2v@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK 1994 eyeLASHES AWARDS HE AIN'T RINKY-DINK, HE'S MY PREMIER Stung by months of bad press coverage, the NDP decide it's time to change their policies -- NOT. Instead, they decide to blame the media. Premier Bob Rae's press assistant Sine MacKinnon tells a reporter her boss is "no rinky-dink." Reporters are reminded of the dying days of the Mulroney government in Ottawa. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A GAY MAKES Liberal Leader Lyn McLeod flips and flops for and against same-sex rights before finally deciding she is against. Her staff insists McLeod has been consistent, but one disenchanted senior Liberal tells eye, "She definitely flip-flopped, no matter what she says." Liberal MPP David Ramsay tells the Legislature that supporting gays is "just the right thing to do" and later votes against same-sex rights. PASS THE SALT AND PEPPER PC Leader Mike Harris stakes out the middle class as his political target with the promise of a 30 per cent tax cut and spending cuts of $6 billion, most coming from social services. Harris promises to eat the paper his promises are written on if he breaks them. IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL BOBBITTIZE IT IF I WANT TO PC Leader Mike Harris promises to save money by eliminating 31 MPPs, but his own party is concerned that many of the underpopulated rural seats that will disappear are the very ones that he hopes to win. MINISTER POOH-POOHS REQUEST FOR BOSSY'S BINGO LICENCE Marilyn Churley, Minister of Bingos, reverses herself and grants a licence for cow-patty-bingo, which involves dividing a farmer's field into big squares, setting a cow loose and betting on where it will drop its load. Months before, Churley had withheld the licence because she was convinced the game could be rigged. After she saw a real cow she changed her mind. PESKY REPORTER ASKS QUESTION The Addiction Research Foundation proves that if you don't have anything to say, don't call a press conference. Globe and Mail reporter Paul Taylor questions the data in a new ARF study and is told, "I don't think you should worry about how good the data are." BASKETBALL AS POLITICAL FOOTBALL Toronto almost loses out on a professional basketball franchise because the NDP insists on playing chicken with the NBA over its new sports lottery. Rae denies that his dislike for Raptors co-owner and former Liberal premier David Peterson is a factor. A friend says Peterson "certainly wouldn't pull Rae from a swollen creek." WE USED TO LOVE YOU -- NOW GET OUT The man who nominated Bob Rae for leader of the NDP, Mel Swart, a long- time former MPP, blames the Premier for the wipe-out of the federal NDP in Ontario and asks Rae to resign. He joins several other party stalwarts including 10 former federal MPs, who all agree. HEALTH MINISTER TRIES TO KILL OWN GOVERNMENT Health Minister Ruth Grier continues her efforts to defeat her own government. Her long-term health bill, which she told Rae would not be controversial, riles up thousands of health care workers across the province. HELL FREEZES OVER Shelley Martel, the first Ontario cabinet minister to take a lie detector test to prove that she was lying, finally gets booted out of Rae's cabinet after getting in trouble for a third time by releasing confidential information about a taxpayer. SUPER DETENTION FOR STUDENT REP Titch Dharamsi, who represents 118,000 Ontario students, is frog-marched out of the Legislature lobby by the OPP for disagreeing with Education Minister Dave Cooke at a press scrum. U of T president Rob Prichard tells him he can't believe this happened in Ontario. ACCUSED AGENT-GENERAL GETS LYNCHED Former Ontario agent-general Carlton Masters goes to court in March to fight the NDP's right to refuse to tell him the charges against him, what he was accused of and who his accusers are. An Ontario court rules that Premier Bob Rae has the authority to do what he did. A PLACE TO GROW NDP backbencher George Mammoliti supports a bill to evict children from social housing if anyone in the family is dealing drugs. Human rights advocates and the NDP government are horrified. Mammoliti responds: "Do we want to give the responsibility of children to a drug dealer?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri alt.culture.usenet:7115 alt.usenet.kooks:12837 ont.general:22648 ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens:217 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!caen!usenet.cis.ufl.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general,alt.culture.usenet,alt.usenet.kooks,ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens Subject: EYE.NET: 1994 eyeLashes Awards Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general,alt.culture.usenet,alt.usenet.kooks,ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens Date: 4 Jan 1995 11:54:12 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 86 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3eejrk$j7f@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYE.NET EYE.NET 1994 EYELASHES AWARDS by K.K. CAMPBELL J. EDGAR HIMMLER AWARD FOR POLICE EXCELLENCE The London Police Department. They terrorized a University of Western Ontario student for doing nothing more than editing a computer text file containing rumors about the Karla Homolka case. SIMPERING TOOL & FINK AWARD University of Western Ontario computer security officer Reg Quinton. Quinton allowed the London cops to goosestep all over the rights of above-mentioned student. When cops came calling, Quinton exulted: "No warrant? No subpoena? No problem, boys!" Afterwards, Quinton was seen defending himself in newsgroup news.admin.policy by comparing Homolka rumor peddlers to murderer/outlaw Jesse James. Sheesh. NET.MIRACLE OF THE YEAR The disappearance of Serdar Argic, the Armenian-hating racist Usenet robot-poster. Spammed the net relentlessly. NET.TRAGEDY OF THE YEAR The appearance of Canter & Siegel, the net.sociopathic Usenet robot-advertisers. Spammed the net relentlessly. ASSHOLES OF THE YEAR (INTERNATIONAL) Husband-and-wife team Canter & Siegel -- the "Green Card Lawyers." ASSHOLES OF THE YEAR (ONTARIO) Husband-and-wife team Bruce Lloyd and Rob Riley -- writers and distributors of (often violently) obscene material. Kicked off Toronto's Interlog Internet Services, they ran to Metro police the very next day asking cops to shut down Interlog because of obscene material on the net. Unbelievable. Suckered City Pulse News into presenting Lloyd as a "concerned citizen worried about children." We wouldn't let Lloyd mind a gerbil, let alone a child. BIGGEST BUTTHEAD POLITICO (OFF-LINE CATEGORY) Tory leader Mike Harris. Only moron in all of Ontario to suggest harmless Bob Rae fake/spoof post to ont.general represents threat to whole province. Issued sensationalist press release on last day of Legislature session, sure it was political dynamite. He was right -- it blew up in his face. BIGGEST BUTTHEAD POLITICO (ON-LINE CATEGORY) Bob Allisat. Ran for Ward 3 councillor in Toronto's municipal elections. Highlight of campaign was watching Allisat actually formulate his "policies" right on-line in tor.general -- like, in a discussion about Parkdale street prostitutes, he suddenly had the revelatory flash that The Final Solution to that problem was to have police round up hookers and force them to work out of a humungous abandoned warehouse in the Liberty-Atlantic area. (Got -1 per cent of vote, as adjusted for being the candidate listed first on the ballot. Great campaign, Bob.) "WE SHALL OVERCOME" AWARD eye's investigative expose of evil net.censor John M. Sellens at the University of Waterloo brings to end two-year ban by bigoted campus computer cops of alternative-lifestyle newsgroup ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens . Waterloo netters rejoice. Power to the people, baby. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:22651 rec.food.drink:27789 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!gatech!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general,rec.food.drink Subject: DRINK: 1994 eyeLashes Awards Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general,rec.food.drink Date: 4 Jan 1995 12:29:10 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 102 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3eelt6$m26@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DRINK DRINK 1994 EYELASHES AWARDS by KONRAD EJBICH IS THIS A NEW REASON TO DRINK? A Dutch study said that people who drink beer are more violent than those who drink wine. It identified a pattern of assaults and domestic violence in countries such as Germany, England, Australia and Canada where the predominant drink is beer. In southern European countries, such as France, Italy, Spain and Greece, where wine is the beverage of choice, there was less violent crime. The study made no mention of countries where consumption of alcohol is taboo -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Libya, Algeria, etc. SHOULDN'T THEY LET US KNOW WHAT WE'RE DRINKING? The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms got mighty upset last year when Molson included a peek at its Ice label in a TV ad showing its 5.6 per cent alcoholic content. The regulator claimed the brewery was using the higher alcohol as a selling point rather than as a responsible warning to consumers accustomed to drinking beer at 4.5 per cent. BATF dullards feared a vicious "strength war" would break out among the breweries. HAVE THEY GOT ANY FLORIDA SWAMP LAND FOR SALE? Skyy Spirits Inc. of San Francisco claimed it produced a hangover-free vodka. Skyy Vodka was purported to have all those impurities removed through a four- step distilling process followed by a triple micro-filtration. Haha. Hahaha. Hahahahaha. Ow! It only hurts when I laugh. SHALL WE SWINE AND DINE? LCBO honchos planned to dispose of illicit alcohol seized from bootleggers by serving up a "nutritious" cocktail to hogs. It became excellent fodder for a media feeding frenzy so, when the public also snorted at the idea, board execs decided not to be pig-headed and squeaked away with their curly tails between their legs. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DOCTORS GO PC? Canada's College of Physicians and Surgeons launched a controversial program requiring doctors to query all patients over 12 about their drinking habits. Doctors were asked to discuss alcohol abuse with those patients who use alcohol and to provide literature for quitting or cutting down. Brochures handed out ignored the scientific evidence that moderate use is better than abstinence. WHEN DOES A RICH GUY GET AN EVEN BREAK? The LCBO pulled a fast one on Ontario consumers through Vintages' inaugural Classics Catalogue. The mark-up on the famous, highly desirable and incredibly expensive 1990 Chateau Petrus was three times higher than their own official pricing formula dictates. Yet whenever we ask about a discount on quantity purchases, they tell us there's a "standard mark-up" for each and every bottle. Hypocrisy lives. DO ONTARIO'S LEGISLATORS STILL BELIEVE THAT ANYONE WHO TOUCHES ALCOHOL TO THEIR LIPS BEFORE 11:30 A.M. IS A FILTHY DEGENERATE? When the Chateau des Charmes winery opened its new $6.5 million state-of-the- art facility earlier this year, VIPs in attendance (including Premier Bob Rae) at the early-morning private tour were limited to toasting owner Paul Bosc with tea, coffee, milk or water -- no wine. WILL PRAYING HELP TO CHANGE THE MINISTER'S MIND? Consumer and Commercial Relations Minister Marilyn Churley refused to allow liquor stores to open on Sundays last year. Meanwhile, the Windsor Casino was required to stay open 24 hours a day even through Christmas and Boxing Day. Money talks. IF BURRILL WERE MAYOR THINGS WOULD BE DIFFERENT! A few years ago, visiting International Monetary Fundsters were privileged to drink well past 1 a.m. Last year, the World Series of baseball came to town and we all were permitted to party past our official bedtime. This year, the annual Toronto Film Festival provided us the opportunity to drink into the wee hours. What gives? When we entertain the world we can pretend to be cosmopolitan by extended drinking hours, but when our guests go home we go back to being provincial again? When will the people of Ontario start to be treated like grown-ups? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri can.general:41532 misc.headlines:46890 ont.general:22743 tor.general:18277 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general,ont.general,can.general,misc.headlines Subject: 4th Annual eyeLASHES Awards Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,ont.general,can.general,misc.headlines Date: 5 Jan 1995 17:44:44 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 826 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3ehsos$h72@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com Summary: 1994 Milestones In Stupidity Sorry, the first copy of this was missing the large first section. Apologies. This is the proper (and most lengthy) version. So many memories... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 5 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COVERSTORY COVERSTORY eye WEEKLY presents EYELASHES Our 4th annual attack on the year's best in stupidity INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM BURRILL (CONTRIBUTORS: Malene Arpe, Carolyn Bennett, Greg Boyd, William Burrill, K.K. Campbell, Deanna Dunn, Konrad Ejbich, Oliver Girling, Alexandra Highcrest, Bob Hunter, Bill Reynolds) It was the best of the times, it was the stinkiest of times. It was a year of bitter disappointments (I did not win the Mayoralty, for example) but also of great joy (neither did Stealth Mayor June Rowlands. Ciao, babe!). They called it The Year of the Dog and they weren't kidding. It was a slobbering howler of a year that should have long ago been humanely put out of its misery (I mean what good is a dog when it doesn't even have any balls to lick, due to various sports strikes?). But we at eye have never been noted for our humanity. Harrr, say we. Too many people have done too many dog-dumb things this past year. And when that happens, there's no point in being polite. What they REALLY need is a good ol' taste of the lash! Arrrr!!! Take that and that and THAT!!!! HAHHAHAHAHA!! Yo ho ho and a bottle o' rum! (Actually, saying 1994 was a dog is an insult to the canine breed. I mean, my own dog, Gemma, was the top NFL Football prognosticator in the entire damn city, beating the human pigskin pundits from the daily newspapers by running up a season record of 98-85-6. Dog is too good a word for the bonehead bits and bites that are to follow. You're about to read a long bull-shitty whack of not only my own choice Lashes, but also a bunch of other stuff compiled by whatever eye staff we could drag out of the Spadina Hotel while they were still sober enough to type with one finger (we won't reveal exactly which one). With no further doo-doo, it is my great honor to present our 4th Annual eye-LASH Awards, in which we whip and flog the guilty parties who were the low-lifes, low-lights and outright dimbulbs of the past 12 months. The envelopes, please. *** riiiip*** And the losers are ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AT LEAST HE DIDN'T SAY "THE JIG IS UP" Reform Party leader Preston Manning defends party members who made statements suggesting Jamaican immigrants were overly responsible for crime. "It's the way they talk and they call a spade a spade and you can't impose political correctness criteria on that." SHORT PEOPLE HAVE NO REASON TO LIVE Liberal Roseanne Skoke gets the Bigot of the Year award for attacking gays and lesbians at every opportunity, to the point of condemning Pierre Trudeau for causing the moral collapse of Canadian society by decriminalizing homosexuality. Rumor has it that Skoke joined the Liberal ranks simply because the party leader's initials are J.C. (another well-known liberal). Maybe Herr Manning and Presto's soldiers simply wouldn't have her. PQ HAS ONE LESS LEG TO STAND ON Jacques Parizeau, hell bent on Qu‚bec independence, uses Lucien Bouchard's leg amputation as a metaphor for the severing of ties with Canada, likening the federal government to a flesh-eating virus. Preston Manning counters by calling Bouchard's leg amputation nothing more than "a cheap publicity stunt." The country separates out of embarrassment for its leaders. Coincidence or CONSPIRACY? Answer the damn question. HELL NO I WON'T GO AWARD FOR PURE BULLSHIT Markham MP Jag Bhaduria refuses to resign after being nailed for writing threatening letters to Toronto school officials in 1989, and for bull-shitting about his educational and professional credentials, for claiming to be "founder" of legal aid organizations that never existed, and for being fined for violating fire safety and building regulations in apartments he owned. KEYSTONE COPS The Lack of Leadership award goes to Toronto's Police Services Board. Fellow members distanced themselves from board member Arnie Minors like he had the plague after he compared Toronto's cops to an occupying army, and claimed the Holocaust wasn't a racist act. Rather than deal with Minors themselves, the PSB left that task to the provincial government -- the same gang that appointed him in the first place. The best cop story of the year had to be the William McCormack/Susan Eng grudge match. McCormack refused to toss the badge, so now Toronto's police force has two chiefs (with six-figure salaries) and it looks like there's nothing Eng can do about it. Nice work, boys. WE WOULDN'T WANT NORM CAMPAIGNING UNARMED, WOULD WE? In the furor over guns in our streets that followed the Just Desserts shooting, Metro police and their pals at The Sun announce an amnesty for turning in illegal weapons. Metro Councillor Stormin' Norm Gardner, who once shot a thief in the back with his concealed automatic pistol (the very sort of gun cops apparently fear) kicks off the campaign by bringing in a rifle for the cameras. Reporters later discover Norm bought the rifle that morning. LAWS AND ORDER Dudley Laws, who's spent the past few years as the self-designated voice of downtrodden, prejudice-haunted black males, gets nine months in the iron bar hotel after being found guilty of helping smuggle people in and out of Canada. Dud's supporters cry set-up; the cops try not to smile too broadly in public. THIS IS FUN CITY!!! The Waste Time And Money award goes to Toronto City Council. Councillor Peter Tabuns wanted dancing restricted to certain downtown entertainment corridors after residents in his ward complained about the noise generated by live dance bands. The idea of dance-free zones died in committee. Councillors Tony O'Donohue and Betty Disero, meanwhile, decided that, in an effort to take back the streets, council should prohibit groups of three or more from hanging out in public places. The idea was canned after deeper thinkers pointed out the bylaw was "too fascist" -- even for Toronto! BAD BOYS When a majority of City of Toronto voters said they wanted out of Metro, what were they thinking? The Drabinsky Express: North York sofa salesman/mayor Mel Lastman suggests a new way to bankroll suburban subways to nowhere. Under the Bad Boy's scheme, private sector investors could buy the right to name stations. Lou's Blues: Developer Lou Charles, serving nine months for bribing York politicians, testifies at the trial of Metro Councillor Mario Gentile. Charles says those who received favors from him include North York Mayor Mel Lastman, City of York Mayor Fergie Brown and Metro Chairman Alan Tonks. Tonks is said by Charles and another witness, bribe-gobbling former councillor Tony Mandarano, to have taken part in a secret meeting to vet the developer-friendly credentials of Bill Stockwell, future power behind the befuddled Fergie Brown. No Toronto paper leads with the story. Tonks is later revealed to be as the heavy who plays a secret service agent in a Bad Boy furniture store ads. North York Style: After Metro Councillor Mario Gentile is found guilty of receiving bribes from Lou Charles, the shameless pol returns to work, vowing to appeal and run again. Bad Boy flunky Alan Tonks expresses sympathy. OUR FAVORITE TIT MAN Multicultural kingpin Johnny Lombardi traditional Canada Day CHIN Picnic includes the usual Miss CHIN Bikini contest (long grumbled about by some local pols, but the joy of Sun editors, whose front page composers vie each year to produce the finest montage of breast and policemen). But the contest can be a launching pad to an exciting and glamorous career in acting -- indeed, Miss 1993 was on hand to boast of her appearance in one Toronto-made feature, in which she plays a whore. SLINKING AROUND TO SEE DRINKING AT THE RINK The 1994 Science Is A Scam award goes to the Addiction Research Foundation, for hiring researchers to do field research by spying on people drinking in public places such as arenas and bars. Research associate Jacqueline Ferris has spent the last two (real) NHL seasons covering hockey games at the Gardens and observing fans drinking. Although a formal report is due to be released, some of the early findings are shocking. "People go to extraordinary effort to conceal liquor brought into the Gardens," said an ARF press release. "People even drink in stairwells." (!) ARF's researchers also noticed that people drink more "in bars where there was loud music ... because they couldn't talk." GETTING PUCKED BY A GUY WHO KNOW HOOPS Gary Bettman, once a high-ranking NBA official, is planted by the aforementioned institution in the NHL commissioner's job to destroy the game of hockey and its growing popularity in the U.S. Coincidence or CONSPIRACY? LET'S SEE YER DECODER RING Dr. Jamie Astaphan, former doctor and prescription wizard to steroid-popping sprinter Ben Johnson, is arrested in Tampa after selling cocaine-laced steroids to undercover officers. He tells the judge at his hearing that he was working undercover for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. TAKE THIS CABLE CASH-GRAB AND SHOVE IT The Dim Bulb award goes to the CRTC for allowing Rogers Cable to gobble up Maclean Hunter. Rogers claims they are not a monopoly, but act like one. The way Rogers offered up the seven new specialty cable TV channels to us last month is indicative of how they'll act in the future: "Take all seven new channels, even though you probably won't watch five of them, or we'll take three or four channels that you do watch away from you." By the way, Rogers has never made money, whereas Maclean Hunter has, which means the government will lose hundreds of millions in tax revenues by allowing the takeover to go through. DON'T GIVE THIS IDEA TO TED ROGERS Just last week an Etobicoke man was busted for sneaking up to a neighbors home and -- using a 30-metre extension wire and other video stuff -- splicing their TV cable, and patching in a porno flick. He'd allegedly been doing this for months and his big alleged thrill was to peek through the window and catch the look on women's faces as they turned on what they thought was going to be some innocent Disney movie, like, for example, The Black Hole. ARREST THAT PERVERT! HE'S SKETCHING! Jeff Evans, a local editor, was taken aside at daughter Katie's Christmas concert by the school's principal and told to stop drawing in his sketchbook. Tina Fagg informed him that he would need the written consent of every parent and child at Prince Charles Public School in Newmarket before he could continue with this activity (though others in the audience were taking photographs and videotaping the proceedings). He stayed outside. The next day one of Katie's friends asked her, "Is your dad gay?" KIDS! GROWNUPS! YOU CAN MAKE $$$ BY ATTENDING ART SCHOOL! What a nefarious institution is OCA! In '92 it sent a group of 4th year students to Florence for a year, a town of mouldy museums with names like Uffizi. It took them to putrid Venice, and to Rome with its infestation of stray cats, ruins and graffiti. And to Paris, where they endured the misery of its surly cafes and aggressive contemporary galleries, showing stuff like the punk sculpture of 85-year-old Louise Bourgeois. In desperation, the students fled to the Pompidou Centre; it was closed! They fought back. Led by mature-students Margie Hunter-Hoffman, Theresa Ottens, their husbands and lawyers, seven students demanded a large financial settlement for their suffering, as well as the firing of their instructor Rae Johnson (equity hiree and sole provider for a family of four). Encouraged by Archie Graham, the college's maverick dean of liberal arts, they told their tragic story to all who would listen, such as the public-spirited Globe and Mail. Now, after their two-year crusade for redress, the college has agreed to pay them $6,500 each. If that buys them a few good dinners, don't begrudge them; they've been through hell. And in the process, illustrated a modern homily: don't get mad, get money! YOU'RE BUSTED A gang of six women and one man were busted in the Netherlands after a string of supermarket robberies that featured a novel ploy: The women would rush in and distract the cashier by showing him their breasts while a male accomplice ripped off the cash from the till. The trick worked very well until they met on shopkeeper who was not impressed and called the cops (maybe if the guy had taken of his pants ...). NEXT TIME TRY THE SCOTS Filming of a battle scene for a Mel Gibson action epic gets out of hand when hundreds of Irish army reservists are asked to reenact the Battle of Stirling. Provided with wooden swords, axes and spears, the excitable Celts send of their number to hospital in the ensuing melee. As a police official notes, "The Irish Reserve Army don't see much real action." UPPER CLASS TWITS British Prime Minister John Major, who boasts the worst voter approval rating since Bloody Mary, declares that "It is an offensive thing to beg," and urges citizens to report panhandlers to the police. Meanwhile, Tory pol Alan Clark, one- time Thatcherite and full-time philanderer, sweeps the tabloids with the tale of his seduction of the wife and two daughters of a judge. His wife dismisses the revelations: "If you bed people of below-stairs class, they go to the papers." PLAGUE YEAR The Black Death breaks out in Surat, India. Public health officials attempt to calm the masses by describing the plague-like disease as a particularly virulent strain of yuppie flu. A week later Indian health officials suspend shipments of dead rats to a lab in suburban Bombay after area residents argue that they didn't move to the 'burbs expecting dead rats in the mail. LOONEY YANK OF THE YEAR In the dying days of the trade war over exports of Canadian durum wheat to the States, U.S. Senator Kent Conrad (North Dakota) suggests aiming tactical nuclear missiles at Ottawa as a bargaining method. Jean Chr‚tien remarks that Congress would do well to remember who won the War of 1812. (The answer: Britain.) Months later U.S. pols are again up in arms, this time over the armed seizure of two American boats fishing for scallops in Canadian-claimed waters. Senator Conrad suggests resolving the dispute by the fighting of a duel -- for which he will supply one of his staff. THE LONG, HOT SILLY SEASON The Globe runs a small item saying the coming summer should be warmer than usual, thanks to dissipation of dust kicked up by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. On the same day the Star reports that Pinatunbo is about to erupt again, guaranteeing a colder, gloomier summer. SO THAT'S WHY DIRECTORS ALWAYS YELL "CUT!" John Wayne Bobbitt makes a porno movie to prove that his reattached dickie-bird still works just fine, wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Now he wants to star in a Hollywood movie telling his personal story and he wants his splice-happy wife Lorena -- who has shown talent an an editor but not an actor -- to by portrayed by Beverly Hills Bad Babe Shannen Doherty. You heard it here first. Predicted quote for 1995: John Wayne Bobbitt: "Hey ... has ... like I just woke up and ... has anybody seen my nuts?" BONER OF THE YEAR A Jerusalem man who sought medical treatment because he couldn't get, you know, it up anymore fell upon hard times. After being injected with an anti- impotency serum, he was rushed to hospital complaining that he couldn't get it down. He'd had a "boner" for 36 hours straight, and it took three more days under doctor's care before Mr. Stiffy took a nap. That's a pretty limp excuse for going to the emergency ward, if you ask me. The problem could have easily been averted if the patient merely took matters into his own hand(s) with the latest copy of, say, Swank, or our personal fav, Mature Nymphos ... LASH OF THE YEAR AWARD To that snivelling little wimp Michael Fay, of Dayton, Ohio, who somehow garnered worldwide press -- and maybe even book and movie deals -- just because he was sentenced to be paddy-whacked on the ass a couple of times after going apeshit with graffitti-spewing spray paint in Singapore. Shit. My Grade Three teacher at Frankland Public School used to wipe our asses with a split cane dozens of times for whispering in class. Hey, Mikey: Take it like a man, you little asshole -- right on the asshole if the aim is precise. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE YEAR OF LIVING DOMESTICALLY One of the few positive trends this year was the exceptional inventiveness displayed in the growing field of domestic violence. No longer content with just slapping each other around, the participants have just now begun exploring more interesting ways of assault and battery. Take for example Michael W. Turner, 30, of Annapolis, Md., who upon being denied access to his mother's car didn't reach for a boring old baseball bat, but instead bludgeoned her to death with a 6-inch statue of the Virgin Mary, a telephone and another, non-identified, religious statue. Finally an example of religion at work. Closer to home, a Scarborough couple stabbed each other repeatedly after a heated argument over whether Katey Sagal or Christina Applegate, both of the TV show Married With Children ..., is the prettiest. Such passion is encouraging for those of us who fear that most people don't give a rat's ass about the arts. In Rio De Janeiro, 21-year-old Robert Carlos da Silva was not content to have merely caused his fianc‚e's death in a motorcycle accident. Three months after the death of the girl, the grieving guy dug up the corpse and had sex with her. And they say that men have trouble committing. While it was, strictly speaking, not domestic violence, an honorable mention must go out to Parkdale resident Janice Fudge, 45, who attacked John Turcotte, 64, with her purse and stabbed him through the arm when she caught him smoking in the lobby of her building. From now on, knives will be sold with the warning, "Caution, use of sharp objects can cause fatal wounds to non-knife-users". This just in! Man bites dog! Stop the presses! In British Columbia, a man took his dog's obedience training a wee, tiny, little bit too far, and was, as a consequence, sentenced to six months' probation and 40 hours of community service for viciously biting his pitbull terrier. The dog has since been adopted by a less rabid family. Also encouraging this year have been new measures in law enforcement. The fact that drunkenness is now an excuse for rape is wonderful news, as is the fact that a man received two years less a day for stabbing his wife 17 times with an ice-pick (Lucky he didn't stab her 18 times or they might have really thrown the book at him!). Also delightful is the fact that $590,000 was spent on an Ontario government TV and radio campaign against wife abuse. The ever-frugal bureau- weenies were able to afford the ads by cutting funding for emergency shelters for battered women. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRO ENVIRO BAD NUKES FOR BEIJING I wonder if the comrades in China were paying attention when Unit 2 at the Pickering Generating Station went down, taking half of the nuclear power plant down with it? Prime Minister Jean Chr‚tien bragged mightily about the sale of half a dozen Candu reactors to the nice chaps who mass-murdered all those students in Beijing not so long ago. Unit 2 at Pickering is of course a Candu. It was an unhappy moment for Pickering plant boss Pierre Charlebois when he had to stand up in front of a gaggle of media and admit that nearly a week after a valve mysteriously opened up, spilling heavy water into the containment tank around the reactor core, his boys still hadn't figured out why it had happened. A design flaw, maybe. Bad news, because the nukes for China are based on the same design. Where's Maurice Strong when you need him? Who's running the show at Ontario Hydro? FEW CHEERS FOR HOWIE It was a tough year for Howard Hampton, the former hockey great turned natural resources minister. He no sooner marries Shelley Martel than she gets dumped from cabinet. He pushes through the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and no one cheers. Maybe it's because his ministry still allows bear baiting and clearcutting, and enforcement of regulations in the woods is already a joke because of staff reductions. Poachers roam virtually unimpeded, thanks to roads generously built at taxpayers' expense by the MNR. And so on. COPPS COPS OUT ON CLIMATE CHANGE A lash to Sheila Copps, Deputy Prime Minister and environment minister, under whose leadership Canada (home of the blue-eyed sheiks) is dodging and weaving pathetically in a desperate attempt to avoid facing up to the fossil fuel emission question. Copps has left the Alberta oil barons in charge of the shaping of Canadian policy on climate change. If this is not copping out, what is? WE'D LOVE TO BLAME SOMEONE FOR THIS, BUT WE CAN'T SEE THEM I don't know who to blame for this one. The system of government itself, I guess. The Ministry of Transportation is pushing through the billion-dollar Highway 407 project, guaranteed to bring 100,000 more cars per day on to the road system eventually, which means an astronomical leap in the amount of pollution. The MOT has made no plans whatsoever for counteracting this inevitably worsened smog situation. Air quality isn't the ministry's responsibility, you see. That's the responsibility of the environment ministry, which, incidentally, doesn't have any plans either. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYENET EYENET J. EDGAR HIMMLER AWARD FOR POLICE EXCELLENCE The London Police Department. They terrorized a University of Western Ontario student for doing nothing more than editing a computer text file containing rumors about the Karla Homolka case. SIMPERING TOOL & FINK AWARD University of Western Ontario computer security officer Reg Quinton. Quinton allowed the London cops to goosestep all over the rights of above-mentioned student. When cops came calling, Quinton exulted: "No warrant? No subpoena? No problem, boys!" Afterwards, Quinton was seen defending himself in newsgroup news.admin.policy by comparing Homolka rumor peddlers to murderer/outlaw Jesse James. Sheesh. NET.MIRACLE OF THE YEAR The disappearance of Serdar Argic, the Armenian-hating racist Usenet robot- poster. Spammed the net relentlessly. NET.TRAGEDY OF THE YEAR The appearance of Canter & Siegel, the net.sociopathic Usenet robot-advertisers. Spammed the net relentlessly. ASSHOLES OF THE YEAR (INTERNATIONAL) Husband-and-wife team Canter & Siegel -- the "Green Card Lawyers." ASSHOLES OF THE YEAR (ONTARIO) Husband-and-wife team Bruce Lloyd and Rob Riley -- writers and distributors of (often violently) obscene material. Kicked off Toronto's Interlog Internet Services, they ran to Metro police the very next day asking cops to shut down Interlog because of obscene material on the net. Unbelievable. Suckered City Pulse News into presenting Lloyd as a "concerned citizen worried about children." We wouldn't let Lloyd mind a gerbil, let alone a child. BIGGEST BUTTHEAD POLITICO (OFF-LINE CATEGORY) Tory leader Mike Harris. Only moron in all of Ontario to suggest harmless Bob Rae fake/spoof post to ont.general represents threat to whole province. Issued sensationalist press release on last day of Legislature session, sure it was political dynamite. He was right -- it blew up in his face. BIGGEST BUTTHEAD POLITICO (ON-LINE CATEGORY) Bob Allisat. Ran for Ward 3 councillor in Toronto's municipal elections. Highlight of campaign was watching Allisat actually formulate his "policies" right on-line in tor.general -- like, in a discussion about Parkdale street prostitutes, he suddenly had the revelatory flash that The Final Solution to that problem was to have police round up hookers and force them to work out of a humungous abandoned warehouse in the Liberty-Atlantic area. (Got -1 per cent of vote, as adjusted for being the candidate listed first on the ballot. Great campaign, Bob.) "WE SHALL OVERCOME" AWARD eye's investigative expose of evil net.censor John M. Sellens at the University of Waterloo brings to end two-year ban by bigoted campus computer cops of alternative-lifestyle newsgroup ont.personals.whips.and.rubber.chickens . Waterloo netters rejoice. Power to the people, baby. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MEDIA HIT LIST MEDIA HIT LIST THE 10 FINEST MOMENTS IN ZERO-CONTENT NEWS 1 THAT'S THE ARABS AND JEWS FOR YA -- ALWAYS THE SAME OLD THING A weekend Globe and Mail wire copy rewrite says Israeli forces are massing at the Lebanese border as tensions rise. A few pages later the very same copy appears under a slightly amended headline. 2 YADDA, COUNTERYADDA CBC's Faceoff introduces the appalling Claire Hoy and Judy Rebick, who "debate" "issues" by yelling at one another like a pair of turpentine-swilling Klansmen. 3 THE SUNSHINE BOYS Metro Police Constable Todd Baylis is shot dead, allegedly by a man who was supposed to have been deported for previous convictions. The Sun's subsequent orgy of immigrant- bashing and cop-stroking (to maintain its inside track on all police information) culminates in a funeral coverage issue boasting a wraparound cover shot plus 8 full pages on the stiff-planting (pushing the Sunshine Girl to a mere black and white slot on page 22). 4 BACKSTROKE The Star baffles readers with a chest- thumping front-page expos‚ of the province's failure to renew the patronage appointment of Ontario Racing Commission trougher Frank Drea -- a columnist for Sun predecessor The Toronto Telegram. 5 LARRY KING, ANTICHRIST Police in Tehran order owners of satellite dishes to remove them or face prosecution for importing western corruption. 6 BACK-ASSWARD INTO THE FUTURE After a year of embarrassment, CBC- TV finally shifts Peter and Pam back to 10 p.m. 7 TEA FOR TWO TV Ontario's bizarre sally into news is Studio 2, so named either because it's a sequel to the much-loved Studio 1, or the cost of graying hipster Allan Gregg's tidy new haircut meant TVO couldn't afford to go all the way to Studio 5. 8 TSN'S WIDE WORLD OF NOTHING "Following our update on strike talks in baseball and hockey, we go live to Kabul for the world championship of lifting very big rocks without dropping them on your foot." 9 SO LONG THEN, STEALTH MAYOR On Metro election night CITY-TV's vote-tallying computers crash, leaving them with a count showing computer geek candidate Gerry Meinzer in the lead when CFTO had already declared Barbara Hall the victor. 10 OUR CHAMPIONSHIP SILLY SEASON The Associated Press brings us the tale of a man in Warsaw whose dog somehow pulled the trigger on a shotgun, wounding the man slightly. Dog shoots man! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NAKED EYE NAKED EYE WILL YOU HAVE A FRIED CROTCH WITH THAT, MA'AM? In sue-happy America a woman wins a $2.9 million lawsuit against McDonald's for spilling a steaming hot coffee on her very own crotch. Thus encouraged, another reportedly rather large plaintiff files suit for emotional harm caused by the fact that she fell of the toilet while taking a dump at Mc.D's. This could be the start of a whole new trend: Here are then suggested reasons to sue McDonald's for gazillions of bucks in the New Year (and, we at eye, of course, claim 15 per cent of any actual settlements because, after all, it was our idea). 1. Sue for permanent case of nausea from looking at pimples on workers who cook fries. 2. Sue for environmental guilt trip over having to throw away about 18 pieces of plastic and StyroFoam™ containers and utensils after eating one Mc-Hap-Hap- Happy-Wappy Meal. 3. Sue because you are constantly -- against your wishes -- being asked to have "fries with that." 4. Sue because they never give you vinegar unless you specifically ask for it. It should be your RIGHT, goddammit!!! 5. Sue because the cheesy-faced mock-jolliness of staff is obviously a deviously conspired act to make you feel like a piece of shit because YOU aren't working for minimum wage. 6. Sue because you have to look at those bad polyester uniforms. 7. Sue because the blithering, blabbering dickweeds you are forced to sit beside are obviously inbred morons and your mental health might suffer from Second- Hand Stupidity. 8. Sue because -- just because you're a writer who sleeps until four in the afternoon -- you can't get a Big Breakfast after 11 a.m. 9. Sue because the lady in the lime green stretchie pants budded into line ahead of you, causing you permanent anxiety disorders. 10. Sue because they won't tell you what's in the Secret Sauce on the Big Macs. How do we know it's not bull jism or something? The public has a right to know. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK HE AIN'T RINKY-DINK, HE'S MY PREMIER Stung by months of bad press coverage, the NDP decide it's time to change their policies -- NOT. Instead, they decide to blame the media. Premier Bob Rae's press assistant Sine MacKinnon tells a reporter her boss is "no rinky-dink." Reporters are reminded of the dying days of the Mulroney government in Ottawa. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A GAY MAKES Liberal Leader Lyn McLeod flips and flops for and against same-sex rights before finally deciding she is against. Her staff insists McLeod has been consistent, but one disenchanted senior Liberal tells eye, "She definitely flip-flopped, no matter what she says." Liberal MPP David Ramsay tells the Legislature that supporting gays is "just the right thing to do" and later votes against same-sex rights. PASS THE SALT AND PEPPER PC Leader Mike Harris stakes out the middle class as his political target with the promise of a 30 per cent tax cut and spending cuts of $6 billion, most coming from social services. Harris promises to eat the paper his promises are written on if he breaks them. IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL BOBBITTIZE IT IF I WANT TO PC Leader Mike Harris promises to save money by eliminating 31 MPPs, but his own party is concerned that many of the underpopulated rural seats that will disappear are the very ones that he hopes to win. MINISTER POOH-POOHS REQUEST FOR BOSSY'S BINGO LICENCE Marilyn Churley, Minister of Bingos, reverses herself and grants a licence for cow-patty-bingo, which involves dividing a farmer's field into big squares, setting a cow loose and betting on where it will drop its load. Months before, Churley had withheld the licence because she was convinced the game could be rigged. After she saw a real cow she changed her mind. PESKY REPORTER ASKS QUESTION The Addiction Research Foundation proves that if you don't have anything to say, don't call a press conference. Globe and Mail reporter Paul Taylor questions the data in a new ARF study and is told, "I don't think you should worry about how good the data are." BASKETBALL AS POLITICAL FOOTBALL Toronto almost loses out on a professional basketball franchise because the NDP insists on playing chicken with the NBA over its new sports lottery. Rae denies that his dislike for Raptors co-owner and former Liberal premier David Peterson is a factor. A friend says Peterson "certainly wouldn't pull Rae from a swollen creek." WE USED TO LOVE YOU -- NOW GET OUT The man who nominated Bob Rae for leader of the NDP, Mel Swart, a long- time former MPP, blames the Premier for the wipe-out of the federal NDP in Ontario and asks Rae to resign. He joins several other party stalwarts including 10 former federal MPs, who all agree. HEALTH MINISTER TRIES TO KILL OWN GOVERNMENT Health Minister Ruth Grier continues her efforts to defeat her own government. Her long-term health bill, which she told Rae would not be controversial, riles up thousands of health care workers across the province. HELL FREEZES OVER Shelley Martel, the first Ontario cabinet minister to take a lie detector test to prove that she was lying, finally gets booted out of Rae's cabinet after getting in trouble for a third time by releasing confidential information about a taxpayer. SUPER DETENTION FOR STUDENT REP Titch Dharamsi, who represents 118,000 Ontario students, is frog-marched out of the Legislature lobby by the OPP for disagreeing with Education Minister Dave Cooke at a press scrum. U of T president Rob Prichard tells him he can't believe this happened in Ontario. ACCUSED AGENT-GENERAL GETS LYNCHED Former Ontario agent-general Carlton Masters goes to court in March to fight the NDP's right to refuse to tell him the charges against him, what he was accused of and who his accusers are. An Ontario court rules that Premier Bob Rae has the authority to do what he did. A PLACE TO GROW NDP backbencher George Mammoliti supports a bill to evict children from social housing if anyone in the family is dealing drugs. Human rights advocates and the NDP government are horrified. Mammoliti responds: "Do we want to give the responsibility of children to a drug dealer?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENOUGH ALREADY!! CSIS Punk rock Tiny little backpacks The Common Sense Revolution Sexual harassment Tribute albums Rock stars with liver transplants Books about Trudeau Books about Mulroney Books about Nicole Simpson by "close, personal friends" or relatives Piercing Alternative Wood-burning ovens The Easy Listening comeback S&M S/M Talk show hosts Violence in schools O.J. Roseanne JoJo's influence on the Chr‚tien family The blood supply Inherent or structural racism Suppressed memories of childhood abuse Canadian content Iced tea Homicide: Life On The Streets Home invasions Immigrants After hours clubs Media bans Cyber everything Virtual anything The Information Highway, super or otherwise People who talk about Pulp Fiction at parties People who talk about Exotica at parties People who talk about Natural Born Killers at parties People who thought Interview With The Vampire wasn't faithful to the Look Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ted Rogers Tim Allen Jack Layton and Olivia Chow and their goddamn tandem bicycle Barenaked Ladies Roseanne Skoke Gun control Flesh-eating bacteria Warnings that any more or any fewer units of alcohol than we drink per week will kill us Swarmings Jingle Cats Kate Moss Mickey Rourke Johnny Depp Dr. Kevorkian Calvin Klein Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley Bank megaprofits Platform shoes Generation X, Y or any other initial Angels ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive gopher://interlog.com Coupla Mailing lists available http://www.interlog.com/eye eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri alt.internet.media-coverage:3258 alt.journalism:10896 alt.journalism.criticism:3025 can.general:41768 misc.headlines:46930 ont.general:22911 tor.general:18446 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!news.mathworks.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,eye.general,tor.general,ont.general,can.general,alt.journalism,alt.journalism.criticism,alt.internet.media-coverage,misc.headlines Subject: The Stupid Net.Coverage Media Awards Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,ont.general,can.general,alt.journalism,alt.journalism.criticism,alt.internet.media-coverage,misc.headlines Date: 8 Jan 1995 12:29:05 -0500 Organization: eye.NET NEWSMEDIA LABS Lines: 334 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3ep7d1$n97@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MEDIA MORON OF THE YEAR/MONTH CONTEST The stupid net.coverage media awards ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Oh! Hello, there... We at eye.NET NEWSMEDIA LABS are working hard at charting the exciting and historical merger of establishment newsmedia with the Internet. If you hush a moment, and listen very very carefully... you can hear a newsroom editor somewhere whimpering right now as s/he faces yet another net story. And, as is said, every time a newseditor suffers, an angel gets its wings. We've read NetNews for years. Like you, we have countless delightful reading memories. But none have brought us so much cheer as when netters from around Our Beautiful Blue Planet upload ascii copies of moronic media stories to newsgroups and mailing lists. It's time to formally recognize this great media contribution to our simultaneous anxiety and mirth. We officially announced the Stupid Net.Coverage Awards back in November 1994. We are asking for your help in formalizing this into the MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH/YEAR contest -- rather like alt.usenet.kooks' "Kook of the Month" award, open for voting from the net.community itself. When you see media coverage of the net that is painfully dumb, don't just fume or laugh derisively. Forward a copy to eye@interlog.com and post it to alt.internet.media-coverage . All submissions will be permanently archived in a Stupid Net.Coverage Media Awards page at our web site (http://www.interlog.com/eye). And, most exciting of all, the winner will be contacted directly by phone and asked for comment. These reactions will also be stored. Winners will be announced in hardcopy as well. By building these archives, it is a better world we also build. To provide us and our net.descendants with a view of how ill-informed many reporters really are on this subject -- after all, how else could Martha Siegel and Michael Wolff _convince_ media drones that ads are canceled for breaking some "Holy Than Thou Anti-Ad Commandment" rather than for being spams? Things other than ads have been Cancelmoosed(TM). And, with this handy resource, journalism school students will never have had it so easy, perhaps launching a new breed of net.literate reporters... And 1995 promises to be even wilder than 1994, what with the Righteous Minions of Small Business clamoring aboard and trying to paint the net.community as "unfair" and "terrorists" -- or even, as Canter & Siegel have already tried to claim in their book, that there simply _is_ no net.community. It's an old trick of conquest: once a community is marginalized into insignificance, it's easier to eradicate it. Battle-lines are being drawn in the media itself. We at eye.NET hope the MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH/Stupid Net.Coverage Media Awards will draw those lines more starkly, forcing reporters to wake up. Please help us spread joy and happiness to the millions who suffer under the weight of braindead media coverage of net issues. Share the wealth. Contribute now. And contribute often. Thank you. Malaclypse the Foetus eye.NET NEWSMEDIA LABS http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Eyenet/EyeNet.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH FAQ The Stupid Net.Coverage News Awards "The fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other." -- Edward R Murrow CBS reporter, 1965 Try as one might, one human alone cannot collect all the Stupid Net Stories pouring out from the Fourth Estate -- so plentiful and weedlike they are, no one can never catch all. So let's us, the net.community, pool our resources with a general and ongoing call for submissions. (You can certainly submit eye.NET stories if you like ;-) TWO CONTESTS 1994: MEDIA MORON OF THE YEAR. The year is over and we would like to invite people to submit their own choices for what was the stupidest piece of net reporting they encountered. We had our own list, and were prepared to deliberate upon it, but then realized we were undoubtedly missing important Stupid Net.Coverage for the above stated reasons -- there's too much of it. So dig through your archives and hard drives. Send a paragraph about why you think it is A MILESTONE IN STUPIDITY, along with the actual copy/transcript if possible. We will compile these and make them available for voting on Web and in alt.internet.media-coverage . Voting details will be determined. Accepted nominations will be stored in our Web site and made available as an FAQ called, perhaps, Net.Legends.Newsmedia-1994. 1995: MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH. We know these things start slow, but they eventually reach "critical mass" and take on a momentum of their own -- much as our friend Craig Dickson has accomplished with his Kook Of The Month award. We seek to take a page from Craig's grassroots movement apply the same tactics to newsmedia -- after all, newsmedia and kooks are uncomfortably synonymous when the net is involved. Post your submission in alt.internet.media-coverage with the word NOMINATION in the subject line. It would also be helpful if you would email a copy to eye@interlog.com . We will then archive it in our web site. Nominations will be closed a week after the month ends and people can vote. PRIZE Winning reporters/news organizations will be directly contacted by eye by phone and asked for comment. We will arrange for the story and a picture of the reporter (if available) to be immortalized _in hardcopy_, as well as in web pages. (eye has a circulation of over 100k in Toronto.) When 1995 ends, the 12 monthly MORON winners will be presented for a general vote on which reigns supreme and deserves the prestigious Usenet MEDIA MORON OF THE YEAR award. The winner will, again, be contacted directly for comment and sent a Stylish Certificate suitable for framing at home or office. TYPICAL STUPID STORIES There are all sorts of stupid media stories about the net -- and they are _not_ the private domain of "trashy tabloids." In fact, most come from organization which consider themselves serious news outlets. There seem five basic types: 1. SEX! HOMOSEXUAL RECRUITMENT! SNUFF FILMS! FEMALE DEGRADATION! PAEDOPHILES! -- By far the most common. To get really heated, reporters fall back on paedophiles -- Save The Children! Chicago Tribune columnist James Coates wrote a piece last summer about "Vito," an undoubtedly made-up paedophile who cruises IRC hoping to have sex with kids in wheelchairs. I understand Coates' pain: I cannot spend 10 minutes in IRC before someone asks if I'm a child in a wheelchair looking for a sex partner. (eye.NET -- 08.04.94) But it ain't just the mainstream media, so-called alternative media are often as terminally dense (pun intended). British Columbia's Adbusters magazine normally specializes in subversive anti-ad guerrilla warfare ("subvertising"). It's spoof ads are often nasty and terrific. But in the Winter 1995 issue, it decided to tackle the net. It presented the "Top Ten Internet Newsgroups" in order of Mbyte volume. They are: alt.binaries.pictures.erotica alt.binaries.pictures.misc, alt.binaries.sounds.misc alt.binaries.pictures.supermodels, alt.binaries.sounds.tv alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.oreientals, alt.binaries.multimedia alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.males alt.binaries.pictures alt.binaries.sounds.mods Erotica! TV! Supermodels! Oh no! Adbusters sees this as proof netters remain dupes of crass consumer culture: "While the Internet is often heralded as an intellectual Mecca, the bulk of Internet traffic measured in Mbytes, is no more intellectual than the reading material found on the top shelf of your corner store's magazine rack...." Had their reporter examined the list more closely, he might have noticed every one is an alt.binaries.* newsgroup. Binaries. Images, sounds, etc. A single picture can take 300k. One well-written, high-signal text post can take 10k. A PICTURE AIN'T WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS IN THIS MEDIUM, ADBUSTERS. All their story proves is that binaries take up more Mbytes than text posts. What a newsflash. Of course, their rush to support their own editorial slant does help perpetuate the myth among control freaks and conservatives that the net is really just the Marina-Sirtis-Topless-GIF highway. (eye.NET -- 01.12.94) 2. ANARCHY! DEATH! THE FALL OF ROME! -- Save the children! October 8 1994 issue of The Scotsman (Scotland's national newspaper) proves bad net.reporting is international. The paper reported on a mother's anguished warning that a disk her son owned that held a copy of _The Anarchist's Cookbook_ "looked just like all the other disks in the box." Mom seeks to warn mothers everywhere about the evil Cookbook and the way you can get it on the net. (You can buy the Anarchist's Cookbook at larger bookstore -- Barricade Books, New Jersey, available here in Toronto for $34.75 Canadian.) (eye.NET -- 11.22.94) 3. DRUGS! DEATH! THE FALL OF ROME! -- Save The Children! Ban alt.drugs! Canadian network CTV's ran a fullpage ad for something called _William Shatner's TEKWAR_ -- "In 2044, Drugs Aren't Sold On The Street. They're Sold On The Internet." The ad shows some white-bread-male-model pointing a plastic space-gun (it's 2044 after all) at some not-white-bread-male-model -- clearly right in the middle of an exciting drug bust on the infobahn. (eye.NET -- 11.22.94) 4. SPAM-LIBERATIONISTS -- There seems some genetic defect in reporters that does not permit them to understand that the net.community backlash against C&S and Michael Wolff is not about "ads" but about spamming. Since Wolff -- the so-called net.guru who has published three books about cyberspace -- can't even figure out how to crosspost, it shouldn't be surprising he doesn't understand why he was Cancelmoosed(TM). Reporters simply believe his uninformed view of reality. (eye.NET -- several references; see http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Eyenet/CS2.html for an Interview with Martha Siegel -- "A Net.Conspiracy So Immense...") 5. WHAT'S THIS BUTTON DO?! -- Watching copy editors struggle with basic terms is endlessly humorous. How many inaccurate names have they for "newsgroups," for instance? My favorite remains "computer billboards." (eye.NET -- 05.24.94) To be fair, missing obscure jargonese is more than forgivable. But the _depth_ of ignorance is often staggering. A recent Risks Digest contained an extreme example: From: Paul Fuqua Subject: Pentium + Spell-Checkers On December 5, the _Dallas Morning News_, not the most technically-aware newspaper in the world, ran an article from the _San Jose Mercury News_ about the recent Pentium FDIV situation. Unfortunately, they ran it through a spell-checker first. The company names "Intel" and "Megatest" became "Until" and "Megadeath," which actually puts an interesting slant on the story. I've only ever seen one writer's byline on computer-related articles in the DMN, so the root problem may be that no one else at the paper knows enough to catch this obvious (to us) error. NET.JOURNALISM 101 We net.citizens are really altruists at heart, full of care and compassion for our fellow human beings. How many of us have not stayed up into the wee hours helping yet another AOL-er struggle through that painful process of learning to decode topless Marina Sirtis GIFs? And we also hope to help the educationally-challenged members of in the Old Guard media! The MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH contest is not done out of HATE but out of LOVE! We encourage our reporter cousins to get a net.education. After all, despite the futurist hype one oft hears, journalists will _not_ become redundant in an "info-age." Hard journalism skills will command greater value than ever as people, confronted by the info onslaught, scramble for ways to condense material into a consumable yet meaningful packages. Anyone can set up a newsprogram to collect 475 megs of news about specific subjects, but it still takes a human to synthesis this collection into a smaller-yet-greater whole. Reporters and editors might like to check out a couple of these resources... NEWSGROUPS: The main one is alt.journalism -- discussions of the craft itself. Please note: there is always some yahoo somewhere crossposting their latest flame wars here, sure that "IF ONLY THE PRESS KNEW, _THEY_ WOULD SMITE OUR ENEMIES." There are other subgroups: alt.journalism.criticism, alt.journalism.students, alt.journalism.newspapers, alt.journalism.gay-press, etc. To chronicle the misadventures of the Fourth Estate in cyberspace, read alt.internet.media-coverage -- which never seems to run out of flames about Time, Newsweek or the NY Times reportage. MAILING LISTS: CANCAR-L (majordomo@acs.ryerson.ca), or CANadian Computer Assisted Reporting. Owned by Ryerson faculty net.pioneer Dean Tudor (dtudor@acs.ryerson.ca). CANCAR-L invites members of the news media (and others) to discuss computer-assisted reporting (like the net) in Canada. CARR-L (carr-l@ulkyvm.louisville.edu) is an international version. GUILDNET-L (majordomo@acs.ryerson.ca). Owned by Colin Perkel (sysop@guildnet.org). Strictly for members of newsmedia. Discusses _working conditions_ -- unionism, labor/management, health/safety, pay and equity, etc. MEDIA-NET: There's also Media-Net, a "Computer-Assisted Reporting Tool." It's a journalist-owned-and-operated service that helps journalists locate "experts," find case studies, ferret out photos, etc. "Just send in your name, your news organization, what you're working on, what your request is, your deadline and how to contact you." For info: contact Amy Plummer at MediaNet (71344.2761@compuserve.com) in Pennsylvania. 717-243-4285. * "When you run a picture of a nice clean-cut all-American girl like this, get her tits above the fold." -- Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, at a page-one meeting * "Have you discovered the limitless range of computer porn? Have you discovered your kid/student discovering the same? I am a CBC TV journalist preparing a report on computer pornography and I am looking for people who are prepared to talk about their own experiences. "I'd like to meet some teenage kids who can navigate through the world of computer porn and who can show me what they've found. I'd also like to meet parents and teachers who have come across their kids/students exploring this world." -- CBC TV reporter Jeffrey Kofman Oct 10, to newsgroup ont.general * "I am a yellow journalist preparing a sensationalistic story on the information superhighway, and I am looking for people prepared to provide me with shocking and unrepresentative anecdotes from their own experiences." -- Justin Wells (rjwells@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca) replies to Kofman in ont.general --- eof Xref: utcsri ont.general:23139 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general,talk.envronment Subject: ENVIRO: Are You Ready For A Nuke Flake? Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general,talk.envronment Date: 13 Jan 1995 09:21:08 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 114 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3f628k$oni@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 12 1994 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRO ENVIRO ARE YOU READY FOR A NUKE FLUKE? by BOB HUNTER This happened a long time ago, of course. December 10, 1994, to be exact. Remember back that far, pilgrim? It was the right they almost drove old Pickering down. I was sitting at home with my wife and kids, with the fireplace ablaze, and, truth to tell, the hot tub on, waiting for the perfect moment to do our Nordic thing. One kid was playing computer games, the other watching a movie. It was snowing outside. The phone rang. It was the assignment desk at the television station I work for. A producer was saying, "Bob, sorry to bug you on a Saturday night, but one of the reactors at Pickering is down. There's some kind of emergency." Honestly, producers can talk that way. They get real sweet under pressure. My house, I should say, is 13 kilometres to the northwest of the Pickering plant, something to consider when buying property in the Toronto area. Which way are the prevailing winds? The Pickering nuke came on line 25 years ago. The other Toronto area nuclear station, Darlington, located out past the car-building centre of Oshawa, is still coming on line -- at staggering cost. Darlington, the newest and probably the last member of Ontario's "fleet" of nuclear power stations, is famous for having cost $14 billion to build, just slightly over the original estimate of $3 billion, a fiasco that basically left Ontario reeling from a knee to the fiscal groin from Wall Street, since the blundering behemoth of an electrical utility is also a Crown corporation, whose multibillion debt is guaranteed by the Ontario taxpayers. More than that is guaranteed by the public, however. When the nuclear industry first got up and running, after the Second World War, it faced a few formidable technological problems, but these were pieces of cake compared to the main problem, which was financial. The insurance rates the new, unproven industry would have to pay would make the entire enterprise impossible. The insurance industry was adamant. They could simply not afford to cover the costs of a nuclear accident, especially in a place like Pickering, where the nearest home is a five-minute jog from the hurricane fence around the plant. Would a trillion dollars be enough? The insurers were only being sensible. The mad nuclear power advocates were willing to gamble everything, however, so they prevailed upon the Tory politicians of the day to push through an astonishing piece of legislation, known as the Nuclear Liability Act, which basically exempts the insurers from having to pay homeowners in Ontario anything at all in the event of a nuclear accident. So when Pickering "goes" there goes the property values. It's not just that you won't be able to rent out your radioactive house for 50 years, it's also that you'll still be left facing your mortgage payments. You'll have lost everything, with no legal recourse. Neat, eh? Knowing that, you'd have to wonder why I would live, even temporarily, within 13 kilometres of a wonky nuclear power station. Part of the answer is that, as far as I can find out from various studies, at 13 kilometres we are just out of range of the worst-case fallout scenario, so our lives aren't directly at risk. The prevailing winds and all that... Also, we are close to the 401, which, with a bit of a head start, would take my wife and kids homeward-bound for Vancouver along the straightest route possible. We have long since worked out our own escape plans, thank you, prodded into it by having taken a look at the official plan for evacuation in the event of a nuclear emergency -- a scary piece of bureaucratic insanity. I think Stephen King must have cooked it up as the outline for a truly terrifying movie. For all these reasons, when the phone rang, and it was the assignment desk telling me the grim news that there was trouble at Pickering, I snapped out of my Saturday evening daze and started digging through my closet for survival gear, although things weren't serious enough yet, I sensed, for my wife to throw the kids and sleeping bags and flashlights into the van. I jammed my cell phone in my pocket and said, "I'll call. If it looks bad, take off. Bring your cell and the battery charger that fits the lighter. If the 401 starts to choke, head north." As I waited for a cameraman to claw his way through the snowstorm to pick me up so we could head over to the plant, I sat with my wife by the fire and sipped red wine. That seemed appropriate -- what else are you going to do with a China Syndrome hanging over your head? The cameraman arrived, and off we went in the four-wheel drive. It was distressing how quickly we reached the outer perimeter at Pickering. The police waved us through the barricades that had been thrown up, and I saw the huge grey concrete bulk of the nuke through the swirling snow, the floodlights glaring on its bulkheads. Instinctively, I knew I was onto one of those Big Bizarre Stories that us media freaks live for, and which, if we all survived, would provide me with closeup insight galore as to how Hydro handles a crisis. Stay tuned. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available gopher://interlog.com eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Article 23439 of ont.general: Xref: utcsri ont.general:23439 talk.environment:25798 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general,talk.environment Subject: ENVIRO: Whoops! Pesky valve stumps Pickering engineers Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general,talk.environment Date: 19 Jan 1995 09:24:13 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 124 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3flsmd$pni@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 19 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRO ENVIRO WHOOPS! PESKY VALVE STUMPS PICKERING ENGINEERS by BOB HUNTER "Events," as they are euphemistically called, happen so often at Ontario's nuclear plants that they are almost never mentioned in the media. More to the point, they are seldom mentioned to the media. What was unusual about the Dec. 10 event at the Pickering generating station was the fact that Hydro got a press release out pretty close to right away. As far as Norm Rubin of Energy Probe can recall, this was the first time a release came out more or less right on the heels of trouble. When I arrived at the information building at Pickering that nearly-fateful night, it was to discover that the roadblocks thrown up when the No. 2 reactor went down had been removed. A thoroughly rattled young public relations man, who had been talking into the microphone held by a Live Eye cameraman, saw me coming through the door and immediately decided he had other more pressing matters to attend to. He literally fled the room, babbling: "I've got things to do." What could be more important for a PR man than doing PR? To find out what had happened, I had to go into the CITY-TV microwave truck and play back the tape the cameraman had got. Not an auspicious beginning in terms of coverage ... The drama was, of course, over long before I got there. If it hadn't been, a large section of Pickering would be toast. The ghost in the machine had spoken at 5:27 p.m., when a pressure relief valve took it upon itself to yawn without being cued, triggering a rash of flashing red lights in the control room as 150 tonnes of radioactive heavy water went spraying like a burst bladder onto the No. 2 reactor core's floor. The reactor began shutting itself down within seconds, but as the control room operator shouted for help and began to frantically hit buttons, trying to restore pressure, something else went terribly wrong: a pipe on the other side of the rogue valve burst, and the water pressure started to drop again. Finally -- for the first time ever in a Candu reactor -- the emergency core cooling system kicked in and the giant atom-splattering beast was brought to heel. There was much self-congratulatory huffing and puffing by Hydro officials in the weeks to come about how "everything worked" in an emergency. While -- thank God and the designers -- it was true this time around, the fact is that the automatic shutdown was the last line of defence. What kicked in, essentially, was the brake. And if it hadn't worked, there is no fall-back system. If it hadn't worked, the reactor would either have blown or melted. Take your pick. Them's the options. All the other Candu reactors have been built with an injection system that can pump a liquid neutron "poison" into the core, absorbing enough of the atom- smashing particles to stop a chain reaction, and do the job within two seconds. The reactors at Pickering were constructed 21 years ago, before the injection system had been dreamed up. In short, Pickering is the worst-designed nuclear power station in the country. Too bad it also happens to be surrounded by suburbs, complete with a cute little playground right next door and a popular picnicking beach to the west. By Monday, two days after the event, Hydro's media damage control system was up and running. Top PR gun Terry Young was manning the mikes, assuring all and sundry there was no risk to the public, there would be no increases in radioactive emissions, and it would just be a matter of time before Pickering was back to normal, even though, as a precaution, the three other reactors in the "A" section of the plant had been closed down. Terry's good at his job. On camera he manages to project a mix of humility and honesty that is refreshingly different from the cool arrogance of the engineering elite that actually runs the utility. He's got the slightly rumpled look of an old newsman. The only hint to be found of the pressure that he had to be under was in the bags under his slightly-haunted eyes. It was probably his inspiration to call a surprise press conference out at the plant on the Friday six days after the event, a press conference that could easily have become a disaster, since the plant's boss, Pierre Charlebois, had nothing to say except to admit that his team of iron-ringed geniuses still hadn't been able to figure out what made that pesky pressure relief valve open on its own. What saved the day, PR-wise, was the decision to truck us reporters and camerapersons out to the training control room where the Saturday night event was re-enacted. It was surreal, to say the least, watching these real-life control room operators acting out the drama, complete with flashing red lights on the monitors. It was, so far as I know, the first post-modern simulated nuclear near-catastrophe to be staged for the benefit of the cameras. I had some problems with the dialogue, having a hard time believing the operators hadn't uttered at least one tiny little expletive as the reactor went to hell in a handbasket. But the real-life event had successfully been turned into a media event. And I had to say to myself: boy, you Hydro guys are smoothies! Bob Hunter is a co-founder of Greenpeace and ecology specialist for CITY-TV. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available gopher://interlog.com eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Article 23440 of ont.general: Xref: utcsri ont.general:23440 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Election Date Guessing Game Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 19 Jan 1995 09:25:46 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 119 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3flspa$pqd@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 19 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK ELECTION DATE GUESSING GAME Only Bob Rae knows when he will call the provincial election. But one thing is for sure: he must call an election this year whether he wants to or not. The NDP is now halfway into its fifth year in office, becoming just the fourth government in Ontario history to stay in office longer than four years. Although governments can legally hold power for five years, the tradition of calling an election every four years (or less) has been broken only during times of national crisis: the First and Second World Wars and the Great Depression of the '30s. And now by Bob Rae. To try to find out when Rae will call the election, eye contacted the people who have been watching his every move -- the Queen's Park press gallery. Three scenarios are being talked about by the pundits at Queen's Park. The first group sees an early election call in March, with a vote in April or May. The second possibility would see a vote in June or July after the Qu‚bec referendum, which is expected in late June. The final scenario has Rae waiting until after Sept. 6, the day he was elected five years earlier. This would allow the more than 40 one-term MPPs in his caucus to qualify for a lifetime pension of about $11,000. The dean of the gallery, Eric Dowd, who has been at Queen's Park for more than 30 years, told eye, "I think he can go into the very late fall. I've always felt he would leave it as late as possible. A premier who has the power to call an election needs every minute of time that he can to improve his position." The Globe's James Rush disagrees. "I would think the least probable by far is a September call. That's a desperation scenario." He feels Rae's opponents would then to able to say "look at these greedy bastards -- they hung around just to get a pension. Nobody in the world would accept that." As for Rae staying in office during the Qu‚bec referendum, Rush points out that national issues didn't help former premier David Peterson in the 1990 election. "In fact, it was one of the negatives against him," Rush says. Jeff Harder of The Toronto Sun feels the election will be called somewhere between March 1 and June 30. "If he waits until after September, he will suffer the same defeat as the Tories did in 1993," said Harder. "People will be so angry that he stretched it to the last day." Harder thinks Rae will wait to see if the federal budget, expected in late February, is bad for Ontario. "And if it's truly a nasty budget, they can load that into their Howitzers and hit the campaign trail." Betsy Powell of Canadian Press predicts the election will be held June 8. "What are they going to do until September?" she asks. "What are they doing now? He's got to go in June, besides he wants to spend his summer at his cottage." Jim Coyle of the Ottawa Citizen also picks June 8. Richard Brennan of the Windsor Star agrees an early June vote is likely, although he wouldn't be surprised to see Rae wait until after the Qu‚bec referendum. "He sees himself as the savior of Canada. I wouldn't put it past him because he really fancies himself as Captain Canada." CITY-TV's Colin Vaughan also predicts a June vote, while Steve Paikin of TVO picks May 25 and Leslie Papp of The Star thinks the election will be held in May or June. Well, that clears things up. The political experts all agree the election will be held sometime this year. eye asked Toronto-based psychic Anthony Carr when he thinks the election will be held. "September rings a bell, or the Legislature may sit in September," Carr says. "It's definitely something to do with September." Next week eye asks our panel of professional pundits who they think will win the election -- whenever it's called. HARRIS GETS NEW SPIN DOCTOR Former reporter, political flack and public affairs consultant Paul Rhodes has joined the Mike Harris campaign as senior media adviser. This comes at a time when Harris can use all the help he can get. As the Legislative session ended last month, Harris got himself into trouble by misunderstanding a phony memo on the Internet and wrongly accusing the NDP of having a security problem. Rhodes, whose father was a Tory cabinet minister in the '70s, worked as press secretary to former PC leader Larry Grossman before moving to the Ontario Medical Association. Recently, he was with the Queen's Park lobby firm, G.P. Murray Research. "If I didn't think Harris could win this election, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing," Rhodes told eye. He thinks Harris can win because "he's got a plan that is do-able and makes sense. This will be the most interesting election that Ontario has faced in my memory because there is a distinct choice among the three leaders." As for Harris's recent gaffes, Rhodes said, "He's admitted his mistakes. If people are looking for perfection in their political leaders, I think they are setting standards that no one can maintain." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available gopher://interlog.com eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Article 23441 of ont.general: Xref: utcsri alt.drunken.bastards:4759 alt.society.revolution:4152 can.general:42645 ont.general:23441 soc.culture.canada:58600 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,soc.culture.canada,can.general,ont.general,alt.drunken.bastards,alt.society.revolution Subject: NAKED EYE: Canada -- A Third World Country Followup-To: eye.general,soc.culture.canada,can.general,ont.general,alt.drunken.bastards,alt.society.revolution Date: 19 Jan 1995 09:28:45 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 174 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3flsut$q6d@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com Summary: Free At Last! Free At Last! Thank God Almighty, We Are Free At Last! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 19 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NAKED EYE NAKED EYE AGAINST THE WALL, SENOR RAE Let's get revolting by "CHE" WILLIAM BURRILL Arriba! Viva la Revolucion! And pass the bananas! Canada is a Third World Country! It says so right here in this article from last week's Wall Street Journal. The highly respected and hardly-ever-disbelieved American financial rag says, and I quote, "Mexico is not the only neighbor flirting with the financial abyss. Turn around and check out Canada, which has now become an honorary member of the Third World ..." All right! P-A-R-T-Y! Now that we're officially a Third World nation we can stop worrying about being so proper and civilized. And we sure as hell don't have to be so democratic about the way we treat our political leaders. Everybody hates our elected officials, right? But what do we DO about it? When we were a First World nation we did nothing but moan and whimper and vote their asses out of office every four years. But fuck it. Why subject ourselves to four years of pure hell for nothing? We're not First World any more. We're not even Second World. We don't have to sit around and keep stiff upper lips drinking gin and tonics while our government weasels screw us around and tax us to death. (Drinking gin and tonics while keeping your lips stiff was never any fun anyway, because you tend to dribble all over your shirt. Try it.) Screw the civilized bullshit. * * * * As Third Worlders, all we have to do is have a revolucion whenever we get pissed off. We simply form an angry mob and storm, let's say for starters, Queen's Park. And we drag out Premier Bob Rae and whack his ass till his boots fly off. Then we beat him over the head with that goddam Casio piano he's always noodling on. THEN we line him up against the wall and force him to play a game called Russian Rae-Lette. One pistol. Six chambers. Five bullets. Spin 'em and take your chances, Bobby. I know the odds aren't very good but they sure beat the odds you've been feeding us with your stinking provincial sucker bets like Lotto 6/49 and Sports Select and those Scratch-Sniff-And-Throw-Away-On-The- Sidewalk tickets. Adios, amigo! Then it's on to City Hall, Parliament Hill, and assorted Bad Boy outlets located throughout the greater Metro area. It's time the running lackey dogs of the bourgeois oppressive regime are overthrown! You heard me, comrades: Che Burrill has spoken. It's damn well time we had a proper armed revolt in Canada. The United States was founded by revolution. In France they stormed the Bastille. Cuba had a really cool one with neat outfits. Mexico -- our Third World partner here in North America -- has had more revolutions than you could shake a Molotov cocktail at. You can't call yourselves true Third World citizens unless you act as revolting as possible. But us? A Canadian Revolution? Nada. Nunca! We're due! * * * * The best part about being Third World revolutionaries is we will now get to wear really trendy fatigues and berets and balaclavas and those crossed belts of ammo clips. And who doesn't look impressive with an AK-47 draped casually over his or her shoulder? We can even mount those 50-calibre machine guns on the backs of our jeeps and pick-up trucks and drive around drinking beer and spraying random shots in the air just for the hell of it. Who can stop us? Once we seize total control, we can even appoint ourselves to all kinds of bullshitty sounding official positions and have tailor-made uniforms with loads of medals and ribbons and peaked military caps with, like, half a pound of genuine tin-plated emblems on them. And smoke cigars and swagger and even have lots of parades and things. Of course we'll need an Official Revolutionary Slogan. Might I suggest "Otra cerveza, por favor!" Then we just sit back and let those foreign aid cheques roll in. I mean, why the hell is Canada -- a Third World country itself -- doling out billions to other fellow Third-Stringers (we even gave Mexico a couple of billion just last week to try to prop up the diving peso). To hell with that. It's time someone else starting firing the zillions our way. Who cares if the Loonie takes a massive header? We simply throw up a bunch of concrete resorts all over the place and wait for the fat, pasty-white gringos to arrive in their funny shorts and those shirts you can hear a block away. If you're really ambitious, you can wait in packs at the airport and when the gringos deplane, you grab their luggage before they have a chance to complain and announce firmly and with just a hint of threat: "Hello, I am William and I will be your guide here in Toronto." Then you drag them around to stores and restaurants that will give you a kickback for the business. Or else -- if you're lazy, like you really should be in a country this piss-poor -- you'll simply rip off their wallets and cameras when they're gawking at the CN Tower. * * * * We'll also have to put something in the water that gives tourists an instant but extremely serious case of The Shits. You know, the kind that leaves you walking around with maybe three feet of your lower intestinal tract popping out of the old poop-hole. Tourists expect this and we do not want to disappoint them. But I think we're pretty much more than halfway there already, if you've had a recent peek at Toronto Harbor. Those fish aren't floating for fun, you know. They're not sun tanning. Canada! It's a Third World Hell-Hole but it can be OUR Hell-Hole. One Hell-Hole undivided. A Hell-Hole for the people by the people. Oh Canada, our home and Third World Laaaannnddd!!! Hand us your cash and keep up your haaaaaaaaanndss!!!! I know this was all my idea and everything but please, please do not ask me to be your new President. I know what happens to politicians in a joint like this ... I think I'll take over the army instead. General "Che" Burrill. If this pans out I can sell a shitload of posters. Che Burrill with his beard and beret, urging on the downtrodden masses with his now infamous words: "Otra cerveza, por favor!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available gopher://interlog.com eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri alt.flame.landlord:473 tor.general:19010 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general,alt.flame.landlord Subject: NEWS N VIEWS: Saga of 347 Sorauren Ave Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,alt.flame.landlord Date: 19 Jan 1995 09:26:34 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 90 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3flsqq$ptq@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com Summary: Tenants vs Landlord ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 19 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS THE SAGA OF 347 SORAUREN by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST At a meeting held on Jan. 11, the 347 Sorauren Ave. Tenants Association squared off against their landlord, accusing Kevin Kenny of false advertising, lying, double-booking units, harassment, theft and terrorism. 347 Sorauren, set in Parkdale's industrial wasteland, was even called "a death trap" by one city councillor. The tenants, living or having signed up to live in the commercially zoned space without protection of the Landlord Tenant Act, got little satisfaction. Kenny, who refused to talk to the press, first insisted he had "always been willing to work with tenants," then tried stonewalling with, "You can't talk about that. That issue is before the courts!" As industrial space, 347 Sorauren is a white elephant. The building is owned by Melvin Brown and Rudy Brady, who jointly hold the mortgage, but on paper it's controlled by the 347 Sorauren Ave. Holding Company, of which Kenny is the president and acting landlord. It's typical of many plants and warehouses that sit empty in Parkdale, victims of the recession. Some of this real estate is being used by artists who have acquired cheap living units that also function as studios, by signing commercial leases. But they have no legal rights as tenants, which makes them easy prey for unscrupulous landlords. In April, 1994 Kenny began filling the building with artists. (It currently has 49 tenants, living in 26 units.) The deal was that the tenants would be provided with building supplies to convert the structure into personal living/working spaces. By May '94, tenants said they had no utilities, and building supplies were late. Units were chalk marks on the floor and wide open, the landlord refusing to provide security. One tenant, who had paid $1,000 in first and last month's rent for a secure space, discovered on move-in day that her unit had "no walls, no windows, no heat and no power." When she finally did move into a makeshift unit, she was broken into and robbed. The tenants told eye they got harassment and eviction threats when they raised these issues with the landlord. Jim Torma, the executive director of the Sorauren Ave. Tenants Association, said, "Eventually our terror of eviction [by the city] was overcome by the terror caused by the landlord," and in July called in the city. The Building Inspections Department saw that the building was a fire hazard, and told Kenny to make numerous improvements to make it safe. But to date he has done nothing, despite a court order. The root of the problem? Technically, the tenants are living in 347 Sorauren illegally. Near the end of the Jan. 11 meeting, a woman stood up to say her unit lacked basic features -- like windows. Kenny emphatically stated that she was not a tenant of 347. The woman's partner rose and said, "You're right, but how could we be? Our place has no heat, no water and no power. There's nothing there to be a tenant of." The tenants' association is pressuring Kenny to apply to rezone the land commercial/residential, but he has said, "I will only act on recommendations from the city." Normally it's up to the owner or landlord to apply for rezoning; the city won't make this type of recommendation. But at the Jan. 11 meeting, Curtis Sealock from Buildings Inspections blatantly told Kenny to apply for rezoning. Kenny said nothing. There's a lot of land in Parkdale that could be rezoned and leased to artists and craftspeople. This idea has received support from various city departments, as well as from Parkdale City Councillor Chris Korwin-Kuczynski. "It's an idea whose time has come," 347 Sorauren tenant Paul York told eye. If rezoning occurs, the tenants would be able to negotiate residential leases, which would put them in a much more powerful position. But until that happens, landlords like Kevin Kenny will still hold the best cards in the artists' live/work space game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available gopher://interlog.com eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:23704 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!sun.cais.com!news.cais.com!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Pundits predict close election Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 25 Jan 1995 11:04:06 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 117 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3g5spm$441@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 26 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK PUNDITS PREDICT CLOSE ELECTION Last week eye asked a group of Queen's Park pundits when the provincial election will be held. This week they were asked who will win. The main conclusion of our survey is that all three parties still have a chance to win as the huge lead the Liberals have held for the last two years evaporates in the heat of a campaign. "The fact that the Liberals are ahead right now really means nothing," says Colin Vaughan of CITY-TV. "Liberal support is going to drop and it will become a tight three-way race with Bob Rae having a shot at forming a minority government. "It can go any of three ways, but this one might boil down to a head-on contest between Harris and Rae. McLeod might fade a great deal. I just have a feeling she's not getting her campaign off the ground." "When you compare all three leaders, Rae's smarter than the others. His leadership will be the key issue," says Robin Smyth of Global TV. That's why Smyth thinks the NDP will win a minority government. "As angry as people are, they will examine the others and come back to Rae." But she cautions that in the last election, the only person on the campaign bus who guessed right was the bus driver. Steve Paikin of TVO agrees Rae is very much in the race. "He's a much better debater than the others and when people focus on the three leaders many will choose Rae. The intense dislike for the NDP that was out there a few months ago has gone." "Rae is down but not out," according to Leslie Papp of The Star. "Forget the polls. A new race starts as soon as people focus on the provincial election. Bob will benefit from the intensified focus. He's the most experienced, the best educated, he has good election trail instincts. And that could make the difference." "In the last federal election, people didn't think much of Jean Chr‚tien for two years until the election," Papp says. "Then they compared him to the others and he won. "Harris is prone to gaffes. So is McLeod. You never really know what Harris will say. He could say something absurd and blow it." On the other hand, syndicated columnist Eric Dowd feels that if Rae is in the race, he's a long way behind. "He will certainly go up and the NDP has a core vote who will say, `Well I hate to vote for Rae after what he did to us in the social contract, but he's the best of a bad lot.' " He also thinks it will be difficult for the Liberals to hold on to their lead. As for Harris, Dowd feels he is veering too far to the right and may be alienating moderate voters. Jim Rusk of The Globe thinks the race will get tighter but that the Liberals will probably hold on to form a minority government. "The election will not end up being a cakewalk for Lyn McLeod. Can Rae come back? I would think not. He might come back enough to frustrate a chance for anybody to form a majority government." "There's no way the Liberals can stay at more than 50 per cent," according to Jeff Harder of The Sun. "That's completely unrealistic and they'll tell you that themselves." But he also thinks it will be difficult for Rae to win again. "The NDP have done a brilliant job of alienating the 37 per cent that voted for them last time. NDP ministers are moaning and groaning about how hard it's going to be in opposition after they've been in government, but it's the Tories they see as the ones coming on strong." Betsy Powell of Canadian Press is predicting a Liberal minority. "Rae is improving but will not win. I don't think they're going to be wiped out like the federal Tories. McLeod's support is soft and I think Harris is going to improve. I would be really surprised if the PCs don't double their seats." "It will take a miracle of unknown proportions since Jesus Christ for Rae to win," says Richard Brennan of the Windsor Star. "People simply dismiss him. In the end McLeod will have the edge, but I think you're going to see a real dogfight. Her lead is like smoke, it could disappear, just like Peterson's did in the last election." "She may get knocked off by Harris. It's amazing how he's grown into the job. In the last election, he couldn't even shuffle his feet without falling over." Jim Coyle of the Ottawa Citizen feels it's a lot closer than the polls indicate but he's calling for a Liberal majority. "The Tories are a bit too out on the edge and I don't think Rae can win again. They've made too many enemies. They started each issue with a friend and an enemy and ended up with two enemies." As for Harris, "When he won the leadership I never thought it possible he could win, but now he could. However, it doesn't take much of a nudge to get him off the script and he could make a mistake. McLeod may be boring, but she is disciplined." eye also contacted Toronto-based psychic Anthony Carr, who predicted McLeod will win and the NDP will be reduced to just one seat. "It's not that the public is angry at Rae, they just don't care. For the same reason they voted him in, they are going to vote him out." After politics, Rae "becomes a kindergarten school teacher." Harris loses because he "says or does something dumb. It involves a woman with auburn or reddish-brown hair." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright Issues of eye in archive http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available gopher://interlog.com eye@interlog.com "Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri rec.music.misc:170145 soc.culture.canada:60388 tor.general:19523 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general,rec.music.misc,soc.culture.canada Subject: NAKED EYE: Blues For The Taxi Man Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,rec.music.misc,soc.culture.canada Date: 1 Feb 1995 11:44:21 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 181 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3godp5$j0r@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 2 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NAKED EYE NAKED EYE BLUES FOR THE TAXI MAN by WILLIAM BURRILL I was almost squashed flat by a speeding taxi the other day. This in itself would not even be worth mentioning -- it happens to all of us here in the Big City every day, right? -- if not for the fact that I was on the sidewalk at the time. I thought only bike couriers, skateboarders and festering roller-skater geeks had the legal right to flatten you on the sidewalk. (Technically, "sidewalks" are supposed to be the "side" of the street that is reserved for "walking," hence the name "side walk.") But who am I to stand in the way of a cab in a really big hurry? I've noticed that -- especially since Toronto has become an Official Third World City -- the cabbies are a changing breed. I hate to show my age but I remember a time when Toronto cabbies actually knew where they were going in the city and got you there without killing hardly anybody. There are still many fine cab drivers in this town, especially those who are bigger than me and read this column. But -- even regular cabbies have confessed this to me -- some of the New Breed of cabbies have no idea where they are going. Luckily they make up for it by going there really, really fast. Like I said, I'm not complaining. Shit, I'd rather flag down one of these Death Before Directions cabbies than find myself in the back seat with Harry Chapin crooning away behind the wheel (especially the way it turned out he drove, if you know what I mean). Far from whining, I'm ready to pay tribute to those who are willing to go boldly forth into streets completely unknown to them. In fact, I've actually picked up my trusty Martin D-35 guitar and written a song, called "The Lost Generation: T.O. Taxi Drivin' Blues," in honor of those cabbies who will stop at nothing (or for nobody) to get you where you are not going. Since this is in print, you probably can't actually hear any sounds coming off the page unless you've had a whole lot of beer. So let me explain that it's just your basic blues song. It is played in the chords of E, A and B, or, if they're not available, G, C and D. (For those just learning the guitar, use E-flat, A-flat, C-flat-sustained with an occasional H-sharp. This won't make the song sound any better but then again -- let's face it -- what will?) To sing along at home, simply do a couple of verses, then the chorus. Then repeat the verses. Then the chorus. Repeat until the song is over or you blow actual chunks. Note: Don't worry too much about the tune because, believe me, I didn't. It goes sort of like this. And a one and a two and a ... THE LOST GENERATION: T.O. TAXI DRIVIN' BLUES: By WILLIAM BURRILL (Copyright, Travellin' Will Burrilly Music, 1995) Speedfreak out on Queen St. Lookin' pretty wired He may not be too sleepy But he's about to get tired Padre at the crosswalk In his priestly gown Just had time to cross himself Before I ran him down (Chorus) I'm Drivin' Drivin' my taxi I'm Drivin' Got the pedal to the maxi The streets are too narrow The traffic is too thick My temper's too short And the people ain't too quick Jogger in the Beaches Tryin' to get slender I flattened out his tummy When I nailed him with my fender Busker on the sidewalk Singin' out of tune He better look "sharp" Or he'll "B-flat" real soon! (Repeat chorus) Pimple-poppin' pizza boy Chompin' on some pasta Gonna be his last meal If he don't move no fasta A lesson for you students Thinkin' force 'n' matter If an object is immovable It's bound to get splattered (Repeat chorus, followed by simply incredible slide guitar lead by George Thorogood, or if he's too busy, David Wilcox, if we can find him.) Hate them neo-hippies In their platform heels Love to hear the clatter When they hear my rubber squeal! Put it into high gear When I see street mimes They never make a sound Coz I never give 'em time! (Repeat chorus) Macho man just standin' there As if he owns the place But he don't look so tough With those skidmarks on his face Package tour from Tokyo Tryin' to snap my photo Last good shot they got Was a closeup of my moto' (Repeat chorus) At the Farmer's Market Where people go to shop I took a little shortcut And it was a bumper crop! Sorry 'bout those schoolkids It was a small mistake I didn't have the green light But I didn't have no brakes (Repeat chorus) Got a fare at John Street Tryin' to get to Peter Got a dozen kills And 12 bucks on my meter Those eye writers are crafty Even when hungover You have to take the sidewalk Just to try 'n' run 'em over (Repeat chorus, rinse and spit -- and always look both ways before you cross the sidewalk) HEMINGWAY TOOK CABS TOO: Speaking of Lost Generations, and we just were, if you recall, please tune in to Ziggy Lorenc's show, Life On Venus Ave., tomorrow (Feb. 3) on CITY-TV at 3 p.m. for a one-hour special, featuring me, offering a guided tour of the sights, highlights and slightly fuzzy insights that went into the making of my new book, Hemingway, The Toronto Years. It's everywhere... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:24472 talk.environment:27000 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!sun.cais.com!news.cais.com!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,talk.environment,ont.general Subject: ENVIRO: Hazardous Materials Management Followup-To: eye.general,talk.environment,ont.general Date: 9 Feb 1995 15:27:21 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 120 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3hdtr9$1dl@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 9 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRO ENVIRO MUCKRACKING IN GOVERNMENT WONDERLAND by BOB HUNTER If you wanted an un-sexy name for a magazine, you could hardly do better than Hazardous Materials Management: The Canadian Publication of Pollution Prevention and Control (the word "Canadian" being the capper). Would it be a stretch to describe such a magazine as muckraking? Not at all. And in the finest tradition. Hazardous Materials Management editor-in-chief Guy Crittenden has probably earned himself a red-flagged file in the ministries of natural resources, environment and energy, and municipal affairs, all at one blow, with an article in the current issue titled "Through The Looking Glass." The piece rips all three ministries for incompetence, arrogance, bungling and just plain craziness -- it's a delightful read, unless you happen to be a New Democrat or bureaucrat in any one of these three Wonderlands. In Crittenden's own words: "Ad hockery and reactionism dominate the decision- making process, and would-be intervenors can largely be ignored ... People are being harassed, charged, taxed and propagandized, but the environment is just getting worse." Crittenden argues that the NDP's vaunted Environmental Bill of Rights is a crock. It gives us a new bureaucracy and red tape, but we "lost our old rights to stop landfills and subdivisions being built on farmland, aquifers and wetlands." Under the NDP, we also "got the Interim Waste Authority with its huge costs and staff, but no new disposal options. We got the Planning Act (Bill 163), but, according to the Urban Development Institute, `no recognizable, identifiable program to promote and accommodate growth projections.' " The scope of Crittenden's expose is rather breathtaking. The Alice-in- Wonderland metaphor is particularly apt, given the contradictions between the reality of what is happening to Ontario's environment, and the bland and oh-so- sincere pronouncements from the various ministers involved, such as Bud Wildman and Howard Hampton. One of Crittenden's examples of bureaucratic madness will be familiar to readers of this space: the bone-headed vindictiveness of the natural resources ministry's pursuit of Paul and Maria Heissler (slight error, Guy, you referred to her as Mary -- details, details), the Frankfurt farming couple who got busted for trying to clean up Cold Creek but did it at far less cost to the public purse, and far more effectively, than the grandiose engineering plan put forward by MNR honchos bent over their computers, who wouldn't know a cow pie from a flow chart. At the Ministry of Environment and Energy, "the left hand often isn't talking to the right," Crittenden writes. "To complicate matters, the district offices each have their own interpretation of the regulations. Policies are supposed to fill in gaps between the regulations, but are inconsistent from one region to the next. Internal policies are to be followed by companies that are not allowed to see the internal policies." Under the Environmental Protection Act, the Investigations and Enforcement Branch (IEB) has become a sort of rogue mercenary squad with more powers than cops under the Police Act. "The IEB officers ... have complete discretion as to who they'll prosecute ... since they're acting on the perogative of the Queen, they have no motivation to drop charges." Thus, you have the thoroughly absurd situation where big companies operating under Certificates of Approval have a "due diligence" defence available to them, which makes them difficult to prosecute, while small-scale recyclers feel the full brunt of the ministry's prosecutory zeal, and are constantly being nailed for minor infractions of paperwork. In one case, a recycling firm that had 2,500 manifests pass through its hands in six months was taken to court because of eight minor paperwork infractions. During the costly trial, it was pointed out that the ministry's own written charges contained three substantial errors. Oops! "So much," Crittenden remarks bitterly, "for promoting recycling in Ontario." At the other end of the scale, under former environment minister Ruth Grier, the government rewrote Regulation 347 to create a general exemption from the Environmental Assessment Act, which used to be mandatory in the case of any hazardous or large-scale waste processing facility. By this Machiavellian manoeuvre, Grier hacked off the one mechanism opponents of various landfills across the province had to fall back on. She also rigged the Waste Management Act (Bill 143), which was supposed to promote the 3 R's but of course became a shield behind which the lugubrious Interim Waste Authority could begin to squander $65 million (so far) in its politically-doomed quest to site three hugely unpopular landfills on the rich agricultural soil north of Toronto, while resolutely shutting out any discussion of alternatives, such as incineration or shipping to Kirkland Lake. Crittenden notes: "Ever cautious with the taxpayers' money, the IWA has spent $14 million studying the same parcel of land for a dump in Pickering that the Ministry of Housing just spent $4.2 million studying for a housing project." The environment ministry continues to insist that engineers can build modern landfills that will never leak, but, as Metro Works Commissioner Bob Ferguson flatly states, such a perfect landfill site is impossible to construct. "They all leak," he shrugs. Curiouser and curiouser, wouldn't you say? Bob Hunter is a co-founder of Greenpeace and ecology specialist for CITY-TV. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:24473 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!sun.cais.com!news.cais.com!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Don't Touch My Perks Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 9 Feb 1995 15:28:03 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 129 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3hdtsj$1fv@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 9 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK DON'T TOUCH MY PERKS Education Minister Dave Cooke recently chastised the Toronto school board for giving defeated trustees $2,000 in severance pay for every year of service to a maximum of $24,500. But what Cooke failed to point out was that he was one of a select group of MPPs from all parties who approved a package of perks for defeated MPPs that makes the school board look like relatives of Ebenezer Scrooge. If MPPs quit or are defeated, after one day on the job, they now get a cheque for $21,000. That's the minimum. On top of that, if they have more than 12 years of service, like Cooke, they hit the jackpot -- taking home $42,000, based on one month's salary for each year of service. And that's only the beginning. After just five years in office, MPPs get a lifetime pension of 25 per cent of their salary when their age and years of service equal 55. This escalates to 75 per cent after 15 years in the Legislature. And, unlike the working stiffs who pay for these perks through their taxes, MPPs made sure their pension is based only on their best three years' pay. In other words, because Cooke has made $72,000 a year as a cabinet minister for the last three years, his cash-for-life pension will total $54,000 a year, starting the day after he gets a going-away present of $42,000 from taxpayers. He also gets free medical, drug and dental coverage for life and up to $7,000 to hire an "out-placement" specialist to help him write his r‚sum‚ so he can get a real job. Cooke may soon see defeated school board trustees from across the province lining up at Queen's Park complaining that they deserve the same as defeated MPPs. BATTLE OF THE STARS As the provincial election gets closer, battles are shaping up in several Metro ridings, with the outcome in these seats likely an indication of which party will win the election. In St. Andrew-St. Patrick, which includes the Annex and Forest Hill, the Liberal candidate is Carolyn Bennett, a family doctor who is up against PC media personality Isabel Bassett. Bassett ran in the last federal election and was buried by the Chr‚tien tide that swept over Ontario. The NDP are looking for someone to replace former cabinet minister Zanana Akande, who quit Queen's Park over the way Bob Rae dealt with her friend Carlton Masters. For the last 50 years, this riding has elected an MPP to the party that wins on election night. In the midtown Eglinton riding, the PCs have nominated Bay St. financier Bill Saunderson to run against Liberal incumbent Diane Poole, the diminutive MPP who won a narrow victory over her Tory opponent in 1990. Saunderson, a seasoned backroom politician, has served as a senior fundraiser and organizer for Brian Mulroney, Joe Clark, David Crombie and Art Eggleton. He should be able to outspend Poole by a sizeable margin. Poole, one of just three Liberals who voted in favor of same-sex benefits last year, is an excellent grassroots organizer who surprised the pundits when she came from nowhere to win the Liberal nomination from former mayor June Rowlands. Liberals are also taking aim at two ridings they lost to the PCs in North Metro in 1990. In York Mills, millionaire-lobbyist David MacNaughton is taking on incumbent David Turnbull. Turnbull has been telling supporters he is delighted MacNaughton is in the race, and is amazed by the number of people who dislike lobbyists. Meanwhile in Willowdale, Les Scheininger, formerly the national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, is seeking the Liberal nomination to run against PC Charles Harnick. Willowdale, with a sizable Jewish vote, elected Liberal Gino Matrundola before he was defeated by Harnick. EVERYONE HATES THE FEDS With the federal government poised to bring down the most unpopular budget in Canadian history, all three parties at Queen's Park are falling over each other to say how awful those folks in Ottawa are. First off the mark to do some fed-bashing was Premier Bob Rae, who warned Chr‚tien not to cut transfer payments for social services and universities. Next came Mike Harris, who urged both Rae and Liberal leader Lyn McLeod to join in a united appeal against tax increases. "Despite evidence that higher taxes will damage the recovery and kill jobs, signals persist that Ottawa will soon pick the pockets of middle-class Ontario again." It didn't take long for McLeod to say "me too," and attempt to put some distance between herself and her Liberal cousins on Parliament Hill. Within a week of the Harris appeal, she also warned the Prime Minister not to raise taxes. LIBERAL FAMILY VALUES While McLeod is trying to straddle the centre of the political spectrum, one of her backbenchers wants the Liberal party to move to the right and espouse family values. In a newsletter to the voters of Ottawa South, Liberal MPP Dalton McGuinty says "no legislation should pass if it causes harm to families." He also says "our tax policies should not be discouraging families," and "government must encourage family members of all ages to assume responsibility for each other wherever possible." McGuinty's bottom line is that "we simply cannot afford to have our government take on the role of the family." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:24589 Path: utcsri!utnut!nott!cunews!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Any Spare Change, Mr Harris? Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 15 Feb 1995 12:59:57 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 130 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3htfet$965@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 16 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK ANY SPARE CHANGE, MR. HARRIS? If money helps to win elections, Mike Harris and the PC Party are well on their way to forming the next government in Ontario. Recently released numbers show that the PCs raised almost $4 million, more than the Liberals and NDP combined. In addition, millions more was raised by local riding associations according to PC campaign manager Leslie Noble. She also told eye that most of the donations to the party came from individuals, although the PC fundraising committee includes Bay St. notables like Bob Schultz, the head of Midland Walwyn, John Eaton and real estate mogul J.J. Barniche. "Two-thirds of the $3.9 million came from individuals and the rest from businesses," says Noble. The NDP and Liberals have not released their numbers and don't have to file them with the Election Finances Commission until May, but eye has learned that the Liberals raised just over $1 million. And contributions to the NDP have dropped off dramatically from the $1.7 million raised in 1993. However, despite their success in raising money, the PCs still have a debt from previous elections that totals $2.2 million, while the other two parties are debt- free. Instead of paying off their debt, Noble says the PCs spent most the money they raised last year getting organized for the election. Included in their spending was an undisclosed amount to advertise and promote the Mike Harris Common Sense Revolution. They also opened an office and hired 20 new organizers, including Pauline Browes, a former Mulroney cabinet minister from Scarborough. PIANO ROLL BLUES Bob Rae and his Liberal opponent in the next election in the riding of York South, musician Haygood Hardy, attended their first election-style event recently. There was a piano in the room and Premier Rae couldn't resist the urge to perform. He sat down and played a workmanlike version of "You Are My Sunshine" to a round of polite applause. Hardy then played his million-selling version of "The Homecoming" and got a standing ovation. As the battle of the pianists heats up, this could be a sign of things to come. NON-PARTY PARTY PC insiders are getting worried about a breakaway group of Reform Party supporters who are planning to run candidates in the provincial election. The Reform Association of Ontario, headed up by pollster Kim Ainslie of London, has members in 65 ridings and intends to run as many candidates as it can. Although Preston Manning's Reform Party of Canada defeated a resolution last fall to get involved in Ontario politics, the London-based group is going ahead anyway. Ainslie's group could pose a serious threat to Harris' chances in the election if enough right-wing voters support them instead of Harris. The Ontario PCs have deliberately been taking right-wing positions on several issues like welfare and tax cuts to appeal to Reform voters. In the 1993 federal election, Reform came second to the winning Liberals in more than half of the 99 ridings and cut deeply into traditional Tory support. Although the new group is not an officially recognized party and is not entitled to use the name Reform, they intend to have their candidates run as independents on a reform-minded platform. A PC insider told eye: "If these guys don't think Harris is right-wing enough already, they must be really loopy." A recent Toronto Star-Environics poll showed that 6 per cent of Ontarians are prepared to vote for Reform in Ontario. This could make the difference for the PCs between winning and losing in several tight races across the province. PHANTOM RADAR Several phantom "radar vans" are patrolling the major highways throughout Metro and pretending to be OPP vans taking pictures of speeding motorists, according to a government insider. The OPP have received several complaints from motorists about vans coming alongside of them and having flash-bulbs go off in their faces as occupants of the vans take pictures of speeding drivers. Police have assured those who have complained that the real OPP vans do not chase speeders, they just take pictures of their licence plates from the side of the road. Privately, some police officers are happy to have these vigilante vans helping them slow down speeders, but the Treasurers office is unhappy because no tickets are issued and no money is collected. Meanwhile, another OPP impersonator is prowling Highway 404 (the Don Valley extension) in a car and stopping speeders. In three incidents, a white, medium-sized car flashes its high beams to get the speeder to stop. Dressed in plain clothes, the flasher he then tells the speeding driver he will accept cash instead of issuing a ticket. One person gave him $5. Metro police are investigating. TRANSITION PLANS The grapevine at the Ontario public service is buzzing with rumors about who will replace Bob Rae's friend and campaign manager David Agnew as head of the public service under a Liberal or PC government. Head man under a Liberal government is expected to be Peter Barnes, now deputy minister at economic development or Richard Dicerni, deputy of environment. If the Tories win, the top job will likely go to former Hydro boss Tom Campbell or former GTA deputy Gardner Church, who was exiled to York University by Bob Rae when he took over power. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri can.politics:67990 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!news.moneng.mei.com!uwm.edu!msunews!gmi!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,can.politics Subject: SPACE FOR RANT: Debt Revisited Followup-To: eye.general,can.politics Date: 15 Feb 1995 12:56:26 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 61 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3htf8a$8pg@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 16 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPACE FOR RANT SPACE FOR RANT SO WHO DO YOU THINK IS PAYING? by MICHAEL SIDNEY Re: Jason Reid's "Make the rich boomers pay," Space for Rant, Feb. 9. Is this publication naive or what? Not only have the most recent "rants" been tiresome and trivial at best, but -- what a shock -- now you're printing articles that relate unrelated principles and ill-conceived propositions to serious problems like our debt and tax burdens. Jason Reid's is a perfect example of a piece printed merely because it has a snide, rebellious attitude and speaks out against that "most hated" of citizens, the successful businessman. All right, in the first place, in its so-called "zeal" (we are talking about Canadian governments in the last 20 years, aren't we?), to cut our undeniably huge deficit, the Canadian government has promised to stop raising taxes on every level. They won't. Where I lose patience is when some naive (and usually lib-left) young person who wants to major in basket-weaving (or major in science, for that matter) whines that tax equity, or in this case, "user pay," should apply to everybody. I've got news for you, Jason -- it is applied to everybody. I've got more news for you. The more you make (e.g., "rich boomers"), the more you pay. If you're smart enough or resourceful enough to be successful at your own business, shouldn't the amount of education you have be irrelevant? And your age? When I read Reid's comments about taxing people according to age, I blew my stack. In the first place, that's the way it is now, anyway. In the second place, it's discriminatory. One of the main problems with this country (and there are many) is that everyone thinks that they're owed something. Why should a generation be forced to foot the bill for our government's incompetence at controlling expenditure? Why should people who have worked hard all of their lives and toiled to send their own children through college be forced to pay out even more money for other people's children? This type of taxation idea is unfair for dozens of reasons. Unfortunately and ironically, the situation that Reid is so enamored with (if he's serious) is practically being adhered to already. Maybe there should be a surtax on stupidity. There would be a huge windfall from Ottawa, and from young pseudo-intellectuals. Hop on your soapbox and tell us what's bugging you. We might even run your words in this space. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri rec.arts.movies.reviews:3274 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!winternet.com!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,rec.arts.movies.reviews Subject: ON SCREEN: The Brady Bunch Movie Followup-To: eye.general,rec.arts.movies Date: 22 Feb 1995 11:25:06 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 54 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3ifoh2$7qo@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 23 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ON SCREEN ON SCREEN THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE (2 of 5) Starring Shelley Long, Gary Cole and Michael McKean. Screenplay by Laurice Elehwany, Rick Copp, Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner. Directed by Betty Thomas. (PG) by CAROLYN BENNETT "How would you like to see the The Brady Bunch Movie?" asked my editor. "The Brady Bunch Movie? Would I? Would I." Skulking out of the theatre in a foul mood after seeing the aforementioned, I seriously considered switching careers and punishing myself with an undergraduate degree in engineering. Eighty-nine minutes of self-referential jokes, labored parody and wide lapels felt more like 20 years on a desert island (and what would that island be? Gilligan's!). Help! We're being held hostage by our old TV viewing habits. Pass the cyanide! The Brady Bunch Movie is a Saturday Night Live sketch gone bad (excuse the redundancy). Writing for half-hour sitcoms and writing for feature-length films are two very different crafts that rarely cross over. Sure enough, after 22 minutes, The Brady Bunch Movie falls apart. How many scenes of the Brady kids convening and Greg saying, "How do we get out of this jam?" can a viewer take? The re-creation of the series is marvelous, I'll give it that. The house and backyard radiate '70s middle class and each actor looks almost identical to the original cast member. Innocence intact and donning loud polyester clothes, the Bradys exist in a time-warp alongside the hard, mean '90s. Never do the two gel though, which undermines the parody. Instead of satire, what we get are catchphrases and ideas not properly executed. Your eyes will glaze over quickly. I do not understand The Brady Bunch's cult following, nor do I want to. Brady Bunch devotees will probably like this movie. People with enough biochemical juice to fire a synapse will not. Far out, man. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:24799 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!uunet.ca!uunet.ca!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Drug company hoses Bob Rae Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 22 Feb 1995 10:53:59 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 109 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3ifmmn$3pl@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 23 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK DRUG COMPANY HOSES BOB RAE Back in 1992, according to Toronto Star columnist Tom Walkom in his book Rae Days, the NDP dropped its opposition to a federal law that would increase patent protection given to brand-name drugs in return for new jobs in Ontario. Eli Lilly, one of the largest drug companies in the world, promised to add 150 new jobs at its manufacturing plant in Scarborough if Rae changed his mind on the federal law. Although backing off would end up costing the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan millions of dollars in higher cost brand-name drugs, Rae agreed. The new jobs never materialized. eye has learned that not only will the new jobs never be created, but 200 existing jobs at the Eli Lilly plant in Scarborough will also disappear. Senior management at Eli Lilly's head office in Indianapolis has decided to move all drug manufacturing jobs from Scarborough to Indiana or Puerto Rico. But the official announcement will not be made for six or eight months, which will end up being after the next provincial election and thus save Bob Rae more embarrassment over his flip-flop on drug patent protection. JOBS ONTARIO Almost every day now, there is another announcement of new jobs created by Bob Rae's much-touted JobsOntario program, which has been roundly criticized by the opposition parties at Queen's Park. Here are some recent examples of the projects getting government funds. The Toronto-based African Oracle Support Group got a grant of $42,000 to renovate and equip a studio to design, produce and sell clothing with a distinctive African look. The Perth Theatre got $540,000 to "revitalize the town's economy" by renovating a historic building to house a rehearsal hall, theatre storage space and administrative offices and to construct "the Crystal Palace," a farmers/artisans market built from reassembled sections of Ottawa's Rideau Street Pedestrian Mall (which Ottawa scrapped). The Lakewood Credit Union, near Red Lake in Northern Ontario, got $210,000 to establish a credit union. These projects look a lot like old-fashioned pork-barrel politics leading up to an election. If there was a market for clothes with a distinctive African look, why would a government grant be needed? Does Bob Rae really believe that recycling a pedestrian mall from Ottawa to Perth will revitalize the town's economy? And if there was a need for a credit union in Lakewood, people would line up to make their deposits without government grants of $210,000. TRANSITION PLANS The grapevine at the Ontario public service is buzzing with rumors about who will replace Bob Rae's friend and campaign manager David Agnew as head of the public service under a Liberal or PC government. Head man under a Liberal government is expected to be Peter Barnes, now deputy minister at economic development or Richard Dicerni, deputy of environment. A Liberal insider told eye they might reach outside the public service to get someone from business to take on the role of restructuring government. Former Peterson cabinet minister John Sweeney has been appointed by Lyn McLeod to head up the Liberal transition team if they win this year's election. If the Tories win, the top job will likely go to former Hydro boss Tom Campbell or former GTA deputy Gardner Church, who was exiled to York University by Bob Rae when he took over power. A PC insider says they have talked to lots of people but have make promised to no one and intend to return a sense of professionalism to the public service. Former chair of Ernst & Young Bill Farlinger is heading up the PC transition team. The first task facing both the Tories and the Liberals will be replacing hundreds of NDP flacks and personal friends of the Premier, including almost 30 deputy minister level appointees. A Liberal insider says: "We have a list and we intend to search out Rae's cronies." LIBERAL FAMILY VALUES While Lyn McLeod is trying to straddle the centre of the political spectrum, one of her backbenchers wants the Liberal party to move to the right and espouse family values. In a newsletter to the voters of Ottawa South, Liberal MPP Dalton McGuinty says that "no legislation should pass if it causes harm to families." He also says "our tax policies should not be discouraging families," and "government must encourage family members of all ages to assume responsibility for each other wherever possible." McGuinty's bottom line is that "we simply cannot afford to have our government take on the role of the family." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri tor.general:20746 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: GET OFF YOUR ASS! -- March 2 Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 28 Feb 1995 17:27:59 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 62 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3j081f$176@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 2 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GET OFF YOUR ASS! GET OFF YOUR ASS! IMAGINE THE FREEDOM from pesky censorship by MALENE ARPE Freedom To Read Week continues until Sunday (March 5), giving us ample time to make it clear that censors, be they religious or left wing or Conservatives or so-called feminists, should get their clammy hands off our reading material. Saturday (March 4) at 10:30 a.m., 20 local children's authors and illustrators will begin a reading marathon of Kevin Major's Hold Fast, just one of many books deemed unsuitable by those who think they know what's best for the rest of us. This event takes place at The Canadian Children's Book Centre, 35 Spadina Rd. For more childish info, please call 975-0010. Sunday (March 5), 8 p.m. at The Idler Pub, 255 Davenport Rd., Lynn Crosbie, Jill Batson, Allan Briesmaster, Peter McPhee and Eddy Yanofsky will take part in Forbidding Texts: An Evening Of Uncovered Covers by reading from banned and censored texts. Call 767- 8362 for more unabashed info. And don't forget to re-read 120 Days Of Sodom and Huck Finn. TALKING TRASH Here is your very own chance to tell Metro councillors and planners what you think should be done about the ever-increasing garbage crisis in your neighborhood. Talk About Garbage takes place tomorrow, (March 3), from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Metro Hall Council Chambers, 55 John St. How to reduce, how to dispose and how to avoid having that pesky landfill installed right outside your bedroom window are topics of discussion. For more grimy info, please call 392-4200. PARADE OF POLLUTED POLITICIANS Clean Air, Clean Water: Where Do The Three Parties Stand? is the topic for the next free forum Wednesday (March 8) at the St. Lawrence Centre, 27 Front St. E., where Environment Minister Bud Wildman, Liberal environment critic Steven Offer and Conservative environment critic David Tilson will be falling over their own feet to assure us that their party is the cleanest and that they will be able to restore the province to shiny, healthy pristineness. Author Marjorie Lamb and eye's very own green giant Bob Hunter will be asking nasty, probing questions. The fun starts at 7:30 p.m. Call 366-1656 for more leafy info. To have your action listed in this space please call 971-8421 x. 226. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:25012 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Don't worry, be healthy -- and vote NDP Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 28 Feb 1995 17:27:24 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 117 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3j080c$14j@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 2 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK DON'T WORRY, BE HEALTHY -- AND VOTE NDP The TV ads show lots of smiling faces and the voiceover coos, "There are many reasons to smile if you live in Ontario," while in the background the music is a subdued version of "The Sunny Side Of The Street." But what exactly are the ads selling? The so-called message of these slick, expensive government ads is that sometime during the next five years, residents of Ontario have to replace their red and white health cards with ones that have photos, just like the provincial driver's licence. And the publicity campaign will cost $5.4 million, including TV ads, newspaper ads and a four-color brochure delivered to each household in the province. Even more remarkable is the fact that $3.2 million is being spent in just two months -- February and March -- to tell us over and over again how good it is to live in Ontario. Don't be surprised if these ads are followed by an election in April or May, with Premier Bob Rae and the NDP telling us "there are many reasons to smile if you vote NDP." That's the real message behind this massive, unnecessary advertising blitz. Under normal, non-election conditions, a boring flyer could be distributed through doctors' offices and hospitals telling us about the new card. But these are not normal times at Queen's Park. A PC insider said these feel-good ads are in direct contrast to the "mean, visceral ads the NDP have been running for four years on drunk driving, anti-smoking, AIDS, wife abuse and deadbeat dads. There must be an election coming for them to change their tone." The ad campaign for the health cards is so politically charged that even the agency that produced the ads them won't talk about them. Tom Russell, an account executive at Harrod and Mirlin, the small Toronto firm responsible for the campaign, told eye, "We were asked not to speak to the press about anything ... There's been a fair amount of negative press." When asked who instructed them not to speak to the press, Russell said he got these orders from Philip Carter at the Ministry of Health. "He's been our regular contact throughout the process," Russell said. Carter, a former NDP political staffer, has been assistant director of communications for the health ministry for the last year, spending a lot of his time coordinating the health card project. Before working in the government, Carter was at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). He left there to become executive assistant to Bob Rae's first energy minister, Jenny Carter (no relation), and then became executive assistant to Rae's friend Marc Eliesen when he was head of Ontario Hydro. Carter told eye he got his first job with the NDP because: "I was good at what I did. I worked for a union and I was active in politics before I went to work in the government." Another link in the poltical chain is Norm Simon, Rae's former spin doctor, now vice-president of public affairs at Hydro and chairman of the advertising review board, which approved hiring Harrod and Mirlin. Ironically, Carter's immediate boss at Health, director of communications Rhea Cohen, is suddenly no longer there. Cohen was unceremoniously escorted out of her office last month shortly after a fight with Carter. Other government employees have told eye that Carter and Cohen were constantly feuding and that her departure was connected with those disputes. Reached at her home, Cohen would not comment on her sudden departure from her job or on her relationship with the politically well-connected Carter. When asked if he had any disagreements with his former boss over the health card advertising contract, Carter said, "Whatever discussions we would have had, would have been professional and I think we worked together and produced ads that I think people think are doing the job very well." eye has also learned that the contract to produce the health cards was given to EDS Canada without a tender. A year earlier, EDS, which was sold to General Motors by Ross Perot in 1984, won out over 13 other companies to produce 6.5 million new driver's licences for the Ministry of Transportation. But when it came time for the health ministry to order up 11 million health cards, they didn't see the need to get competitive bids. They simply went to EDS and gave them the order. The combined contracts from the two ministries are worth $30 million. Nicole Loretta of EDS Canada told eye, "One of the advantages of our solution (no bids) was that we minimized the actual cost of the set-up of the network," because they were already doing a similar contract with the transportation ministry. They also saved the NDP the time and effort of opening and reviewing bids from other companies. Perot, if he still owned EDS, would probably approve of doing this kind of un-tendered business with Bob Rae. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:25227 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!in1.uu.net!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Rae Scared Silly By Fed Budget Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 7 Mar 1995 15:50:23 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 111 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3jiguf$820@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 9 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK BOB RAE SCARED SILLY BY FEDERAL BUDGET Most analysts at Queen's Park predicted that Premier Rae would attack the federal budget as soon as it was released, but no one predicted that he would lower himself to the kind of scare tactics he's using. Some time ago, Rae and his spin doctors decided that his best re-election strategy was to attack the federal budget in the hope that Ontario voters would blame provincial Liberal leader Lyn McLeod and vote for Rae. The problem is that a recent Angus Reid survey shows that 78 per cent of Ontario voters like the federal budget, the highest level of support of any province in the country. As a result, Rae's strategy is off the rails. A key advisor to Liberal leader Lyn McLeod told eye: "Rae's spin doctors must be in cardiac arrest by now." Undeterred by public support for the federal budget, Rae let his well-known penchant for hyperbole get out of control in a diatribe against the feds at the nomination meeting of his beleaguered health minister, Ruth Grier. (Perhaps he was trying to out-blarney the Dublin-born Ms Grier.) After saying that the federal budget would cost Ontario $1.4 billion next year, Rae proceeded to invoke images of death and destruction for provincial programs which he blamed on the feds. Rae laid out a smorgasbord of bad-news scenarios. The federal cuts would: eliminate 56,000 nursing home beds; or force all 20 of the hospitals in Toronto to close; or close all the community colleges in the province; or close all the universities in Toronto and eastern Ontario; or eliminate grants to 861 schools in the Greater Metro Area; or cut welfare payments by 20 percent. Take your pick. The perceived political advantage of this kind of across the board scare- mongering is that Rae can use these examples anywhere in the province during an election -- senior citizens, welfare recipients, students, parents and everyone who uses hospitals -- will all be hurt by those nasty Liberals in Ottawa. And it won't be long before Rae trots out these scary scenarios in every city and town in Ontario. In North York or Kitchener, Rae will say, the local hospital will close if people vote for Lyn McLeod and her friends in Ottawa. In Windsor or Ottawa, he might say the local university will close and welfare cutbacks will force single mothers to choose between paying the rent and feeding their children. But wait a minute -- wasn't it Bob Rae who accused Liberal leader David Peterson of scare-mongering during the last election when Peterson said babies would be dying in the streets if the NDP were elected? Scaring voters didn't work for Peterson and it won't work for Rae. A senior advisor to Mike Harris told eye: "It's sad to see that Rae is prepared to sink as low as Peterson." The more things change the more they stay the same. OSSTF BARKS NEW TUNE Liz Barkley, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), is singing a new tune now that her former friends in the NDP appear headed for political oblivion. She recently told a group of incredulous high school teachers that she has never been politically aligned and that she is prepared to work with whichever party wins the next election. Some of the teachers who heard Barkley claim that she is politically neutral recalled that during the last election the OSSTF openly campaigned against the incumbent Liberal government and targeted several prominent Liberals for defeat. The OSSTF's political action in the 1990 election was successful and many of the targeted Liberals were defeated. As a result, Barkley was taking credit for helping to elect the Rae government for months after the election. Shortly after the election, Barkley held a big celebration attended by her friends Bob and Arlene Rae. Liberal campaign co-chairman John Ronson told eye that Barkley's claim of political neutrality was "breathtaking." The bad news for Barkley and the OSSTF is that the Liberal MPPs they helped to defeat are coming back and they remember who put them out of office. Among the targeted Liberals who are running again are Chris Ward, Shirley Collins and Doug Reycraft. All three will likely end up in a Lyn McLeod cabinet if the Liberals win and they won't have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the OSSTF leadership. Ironically, all three have strong local teacher support, especially Reycraft, who is an ex-teacher. Some of Barkley's own rank-and-file union members are starting to wonder out loud about her leadership. They are beginning to suggest that a new leader is needed. They are also starting to ask why the OSSTF executive needs two private jets and why the union buys several thousands of bottles of their own private label wine each year. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri talk.environment:29053 tor.general:21635 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general,talk.environment Subject: NEWS: Fill The Breast! Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,talk.environment Date: 15 Mar 1995 13:14:45 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 45 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3k7aql$ig8@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 16 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ROLLING EYE ROLLING EYE FILL THE BREAST! by ELISA KUKLA At noon last Wednesday (March 8), a giant breast was unveiled on the steps of the Royal Ontario Museum. Three metres in diameter, the pink papier-mach‚ bosom was filled with hot water and rose petals. As it made its way up and down University Ave., the mixture oozed out of a nipple on its underside. Women's environmental activists were on hand, taking turns holding a Greenpeace banner and catching the liquid with a measuring cup as it leaked out of the nipple. They then poured the water back into the vessel and watched it leak out again. Passersby were handed the cup and urged to crouch underneath the breast, catch the drips and refill the source water. Despite encouragement from activists -- "C'mon replenish the breast! FILL THE BREAST! FILL THE BREAST!" -- no pedestrians joined in on the rite. Artist and Greenpeace activist Paula Gregg explained that the mammary gland embodied breast cancer caused by organochlorines in the environment. The hot water was symbolic of both women's tears and nasty chlorinated water, while the roses stood for hope and regeneration. The combined liquid represented women's lives and vital feminine energy slipping away. By replenishing the papier-mach‚ vessel sick women could be healed symbolically. Five Metro police officers were on the scene, but the breast remained peaceful and fights over the cup were kept to a minimum. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:25559 tor.general:21636 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Toronto Housing Alternatives Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,ont.general Date: 15 Mar 1995 13:20:36 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 127 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3k7b5k$j9g@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 16 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS LET'S "SHOP" AROUND FOR SOME HOUSING ALTERNATIVES by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST Small is beautiful, believed economist E.F. Schumacher. So does Liberal finance minister Paul Martin. At least, that's what the latest Canadian federal budget implies. The budget will chop $877 million in transfer payments from the federal treasury to Ontario, beginning next year. That means $333 million in housing subsidy cuts. The maximum allowance for a single person on welfare living in Toronto is about $400, before the cuts. So, either the province will absorb the cuts or poor people will, it's as simple as that. With the feds downsizing it becomes more difficult to put into practice the Vancouver Declaration from the 1976 UN Conference on Human Settlements -- "Adequate shelter and services are a basic human right." In Ontario, one of the ways our government has responded to providing this basic right has been to provide non-profit social housing. People living in social housing pay 27 per cent of their income toward rent and the Ontario Housing Corp., an arm of the provincial Ministry of Housing, pays the rest. On the surface, social housing seems like a fine way for the government to help poorer people find homes, but the program has its flaws. To begin with, it's very expensive. Let's look at a typical non-profit building located in downtown Toronto. This building has 30 tenants, all of whom receive some form of social assistance. Each tenant pays roughly $1,400 a year in rent, which gets each person a room and access to common areas such as the kitchen. The Ontario Housing Corp. pays $15,000 in rental subsidies for each unit in the building. This makes the rent for each room a total of over $16,000 per year. In contrast, my partner and I live in a downtown two-bedroom townhouse and pay market rent, which is just slightly less than $11,000 per year. Government-assisted housing is big business and everyone involved, save the province, is in it to make a profit. In the '70s and early '80s, when the province really got into social housing, real estate sold at premium rates. When social housing projects, funded by the Ministry of Housing, bought buildings or property, they had to buy high from land speculators looking to cash in on the real estate boom. Contractors hired to renovate buildings purchased for conversion to social housing charged top dollar for their materials and labor. Social housing projects had to be large, and the rents high, to make the projects economically viable. Today the cost of renovating an existing building is still so high that the ministry often deems it cheaper to buy an old building, flatten it, then put up a new structure. According to the Ministry of Housing, there are 230,000 non-profit social housing units in Ontario, as well as another 192,000 rent-geared-to-income units. Some housing advocates are saying that alternative forms of affordable housing should be looked at. Over the years the high cost of land has forced the government to go with high- density housing -- putting the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of space. Despite this, Toronto is dotted with smaller housing projects: low-rise buildings, single houses, even single apartments. One example of these smaller-scale projects is the Single Housing Opportunities Program (SHOP). According to Simon Liston, who works in Toronto's housing department, "SHOP is sponsored by the government but it's innovative in that partnerships are developed between the city, Cityhome (Toronto's largest landlord) and community agencies. Single houses or individual apartments are bought or leased by agencies serving specific client groups, then used to house tenants from those groups. This way the agency can focus on the needs of their tenants, and the tenants can get some stability in their lives." These smaller projects need less money to get started, Liston said, and they blend into existing neighborhoods. This avoids the NIMBY ("Not in my backyard") reaction to social housing. "You may walk by a small social housing project everyday and never know it," he said. Despite the recession, Toronto is still a wealthy city and property values remain high. The availability of affordable housing for low-income single people is shrinking as low-rent apartments and rooming houses disappear from the market. Larry Chilton, a spokesperson for Toronto's Rooming House Association, told eye that the city is losing 30 to 50 houses every year. "Low-cost housing stock is disappearing faster than new houses are being built. Strict regulations have forced many small landlords out of business, and the government isn't offering any incentives for remaining landlords to improve their properties." Safe, properly run rooming houses could fill some of the demand but, according to Chilton, this won't happen until the city or the province starts to encourage small landlords to stay in business. The housing people that eye spoke with all agreed that there will continue to be a need for social housing. One employee of Toronto's housing department said that in 1990, 60,000 Torontonians lacked adequate housing, and that number is increasing. Thanks to high land costs, the commercial sector cannot build affordable homes for low-income people. Since 1993, federal housing subsidies to the provinces have been declining; Ontario may lose another $333 million this year. The end result of these cuts is that more people will find themselves unable to afford adequate homes. The answers may lie in the creation of smaller, more diverse projects such as SHOP and in supporting affordable private sector housing that already exists. We've come too far to have to reinvent the wheel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:25557 talk.environment:29054 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general,talk.environment Subject: ENVIRO: Pickering Nuke Evactuation Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general,talk.environment Date: 15 Mar 1995 13:16:42 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 118 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3k7aua$ipo@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 16 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRO ENVIRO IN CASE OF NUCLEAR DISASTER -- GET ON YOUR KNEES AND PRAY by BOB HUNTER The Great Mock Evacuation of Pickering was staged Feb. 22 and 23 to check out the community's state of preparedness in the event of a disaster at the gimped and aging hulk of a nuclear power station down by the lakefront at the foot of Brock Rd. It was a mockery all right. Orchestrated by a shadowy outfit called Emergency Measures Ontario (EMO), a sub-sub-section of the Ministry of the Solicitor-General and Correctional Services - - which doles out $1 million a year to communities and agencies under the federal Joint Emergency Preparedness Program (JEPP) -- it was dubbed "a full-scale nuclear emergency exercise being run by the Province of Ontario." Whew! Sounds heavy. Between them, EMO and JEPP stand on guard for the residents of Pickering and the other poor souls living near any Ontario nuclear power plant. If you ask me, you'd be safer with Mutt and Jeff doing the job. Speaking of whom, one insecure EMO minion became so incensed that I neglected to mention the name of his little bureaucracy in an on-air news report about the exercise that he phoned me up, foamy-mouthed and screaming obscenities because his boys didn't get properly credited for the great job they were doing. Great job? Jesus wept! The minion in question bragged that he had thoroughly prepped the media, for instance. What did you do? I asked. "I sent out a press release in January," he replied. I might be wrong, but methinks this about accurately sums up the whole level of preparedness for a nuclear catastrophe in this province. Call it a one-press-release- in-January state of preparedness. From what I could see, your best bet in the event of a major nuclear disaster at Pickering, if you happen to live anywhere within the official 10-km evacuation zone, is to get down on your knees and pray. If you're counting on "the government" to step in and rescue you from the mess, I suggest you deserve your fate, my friend. The confusion at the Whitby municipal building on Rossland Rd. E., which was supposed to be the Joint Information Centre, was something to behold, with reporters milling about waiting for "media briefings" that kept being delayed. When I complained to a chap from the Ministry of the Solicitor-General -- who was supposed to be in charge, if anyone was -- I was told that there really weren't supposed to be any briefings, only photo-ops. Ah, so! But the chaos there was nothing compared to what was going on behind the scenes across the street at the Durham police station, where the portentously-named "emergency command centre" was being manned by a group of 30-odd people squeezed elbow-to-elbow in a tiny conference room in front of maps and computer screens. They represented the fire department, the police, the Red Cross and the Whitby, Ajax and Durham municipalities and public and separate school boards, with EMO "liaison teams" busy deploying cops to tell reporters not to bother anyone playing make-believe on the phones because what they were doing was "too important" for them to be disturbed. But I thought one of the ways the masses outside the command post were supposed to find out what was going on was by turning on their televisions and radios, hmm? That's what it says in the glossy brochure called "Planning For An Emergency," put out by the solicitor-general's office, a brochure printed in 1992 -- that's how up-to-date emergency planning for the Pickering nuke is. This same brochure -- hygienically subtitled "A Personal Handbook for Residents Around the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station" (as if telling you how to put on your makeup) -- is full of little gems of information, such as: Stay calm. Get people and pets indoors. Close doors and windows. And I love this one: If you were outdoors around the time the emergency occurred, remove your clothes and seal them in a plastic bag. Rinse your hair and body by showering. This precaution will wash any radioactive dust particles from you. Oh, and: move to the centre of the house or into the basement. The brochure also reminds you, on your way out the door with a nuclear holocaust happening down the street, not to forget to turn off your appliances and air conditioning, close fireplace dampers, turn off the heat recovery unit (I guess!), shut off the water taps, make sure your pets are "provided for," tell everyone to go to the bathroom one last time and don't forget your dentures. Bring games for the kids play, eh? They might get bored after a few millennia in nuke refugee camps. If you live on the east side of Scarborough's Morningside Ave., you are instructed to take the 401 to the DVP and go along the Gardiner to the CNE grounds (I'm not kidding ...). If you live on the west side of Morningside Ave., don't worry. The radiation would stop right at the yellow line going down the middle of the road. You don't need to go anywhere! You're just fine, ducks. Bob Hunter is a co-founder of Greenpeace and ecology specialist for CITY-TV. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:25558 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Health ministry woes continue Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 15 Mar 1995 13:17:58 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 116 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3k7b0m$iv0@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 16 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK HEALTH MINISTRY WOES CONTINUE The fallout over the politically driven $6 million ad campaign to promote the new provincial health cards continues to take its toll on morale within the Ministry of Health. Just before the massive and unnecessary advertising blitz started last month, communications director Rhea Cohen was removed from her job. Now, her friends are telling eye that Cohen, a career public servant, was frog- marched out of the ministry because she was constantly fighting efforts to "politicize" ministry communications. According to a reliable source, "There were enormous fights between Phil Carter (the politically well-connected assistant communications director) and Ms Cohen because he was trying to politicize everything, including the current ad campaign for health cards. She thought it was too much money. She had a big fight with Carter and two days later she was gone." The day Cohen was relieved of her duties "someone from the deputy's office came in the morning and said, `You have half an hour to get out of the building,' and that was it." The new acting communications director, Anastasia Erland, told eye she took over Cohen's job on Jan. 20 but added: "I don't expect to be acting director forever." eye's source said: "Erland has made it quite clear that she doesn't want the job for a long term. After a decent period they're going to move Carter in there. It's an extraordinary move up the bureaucratic ladder for a guy who just three years ago was carrying Jenny Carter's bags around." Ms Carter, no relation, was Bob Rae's first energy minister. When asked if she had any conflicts with Phil Carter, Erland said, "Yes, we don't always agree. I've had conflicts with the staff here who report to me. Usually you work things out." But she quickly added, "I had nothing to do with the conflict with Ms Cohen." Erland also said that she is "not in a position to confirm or deny" whether fights took place between Carter and Cohen just before she lost her job. "My information is that this is an internal personnel matter and that we're not talking about it now." Asked if she was present at the dust-ups between Cohen and Carter, Erland said, "I have nothing to say." A senior adviser to Liberal leader Lyn McLeod told eye: "This is another example of a career bureaucrat who was forced out by the NDP." eye has also learned that prior to the start of the controversial health card advertising, long-time NDP insider Janet Solberg, the sister of former party leader Stephen Lewis, was appointed communications assistant to the accident-prone Health Minister Ruth Grier. NO COMMON SCENTS The Ontario College of Nurses has decided that people attending their council and committee meetings cannot wear perfume or aftershave. Although a news release from the nurses said members of the public were welcome to attend their February meeting to discuss nurse practitioners and other issues, the release also said: "Please note: Following a decision by Council at its June 1994 meeting, scents (perfume or aftershave) may not be worn at Council meetings." This decision was made because a member of the Ontario association commented that the Canadian Nursing Association adopted a similar policy after concluding that scented products could trigger migraine and asthma attacks in some people. If a member of the public shows up smelling of perfume or aftershave, Bambi Rutledge of the Ontario nurses' group told eye, "we would talk to them about the policy and would ask them to remove it and they would go to the washroom" to wash the annoying aroma down the sink. Rutledge said enforcing the new policy wasn't a problem because most people let them know in advance if they will be attending meetings. "When someone phones to say they are coming to a council meeting, I advise them of the policy." So far, only one person has failed the smell test. At the December meeting of the council, Rutledge noticed someone smelling of a "lovely perfume" and along with another staff person confronted the overly fragrant offender. When asked if the policy extends to underarm deodorant and hairspray, Rutledge said "not yet." CBC HIRES LOSERS With a provincial election just around the corner, CBC-TV has selected its panel of "experts" to offer their analysis of the campaign. The panel, consisting of former federal MPs Tory Barbara McDougall and NDP Howard McCurdy, along with former Liberal premier David Peterson, is already being criticized by one Queen's Park insider who called them "a bunch of losers -- and two of them know nothing about Ontario politics." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri alt.internet.media-coverage:6252 alt.journalism:15016 tor.general:22517 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,alt.internet.media-coverage,tor.general,alt.journalism Subject: EYE.NET: Drooling With Jeff Followup-To: eye.general,alt.internet.media-coverage,tor.general,alt.journalism Date: 21 Mar 1995 17:32:09 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 131 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3knk59$gjh@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 23 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYE.NET EYE.NET DROOLING WITH JEFF by MALACLYPSE THE FOETUS eye.NET NEWSMEDIA LABS In January, eyeNET Newsmedia Labs announced the official call for nominations in the scholarly and world-famous Media Moron of the Month award for Stupid Net.Coverage. And the February award goes to ... Jeff Haas and The Toronto Sun for its hard-hitting report on Toronto's Ryerson University in the Feb. 12 Sunday Sun page 3 story called ... "Droolers Jam Rye Sexnet." (Standing-O! Cries of "Speech! Speech!") This Pulitzer-worthy copy features a kick-ass lead: "Hardcore sex stories on Ryerson's Internet have caused a traffic jam on the information superhighway." Now that is writing! We got something called "Ryerson's Internet" (whatever the hell that is), we got the "information sOOperhighway" and we got highway metaphors. Baby, this is smokin'. And it peels off technical facts easier than a CEO peels off $20s at Filmore's strip club: for instance, info-hungry Sun readers learn, "the alt.* prefix in newsgroups means they are uncensored." The groundbreaking news story was nominated by a Toronto reader (who asked to remain anonymous -- don't ask me why, maybe s/he works for The Sun or is Sunday editor Jim Leary's mom, I have no idea). Anyway, in the tradition of the Stupid Net.Coverage NewsMedia Awards, eyeNET called Haas for comment. Turns out Haas is actually a Ryerson student himself. We tracked him down at home. "No comment," the happy reporter said, upon being informed he'd won the award. "Look, I told you, I have no comment," he added. Ryerson's computer system administrator Geoff Collins says Haas presented himself as a freelancer for the Ryerson-related paper, the Eye Opener. "He never stated it might be published other than in the student newspaper," Collins told eyeNET Newsmedia Labs. Indeed, Haas wrote a much better, much longer piece for said paper. "He came up and identified himself as a reporter for the student newspaper and asked a number of questions. He basically invented the issue -- as is normal for newspapers, I guess. I basically told him I wasn't censoring anything, I just want to make sure students get to use computer stations for academic purposes." There are 350 work stations at which Ryerson students can get full (Unix command line) access to the Internet. Occasionally students use the net for recreational purposes -- be it scanning sports scores or hunting nudie Cindy Crawford image files -- when others want to use it for academic purposes. There's no Ryerson policy on censorship, Collins says. In other words, he's trying to operate on the net in the spirit of the net: let students apportion usage of machines among themselves. "And they do a pretty good job of sorting things out," he says. So it's a total non-story. "It's kind of made-up, just for the sake of being able to run the word SEXNET on page three in 48-point font." For the record, Collins denies telling Haas that the alt.* prefix means a newsgroup is uncensored. "Essentially, anything in there he made up -- except for where I am directly quoted," Collins says. ROUTING OUT THE FACTS Honorable mention goes to a story from the News & Observer (NANDO) Publishing Co., New York Times News Service -- nominated by Western student C.T. Pierson (cpierson@julian.uwo.ca). (In other words, a recent intern has cleverly infiltrated the paper once again! -- Trainspotting ed.) It's about Kevin Mitnick -- The Most Evil Hacker On Planet Earth Who Probably Beats His Wife And Killed His Children's Pets Execution Style™. Mitnick was finally nailed a few weeks ago and made headlines across the world. Some poor newsroom sap somewhere drew short straw and was ordered to file a story about Mitnick, resulting in NANDO's story "ARREST OF ALLEGED HACKER SETS NERVES ON EDGE ON THE INTERNET." Nando intimately understands Mitnick's crimes: "What Mitnick is believed to have done is called `cracking route' -- penetrating to the deepest levels of the computer operating system, giving the hacker the omniscience of the company's highest-ranking supervisor." "If you can `crack route,' you can do anything you damn please," a source was quoted. SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, DO YOU, MISTER JONES? If you like keeping up with the best of the worst of media reportage on the Civilization Threatening Internet, read newsgroup alt.internet.media-coverage . Endless discussion of media journalists and the insurmountable obstacles they face in trying to figure out what the hell the Internet is. Traditional channels of information are narrow and selective. Within that framework, the newsmedia enjoy a privileged position over the public. The public really has no way of knowing what's bullshit in the news because they aren't "there" to test veracity. And they have no way to "be there" since the traditional channels lock the public out. The fun of the net is that most users know more about the topic than the average reporter, thus making bullshit immediately detectable. Check out the a.i.m-c "Charter" (defining statement of the group's purpose), posted to netnews every other week by friendly netnews regular J.D. Falk (jdfalk@cais3.cais.com). Also available at http://www.cais.com/jdfalk/aim-c.html . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:26048 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!uunet!news.iag.net!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Cops Are Tops With NDP Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 21 Mar 1995 17:28:38 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 102 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3knjum$g6e@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 23 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK COPS ARE TOPS WITH NDP It's a strange week in Ontario politics when the NDP government ends up looking like cop lovers and Toronto Sun columnist Christie Blatchford (a true cop lover) tells us the cops really want an independent Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to probe police shootings. While Premier Bob Rae and his entire cabinet handed out government cheques all across Kingston last week, his re-election campaign seemed headed for a major jolt when a paroled cop-killer was found guilty of murder by a Sudbury court. That's when Rae instructed Solicitor-General David Christopherson to fire the head of the parole board. In the media feeding frenzy that followed this startling announcement, few people bothered to read through a newly released government report on what actually went wrong in this case. The internal ministry review discovered that the three-person parole panel that released cop-killer Clinton Victor Suzack didn't have enough information in the file they were given on him to know how bad he really was. According to the report "neither the Crown briefs nor the transcript of reasons on sentencing ... were before the parole board." What the three parole board members had in their file was an "inmate profile including a summary of offences," a report on how he behaved in jail and an assessment by jail authorities about his possible behavior after release. In other words, the full details on his past criminal record and the submissions from the prosecutors and the police at the time of sentencing on his most recent offence were not available to the people who let him out. That's why the No. 1 recommendation of the internal report was to "implement ways of ensuring that adequate information about the nature of the offences ... is shared with the Ontario Board of Parole." What a good idea. Meanwhile, Christopherson and Rae created an effective smokescreen to cover up internal government fumbling by offering up parole board chairman Don Wadel as a fall guy. The very next day, Attorney-General Marion Boyd fired Howard Morton, the beleaguered head of the Special Investigations Unit. Morton has been getting into trouble almost from the day he was appointed to his job by the previous Liberal government. When the SIU was set up, its first head, Judge John Osler, understood that they government's intent was to have a quasi-governmental body, separate from the police, to quickly decide after a police shooting or other serious incident whether charges should be laid against the officers involved. In and out quickly and let the courts decide -- that's what former premier David Peterson's government wanted. But when Morton took over the SIU he saw things differently. He hired his own team of investigators and it started to take months or years to decide if police officers should be charged. Even Rae concluded that Morton's way was the wrong way. For the police officers involved as well as for the victims of police shootings, justice delayed became justice denied. Boyd told Rae that Morton was not prepared to stop empire building and to do the job that was originally intended. Rae instructed Boyd to fire Morton. After the deed was done, the Urban Alliance for Race Relations came to Morton's defence and accused the NDP of removing civilian control over the police. Columnist Rosie DiManno and the editorial board of The Toronto Star went ballistic and painted Morton as a political scapegoat in an effort to appease the police and win votes from people who support them. That's when cop-lover Blatchford came to the defence, not of Morton, but of the SIU, saying the police really wanted civilian supervision to continue -- they just wanted Morton out because he was a bad administrator. All in all, a good week for the cops. Don Wadel gets fired because a parole panel doesn't get the information from the ministry they need to do their job. And long- time police nemesis Howard Morton gets fired from the SIU. The cops may be pleased, but don't expect Metro's finest to be out knocking on doors for Rae in this year's election. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:26134 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!news.mcgill.ca!mcrcim.mcgill.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!hookup!torn!news.uunet.ca!uunet.ca!io.org!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Same-sex issue haunts Rae Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 28 Mar 1995 18:16:04 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 103 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3la5bk$7et@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 30 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK SAME-SEX ISSUE HAUNTS RAE A campaign-style speech by Premier Bob Rae to "The Fraternity," a group for gay and lesbian professionals in Toronto, has landed him back in the political quagmire of same-sex rights. At the March 13 meeting, Rae repeated his pledge to introduce a new same-sex law to replace Bill 167, which was defeated in the Legislature last spring -- if he gets re-elected. Rae also acknowledged that including adoption rights for gays and lesbians in his ill-fated bill made it unpalatable to a majority of MPPs. The next day, media coverage of the meeting caused Rae great embarrassment and had the gay and lesbian community wondering where he really stood. A headline in The Toronto Star read: "Rae blames gays for same-sex rights bill loss." Although The Star stands by its story, Rev. Brent Hawkes, the NDP candidate in St. George-St. David, which has the largest gay and lesbian population in Canada, told eye the article in The Star was a "total distortion ... the headline doesn't fit the story. Rae was asked why he didn't drop adoption from the bill earlier because it would have passed. As far as he knew, the community didn't want adoption dropped." To control the political damage, Rae wrote a letter to the editor of The Star, published March 17, saying, "At no time were my comments intended to blame the gay and lesbian community for the defeat of Bill 167." The Liberal MPP in St. George-St. David, Tim Murphy -- who introduced his own bill on same-sex rights that didn't include adoption rights -- disagrees: "I've talked to people who were at The Fraternity meeting and the quote in The Star is exactly what Rae said." But at the meeting, Rae dug himself into an even deeper political hole when he was asked why he doesn't go ahead and introduce another same-sex bill right now, while he still has a majority in the Legislature. Hawkes says the answer Rae gave was that "the other two parties have clearly indicated they don't want to deal with it again." Says Hawkes, "Bill 45, the original Tim Murphy bill, went to the Justice Committee and the Conservatives and the Liberals voted against bringing that bill forward. With so little time left in the mandate of the government, to try to fight the other two parties on this -- as far as he's concerned we gave it our best shot." Why doesn't Rae just put out the party whip and force NDP MPPs to vote in favor of a new same-sex bill? "You can't force legislation on the agenda without the co-operation of the House leaders" of the other parties, says Hawkes. "But the probable scenario is that the House will be called back and there will be a speech from the throne, a budget, maybe a couple of things done and then adjourn for an election." Meanwhile, senior advisers to Rae have told reporters that if the Legislature is recalled before the election, the NDP will likely introduce bills to limit MPP pensions and to collect a new tobacco tax. Surely, if they have time for those bills, they also have time to deal with a bill on same-sex rights. As for Rae saying that he can't introduce same-sex legislation without the co- operation of the other two parties, Murphy responds angrily: "That's a lie. They have introduced more closure motions (to cut off opposition debate) than any other government ever in the history of Ontario. They don't need the co-operation of the other parties. "Bills have gone through in less than two weeks from beginning to end on the basis of closure motions even though the other two parties objected. That's why they introduced closure motions -- because we were not co-operating." After Bill 167 was defeated, Murphy moved a motion in the Justice Committee to refer his more moderate bill on same-sex rights to the House for a vote. "Hawkes was co-chair of the Campaign for Equal Families, which asked me to move the motion. The Conservatives and every NDP MPP voted against it. And Hawkes knows that -- he was in the room," Murphy says. "The irony of Rae's statement to The Fraternity is that when he said, `Gee, if only I'd known there was a middle ground,' that's what my bill was -- it didn't include adoption. My bill didn't go as far as some in the community would like because I said to them, `This bill can pass the House.' Bob Rae knew there was a middle ground. He sacrificed any progress on this issue because of his own political agenda to try to embarrass Lyn McLeod." In addition, Murphy claims that if his bill is put to a vote by Rae when the Legislature resumes sitting in April, McLeod will support it, although she didn't support the NDP bill because she thought it went too far. "Lyn McLeod said when I moved the motion for Bill 45 at the Justice Committee, `If Rae brings it forward I'd vote for it.' " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:26400 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!news.uunet.ca!uunet.ca!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Who's Tory Now? Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 5 Apr 1995 18:11:19 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 110 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3lv4i7$49a@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 6 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK WHO'S TORY NOW? Everybody Liberal leader Lyn McLeod, who for months has been accused of having no economic policies of her own, has finally told us where she stands and in the process has moved her party sharply to the right. In a dramatic departure from traditional left-wing and centrist party policies, McLeod's new economic program looks more like a conservative agenda than the policies of the previous Liberal government of David Peterson. If elected, McLeod has promised to cut 12,000 government jobs, to get tough on welfare cheaters and to force welfare recipients to take training courses or face a reduction in benefits. She would also freeze transfers to schools, municipalities and hospitals for another four years and off-load billions of dollars in capital projects to the private sector. McLeod, who spoke before the first rubber chicken bounced onto dinner plates at her annual $400-a-head fundraiser, told 1,200 hungry party regulars and business people that her right-wing agenda was "what a Liberal has to do in the 1990s." A year earlier, Mike Harris released a remarkably similar plan for Ontario that would cut 13,000 government jobs, get tough with welfare cheaters and force welfare recipients to take training courses. But his plan was panned by the Liberals as unworkable -- that is, until they borrowed some of his ideas. But long before either Harris or McLeod, Premier Bob Rae had already moved to the right. Two years ago, on April Fool's Day, 1993, Rae announced his so-called social contract, which cut $2 billion from the salaries of about 1 million people working for the province, municipalities, schools and hospitals. A year later Rae announced a massive crackdown on welfare fraud, which was condemned by John Clarke of the Coalition Against Poverty as "more Tory than the Tories." With all three parties now crowded over on the right, it's getting hard to tell who the real right-wingers are without a program. Needless to say, Harris has accused McLeod of stealing his ideas and Rae thinks her sharp turn to the right makes him the only politician in Ontario who can speak for moderate voters in the centre. Interestingly, no one has rushed to say they are representing voters on the left. Although McLeod, a former social worker and school trustee from Thunder Bay, was the last leader to announce her move to the right, she may have taken a bigger risk than the others in doing so. For the last 50 years the Liberal party has won federal elections in Ontario on the strength of a centre-left coalition. And the only time they won power provincially in all those years was based on the same coalition. McLeod is gambling that she can afford to lose some left-wing voters to the NDP and at the same time stop Harris from taking right-wing Liberal votes. One risk is that right-wing Liberals may decide to vote for the real conservative -- Mike Harris, not a newly converted right-winger. On her left flank, McLeod has risked the support of up to 4 million voters, 2 million who rely on welfare and another 2 million who rely on paycheques from municipalities, schools or hospitals. Rae will do his best to convince people who are on welfare that he will treat them better than either McLeod or Harris if he is re-elected. Rae will also tell workers in municipalities, schools and hospitals that as bad as his social contract was, it lasted only three years, whereas McLeod will extend their wage freeze another four years. When Rae introduced his social contract two years ago, Liberal MPP Diane Poole said that municipal cutbacks needed to meet provincial guidelines would threaten child care and seniors' services and that lay-offs among Ontario's 950,000 public sector workers would hurt women more than men because they have less job seniority. But that was before the left-wingers in the Liberal caucus like Poole and Elinor Caplan lost the debate on economic policy to right-wingers like Gerry Phillips, Monte Kwinter and Steve Mahoney. If the new Lyn McLeod has her way, the days of free-spending Liberal governments in Ontario are a thing of the past. "It's time we had a government that will do what Ontarians do every day of their lives -- plan smartly, spend wisely and live within their means," McLeod said. "That is what the people of this province want." McLeod has handed Rae a reason to call the election. With Harris and McLeod fighting it out to be more conservative than the other, Rae can now appeal to his traditional left-wing base saying, "You may be mad at me -- but look at the alternatives." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri alt.feminism:101030 soc.culture.canada:69385 tor.general:23285 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,soc.culture.canada,tor.general,alt.feminism Subject: RANT: If You Can't Take A Joke ... Followup-To: eye.general,soc.culture.canada,tor.general,alt.feminism Date: 13 Apr 1995 14:40:51 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 72 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3mjr7j$o1s@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 13 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SPACE FOR RANT SPACE FOR RANT SERIOUSLY THINKING ABOUT JOKES by ELISA KUKLA It's 1986, Michael Jackson is still popular, everyone is wearing oversized fluorescent T-shirts and, on Jan. 28, the space shuttle Challenger explodes 75 seconds after its launch. The next morning I'm passed a note while sitting in French class. "Q. How do you fit 11 astronauts into a car? A. Two in the front, three in the back and seven in the ashtray." A few years earlier, the Ethiopian drought is causing mass deaths due to starvation, North Americans are crooning "We Are The World" and asking each other, "What do you call an Ethiopian with a dog? A farmer." Humor is a way humans deal with our ridiculous impotence in the face of horror ... sometimes. Shortly after the Montreal massacre, I saw scrawled on the door to a women's washroom: "What do you call 14 dead feminists? A good start." I'm not laughing. This one's not a recognition of the overwhelming nature of tragedy -- it's a glorification of murder and a threat. I'm thinking about all this because of a recent Rolling eye piece I wrote ("Fill the Breast," March 16) that satirized a feminist event. A few women (including some of my friends) weren't amused. So I'm stopping to ask myself what exactly is funny and what's not. Last week I sat in on an excruciating "Feminism 101" class at the University of Guelph. The professor spent two hours showing how every gendered joke subjugates women. "How does a real man know when his girlfriend's had an orgasm?" the prof asked in a deadpan voice. "Answer: A real man doesn't care." The class tried to look offended and not giggle. This joke has a myriad of interpretations, including the widely accepted feminist opinion that, because of early societal training, men tend to be less open to their emotions and less sensitive to others' needs. The professor, I hate to say, didn't get it. Are we, as a group of feminists, ready to laugh at ourselves? Traditionally, laughing at feminism has been the best way to discredit us: from caricatures of hysterical, ugly suffragettes chaining themselves to fences, to caricatures of hysterical, ugly Germaine Greers burning bras. Is sexism finally high enough on the human atrocity list to allow us to start laughing as a way of surviving? It is if we're ready to believe ignorance toward women's health is as lamentable as, say, seven astronauts blown to stellar toe jam. Question: "How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?" Answer: That's not funny." I don't know -- is it? Hop on your soapbox and tell us what's bugging you. We might even run your words in this space. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:26656 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Protesters give leaders the disrespect they deserve Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 13 Apr 1995 14:43:21 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 115 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3mjrc9$ofm@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 13 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK PROTESTERS GIVE LEADERS THE DISRESPECT THEY DESERVE A woman dressed in a Superman costume and protesters carrying signs that read "Dump Rae" and "We're here, we're queer and we're back" set the tone for the final pre-election debate among the three party leaders held at the Royal York Hotel late week. Although The Toronto Star, which sponsored the debate, hoped the focus would be on the future of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the protesters shifted it to other issues. Miriam Edelson, a.k.a. Superman "fighting for justice in the Supercity," turned out to be an Ontario Public Service Employees Union member who works at Thistletown, a provincially funded treatment centre for 400 developmentally challenged children in Metro that is being closed by the Rae government. The "Dump Rae" group was lead by Mario Ferri and his neighbors, who drove down from the town of Maple, 40 km. north of Toronto. The group was protesting a decision by the NDP to locate a second garbage dump for Metro's waste right next to the existing one, already the biggest landfill site in Canada. They think it's time for another community to take some of Metro's garbage. "We're here to keep the issue of garbage dumps in front of the three leaders," said Ferri, who has been fighting the dump for years. "We want to make sure that the next government reverses the damage done by the NDP." Ferri now hopes to take his protest onto the floor of the Legislature as a Liberal MPP by replacing Greg Sorbara, who is quitting politics. Although Ferri and his group got promises from both Mike Harris and Lyn McLeod that plans for the new dump would be scrapped, he said, "We're not satisfied by that alone." Doesn't he trust his own leader? Simon Twiddly was protesting because he wanted "same-sex benefits, which is a basic human right." Asked if one of the parties was better for his cause than any other he said: "We've certainly been betrayed by all three leaders." Valerie Dugale, a spokesperson for the Campaign for Equal Families, said: "What we saw last summer after Bill 167 was a flip-flop by McLeod, a reneging by Bob Rae when he called a free vote and a total ignoring of our human rights by Mike Harris." As a result, Dugale said that her group was not supporting any of the parties in the next election. "Our approach to this election is to identify those candidates who have supported our rights in the past through voting for Bill 167 and let gays and lesbians vote accordingly. It really is a non-partisan approach." The next day, however, Dugale did a flip-flop of her own when she faxed a memo to eye saying that in the downtown riding of St. George-St. David her group was actually supporting NDP candidate Rev. Brent Hawkes, despite the fact that Liberal Tim Murphy voted for Bill 167. During the debate, whenever McLeod spoke, she was heckled by people who chanted "flip-flop, flip-flop." Whenever Rae spoke, Ferri's group shouted "dump Rae, dump Rae." Harris didn't get heckled much, but when he misspoke himself by saying, "I always have trouble with the numbers," the entire room, including his own supporters, exploded in laughter. This comment followed a year of constant attacks on Harris from both the NDP and the Liberals, who have said the numbers don't add up in his "Common Sense" plan to reduce taxes by 30 per cent while at the same time slashing government spending by $6 billion. The audience was divided into four sections: three groups of party supporters and a roped-off section at the front for provincial and municipal politicians. Cabinet ministers Marilyn Churley, Ed Philip, Allan Pilkey and Ruth Grier were there. So were MPPs Margaret Marland, Chris Stockwell and Alvin Curling. Toronto Mayor Barbara Hall and North York Mayor Mel Lastman were also on hand, along with dozens of other city and Metro councillors. With all those politicians in one room, it was a political groupie's dream come true -- and a taxpayer's worst nightmare. The candidates' debate was pretty boring compared to the raucous behavior of the audience. McLeod said she would abolish the direct election of Metro councillors and go back to having them appointed by local councils. Harris said that although his own task force on the GTA recommended that Metro be abolished, he hadn't made up his mind what to do. Rae offered nothing new and spent most of his time taking shots at McLeod, accusing her of being a flip-flopping thief who stole his plan to build four new subway lines in Metro. What the debate showed was that the public is clearly ready for an election. It's also clear Rae can expect to be heckled at every campaign stop, just like David Peterson was harassed throughout the 1990 campaign by Greenpeacers dressed as big green rats. Rae demonstrated that he is in top debating form and is ready to take on the hecklers, but this final pre-election dry run showed that both McLeod and Harris are also ready for the fight of their political lives. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:27076 Path: utcsri!utnut!nott!cunews!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Election election election Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 21 Apr 1995 11:17:39 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 119 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3n8iaj$b7m@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 20 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK HERE COMES THE ELECTION The long-awaited provincial election is just around the corner. In fact, an NDP insider told eye that Premier Bob Rae wanted to call the election before Easter, but the 500 people who work for his cabinet ministers and MPPs insisted that they get a four-day Easter holiday before having to help their bosses get re-elected. Because the NDP are having a difficult time finding volunteers for the campaign, this threat was enough to get Rae to delay his plans. Cabinet ministers and staff have now been told to expect an election call anytime after Easter. According to people close to Rae, the preferred date to drop the election writs is Monday, May 1 -- May Day -- the international day of celebration by organized labor. The ideal scenario would have Rae linking arm-in-arm with his brothers and sisters in the labor movement on May Day to show that the bitterness caused by the NDP's ill-fated social contract is now forgotten. However, Sid Ryan, the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and one of Rae's biggest critics since the social contract was imposed, told eye at the recent leader's debate that he was still unhappy with Rae and that "none of the leaders was dealing with the issues that affected working men and women." Rae, who has been in third place behind the other leaders at about 15 per cent of voter support since the social contract legislation was introduced, desperately needs the support of labor to get his party back to its traditional support level of 22 per cent in order to win more than a handful of seats in the election. That's why Rae's strategists are delighted with recent statements made by front- runner Lyn McLeod that they think helped their cause. Last month on Global TV, McLeod said that she would stand up for Ontario against her Liberal friends in Ottawa to fight for Ontario's fair share of federal revenues. The NDP couldn't believe their good luck in having McLeod raise an issue that plays right into their strategy. Internal party polls show that this is the only issue where Rae's credibility is miles ahead of McLeod's. Rae is seen by 45 per cent of voters as the best leader to stand up to Ottawa, whereas McLeod has just 9 per cent support on this issue. A week later, McLeod handed Rae another issue when her economic plan moved the Liberal party sharply to the right by saying she would cut government programs. Once again, Rae's strategists couldn't believe their luck. They were fully expecting McLeod to occupy the centre-left during the election but she has handed the NDP an opportunity to portray themselves as the only party that can save Ontario's social programs such as medicare from the neo-conservative wave sweeping across North America. And NDP polls shows that the only area where voters think the NDP has done a good job is in health care, despite the fumbling of Rae's current health minister, Ruth Grier. Faced with having the prospect of calling an election when 85 per cent of voters are against them, the NDP think they have been thrown a life-preserver by the Liberals. The Tories were also happy with McLeod. Their strategists believe her recent statements will cause the Liberals to lose enough votes to the NDP so that the PCs will win several close three-way fights. ALL IN THE FAMILY Economic Development Minister Frances Lankin is busy fighting a serious backlash in her Beaches-Woodbine riding against the ill-conceived plans of Health Minister Ruth Grier which would kill volunteer programs like Meals on Wheels and the Victorian Order of Nurses. Last December, Grier's controversial legislation to centralize health support services and force up to 1,200 community-based groups across the province to close caused a major split within the NDP government and among its supporters. Judith Leon, executive director of Senior Link, a non-profit agency in the Beaches that provides crisis intervention, housing and home care for seniors, said in an interview with eye that Lankin told her the reforms being proposed by Grier are nothing like the reform process Lankin started when she was health minister. Since then Lankin has faced growing criticism in her riding over this issue. To control the political damage, Lankin has appointed former NDP leader Steven Lewis as a "facilitator" to deal with Grier. In other words, because Grier won't listen to Lankin, a former ambassador to the United Nations is needed to get through to the hard-headed health minister. And who will Lewis call at Grier's office? His sister, Janet Solberg, Grier's newly hired communications assistant. TORY BAFFLEGAB At Mike Harris' $500 a plate fundraiser last month, a slick, 17-page document called the "Mike Harris Report" was given to everyone who attended. On page 5, Harris wrote: "Spending in non-priority areas are is by 20 per cent, or roughly $6 billion ...." Obviously no one was expected to read this handout -- clearly Harris didn't read it before it was printed -- or did he? The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:27240 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Forrest Stump Rae Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 26 Apr 1995 12:24:30 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 132 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3nls3u$mk2@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com Keywords: Official Sponsor of tor.cabal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 27 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK ENVIRONMENTALISTS ATTACK `FORREST STUMP' RAE On the eve of the provincial election, Premier Bob Rae has been attacked by his former friends in the environmental movement. They've blasted the government's $1.8 million advertising campaign that claims the NDP is protecting Ontario's forests. A coalition of environmental groups called the ads "misleading green-wash propaganda." The ads show four wooden chairs in a forest and the announcer asks: "Which chair was made in Ontario?" The coalition's answer is that the chair from Ontario comes from a province that allows clearcutting in 90 per cent of its forests. "Bob Rae is failing in this eleventh-hour attempt to play the part of a forest environmentalist," said Dan McDermott of Earthroots. "The role he has played as Premier is that of `Forrest Stump.' " According to McDermott, Rae has "completely abandoned" the environmental principles that helped get him elected. In an effort to set the record straight, the coalition will be stumping across the province during the election, says Tim Gray of the Wildlife League, "to counter the misinformation provided by the government ... in the hope of bringing some honesty to the discussion of Ontario forest issues." Ironically, back in September, 1990, when former premier David Peterson announced the last provincial election, his news conference was interrupted by environmentalist Gord Perks, who chained himself to a tape recorder which blared out an embarrassing list of the Liberal government's environmental failures. Throughout that campaign, Peterson was harassed about his failures at every campaign stop by a handful of environmental protesters, some of whom were dressed like big green rats. Now it's Bob Rae's turn to be harassed. Environmental groups claim that Rae's government has withheld key information on forest management agreements with lumber companies since 1991 although provincial law requires them to be made public. In addition, they say the NDP has failed to "develop new regeneration standards that would ensure that forests are replaced after they are logged." MY BROTHER BOBBY Rae's sister Jennifer Rae recently sent a letter to NDP supporters defending her brother's term in office and asking for financial contributions to the party. "Now Bob isn't perfect. As his sister I know that only too well. But his leadership is head and shoulders over what the other two could offer." She goes on to attack the Liberals, saying: "In power, we'd see lots of cynicism and cheap politicking." Elsewhere in the letter she writes that the Premier is three years older than she is. Whoops. He's really younger than she is, but who cares about the facts? Jennifer Rae works for U.S.-owned IMAX Corp., which received more than $7 million from the Ontario government in July, 1993, to build a new amphitheatre after reporting a profit on revenues of $75 million in 1992. FLOYD GETS CAUGHT Finance Minister Floyd Laughren recently held a rather unusual news conference to blast Lyn McLeod's economic plan as unworkable. However, Laughren's strategy backfired when copies of his briefing notes were leaked to the media showing that the Liberal plan is very similar to his. It should be -- because the Liberals got most of their research information from Laughren's own officials. While Laughren was blasting the Liberals by saying "the people of Ontario deserve straight talk," Queen's Park reporters were chuckling over Laughren's notes, which said he should attack the Liberal plan, but make no comparisons to the government's own revenue forecasts and spending levels -- because they were similar. Laughren was also advised in the notes to attack the proposed Liberal spending cuts, but not to mention that the NDP will have to make similar cuts to account for the recent reduction in federal government transfer payments to the province. Finally, Laughren was cautioned that the Liberal plan's proposed welfare cuts were similar to the government's own plan. NDP PERKS Education Minister Dave Cooke has blasted school trustees for being overpaid and having too many perks. Cooke has said the job of school trustee should be part-time. And he has cited the Toronto School Board, which pays trustees $47,000 a year, as the worst offender. But two of Cooke's colleagues, Tony Silipo and Rosario Marchese, are former Toronto trustees who helped to turn their part-time jobs into full-time ones. They also ran up two of the highest expense accounts at the Toronto Board. And Marchese, who lasted only a few months in Bob Rae's cabinet, didn't lose his free-spending habits when he became an MPP. In just one year, Marchese, who at the time lived only 2.5 kilometres from Queen's Park, collected more than $2,000 in travel expenses to get to and from work. At the government rate of 29 cents per kilometre, that means Marchese made five trips a day to his office. Really? In addition, he charged another $2,300 for travel within his downtown riding of Fort York, which is five kilometres from one end to the other. This means that Marchese also made another five trips a day back and forth across the riding in addition to the five trips a day from his residence to his office. In attacking government waste, Cooke should turn his attention to the NDP caucus and start by telling Marchese to buy a Metro Pass. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:27794 Path: utcsri!utnut!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!noc.netcom.net!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Leaders running for political lives Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 4 May 1995 07:03:59 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 112 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3oacav$575@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com Keywords: Official Sponsor of tor.cabal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY May 4 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK ALL THREE LEADERS WATCH THEIR BACKS As the election gets underway, all three leaders are running to win, but they are also running for their political lives. Because, no matter who wins, it's almost certain that the two losers will also lose their jobs. Politics is very unkind to losers. These days, ex-premiers are rarely asked by their colleagues to stick around and rebuild their parties for the next time and opposition leaders are given only one or two chances to win. This election is no different. Although Premier Bob Rae has managed to get the NDP back to its traditional level of support of about 20 per cent before calling the election, the knives are already out for Rae if he loses. NDP insiders say that Economic Development Minister Frances Lankin is poised to take over the party within minutes. In fact, many cabinet ministers and backbenchers have been privately promoting Lankin for months, assuming that Rae was headed for political oblivion after trailing both the PCs and Liberals in public opinion polls for the last three years. As a sign of her power in the party, many ministers and MPPs have been talking to Lankin before deciding which policies to support in cabinet or caucus. The former jail guard and union organizer has been one of Rae's strongest ministers, handling the difficult Health portfolio with confidence before moving over to Economic Development, where she has built a new network of contacts in the business community. PC leader Mike Harris is facing criticism within his party for taking it too far to the right in order to appeal to those who voted for the Reform Party in the 1993 federal election. By adding up those who voted Reform and PC in 1993, Harris hopes to find enough votes to win. To succeed he also needs the NDP to recover and take enough votes from the Liberals to create three-way fights in several key ridings. Left behind in the dust by this strategy are the so-called "Red Tories" who were the backbone of the organization put together by former PC premier Bill Davis -- the legendary "Big Blue Machine." Many Davis Tories feel there is no longer any room for them in the Harris party. And since Davis has now been out of power for more than a decade, they feel that the young right-wingers around Harris ignore their concerns as the complaints of a bunch of has-beens whose time has passed. Many of these experienced Red Tories are sitting on the sidelines during this election. Some are working for the Liberals, who have welcomed them with open arms. In addition, the newly formed Reform Association of Ontario expects to have between 30 and 50 candidates running in the election, many in ridings the PCs hope to win. Polls show that between 4 and 8 per cent of voters are ready to support Reform candidates, which may be enough to kill Harris' chances in the three-way races he needs to win. Waiting in the wings for Harris to stumble are the exiled members of the Big Blue Machine, who will quickly find someone like newly appointed CBC president and former federal minister Perrin Beatty to challenge Harris if he loses the election. Even front-runner Lyn McLeod has nay-sayers in her party who expect her to lose the election. Although she has led the polls consistently since she became Liberal leader three years ago, some Liberals are unhappy with her leadership. If McLeod loses after leading the polls for three years, she will have a hard time convincing her party to give her a second chance. One former minister in the previous Liberal government of David Peterson even says McLeod may face a challenge to her leadership if she only gets a minority government. EARLY RESULTS One election result that looks like a sure thing even before the campaign gets underway is the re-election of Liberal Alvin Curling in the Metro riding of Scarborough North. Curling, the first black cabinet minister in Ontario history, is expected to win an easy landslide victory over his two challengers. The NDP candidate is Tarek Fatah, an events co-ordinator in Rae's office. Fatah has been accused in writing by Maureen Sims, another another events co-ordinator in the Premier's office, of referring to blacks as "monkeys." Sims, who is black, also wrote the riding executive that she was afraid to be around Fatah due to his "uncontrollable temper." Fatah has denied the allegations. So far, Rae has been strangely silent about the affair. Michael Thomas, a 21-year-old university student, is running for the PC party. Thomas, who attends York University, says he will continue going to school if he is elected to the Legislature. He won't have to worry about doing both. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:28356 Path: utcsri!utnut!nott!cunews!hookup!noc.tor.hookup.net!ve3ied!problem!ve3tsx!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Leaders luring voters Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 10 May 1995 18:27:08 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 114 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3orejs$ng9@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY May 11 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK LEADERS LURE VOTERS TO THE CHOCOLATE BOX As the battle for votes heats up in the provincial election, the key messages of the three parties are starting to take shape. The NDP want voters to forget the past and give them a second chance, the front-running Liberals are bland and boring on purpose because it works in Ontario, and the PCs are promising to bring back the good old days. The first step in the NDP strategy, born out of desperation, is to get voters to forget the mistakes they've made in the past five years. Then they'll try to portray Rae as the strongest of the three leaders to fight the Liberal government in Ottawa for the province's fair share of federal transfer payments. And they'll argue NDP will do a better job than the others of protecting health care, which relies heavily on federal money. When he launched his re-election bid, a relaxed Premier Bob Rae told an overflowing crowd of reporters at Queen's Park: "The people of Ontario will now have to decide who they think is best able to defend their interests ... You name the program, it's now on the table" for re-negotiation between the province and Ottawa. And in a shot at Mike Harris' promise to cut taxes, Rae said: "Cynical promises such as lower taxes and quick fixes will only make matters worse." When asked about his last campaign, which consisted of personal attacks on former premier David Peterson, Rae replied, "That's a long time ago." It's also a long time ago since Rae flip-flopped on auto insurance, on casinos and on the NDP's "sacred trust" -- collective agreements, which he overrode in his social contract legislation. Rae hopes enough voters will forget about his flip-flops and give him a second term. As to what kind of campaign he expects, Rae stole a line from Forrest Gump saying, "Every election is like a box of chocolates." Within a week, protesters were responding with signs reading: "Stupid is as stupid does." Rae ended his news conference by saying: "I can use my five years of experience as Premier. It can be helpful for the province. This is a wonderful job and the experiences I have had will be useful to the province." Then he kissed his wife Arlene, who looked relieved that the election was finally underway. In a touching scene, Rae put his arm around his wife's waist and the two of them headed off to the Premier's office. As they made their way through the corridors of Queen's Park, they passed small groups of NDP staffers who applauded politely as the Premier went by. One woman wept quietly -- Rae didn't notice. Down the hall, a confident and assertive Lyn McLeod launched the Liberal campaign by repeating her message about the need to balance the budget and make Ontario a good place to invest in again. But she looks too stern and sounds so severe. If voters decide they need a dose of bad-tasting medicine, "Auntie Lyn" will be ready to give it to us. She needs to lighten up and come down off the high wire her handlers have put her on. What the Liberals are attempting to do is to give McLeod the public image of someone who is tough enough to take on the enormous challenge of a $100 billion debt and an economy still reeling from the job losses stemming from Mulroney's free trade and high dollar policies. In the end, it may not matter much what image the Liberals create for McLeod. If she wins, it will probably be because women and young people in the province have decided it's time for a woman premier. In public opinion polls, McLeod has consistently rated highest among women and young people. And she's the only woman running -- that may be all she needs. The down side is that some (mainly male) voters still don't think a woman can do the job. That's why the Liberals are also stressing the members of her team (mainly men) who will be backing her up if she wins. And for those voters who still remember that they were mad at the Liberals five years ago and kicked them out of office, the third message is that this is a new Liberal team with a new agenda for the future. Mike Harris has a very uncomplicated message: "Simple values that have served people well -- like common sense, self-reliance, personal responsibility and honest hard work -- have been ignored by elected leaders." Vote for Harris and he'll also put money in your pocket. His campaign committee has calculated that the tax cut proposed by the PCs will put $207 a month in the pockets of the average Ontario household or $81 a month into the hands of a single person earning $30,000 a year. Forget the past and give us another chance; it's time for a woman premier; or vote for us and you'll get money in your pocket -- it's a no-brainer all round. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 Xref: utcsri ont.general:29196 Path: utcsri!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Will gloves come off this election? Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 25 May 1995 15:12:57 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 105 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <3q2krp$pe8@gold.interlog.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY May 25 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK WHEN WILL THE GLOVES COME OFF IN THIS ELECTION? Voters are finally beginning to realize there is a provincial election going on, thanks to the more than $3 million in political ads that started to run on TV and radio last week. The ads are just as predictable as the campaign has been up until now. They are so boring that most people will try to zap to another station to avoid them, but that will be difficult, because they're everywhere. The NDP have bought $750,000 worth of ads, the Liberals $1.1 million and the PCs an undisclosed amount that one PC insider says could be as high as $1.9 million. That's a lot of ads to be aired in just three weeks. So far, all three parties are aiming their messages mainly at their own voters without making much effort to win over new ones. Front-runner Lyn McLeod is using her ads to reassure middle-class suburban Liberal voters that she will balance the budget in four years (yawn) and create a climate for economic growth (zap). Mike Harris is telling hardcore Tories that he will force welfare recipients to work for their benefits, repeal Ontario's employment quota law and cut taxes (zap). In one of his ads, Bob Rae tells traditional NDP union voters that he saved 40,000 jobs with his hated social contract legislation. Rae says: "If I'm remembered as the guy who invented Rae Days, that's fine ... governing isn't a popularity contest." Unfortunately for Rae, winning elections is a popularity contest and the NDP is still the least popular party in this contest. More than 80 per cent of voters are ready to vote for someone else and the NDP have just a couple of weeks left to change their minds. Another NDP ad attacks someone who isn't even running in this election -- Jean Chr‚tien and the federal Liberals. In the ad, Rae says: "Your family and mine depend on our health care system. But the Ottawa Liberals say we better get ready for cuts to health care." The problem with attacking Chr‚tien is that he is the most popular Prime Minister in the history of Canada and his recent budget, which Rae is focusing on, is more popular in Ontario than anywhere else in the country. Across the province, almost 80 per cent of Ontarians like the federal budget. Did the NDP have a brain cramp when they came up with these ads? No. Rae is aiming his message at the 20 per cent who dislike Chr‚tien and the feds. The NDP have already concluded that they have no chance of winning the election, so they are running to get the 20 per cent of the vote that they usually get so they can maintain their official party status in the Legislature. Many political observers think that the NDP campaign never even got off the ground. For weeks, political professionals from the other two parties have been asking: "Where's Bob Rae, the political street fighter?" When the NDP's surprisingly tame ads were unveiled at a press conference, Steve Paikin of TVO posed the question that was on the minds of most reporters when he asked: "Where are the scurrilous and dirty ads, like the ones the NDP used in the last election?" Back in 1990, street fighter Bob used hard-hitting ads that accused then-premier David Peterson of being involved in questionable activities with big land developers. Although senior NDP organizers like Gerry Caplan would later dissociate themselves from the vicious personal attacks on Peterson, these ads were largely responsible for getting Rae elected. This time, Rae has so far been portraying himself as a statesman rather than a fighter. He's now the dignified Premier who is the best person to negotiate with the federal government to get the money needed to protect our health care system. Has Bob Rae decided to take his lumps and end his political career as a gentleman? The Liberals don't think so. One of Lyn McLeod's senior campaign advisers told eye he doesn't expect the NDP to go down without a fight. "We haven't seen the desperation ads yet. We will likely see them in the last 10 days, if there is no upward movement in the polls for Rae." The PCs also have their own U.S.-style political attack ads ready to go, but say they won't be the first to use them. And the front-running Liberals have no reason to start a dirty little TV war. That leaves Bob Rae to decide whether this boring campaign will end with a whimper or a bang. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Thu Nov 23 08:36:21 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:18165 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: And now for the real cuts Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 22 Nov 1995 21:33:52 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 105 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <490mig$45s@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY November 23 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK AND NOW FOR THE REAL CUTS A very un-merry Christmas to all. Just in time for the holiday season, the Harris government is getting ready to announce spending cuts of between $3 billion and $4 billion. The result will be higher costs for everything from tuition fees to bus fare. This comes on top of last July's nearly $2 billion in cuts. Last time the target was welfare. This time the cuts, scheduled to be announced Wednesday (Nov. 29), will be felt by everyone. Hardest hit will be municipalities and universities, which expect their provincial funding to be cut by between 20 per cent and 40 per cent. Inside the government, ministries like Environment are facing cuts of about 60 per cent, while some senior officials in Housing and Culture expect their entire ministries to disappear within a year. The Dominion Bond Rating Service, which keeps a close eye on provincial finances, says that almost $10 billion must be cut before Harris will be able to keep his election promises of balancing the budget while reducing provincial income taxes by 30 per cent. "The real issue is the government's commitment to repair its finances," says Brian Miron of DBRS. "And economic growth in Ontario is not as strong as the government expected." Last July, Finance Minister Ernie Eves predicted a buoyant economy, growing at 4.4 per cent this year, but DBRS now says it will be more like 2 per cent. That means the government's projected revenues will be short by at least $800 million, which must be made up through still more cuts or with new taxes. But Harris promised no new taxes during the election, so we can expect yet more cuts. Many at Queen's Park are wondering how much more cutting Harris can get away with before he runs into serious opposition. RUMBLINGS FROM THE MEDIA The public still overwhelmingly supports last July's government cutbacks in welfare spending. Still, former mayor and current Now contributor John Sewell is organizing a group of prominent Toronto media types and concerned citizens who have met to discuss the Mike Harris cuts and their likely impact on Metro. John Evans, the chair of Torstar, which owns the Toronto Star and, thereby, eye, described the mood of the meeting he attended: "There were some who want to carry out an assault on government for considering these cuts. But there were a larger number who were saying part of the problem is that there is very little financial wiggle room for a government of any stripe at the present time." Another member of the Sewell group, author and eye columnist Linda McQuaig, was much tougher on the Harris policies: "It's class warfare. It's taking money from the poor and giving it back in the form of tax breaks to the rest, with the biggest benefits at the upper end. Even conservatives like former Tory federal cabinet minister Alan Redway and businessman Adam Zimmerman [who attended meetings] are concerned about this." The group started last month when Sewell called a meeting and sent out a two-page statement entitled "Together: people working to strengthen communities." The statement said, "We are committed to working for actions in both the public and private sectors which reduce disparities and strengthen communities.... We can have no genuine community unless our mutual wealth and resources are shared in ways which provide real opportunities for all and a supportive and caring environment." Those participants contacted by eye said it was Sewell who called them up to join the discussion group. But when asked if he was organizing the meetings, Sewell said: "No I'm not. I'm one of the people who's involved in it." When asked who would know about future meetings he said: "I don't know. There is a steering committee that has been inviting people." When asked who was on the steering committee he said: "I'm not at liberty to say that at the moment." As for the future of the group, author Robert Fulford says, "The group does not yet know what it is and does not yet know where, if anywhere, it is heading. The philosophical basis behind it is that we think that Toronto is in danger of losing its sense of itself as a good community, in part, because of the steps the government has taken, particularly in the matter of welfare. This is about all that the group agreed upon. There is talk of issuing a statement. I don't know what it will be like in its final format, but at the moment it could be signed by Mike Harris." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!van-bc!news.mindlink.net!uniserve!oronet!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Fri Nov 24 00:53:22 1995 Xref: elastic can.infohighway:3619 tor.general:17655 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!van-bc!news.mindlink.net!uniserve!oronet!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general,can.infohighway Subject: EYENET: The rise/fall/rebirth of IO Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general,can.infohighway Date: 23 Nov 1995 17:25:05 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 295 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <492sc1$kvf@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY November 23 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYENET EYENET THE RISE AND FALL (AND REBIRTH?) OF INTERNEX ONLINE by K.K . CAMPBELL On Wednesday, Nov. 8, Bell Canada cut all 480 phone lines of Toronto Internet service provider Internex Online (IO). Even the voice lines to ask why the modem lines weren't working. Dead. That night, the CBC 11 o'clock news pronounced IO out of business, and the next day competing Toronto ISPs experienced a wave of walk-in customers. The only "walk-in customer" IO had that Nov. 9 was Greenlight Communications, which controls Internet Canada, another ISP. Greenlight rode in like the cavalry and made IO an offer it couldn't refuse. By 8 p.m., the lines were back up, all 7,800 IO users were resurrected and the company was under new management. It's a sign of the times, a wake-up call for Toronto's net.community. The pioneer days are over. ISPs are going to have to "grow up" or get IO-ed. IO, the place to be in Toronto cyberspace, was the mothership that launched thousands of netters and dozens of ISPs. It was designed to be "different" from other companies. And it was: thousands of dollars simply walked out the door, as every net.geek in range grabbed what account time wasn't nailed down and profit/loss was considered something to be reckoned with next month. This is the story of the rise and fall of Toronto's first and most unique ISP. (I was a small part of this story, since I know all the principals in this story to some degree. I was on board from the moment IO was formed in May '93. In March '94, eye became Canada's first publication online through a loose partnership with IO, before leaving for newly hatched competitor Interlog eight months later. Original IO president David Mason and I became, and remain, friends. Mason is now on the eye masthead.) WOULDN'T IT BE LOVELY...? In the archaic days of 1993, Toronto's only commercial "Internet provider" was CRS -- which offered a pathetically bad PCBoard interface to netnews and email. So, David Mason merged his "Zooid" BBS with Marc Fournier' s "r-node" and Internex Online was born. It was to be a cyber-hangout for Toronto's creative community and hardcore UNIX geeks alike. If those two groups merged, so much the better for the future of the medium. IO was incorporated on May 28, 1993. Mason, his then girlfriend Lyn Fincham and Fournier were directors and equal shareholders (33 1/3 shares each). Fincham worked for UUNet Canada at 1 Yonge St. and paid the monthly rent on IO's first little closet of an office a couple of floors away. Mason and Fournier chipped in the hardware and the talent. Mason was prez, Fournier vice-prez. Fincham already had a full-time job, and soon faded into the background as an inactive partner. I had an account on Zooid and went along for the Internex ride. It was a bumpy one at first, but by fall '93 the ISP was running pretty smoothly. In January '94, the net exploded into the headlines of every mainstream newspaper in North America. Demand soared -- and IO was about the only game in town. In March '94, eye ran a cover story about the net, with a sidebar about Internex. Mason got 80 calls for accounts the same day. It was only the beginning of the media and mass market boom. Mason was offering any media people free IO accounts. And what few net.savvy media-types there were soon flocked aboard. PURGE NO. 1 Mason and Fournier grew to loathe each other. Each had specific complaints, but it was clear their personalities did not mesh. Trying to fit them into one tiny office created stress fractures in the booming company. Mason gradually relinquished the daily administration of IO to Fournier, working instead remotely and late at night from home. Mason and Fincham no longer lived together. Since the Internex office (where Fournier worked) and the UUNet Canada office (where Fincham worked) were in the same building, the two talked regularly, while Mason drifted further out of the daily operations. The power shift was completed when Fournier and Fincham decided it would be best if Mason was sent packing. In August '94, BBS sysop/hobbiest Paul Chvostek bought Mason's shares for $27,500. Mason resigned as a director and was given $8,000 in free IO time. The internal conflict cost the company at precisely the moment when competitor ISPs were popping up like mushrooms. Phones went unanswered. Email to IO support disappeared into a black hole. Of course, such abysmal service would become the hallmark of true geekcore ISPs. There's a joke in ISP circles: Q: Name the only two industries in the world that call their customers "users"? A: Drug dealers and Internet service providers. But that attitude succeeds only with individual/recreational customers, not company/business customers. The First Great IO Defection was soon underway as anything remotely businesslike left: eye, CFNY, Exclaim!, all enthusiastic supporters originally, jumped ship. Despite the exodus, the artists and geekcore crowd remained -- the very crowd IO was supposed to be about to begin with. Chvostek replaced Mason as a director and shareholder, while Fournier took Mason's role as president. Nothing much seemed to happen for months, but there was a certain amount of jockeying going on. One insider says, "Lyn was apathetic, as always. Paul wanted to make changes. Marc was stubborn. The big problem with Marc was he had way too much control over the hardware and wouldn't loosen that grip." Fournier locked Chvostek out of the system's root access -- which is to say, Chvostek was denied godhood status. Fournier, meanwhile, let his girlfriend, Cat Okita, have it. ("Please note I am a professional UNIX system administrator," Okita says, stressing it's not just a case of give-da-girlfriend-an-account.) Chvostek soon brought in his old chum Matt Stein to work at IO "behind the scenes." Stein and Fincham settled on a plan to sell her shares to him. All seemed well. Fincham would finally get out of IO. Then, last Aug. 2, Fournier stunned the Toronto net.community by announcing he'd been fired on July 31. Okita was also turfed. Long- time IO-loyalist Brian Tao became sysadmin. Chvostek talked about bringing Mason back. Stein was officially named general manager. PURGE NO. 2 IO users and staff never were told what led to Fournier getting axed. "It was directly because of the handling of the books," Fincham says. Last New Year's Day, Fournier brought in Will Rowe to handle the books (among other duties). Fournier first met Rowe in IRC and they had become friends. In July, Chvostek/Stein asked to see those books -- which turned out to be non-existent. So Chvostek/Stein started going through the cheques. The first thing they noticed was many had bounced. "That's because Will's idea of bookkeeping was to call the bank up and ask the balance before writing a cheque," Chvostek says. Chvostek/Stein also discovered Fournier was using company cheques to pay personal expenses. Chvostek says Fournier was sometimes taking out three times his weekly salary. "This was because Marc didn't have a credit line," Chvostek says. "If he wanted a year's membership in Bally's gym, he paid it through the company." "Oh, good God, is Paul still going on about that?" Okita responds in a phone interview. Fournier himself refused to be interviewed, directing me to his girlfriend, who is acting as his press spokesperson. Okita stresses that there was never anything remotely like embezzlement going on. "It was just a case of Marc being the furthest thing from a business person you can imagine. He's a techie. When you get together a bunch of techies who don't have a clue about business, you end up with a situation like this." Okita says the reason Fournier couldn't get any personal credit was because the company was continually operating in the red. Rumors swirled the amount of Fournier's personal cheques up to $100,000. Okita says this is ridiculous, pointing to the existence of something called the "director's cut," where a company director could take a 5 per cent slice of gross income per month. She argues that pay structures were so messed up that none of directors has a right to point a finger at any other director. "The total Marc took out was represented to me, by Matt and Paul, as large," Fincham says. "And I did see cheques Marc wrote for items that were not company-related. But they weren't exactly large amounts -- under $500 each. I don't know the actual total because Paul and Matt never produced the financial statements they promised they would compile once they got rid of Marc." Fincham says she now thinks the total was deliberately exaggerated by "someone" to facilitate the swift and conclusive termination of Fournier's employment. The financial problems didn't stop there. IO was deducting payroll taxes from its dozen or so employees, but that money was apparently not sent to the government. Upon hearing that, Fincham became an active director again. Because IO was incorporated, she always expected to walk away with personal assets intact if the company folded. Lack of personal liability for company debts is a primary feature of incorporation. However, withheld taxes do not go away. She repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting with Fournier, but he never returned her email or phone calls. Okita says that was an oversight, since Fournier was receiving 600 pieces of email a week. So the Chvostek-Fincham tandem booted Fournier, who resigned as a director around a month later but remained a one-third shareholder. The financial confusion deepened in regards to IO's phone bill. Bell usually gets "personal guarantees" (or deposits) before laying in ISP lines. Personal guarantees, too, remain if a company folds. And IO's phone debt was substantial, around $150,000. Which director guaranteed what? When IO moved from 1 Yonge St. to Bay St., Fournier increased the number of IO phone lines by 180. Chvostek and Fincham both say why the lines were ordered remains a mystery, because it simply created 180 "phantom lines" -- that is, no modems sat on the lines. No one could connect to them. The lines didn't generate a penny. Yet IO paid $30,000 to connect them and $4,000 monthly to maintain them. LAST DAYS DOWN IN THE BUNKER Chvostek was determined to attract new investment and push IO to new ISP heights -- or at least get IO to operate in the black. With Fournier gone, new general manager Stein was given a free hand by Chvostek and Fincham. IO loyalists realized the company was going to be gutted of its, let's say, "distinctive personality." The resident body-pierced/stud-ridden employees were first to the guillotine. In order to woo the business clientele, IO also had to nuke that darn annoying geekcore/freak crowd. So, on Oct 20, Stein and his "Uncle Herbie" -- who staff were told was going to invest $2 million in IO -- paid a surprise visit to Interlog further up Bay St. Stein dropped a bombshell: he wanted Interlog to "buy" IO's 7,800 customers. Interlog said no thanks. Fincham says Stein did this without the knowledge of the two remaining directors. In fact, she wasn't even speaking with Stein. "After firing Marc, Matt Stein and I continued on the lines of me selling my shares to him. But the problem was he never provided the information needed to determine the value of the shares: financial statements outlining debt and assets. Instead, as time moved on, he began to put a lot of pressure on me to sell my shares without having to provide that info. His email and calls were always a case of: 'There's a crisis! You have to sell to me instantly! Otherwise everything is going to go wrong!' I'd check and find the crisis didn't exist." She stopped answering his calls and email and resigned as a director on Oct. 25. Fincham restarted email contact with Fournier, who was still a shareholder. "We agreed to meet," she says. They exchanged stories and "decided the best thing to do was fire Matt." After weeks of increasingly bizarre mud-slinging among IO insiders and some wonky staff dismissals, Chvostek announced Stein had been fired and Chvostek would act as GM until a replacement was found. Chvostek said Fournier and Fincham were back in and IO would return to its old community-minded self. Then, on Nov. 8, IO users found their modems wouldn't connect. Calling IO's voice line, users heard those most frightening words: "We're sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service." Chvostek spent a frantic day asking Bell to reconsider. To no avail. On Nov. 9, word spread among insiders that IO was dead. Bell eventually relented and reconnected the lines, but at 9:50 p.m. people found out why -- Chvostek posted an electronic notice that IO had been purchased by Greenlight, the company that runs the ISP Internet Canada. No one expected Greenlight to walk in and buy IO. "IO was sold at true firesale prices" is how one insider put it. "This whole thing is a sharp slap in the face for every single Toronto ISP," Passport co-owner Earl Epstein says. "All those ISPs operating month after month, losing money, thinking ISPs just don't fail. Well, think again." Whatever Greenlight does with IO -- and Greenlight spokesperson Peter Donato admits it isn't clear yet how a company can own two ISPs without one being redundant -- it'll never be the same organization it was. That kind of organization is dead. ISPs, if they can survive at all, must be more than a collection of UNIX nerds and geekcore pals. In 1993, the Internet was officially opened to private business. The academic, techie and communitarian ethic that built the net has tried to maintain itself in companies like IO, but loose, inefficient operations just can't work any more. The old-style ISP is history because the only factor that matters now is the bottom line, the market being overcrowded with suppliers. At least for a while, anyway -- Bell may be getting ready to steamroll every ISP in its path. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eyeNET archive ---> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Eyenet eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail Thu Aug 24 23:38:27 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:4688 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye2@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: ARF plays politics with Harris Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 24 Aug 1995 10:19:34 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 103 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <41i1pm$eh3@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY August 24 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK ARF PLAYS POLITICS WITH HARRIS The Addiction Research Foundation is in trouble again. Last week ARF released a study suggesting that up to 1 per cent of the Ontario population might be at risk of becoming compulsive gamblers, while another 9 per cent could have problems with gambling. But before releasing the study, they forgot to inform anyone in the Harris government that the report was being made public. The result was that many officials were embarrassed when they got calls about a study they knew nothing about. Martin Perry, executive assistant to Health Minister Jim Wilson, told eye: "I was surprised to read about the study in the newspaper clippings." Asked whether it was normal practice for government agencies to let the minister responsible know they were releasing a study like this, Perry said, "That's exactly the question I asked ARF. We finally got a copy the day after it hit the news and we're just reviewing it now." Even more curious is the fact that this study was completed last February but not made public for six months. In the run-up to last June's election, it was common knowledge that Queen's Park didn't want any news released about controversial items like gambling. ARF's new president, Perry Kendall, took over at ARF in March after leaving his old job at Toronto City Hall, where one of his biggest fans was NDP councillor and failed mayoralty candidate Jack Layton. The ARF sat on this report for more than six months until Mike Harris became Premier. It was released a week after the Ontario Casino Corp. said it would soon be releasing a report that will show how successful the Windsor casino has been. A senior government official told eye that Harris is still weighing his options on the future of gambling in Ontario and agreed that it was not helpful for different government agencies to pursue their own agendas until final decisions are made by the cabinet. The latest study by ARF repeats most of the information contained in its first ill-fated study on gambling, which was released at a raucous news conference late last year. In one heated exchange, Globe and Mail reporter Paul Taylor asked how valid the data was that led ARF to conclude that Ontario was facing a serious problem with gambling. Reginald Smart of ARF responded, "I don't think you should worry about how good the data are." At the time, ARF's acting president Karen Goldenberg also said, "If the province wasn't introducing casinos we wouldn't be here today." It's deja vu. Meanwhile, insiders tell eye that ARF president Kendall gets paid more than Harris or his deputy minsters because he is considered to be at the same pay level as a hospital administrator. That's because ARF has 24 treatment beds. By contrast, Toronto Western Hospital has almost 1,200 beds. Those 24 treatment beds allow Kendall to get paid in the salary range of $175,000 to $450,000 a year to administer an annual budget of $44 million. By contrast, the deputy minister of health is paid in the range of $104,000 to $152,000 to administer an annual budget of $17 billion. The former president of ARF, Mark Taylor, earned a salary in the same range and was given a golden handshake of between $500,000 and $1 million when he left his job last year, according to ARF insiders. The foundation was asked for the exact amount of Taylor's settlement by eye but has not been provided with the information. SOUTHERN COMFORT Last week federal PC Leader Jean Charest indicated he wants to take the federal party in the same policy direction (to the right, quick march) that helped Mike Harris win in Ontario. On hand to listen to Charest were several prominent Liberals, including Gordon Ashworth, the main man behind Lyn McLeod's failed strategy in last June's provincial election. Perhaps he was there to pick up some ideas to help the provincial Liberals. Also at the Charest fundraiser and golf tournament was George Young, national director of the Liberal Party of Canada. He brought greetings from Prime Minister Jean Chretien and gave Charest a golf shirt with a Liberal logo on it. Charest noticed that the label inside the shirt said "Made in Mexico" and the audience of mainly Tories started hooting at the Liberals. Young hollered back at Charest: "What's wrong with that -- it's your free trade deal." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!gts!ve3ied!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!steel.interlog.com!not-for-mail Mon Sep 18 07:00:58 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:7867 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!gts!ve3ied!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!steel.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye2@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: PCs battle for Speaker's chair Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 16 Sep 1995 00:27:16 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 131 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <43djn4$lop@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY September 14 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK PCS BATTLE FOR SPEAKER'S CHAIR One of the first things MPPs from all three parties do when the Legislature re-opens for business later this month is to elect a speaker. Although it is largely a job with little power, beyond controlling the debate when it gets out of hand, two PC MPPs are furiously lobbying their fellow politicians for their vote. That's because the Speaker's job comes with the salary and perks of a cabinet job without the daily grind of managing a ministry or answering embarrassing questions from the media or the opposition. The Speaker also gets a suite of offices in the Legislature and a very large entertainment budget. When dignitaries visit the Legislature they often have a reception hosted by either the Lieutenant-Governor or the Speaker. Heads of state are feted by the Queen's representative -- the L.G., as he is known around Queen's Park, but many second- and third-tier VIPs get the red carpet treatment from the Speaker of the Legislature. Receptions, official openings, parties, dinners -- the job never ends. Becoming Speaker is like dying and going to heaven for a politician who aspires to do nothing but smile and shake hands all the time and get paid almost $100,000. That's why two Tories who got passed over by Harris when he picked his cabinet are so anxious to get the job. The two contenders are Margaret Marland, a former city councillor from Mississauga, and Al McLean, a dairy farmer from Simcoe County. Many political pundits were surprised that these two experienced MPPs didn't get into the Harris cabinet. McLean is one of the few PC MPPs with prior cabinet experience, and Marland is a strong advocate for senior citizens and women who was an effective housing critic in opposition. Some Marland supporters have been telling other MPPs that she was promised the Speaker's job by Harris when she was bypassed for cabinet. (In a Legislature dominated by 82 PC MPPs the Premier's choice would be a shoo-in to win the vote.) Not true, says McLean, who insists that Harris has assured him he has not backed anyone for the job. Marland would make history by being the first woman elected Speaker in Ontario, but women don't have a good track record of winning elections anywhere in Canada. Many opposition MPPs from the Liberals and the NDP seem to be lining up behind the underdog McLean. And some of his supporters are doing so to embarrass the Premier because they believe Harris did promise the job to Marland and then flip-flopped when McLean announced he was in the race. A WOMAN'S PLACE Post-election polling shows that one in every five Ontario voters didn't want to vote for a woman in the last election and prefer to have a man as Premier because only a man can make the tough decisions. This helps to explain Lyn McLeod's stunning loss to Mike Harris last June after leading in the polls for almost three years. It also means that no woman can ever hope to win an election in Ontario as long as this many voters are prepared to vote against her. Because of Ontario's history as a mature, three-party system where the votes are split three ways, a woman can't hope to win when 20 per cent of the voters are ready to vote for the other guy even before the election starts. And we thought Ontario was no longer one of the most conservative jurisdictions in North America. Welcome back to the '50s. When this shocking information was hinted at by Liberal MPP Monte Kwinter shortly after the election, it was dismissed and greeted with derision, but it's now clear that this was more than just an idle comment. Forget about China. The next woman's world summit should be held right here in Ontar-i-ar-i-o. LIBERAL ANGST As the Liberal leadership gets underway it's clear that contenders are forcing the party to face a crossroads in its future. Deputy Leader Sean Conway has already said that the future of the party lies in turning left. While Conway and others in the party are railing against the first round of cuts by the Harris government, second-term MPP Dalton McGuinty from Ottawa South thinks it's time for the party to turn sharply to the right. In his recent report to voters, McGuinty goes out of his way to praise the Harris cuts: "Given that Ontario has had to borrow about $10 billion during each of the past four years to meet its expenses, nobody can seriously argue against getting our costs under control." Later he continues: "I believe that just as our government has an obligation to develop programs to help people get off welfare, so too do able-bodied welfare recipients have an obligation to help improve their lot in life." He also says he believes it is "important for the opposition to support the government when it puts forward good ideas." Mike Harris couldn't have said it any better. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!ve3ied!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sun Sep 24 07:33:16 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:8704 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!ve3ied!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye2@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: More Tory cuts on the way Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 23 Sep 1995 00:34:06 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 112 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4402nu$j3c@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY September 21 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK MORE TORY CUTS ON THE WAY David Lindsay, chief of staff to Premier Mike Harris, last week warned an audience representing business, municipalities, schools and hospitals that the Harris government will not back down from its cost- cutting agenda and that more cuts are on the way. "Now that we are in power," Lindsay said, "we are going to do what we said we would do: we will cut taxes, cut spending and balance the budget. This will require major change. Change in the way government operates. Downsizing, restructuring, doing with less is the future. The cuts announced on July 21 were just coping with a spending crisis created by the Bob Rae government -- major restructuring is still to come." eye has learned that the government's fall economic statement will likely contain another $2 billion in cuts. Lindsay compared the economic crisis facing Ontario to the worldwide oil crisis of the mid-1970s. "Just like the oil crisis led to structural change in the auto industry, we are facing long-term fundamental restructuring in how government operates," he said. He said municipalities, schools and hospitals should start planning for more cuts now and not wait for the news to be officially announced this fall. He pointed out that the province's interest on its debt was now up to 17 per cent of total revenues ($9.5 billion), which makes it the second largest budget item next to health. Debt interest is now more than the total spending on education or welfare. Harris said a few weeks ago that he believes the province is bankrupt. Lindsay is warning everyone who will listen -- if the question is money, the answer is no. WHO ME NDP? Although some NDP civil servants are being fired by the Harris government, one high-profile exception is Deputy Housing Minister Dan Burns, a close personal friend of former premier Bob Rae. Ministry insiders say Burns expected to get the axe and was shocked when Harris asked him to stay on. Apparently he convinced Harris that he fully agrees with the PC government's pledge to get out of the housing business despite his many years as a vocal advocate for non- profit and co-op housing. Under the Rae administration, PC MPPs were constantly attacking Burns and former housing minister Evelyn Gigantes about waste and abuse in his ministry. But Burns has told Harris he has no problem overseeing the dismantling of many subsidized housing programs that he put in place. However, ministry insiders tell eye that Burns' sudden conversion to Tory blue is just a sham. They say his "Yes, Minister" routine is motivated only by an attempt to keep his $150,000-a-year job. Before Rae convinced him to come to Queen's Park, Burns was in charge of housing at the City of Toronto, where he was responsible for the ill-fated Ataratiri housing project in downtown Toronto that will cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars without a single housing unit being built. Ministry officials are horrified that rookie Housing Minister Al Leach actually believes Burns is a born-again Tory. Leach has even let Burns select the special auditors who were called in by Harris to investigate the Ataratiri mess. And this is the same Dan Burns, who, just before the election, forced reluctant bureaucrats in his ministry to send a politically partisan letter to every tenant in the province telling them what a great job the Bob Rae government was doing. TRUE GRIT Pat Sorbara, a senior Lyn McLeod staffer, was injured during a friendly game of golf last month when a co-worker's errant golf ball hit her, knocking out her tooth and inflicting a cut requiring 20 stitches. Sorbara, a cousin of former Liberal cabinet Minister Greg Sorbara, was hit when Liberal MPP Joe Cordiano's executive assistant Sante Tesolin misfired on the fourth hole at the Humber Valley golf course. The feisty Sorbara at first refused medical treatment and wanted to continue playing, but she was talked into going to hospital. A partisan Liberal to the end, her first question was, "Is this hospital in a Liberal riding?" As it turns out, the hospital, Humber Memorial, was in former premier Bob Rae's riding. Although she has been unlucky in politics, Sorbara was lucky she was only hit in the mouth. If the golf ball had hit a few inches higher, she would have been seriously injured. Sorbara was a key organizer in McLeod's leadership run and in the recent election. With the departure of chief of staff Bob Richardson, she is expected to take on a bigger role for the Liberals over the next year, until the next leadership convention is held. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sat Sep 30 22:23:27 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:9053 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye2@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Lyn McLeod: Regrets, she has a few Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 26 Sep 1995 20:46:24 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 107 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <44a6t0$16g@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY September 28 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK LYN MCLEOD: REGRETS, SHE HAS A FEW Lyn McLeod, who just three months ago thought she was about to become the first woman premier in Ontario's history, admits that anti-female bias among voters played a part in her defeat. In an interview at her Queen's Park office, McLeod told eye: "Gender was a factor in this election. I wish it were not. But let's deal with realities -- it was a factor." McLeod, who recently announced that she is stepping down as Liberal leader, doesn't think gender was the "deciding factor" in the June 8 election. "But there are still some stereotypes about women in leadership roles and that includes everything from some people who simply don't think it's appropriate for women to be in politics to others who have doubts about whether a woman is going to deliver on deficit reduction." Last month, a public opinion poll obtained by eye indicated that one in every five Ontario voters cast their ballot against McLeod because she was a woman. McLeod's stunning defeat came after she led in public opinion surveys by a wide margin for almost three years before the vote. But McLeod said these polls were misleading: "We knew the undecided vote was larger than the polls were showing, but because the media kept publishing polls that showed us as the frontrunner we had to run a different kind of campaign." And the campaign strategy was to not take extreme positions on any issue. In the final weeks of the campaign this strategy backfired, as voters took a hard look at McLeod and found her wishy-washy compared to Mike Harris. When Harris made welfare and job quotas into key campaign issues, McLeod refused to respond. "We knew voters were very insecure and concerned. When you're concerned about your economic future it makes you a little less compassionate. But we as Liberals could not say we'll scrap employment equity, which the Tories were prepared to say. I was prepared to deal with welfare reform, but I was not prepared to use a slogan, which is all mandatory workfare is. And because I wasn't prepared to do that, we couldn't counter what was clearly an effective campaign by the Tories." Could the Liberals could have won the election with a different leader? McLeod believes that after five years of the NDP, voters wanted to move as far as possible in the opposite direction. "I don't believe a Liberal could have won this election adhering to what essentially are Liberal positions. I'm still committed to the positions we took into the campaign, but it's one of the reasons that I felt I had to step down, because a debate has to take place within the party." That debate is underway. As the frontrunner to replace McLeod, Deputy Leader Sean Conway has staked out a left-wing, interventionist approach, while MPP Dalton McGuinty is saying the party must move to the right. McLeod is convinced that the voters will return to the middle ground by the time the next election is held: "That's what made it so hard to decide to leave," she said. "The pendulum will shift again." One of the biggest problems McLeod faced in her tenure as Liberal leader was her inability to project an image that voters felt comfortable with. And she was clearly uncomfortable answering questions about the image-making part of politics. "Image is part of engendering confidence," she said. "The frustration for me is that it is still different for women than it is for men in politics. Should it matter whether I have a navy suit on or a red suit? I don't think it should. But image is all part of what people assess, and it's still different for woman than men, because people don't know what to look for. I never did discover what the equivalent was of the male power suit for a woman. I have 12 navy suits now." Although McLeod will stay on as interim Liberal leader until her successor is chosen next year, she hasn't decided whether she will run in the next election. She said she would have no problem serving in a future Liberal cabinet if given the opportunity. "I would not feel uncomfortable working under another leader, but it would be a question of my own personal sense of whether or not I have a contribution to make. I've been in politics a long time and at each election you have to reassess whether you've got something more to contribute." She is also leaving the job of assessing what went wrong in the campaign to the others. "If I were staying on, I would need to do that. I knew from the very beginning that whatever the polls might say, it would be a very tough election and I had some added challenges as a female leader." The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Fri Oct 6 07:58:51 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:10603 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Harris revolution off to rough start Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 5 Oct 1995 20:15:30 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 113 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <451sf2$g1j@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 5 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK HARRIS REVOLUTION OFF TO ROUGH START When the Legislature opened this week and Premier Mike Harris laid out his government's agenda for action, there were no surprises. Everything he said he would do during the election was repeated. As Harris said later in the day: "If you think you've heard all this before, you have." Once again, Harris promised to cut welfare payments by 20 per cent, to cut the number of public servants by 20 per cent, to cut the number of MPPs by 20 per cent and, most important for the people who elected him, to cut taxes by 15 per cent. But the biggest story was happening outside the Legislature, where 5,000 noisy protesters, organized by the Toronto and District Labour council, protested all of these cuts except the cut in the number of MPPs. Just one day after newly elected Speaker Al McLean promised to restore decorum to the Legislature, the proceedings were disrupted by an anti- government rally described by one Tory as "a bunch of NDP sore losers." In anticipation of the protest, more than 50 riot police, 10 mounted police and a police dog were at the ready. And they were used to stop a handful of over-zealous protesters from breaking through the front doors of the Legislature. Compared to the friendly gatherings hosted by former Liberal premier David Peterson and former NDP premier Bob Rae, this was a rough start for Harris. In 1987 and 1990 there was a party atmosphere, with hot dogs for the kids and people wandering freely throughout the Pink Palace. But the losers of those elections, the Tories and the Liberals, didn't organize protest rallies. Although Rae decried the use of the police, it resulted in part because of warnings from labor leaders. Gord Wilson, president of the 650,000-member Ontario Federation of Labor, raised the spectre of violence last month when talking to reporters about the PC plan to repeal NDP labor legislation. If the NDP was looking for public from the rally, their plan backfired. A PC insider told eye that media coverage of the protesters would probably increase support for the government: "John and Mary Average will see a bunch of troublemakers being carted off by police on their TV and say, 'Right on, Mike!' " Later that night, in the friendlier confines of a post-Throne Speech party for 3,000 PC supporters, a relaxed Harris joked that he had a dream about how things would be after five years of a Harris government: "When we run for re-election the Raptors have won a world championship and even The Toronto Star endorses us for re-election." He then said he expects the protests will continue. "But what we are doing is the right thing for our families, for Ontario," Harris added. "We know it's right because that's what people told us they wanted us to do. We inherited a government that interferes too much, that taxes too much and we have to change it. That's what people voted for and that's what we will do." LAW AND DIS-ORDER The Harris government is beginning to look like the Keystone Kops over the way it is handling the gun control issue. First Solicitor-General Bob Runciman said he would challenge the federal gun registration law. Now he is saying he is just considering a challenge. That's because he has figured out that police forces across the province favor the new law. He also handed Toronto's left-wing mayor, Barbara Hall, a law-and-order issue and she didn't waste any time agreeing with the police that gun control is just what we need here in Metro. Who would have thought that a well-known right-winger and cop-lover like Runciman could end up looking softer on crime than an ex-NDPer like Barbara Hall? But that's the difference between being in opposition and being in government. As an opposition MPP it was easy for Runciman to get positive media coverage on every right-wing issue that came along. As a cabinet minister, he is quickly learning that saving duck hunters in Brockville from having to register their guns might be good politics back home, but it's a huge political mistake in downtown Toronto. Not to be outdone by Runciman's fumbling, fellow rookie minister Chris Hodgson also managed to put his foot in his mouth on this issue. While Runciman was backtracking on fighting the new federal law, Hodgson was telling duck hunters to renew their gun licences before Jan. 1, when the federal law will require them to take a test. In a news release, he also said, "Forcing qualified owners to take a new exam won't do anything to prevent crime." The problem is that Hodgson's Ministry of Natural Resources has nothing to do with these certificates.They are issued by local police, who were unprepared for the hundreds of phone calls they started to get thanks to Hodgson. In a desperate bid to cover Hodgson's fumbling, provincial officials are scrambling to let local police know what to do. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Fri Oct 6 08:01:25 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:10602 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Bad medicine in the new Ontario Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 5 Oct 1995 20:14:35 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 113 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <451sdb$fo2@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 5 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS BAD MEDICINE IN THE NEW ONTARIO by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST The Conservative government's first budget is only waiting in the wings, but already many social programs that we've come to depend on have been killed or crippled. The Common Cents Revolution is hitting our health care system like an epidemic, and it's likely that the worst is yet to come. The effects of Tory cost-cutting policies will soon be felt by the givers and the receivers of health care in Toronto. The closer you get to the street, the greater the concern. When asked about the Mike Harris government's impact on health care, a protester at the Sept. 27 Queen's Park Throne Speech demonstration described the Tory changes to health care as "devolution." "It's taken years for Ontario to develop a centralized health care system that's accessible to all people," she explained. "Now Harris wants to decentralize much of the system and pass the burden onto the communities, but he's not giving them the means to do the work. Essential services will be delisted and not covered by OHIP. State regulations will disappear and clinics will cut corners to increase profitability. I wonder what will happen to quality care." Said another protester, "We are living in an era of psychological terror. We're constantly wondering what's going to be cut next." Illness and serious injury flourish in poverty. The poor don't have access to the requirements that either create or maintain good health, such as regular employment, a steady income and decent housing. In a document describing the health impacts of the provincial cuts in social services, released last month by Toronto's Board of Health, these and other factors were identified by the Board as being mandatory if the poor were ever going to achieve the same quality of health as the rich. Harris' 21.6 per cent cut to welfare and family benefits will affect 33,000 single adults, 13,000 families and 29,000 children in the City of Toronto. These cuts will not help level the health care playing field. As the Board of Health stated in its paper, "We anticipate that a reduction of social assistance incomes will result in extreme hardship for low-income children, families and vulnerable adults, and in the diminished health of each of these groups." In July of 1995, the provincial government cancelled 23 of 33 non- profit housing projects begun in the City of Toronto. Low-income housing is a rare commodity in Toronto, and only about 10 per cent of social assistance recipients live in public housing. The majority find homes in the private market, and rent eats up far more than is covered by the standard shelter allowances. People will pay an average of 30 to 40 per cent more for housing than they will receive for shelter under the new maximum rates. Welfare and low-income tenants will have to use food and clothing money to pay the rent. They face the alternatives of finding ways to reduce the rent -- or go hungry. The Board of Health anticipates people will double up, and cheap accommodations will become overcrowded. Overcrowded housing can lead to "a variety of health problems from pneumonia and tuberculosis to increased infant mortality, suicides, mental hospital admissions and cancer deaths. Of all groups likely to suffer ill-effects, direct or indirect, of being inadequately housed, children are probably the most vulnerable." Here are a few more statistics to mull over. According to the board, the infant mortality rate in the lowest income areas of the city is 77 per cent higher than in the highest income areas, and suicide rates in the lowest income areas were 90 per cent higher than in the rest of the city. Since last May, the Conservatives have been saying that they would not reduce support to Ontario's health care system. In July, the Tories announced they would cut $111 million from the health ministry's operating budget and another $21 million from capital projects funded by the ministry. This money will not be used in other areas of health care. Hospitals could see a 10 per cent reduction in their funding; many are likely to be closed. The Tories are also looking at cutting the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan, which makes free drugs available to over 1 million welfare recipients and 1.2 million seniors annually. Harris and his fishing buddies in Queen's Park may not consider these changes a reduction in health care, but those on the receiving end do. Following the Throne Speech, Harris said our health system will be made more efficient, but not more costly, through "massive and significant restructuring." Does the government have a plan in mind or will they just cut indiscriminately? Funding for public housing in Ontario has been cut to ribbons but we've seen no sign of any alternatives on the horizon. The welfare cuts have happened -- where are the workfare jobs? There is no plan, no vision evident in Tory social policy other than a desire to protect the interests of the 'haves.' A placard I saw at the Sept. 27 demonstration summed it all up: "Due to recent budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel will be extinguished until further notice." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV/nv.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sat Oct 14 12:50:35 1995 Xref: elastic tor.general:11412 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,alt.activism,tor.general Subject: ENVIRO: How do you save the TTC? Followup-To: eye.general,alt.activism Date: 12 Oct 1995 18:37:25 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 112 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <45k5b5$7uf@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 12 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ENVIRO ENVIRO HOW DO YOU SAVE THE TTC? by BOB HUNTER Lawrence Solomon looked upon the Toronto Transit Commission, did not like what he saw and came up with a Better Way. Solomon, normally associated through Energy Probe Research Foundation with such causes as fighting Ontario Hydro and the World Bank, has metamorphosed as editor and publisher of a swankly intellectual new magazine called The Next City. In the first issue, he writes a devastating indictment of public transit systems, and makes the case for Thatcher-izing the TTC -- through privatization and the cutting- off of subsidies. This is pretty much what you'd be tempted to call a neoconservative scheme, and this is typical of Solomon's tack. Yet he is definitely an environmentalist. He's just not from the usual left-lib lily pond where most of us started, clutching our worm-eaten copies of Das Kapital. Solomon is, dare I say (without meaning unkindness), a sort of David Frum of the eco-scene. It is given that if you convince more people to take public transit, you do better things for the environment than riding your gas hog. This has been the case all along, yet the automobile manufactures have been easily winning the war for the heart and mind of the commuting public (those who have a choice, at any rate) over the mass transit system. This is not good. And it isn't particularly because car-makers are so brilliant. Rather, the deck has been stacked horrendously. The defeat of mass transit came, in Solomon's view, with the monopolization of the public transit companies which had proliferated during the last decade of the 1800s, only to be gobbled up by governments around the time of the First World War. A couple of unfortunate side effects occurred: "While the auto companies paid nothing for the governments' massive roadbuilding program, transit companies not only had to build their own roads but also to pay governments for the privilege. While auto companies had the freedom to price their products to suit the marketplace, transit companies were stuck with regulators who told them how much to charge, where they could travel and how many employees to hire per streetcar." Shackled, the North American public transit industry became a derelict and a pariah, with one glowing exception in North America: the TTC. The TTC is on the brink of financial collapse. Hiking fares -- the traditional monopolistic way to cope with spiraling cost -- is probably out of the question because more people would quit the system than have left already. Staff cuts are already a possibility, but a strike, which they might trigger, would send more people fleeing to the car lots. "Rundown and hobbled by politicians, the last great transit system in North America is collapsing, " Solomon writes. "While the auto industry is innovating, innovating, innovating, the TTC and ever other public transit system on the continent is mired in politics, stagnating. Frozen in a Soviet-style industrial paralysis, subways don't change, buses don't change as East Germany's automobile, the Trabant, didn't change in the 26 years before the Berlin Wall fell." For the solution, Solomon turns to the United Kingdom, where Maggie Thatcher partially succeeded in destroying public ownership of U.K. transit systems. While this sounds awful, Solomon says, in the process British public transit has been saved. Through the introduction of whole-scale competition on some bus routes and of tendering by private operations for licences on others, the cost of running a bus has been slashed by 41 per cent. After decades of decline, the number of bus customers has started to come back. The same is happening with the famously decaying London Underground, where a little attention to customers' needs has spurred a doubling of passenger miles. Solomon suggests building on these kinds of successes. "The world's subway stations should be turned into profit centres by selling the street-level floor space to retailers who would know what to do with the traffic." And then transform the subway cars themselves by offering different levels of service suited to different people's needs, such as a smoking car for nic-heads, a standing-room-only car (which can take more passengers) for people going short distances in a hurry, a VIP car with laptops and cappuccino and cognac being served, even perhaps a Happy Hour car or-- get this! -- retail cars that are shops on wheels. Why not a massage car or videogame car, for that matter? This would involve different-colored subway coaches arriving and departing from stations alive with cafes, stores, pubs, markets -- a sort of extension of our mall culture into the subway system. It's a charming vision, even if the dreaded "deregulation" word has to be evoked to make it even remotely possible. It's a great magazine too: The Next City. Bob Hunter is a co-founder of Greenpeace and ecology specialist for CITY-TV. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available Enviro archive ---> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Enviro/enviro.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sun Oct 15 08:34:50 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:11778 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Revenge of Patti Starr Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 12 Oct 1995 18:41:36 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 122 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <45k5j0$8ru@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 12 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK Sex, politics and the Mafia. That's the potent mix stirred up by former Liberal party fundraiser Patti Starr in her new novel, Deadly Justice (Stoddart, $26.95 cloth). Starr, who once called former premier David Peterson a close friend, says the book is "totally fiction -- but fiction, of course, comes from your imagination, which comes from things you've seen and heard." So it comes as no surprise that the heroine in her book is a middle- aged Jewish woman from Toronto who ends up in jail because of her dealings with politicians and land developers. In the book, Rebecca Sherman works for -- and lusts after -- a Toronto land developer called DeLuca, who has Mafia connections. Sherman is set up by a 30-something political aide, the son of a Mafia don, who is learning his trade at the hands of another mobster named Bratini. The aide, Don Vincenzo, leaks damaging information about Rebecca to an investigative reporter which results in her downfall. Vincenzo, who has left politics, works for a Toronto-based holding company that made its money in the mining business. Several readers have commented that the fictional Vincenzo -- apart from the Mafia link -- bears an uncanny resemblance to former Peterson aide Vince Borg, who now works for American Barrack Resources. In an interview, Borg laughed at the suggestion and said he found Starr's book so boring he couldn't read it: "I flipped through it and I said, I'm not wasting my time any more." Starr's tangled plot includes a group sex scene involving Vincenzo, a mayor, a cabinet minister, a senator, two prostitutes, a dog and, of course, the investigative reporter. (The reporter and the dog, maybe, but the others?!) If there is any connection between this book and what Starr saw and heard as a close adviser to Peterson, those were more exciting years than we knew at the time. Political corruption abounds. Cabinet ministers and mayors are bribed with houses, cash and sex. "I think there's a lot more corruption than people know," Starr told eye. "The media is limited by our ridiculous slander and libel laws." Metro Councillor Norm Gardner, who was at her book launch at Centro Grill and Wine Bar, commented: "I guess she ought to know." A Stoddart publicist describes the book as "a kind of redemption novel of several people who are able to eke out revenge." Over the sound of the boisterous crowd at Centro, Jack Stoddart was excited about his new novelist. "She's a natural writer. People who think she can't write are wrong. I think there's a terrific potential for her to become a major international author. This is a wonderful piece of fiction." Stoddart has already made a deal with a Japanese publisher for Deadly Justice and is negotiating the sale of film rights. Her first book for Stoddart, Tempting Fate, a non-fiction account of her version of the so-called "Patti Starr affair" that rocked the Peterson government in the '80s, sold a respectable 7,500 copies. In Canada, that puts it on the bestseller list, but not at the top. "A year from now, she'll be well-known across this country, published in England and the United States," Stoddart enthused. Starr, who says she is inspired by writers like Robert Ludlum and Lawrence Saunders, wanted her book to be a light read. "I call this light lust and adventure. Not a serious mystery, but a more realistic view of life." Although neither Starr nor Stoddart would reveal how much she got as an advance, she said: "Other writers tell me that it's high by Canadian standards." Starr is still angry at her former political friends. She believes she went to jail "as a result of all that hysteria, the leaks that were coming out of the political side and also the protection of David Peterson. They thought, 'The media like to write about her, so let's give her to them.' I was used as a convenient scapegoat. Former friends left me to hang out to dry. I don't think goodness plays any part in what they're doing. They would do anything to protect their interests or to protect themselves." Stevie Cameron, author of the bestseller On The Take, was at Centro to support her friend Patti. "She's a very smart woman and a very interesting person," said Cameron. "One of the things that people don't understand about her is she's a very good writer. And she still has a fund of marvellous stories to tell." As for Starr's downfall in politics, Cameron said: "They needed a scapegoat. They needed someone to satisfy the public's anger with corruption. She was perfect. She was a woman, she had no real power. I think what happened to her was a disgrace. Not that she went to jail, but that she was the only one." Starr is also bitter that she spent $300,000 on legal fees before she ran out of money and pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud four years ago. "Of course there are two kinds of justice. I was really shown no mercy at the end." As well, she is continuing her $3 million lawsuit against Peterson and Borg. "We offered to settle four years ago," she said. "My costs are around $150,000." Peterson and Borg's legal costs, estimated at $200,000 so far, are being paid by taxpayers. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Thu Oct 19 21:57:35 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:12303 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Exotic dancers lose Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 18 Oct 1995 19:40:39 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 107 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <46439n$7s@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 19 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS EXOTIC DANCERS LOSE REGARDLESS OF WHO LAYS DOWN THE LAW by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST Odds are lap dancing will be abolished in Ontario, but this won't improve the lot of the women who work in the business. Despite the best of intentions, the ban may hurt the very people who originally called for it. Katharine Goldberg, stripper and president of the Association for Burlesque Entertainers (ABE), believes the problems in the industry stem from the lack of government regulation. Her nine-month campaign against lap dancing really took off last May, when she went to Metro council and asked for help. Dawn, another stripper who has been working for the past eight years, gives another point of view. She believes the dancers themselves must organize and take greater control over their own workplaces, rather than look to politicians to improve conditions. Dawn questions whether it was wise for Goldberg to turn to the politicians before dancers themselves got organized. She says, "Katharine made it look like she was speaking on behalf of all the women in the business, when in fact she wasn't. There was no consultation between her and the other dancers. Now the women are split on the issue -- there's a lot of bad blood out there." During the spring and summer the daily press took up the cause and began portraying exotic dancers as victims of sexual abuse and sexually transmitted diseases. "Where was the press a year ago?" asked Dawn. "Last year the media was all in favor of the legalization of lap dancing. This year they condemned it." So has Metro council. In mid-August it introduced a no-touching bylaw for the municipality's strip clubs in an attempt to ban lap dancing. By mid-September, five dancers had been charged under the new law. Women complained, rightfully, that the law was discriminatory. Aggressive grab-and-grope customers, the identified problem with lap dancing, cannot be charged under the bylaw. So now we have local politicos whipping up laws that punish the supposed victims, and dancers saying that Goldberg doesn't speak for them. These approaches haven't worked, so why aren't the dancers getting organized? Dawn believes the dancers have to overcome fear. "When Katharine first set up the ABE she encouraged other dancers to get involved. Initially a lot of women went to meetings but soon the membership petered out. No one wanted to speak out about working conditions. Women were afraid club owners would find out what they were doing and fire them." Goldberg says the dancers are trying to organize, and she cited the ABE's membership of 200 as proof. But, considering the fact that you don't have to be a dancer to join, it's hard to say whether this number indicates that the women are organizing. Goldberg doesn't deny that there is plenty of fear in the industry. She says, "The women have a negative reaction to the idea of unionization. Club owners have been telling them, 'If you do this you will lose your $10 and $20 dances.' The owners have even bussed women out to public meetings and forced them to speak out in favor of lap dancing. The women are being exploited." The Supreme Court of Ontario convened last month to hear the appeal of the infamous Feb., '94 Hachborn decision that made virtually any contact between exotic dancers and their customers legal. "We'd like to see the court reach a decision so the government can step in with more regulations," Goldberg says. "The Ministries of Labour and Health have to get involved." Katharine's husband Michael Goldberg, ABE's vice-president, explained during the same interview, "It has taken the Supreme Court a long time to decide on this issue because they have lots of information to deal with, and they're trying to draw the line between decency and indecency." Premier Mike Harris has vowed that if the court upholds Hachborn's decision the government will step in and ban lap dancing. "None of this will improve the day-to-day working conditions of exotic dancers," says Dawn. "Once lap dancing is banned things will only get worse. Club owners will go back to promoting table dancing and they will set the prices. "The Metro Licensing Commission considers us self-employed but we can't determine our own wages. The dancers didn't organize around lap dancing and no one is talking about other workplace issues such as filthy change rooms, long hours and the whole wage structure. When we could lap dance we had some choice in how we worked. Soon the club owners will have total control again -- and we'll go back to the same old slavery of the 1980s. The dancers lose." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV/nv.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Thu Oct 19 21:59:05 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:12305 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Roll out the billy clubs Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 18 Oct 1995 19:41:25 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 96 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4643b5$cb@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 19 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK Wherever Premier Mike Harris goes these days, he is followed by noisy protesters. That's not unusual, nor is it unexpected, given the severity of the cuts the PC government is making to dozens of programs put in place by the previous NDP and Liberal governments. What is surprising is that some of the protests are degenerating into violent confrontations with the police. First it was the mini-riot at Queen's Park on the day the Harris government laid out its cost-cutting agenda. That night, the TV pictures of riot police hitting female protesters repeatedly on the head with billy clubs were broadcast across North America and around the world. As a result, many U.S. citizens planning to visit Toronto have been calling friends and relatives to see if it's safe to come here. This is not the best image for a new government hoping to attract offshore investment to the province. A week later, at the opening of Oktoberfest in Kitchener, the Premier was the target of egg-throwing protesters. And this was followed by a violent confrontation between police and protesters at a political fundraising event in Kingston. Although violent protest rallies are commonplace in other countries, they are largely unknown in Canadian politics. The last time violent protests marred the political landscape in Ontario was more than 50 years ago, when Premier Mitch Hepburn sent the RCMP into Oshawa at the height of the Great Depression to bust the fledgling unions. Back then, the union-busting cops were nicknamed "Hepburn's Hussars," and he never recovered politically from this folly. A few years later he was hounded from office, a discredited and broken man. So far, Harris is unperturbed by the protests. In fact, he expected them. At the media scrum after the egg-throwing incident in Kitchener, he said he wasn't surprised by these protests, but he disagreed with their tactics. Outside it was like a scene from a bad movie as police with binoculars and weapons scanned the crowd carefully before the 'all clear' was given for Harris and the other VIPs to take their places on the stage that had been built for the kickoff to the annual Oktoberfest beer bash. While the oompah band played "Roll Out The Barrel," a small group of about 50 protesters took up their positions directly in front of the stage waving placards and chanting, "Shame, Shame, Shame" and "No cuts, No Harris." When Harris arrived the protesters increased their heckling and didn't stop until he left the stage 20 minutes later. His plan to bring friendly greetings to the city's biggest tourist event of the year ended in a hail of raw eggs. The mayor was booed, Miss Oktoberfest (a blonde from Atlanta, Ga.) was hit with eggs, as was the head of the local committee. The only dignitary to get a respite from the protesters was the vice-consul from the German Republic, who was booed until he said, "There's beer for everyone." Then even the protesters cheered. The main organizer of the protesters, also one of the loudest hecklers, was identified by the local media as Hal Matson, a Kitchener lawyer and well-known NDP organizer. The pre-printed signs had slogans that included the following: "Cut corporate welfare," "Let them eat tuna" and "Bye Bye social justice." But the locally hand- printed signs were much tougher: "Women will die because of Harris," "Harris -- Hitler, can you tell the difference" and "Robin Harris steals from the poor and gives to the rich." As Harris got up to drink the ceremonial first glass of Oktoberfest beer, a lonely voice from the more than 1,000 people at the city hall square called out: "We love you, Mike." That prompted the organized protesters to get even louder and throw more eggs. This time it was a direct hit on a middle-aged man dressed in too-tight lederhosen who looked like an overstuffed sausage. Harris, who had taken off his jacket, stood defiantly at the front of the stage in his shirt sleeves ignoring the protesters and casually sipping his beer. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Tue Oct 31 08:17:49 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:13422 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: For sale by owner Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 25 Oct 1995 08:55:05 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 119 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <46lc39$a13@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 26 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS FOR SALE BY OWNER by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST The Common Cents Revolution states, "By spending money on people instead of bricks and mortar, we will be in a position to eliminate the two-year waiting list for affordable housing." What money? What people? Unless you think affordable housing means living in a $700-a- month shoebox, this statement is a lie. The Conservatives have cancelled 23 out of 33 public housing projects in Metro, and approximately 400 in the province. The government has said that it can't afford to complete these projects, and it has a new plan. Critics say this plan will cost more money than the old. Tenants are afraid they'll be forced onto the street. In an interview, Paul Connelly, spokesperson for the Ontario Non- Profit Housing Association, explained the government's plan: "The province no longer wants to subsidize contractors to build non-profit housing. The government wants the private sector to do this, and the removal of rent controls is supposed to stimulate the private sector to get involved in the low-rent housing market. Other incentives may be offered. The government is making a real leap of faith here. If this plan fails, there is no back-up. "Tenants fear the private sector will only build housing geared to the high end of the housing market," Connelly added. The fear is justified. "So far the private sector has shown no interest in building low-rent housing," Connelly said. Toronto's low vacancy rate of 2 to 3 (isn't it 1 per cent now?) per cent is keeping rents up. High rental incomes are attracting developers to the top end of the market, where they can make a fast return on a buck. The demand for housing is growing among low-income people. Many are afraid they won't be able to find safe, affordable homes. "Rather than subsidize the construction of more public housing," said Connelly, "the government plans to provide a shelter allowance for those who can't afford market rent." Does all this spell the end for public housing in Ontario? Bill Morris, of the Co-op Housing Association of Ontario, foresees two possible scenarios. "Public housing will constantly be attacked by the Harris government, and we will always be fighting to protect the interests of people living in non-profit housing," he said. "The second option is to strike a deal with the government, one that satisfies the greatest number of interests of both sides." Morris dismisses the Tories' shelter allowance scheme. "The government condemns building subsidies while promoting shelter allowances, which are shelter subsidies. First the Tories cut welfare by 22 per cent, then they say they're going to give out this shelter allowance. I've compared the figures. Someone on welfare today who receives the allowance will get almost as much money as they did before the cuts. Just more money will go to a landlord. "The Tories think this will encourage the private sector to build low- rent buildings and fill them with people receiving the allowance. The province already pays out five times more money in shelter subsidies [through welfare and family benefits allowances] than it does in building subsidies, and the private sector involvement in low-rent housing hasn't increased at all." The Harris government continues to dig itself into a deep hole. Housing Minister Al Leach has said that the government is committed to the projects that it didn't cancel during the summer, but funding cuts to social service agencies that administer public housing have forced an untold number to close their doors. Who will be left to administer Ontario's existing non-profit housing? eye has heard numerous rumors that the 10 non-profit housing projects currently being built in Metro will be sold upon completion, along with other non-profit housing stock. Are the Tories planning to sell their way out of public housing? According to Morris, "There has been talk in the government about privatization, and privatization is touted in the Common Sense Revolution. There has even been talk about selling off Metro Toronto Housing Authority stock. "The government must ask itself if privatization makes economic sense. Devaluation of public housing buildings happens quickly, and the difference between a building's paper value and its real market value can be as much as 40 or 50 per cent. "The government is forcing non-profit housing agencies into bankruptcy through funding cuts. This paves the way for the government to sell off the housing stock. Because of devaluation however, buildings which cost the province around $125,000 per unit each to build will only fetch about $60,000 per unit in the private sector. The province will lose billions of dollars if it sells off all of its non-profit housing stock. It's clearly cheaper to continue supporting housing agencies so that existing buildings do not have to be sold." Virtually everyone in Ontario who can afford to buy a home will, Morris said. Few people rent by choice. Developers know this, so they're not trying to make the rental housing market attractive to tenants. "Until this changes the problems associated with rental housing won't go away, and neither will the need for public housing," Morris said. We may not have shanty-towns yet, but we do have slums." In today's private market decent affordable housing, like 69-cent tuna, can be found in only one place -- the minds of Mike Harris, Al Leach and David Tsubouchi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV/nv.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Tue Oct 31 08:18:49 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:13423 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Smells like tuna spirit Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 25 Oct 1995 08:55:41 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 121 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <46lc4d$a6v@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 26 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK SMELLS LIKE TUNA SPIRIT The newest game at Queen's Park is betting on how soon Community and Social Services Minister David Tsubouchi will be gone from the Mike Harris cabinet. Even fellow PC MPPs are setting up office pools on the Tsubouchi death watch. Tsubouchi, the rookie minister from the affluent Toronto suburb of Markham, is doing his best to end his political career with self- inflicted wounds. First it was his silly suggestion that welfare recipients should haggle with shop owners when they were buying tuna to get the price down to 69 cents a can. But even Harry Reurink, who runs Harry's No Frills store in Richmond Hill, where many of Tsubouchi's constituents shop, says this isn't possible. Reurink told a local reporter: "The prices are listed on the goods, there's no haggling." As for getting tuna for less than the usual price of between 99 cents and $2, Harry said he runs specials "maybe two or three times a year" reducing the price of no-name tuna to 69 cents. Then Tsubouchi said welfare mothers shouldn't complain about the 22 per cent cut in their benefits that started Oct. 1, because he gave them three months' notice that the cuts were coming and that was enough time for them to go out and get jobs. When he said this, Tsubouchi must have known there were no jobs to look for. Not only are there already 500,000 unemployed people in Ontario looking for jobs that don't exist, but in April, May and June the provincial economy entered a new recession and 15,000 more jobs were lost. Next the accident-prone Tsubouchi signed cabinet orders cutting off 115,000 disabled people and senior citizens from welfare benefits by mistake. The mistake was discovered by the media and an embarrassed Premier Harris promised to fix it. But instead of apologizing for his mistake, Tsubouchi told the Legislature: "I gave explicit instructions that any regulatory changes that affected the disabled be removed. Regrettably my instructions were not carried out." Bob Rae, in his finest moment since the Legislature resumed, pointed out to Tsubouchi that ministry officials don't sign cabinet regulations, ministers do. "Staff of Ministries do not prepare regulations by spontaneous combustion. They respond to instructions from ministers." Finally, after several more questions by Rae and by Liberal Comsoc critic Dominic Agostino, Tsubouchi sheepishly admitted that he did sign the cabinet order to cut the benefits of the disabled and senior citizens. Clearly, what Tsubouchi failed to do was to read what he was signing. Maybe he was too busy scanning the food ads looking for cheap tuna or reading the want ads looking for jobs that don't exist. The next day, Liberal leader Lyn McLeod discovered yet another cabinet order that Tsubouchi had signed to cut benefits to the disabled. A totally confused Tsubouchi thought McLeod was talking about the one he had apologized for the previous day. In the dying days of the Rae government, Harris and his caucus asked for the resignation of former health minister Ruth Grier when it was revealed that she hadn't read a cabinet document that she signed. Now Tsubouchi has come up with a diet-for-a-smaller-welfare-cheque which isn't even fit for inmates in Ontario jails. Tsubouchi's shopping list doesn't include coffee, tea, salt, pepper, butter, margarine, spaghetti sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, toothpaste or soap -- all of which are provided to inmates. Even pregnant inmates, unlike pregnant welfare recipients, are also provided with one litre per day of milk (versus one per week) and an extra night snack as well as prenatal vitamin and mineral supplements, all of which are unaffordable if you are on welfare. As well "more active inmates may be given extra servings of other foods such as soup, bread, potatoes, rice or noodles." No extras if you are on welfare and looking for a job. Inmates are also entitled to "an attractive diet" including "special brunch meals" on "weekends or holidays." But not if you are on welfare in Ontario. However, although Bob Rae had asked for Tsubouchi's resignation, he's not serious, because the beleaguered Tsubouchi is singlehandedly keeping two lame-duck opposition leaders alive with his political gaffes. Harris, who has told his caucus and his cabinet that there are many capable people waiting in the wings to replace ministers who screw up, must be wondering how much more he can let Tsubouchi get away with. Even the Tory-boosting Toronto Sun says Tsubouchi must go. The PC agenda of cuts to government spending is going to get tougher to sell as time goes on, but it may become impossible to sell if the minister making the cuts to the poorest people in the province is so out of touch with reality that he continues to embarrass the rest of the cabinet. If Harris wants to have any chance of keeping the credibility of his program intact, he may have to cut Tsubouchi loose before he drags the rest of the government down with him, the way Shelley Martel did to Bob Rae. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Tue Oct 31 08:21:08 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:13423 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!io.org!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Smells like tuna spirit Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 25 Oct 1995 08:55:41 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 121 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <46lc4d$a6v@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY October 26 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK SMELLS LIKE TUNA SPIRIT The newest game at Queen's Park is betting on how soon Community and Social Services Minister David Tsubouchi will be gone from the Mike Harris cabinet. Even fellow PC MPPs are setting up office pools on the Tsubouchi death watch. Tsubouchi, the rookie minister from the affluent Toronto suburb of Markham, is doing his best to end his political career with self- inflicted wounds. First it was his silly suggestion that welfare recipients should haggle with shop owners when they were buying tuna to get the price down to 69 cents a can. But even Harry Reurink, who runs Harry's No Frills store in Richmond Hill, where many of Tsubouchi's constituents shop, says this isn't possible. Reurink told a local reporter: "The prices are listed on the goods, there's no haggling." As for getting tuna for less than the usual price of between 99 cents and $2, Harry said he runs specials "maybe two or three times a year" reducing the price of no-name tuna to 69 cents. Then Tsubouchi said welfare mothers shouldn't complain about the 22 per cent cut in their benefits that started Oct. 1, because he gave them three months' notice that the cuts were coming and that was enough time for them to go out and get jobs. When he said this, Tsubouchi must have known there were no jobs to look for. Not only are there already 500,000 unemployed people in Ontario looking for jobs that don't exist, but in April, May and June the provincial economy entered a new recession and 15,000 more jobs were lost. Next the accident-prone Tsubouchi signed cabinet orders cutting off 115,000 disabled people and senior citizens from welfare benefits by mistake. The mistake was discovered by the media and an embarrassed Premier Harris promised to fix it. But instead of apologizing for his mistake, Tsubouchi told the Legislature: "I gave explicit instructions that any regulatory changes that affected the disabled be removed. Regrettably my instructions were not carried out." Bob Rae, in his finest moment since the Legislature resumed, pointed out to Tsubouchi that ministry officials don't sign cabinet regulations, ministers do. "Staff of Ministries do not prepare regulations by spontaneous combustion. They respond to instructions from ministers." Finally, after several more questions by Rae and by Liberal Comsoc critic Dominic Agostino, Tsubouchi sheepishly admitted that he did sign the cabinet order to cut the benefits of the disabled and senior citizens. Clearly, what Tsubouchi failed to do was to read what he was signing. Maybe he was too busy scanning the food ads looking for cheap tuna or reading the want ads looking for jobs that don't exist. The next day, Liberal leader Lyn McLeod discovered yet another cabinet order that Tsubouchi had signed to cut benefits to the disabled. A totally confused Tsubouchi thought McLeod was talking about the one he had apologized for the previous day. In the dying days of the Rae government, Harris and his caucus asked for the resignation of former health minister Ruth Grier when it was revealed that she hadn't read a cabinet document that she signed. Now Tsubouchi has come up with a diet-for-a-smaller-welfare-cheque which isn't even fit for inmates in Ontario jails. Tsubouchi's shopping list doesn't include coffee, tea, salt, pepper, butter, margarine, spaghetti sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, toothpaste or soap -- all of which are provided to inmates. Even pregnant inmates, unlike pregnant welfare recipients, are also provided with one litre per day of milk (versus one per week) and an extra night snack as well as prenatal vitamin and mineral supplements, all of which are unaffordable if you are on welfare. As well "more active inmates may be given extra servings of other foods such as soup, bread, potatoes, rice or noodles." No extras if you are on welfare and looking for a job. Inmates are also entitled to "an attractive diet" including "special brunch meals" on "weekends or holidays." But not if you are on welfare in Ontario. However, although Bob Rae had asked for Tsubouchi's resignation, he's not serious, because the beleaguered Tsubouchi is singlehandedly keeping two lame-duck opposition leaders alive with his political gaffes. Harris, who has told his caucus and his cabinet that there are many capable people waiting in the wings to replace ministers who screw up, must be wondering how much more he can let Tsubouchi get away with. Even the Tory-boosting Toronto Sun says Tsubouchi must go. The PC agenda of cuts to government spending is going to get tougher to sell as time goes on, but it may become impossible to sell if the minister making the cuts to the poorest people in the province is so out of touch with reality that he continues to embarrass the rest of the cabinet. If Harris wants to have any chance of keeping the credibility of his program intact, he may have to cut Tsubouchi loose before he drags the rest of the government down with him, the way Shelley Martel did to Bob Rae. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive -----> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park/park.htm eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sat Nov 4 08:25:40 1995 Xref: elastic can.general:17798 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,can.general Subject: NEWS: Canada goes Poof! Followup-To: eye.general,can.general Date: 2 Nov 1995 20:16:33 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 178 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <47bqhh$k3n@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY November 2 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS CANADA GOES POOF! by SCOTT DISHER Montreal -- Lost in the sea of babble from referendum night and the morning-after frenzy of media spin were two mini-sound-bites from the loser who won, Lucien Bouchard, and the winner who lost, Jean Chretien: "Boom-Boom" from the former and "Poof!" from the latter. First, the Boom-Boom. This was Bouchard's sarcastic putdown (the fancy term is onomatopoeia) for the heartbeats of all those patriotic Canadians who took trains, planes and automobiles to attend the giant Oct. 27 pro-Canada rally in downtown Montreal. As for the Poof!, this was Chretien's taunt to Bouchard in the House of Commons after the sovereigntist leader ratcheted up his dream- merchant rhetoric on the hustings in the Quebec hinterland by likening a Oui vote to a magic wand. "Poof! there goes your Canadian passport, Poof! the dollar, etc. etc.," joked Canada's stand-up PM. Just after the polls close at 8 p.m. on referendum day, as thousands of expectant Gen X Oui supporters pour out of the subway system into the cavernous Montreal convention centre to await the results, the Oui HQ is throbbing with the boom-boom beat of rock tunes by pro- sovereignty rockers such as Paul Piche. At 8:05, tumultuous cheers reverberate through the room as the Quebec government-owned Radio Quebec releases initial poll results showing the Oui well ahead of the Non. The 7,000-strong crowd, most carrying flags and many with the fleur- de-lis symbol painted on their faces, is egged on by a parade of Oui campaign VIPs -- each of whom start off by saying their name followed by the mantra: "...et j'ai vote Oui!" But the Ouis begin to quiet down as reality sinks in. By 9:15, Poof! The Oui and Non are neck-and-neck, with the Oui slightly ahead but dropping. At 9:36, it's 50-50. One second, the crowd roars as the scoreboard-sized TV monitor shows a brief blip upwards for Team Oui, and then sputters as the Non rebounds seconds later. As the Non trend stabilizes, Quebec deputy premier Bernard Landry manages one of the PQ's trademark segues of subtle intimidation. In the space of 15 minutes, Quebec's "minorities" -- who, Landry warn, must "profoundly deepen their reflections," i.e., change their minds and become sovereigntists -- have been relegated to the status of "immigrants," code for "not one of us." ROCH 'N' ROLL PARTY At 9:45, on my way over in a cab to the Non headquarters a few blocks away at the trendy Metropolis mega-disco just off the seedy, hooker- infested part of St. Lawrence Blvd., Radio Canada summarizes the vote as "Montreal vs. the regions." Outside Metropolis, Montreal police in riot gear are setting up barricades along the sidewalks. My cabbie, a Haitian who speaks no English, tells me and all his family voted Non, but that he doesn't know what "all those crazy Quebecois in the rest of Quebec were thinking." Robert Bourassa, who, along with Brian Mulroney, holds the distinction of being the most reviled politician in modern Quebec, coined the phrase "rest of Canada" or ROC during the Meech meltdown. Now, on the island of Montreal, surrounded by the island that is Quebec within Canada, ROQ is the new trendoid term for the schism gnawing at the heart of the distinct society. Inside the Non HQ at 10 p.m., enveloped in sauna-strength heat, 1,500 better-dressed Gen Xers, buttoned-down, federalist boomer yuppies and their exquisitely coiffed escorts are boom-booming to the less raunchy beat of Canada's clean-cut Acadian heartthrob, Roch Voisine. The three-storey disco is equipped with a Letterman-style overhead skycam, and the giant screen flashes a melange of split-screen images from Rad-Can, CBC and CTV. Red ties and the maple leaf are suddenly the dominant decor as the networks begin to cut away from the Oui HQ to images of cheering young federalists. Poof! A ocean of blue becomes a crowded fishbowl of red and white. NON'S FAVORITE JEAN There is much cheering followed by boos as Bouchard's brief concession speech comes up and then Parizeau's bitter, rambling tirade. "Naa-na- na-na, hey-hey, goodbye!" is sung mockingly at the image of the tired but excited fat man bellowing down from the screen. One placard reads "Canada or Bust" and there is Team Non's new Canadian flag with two vertical blue bars beside the red ones. Boom-Boom: the tempo builds for the triumphant entry of Daniel Johnson and Jean Charest, who embrace their wives onstage. A placard is waved which reads "Merci aux deux Jeans," but Charest gets all the cheers while Canada's invisible man, Jean Chretien, is ignored except for one brief 'merci' in Johnson's graceful, 10-minute address. At this point, ROC and ROQ, glued to their TV sets, get deprived of the best speech of the evening as the networks preempt Charest's rousing, inspirational speech for the Radio Moscow-like, moribund message from the Prime Minister. But inside the Team Non noise cave, Chretien is yesterday's man, treated like a silent film star as the audience went wild over Charest. Charest's stemwinder peaks with an evocative tribute to all the Canadians who rallied to the cause by coming to Montreal or speaking out in their own cities and towns. He tells his spellbound audience that "all these Canadians will be able to touch a piece of the Canadian flag and tell their children and grandchildren and say yes, it's because of what I said and what I did..." Charest thanks all the Non leaders and their spouses -- except for Chretien, whose silent image disappears from the small screens scattered around the disco. The politically born-again Tory leader, suddenly front-and-centre as the inheritor of the Trudeau vision and passion for unhyphenated Canadianism, pointedly neglects to utter the PM's name. Charest sticks it to Chretien one more time with his closing call for unity across tribal and political affiliations: "We are all the guardians of that will for change in Canada." CHRETIEN'S ROYAL BLUNDERS The dirty little secret behind the Charest-Chretien oneupmanship games at the end of a long evening is that it didn't have to be this close. While Bouchard gamely crisscrossed the province on his one-legged personal ego-trip-cum-odyssey for the Oui, Team Non was forced to fight with one arm tied. Chretien -- whose own pollster, Michael Marzolini, told various reporters early last summer that if Bouchard took charge of the Oui campaign, the Oui side would win -- blew this campaign big-time. Instead of building a coalition of talented federalist organizers from all the parties, Chretien excluded everyone but his own hard-line insider clique, humiliating Johnson (who is a mainstream federalist Quebec nationalist) while confiding to a wide variety of people that his polls shows that the Non forces would do better than they did in 1980. Chretien humiliated Charest by assuring that the Conservatives were not recognized as a party in the House of Commons, and kept him in the dark until the referendum campaign was underway. Johnson, whose own leadership is shaky, was also not eager to share the limelight with the the vastly more popular and credible Charest -- until the roof appeared to be caving in and Charest was in big demand by desperate Non rally organizers. Johnson, an earnest plodder who was described by former Liberal MP and Bloc turncoat Jean Lapierre, now a Montreal hotline host, as having "all the charisma of a garage door," was dead on his feet once Parizeau left the ring in favor of Bouchard. By the third week of the referendum campaign, the Non camp was in total disarray and Johnson and Chretien's people were bickering. In the closing days, a last-minute peace was achieved as Chretien's trusted adviser John Rae, ex-premier Bob's older brother, stepped in to smooth things over. The bittersweet aftertaste of the pyrrhic Non victory is that Chretien's big bluff bounced back on all of Canada. Suddenly, the man who waxed eloquent over "my Rockies" is faced with being the last Prime Minister of Canada as we know it. With his dinosaur counterpart Jacques Parizeau on his way out, Chretien has a lot of explaining to do. And not much time to do it. In the Neverneverland of Canadian politics, the losers won (Boom-Boom) and the winners (Poof!) stand to lose the country they were elected to defend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive -----------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV/ eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Tue Nov 14 01:31:20 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:16435 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Taking care of our own Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 9 Nov 1995 08:52:03 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 105 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <47t123$g36@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY November 9 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST Women who suffer domestic violence can turn to the church. Welfare moms can get their friends to babysit while they go off in search of non-existent jobs. Folks still hungry after gobbling down their monthly $90 worth of food can turn to their families. Yes, the provincial Tory government expects us to take care of our own. And Premier Mike Harris believes the community should help those who can't turn to family. Meanwhile, hitmen such as Social Services Minister David Tsubouchi slash or kill the very funding that would make this possible. The Tories say the drastic cuts to community-based agencies are necessary to combat the provincial deficit. Local politicians such as Councillor Kyle Rae say the cuts are disastrous. Street Outreach Services (S.O.S.) is one such Toronto agency that has received the not-so-golden Harris handshake. S.O.S. provides safe-sex information, group support and counselling for street youth who get involved in prostitution. Staff members also provide information about the choices available to young people who decide to leave the street or get out of prostitution. According to director Susan Miner, last year S.O.S. saw 1,150 people and averaged 450 meetings with staff members and clients a month. Last month the agency received the dreaded phone call from the Ministry of Community and Social Services. They were told that 80 per cent of their provincial funding -- a total of $500,000 -- would be eliminated. In an interview, Miner described the cuts as "quick and dramatic." Stories purporting that S.O.S. was history flashed through the community agency network but, as Miner says, "Rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated. We are supported by Anglican House. We will continue to receive their support and we will look to the Ministry of Health and the City of Toronto for future funding." Currently S.O.S. is seeing 45 young people who are HIV-positive, and the agency does a lot of educational work around youth and AIDS. Will programs such as these survive the Harris cuts? "There will have to be major changes made in the way we deliver services," says Miner. "But we will keep the focus where it is and AIDS prevention education and outreach will remain key components of our programs." In this war on the deficit, Toronto's inner city community-based agencies appear to be the primary targets of Tsubouchi's bombing raids. According to Rae, Turning Point, an agency that works with disadvantaged or emotionally disturbed youth, will also lose a half- million dollars in provincial funding. Youthlink Inner City will lose $250,000, the Open Door $80,000 -- the list goes on. Many of the people who rely on the services provided by inner-city community agencies live in Kyle Rae's ward. When asked where people such as HIV-positive youth are supposed to go, Rae replies, "To Covenant House, I guess. Soon kids won't even be able to go to a hospital in the downtown core because after November they will probably all be closed. Then the only places that street kids will be able to turn to will be those with crosses on the roofs." "The Tory government doesn't care about street youth, HIV-positive youth, the poor, or the City of Toronto," Rae says. "It's obvious that this government only cares about those people who voted for it. The people affected by these cuts didn't vote Tory. "Harris is the first leader I've ever heard say that he's not concerned about the people who didn't vote for him. Harris certainly does not represent all of the people of this province." After you have visited an agency that's been hit by the Harris axe, it's hard not to agree with Kyle Rae. Recently my partner and I attended a fundraiser put on by the Anduhyaun housing program. The fundraiser could've been a wake for Nekenaan, a brand new building erected to house more than 40 native women and their children. Anduhyaun staff found out, through a phone call, that they will receive cuts to their funding -- five days after the building opened. The women of Anduhyaun, like the staff and board members of many other agencies that I have written about, do not plan to take this lying down. Plans to fight this government are being worked out as activists and lawyers begin rolling up their sleeves. These forthcoming actions against the Harris regime will be highlighted in future columns. But for now, the highlight of the fundraiser was the opportunity to throw sponges soaked with thick pink goo at a pro-Harris poster. Damn that felt good. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Tue Nov 14 01:33:47 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:16436 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!noc.tor.hookup.net!hookup!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: A place for ethnics to stand and grow Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 9 Nov 1995 08:55:22 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 125 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <47t18a$gjm@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY November 9 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK A PLACE FOR ETHNICS TO STAND AND GROW One of the best kept secrets in the Ontario government is the fact that the close vote in last week's Quebec referendum is good news for Ontario's economy. Just as the province was sliding into another recession, the uncertainty of the Quebec situation will once again prompt thousands of business owners and managers to seriously look at moving out of the province. The last time that happened, back in 1976, Ontario was the main beneficiary of the flight of capital, jobs and business expertise. In fact, up until 19 years ago, Bay St. was in many ways fighting it out with St. James St. in Montreal for predominance as Canada's financial centre. But the election of Rene Levesque's NDP-clone social democratic government, intent on leaving Canada, led to more than 300,000 people moving to Ontario and bringing their money with them. They were welcomed with open arms by the then government of Bill Davis, who quickly realized that Quebec's loss could be Ontario's gain. And it was. The same thing will happen again. Only this time, the vote wasn't 60 per cent in favor of staying in Canada; it was only 50.6 per cent. If that's the trend line, the separatists will win the next vote. To make matters worse, on the night of the vote, Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau inflamed racial tensions in the province to an extent never seen before in Canadian politics when he blamed "money and ethnics" for the latest loss by the separatists. He went on to warn that there would be retribution and that the French Quebecers would win the next vote. Former premier Bob Rae, who was on a TV panel, reacted in disgust at the remarks of a fellow social democrat. The next day Parizeau resigned in disgrace. But the damage was done. Members of Montreal's multicultural communities -- Greek, Portuguese, Italians, Jewish, Haitians and Lebanese -- all condemned Parizeau's remarks. Even French Canadian peacekeepers in Bosnia were horrified. This wasn't someone from the lunatic fringe of politics who had invoked the spectre of racial purity in Canada. Why would a Greek Canadian business owner stay in Montreal after being singled out for retribution by the separatists? Why not move to Ontario? But you will never hear this said explicitly by anyone in government in Ontario. Just unofficially. The welcome mat is out, unofficially. Needless to say, the official response of Premier Mike Harris was muted. In a prepared statement in the Legislature he said: "Ontarians, Quebecers and Canadians from all provinces share the same goals -- jobs, opportunity, safe streets, a strong education system and accessible quality health care." And where can you find those things? In Ontar-i-ario, of course. C'mon down to Ontario. Your friends and neighbors came 19 years ago. Thanks partly to the influx of ex-Montrealers in the '70s, Toronto has become one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. To a new group of ex-Quebecers, Ontario says bring your talents and your money and we will welcome you with open arms. LEARNING CURVE Rookie Liberal MPP Dominic Agostino is learning the hard way that it doesn't pay to play favorites with the press. Prior to the announcement of cuts by the Harris government Agostino released a list of groups that would be affected to The Toronto Star, which ran a front-page story. The next day, Agostino called a press conference to give the same information to the rest of the Queen's Park gallery. Furious reporters from the other media told Agostino there was no way they were giving him coverage after their competitor had already run the story. Agostino didn't get a single line of coverage from anyone else. Agostino got away with this behavior as a councillor in Hamilton, where there is only one newspaper and the Spectator ran his "leaks" in the morning while the broadcast media got the story later. An embarrassed Agostino called all the reporters who came to his phony "news" conference individually to apologize. One longtime reporter told eye that Agostino seems to have learned his lesson, but added that he will not get a lot of coverage anyway because he combines "shotgun delivery with a marble mouth," which makes it difficult for anyone to understand what he's saying. TSUBOUCHI WATCH Harris has once again come to the aid of his beleaguered Social Services Minister David Tsubouchi, who has hired a $1,200 spin doctor to help him keep him out of trouble. Longtime PC communications expert Jan Dymand of Zed Communications has been hired to get Tsubouchi back on track. Early results are positive. In the Legislature last week, Tsubouchi was going on the offensive with NDP critic Dave Cooke and he finally learned that it doesn't matter what the question is -- give the same three stock answers to anything and you will stay out of trouble. All he has to do is listen to Finance Minister Ernie Eves, who could be a member of Canada's Olympic skating team the way he answers questions in the Legislature. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!ican.net!news.sprintlink.net!malgudi.oar.net!multiverse!hookup!cunews!nott!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sat Dec 2 18:30:53 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:19459 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!ican.net!news.sprintlink.net!malgudi.oar.net!multiverse!hookup!cunews!nott!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Cuts for most, raises for some Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 30 Nov 1995 18:39:53 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 115 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <49lfc9$mre@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY November 30 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK CUTS FOR MOST, RAISES FOR SOME Is the honeymoon finally over? Before this week's $3.5-billion cut in support for municipalities, schools and hospitals, Premier Harris warned his caucus to get ready for a big drop in popularity. This is the second time Harris has sounded this warning. Last July, before his government cut $2 billion from welfare recipients, he said the same thing in private meetings. But it didn't happen. In fact, during the three months after the first round of cuts, Harris' popularity with voters actually increased by 8 per cent over his showing on election night, to an approval rating of 58 per cent. Clearly, as the economy stopped growing, middle-class voters across the province were in a less sympathetic mood toward those less fortunate. And this increased support came despite three months of non-stop attacks on welfare cuts by the opposition parties at Queen's Park. Even accident-prone Social Services Minister David Tsubouchi couldn't keep voters off the Harris bandwagon. However, the cuts announced this week are different. They strike at the heart of programs that the middle class have come to expect from their government in Ontario. This time it's not just those on welfare who will suffer. The pain will be felt by everyone. Harris is absolutely right -- the honeymoon is about to end. Over the next few months, as middle-class voters find they face a longer line-up with a screaming child at a hospital emergency room, or have to dig deeper to pay higher tuition fees, or pay more to get garbage picked up, Harris will pay the price in voter support. RAISE THOSE MEMBERS While Harris was cutting welfare benefits by 21 per cent, an advisory group he appointed decided that MPPs need a huge pay increase. The private sector group, described to eye by one government official as experts in compensation, recommended that the base pay of MPPs be increased from $42,000 to $90,000 a year. Harris would see his pay increase from $84,000 to $200,000. In defense of the report, Management Board Chair Dave Johnson told reporters the current pay package for MPPs totals between $80,000 and $100,000 when a tax free allowance and other perks are added in. Tory backbencher Chris Stockwell disagrees. "If that's the case," he says, "on the way out every pay period, I miss one of the wickets." But Stockwell isn't milking the system the way other MPPs do. He has never put in an expense claim for sitting on a legislative committee, has never charged for driving to and from work and has never charged for driving around his riding to go to meetings -- all of which are allowed. Other MPPs take full advantage of the system. One of the best at getting every dollar he can is NDP member Rosario Marchese, from the downtown riding of Fort York. In just one year, Marchese, who at the time lived only 2.5 kilometers from Queen's Park, collected more than $2,000 in travel expenses to get to and from work. In addition, he charged another $2,300 for travel within his riding -- which is just 5 kilometers from one end to the other. Nobody but politicians get paid to drive to work. Meanwhile, rookie Liberal MPP Dwight Duncan says he is quite happy with the pay that MPPs get. He told eye he gets paid more than most of his constituents and makes well above the average wage. Stockwell doesn't think these recommendations will go anywhere. "You can't be cutting welfare recipients by 21 percent, laying off 20,000 employees and reducing payments for WCB payments, etc., and then tell everybody you are going to pay MPPs $90,000. This duck won't fly. In fact, it isn't even a duck, its a wooden decoy." HAPPY LIBERAL LANDINGS Defeated MPPs may have trouble getting jobs, but not ex-senior staff to Liberal leader Lyn McLeod. McLeod's former chief of staff Bob Richardson is now a well-paid vice-president of the Angus Reid polling firm, while Don Guy, the former head of special projects for the Liberals, is now a senior analyst at rival polling firm Insight Research. Former senior communications advisor John Duffy, who also worked for Liberal Cabinet Ministers Greg Sorbara and Alvin Curling, is now a partner in a new government relations firm with Leslie Noble, ex- campaign manager of the Mike Harris election team. McLeod's former policy and communications director Sue Hanna is now director of public affairs for the Ontario Chartered Accountants Institute; former economic advisor Phil Demont is now a reporter for the Financial Post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Dec 16 18:51:06 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:21285 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Tory bumbling causes Park bedlam Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 13 Dec 1995 20:05:59 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 127 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4ant9n$544@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 198.53.145.2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY December 14 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK TORY BUMBLING CAUSES PARK BEDLAM Ever since Finance Minister Ernie Eves introduced a new law allowing him to slash another $6 billion in government spending, the Legislature has been in an uproar. The government's foot-thick Omnibus Bill, which will amend hundreds of provincial laws, has given the opposition parties their first real opportunity to fight the government's cost-cutting agenda. Until now the Harris government has had a free ride in the Legislature and with the public, but the honeymoon is over. Queen's Park has degenerated into a theatre of the absurd, with Liberal MPP Alvin Curling bringing proceedings to a grinding halt after he refused to leave his seat when Speaker Al McLean ordered him out of the chamber. McLean then ordered Curling to be physically removed by armed OPP officers. But the Speaker backed down when Liberal and NDP MPPs surrounded Curling to prevent him from being dragged out of his seat. One MPP joked that as soon as the officers saw NDP MPP Frances Lankin, an ex-prison guard, move in front of Curling to protect him, they quickly backed off. Ironically, Curling was one of McLean's strongest supporters in the Liberal caucus when he was running for Speaker against frontrunner Margaret Marland. Support from Curling and the Liberals was the main reason McLean became Speaker. McLean, who has some difficulty with the English language, kept referring to the government Omnibus Bill as the "Ominous Bill," which is exactly what the opposition were calling it. (However, the official record of the Legislature doesn't show McLean mis-speaking himself, because Hansard editors know who signs their pay cheques -- the Speaker.) But the theatrics of the opposition only mirror a larger problem the Harris government has created for itself. The problem is that this legislation gives broad and unprecedented powers to the government to unilaterally close hospitals, to amalgamate municipalities and to give the cabinet access to personal health records of Ontario citizens. Although the intent of the legislation was to allow the government to implement its cut and slash program as outlined in the Common Sense Revolution during the election, this bill goes much further. In fact, Ontario's Privacy Commissioner, Tom Wright, has denounced this legislation because it allows the health minister to have access to confidential health records, which could reveal patients' sexual orientation and other information about them. This information could then be turned over to the police or private health insurance companies. Even MPPs who are gay, but still in the closet, would be at risk of being outed by this legislation. One government MPP told eye that the Omnibus Bill is a mistake and should be amended. He said PC MPPs were told that deputy ministers were instructed to search through legislation that had to be amended to allow the government to get on with its cost-cutting. But some of the deputies went too far and "bamboozled" the government by throwing in other amendments. That's clearly what happened at the ministry of health. ERNIE'S HOUSEKEEPING PROBLEM But a larger problem for the government is the handling of this issue by House Leader and Finance Minster Ernie Eves. He has been put into an impossible situation by Premier Harris. As both the proponent of the Omnibus Bill and the person who is supposed to negotiate its smooth passage through the Legislature, he is in a conflict of interest that can't be resolved. In former Tory governments, the House leader was always a conciliator, like Tom Wells or Bob Welch, who understood the need for give and take in negotiations with the opposition to make the Legislature run smoothly. The Harris government seems to have forgotten how previous Tory governments made the art of governing appear so easy. One of the toughest jobs in government is the job of House Leader. He has to satisfy the egos of the opposition while at the same time getting the government's program through. If the job is done properly, the House Leader is totally invisible. In politics it all comes down to egos. And politicians have bigger egos than most people -- that's why they get into politics in the first place. Something has gone terribly wrong when procedural problems become public issues, as they did last week. Ernie and Mike were rookie backbenchers the last time the PCs ran a government in Ontario. Now they are learning how to run a government on the job. Harris has made life impossible for his friend Ernie by giving him two jobs that can't be properly done by the same person. The only way out of this mess is for Ernie to choose which job he really wants and tell Mike to give the other job to someone else. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Dec 23 01:17:44 1995 Xref: elastic ont.general:22314 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!gts!whome!infoshare!news1.toronto.fonorola.net!news1.toronto.istar.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: The goof factor Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 21 Dec 1995 00:14:12 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 121 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4baqf4$7rf@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY December 21 1995 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK THE GOOF FACTOR After just three months of action in the Legislature, the new Tory government is reeling from a series of ministerial foul-ups that have led to a nosedive in public opinion polls. November was disastrous for the Harris government. In just one month their public support dropped 8 per cent. And that was before the $6 billion in cuts that will lead to healthcare user fees for senior citizens, increased municipal taxes and higher tuition fees. At the end of October, Angus Reid found Harris had the support of 58 per cent of voters, up from 45 per cent in the June election results. But by the end of November, support slipped back to 50 per cent. And a more recent survey by Environics shows support for the government down to 44 per cent, a drop of 14 points from the post-election high. The honeymoon that voters give new governments has ended abruptly. In fact, after six months in office Premier Mike Harris is less popular with the public than either Bob Rae or David Peterson were after the same time at Queen's Park. After six months in power, Rae was supported by 65 per cent of the public, Peterson by 60 per cent. It took another two years for them to lose significant voter support. Things will likely get worse for Harris: when the latest round of provincial cuts hits the soft underbelly of Tory support -- the middle class -- analysts predict another drop in support of about 10 per cent. SEND IN THE CLOWNS The Harris government's problems are partially due to the antics of some of its rookie ministers. In the words of one analyst, "They showed themselves to be boobs." The biggest "boob" was Comsoc Minister David Tsubouchi, who spent most of November with his foot in his mouth. First he told welfare recipients to haggle with store owners for a better price on cans of tuna. Then he accidentally cut the disabled and senior citizens off welfare benefits because he didn't read a cabinet document he was signing. Finally he prepared a shopping list for welfare recipients that would give them a diet worse than that of inmates in Ontario jails. Although Harris stood behind his beleaguered Minister of Tuna, the public clearly told pollsters they felt differently. Second on the list of Tory political liabilities is rookie Transportation Minister and car dealer Al Palladini, who cut provincial grants to the TTC even before he picked out his new government limo. Then he cut snowplowing budgets for provincial highways and said that people who got stuck in the snow should use their cellular phones to call for help, oblivious to the fact that, unlike millionaire car dealers, not everyone has a phone in their car. This was followed by press reports about a court case involving Palladini's child support payments to his mistress. This issue alone probably ends Palladini's short political career. Residents of the middle-class, mainly Italian-Canadian suburb of Woodbridge in his riding are still in shock over these revelations. Rookie education minister John Snobelen also cost Harris some voter support with his videotaped comments to ministry staff that he felt there was a need to "invent a crisis" in education, then solve it. Also in November, Harris was forced to fire political aide Jaime Watt after hiring him on a contract -- months after Watt had resigned after failing to tell Harris about a criminal conviction for fraud. Added together, these self-inflicted mini-scandals have shaken public confidence in the Harris government, and December is shaping up a lot like November. First, the government's foot-thick omnibus bill, which it tabled in the Legislature to implement its $6 billion cost-cutting agenda, was stopped in its tracks by Liberal MPP Alvin Curling, who staged an 18- hour sit-in. This forced Harris to overrule his buddy, Finance Minister Ernie Eves, who was trying to ram the massive bill through the Legislature (Not through Alvin Curling's digestive tract, I hope! -- Potty ed.) without public hearings. Then Municipal Affairs Minister Al Leach became the second Harris minister to be caught signing a cabinet document he hadn't read. In this case it was sections of the omnibus bill that would allow municipalities to raise all sorts of new taxes. In the Legislature, persistent questioning by the opposition flustered Leach so badly that he called Bob Rae the "leader of the coalition." Hansard reports the rest of his response to Rae like this: "I had that right there to read back to you. Completely lost. Mr. Speaker, give me two minutes. Let me take that on notice." What did Rae do to confuse Leach so badly? He read directly from the omnibus bill. Ironically, Rae and the NDP government were widely referred to as the "Beverly Hillbillies" because of their inability to manage the Park. But after just six months in office, the Harris government is starting to look more like the Keystone Kops than the Big Blue Machine that ran Ontario so effectively for 43 years. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Jan 6 15:07:58 1996 Xref: elastic tor.arts:555 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!telly!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.arts Subject: COMEDY: Build your own CITY-TV show! Followup-To: eye.general,tor.arts Date: 5 Jan 1996 19:39:07 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 84 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4ckgbb$h5a@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 4 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMEDY COMEDY BUILD YOUR OWN CITY-TV SHOW! by ANDREW CLARK Ever wonder what it's like to lead the media revolution? Ever want to get your very own exhibition at the ROM? Books got you down? Hate the press? Why not try your hand at creating your very own, Moses Znaimer- style CITY-TV extravaganza! Grab your sinister shades, click open that cell phone and let's rock! First pick a title 1. Nountelevision 2. The Great Unwashed Corner 3. Prez Releeze 4. You Dance and I'll Shake the Camera 5. Ziggy Does Dairy 6. This Show Has No Host Which Makes It Cheap Now add the snappy catch-phraseE 1. The art and science of words or phrases used as names of persons, places or things! 2. You get to listen to people you would cross the street to avoid! 3. Record companies fax us press releases and we read them with few errors in pronunciation! 4. You teenager. We tape. 5. Ziggy takes you on a wacky trip through the opaque liquid cows emit. 6. Cameras tape people around the world. We edit them and run them for half an hour. Hire a hostE 1. Brona 2. Steve Anthony 3. Ziggy 4. A bowl of risotto 5. Monika Deol 6. A bowl of risotto And all you need is a script! 1. (A mystified English professor stands uneasily in his front doorway. Authoritative scrawl underneath reads: Professor Bridgeport, Keele University.) "Evasion is the act or means of evading. It's a thing. A noun. Whereas, evasive is an adjective. As in seeking to evade. (He pauses) Oh, piss off." 2. (A disheveled frequenter of bingo halls steadies his intoxicated body in the booth) "This one's going out to you Jane! I love you! I'm sorry I tried to kill you!" (Two 17-year-old girls adjust their lipstick) "I dunno know why. Why do youse guys always wanna do things to us? Jess because youse buy me a Tim Hortons don' mean you gonna get nuthing!" 3. (A glamorous TV presenter shines before the camera. His dark hair is cut just so) "Tears For Fears are back with a new album that takes rock music to new heights in (he pauses, squints) Am-bro-si-al. Ambrosial? (confident) Ambrosial metaphors. The pair who made big chart hits with OShout' are back and more ambrosial than ever!" 4. (A teenage waist gyrates furiously. Run commercial) 5. (Ziggy reflects for 10 seconds and then offers the insightful observation) "So that's the udder?" 6. (The camera's point of view, walking through a snowy field.) "Snow. The white stuff. It's winter and with winter, we can expect snow." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available Comedy archives -------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/Arts/Comedy eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Jan 6 15:44:58 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:23895 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!telly!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: eyeLASHES!!! Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 5 Jan 1996 19:47:18 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 125 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4ckgqm$its@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 4 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK ELECTION STRATEGIES The long-awaited provincial election finally gets called in June. The NDP campaign asks voters to forget the past and give them a second chance. The front-running Liberals hope a boring campaign lulls voters into sleepwalking to the polls. The PCs win by promising to bring back the good old days, before immigrants, welfare bums and socialists ruined the neighborhood. FRONT-RUNNING LIBERALS CAN'T READ "There was no surprise. Our strategy was right there in eye for the Liberals to see. I guess they just didn't want to believe it," says Harris chief of staff David Lindsay. PC polling had shown that 89 per cent of soft Liberal support also agreed with what Harris was saying. The PCs simply got their message through to soft Liberals. DID I SAY THAT? Before the election, eye asked several Queen's Park Press Gallery types to predict the outcome. Here's what they said: Colin Vaughan, CITY-TV: "McLeod might fade a great deal." Robin Smyth, Global TV: NDP minority. Steve Paikin, TVO: "When people focus on the leaders, many will chose Rae." Jim Rusk, The Globe and Mail: Liberal minority. Jeff Harder, Toronto Sun: "Tories coming on strong." Betsy Powell, Canadian Press: Liberal minority. Richard Brennan, Windsor Star: "McLeod may get knocked off by Harris." Jim Coyle, Ottawa Citizen: "When Harris won the leadership I never thought it possible he could win, but now he could." PROMISES On the campaign trail Mike Harris promises that he won't cut money for health care, impose user fees or raise taxes. After the PCs win the election the Harris government cuts money for health care, imposes user fees and raise taxes. PASS THE SALT 'N' PEPPER During the election, Mike Harris announces that he will resign if he doesn't keep his promises. He also promises to eat the paper his promises are printed on. BILLY CLUBS-R-US As the Harris government starts its term in office, riot police beat up women protesters in front of Queen's Park. MAKE MY DAY Tough guy Mike Harris stares down egg-throwers at Oktoberfest. POLITICAL HARI-KARI David Tsubouchi, the Minister of Tuna from Markham, does his best to end his political career with self-inflicted wounds. CARPETS NOT TUNA While the Harris government cut benefits for mothers on welfare, they spent nearly $2 million renovating offices for new MPPs at Queen's Park. GOVERNMENT SECRETS PC Caucus chair Margaret Marland complains that TV cameras zoomed in on confidential material on her desk. It turns out the "confidential" material was a few samples of fabrics that Marland was looking over during Question Period. ERNIE THE AXE CUTS DEEP Cuts of $8 billion are the biggest ever made by a provincial government. Even Alberta's Premier Ralph Klein, the darling of the right, looks decidedly generous compared to Ernie The Axe and his friend Mike The Knife. TORY TIME WARP At a Harris election rally in Metro it was the revenge of middle-aged, pot-bellied white men who arrived in Lincolns, Cadillacs and Buicks. THE SHOOT RABBITS, DON'T THEY? Minister of cops and robbers Bob "Attila" Runciman drops the ball by opposing cops on federal gun-control legislation. Small-town Tories want the right to shoot rabbits and ducks, and convince Runciman the feds are harassing peace-loving duck hunters. PATTI STARR'S REVENGE The heroine of Patti Starr's new novel is a middle-aged Jewish woman from Toronto who ends up in jail because of her dealings with politicians and land developers. Many other characters in the book bear uncanny resemblances to former David Peterson aides and cabinet ministers. QUEBEC VOTE GOOD NEWS FOR ONTARIO One of the best-kept secrets in Ontario is the fact that the close vote in the Quebec referendum should bring good news for Ontario's economy, as "money and ethnics" pour across the border. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Mon Jan 29 19:32:22 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:26072 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!telly!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Wanted: One new Liberal leader Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 24 Jan 1996 21:46:14 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 113 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4e6qtm$f6l@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY January 25 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK WANTED: ONE NEW LIBERAL LEADER The biggest news about the race to replace Lyn McLeod as leader of the Liberals at Queen's Park is this: the people party insiders want are not interested in the job. When McLeod became leader in 1992, most delegates thought they were electing the next premier. And for almost three years, until two weeks before the election, McLeod led in public opinion polls. But after her humiliating defeat last June, and because of continuing broad support among Liberal supporters for the cost-cutting agenda of Mike Harris, the job of leading the Ontario Liberals is looking less attractive. The first to say no was the obvious heir-apparent to McLeod, former health minister Murray Elston. Many Liberals believe Elston could have won last June's election and were hoping he would seek the leadership again. But the man who came within nine votes of beating McLeod three years ago decided to stay retired from politics. No one was happier with the Elston decision than Mike Harris. PC insiders openly admit that Elston would have been a much tougher opponent than McLeod in the last election. They are also worried that the Liberals will finally figure out that their voters have moved to the right, and find a friendlier version of Harris to lead them out of the political wilderness -- someone like Elston. Elston's decision has left the Liberal leadership wide open for deputy leader Sean Conway -- and the Harris Tories couldn't be happier. Conway is busy selling Liberals on the need to hold on to their left- wing, big-government, interventionist policies at the same time that Liberal voters are saying it's time to cut the size of government. Although the articulate Conway is a media darling with his one-liner quotable quotes, his policies are ancient history. Inside the Liberal caucus, the wonder-boy from Renfrew County is encountering resistance to his attack on the proposed Harris tax cut aimed at middle-class voters. Conway wants the Liberals to vote against the tax cut when it comes before the Legislature later this year. One Liberal MPP told eye that, given the popularity of the promised tax cut, voting against it might extend the Liberals' stay in the political wasteland. Meanwhile, Conway is starting to face some opposition to his coronation as party leader. Conway supporters are pushing for an early leadership vote this summer, but others in the party want the vote delayed until the fall or next year in the hope that another credible candidate will emerge. Recently the party released a list of 10 people, including Conway, who are interested in the leadership. Eight of the 30 Liberal MPPs and two outsiders sent representatives to a meeting of party officials. Three Metro MPPs -- former labor minister Gerry Phillips, Joe Cordiano and newcomer Annamarie Castrilli -- all expressed interest. So did most of the Liberal MPPs from Eastern Ontario, Conway's home turf. With Dalton McGuinty, Rick Patten and former Kingston mayor John Gerretsen all in the race, Conway's eastern Ontario base of support has been seriously fractured. One MPP from the east told eye that the MPPs who know Conway better than anyone else are running because they all think they can do a better job as leader than he can. Without a solid base from eastern Ontario, Conway's leadership run could be in trouble. Meanwhile, others in the party are actively trying to get a high- profile Liberal from Metro to run. Metro Chairman Alan Tonks has been asked to run, as has former Toronto mayor and now federal cabinet minister Art Eggleton. As well, the man who came third behind McLeod and Elston in the last leadership race, Greg Sorbara from Richmond Hill, is getting more pressure to enter the race. Others in the party are saying it's time for a totally fresh face. That's why Robert McMurtry, the brother of former PC cabinet minister Roy McMurtry, put his name up. With the growing ABC (Anyone But Conway) movement, what seemed like a sure thing for Conway just a few months ago is now starting to turn into a horse race. Now that Bob Rae has resigned, Liberals will be able to see who the NDP come up with before they make their decision. But unless the Liberals change their policies by moving to the right, where their voters are, whoever the new leader is could be leading the party into political oblivion. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Fri Feb 9 08:18:33 1996 Xref: elastic tor.general:27872 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: NEWS: Service with a sneer Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 31 Jan 1996 23:08:41 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 41 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4epec9$h34@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 1 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS SERVICE WITH A SNEER by DAVE RIVAIT I cannot contain my joy at the prospect of another losing year for the pathetic Argos and Blue Jays. Not for the teams themselves, for whom I have some degree of pity, but rather for the SkyDome Corporation itself. For years now, with winning and popular teams, the SkyDome has been able to treat its paying customers with outright rudeness and disdain. Particularly galling have been the pushy and rude ushers, who would swarm the entrances to browbeat customers and confiscate "illegal" food purchased outside the stadium. I wouldn't wish unemployment on my worst enemy, but some of these blue-coated soda-pop Gestapo should never have been given a job where they are supposed to be helpful and pleasant. For every visit that I have endured there, I have been treated like a cash cow the second after I handed in my ticket, absolutely ruining my day. Well, no more. SkyDome has succeeded in ensuring that one family will never again grace their doors for any event in the future. Give me the Gardens any day. Go Leafs Go. Hop on your soapbox, and tell us what's bugging you. We might even run your words in this space. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sun Feb 11 10:52:11 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:26706 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!ve3ied!problem!ve3tsx!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Who likes Al Leach? Nooobody Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 31 Jan 1996 23:08:13 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 109 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4epebd$gud@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 1 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK WHO LIKES AL LEACH? NOOOBODY Municipal Affairs Minister Al Leach just doesn't give a damn about getting re-elected. That's what he has told the PC caucus and that's why he is forging ahead with many unpopular policies, like cutting provincial grants to Metro. Leach, who represents the downtown riding of St. George-St. David, says he doesn't care because he thinks he is doing the right thing, even if it isn't popular. It's a good thing he doesn't expect to get re-elected, because it's hard to find anyone in his riding who will admit they voted for him last June, let alone someone who intends to vote for him again. Although his riding couldn't be more of a contrast to the white-bread small town vision of Premier Mike Harris, Leach is unswerving in his allegiance to the Mike's Common Sense Revolution and its campaign to bring back the 1950s. Unlike Harris' homogeneous North Bay riding, Leach's riding has five distinct communities. The Church-Wellesley area is home to Canada's largest gay community. Although some Tory MPPs and senior government advisers are well-known gays, the official party position is anti-gay. And as head of the TTC, Leach opposed gay advertising in subways. That's why most gays and lesbians voted for the NDP or the Liberals in the last election. Since then, Harris and Leach have done nothing to change their minds. In the south end of the riding, welfare moms in Regent Park voted for Leach because they believed PC election promises to create jobs for them. But since the election few jobs have materialized and Harris has cut welfare benefits by 22 per cent. Meanwhile, Leach has been actively seeking a private developer to buy Regent Park and turn it into upscale condos ¥ once they ship the welfare moms somewhere else. At the same time, many of the middle class yuppies who live in nearby Cabbagetown are senior public servants who voted for the PC tax cut. Today they live in fear of losing their jobs as Harris cuts deeper and faster than any of them expected. And the tax cut is nowhere in sight. In the middle of Leach's riding is the single largest block of high- rise rental accommodation in the city ¥ St. Jamestown. The blue-collar working poor in these towers voted for Harris because he promised to turn around the economy to allow them to move up and out. Instead, the PCs have cut money for day care, something that has become an essential service for two-income families. And just last week, Leach restated the PC promise to get rid of rent controls, which many tenants fear will cause rents to skyrocket. The north end of Leach's riding is in Rosedale, one of the richest neighborhoods in Canada. Needless to say, the bank presidents and opera ladies voted overwhelmingly for Leach last June. But even they now have a reason to be mad at Leach. He has promised speedy action on Anne Golden's report on the future of the Greater Toronto Area, which would result in property taxes being doubled or tripled. It's a good thing Leach doesn't expect to get re-elected. That way, he won't be so disappointed four years from now. GOLDEN SPIN The Golden task force report on the GTA was leaked to the media so often that by the time it was finally released the contents were already common knowledge. The first leak came back in November, when Task Force member Joseph Wong told all to a Chinese community newspaper. Officials in the Premier's office were horrified, but advised that the best strategy was to pretend it didn't happen, in the hopes that the major media would miss the story. That's exactly what happened. The next gaffe came when a ministry communications plan had to be revised to exclude a reference to leaking an advance copy of the report to The Toronto Star. As one insider told eye, it's OK to leak government documents on purpose ¥ just don't put it in writing. Sure enough, The Star got a copy of the report a week before everyone else. This infuriated the editors of The Toronto Sun, the official organ of the Harris government, who were upset that they didn't get leaked on before The Star. Obviously, no one at the major dailies was aware the report had already been leaked in November. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Feb 17 12:15:14 1996 Xref: elastic tor.general:31274 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!iaw.on.ca!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: NEWS: Squash the squeegee kids Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 15 Feb 1996 19:38:27 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 65 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4g0jm3$t3p@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 15 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS SQUASH THE SQUEEGEE KIDS by E. YOUNG Re: Marcus MacDonald's "Let them wash windows," Space for Rant, Feb. 8. MacDonald obviously has little knowledge of the real practices of the windshield-washing street kids who infest Toronto. He makes them out to be the "do-good" entrepreneurial victims of an antagonistic Metro Police force; nothing could be further from the truth! This menacing crew of reprobates antagonizes otherwise-happy drivers, pedestrians and street people like a pack of rats on a mountain of cheese! MacDonald never mentions the fact that these scum can commonly be found begging (or "panhandling" as they say) on the same corner they say they "work" the cars on. They harass pedestrians like lazy, able- bodied pests -- when they get off their cocky punk asses and wash windshields, they bug drivers to the point where they leap out of their cars and assault these rat-like antagonists! (This scenario has actually happened -- and you wonder why the police are putting their foot down!) Why would apparent "do-good" kids encounter such rage from drivers if these mean kids didn't push people way beyond acceptable behavior?! They show no benevolence, only insolence and lack of respect! These kids stink of rotten greed and intimidation tactics, an urban gang pestilence which is provoking hundreds of normally happy drivers to outrage! That is, of course, when the kids aren't displaying their "entrepreneurial expertise" at begging, oh, excuse me, "panhandling," from pedestrians on the sidewalk. These kids also intimidate other street people into "getting off their turf." They appear to be a young motley crew of fascists -- hungry to dominate and 'purify' Toronto streets for the benefit of their misfit, ragged-ass gang. These ruffians are about as "peaceful" and "hard-working" "entrepreneurs" (!) as a bunch of spoiled, fashion-friendly welfare- bums -- who go around looking for fights with the easily victimized; these people have about as much respect for others as Hitler had for his Jewish victims. These kids are pests and pure scum! Let's hope the Metro Police keep up their good work, and clean up these ugly bastards off the streets of our beautiful city. Hop on your soapbox and tell us what's bugging you. We might even run your words in this space. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Feb 17 19:05:04 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:28837 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!iaw.on.ca!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: EYENET: Yippie! We're all gonna die Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 15 Feb 1996 19:30:10 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 161 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4g0j6i$qof@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 15 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EYENET EYENET YIPPIE! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE by K.K . CAMPBELL Last week, a pissed-off student picked up a block and broke a window at Queen's Park. Students were protesting severe cuts to education. The event caused every mainstream news outlet in town to feature at least one columnist claiming that that hunk of mortar symbolizes the Fall of Rome. If it does, then let the whole rotten structure burn. When the entire system fails you, you are under no obligation to uphold the rules of that system. Meanwhile, the cops charged the student protesters under a long- forgotten British law about "intimidating" the government -- from the days of yore when the militia could show up at Queen's Park to sway a Legislature vote. The 1996 application of that law has to be one of the most civil- liberty-threatening actions in decades. Those protesters could get more prison time than Karla Homolka. Yet Toronto's media columnist yahoos are fixated on a kid with a rockE MY DINNER WITH ANDREA While no one suggests the Youth International Party from the '60s won any revolutions, they were major players in the protest movements of the late '60s and early '70s. What Yippie leaders Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin mastered was "political theatre." They ran a pig (Pigasus) in the presidential election. They threw money onto the floor of a stock exchange and watched the little drones run around. They explained how easy it would be to slip LSD into the water supply of a city. Yippies studied the reactionary news media and found the ways to make it shimmy and shake. Alone, this accomplishes nothing. But it engages people because it is more entertaining than a Lyn McLeod speech. "If I can't laugh, it ain't my revolution." Having so engaged your audience's attention, the question then is whether you have a substantial message to impart. The Yippies didn't. Ontario's apparent political heir of that Yippie mantle (which they took from the Situationalists, anyway) is Toronto's Embarrass Harris. This decentralized, all-volunteer sorta-organization has been hounding business-class ideologue Mike Harris since he was sworn in. And they're re-proving that guerrilla-level political theatre works. What images "define" the Harris regime? The Great Bologna Sandwich Outrage, for one. When the Harris government announced families could live on a $90-a-month food budget and should eat bologna, at the next Tory fat-cat fundraiser, people smeared the BMW-packed parking lot with bologna sandwiches, while the car owners pigged out on what Harris dubbed an "Italian feast." Then there's the red flag paraded behind Harris during his announcement about Bill 26. And there's the famous photo of Harris sitting at Oktoberfest, his shoe splattered by a protester's thrown egg -- while a grown man grovels before Harris, cleaning his shoe. These images are stronger than the latest 10,000-word snorefest from John Sewell. I see the same principle in action when travelling to work every day. Some person is using a marker to black out eyes and create mummified stitch-mouths on the anorexic fashion model ads that adorn downtown TTC bus shelters. The effect? I'll remember those undead fashion ghouls the rest of my life -- though I can't even remember right now what the ads are forE Andrea Calver has been an Embarrass Harris volunteer since the group's inception on June 11, 1995. Calver says Embarrass Harris has two goals: encouraging alternatives beyond voting NDP or Liberal next election, and screwing up the high- priced Tory PR media events. "We're very media-oriented," Calver say. "And we're very, uh, cheeky." And why the defiant, politically incorrect, in-your-face attitude -- as opposed to protest movements against previous Ontario governments? "Everyone is totally clear that the stakes are different today," Calver says. "Ontario has never seen a government like this before. "But do remember, all these anti-Harris events, they aren't always us," she adds. "I don't think the Tories can hold a fundraiser in Ontario without attracting an enormous amount of anger." She may be right. Tuna-loving, ace-supermarket shopper Tory cabinet minister David Tsubouchi complains to newspapers he can't go out any more because people recognize him and share a few choice words. "Good," Calver says. "Tsubouchi should be embarrassed to show his face." Calver stresses that Embarrass Harris is non-partisan. "We're not NDP flacks, we're not Liberal flacks. We don't want to just swap governments, like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic." She says fundamental change has to come from the bottom up to be effective. Politicians will automatically reflect those changes -- not the other way around. THE NET CONNECTION What does this have to do with the net? Last fall, I did something different: instead of merely commenting on the net, I made a contribution to the net by transcribing the historical statements of the world-famous Haymarket Martyrs (http://www.interlog.com/eye/Misc/Labor/Haymarket). eyeNET is doing it again: I'm not a member of Embarrass Harris, and I don't necessarily condone all of their postions, but I've created the Mike Harris WWW InfoCentre at http://www.interlog.com/eye/Misc/Harris for the organization. The Tories paid their hired gun web designers for their propaganda site. So I volunteered to help Embarrass Harris get online, waived my usual $200/hr fee and demanded no Embarrass Harris volunteer -- male or female -- provide me with sexual favors. Only today I emerged from five furious days of headphones, CDs, Corel and caffeine. The Mike Harris WWW Info Centre hosts the Harris Action Kit -- which contains small posters to print out, a petition form, organizing advice and even tips on getting the nicotine-stained, booze-soaked attention interest of media drones. And read the full transcript of my interview with Andrea Calver. It also features John Hollingsworth's HarrisWatch newsletter, the Ontario Federation of Labor's 164 Days of Destruction, the Ontario Association of Intervention and Transition Houses Key Campaign, a series of info docs from the Ontario Social Safety Network, and CUPE's Fight Back Action Kit. When done processing that whack of data, take a Tour of the New Ontario with Emperor Mike. Follow it up with Emperor Mike's economic history lesson. Hopefully it's a break from your daily dose of propaganda from mainstream media hacks shedding crocodile tears over the "necessary hardship" working people must undergo so the business class can get a higher bond rating. "In the long run," they constantly tell "us," it's for "our" own good. Economist John Maynard Keynes faced this same argument during the Great Depression of the '30s. His response remains as resonant as ever: "In the long run, we are all dead." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available eyeNET archive ---> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Eyenet eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Feb 17 19:06:12 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:28838 Path: elastic!exorcist!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!iaw.on.ca!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Tories set to call union's bluff Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 15 Feb 1996 19:37:41 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 92 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4g0jkl$su0@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY February 15 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK TORIES SET TO CALL UNION'S BLUFF As Ontario's 79,500 public servants decide whether to go on strike they face some grim choices. They already know that one in every five of them is toast, based on Premier Mike Harris' promise during last year's election to eliminate 13,000 government jobs. Now government sources are telling the media that the number of layoffs could hit 27,000. Because 12,000 public servants are classified as essential workers -- jail guards, OPP officers, ambulance workers, etc. -- the layoffs will come from the remaining 67,500 workers. Thus, the real Harris plan is to cut almost half of non-essential government workers. Such a move will be greeted with resounding applause from millions of workers in the private sector who see public servants as fat-cats who have been protected from layoffs. In the private sector there is no such thing as a "non-essential" worker. Either your job is needed by the company you work for, or it's gone. As a result, there will be very little, if any, public sympathy for a province-wide strike by public servants, which could be called as early as Feb. 22, the day the PC policy conference starts in Hamilton. Sure, the other unions will support the strikers, but the general public won't. Because essential workers will still be on the job, the biggest risk that striking public servants would face is -- what if they go on strike and nobody notices? Also, if there is a strike, the largest public service union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) will have a hard time coming up with strike pay. That's because most of the union's strike fund was used to build its fancy new headquarters in north Toronto -- more than $16 million of the strike fund's $17 million. The strike fund was also used to pay for the move to the new offices and hefty building operating costs for two years. As a result, by January, 1992, there was only $16,768 left in the strike fund. But no one cared because, back then, OPSEU didn't even have the legal right to strike. The thinking was that if they ever got the right to strike, they could always put a mortgage on the building. Four years later, OPSEU has the right to strike thanks to Bob Rae's NDP government, and Mike Harris is giving them every reason to. Although the strike fund has been bumped back up to $3 million by four years of union dues, the $16 million that is buried in the concrete at OPSEU headquarters is now worth only $3 million in Toronto's depressed real estate market, according to an angry OPSEU worker who contacted eye. Another $17 million has been pledged by other unions, but these various sources of cash will provide a paltry total of $383 in strike pay for each OPSEU member. Another problem for OPSEU is the repeal of the NDP's labor-friendly legislation, which will allow the government to use replacement workers if they choose. Needless to say, morale is at an all-time low as public servants pray they won't be the ones to lose their jobs. Although Harris has taken a recent beating in public opinion polls over proposed cuts to health care and education, voters won't clamor to stop him from cutting the jobs of non-essential government workers, especially if he can redirect some of the money saved into areas the public supports. PC MPPs are well aware of the public's attitude toward public servants and the fact that OPSEU can't support a long strike. That's why Harris --through his point man, Management Board chair Dave Johnson -- is playing chicken with the unions. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Mon Mar 11 00:32:02 1996 Xref: elastic tor.general:35083 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!reptiles.org!constantchange.on.ca!news1.io.org!ki.net!clio.trends.ca!worldlinx.com!freenet.carleton.ca!cunews!nott!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news-feed.iguide.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: NEWS: The parking lot of history Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 7 Mar 1996 20:49:18 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 117 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4ho3mu$o5r@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 7, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS THE PARKING LOT OF HISTORY by PETER KUITENBROUWER So this is how it has to end, with me and a couple of dewy-eyed artists shivering by an opening in the chainlink fence, an evil wind whipping off Lake Ontario, and some demolition crew foreman named Mo blocking our path as the jaws of Greenspoon Bros.' yellow Liebherr cranes slice up steel beams like stovewood. "This is an amazing building," says filmmaker and industrial building fanatic John Martins-Manteiga, who's leading this tour. "It's the Crystal Palace. You can imagine the Zeppelin coming right out of there. We're talking Berlin 1920s, Mies Van der Rohe, Walter Gropius. It's crisp, it's clean. It speaks to you. It has a language." It sure does. The John Inglis plant on Strachan Ave. and East Liberty St., a towering testament to Industrial Canada, is crying out in anguish. Here women built 186,000 Bren machine guns to help us win the Second World War. Then the men came home to build the washers and dryers of postwar prosperity. In 1989, thanks to Free Trade, the plant closed, and now Inglis washers ("Most Wanted by Most Women") come from a non- union plant in Clyde, Ohio. And the Americans are tearing this plant down. "Few plants in Canada have seen as many generations of workers pass through the same factory gates or have played as important a role in equipping other industries as this factory did," David Sobel and Susan Meurer wrote in their lavishly illustrated l994 paean to the plant, Working At Inglis (James Lorimer, $24.95 paper). Today not one of the thousand window panes here is broken; the titanic girders are free of rust. But our past and our history mean nothing to the building's owner, Michigan-based Whirlpool, Inc., and by the strict rules of the Global Market, a weed-covered empty lot now has more value to the owners than this perfectly sound complex of buildings. "It's not a particularly attractive site," spokeswoman Heather Clifford says from the Mississauga office of Inglis, now a wholly- owned subsidiary of the American firm, distributing mainly imported appliances."We have no desire to keep this on the books. We've been kind of taken aback by the concern that's surfaced. We have a business to run. We've been trying to sell it for a number of years." In November the city gave Inglis a partial demolition permit. Inglis says demolition will be complete by the end of April. Martins-Manteiga discovered the demolition permit at City Hall and sent out a flurry of faxes pleading with municipal officials to save the structure. But last week, at a cheap and pointless meeting, the Toronto Historical Board sealed the vast complex's fate. The board's manager of inventory, Richard Stromberg, showed members a slideshow of Inglis plant photos that look as if he snapped them from the car window while driving by on the Gardiner. He then misled the board, saying "the Inglis plant has been there since the early part of the 1900s." The plant opened in 1881. "It's really a 20th-century utilitarian building. We're not talking Gooderham Worts," added Stromberg. "We're really into form following function," he said, in one sweep dismissing the architecture of this century. The board then voted to recommend that the city "designate" one tiny scrap of the plant, referred to as the chapel, a featureless three- storey brick building on the site's western edge. "Designation" apparently means the chapel will be slightly more difficult to knock down. The board also voted to write Inglis a letter asking them to document the plant with good quality photos before knocking it down, and to consider building a statue on the site to commemorate the plant. I can't wait -- in glistening bronze, workers toiling over a dryer. Underneath they can nail the tin sign that's still on an Inglis door, reminding us of the Inglis women: Rings, Jewellery Must Be Removed Before Entering Areas of Operation. CONVENTIONAL WISDOM "The media portrays people like me as preservation nuts and kooks," says Martins-Manteiga, 35, a local whose father worked at Massey- Ferguson (now a vast weed-covered lot next to Inglis). "But I'm talking pure economics. It does not make sense to tear buildings down and dump them in the lake." I'd go further and say that basically, Toronto is tearing down its sex appeal. Soaring, proud factories are sexy. Vacant lots are not. One- storey Mississauga distribution centres for American products are decidedly NOT sexy -- but artists are. Droves of filmmakers and painters have breathed life into the old factories of the King- Dufferin area. Which means (hello!) can you spell T-A-X D-O-L-L-A-R-S? So where are the city officials making deals to bring artists into Inglis? They're busy elsewhere. Great municipal minds are spending $180 million Metro, provincial and federal tax dollars on a new Metro convention centre, less than 15 metres away from Inglis on the other side of the Gardiner. Looking past the wrecking cranes, I can see the building cranes. The main feature of the convention centre? High ceilings. Inglis' ceilings are about 20 metres high. Inglis plans to leave up only the portion of the plant that holds up its Home Appliances sign, offering daily messages to Gardiner drivers. But as of this writing, the plant is still up. Maybe it's not too late to save it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sun Mar 17 11:01:32 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:32224 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!istar.net!imci2!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!newsfeeder.gi.net!news.mid.net!news.dra.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Mike takes his knife to Metro Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 14 Mar 1996 08:23:40 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 89 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4i96ks$js0@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 14, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK MIKE TAKES HIS KNIFE TO METRO Premier Mike Harris has decided to eliminate Metro's elected council and to implement a controversial tax reform plan. The Tory government will go ahead with these key recommendations of the Golden Task Force on the future of Metro, despite the fact that public consultations on the change haven't wrapped up. The elected Metro council will be replaced by committees made up of mayors and councillors from local councils in the Greater Toronto Area. Although most analysts had expected Harris to abolish Metro Council, many will be surprised to see Harris dive into the politically dangerous waters of municipal tax reform. But after reviewing the proposals made by Anne Golden, who headed the task force on the future of the GTA, the Premier has agreed with her that reform is urgently needed. That's why he has opted for Golden's version of Market Value Assessment (MVA) which was killed by former premier Bob Rae after loud objections from Toronto City Council. In fact, it was Metro's support for MVA that led the City to put a referendum on the future of Metro on the ballot in the last municipal election. In that vote, City ratepayers overwhelmingly supported the abolition of Metro. Ironically, it now looks like Metro will be abolished, but the real target of Toronto City Council, the hated MVA, will return to haunt them in another form. Golden claims that Actual Value Assessment (AVA) won't lead to the shocking increases in taxes that MVA would have created for downtown home owners. However, an official of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs says that their analysis of the Golden plan shows huge increases for city dwellers. This is just fine with Harris, who has a lot more MPPs from the suburbs, where residential taxes will decrease dramatically under the proposed reforms. If Harris actually goes through with Metro tax reform he will force well-off banking and investment executives who live in two of Canada's richest neighborhoods, Forest Hill and Rosedale, to pay their fair share of property taxes. Harris will be the first Premier in Ontario history with the courage to withstand the kind of aggressive lobbying that has held up tax reform for the past 40 years. As Mayor Lorna Jackson of Vaughan pointed out recently, an upscale house in Municipal Affairs Minister Al Leach's downtown Toronto riding pays about one-third the taxes of a similar house in the suburbs. ALL TOGETHER NOW To ease the way for provincial legislation, Harris asked former Metro councillor Derwyn Shea to measure public response to Golden's recommendations. But Shea has found out already that there is no consensus on what to do -- so Harris can do exactly what he wants. Golden says that every household in the GTA sends $2,300 in taxes to pay for provincial programs in the hinterland. Her comment that "We are all in this together" has won over Leach and his boss. That's why we're seeing Al Leach push for tax reform despite strong opposition in the monied parts of his own riding. The GTA is home of more than 50 per cent of the provincial economy. After six months in government, Premier Harris, who comes from small- town Northern Ontario, understands the need to protect the Golden Goose. Three previous Premiers -- Bill Davis, David Peterson and Bob Rae -- who supposedly understood urban issues better than Harris, all kept away from Metro tax reform. Then again, they didn't declare themselves revolutionaries. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sun Mar 17 11:02:50 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:32225 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!istar.net!imci2!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!newsfeeder.gi.net!news.mid.net!news.dra.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: We need better protest chants Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 14 Mar 1996 08:23:53 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 65 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4i96l9$jtm@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 14, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS WE NEED BETTER PROTEST CHANTS by KENT HOFFMAN HEY, HEY, HO, HO, This damn chant has got to go!" It seems to me there is a lot more protesting going on. Or maybe not. Maybe it just seems like there is a lot more protesting going on because every time I turn on the news I hear the "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho" cheer. It seems at every demonstration it is mandatory to chant "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho." I have never attended a protest, but from what I can gather the protest chant is very important. Hearing the voices of the protesters chanting together creates a feeling of strength. Everyone singing out for the cause. If chanting is so important, then why can't the leaders behind each of the causes spend some of their lobbying dollars commissioning songwriters to write some new chants? I think this should be as high on the priority list as a TV ad campaign. People at home at their dinner tables hearing TV news coverage of demonstrations have no idea which protest is being covered because each group sounds exactly the same. I don't blame the reporters covering the story. Their job is to provide actuality -- the actual sound at the event being covered. I don't know where the "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho" chant originated. My guess is that it's a spin-off of the "Hell no, we won't go" sit-in chant from the '60s. This chant is now out of date. Chanting "Hell no" is politically incorrect (profanity is bad, not to mention the religious connotation). As for "we won't go," well, most people do have to go. Getting a babysitter or extending daycare costs a fortune. And the cost of extending parking on an event night? Just forget it. Sit-ins are just too expensive. So someone adapted the "Hell no" chant into the annoying "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho" chant. Ho doesn't rhyme with very many good protest words. Schmoe maybe? Woe? Moe (for protests against Moe's Tavern or the Three Stooges maybe)? There are no good protest words that rhyme with Ho, so it always has to end with "something or other has got to go." Go where? Going implies a trip, moving ahead or getting a green light. Sounds pretty good to me. It is therefore a rather innocuous chant for protesters. My message to all protesters: try to think up some good chants. Or simply sing together. There are lots of great protest songs out there. Your messages are too important to throw away with a mindless chant. Hop on your soapbox and tell us what's bugging you. We might even run your words in this space. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sun Mar 17 11:33:46 1996 Xref: elastic tor.general:36317 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!iaw.on.ca!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!newsfeeder.gi.net!news.mid.net!news.dra.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: NEWS: Class consciousness Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 14 Mar 1996 08:22:12 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 145 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4i96i4$jcp@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 14, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS by EDWARD KAY Picture a small, concrete, bunker-like hall on the University of Toronto campus just north of College on Spadina. We'll call it Shopper's Drug Mart Associates Auditorium since, believe it or not, that is its name. For that alone, and its ironic commentary on the state of public funding for universities, it was the perfect setting for the course known as JHP200F, "Thinking About Politics." It was an innocuous-enough sounding name for the course offered at the U of T last fall. But given that the professor was former Ontario premier and ex-provincial NDP leader Bob Rae, it was rife with implications. After the crushing defeat Rae had just suffered, you had to wonder what "thinking about politics" entailed for him. Late nights wandering from room to room in his underwear, Scotch in hand, having imaginary conversations with Voltaire? And what would the course content be? A first-hand account of the down and dirty of realpoliti? Or would it be a refuge for the faithful, a chance to indulge in an affirmation ritual in a temple not yet defiled by the barbarians of Common Sense? In any case, the course promised a ringside seat. What I didn't realize was that it would also provide some unexpected and uncomfortable insights into the current state of the Left. The mood in the lecture hall before the first class was hard to gauge. The audience seemed to be comprised of your basic political junkie types, along with a sprinkling of the kind of ghouls you see standing around staring glassy-eyed at traffic accidents. The room was filled to capacity, the crowd considerably in excess of the class enrolment of about 70. Despite the big turnout, however, it soon became apparent that Rae, unlike that other politico/academic Newt Gingrich, was not destined to enjoy the luxury of a classroom love-fest with gaggles of admiring young minds. The first hint came about five minutes after he started talking. Unfortunately, I had taken a seat immediately behind three people whom I shall refer to as the Hairballs. The Hairballs combined most of the visual characteristics of the Mod Squad and the Chicago 7, synthesized into an even less aesthetically agreeable '90s form. They began to talk amongst themselves approximately at the point at which the first commercial break would have occurred had they been watching TV instead of attending a lecture. Throughout the lecture, they kept up a loud, running dialogue, attacking Rae's "bourgeois socialism." The most scathing remarks came from the Caucasian Hairball, a carrot-topped Bobby Seale wannabe. In an apparent act of solidarity with his cell members of color, Agent Orange dismissed Rae as a "typical white paternalist," a pronouncement inspired by Rae's defence of Edmund Burke, the political theoretician who accurately predicted that France's Revolution would lead to terror, followed by the rise of a dictator. The Hairballs never returned after that first class, presumably having gone off in search of some Third World country in need of snotty brats to lead a peasants' revolt. But, as would become clear in the weeks to come, they were not the only class member whose ideas fit the profile of what was once, in happier times, known in Britain as the "Loonie Left." WALLFLOWERS TO WINGNUTS Thinking About Politics was a thoughtful, balanced examination of rights, nationalism and the welfare state. Rae stated on the opening night that the class would be theory only, so if anyone had come to hear about what goes on in the backrooms, they should claim their 100 per cent tuition rebate while they still could. Any subjectivity, as it transpired, would come not from the professor but from the students during the "Question Period," which began as a 15-minute session at the end of the lecture but which by the end of term swallowed up as much as a third of the class with the mental meanderings of people who enjoy nothing better than a soapbox. Rae was strangely acquiescent, even indulgent, when giving the floor to these inarticulate ramblers. Either he was too tired to fight, or else after a day spent with the neo-conservative stYrmwaffen over at Queen's Park, even such sophomoric twaddle sounded relatively sane. Then again, I dunno. A student from Africa who appeared to be in his 30s wanted to know why Rae wasn't discussing African Maoist regimes, those paragons of enlightenment. Rae deferentially pointed out that in a one-semester course, we unfortunately did not have time to study the full scope of human political expression. Later, in a discussion of 19th-century thought on the differences between the slave trade and just plain cruddy working conditions, a young white woman raised her hand and, rather than posing a question, declared that all women are slaves. It was not the sheer stupidity of the statements I heard that surprised me, but rather the fact that our professor usually didn't subject the makers of these assertions to even a gentle challenge. I began to wonder if Rae's acquiescence was not perhaps a habit formed as a result of presiding over the NDP in the '90s. Indeed, the classroom experience provided an uncomfortable microcosm of what is wrong with contemporary left-wing politics as a whole. The Left is in retreat not just because of fiscal convulsions and well-funded assaults from neo-conservatives, but also because of its own lack of identity. Somehow, in its laudable efforts to accommodate marginalized groups, it has adopted the notion that everyone's opinions are equally valid, regardless of whether those opinions are based on tangibles or just fuzzy-headed feelings of being slighted. In that atmosphere, everyone feels that they're entitled to whatever they want. Several times over the last couple of years I spoke with Ontario government employees who pointedly mentioned that they would not be available for interviews on a "Rae Day." True, the Social Contract wasn't exactly a model of consensual politics, but it seems its critics didn't consider either the budget problems looming over the province, or the even less palatable alternatives. As a result, I suspect many of these same civil servants took their revenge by voting for Mike Harris. Unfortunately, they forgot that if you vote for a guy whose campaign literature makes him look like a model for the Leather Attic, you shouldn't be too surprised if once in office, he uncinches his gut, dons his bondage mask and tries to ram a studded cat-o'-nine-tails up your ass. It's fine to argue about who is the most victimized, most marginalized, or who holds the true grail of leftist thought. But if you mistake this ideological parlor game for reality, don't be surprised when somebody who gets his marching orders from Bay St. comes up to you and in a calm, authoritative voice, says, "School's out. Now bend over and spread 'em." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Thu Mar 28 08:25:18 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:33080 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!istar.net!news1.ottawa.istar.net!fonorola!news.ottawa.istar.net!uniserve!news.sol.net!news.inc.net!trellis.wwnet.com!nntp.coast.net!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: OPSEU strike turns nasty Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 20 Mar 1996 22:42:10 -0500 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 112 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4iqj6i$9mh@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY March 21, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK OPSEU STRIKE TURNS NASTY Despite imported enforcers, cracks are starting to show The strike by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) has turned ugly with this week's mini-riot at the Legislature. Because the striking file clerks and cafeteria workers who make up the bulk of OPSEU members were starting to waver in their support by crossing the picket lines, union headquarters beefed up the lines with steelworkers and autoworkers, who have a much more aggressive approach to picketing. At the Legislature the pleasant "hellos" exchanged between strikers and people crossing the picket lines has been replaced by vigorous pushing and shoving, culminating in a bloody confrontation with the OPP riot squad last Monday (March 18). This happened after the dozen peaceful pickets -- who work in the Legislature and are known to everyone who works there -- were replaced by 40 or 50 outsiders who lined up three deep, arm-in-arm, to prevent anyone from passing through without being harassed. As a senior member of the Press Gallery said: "There is no doubt the union has brought in provocateurs. And tempers are starting to fray." Jeff Harder, a reporter with The Toronto Sun, says he was assaulted this week when he tried to get into his office at the Pink Palace. "Three guys pinned me to the railing when I tried to pass and the OPP had to clear the way. They are hassling everyone. Even an MPP's daughter was jostled when she tried to get in to see her father." Pickets also jostled several Tory MPPs and cabinet ministers. Harder says the pickets are breaking the law by blocking access and harassing people who want to cross the line. This view is confirmed by an experienced labor lawyer who told eye that back in 1965, after a violent strike in Peterborough, Justice Ivan Rand ruled that strikers can't block the way of people who want to pass, or threaten or intimidate them. What they can do is communicate information about the strike if people want to listen. This is clearly not what is happening at the Legislature or at other OPSEU picket lines. The strikers also seem to be selective about who they harass. A male reporter for eye was allowed to pass without incident -- and then observed women being harassed by the beefy male pickets. A government insider confirmed that this is happening elsewhere. He said women and minorities are complaining of being harassed or pushed at many locations across Metro as they try to pass through the picket lines. OPSEU spokesman Frank Rooney chose not to respond to a request for comment on this matter. But hassling women and minorities won't do much to get the public on OPSEU's side. Neither will fighting with the media. A PLACE IN THE SUN Sun reporter Harder doesn't think much of the pickets -- or the way some of his colleagues are reporting on them. "All OPSEU has achieved so far," says Harder, "is to push the Tories up in the polls. The public is still against them and the government has saved $100 million." At the same time, Harder is concerned about the actions of some of his Press Gallery colleagues. Gallery president Richard Brennan of The Windsor Star has made an informal agreement with the picketers at Queen's Park to allow the media to "go through without any hassle if you show your press pass. It's my job as president to turn down the heat. It's a strike. Whether the media or MPPs like that or not, strikers will do their best to inconvenience you." Harder says the gallery shouldn't make any deals: "Why make concessions to knuckle-dragging deadbeats? It's like hugging the 14- year-old punk who steals your car stereo." Another long-time Queen's Park reporter said Harder is trying to make the news rather than report it: "Most of the picketers have been polite. Harder is convinced he'll get promoted if he can arrange to get his lights punched out." Harder says he's not surprised by comments like this: "The media is largely liberal and mainly unionized, so you have union members covering other union members." Meanwhile, the strike itself seems to be petering out. Without the outside provocateurs who are harassing their own members to keep them from crossing picket lines, the strike would likely die out within days. The union's strongarm tactics will only delay the inevitable by a few weeks. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available The Park archive --------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Park eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sun Apr 21 12:50:47 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:36043 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!istar.net!news1.ottawa.istar.net!fonorola!news.ottawa.istar.net!uniserve!sunqbc.risq.net!newsflash.concordia.ca!news.nstn.ca!hookup!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Housing contract killers Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 17 Apr 1996 19:58:14 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 123 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4l40im$a4k@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 18, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS HOUSING CONTRACT KILLERS by ALEXANDRA HIGHCREST A group of social housing activists are gearing up to do battle with the Harris government. It's a fight both sides claim they don't want. Last summer Housing Minister Al Leach announced the government's cuts to Ontario's social housing programs, and more than 300 projects were terminated. L'Arbre de Vie (the Tree of Life), a proposed 68-apartment co-op housing project, weathered eight years of planning. Louise Blais, president of the board, says the project was terminated just before the first sod was turned. "There were people living in $600-a-month basement apartments waiting to move in. Me and my kids were living in a high crime neighborhood, a ghetto. The co-op was a way to make things better, then last summer the government cut the grass out from under our feet. We got a form letter telling us our funding was cancelled." According to the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, the housing cuts affected 45,000 potential tenants and killed thousands of jobs. The boards of directors of more than 30 cancelled co-op housing projects decided to take action. In December, the boards, organized under the umbrella of the housing federation, served notice they were suing the Harris government for breaking its agreement to build their co-ops. The co-op directors asked for an arbitrator to decide on a fair settlement for the outstanding bills. Arbitration is binding and would negate costly, time-consuming appeals. In January Attorney General Charles Harnick said he wanted to see more civil legal actions settled through arbitration rather than in court. Harnick reasoned his proposal would streamline the legal system and save taxpayers money. Then, in late February, the housing federation was told that the government would go to court to stop the claims from being settled by arbitration. Sally Sheppard, a spokesperson for Leach, says, "The ministry believes some of the housing federation's claims are unsupportable. We are dealing with large sums of taxpayers' money and we want to appear accountable to the public." Three types of claims will be disputed, the most obvious one being payment to contractors who have worked on projects subsequently cancelled by Leach. John Bobaljik, an adviser with the Ontario Association of Architects, says, "A few of our members have received partial payments on debts going back over a year." But others have not. "Some members are hanging on by their teeth and toenails," says Bobaljik. Housing advocates such as Bill Morris from the Co-op Housing Federation expect the government will cough up the estimated $200 million owed to contractors. The second type of claim, for another $200 million, is based on the expectation of business. Those in the building trades who signed contracts with co-op boards purchased supplies and hired people. These builders had signed contracts -- they expected work and banked on payment. When funding for social housing was gutted and projects were cancelled, these tradespeople were left holding the bag. Materials couldn't be paid for and employees were laid off because the once- valuable contracts became worthless. The third and costliest claim is the one the Tories find most contentious. The federation wants the government to provide the subsidies that would've become available if the projects had not been cancelled. According to the federation's calculations, Morris says, "They [the government: were going to provide assistance for 35 years - - it quickly adds up to billions of dollars." The government's position on this is clear. "We are prepared to reach a settlement for costs," says Sheppard, "but we are not prepared to continue delivering the programs." When these claims first hit the table last fall the Tories said everyone was out of luck, but last December they indicated it would settle with the third parties -- the contractors, suppliers and others in the building trades. Sheppard says, "The government wants to arrive at a reasonable determination of closeout costs." Bill Morris thinks the Tories have no case and must be held accountable. "This is a clear case of breach of contract on the part of the government," he says. Each co-op had signed an operating agreement with previous provincial governments. The 16-page contract states the housing ministry shall pay geared-to-income subsidies to the co-ops for as long as the agreement is in effect. "The [Operating: Agreement shall be in full force and effect for the term." "Term" is defined as lasting "up to a maximum of 35 years." In June, if the court decides in favor of arbitration, the co-ops and the government will then face each other on a level playing field. If not, the co-ops will have to mobilize for a long fight. The government knows that other community groups have been talking to lawyers about launching their own lawsuits, but Sheppard insists the Tories don't want an expensive court battle, saying, "We wish to set a precedent and seek a final resolution through the courts." The Tories seem to be sending a message that they're prepared to fight a long, expensive war of attrition, arbitration be damned. Few community groups can afford to compete. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sun Apr 21 12:54:05 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:36044 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!istar.net!news1.ottawa.istar.net!fonorola!news.ottawa.istar.net!uniserve!sunqbc.risq.net!newsflash.concordia.ca!news.nstn.ca!hookup!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Tears of the Buddha Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 17 Apr 1996 19:58:50 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 118 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4l40jq$aan@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@interlog.com NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY April 18, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS TEARS OF THE BUDDHA by PETER KUITENBROUWER The Fourteen Precepts of the Order of Interbeing, as put forward by Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen master, scholar, poet and peace activist, didn't go over very big in the imaging department at the Workers' Compensation Board. Or at least, that's the story put forward by Karen Harrison, a devout Buddhist (and Christian) who left her job at the WCB last June when her doctor concluded that, given the conflicts between Harrison and her fellow workers, staying there any longer would be bad for her health. "I was followed around the office. A few individuals indicated to me that they really hated me to the extent that they thought I should be dead," Harrison tells me, fingering a 108-bead, Korean-made rosary of pea-sized brown seeds in a Spadina Ave. coffee shop. Now, after seven years in the records department of the WCB, Harrison is flat broke, near her wits' end. She gave up her $890-a-month apartment at Christmas after spending her RRSP savings and moved in with friends. But they can't afford to house her and she's now planning to move in with some Roman Catholic nuns. Harrison is on unpaid leave from her job while waiting for a Human Rights Commission ruling on her case -- which could take years -- and, supreme irony, she does not qualify for Workers' Comp. That's what you get in this province when you struggle for religious freedom. Harrison, a poet from Etobicoke, joined forces with Buddha on the advice of Allen Ginsberg, whom she met at a poetry conference at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo., in 1982. Six years later, she started at the WCB microfilm office. She says things went well until May of 1993, when she hung a letter-sized flyer on the post near her cubicle inviting co-workers to Wesak, to celebrate the 2,537th birthday of Buddha. Co-workers complained and her boss told her to take it down. She at first refused, then took down the leaflet. A few days later her boss, Marilyn Galbraith, wrote that the poster constituted harassment, adding: "Your conduct in refusing to remove the poster which has given offence to your co-workers is not acceptable." Harrison disagreed, and fought a grievance on the poster. In November of 1993 Robert Cook, the senior vice-president for finance, told her that hanging the poster was harassment, to wit: "unwelcome and improper behavior that is offensive to another employee." Cook said the Buddhist poster contravened WCB policy, which "will not allow the displaying of posters of a religious, racial or sexual nature that could be offensive to others." He added, "I am satisfied that your actions were not intended to be disrespectful or insubordinate," and "I will instruct management to withdraw the written warning from your personnel file after one year." But then Harrison got into other conflicts with co-workers. "I'd use the microwave to warm up soup and was told no one would want to eat at the microwave station because I'd been there," she said. Mike Campbell, spokesperson for the 4,300-employee WCB, says the board never comments on any human resources issues. But Lori-Ann Maistro, a co-worker of Harrison's, said the original problem was body odor. "Religion was always her backout type thing, she was the one who brought religion up," Maistro tells me over the phone from her desk at the WCB. "She was the one who caused a lot of the problems. It all started when someone sitting next to her complained about her body odor -- the girl wore the same outfit for two years straight. She never brushed her teeth. "Then she went on her crusade that everybody hated her. We're all sitting here going, 'Where did this come from?' " John Madden, chief steward of local 1750 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Harrison's union, says she's caught in a Catch-22. "In our contract, if you have any work-related problem you're not entitled to long-term disability payments. You have to apply for compensation. But compensation doesn't cover stress." Harrison says her bosses have offered her $60,000 if she'll just be a Buddhist about it, drop all her grievances and quit her job at the WCB. But she says no way: "I'm looking for management to take a clear position that they will not tolerate religious discrimination in the workplace," she says. Madden abhors discrimination. But, using some pretty potent logic from his hometown of Timmins, he says fighting this one to the end may be a no-winner: "This type of thing is like you and I getting into a shit-throwing contest. At the end there's shit dripping from my nose and shit dripping off your nose. Who won? I don't know. We both end up smelling pretty bad. If I were going to spend X number of dollars on it, at the end of it, everyone will be broke and the lawyers are going to be rich." Maybe. And certainly, there are bound to be potholes on the road to Nirvana. But Metro's 90,000 Buddhists, meditating in 26 temples around town, would be forgiven for guessing that Harrison wouldn't be in this particular shit-throwing contest if her poster had advertised a gathering to celebrate another birthday: that of Jesus Christ. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.interlog.com/eye Mailing list available News & Views archive ------------> http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/NV eye@interlog.com "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Fri Jun 28 20:06:16 1996 Xref: elastic tor.general:47256 Path: elastic!lethe!abyss!light-house!whome!infoshare!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!nntp.primenet.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: NEWS: Smoking out the health Nazis Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 26 Jun 1996 23:18:39 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 111 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4qsuif$23d@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY June 27, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS SMOKING OUT THE HEALTH NAZIS by PETER KUITENBROUWER Thank the God of Debauchery for Jonathan Dixit, owner of the Duke of Gloucester pub on Yonge St., or I think I would have vomited right there in city council chamber. It was last Wednesday night at the Board of Health meeting, and my nausea was induced by all the sanctimonious health nuts fawning over the board and its draft bylaw to ban smoking in the bars and restaurants of Toronto. At the door the anti-smokers are handing out pizza-sized green lapel buttons reading "SUPPORT SMOKE-FREE 100%" One by one, they troop up to the mike. David Baxter of the Toronto Workers' Health And Safety Legal Clinic tells the 75 assembled citizens that "involuntary exposure to second- hand smoke is the equivalent to violence against workers, violence against women and newcomers, and permitting it also amounts to condoning child abuse." I mean, please. Next up, voice teacher Honey Novick, who sings a paean for a smoke- free town: "We'll schmooze and we'll dance and we'll breathe in clean air/ We'll eat out more often and bring lots of friends/ And no stinky clothes will we bring home." Then Dixit, 29, steps up -- mop of hair, Moosehead jacket, black leather boots. "For me it's personal," he says. "I'm the owner of the Duke of Gloucester. I started drinking at the Duke. That's where I grew up. And I graduated from University of Toronto in psychology there. It's my home. There's over 200 people I consider regulars, who come to my pub five nights out of seven." "Well maybe they have a problem then," says Councillor Michael Walker. "Yeah, that's about the level I expected from you," shoots back Dixit. "I had to borrow a lot of money to buy that pub that I love so much. I'm doing OK, but if I have so much as a drop in sales of one or two per cent, it will bury me. And 70 per cent of my customers smoke. "I run a very legal pub and it's hard to do that. But if you pass this I will find every loophole around it. I'll just privatize and charge a $2 a year membership." City Council votes July 2 on a proposed bylaw "to prohibit smoking in restaurants and entertainment facilities effective Jan. 1, 1997, except that a proprietor may establish a designated smoking area which is fully enclosed, separately ventilated and does not exceed 25 per cent of the indoor seating area." If owners can prove they get three quarters or more of their revenue from booze, they can permit smoking in 50 per cent of their joint -- until Jan. 1, 1998. SAINT PETER THE SMOKELESS "You don't remember this, but people used to smoke in movie theatres all the time," says Ward 8 councillor Peter Tabuns, chair of the Board of Health. We're in a no-smoking City car en route to his ward; the chauffeur is listening to calypso on a CD player plugged into the cigarette lighter. "And in aircraft. Things evolve. Our real focus is on protecting non-smokers. I guess it's the same reason we tell restaurants they can't have rat droppings in soup, because it's bad for health." Ever vigilant to get both sides, I swing uptown. Just three doors east of the Eglinton Theatre, Thomas Hinds is handing out stogies to all and sundry, plus Upper Canada Lager, Oban single malt scotch and cappuccino, to celebrate his newest temple of tobacco. The place is wall-to-wall and you couldn't cut the air with a blowtorch. Hmm... no babies writhing on the floor in death throes from second-hand smoke. Why not? It's called Freedom of Choice. You wanna smoke, die, writhe, wheeze, stink, whatever? Here ya go, says Hinds. It's a bit different from aircraft or offices. There, there's less choice, so I'm glad they're smoke free. "There's been 1,000 people through here," says Hinds. "They're enjoying fine scotch, good beer and great food, and the key is you can smoke anywhere you wish." (One speaker told the Board of Health there are now six smoke-free restaurants on Bloor St. W. That's cool. Let the consumer decide.) Hinds says city, fire and police reps tell him the new bylaw won't touch him since his beer taps and cappuccino maker are just adjuncts to his main biz, which is selling pleasure (and death). By the door to Hinds' place sits Orlando Ortega, 60, unilingual Spanish-speaker. He's visiting from Cuba, where he's rolled cigars for 42 years, to give demonstrations. The proposed bylaw is bad news for him, he says. "I'm like the guy who runs the funeral home," he says. You ask him, 'How can you be happy that people are dying?' And he answers, 'Hey, if they don't die, my business doesn't grow.' " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available News & Views archive ---------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/NV eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From eye5@interlog.com Sat Jun 29 10:50:00 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:44149 Path: elastic!lethe!abyss!light-house!whome!infoshare!ott.istar!istar.net!van.istar!uniserve!news.sol.net!newspump.sol.net!newsfeeder.sdsu.edu!sgigate.sgi.com!news1.best.com!nntp.primenet.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: High noon in Hamilton Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 26 Jun 1996 23:27:15 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 107 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4qsv2j$5af@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY June 27, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK HIGH NOON IN HAMILTON Two jocks from the north -- Howie the hockey player versus Mike the golf pro. That's the choice for the next election, at least until the Liberals choose a new leader next November. Howard Hampton was the winner in a bitter battle to replace Bob Rae at last weekend's NDP convention. Hampton won out over Rae's heir apparent, Frances Lankin, on the third ballot. But Lankin had already been mortally wounded by the party's bad boy, Peter Kormos. During the candidates' bear-pit session Friday night, Peter Kormos launched a vicious, relentless personal attack on Lankin. According to Kormos, the social contract was Lankin's fault, as was everything else he didn't like about the Rae government, including the government's flip-flop on public auto insurance. Kormos wasn't alone -- many union delegates were still upset with Bob Rae over the hated social contract, which overrode the "sacred trust" of collective agreements. Every time she tried to speak, Lankin was roundly booed by Kormos supporters. By the end of the night, she couldn't even be heard on the convention floor. It was like a feeding frenzy. "Kormos killed Lankin by drawing votes from her and then sending them to Hampton on the final ballot," says political consultant and long- time NDPer Graham Murray. And although Bob Rae wasn't on the ballot, Lankin's closeness to the former premier cost her dearly at a gathering that came to bury Rae, not to praise him. Says Murray: "In his farewell speech, Rae said 'blame me if you like,' and that's exactly what delegates did by voting against Lankin." The Kormos attack on Lankin was based as much on a personal vendetta as his angst over party policy. Lankin was the one who led the charge in the Rae cabinet to have Kormos tossed after he posed fully clothed as a Sunshine Boy in The Toronto Sun. At the time, many ministers, including Hampton, said "what's the big deal," and argued to keep Kormos in cabinet. But Rae gave in to the pressure of the politically correct forces in his cabinet and fired Kormos. This was payback time. Hampton and the other leadership contender, Tony Silipo, stood by passively while Kormos inflicted a thousand wounds on Lankin's leadership ambitions. Although they were both part of the cabinet that brought in the social contract, they somehow convinced the delegates that they weren't really responsible because they weren't part of Rae's inner circle. In other words, they were in cabinet, but they were irrelevant, because the premier didn't listen to them. And that's why delegates should vote for them. Weird -- but it worked. The sad truth is that they were irrelevant to Rae. The NDP government was run by four people: Rae, Treasurer Floyd Laughren, Education Minister Dave Cooke and Minister for Economic Development Lankin. And Laughren and Cooke were openly supporting Lankin, as was Arlene Perly Rae, the former premier's wife. Although Rae insisted he wasn't taking sides, many delegates figured he was backing Lankin. Rae, the cerebral silver-spoon socialist and Rhodes scholar, has now been replaced as leader by a millworker's son who went to university on a hockey scholarship and who has promised to distance the party from the past. The Rae legacy that was so much under attack was his vision that the NDP must become a more centrist party to have a chance of winning again. Lankin supported this vision. Kormos argued strenuously to move the party back to the left, supporting nationalization of the means of production. The party chose instead the middle ground offered by Hampton. REVENGE IS SWEET Hamilton was payback time for Howie as well. His wife, Shelley Martel, had been publicly humiliated by Rae after she got into a shouting match with a Tory councillor in Thunder Bay over a Sudbury doctor's billing practices. Martel said she "just lost it" when she blurted out that the doctor in question was about to face criminal charges. She later said she didn't mean what she said. Rae refused to let her resign, effectively killing her political career. Revenge -- how sweet it is. The Park is written by eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available The Park archive -----------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/Park eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!lethe!gts!whome!infoshare!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sun Jul 14 19:52:58 1996 Xref: elastic tor.general:48595 Path: elastic!lethe!gts!whome!infoshare!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,tor.general Subject: NEWS: Great Expectations Followup-To: eye.general,tor.general Date: 11 Jul 1996 23:13:50 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 118 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4s4fte$sgl@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY July 11, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS GREAT EXPECTATIONS by PETER KUITENBROUWER Our governments say they're broke, which is why they're shutting hospitals. I also hear that our leaders expect the private sector to fuel the economy. Yet it's Stalingrad circa 1962 in Toronto this summer with the happy proletariat busy at work on two megaprojects, each one entirely state-financed. Just west of the Prince's Gate at Exhibition Place the roof is up on the $180 million National Trade Centre (NTC), funded with $60 million each from the feds, the province and Metro. And down at the foot of the CN Tower, worker bees are filling in the World's Deepest Freestanding Hole with an underground addition to the Metro Convention Centre, financed with $180 million in provincial cash. By this time next year our town will boast a yawning 3 million square feet of trade and convention space. Already the two government-owned facilities are squabbling over customers. Whether Toronto can attract enough boats, cars, psychiatrists, cattle, computers, ovens, Rotarians or other stuff to fill the equivalent of three Eaton Centres remains, dare I say it, an open question. "Scary, isn't it?" David Garrick, CEO of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, says of the new Trade Centre. "If they have a rainout of the Air Show next year, that's where they'll hold it." His Sheep & Swine building got knocked down to clear the space, but thankfully much of the NTC floor is treated to resist urine, so next year the fair can fete its 75th in the new digs. The CNE lost space too, but will get it back next year when Exhibition Stadium is knocked down. My tour starts at the office of NTC Transition Manager Don Odbert, which is all in a tizzy as staff pull first names from a barrel of 5,000 ballots. "We just picked yours, Don!" a staffer calls. Nine hundred huge names, lasercut in steel, will hang from the ceiling of a glass concourse in the building. It's called "Public Art." Odbert leads me on a tour. It's a big tour. We climb over scaffolding for the Molson Indy and go through the 30-foot high door. "When they see that they go nuts," says Odbert, who's been flogging Exhibition Place to trade shows for 15 years. "They love it. They always have to tear the big high deck off the boats." We pick our way among escalators wrapped in plastic, piles of 2-metre-diameter air ducts, bobbins of wire. "All the shows will expand because now the exhibitor will be able to bring what he wants to bring." What about the hike to downtown? No problem, says Odbert. He says organizers prefer a bit of distance from town. "Once you've got 'em down here you've got a captive audience." One show might leave the Metro Convention Centre and move here to be further from downtown, he boasts. Still, in a business where deals are made years ahead, no new firm has booked the NTC. Hey, that's not Don's problem -- he won't be selling it. Last week Metro voted to bring in a consortium called SMG Canada. Former PM Joe Clark heads the team, made up of equal parts Olympia & York and a U.S. group that includes Hyatt Hotels, the $5 billion (U.S.) megacorp Aramark (caterers of the Olympics) and Spectacor of Philadelphia, which owns the Flyers. "The connections are in place," says Ron Taylor, a vice-president at O&Y. BIG WITH A CAPITAL B The future looks more secure downtown at the mushrooming Convention Centre, which will go up against the NTC with two new 200,000 square- foot trade show spaces. Pre-bookings include 12,000 microbiologists in 1997 and 20,000 teachers in '98. In the summer of 2000, get ready for 60,000 Seventh Day Adventists. "It's a big, big building," says Convention Centre spokeswoman Michele Carroll, as we stand on the skywalk that links Union Station to the SkyDome, looking down at 110,000 cubic yards of fresh-poured cement where trains once chugged. "Big with a Capital B." "Although we cater to trade shows, we do more than that," says Carroll. "Because our location is right downtown, meeting planners love to come here. You don't just buy a convention centre, you buy a destination package." Plus, when it's all done Toronto gets Roundhouse Park -- 15 acres of greenery atop the Convention Centre that will beckon you to frolic to the soothing roar of traffic going by on the Gardiner. "Now, if we could only blow up the Gardiner," says Carroll. And maybe someone will put back together the CP Roundhouse, partially dismantled for the construction job. That reassembly job isn't yet slated. Put together, these gargantuan projects represent a puzzling trend. Toronto has plenty of empty real estate, and plenty of vacant land (been west of Strachan on King lately? With Inglis and Massey Ferguson demolished, it looks like Saskatchewan). But apparently it's not the Right Kind of real estate. Rather than creating permanent jobs in the empty buildings, it looks like we'll be depending on Americans, Europeans and Asians to use the new facilities, and give us lots of new seasonal jobs as cooks, bellhops, registration desk clerks and vacuum cleaner operators. Long Live the Proletariat! Up With the Glorious Worker's State! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available News & Views archive ---------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/NV eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!ftn.net!n2tor.istar!tor.istar!east.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Fri Aug 2 08:08:21 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:48219 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!ftn.net!n2tor.istar!tor.istar!east.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: NEWS: Top 10 ways to fool OHIP Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 24 Jul 1996 21:04:48 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 55 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4t6h7g$jd0@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY July 25, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS & VIEWS NEWS & VIEWS TOP 10 WAYS TO FOOL OHIP by SALLY COOPER I'm tired of hearing about all the different ways people are abusing OHIP, so I've come up with some scams of my own: * My PMS is activated by the lack of sunlight in the winter months, so OHIP should pay to send me to Cuba. * I have motion sickness that is made worse by riding on the TTC. Since I have to take the TTC to get to work, OHIP should buy me a car. * Since I have tinnitus from playing drums in a band, OHIP should pay for a soundproof condominium. * I have carpal tunnel syndrome and can't scratch the Scratch-N-Win portion of my lottery tickets. Thus OHIP should give me the $250,000 I might win. * My neck, wrists and fingers are swollen from arthritis, so OHIP should pay to replace my gold jewelry. * My sagging breasts are affecting my self-esteem, so OHIP should buy me a full set of corsetry. * Since my TV only has a 12-inch screen, I'm experiencing eye strain. Therefore, OHIP should buy me a giant 4-foot projector screen. * Childbirth has left me with a large and floppy vagina and my husband's small penis no longer satisfies me. Thus, OHIP should pay for a well-endowed gigolo. * My toes have been permanently pinched to a point by high-heeled shoes, so I'm no longer able to push the clutch pedal on my car. OHIP should pay for a driver, or, at the very least, an automatic transmission. * My obesity has prevented me from enjoying a regular warm bath, which has left my nerves frayed. OHIP should buy me a double-occupancy hot tub so I can relieve my stress. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available News & Views archive ---------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/NV eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!ftn.net!n2tor.istar!tor.istar!east.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Fri Aug 2 08:11:24 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:48221 Path: elastic!jaywon.pci.on.ca!ftn.net!n2tor.istar!tor.istar!east.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Give us now our Daily Bread Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 24 Jul 1996 21:05:14 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 117 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4t6h8a$jjj@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY July 25, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK GIVE US NOW OUR DAILY BREAD When Gerard Kennedy, the 35-year-old former director of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank, officially launched his campaign to become leader of the Ontario Liberals last week, he described the move as "audacious." He's right. There aren't many more daring (or reckless) moves than running for leader of your party just two months after winning your first election. But Kennedy's by-election victory last May in Bob Rae's old riding was like a shot of adrenaline for provincial Liberals, who have spent most of the past 50 years in the political wilderness. While their federal cousins have governed in Ottawa for almost half a century, only once in that time have Ontario Grits held office. That was from 1985 to 1990 under David Peterson. Since then, the party has suffered two humiliating defeats and seems to be headed back to the political obscurity that it knows so well. That's why Liberals are starting to think that if Kennedy can win in an NDP fiefdom like York South, maybe he can beat Mike Harris. Kennedy isn't the first Liberal to run for leader so soon after coming to Queen's Park. Twenty years ago, Stuart Smith became leader just a few months after getting elected. Seven years later, Smith's former constituency assistant, the audacious Sheila Copps, ran, unsuccessfully, for leader within months of becoming an MPP. It seems Liberals have this habit of turning to the new kid on the block to lead them out of their natural habitat -- the political wilderness. Or maybe more experienced politicians just know better --like former cabinet ministers Murray Elston and Sean Conway, who have decided not to take on the task. KENNEDY MANIA? Last week in the Army-Navy Hall on Jane St. Kennedy told 200 cheering supporters from across the province that his campaign for leader is about "a new generation of ideas and new generation of leadership" for the party and for Ontario. Another Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, said in his Presidential inaugural address in January, 1961, that "the torch has been passed to a new generation." Although Gerard Kennedy's words echo those of his famous namesake, he is unfamiliar with one of the most quoted lines in recent political history. He is, after all, new to politics. Born in The Pas, Man., the same year John Kennedy beat Richard Nixon, Gerard left home at 14 and went to Winnipeg where he was: "taught by some Basilians to be very, very focused." And Kennedy is an intensely focused person. At 17 he moved to Peterborough where he studied liberal arts at Trent. But the first thing he mentions about his days at Trent is that he "played a lot of hockey. I'm a pretty aggressive defenceman. When you're playing hockey you're focused and that's good." He played well enough to be offered a hockey scholarship by Dartmouth College, which he turned down. This is the same school NDP leader Howie Hampton attended on a hockey scholarship. He doesn't like being called a left-winger, but Kennedy's vision would see the Liberal Party lurch sharply to the left. He uses words like "co-operation and partnership... helping both communities and individuals achieve their potential" and "a positive and inclusive alternative to the Harris agenda." David Peterson never used words like this. Kennedy's words would seem more at home in a race for the leadership of the NDP than for the Liberals. Still, he says, "This is not the Food Bank taking over the Liberal Party." That's why several NDP delegates at the recent NDP convention said they were afraid of Kennedy. They were worried left-wing Liberals who supported Bob Rae would vote for Kennedy and kill their chances of forming the government again. And they are right. But can Kennedy beat Harris if he and Hampton are splitting the left wing vote? Kennedy says Harris is vulnerable because he won't create the jobs he has promised and people will be angry enough to toss him out in four years. "I don't think there is a jobs plan there and they have already crushed consumer confidence by taking so much money out of the economy." He also thinks his message will win votes outside of Metro. "I'm from a small town. I understand the small-town approach. If you look at what a food bank is -- it's a small-town thing in the big city. When I first came to Toronto, people said you can't get people to donate food. They don't feel connected." The Army-Navy Hall was filled with the creme de la creme of the Liberal Party's left wing on the night of Kennedy's declaration. In 1992, Lyn McLeod used the same left-wing base to steal the leadership from Elston by nine votes. This time there's no political heavyweight like Elston to beat, just another first term MPP from Windsor, Dwight Duncan, and backbenchers Joe Cordiano, Annamarie Castrilli, John Gerretsen and Dalton McGuinty. The new kid on the block is already the frontrunner to win big at the Gardens in November. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available The Park archive -----------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/Park eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!lethe!gts!whome!light-house!innuendo.tlug.org!clio.trends.ca!worldlinx.com!freenet-news.carleton.ca!news.flora.ottawa.on.ca!news.synapse.net!news.abs.net!ddsw1!news.mcs.net!nntp04.primenet.com!news.shkoo.com!nntp.primenet.com!mr.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Wed Aug 21 11:12:54 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:51261 Path: elastic!lethe!gts!whome!light-house!innuendo.tlug.org!clio.trends.ca!worldlinx.com!freenet-news.carleton.ca!news.flora.ottawa.on.ca!news.synapse.net!news.abs.net!ddsw1!news.mcs.net!nntp04.primenet.com!news.shkoo.com!nntp.primenet.com!mr.net!winternet.com!news2.interlog.com!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: The real dog days Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 14 Aug 1996 19:43:37 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 58 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <4utob9$m40@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY August 15, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK THE REAL DOG DAYS While MPPs debate bills that will gut Ontario's environmental laws and decide whether to legalize video lottery terminals, the No. 1 issue with the public is what to do about Holly the dog. Holly, of course, is the Irish setter who was dragged behind a car last month in the town of Alliston, north of Metro. Holly survived her ordeal and is recovering, but Queen's Park is getting hundreds of calls from people saying: "We've got to save this dog." The targets of this telephone spamming effort are Premier Mike Harris and the province's top cop and dogcatcher, Solicitor General Bob Runciman. A government spokesman confirmed that the Premier's office is getting more calls about Holly than any other issue. Another government official told eye that more people have called about Holly's plight in the last two weeks than called over the last two years about the infamous Paul Bernardo case. Meanwhile, the same public doesn't seem to care much what happens to environmental protection or the spread of gambling machines. During the first day of public hearings on VLTs the only person who opposed them, Reinder Klein of the Council of Christian Reformed Churches in Canada, warned MPPs that another legislator, Pontius Pilate, had another important decision to make 2,000 years ago, and he hoped that the MPPs would make the right decision. In these dog days of summer, Harris has been spending most of his time away from Queen's Park in a deliberate attempt to lower the temperature, which heated up last year during violent confrontations between protesters and the police. When reporters call to ask what's up, they are told: "Nothing -- and that's just the way we want it." Obviously, Harris has learned that over-exposing the Premier to the point where he becomes the government's front-man on every issue can backfire when some of those issues turn sour. As a result, we can expect Runciman and others to field all the tough questions on Holly when he returns to Queen's Park. The Park is eye's Queen's Park insider. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available The Park archive -----------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/Park eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!lethe!geac!gts!nypl!torfree!apollo.isisnet.com!eru.mt.luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sat Sep 21 13:23:38 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:55527 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!gts!nypl!torfree!apollo.isisnet.com!eru.mt.luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Health Tory style Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 18 Sep 1996 19:47:49 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 74 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <51q1n5$bm8@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY September 19, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK HEALTH TORY STYLE Former Progressive Conservative leader Larry Grossman recently had an operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his brain, eye has learned. The surgery was performed in New York at the Sloan Kettering Institute, according to informed sources, and Grossman is now headed for California to undergo chemotherapy. Although Grossman is a well known moderate or red Tory, publicly, he has been a big supporter of the right-wing policies of Mike Harris. Recently, Grossman appeared as a political panelist on TVO defending cuts by Harris to the very programs he helped put in place as a member of the former PC government of Bill Davis. Grossman, a former minister of health, was hired by the Ontario Medical Association to "get negotiations started" between the province's doctors and the Harris government, according to a spokesperson for the OMA. Although surgery for brain cancer is considered to be quite serious, Grossman's law partner Mark Geiger of Blaney McMurtry told eye he expects Grossman to be back on the job soon. LIBERAL GAFFE Ontario Liberals in the Hamilton area recently held a $125-a-head fundraiser at the home of a prominent Burlington developer, Rudy Reimer, who has faced several accusations of sexual assault and harassment. Diane McDade worked for Reimer Construction Ltd. for two years and says she quit because of sexual and emotional harassment. When she filed an unemployment insurance claim stating her reasons for quitting, Reimer appealed the decision to give her benefits on two separate occasions, but the U.I. Commission upheld McDade's claim both times. Late last year Reimer appeared in a Hamilton courtroom on charges of sexual and indecent assault against a number of former employees. When asked whether Reimer's home was an appropriate place to hold a party event -- considering Liberal statements about Speaker Al McLean Liberal Leader Lyn McLeod's office issued this response: "We believe that Mr. Reimer should be accorded the same rights as all private citizens, that is, to be considered innocent until proven guilty. This was factored into our deision to go ahead with the fundraiser.". NDP DEPARTURES Two veteran NDP MPPs are unhappy with new leader Howard Hampton and may not remain at Queen's Park for much longer. Frances Lankin, who came second to Hampton in the recent NDP leadership contest, is angry about being dumped as Finance Critic and party insiders expect her to take a job outside of politics by the end of the year. Similarly, Lankin supporter and Rae loyalist Dave Cooke is said to be very unhappy and has spent most of his time in his Windsor riding since the leadership contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Retransmit freely in cyberspace Author holds standard copyright http://www.eye.net Mailing list available The Park archive -----------------------> http://www.eye.net/News/Park eye@eye.net "...Break the Gutenberg Lock..." 416-971-8421 From elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!n2ott.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!tor.istar!east.istar!usenet.Hydro.ON.CA!news.uunet.ca!news1.io.org!news Sat Sep 21 13:26:39 1996 Xref: elastic can.general:59419 ont.general:55633 Path: elastic!lethe!geac!herboid!whome!infoshare!n2ott.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!tor.istar!east.istar!usenet.Hydro.ON.CA!news.uunet.ca!news1.io.org!news From: iain@io.org (Iain Grant) Newsgroups: ont.general,can.general,ont.general Subject: COREN: Children's author discriminated against because of her color Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 20:31:10 GMT Organization: Or Complete Lack Thereof Lines: 94 Message-ID: <3241ac7c.15045346@news.io.org> Reply-To: iain@io.org NNTP-Posting-Host: dyna-108.net7b.io.org X-Newsreader: Forte Agent .99e/32.227 By MICHAEL COREN The Financial Post Canada is a country that places great value on fairness, justice and equality, and on the importance of the elimination of discrimination and prejudice. This is one of the reasons that it is highly regarded in the rest of the world, and the main reason I have written this column. Virginia Kelley is a mother and author who lives in Hamilton, Ont. She spent many years in Jamaica and the Bahamas, where she won the Longman Caribbean's Publishing Award of 1979 and was awarded a distinction in the Bahamas National Arts Festival of 1980. This really should not matter, but Virginia Kelley is a white woman married to a black man. They have five sons and one daughter. One could say, then, that Kelley knows a thing or two about literature, about race and about children. Back in 1991, Kelley submitted a manuscript of a children's story to a small publishing house in Toronto called Sister Vision. They were impressed, and wrote back, "We are in receipt of your manuscript, the contents seem quite interesting. Nowhere in your short bio is it clear whether you are a woman of color. Because we are a woman of color publishing house and our mandate is to publish works by women of color we need to know. We hope to hear from you soon, in the meantime we'll continue to read these most refreshing and enjoyable stories." Evidently the stories became less refreshing and enjoyable when the women at Sister Vision discovered Virginia Kelley was white. They proceeded to send another letter to her, stating they were "not able to consider your manuscript for publication at this time." It is worth noting that Sister Vision has for some years been partly funded by the Ontario Arts Council, which means by taxdollars. This story was brought to my attention only recently and I duly spoke to Sister Vision's Nadia Halim. She said Sister Vision had slightly altered its policy recently and had published some work by men and white women. But, she admitted, "this means that they would have to understand the experience of women of color and to be honest I will believe that this is possible when I see it." At hearing this I asked if Kelley could re-submit her work. "Well, not really," said a hesitant Halim. "Our grant has been cut this year and we're really blocked with material, right up until 1998. So there wouldn't be any point." I do not believe Sister Vision's policy has changed; at the end of the day a de facto color bar still exists. The plot then thickened. Halim suddenly told me she had been contacted by someone from the Ontario Arts Council who told her that "Michael Coren had received grants in the past and has also been published by people who receive grants." I replied that this was true but irrelevant. I am not an opponent of government funding of the arts, only of government funding of unrepresentative fringe groups, and of artists who could not and would not ever pay the country back through income tax. At this point I asked why the Ontario Arts Council contacted Halim and volunteered such information. "They knew you were researching the subject of Sister Vision," was Halim's reply. So they wanted to arm you, I suggested. "Well, not so much that, but they were networking." When I pushed this employee of Sister Vision to tell me who she had spoken to at the Ontario Arts Council she first said that she did not know her name, then that she had forgotten it. It was in fact the person who oversees the entire literature branch of the council, Lorraine Filyer. Kelley has discussed this issue with her friends in the West Indies, black writers and teachers, and they are amazed that such attitudes, and publicly funded attitudes at that, can exist in such a country as Canada. As for Kelley herself, she only wants to write good stories and try to bring the races together. She has bravely said she will try her luck with Sister Vision again, in two years. I think I know what the publisher's answer will be. But with any luck the taxpayer will not be funding such lunacy by that time, unless of course the "network" is more ensconced than we think. Michael Coren is an author and broadcaster. Visit the Michael Coren Web Site at: http://www.io.org/~iain/coren/index.html Michael Coren can be heard each weeknight from 7pm to 10pm on CFRB 1010 AM in Toronto. \\|// (o o) -------------------------oOO--(_)--OOo--------------------------- The Toronto Radio Web Pages http://www.io.org/~iain/ Canadian Broadcasting on the NET. ------------------------------------------- A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. -- William James From elastic!lethe!gts!whome!infoshare!n2ott.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!van.istar!west.istar!n1van.istar!van-bc!news.mindlink.net!uniserve!news.sol.net!newspump.sol.net!news.mindspring.com!uunet!news-in2.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail Sat Sep 28 16:42:46 1996 Xref: elastic ont.general:56228 Path: elastic!lethe!gts!whome!infoshare!n2ott.istar!ott.istar!istar.net!van.istar!west.istar!n1van.istar!van-bc!news.mindlink.net!uniserve!news.sol.net!newspump.sol.net!news.mindspring.com!uunet!news-in2.uu.net!news.interlog.com!not-for-mail From: eye5@interlog.com (eye WEEKLY) Newsgroups: eye.news,ont.general Subject: THE PARK: Liberal love-in Followup-To: eye.general,ont.general Date: 25 Sep 1996 19:55:37 -0400 Organization: eye -- Toronto's Arts Newspaper Lines: 76 Approved: eye@interlog.com Message-ID: <52cgpp$h1o@gold.interlog.com> Reply-To: eye@eye.net NNTP-Posting-Host: gold.interlog.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ eye WEEKLY September 26, 1996 Toronto's arts newspaper .....free every Thursday ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PARK THE PARK LIBERAL LOVE-IN After last week's boring three-hour debate in Metro among the seven hopefuls who want to replace Liberal leader Lyn McLeod, the first choice is still none of the above. The Liberals elect a new boss Nov. 30 at a convention at Maple Leaf Gardens. When former prime minister Pierre Trudeau retired from politics, former finance minister Don Macdonald quit the race to replace his boss, saying he didn't have the necessary "royal jelly" for the job. This group of provincial Grits, who have been dubbed the "seven dwarfs" by political analyst Graham Murray, don't even seem to know where to find the bees. Compared to the lively debates of previous Liberal leadership contests, such as the heated sparring matches between Sheila Copps and Dave Peterson in 1982, this was more like a political science lecture. Windsor-Walkerville MPP Dwight Duncan, who was clearly courting second and third ballot support, set the tone when he said they were all fine candidates and he would be honored to serve under any of them. Ottawa businessman Greg Kells added his voice to the love-in by saying, "You have a wonderful team of candidates. This is a winning team." Some debate. Only Ottawa South MPP Dalton McGuinty spoke from the heart when he revealed that unemployment has hit his own family, with his sister unable to find a job in her home town of Ottawa. He also talked about his experience as a criminal lawyer dealing with young offenders and said the underlying cause of crime was social and family problems. McGuinty was the only one who, at times, looked and sounded like a premier-in-waiting. But his family-values, right-wing agenda may not get him enough votes. The big loser so far seems to be York South MPP Saint Gerard Kennedy, the darling of the Toronto media, who is not picking up as much grassroots support as he expected. The rest of the pack -- Duncan, McGuinty and Lawrence MPP Joe Cordiano -- have caught up with Kennedy and put him on the defensive. Cordiano, who has more support in Metro than any of the others, was quite comfortable on his home turf and kept returning to his key message about doing more to help small business create jobs. Annamarie Castrilli, the only woman in the race, said that, unlike the others, she would listen to the grassroots if she were elected leader. She then proceeded to interrupt the other candidates throughout the evening. Dwight Duncan startled several Liberals by saying he would launch a "war on teenage pregnancy." What would he do -- lock up teenage girls? Former Kingston mayor John Gerretsen tried to rouse the sleepy Grits by saying, "Liberalism is alive and well in Ontario and we are going to win." But he got only scattered applause. There's no doubt that this group of post baby-boom generation Grit contenders is much more conservative than past contenders. But Mike Harris is a lot more conservative than previous Tory leaders --and he got elected. 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