Sunday exemption fuels neighbourhood dispute
JOE BELANGER AND TONI SYRETT, Free Press Reporters 2004-05-23 01:55:40
The fight isn't over for a west London neighbourhood in a battle with churchgoers over parking. New parking restrictions proposed by the city to resolve a dispute between Riverside United Church and nearby residents were approved recently by city council.
However, in an unexpected twist, Ward 1 Coun. Judy Bryant convinced council to approve a Sunday exemption to the parking restrictions.
That means when church-goers arrive to worship today, nothing will have changed.
"What a bunch of knuckleheads," said Ingo Schmiedchen, a Dunedin Drive resident, when informed of the decision earlier this week.
"I'm not very happy to say the least. What was the point of the exercise? Nothing happens during the rest of the week. It's Sundays that are the problem. I guess we'll have to get together to try and beat up on council again."
Residents complain churchgoers block driveways and fire hydrants. But their biggest concern was during the winter, when the combination of snowbanks and cars parked on both sides of the streets made driving difficult, blocking access for emergency vehicles.
The issue erupted on Mother's Day, 2002, when churchgoers' cars were ticketed by police.
Since then, the church has examined and tried a number of initiatives to ease the congestion, but with little success.
They now have a parishioner directing traffic on Sundays, as well as bumper-to-bumper parking to fit more cars in the existing lot.
Church officials say they can't afford to expand the lot. Residents agree paving the facility's front yard wouldn't look good.
The city council's environment and transportation committee met two weeks ago and approved staff recommendations to ban parking on the west side of Dunedin Street from Riverside Drive to Warren Road and on the north and east side of Sherene Terrace that curls onto Dunedin.
Church officials had previously agreed to the staff recommendations.
But Bryant offered no apologies about the exemption.
"I don't think it was a compromise, as it was described," Bryant said. "I thought there should have been more of a balance in the agreement."
Bryant said the church plans to continue seeking solutions to its parking shortage.
"If the parking restrictions had been imposed, it would have effected the economic viability of the church," Bryant said. "And nobody wants a run-down church in the neighbourhood."
Council's decision pleased Ann McEwan-Castellan, chairperson of the church council.
The church will continue to work on solutions, she said.
"It's not going to happen overnight, we know it," McEwan-Castellan said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Sunday, May 23, 2004
What about my parking exemption? Allowing Sunday worshippers free parking is discriminatory!
Ebay displaying Liberal tendencies
EBay chokes on Arnold's cough drop
AP 2004-05-23 01:55:40
SACRAMENTO -- A seller on EBay tried to auction off a cough drop that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly used, then tossed into a trash can -- listing the item under the heading Schwarzenegger's DNA. But the ad posted on the popular website Friday was quickly yanked after EBay decided it fell into the category of "body parts," which the website will not list for sale.
The original listing was accompanied by two photos of a half-consumed cough drop and the words: "Own a piece of DNA from the man himself."
The seller indicated he or she had seen Schwarzenegger discard the lozenge at a recent public event and had retrieved it.
"Like many people who collect items from international stars this is a must have," the ad stated.
The California governor's office confirmed Schwarzenegger routinely sucks on cough drops, but would say little more.
An EBay spokesperson said the seller, identified only as AMF814, could put the item back up for sale if he or she reclassified it as a collectible.
However, as of yesterday, it was not among the 115 Schwarzenegger collectibles listed.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2004
Saturday, May 22, 2004
THE FOURTH REICH - AFTER THE CIGARETTE SMOKERS, LET US GO AFTER THE FATTIES
World health ministers agree on strategy to battle obesity
The WHO is at the centre of a plan to move toward healthier diets and lifestyles.
EMMA ROSS, AP 2004-05-22 02:02:53
GENEVA -- With the number of fat people in the world outnumbering the hungry, top health officials from around the globe tentatively agreed yesterday on a plan to fight the growing epidemic of diseases driven by bad diet and lack of exercise. The plan, expected to be formally approved by the governing body of the World Health Organization today, is a guidebook for countries on designing policies to make people eat better and exercise more.
The aim is to stem the tide of obesity and other diseases linked to diet and physical inactivity, such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, malnutrition and tooth decay.
Dr. Kaare Norum, a Norwegian obesity expert who advised WHO on the development of the plan, said the agreement was a victory for public health and that despite earlier fears, the sugar industry failed to derail the plan.
Though not legally binding, the plan makes recommendations on limiting the intake of such things as sugar, fat and salt in processed foods. It also suggests guidelines on marketing food to children and on health claims on packaging, along with more comprehensive nutrition labelling and health education.
The sugar limit became a focus of controversy and behind-the-scenes pressure.
Several sugar-producing developing countries sought to eliminate any reference to limiting sugar.
"There was a lot of lobbying from different stakeholders, but in the end, public health has been able to be recognized, and that's the most important point," said Dr. Catherine LeGales-Camus, assistant director for non-infectious diseases at the WHO.
The plan also provides ideas on ways to make it easier to make healthier lifestyle choices at home, school and work.
Approaches could range from better urban planning so walking and cycling become more popular to tying toy promotions in with healthy fast-food meals or subsidizing the provision of fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias.
Health officials says they have watched with alarm as cheap, high-calorie western food and labour-saving devices increasingly invade the developing world.
Experts say fat people now outnumber the hungry on a global basis and that malnutrition and infectious diseases -- still a scourge in many areas -- are no longer responsible for most of the world's deaths. They predict that the situation will only get worse unless serious action is taken.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
MORE PARKING WOES IN SMOKY LONDON
Parking tickets insult to core believer
PATRICK MALONEY, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-22 02:02:53
John Scott-Pearse spent more than $1 million to refurbish a downtown building. Now he wants city hall to give him a little back. In this story of one downtown entrepreneur and 118 unwanted, unpaid and -- in Scott-Pearse's opinion -- undeserved parking tickets, the co-owner of Robinson Hall hopes the ending will be a happy one. But 2 1/2 years after he got the first one outside his Talbot Street bar, he admits it doesn't look promising.
"I'll be really, really mad if I have to end up paying for them," Scott-Pearse said. "I was always at the parking office (asking), 'What can I do, what can I get?' Nothing. They don't care."
A conservative estimate puts his ticket tab at about $6,000.
The mountain of parking fines was built while he was renovating the one-time bank across the street from the John Labatt Centre. Scott-Pearse said he was often ticketed while he loaded and unloaded supplies from a truck and trailer he parked next to the building.
But after a few dozen tickets, why not find a different place to park? To Scott-Pearse, that just wasn't possible.
"How far can you carry 100 two-by-fours? This place has thousands and thousands and thousands of two-by-fours," he said.
"The point to me is we're loading and unloading . . . hundreds and hundreds of loads."
Most viable spaces were usually taken by construction crews working on the JLC at the same time, he said.
Over the years, he fixed up the bar, he explains and dealing with the tickets simply wasn't a priority.
"Most people don't realize the problems we have to solve (during construction) and how you lose your house if you don't solve them.
"You have to ignore some things."
Since construction ended last December, Scott-Pearse has lobbied the city's parking division to overturn the tickets.
While some Londoners may argue he doesn't deserve special treatment, Scott-Pearse said entrepreneurs who assume all the risk of starting a downtown business deserve some help.
"There are people who mortgaged their homes to put stores downtown," he said. "If (one) loses their business, they lose their house. There's absolutely no safety net."
The city, however, hasn't budged.
The tickets, now considered convictions, are out of city hall's hands and are a provincial matter, said city parking manager Shane Maguire. Such parking regulations are needed downtown, he added.
"Without the regulations, you have long-term users parking on the street."
To Scott-Pearse, who joined the London Downtown Business Association last fall, his own downtown parking troubles are only a small part of what he calls a city policy driving entrepreneurs -- and customers -- to the fringes.
"It costs more to do business in downtown London than on Fanshawe Park Road," he said. "When you come to downtown London, you're going to get tickets.
"Downtown needs customers (and) we are sending all our customers to . . . stores on Fanshawe Park Road. London's going to develop into a doughnut (with) business all the way around and nothing in the centre."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
The Next Money Pit for London - The JLC #2!?
Plans revived for performing arts centre
A group is laying the groundwork for a new downtown facility.
NORMAN DE BONO, Free Press Business Reporter 2004-05-22 02:02:54
Dreams of a performing arts centre in London are returning to centre stage. A group of businesspeople and music lovers is quietly working behind the scenes, laying the foundation in hope of getting an arts centre built.
"It would be good for downtown, it would be great for London," said Andy Spriet of Spriet Associates in London, who has sat on an advisory committee for the centre.
Artec Consultants Inc. of New York has been hired by the London Performing Arts Centre (LPAC) board of directors to do a feasibility study on how large a centre is required and how it would operate.
Meetings have been held with builders on early designs.
The theatre would seat 1,500 to 2,000 people and the board is considering several downtown sites, said David Bennett, senior consultant with Artec.
"One of the interesting things about this project is they want an orchestra as a prime candidate, but they want travelling shows there as well," Bennett said from New York.
"They are thinking it will be a big economic boon to London."
The completed first phase of the study covered a needs assessment, building description and capital cost estimates.
Artec is looking at operating costs and how the centre would be managed and operated. That will be done by mid-summer, Bennett said.
The board has asked for a "concert theatre" model that could house Orchestra London, theatre, ballet and opera performances.
The cost has not been estimated, but a similar centre built last year in Edmonton cost $33 million.
"It has become a more important issue recently because Centennial Hall is certainly lacking when you see other venues," said former Orchestra London president John St. Croix.
There's no timeline for the centre, but LPAC president Joe Samuels hopes the music will play within three years.
"The time is right. London is one of the 10 major cities in Canada and this is an area where we lag behind. It is a critical piece we need," Samuels said.
"This is not just about serving people who like to go to concerts. It is about economic development, it is about positioning ourselves to lure people here."
An arts centre is the last major project called for by the city's millennium committee on downtown revitalization.
The project did not get city support because there was no plan for how it would be built or operated.
Artec will provide that, Samuels said.
"They will give us a preliminary capital cost and an operational plan," he said. "They will give us a realistic idea of what we need in terms of a facility.
"Once we have all that done, then we will talk to the city and potential donors. We will be able to tell people about it."
Ideally, LPAC would like to have a $10-million endowment, proceeds of which would be used to fund the operation of the centre. The three levels of government can then be tapped solely for land and capital costs, said Joe Swan, former city controller and chair of the millennium committee.
The roadblock at the local level has always been the city, which did not want to fund another operation because it spends about $2 million a year on the Grand Theatre, Orchestra London and Museum London, Swan said.
"The strategy they have had is to have a $10-million foundation which offsets operating costs because the city can't afford another operating deficit, but it won't happen in this term of council, there is no money," Swan said.
A performing arts centre may cost as much as $1 million a year to operate, Swan said. He believes the centre may cost as much as $40 million to build.
"Once (the study) is done, there will be programs put together to raise money. Right now, they are just approaching people, asking if they will support it," Spriet said.
London-based construction firm EllisDon has done preliminary design and costing work on the centre, meeting with the board about three weeks ago, Samuels said.
"The desire for this will not go away. If London wants to be on the national stage, this is required," Swan said.
"It is great to see the private sector, prominent Londoners, invest in their community. This proves the private sector has formed a private development group, it is a dream come true."
Artec, which offers consulting services in the planning and designing of performing arts centres, has worked for Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Edmonton's Winspear Centre for Music and the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay in Singapore, to name a few.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Friday, May 21, 2004
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses ......Shut up already!!!!
Martin lays blame on Harris Tories
ALEXANDER PANETTA, CP 2004-05-20 03:35:46
OTTAWA -- Liberals are being urged to blame the bad-news Ontario budget on Conservative ideology -- not the province's Liberal government -- in an attempt to escape the fallout in the upcoming federal election. Prime Minister Paul Martin picked up on the blame-the-Tories theme yesterday as he rehearsed a line from a script being e-mailed to Liberal election candidates and obtained by CP.
He said the tax increases levied by the Liberal government in Ontario were the result of policies espoused by former Tory premier Mike Harris.
"I think that this really demonstrates that when Mike Harris cut taxes prematurely, eventually those chickens come home to roost," said Martin. The prime minister is expected to announce Sunday that there will be a June 28 election.
"(Federal Conservative Leader) Stephen Harper is essentially saying 'Cut taxes now and face the consequences later.' That's what Mike Harris said, and you see what happens."
The federal Conservatives called the prime minister's response a desperate attempt to seek a scapegoat for the negative news.
Federal Liberals expect to face an uphill fight in Ontario for the first time since 1993 and worry about losing more than two dozen seats after two decades of landslide victories in the province.
With 106 seats up for grabs in vote-rich Ontario, federal Liberal election fortunes could be dealt a serious blow if there's an anti-budget backlash.
It was clearly on the minds of party strategists who sent a guide to candidates yesterday with a half-dozen talking points to help them defend their provincial cousins.
"(Ontario Liberals) were forced to renege on a number of their campaign promises from earlier this year due to a crippling deficit left behind by the previous Tory government," said the document.
A few selections from the Liberal hymn book:
- The former Tory government left behind a deficit that hamstrung Premier Dalton McGuinty.
- The new Ontario government tackled difficult choices. That's the challenge of governing.
- Deep tax cuts mean cuts to public services and large deficits.
- The federal Conservative plan to bring in less revenue and spend more money is "simply untenable."
The Conservatives have promised a 25-per-cent tax cut for middle-income earners, with the long-term goal of pulling Canadian tax rates lower than the U.S.
The Liberal attack line distorts the facts in a desperate search for a scapegoat, the Conservatives said in a news release yesterday.
"In Paul (Martin's) world the avalanche of negativity burying the Liberal party is all Mike Harris's fault. Or maybe Stephen Harper's," said the release.
"We would remind Paul Martin, and the Liberal party, that the only people responsible for (the) Ontario budget were Liberals.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Library staff, board reach new contract
TEVIAH MORO, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-20 03:35:44
Wages for library workers in London will increase more than five per cent under a new contract approved this week. London Public Library employees voted 94 per cent in favour of the two-year contract, which will boost wages 5.25 per cent by the end of 2005.
"It was kind of a tough negotiation and we were pleased to come to an agreement," Valerie Chapman, president of Local 217 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the union representing library workers, said yesterday.
The previous contract covering library workers expired at the end of 2003. Workers had voted in February to strike, Chapman said.
"I'm really delighted that we were able to get a two-year agreement. I think it reflects two things: fairness and recognition to the employees for the ongoing contributions they make," said library chief executive Darrell Skidmore.
The agreement calls for wage increases of 1.5 per cent retroactive to Jan. 4, 2004, 1.5 per cent effective July 4, 2004, two per cent effective Jan. 2, 2005, and 0.25 per cent effective July 3, 2005.
The new deal is positive because "it assists us significantly in our planning related to our overall budget development," Skidmore said.
"It's clearly within the parameters of the guidelines in our discussions with the city."
Library staff who will be affected by the new deal include 199 librarians, library assistants, maintenance workers and staff in all public services and support areas.
Under the former contract, wages for librarians ranged from $36,763 to $48,431 while wages under the new agreement range from $38,728 to $51,020 by 2005.
The agreement also includes improved vision-care benefits. But staff had to make compromises in two areas, Chapman said.
Full-time staff agreed to a Sunday pay cut, lowering wages to time and half instead of double time on Sundays, she said.
The library board and staff also settled on a different plan for prescription drugs, which would save money, Chapman said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
HOW MUCH WILL THIS GUYS SETTLEMENT PACKAGE AMOUNT TO?
City manager introduced
New face at city hall Jeff Fielding 'exudes confidence, leadership and humility.'
MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-20 03:35:45
Likening himself to a hockey coach hired to "make the team better," London's new city manager Jeff Fielding scored a hat trick yesterday, at least among three observers. "He's going to bring pride back into the workforce," said Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco.
"I think he's going to bring much-needed stability," said Gerry Macartney, general manager of the London Chamber of Commerce.
"He exudes confidence, leadership and humility," said Ed Holder, president of Stevenson and Hunt Insurance Company.
Humility may have been the key word to describe Fielding, a 49-year-old Kitchener native who left his post as that city's chief administrator two weeks ago to take on the controversy-plagued London job.
His words were in stark contrast to those of former city manager George Duncan, who, only days into his nine-month stint with the city in 2002, declared "the city manager runs city hall."
"I don't own this franchise," Fielding told a crowd of 300 attending yesterday's get-acquainted session, sponsored by the London Chamber of Commerce.
"You, the people of London, own the team, you elected this council to represent you and therefore they are in charge on your behalf."
Fielding poked some fun at his predecessor when asked when he would have his senior leadership team in place.
"One of the things you're not going to hear from Jeff Fielding is Jeff time," the divorced father of two quipped. "These are things that will be done at the right time," -- a clear reference to Duncan's assertion that he favours quick actions done on "George time."
Fielding's more subdued approach was welcomed by Macartney as "overdue."
"City hall staff has been through a lot and the culture is kind of confused," said Macartney of Duncan's my-way-or-the-highway approach, which resulted in the swift termination of three senior staff.
"I think he (Fielding) is going to bring some stability and that's really important. We're the 10th largest city in Canada and it's time we started acting like it."
Fielding assumes his new post -- overseeing a $700-million corporation -- after a revolving-door syndrome that began in January 2002 when Linda Reed resigned.
Reed's replacement, acting city manager Jeff Malpass, left in the spring of 2002 amid revelations he was paid more than $1,000 a day in overtime during an outside workers' strike.
His successor, Duncan, quit less than a year into his contract, citing family reasons but also complaining about a proliferation of leaks of confidential information.
For the past year, former city solicitor Bob Blackwell filled the top spot. He's now been replaced by Fielding, who will earn $192,500 a year.
Fielding insists he's not fazed by the job's tumultuous history.
"I'll tell you straight up this is a fun place to work," he said in an interview. "I want to reinvigorate our folks to realize the types of things that go on here happen in every city where you have 19 members of a family, with different views, sitting around the dinner table" -- a reference to London's 19-member city council.
"That's democracy and it's not pretty at times and it can be messy but that's our process and I like living in that. I get pretty jazzed up about it."
While Fielding was quick to say he still faces a "credibility gap" with city hall staff in light of the instability at the top in recent years, he was optimistic he can convince the 3,000-member workforce "that I work for them."
Fielding has already scored some points with the rank and file. He's scrapped Duncan's thorny "corporate renewal plan" that had pitted the city against its two unions, prompting a complaint of unfair labour practices before the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
And as of last Thursday, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 107, representing 550 outside workers, returned to the bargaining table after Fielding met with union president Doug Wheeler.
Talks had been stalled since March 3, when the city made its "final offer."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Did the sheep of Ontario expect otherwise from our liberal pals?
Promises, promises . . .
The Liberals promised to freeze taxes and balance the budget in their first year but delivered 'sin tax' hikes, a new health 'premium' and a deficit. Some recent quotes:
Free Press news services 2004-05-19 03:40:14
*** "I, Dalton McGuinty, leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario, promise, if my party is elected as the next government, that I will not raise taxes or implement new taxes without the explicit consent of Ontario voters, and not run deficits. I promise to abide by the Taxpayer Protection and Balanced Budget Act." -- Taxpayer Protection Pledge signed Sept. 11, 2003
***
"We're not going to raise your taxes, but neither will we cut them." -- McGuinty, after signing the pledge
***
"They're going to repeal tax reductions in Ontario, thereby increasing taxes by $4.6 billion, while at the same time they're signing a taxpayer protection act. He's going to have to decide which promise he's going to break." -- Conservative finance critic Jim Flaherty, on the day McGuinty signed the pledge.
***
"We're not going to raise taxes. That's just not on the table." -- McGuinty, the day of his government's inaugural throne speech, Nov. 20, 2003
***
"We're going to have to do something about the balanced budget legislation. It's having, at present in its existing form, a perverse effect on governments." -- McGuinty, Nov. 22, 2003
***
"Ontario families shouldn't have to pay the price for Tory recklessness." -- McGuinty, standing by a promise not to raise taxes, Dec. 17, 2003
***
"We're trying to bring a responsible approach and we remain committed to balancing the budget in our first term." -- McGuinty, Feb. 19
***
"I used the wrong word. Instead of term, I meant year. Our goal remains the same as it has throughout, which is to balance the budget in our first full fiscal year." -- McGuinty correcting himself later the same day
***
"If, when all the work is done, the budget is not balanced, this will not be the end of the world, and we'll work towards the next fiscal year." -- Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, Feb. 19
***
"Our commitment to health care and education is unequivocal and irrevocable." -- McGuinty, after being asked directly whether he'd keep his promise to balance the budget and freeze taxes
***
"They are choices that are inconsistent with our election commitments. We openly acknowledge that. However, it would simply not be possible to deliver a balanced budget this year without destabilizing public services and perhaps even the economy itself. Such an approach would be irresponsible, and we reject it." -- Sorbara in yesterday's budget speech on the decision to increase revenues and run multi-year deficits
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Liberal Judges determine free speech should be exercised in moderation
Limits on lobbyist campaign spending upheld
JIM BROWN, CP 2004-05-19 03:40:14
OTTAWA -- The Supreme Court of Canada, in a ruling affecting the coming federal election, has upheld legal limits on campaign spending by lobby groups. In a 6-3 judgment yesterday, the court acknowledged the expenditure caps have the effect of limiting free speech.
But the majority said the harm is minimal and is justified in the wider interest of ensuring fairness between competing voices on the campaign trail.
"I feel like there's been a death in the family," said Gerry Nicholls of the National Citizens' Coalition, the right-wing lobby group that challenged the limits.
"This is a devastating ruling. It's bad for democracy, it's bad for freedom, it's bad for Canada."
The judgment marked the end of a four-year court battle -- just as Prime Minister Paul Martin is poised to call an election for June 28.
The ruling means any private group that wants to run ads supporting or opposing specific parties and candidates will face ceilings on how much it can spend.
Aaron Freeman of Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based group that backs campaign reform, hailed the decision as a victory for ordinary voters.
"In our view, this is a freedom-of-speech issue for wealthy people," said Freeman. "There's a responsibility the government has to limit the influence of wealth in free and fair elections."
Nicholls vowed to make the judgment a campaign issue.
He expressed hope Conservative Leader Stephen Harper -- who personally launched the court challenge when he headed the citizens' coalition -- will repeal the spending limits if he takes power.
Harper indicated he would take action against "any limits that would unduly restrict" lobby groups from putting out a campaign message.
"We will ensure that Canadians have the ability to express their views outside political parties," he said.
The governing Liberals seemed ready for a fight.
"If they want to make this an election issue that's fine," said Senator David Smith, a veteran Grit strategist.
"I believe this is good legislation."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
WELCOME TO THE GULAG WE CALL ONTARIO
Health premiums to pay for Ontario's new spending in health, education
James Mccarten
Canadian Press
May 18, 2004
Sorbara on hard choices to make
TORONTO (CP) - Millions more Canadians will soon pay a "premium" for health care after Ontario followed the lead of Alberta and British Columbia in compelling taxpayers to bear the increasing burden of everything from heart surgeries and hip replacements to home care and health centres.
Critics were left fuming by the Ontario Health Premium, an annual levy of between $300 and $900 that will generate $9 billion for health over the next four years - a budget measure that even Finance Minister Greg Sorbara himself conceded was a new tax on Ontario families.
"We had a choice to make," said Sorbara, whose all-important first budget delivered Tuesday broke Premier Dalton McGuinty's pivotal campaign promise to freeze taxes as well as balance the books this year.
"Our choice was to impose a health-care levy . . .that would give us the revenues to invest in the transformation that would be needed in health, and allow us over the course of four years to balance the budget."
Health-care premiums have been in effect in Alberta and B.C. for decades and are comparable to Ontario's, which will be deducted from paycheques starting July 1. Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan had flirted with the idea as well. In the end, Saskatchewan decided it wasn't a fair way to generate revenue, while P.E.I. backed off after negative public reaction.
The cost of cigarettes, alcohol and driver's licence renewals will also go up in Ontario, as the seven-month-old government seeks to inject billions into health and public education.
Sorbara was frank about the decision to abandon the tax freeze promise, which he said would have prevented the government from implementing real improvements in Ontario hospitals and classrooms.
"It's the reality of the work that we do," he said.
"I think our credibility, as we move towards enhancing the quality of public services, will only increase. I'm aware of the commitment; we're not able to keep the commitment."
Smokers will pay $2.50 more per carton of cigarettes starting Wednesday, while the cost of a bottle of wine will climb 15 cents and a case of beer 45 cents June 21. Together, both measures will generate $135 million for provincial coffers this year.
But it was the health premium scheme, which will require amendments to Ontario's taxpayer protection law, that raised the hackles of political critics.
"They are going to see a fight in the Ontario legislature like they haven't seen in a generation," thundered a furious John Baird, who was ejected from the legislative chamber after calling Sorbara a liar.
"It's like a declaration of war on the middle class, who are going to bear the brunt of all these new taxes and user fees."
The premium plan is worth $1.63 billion in the first year, climbing to $2.6 billion by 2008, and dedicated to paying for $4.8 billion in additional health-care spending over the next four years.
The balance of the premium will be applied against the province's base health care budget.
"I think this is the most regressive tax in Ontario history," said New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton. "This is a tax which will hit every modest and middle-income family. The government is literally picking the pockets of the wrong people."
The budget also forecasts a $2.2-billion deficit this year and lays out a plan to eliminate it by 2008 - a far cry from McGuinty's controversial pledge during last fall's election campaign to balance the budget in the government's first year.
Running multi-year deficits and raising revenue are "choices that are inconsistent with our election commitments; we openly acknowledge that," Sorbara said in his speech.
"However, it would simply not be possible to deliver a balanced budget this year without destabilizing vital public services and perhaps even the economy itself. Such an approach would be irresponsible, and we reject it."
Conservative Leader Ernie Eves, who suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of the Liberals in October, could barely contain his contempt.
"Welcome to the new reality," the former premier sneered. "I guess the plan for change was all about changing the plan."
The cost of renewing a driver's licence in Ontario will also increase to $75 from $50, while reinstating a suspended licence will cost $150, up from $100. A host of small-claims court costs and fees will also be higher.
A $3.9-billion windfall resulting from the government's decision to lift the Conservative cap on hydro rates will be applied directly against the $6.1-billion deficit in the current fiscal year. From there, it falls to $2.1 billion in 2005-06 and $1.5 billion the following year before disappearing in 2008.
Hampton dismissed the plan as creative accounting and accused the government of using "the worst kind of Nortel tactics, the worst kind of Enron tactics" to shrink the deficit.
Baird said he would call an emergency meeting of the government's public accounts committee to probe what he called a "fraudulent" budget.
"It's a mug's game," he said of the deficit plan. "They got caught."
Chickenpox, meningitis and pneumonia vaccinations will also be available to Ontario children at a cost to taxpayers of $156 million over three years - roughly what the government will save by ending public health plan coverage for routine eye exams, chiropractic services and physiotherapy services offered outside hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Education reaped a somewhat smaller windfall in Tuesday's budget, including a four-year plan to spend $2.1 billion on shrinking class sizes from kindergarten to Grade 3, hiring 1,000 more teachers, improving numeracy and literacy rates and providing stable funding to school boards.
Welfare and disability benefits will also increase by $106 million a year - the first increase in 11 years, Sorbara said.
The government will have to amend the Taxpayer Protection Act to introduce the health premium without having to hold a referendum.
A referendum would have cost $40 million, money that would be better spent on health care and education, Sorbara said.
The government will also replace the Balanced Budget Act, but not before members of cabinet cough up about $9,000 of their cabinet salaries - nearly $17,000 in McGuinty's case - as the law requires in the event of a budget deficit, Sorbara said.
The government promised to reduce waiting times for major services including cancer and cardiac care and joint-replacement procedures, and unveiled plans to establish nine new MRI and CAT scan locations across the province.
Some $600 million will go towards establishing 150 "family health teams" comprised of doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and other health care providers available to patients around the clock - a concept long considered the cornerstone of primary care reform.
The budget also includes measures to expand home care, create more long-term care beds, expand community mental health services and boost the bottom line for hospitals by $1.6 billion a year over four years.
The government's share of public-health funding will increase from 50 per cent to 75 per cent by 2007, a response to recommendations made in a pair of key reports on last year's deadly SARS outbreak in Toronto.
© The Canadian Press 2004
The native issue keeps getting more interesting
George claims Bend 'throne'
The native protester declares himself king of Grand Bend and nearby areas.
RANDY RICHMOND, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-18 01:54:14
Now he's King George. Native protester Maynard T. George has declared himself king of Grand Bend, Pinery Provincial Park and nearby areas, and is calling on other natives to join his independent government.
"We want to be free of Canada," George said yesterday.
"In the tradition of ancient biblical kings: Maynard Travis George was annointed [sic] and prayed over by elders of his faith," a release from the "1st People Government of Turtle Island" said yesterday.
George will seek independence from Canada and even other First Nations governments, "in order to unite all First Nations under an independant [sic] Government of his People."
On what he called the official notice of occupancy, George advised residents in the area to "govern themselves accordingly and contact their members of Parliament for advice."
The notice was being distributed in the area yesterday, George said.
"The notice of occupancy says it all. We are in possession of the land."
But he stressed the occupancy by the new government will be peaceful.
Residents will not face blockades, George said.
"Our whole ambition is to show the world we are a just people. Look what happened last time, in Ipperwash."
Native protester Dudley George was fatally shot in September 1995 at Ipperwash Provincial Park, following a standoff between the OPP and protesters occupying the area.
Dudley George's death is the subject of a provincial inquiry set to begin in July.
Maynard T. George is not a direct relation.
He has long claimed lands in the Grand Bend area on behalf of his 83-year-old mother, Pearl, and a family friend, Ralph White.
George claims both people were forced off the land in 1942.
The two were also the elders who "anointed" him king, he said.
Neither one could be reached for comment yesterday.
Asked why he did not take on the more traditional First Nations title of chief, George answered:
"We are Christians, for one thing."
George first served notice to the province March 9 he intended to claim Grand Bend and nearby Pinery Provincial Park unless the government contacted him within 30 days.
That deadline passed without any action being taken.
Area native leaders, in the midst of negotiations over Ipperwash land claims, and government officials have said George's claim is unfounded.
"I don't know what to say. He seems to be a man on a mission, but I don't know what the mission is," Lambton Shores Mayor Cam Ivey said yesterday.
Ivey said he hadn't heard of any trouble over the latest claim in Grand Bend or Pinery Provincial Park.
A spokesperson for the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat said she had not received the latest missive from George.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
It's something to see when the state actually lets go of something
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?
Former central library for sale
JOE BELANGER, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-18 01:54:15
London's former central library is for sale. City council last night approved a board of control recommendation to put the historic building on the market.
What's not clear is if a buyer could eventually demolish the former library, which has a heritage designation, or would have to incorporate the structure in any redevelopment of the Queens Avenue site.
But there is no such ambiguity about the fate of two historic buildings on a Ridout Street block. Councillors voted 15-4 to allow a group of businesspeople to demolish the buildings and build a temporary parking lot. (See the story on Page B1).
The city's proposed sale of the former central library has raised fears the building could be demolished, with the city making it easier to do so by removing the building's heritage designation.
Coun. Susan Eagle said the public outcry about removing the designation, including several letters to council on last night's agenda, indicates strong opposition.
"The public has made it clear there are certain heritage buildings they value in this city and this is one of them," Eagle said.
Coun. Judy Bryant described the old library as "unique" and "elegant."
"It's an extraordinary piece of architecture in our city," Bryant said.
Selling the old library at 305 Queens Ave. is one of many options the city is considering to ease its financial squeeze.
In March, the city asked for expressions of interest from the public and private sectors for use of the building. No acceptable responses were received, sparking the possible sale.
Most of the facade of the former central library and parts of its foyer have been designated as being of heritage importance.
The property has been assessed at about $6.6 million.
Coun. Joni Baechler, a strong advocate for protecting heritage properties, succeeded in having any reference to the building's heritage designation taken out of the board of control resolution.
The original resolution included the line, "council will consider offers including options on how to deal with the heritage designation."
"I think (removing this clause) would give the community some comfort to know we're not removing the designation," Baechler said.
At a board of control meeting last week, Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell suggested the designation by council two years ago could be an obstacle to getting full value for the old library because it would limit redevelopment options.
Though the board didn't recommend immediate removal of the designation, it did invite offers based on that premise.
The move caused a furor in the community, especially among heritage buffs.
George Goodlet, who heads council's advisory committee on heritage, said last night he was pleased with council's decision.
But Goodlet said the battle isn't over.
"It could still happen," he said.
Once the property is sold, the new owner could ask council to remove the heritage tag. If council declined, the owner could appeal to the Ontario Conservation Review Board to lift the designation.
Controller Bud Polhill tried unsuccessfully to defend the offending clause, then conceded it wasn't necessary.
"I don't care whether it (the clause) stays on or not," Polhill said.
"(Removing it does) not guarantee the designation stays forever. We'll likely have to vote on it again when a proposal comes in."
The 64-year-old building, designed in a style similar to a classical Greek structure, has pilasters or column-like constructions along with marble on the front exterior.
City staff have indicated a developer likely could work around the designation.
The former library closed in August 2002 when its operations were moved to Galleria London.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?' target='_blank'>
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?' target='_blank'>
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?' target='_blank'>
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?' target='_blank'>
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?' target='_blank'>
Wonder how much their friends are going to get it for?' target='_blank'>
Here, let us manage your money for you. We're good at it, honest!
... and don't forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!
Money management stressed
CHIP MARTIN, Free Press Politics Reporter 2004-05-18 01:54:15
The Ontario government is "$8 billion behind the 8-ball," says one of London's cabinet ministers who promises today's budget will show the Liberals are better money managers than the Tories. A local political pundit suggests the Liberals may pull off a decent showing, having sufficiently lowered public expectations since their election by stressing the deficit challenge.
Labour Minister Chris Bentley says his government will use money more effectively than its predecessors and improve the delivery of services despite an inherited deficit of $5.6 billion and nearly another $3 billion in electricity, hospital and Children's Aid Society debt.
He wouldn't comment on specifics but says Premier Dalton McGuinty has promised to improve health care and education, to protect the environment and help cities with their infrastructure.
McGuinty has ruled out across-the-board personal income tax hikes or raising the provincial sales tax, but a variety of sources suggest a wide range of user fees will be increased.
Taxes will also rise on cigarettes and tobacco. health-care premiums are expected to be reinstated as a means of boosting funding for health care and more money will be reallocated to education.
Bentley says the most important message in the budget is a hidden one.
"It's the money management, it's the service improvements by getting more for our dollars," he said. "That's been going on at the ministries for the past four months as we have been planning in anticipation of the budget."
In health, which consumes $28 billion of the entire provincial budget of more than $71 billion, Bentley says the prudent course is to place emphasis on preventive measures rather than costly acute-care ones.
He's been trying to take similar steps in his Labour Ministry.
He says any assessment of his government's first budget must be considered in the context of the unexpected deficit the Liberals faced upon their election and that it was the Tories who amassed the deficit while claiming the budget was balanced.
Paul Nesbitt-Larking, a political scientist at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario, says the McGuinty government has focused on lowering public expectations.
He says it was unrealistic to think the Liberals could live up to all their promises made before the election and now are looking to cut about $2 billion in spending.
The Liberal focus on the deficit "was really a way of diminishing expectations and a way of preparing people for bad news . . . then when the actual budget comes, people will say that wasn't so bad."
Nesbitt-Larking predicts if the Liberals communicate well, they will minimize their problems with taxpayers.
"My expectation is they are going to make a good go of it," he says. "They have to get it right (because they've just received) a huge black eye from the people of Hamilton East. That wasn't just a loss, that was an annihilation," he said of the byelection triumph of the NDP in a riding held by the late Dominic Agostino, a Liberal.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
... and don\'t forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!' target='_blank'>
... and don\'t forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!' target='_blank'>
... and don\'t forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!' target='_blank'>
... and don\'t forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!' target='_blank'>
... and don\'t forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!' target='_blank'>
... and don\'t forget about that deficit the Conservatives left us!' target='_blank'>
"The city has no option but . . . to conduct business behind closed doors."
London to appeal court ruling
MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-18 01:54:14
The city's legal bills of $112,000 in a Richmond Street zoning wrangle will climb after council members voted last night to appeal a Superior Court ruling. After yet another marathon closed meeting, council voted 11-8 in favour of pursuing what could be a costly court appeal of a decision to let a development lawyer remain on a controversial zoning case.
The city also will approach the Association of Municipalities of Ontario for assistance from its defence fund to finance the appeal.
With the exception of Controller Bud Polhill and Coun. Roger Caranci, council members were handed affidavits to be sworn in the event they are subpoenaed. Coun. Fred Tranquilli, who wasn't at the meeting in question, did not receive an affidavit.
Lawyer Alan Patton obtained sworn statements from Polhill and Caranci stating council voted privately on a bylaw that effectively freezes development along a stretch of Richmond Street, in apparent contravention of the provincial Municipal Act.
The city's legal bid to have Patton removed from the zoning case was turned down last week by Superior Court Justice John Kennedy, a ruling that will now be appealed to divisional court.
Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell argued the city has no option but to appeal to protect the city's ability to conduct business behind closed doors when deemed necessary.
"This is a difficult issue for council, but we have to protect the city's right to go in camera when it's in the best interests of its citizens," said Gosnell, who warned that to do otherwise will make conducting city business "a whole lot more expensive."
The city has estimated the case has racked up about $112,000 in legal bills to date, including those for city lawyers Jim Caskey and George Rust-D'Eye.
Patton, the lawyer the city is trying to have removed from the case, has estimated his legal fees to be $40,000, a sum he hopes to have awarded by the courts as costs.
The decision to appeal Kennedy's ruling was criticized by some as creating undue costs for the city.
"In my view it's not worth appealing," said Coun. Rob Alder.
But Coun. David Winninger said an appeal is necessary to protect the city's right to deal with sensitive items, adding the judge's decision will have "a profound impact on how all municipalities conduct their business."
Caranci and Polhill, who declined to declare a conflict of interest on the matter last night, maintain they have done nothing wrong.
Tempers flared several times when the pair took exception to suggestions they have joined in an action against the city.
"I'm sick and tried of hearing these types of allegations," Caranci said. The pair's lawyer, Chris Williams of Toronto, advised them they have no conflict on the issue and were permitted to vote on the appeal last night.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell rejected any suggestion council could be influenced by campaign contributions
Ridout demolition plan OK'd
MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-18 01:54:14
Two downtown properties near the John Labatt Centre will fall victim to the wrecking ball, city council decided last night in a 15-4 vote. The vote clears the way for members of a downtown development group to demolish the Ridout Tavern and a building at 73 King St. to make way for unspecified future development with temporary plans for a parking lot there.
The vote for demolition came after a motion by Coun. David Winninger to defer the vote pending further exploration of the properties' heritage value was defeated in a 14-5 vote.
Coun. Bill Armstrong, who voted in favour of the deferral, switched his vote to support the demolition.
"There's not much heritage left downtown," Winninger said, adding this latest demolition permit is reminiscent of the loss of the historic Talbot Block during the late 1980s.
But Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen urged council to approve demolition of what he called "quite clearly a dump.
"These properties are screaming to be redeveloped and reborn and I say bravo to the consortium for stepping forward."
The vote will permit a group of eight businesspersons, headed by Brayl Copp, to eventually build a residential- commercial redevelopment on the site. The consortium bought the two properties for $2.25 million.
Winninger also praised the research of University of Western Ontario Prof. Sam Trosow, who noted in a letter on last night's council agenda that members of the development consortium gave more than $18,000 in corporate and individual donations to city council members in last year's municipal election campaign.
But several council members took exception to Trosow's observation, suggesting it was impugning councillors' integrity.
Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell rejected any suggestion council could be influenced by campaign contributions, dismissing it as a "spurious argument -- I would hope no member of council would feel beholden for any amount of money," he said.
Controller Bud Polhill, who referred to the properties as an "eyesore," said he doesn't make decisions based on campaign contributions.
Trosow said after the vote he was surprised at the "amount of hostility" with which some councillors reacted to his campaign contribution observations.
"I thought it was an extreme overreaction to suggest this was some sort of vicious personal attack because it wasn't intended that way whatsoever," Trosow said.
Coun. Joni Baechler said council has seen six heritage-designated properties and 42 on the inventory of heritage properties lost during recent years and she called on the development consortium to integrate the original streetscape into any redevelopment plans.
Controller Gord Hume said council should welcome the fact local developers are willing to invest millions to redevelop the downtown block in question. He noted the city had an opportunity to purchase the two properties, but opted to pass.
"This can create millions in new tax assessment and I feel there's an energy and excitement being created bringing more people to the downtown core," Hume said.
HOW THEY VOTED
In favour of demolition:
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco, Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell, controllers Bud Polhill, Gord Hume and Russ Monteith and councillors Bernie MacDonald, Sandy White, Ab Chahbar, Cheryl Miller, Harold Usher, Paul Van Meerbergen, Rob Alder, Fred Tranquilli, Roger Caranci and Bill Armstrong.
Opposing demolition:
Councillors David Winninger, Judy Bryant, Joni Baechler and Susan Eagle.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
"What! Do you think we're dishonest!?!"
London council rejects bid to alter conduct policy
JOE BELANGER, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-18 01:54:14
A proposal to change the city's code of conduct to discourage politicians and staff from doing business with city hall was a non-starter last night. Coun. Susan Eagle failed to get the support of the majority of councillors needed to debate her motion.
Eagle later said she will re-introduce the motion next week.
"I am really shocked that those councillors who previously said they support the principle wouldn't support this," Eagle said.
Had council voted in favour of hearing Eagle's motion, a two-thirds majority would be required to approve it.
That's because a similar motion was defeated by council two weeks ago in a 10-9 vote.
Had that bylaw change passed as proposed by Eagle, it would have prevented politicians and staff who are principals, partners or holders of more than a 10-per-cent stake in a firm from doing business with city hall.
Instead, council passed a bylaw only requiring politicians or staff to disclose their interest.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Next bylaw: Only firms in which city hall politicians and staff are principals, partners or holders of more than a 10-per-cent stake may do business with city hall.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Parking Problems in London Complicated by Senseless Bylaws
Businesses back demolition
NORMAN DE BONO, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-17 02:37:30
"It is time to move on, they should tear it down and get ready to go," said Peter Hanford, president of nearby Hanford Tire and Service. The consortium bought the downtown site -- it includes the old tavern and another building the group also wants to raze -- for $2.25 million.
The group of eight business people plan to eventually build a residential-commercial development on the site. But Brayl Copp, who heads the consortium, says the group will listen to offers for the prime site and this week will meet with a group interested in developing the parcel for a performing arts centre.
Seven area businesses have written letters of support to Copp, calling the vacant Ridout a black mark on the core, a fire hazard and a place where vagrants gather.
"It's just an eyesore," said John Clifford, co-owner of Haygarth Printing. "Since the building shut down there has been graffiti everywhere. It should just come down. It's time for it to go. There is nothing special about it."
Besides Hanford and Haygarth, businesses backing the demolition of the two buildings include Provincial Glass and Mirror Ltd., Brysonwood Homes, the Downtown Car Wash, Sterling Marking Products and Andrew Investments.
"I am extremely pleased those in the neighbourhood support the demolition. I think they all would be glad to get it out of there," said Copp, who requested the letters after visiting the businesses.
"We think it's a great site, it has a terrific upside," said Copp, who yesterday visited the building and ejected vagrants who had kicked in the door and stayed overnight.
The group's demolition application, approved last week by city hall's planning committee, goes to council tonight. But city staff does not support re-zoning for a temporary parking lot. The final decision rests with council.
In 1995 the city adopted a policy to prevent demolition of downtown buildings for temporary parking lots, with few exceptions -- where a building permit has been issued for redevelopment, where there's need for more parking or when the building is unsafe.
Handford said the Ridout is unsafe, adding it makes little sense for a city that has spent more than $100 million over the last 10 years on downtown renewal to maintain a building exemplifying urban blight.
"We have built a major showpiece downtown that attracts top performers and to get to it people have to walk by that? It doesn't make sense."
With London holding the 2005 Memorial Cup tournament at the John Labatt Centre, it can't afford to have a national media spotlight trained on a site with a derelict tavern next door, Handford added.
Downtown businesses are rallying around Ridout Downtown Corp.'s plan to tear down the former Ridout Tavern.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
More closed door meetings at hand?
Conduct code changes sought
APRIL KEMICK, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-17 02:37:30
A London city councillor wants to see the city's code of conduct changed to discourage politicians and staff from doing business with city hall. Ward 7 Coun. Susan Eagle, who plans to make her motion at tonight's council meeting, with the backing of Coun. Joni Baechler, said the move would incorporate guidelines into the code of conduct to discourage such business behaviour.
Eagle's double-barreled resolution calls for council to affirm the principle that the public interest is best served when council members and staff "do not do business with the city," and that such a principle be incorporated into the city's code of conduct.
The move comes after an attempt to revise the city's purchasing bylaw to include such provisions failed in a 10-9 vote by council.
Had the bylaw change passed, it would have prevented politicians and staff who are principals, partners or holders of more than a 10-per-cent stake in a firm from doing business with city hall.
"What we're saying with this code of conduct is regardless of what happens with the purchasing bylaw, regardless of what constraints are in place for people getting contracts with the city . . . we want to establish a principle that councillors and staff do not do business with the city," said Eagle.
Her motion would require a two-thirds majority to pass.
Eagle said it's unclear exactly how the guidelines would be enforced, but said public awareness of such a change to the code could help.
"The issue of enforcibility is always there, but that's where I believe public expectations come into play."
If approved tonight, the motion would go to staff to include in the code of conduct.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Liberal Tax Grabbing - More fees, same crappy service
Budget expected to hurt
NORM DEBONO, Free Press Reporter; and news services 2004-05-17 02:37:30
Ontario's new Liberal government brings down its first budget tomorrow, expected to be awash in cash for health and education -- but with the grand-daddy of all user fees. Personal premiums for health insurance are expected in the budget, 15 years after an earlier Liberal government scrapped the OHIP payments.
Sources say the budget will include a plan for multi-year budget deficits and a blueprint for climbing back into the black before the next election.
Higher user fees, for items such as personalized drivers licences, and clawed-back tax exemptions and credits are also widely expected.
While the idea of charging taxpayers directly for health coverage has riled some groups, the head of London's largest hospital called it a "gutsy" move that's badly needed to help pay the bills.
"We applaud them for this bold step," Tony Dagnone, president of the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), said yesterday.
"Some will not support it but, frankly, people can't have it both ways. The public has asked for more. They want the best health coverage. We need to support it."
LHSC alone needs a budget hike of $38 million, or eight per cent more, to meet rising costs for everything from salaries to medical supplies, energy and insurance, he said.
Provincewide, hospitals want a 7.9-per-cent increase, about $1 billion more, said Dagnone, who heads the Ontario Hospital Association.
Reports have suggested Finance Minister Gregory Sorbara will bring back OHIP charges, the levels based on a scale with low-income earners paying little or nothing.
The Liberals scrapped OHIP fees in 1989, replacing them with a payroll tax on business.
Despite being nearly knocked off the rails by a deficit left by the former Conservative government last year, Liberals say Ontarians will get the message loud and clear that "this is a health-care first budget," as one put it.
The last six months have been a struggle for Premier Dalton McGuinty's government, trying to figure out how to deliver more than $4 billion in promises while trapped by an inherited shortfall pegged at more than $5.6 billion.
OHIP premiums are likely just part of the money grab in the budget, said former Tory MPP Bob Wood of London. He said he wouldn't be surprised to see fees raised for services, some land sold off and taxes hiked on booze and cigarettes.
"McGuinty said he will not raise taxes but I think there will be massive increases."
HEALTH, EDUCATION
Among health and education measures expected in budget:
- Shorter wait times for cardiac and cancer care, joint replacements, MRI/CT scans.
- At least 150 family health teams of doctors, nurses, nurse-practitioners and pharmacists.
- 1,600 more hospital beds and plan to hire 8,000 more nurses, more money for hospitals.
- 20-pupil cap on classes from JK to Grade 3, over four years.
- "Turnaround teams"of experts for struggling schools.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Garbage Woes
Bradley wants trash targeted
London is being asked by Sarnia's mayor to lead the fight against Toronto's garbage.
CARLY WEEKS, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-17 02:37:30
Sarnia's mayor is calling on London Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco to step up pressure on Toronto to solve the mega-city's garbage problem. As chairperson of the Southwestern Ontario Trash Coalition, DeCicco should lead the fight to stop Toronto trash shipments through the area to a Michigan landfill, he said.
"The suicide ballet of trucks going down the highway every day is unacceptable," he said.
Toronto sends 125 transport trucks loaded with trash down Highway 401 to Michigan each day. In the last month, two have been involved in serious crashes on the 401 that forced the partial closing of Canada's busiest highway.
In January, the Southwestern Ontario group decided to arrange a meeting with the premier and Toronto's mayor, Bradley said.
DeCicco said she has written several letters to Toronto Mayor David Miller but has received no reply.
Bradley and DeCicco agree the coalition may have to take other action, such as visiting Queen's Park, to get its message heard. Other group members include the mayors of Woodstock, Ingersoll and Kitchener-Waterloo.
Instead of focusing on Toronto city council, DeCicco said it would be more effective for the coalition to target the provincial government.
"Focusing on the issue from a provincial perspective is just as important as writing Toronto another letter," she said.
Toronto has come under harsh criticism since it started sending 4,200 tonnes of trash daily to the Michigan landfill, rather than find ways to dispose of the waste at home.
What to do with the mega-city's trash and shortage of landfill space has been a hot political issue for more than a decade, one that has threatened Southwestern Ontario with trash exports from Toronto since the late 1980s.
In the U.S., some politicians have been grumbling about the growing amount of trash from Toronto and other places sent to landfills in that state.
Coalition members worry if the U.S. border is ever closed to Toronto trash, it could end up being shipped to Southwestern landfills instead.
"It would have a very significant impact if garbage from Toronto had to be in London," DeCicco said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
More dirty politics in London? Just imagine that!
Election money raises concern
MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-17 02:37:33
A crucial demolition vote on a downtown London block heads to city council tonight, with a UWO critic red-flagging the issue over election donations made to city politicians. Members of a development group seeking to demolish the Ridout Tavern and a nearby building gave more than $18,000 in corporate and individual donations to city council members in last year's municipal election campaign, figures show.
That raises "disturbing issues" that should be dealt with before the vote on a demolition permit recommended for the site near the showpiece John Labatt Centre, says lawyer Sam Trosow, a municipal expert and University of Western Ontario teacher.
A spokesperson for the consortium, Ridout Downtown Corp., and politicians, including Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell, rejected the suggestion of any impropriety on the issue.
"I'm not for sale and I'm tired of a professor or others saying the perception makes it look like we're for sale," said Gosnell. "I think it's a cynical way to look at how individuals vote and it certainly doesn't reflect how I vote."
Developers routinely and legally give to many civic election campaigns, but Trosow questions the appearances.
"When you have developers with so many overlapping interests, it . . . does create the impression that campaign contributions play an important role in the London land-use development permit application process," he said.
The development group, which paid more than $2 million to acquire the downtown site, wants to knock down the vacant Ridout Tavern and the building at 73 King St. to make way for unspecified future development, with temporary plans for a parking lot there.
A letter outlining Trosow's concerns is included on tonight's city council agenda.
Consortium spokesperson Brayl Copp rejected suggestions campaign donations are meant to influence politicians.
"I support a lot of causes and I'm sure I supported several members of council who I thought were doing a good job, but I couldn't say who because it was some time ago.
"Have I ever tried to influence politicians?
"Absolutely not," Copp said.
Gosnell said he's yet to decide how he'll vote on the issue. He received about $3,000 in corporate and individual campaign contributions from various members of the group.
"I don't know who donated and I don't even care," he said. "I had a finance guy who collects the dough and a campaign manager and I spent a fraction of what I could have raised."
Trosow said there should be some pre-election disclosure of campaign donations, as his native California requires.
Ontario law requires such disclosures after an election.
"You pick up any (city hall) planning committee report at random and you start seeing the same characters appearing before them as named in their campaign statements and it does . . . create the impression a lot of money is falling into city hall from developers," he said.
Since city hall has come under fire over a record number of closed council meetings lately, Trosow -- insisting he's not out to impugn anyone's integrity -- said it should go the extra mile to ensure transparency.
"I have to think there's going to be an increased crisis of confidence in the municipal government if we don't do something like that," he said.
Coun. Joni Baechler, a strong supporter of preserving London's architectural heritage, said she hopes the development group will try to integrate the original streetscape into any redevelopment plans.
Baechler, who opposes the demolitions, said she refuses on principle to accept donations from developers.
Still, she accepted a $350 donation from Mitch Baran, a member of the consortium, but said she was unaware of his connection.
WHO GOT WHAT
Campaign donations council members received from corporate or individual members of a consortium seeking to demolish two downtown sites:
- Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell: $3,050
- Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco: $2,850
- Controller Bud Polhill: $1,750
- Coun. Fred Tranquilli: $1,750
- Coun. Cheryl Miller: $1,600
- Controller Russ Monteith: $1,550
- Controller Gord Hume: $1,500
- Coun. Bernie MacDonald: $1,150
- Coun. Roger Caranci: $1,000
- Coun. Ab Chahbar: $500
- Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen: $500
- Coun. Rob Alder: $350
- Coun. Joni Baechler: $350
WHAT OTHERS SAID
- Coun. Ab Chahbar, who received $500 from part of the consortium: "I think it's really a shame for a member of the community to say we can be bought, whether it's $500 or $7,000. That's not how I operate. But having just looked at the properties I'd have to have someone convince me why they shouldn't be demolished."
- Coun. Fred Tranquilli, who received $1,750 from some consortium members: "I don't feel at all influenced by contributions and I couldn't even tell you who gave to my campaign. (On the demolition question), I haven't decided."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Saturday, May 15, 2004
What the socialists do when the 'minorities' get uppity in a multicultural society
Toronto Star: "Indians Destroying Medicare"
A Saskatchewan native band, the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, has recruited European investors to open a private, for-profit MRI clinic on their land. And the Toronto Star, not known for its opposition to aboriginal self-government, is demanding that Ottawa step in and put dem Injuns in their place:
The Saskatchewan government objects because it sees this scheme for what it is: An attempt to breach the Canada Health Act by introducing two-tier medicine in the province.
But the province fears it is powerless to stop it. First Nations, such as the Muskeg Lake Cree, are exempt from provincial rules. Aboriginal-run medical facilities do not have to live by the health act, which forbids queue-jumping for those who can afford to pay for medical service.
So, it's over to Ottawa. Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew and the rest of the federal cabinet should put a stop to this immediately.
The Saskatchewan proposal is viewed as a test case for bands across the country. Already, in Alberta, the Siksika First Nation is prepared to start its own health-care clinic that may also offer for-profit services.
In recent years, Ottawa has moved toward granting native bands the right to self-government, including control of their health-care systems.
But surely the intent was to give bands the ability to tailor programs for their members, not to undermine the health system for others.
Damian Penny's comments
"Y-y-you m-mean 'self-government' means they can do things we don't like? No one told us that!"
When the courts have exempted aboriginals from certain hunting and fishing regulations, as we've seen in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and British Columbia, I don't remember the Toronto Star getting too upset about it. I must say, I'm shocked by how shallow their enthusiasm for aboriginal self-government has turned out to be.
I gotta admit, I kind of hope we see a major court battle over this, complete with native activists accusing the Star's editorial board of "patriarchy" and "racism". I wonder if Joseph Atkinson foresaw anything like this?
The Vice Squad Files
Reason.com reports on the meaning of anti-smoking activists claims to success in their pursuit of government coercion of citizens.
Survey data released today indicate that the share of New Yorkers who smoke fell from 21.6 percent in 2002 to 19.3 percent in 2003. The drop followed a dramatic increase in the combination of city, state, and federal cigarette taxes, which more than doubled, from $1.53 to $3.39 a pack, in 2002.
Given the increasingly hostile environment created by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's efforts to make New York smoke-free, it's possible that some of this decline reflects smokers' greater reluctance to admit that they're still puffing away. But it looks like about one out of 10 smokers not only decided that $7.50 or $8 a pack was too much to pay but did not want to take the trouble of buying cigarettes online, outside the city, or from smugglers. (The New York Times reports that bootlegged cigarettes can be purchased on street corners for about $5 a pack, and the fact that taxed cigarette sales have fallen by 40 percent, or nearly four times the measured decline in smokers, suggests that many people are taking advantage of such alternatives.) In other words, about 100,000 New Yorkers who were undeterred by the prospect of lung cancer, heart disease, or emphysema decided to give up smoking because the habit had become too expensive or inconvenient.
"It is not at all surprising," an anti-smoking activist told the Times. "This is what we said all along would happen if you sharply raised the cost of smoking." But they've also said all along that government intervention is justified because nicotine addiction prevents people from freely choosing whether to smoke. Whatever you think of using financial penalties to encourage healthier habits, the fact that smokers respond to them demonstrates the error of equating addiction with slavery. The problem is not that smokers cannot choose; it's that other people don't like their choices.
And Radley Balko (TheAgitator.com) adds some beautiful commentary.
I'd also point out that the survey's margin of error is plus or minus 1%, meaning the only reliable decrease in smokers stands at about 0.3%
Of course, whether bans and excise taxes work isn't really the point. The point is that they're regressive, they trigger crime and black markets, they're an affront to property rights, and they're efforts by government agents to restrict and control our behavior.
If Bloomberg had NYC cops put one bullet into a five chamber pistol, aim it at someone about to light up, and pull the trigger if they succeeded in lighting up, that would probably cut down on smoking, too.
Feeling guilty? Take a DSM IV
IN THE VICTIM'S OWN WORDS
Special to The Free Press 2004-05-15 03:16:01
Kim Gingerich pleaded with the review board not to give more freedom to Andrew Bannister. Below are excerpts from her statement: "I fear the person who tried to cut off my head and kill me at work with a Lord of The Rings sword only 15 months ago could be given the freedom to walk the streets again. How many of you have that fear?
"I still have the scars to remind me every day with the flashbacks of (Bannister) running at me with the sword pointed straight at me . . .
"Andrew, you destroyed everything I had, my dreams, my hopes, my future. There have been many times I wish I would have died, that it would have been easier because I would not have to be dealing with this injustice . . .
"Now I am struggling to rebuild everything I lost and work on letting go and saying goodbye to the person I was. How many of you have to grieve over yourself?
"I feel I have been given a life sentence. A life sentence of fear."
"If you feel Andrew is healing so well, then Andrew now has the ability to comprehend what he had done to me . . . let him feel some punishment for his actions."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
What if Jack Nicholson didn't die at the end at the end of "The Shining"
Victim makes tearful plea
Kim Gingerich rejects giving the man who impaled her on a sword more freedom.
JONATHAN SHER, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-15 03:16:01
ST. THOMAS -- Kim Gingerich endured tears and a lawyer's objections yesterday, pleading with a review board to reject recommendations that would give more freedom to a man who 15 months ago impaled her on a sword. Fighting sobs and seated two metres from the man who attacked her, Gingerich trembled as she spoke.
"I am sitting back hoping and praying that each of you will see the fear and terror in my face," she told the Ontario Review Board.
The board will decide which freedoms doctors may give in the coming year to Andrew Bannister, who last year was found not criminally responsible because of mental illness.
After the assault, doctors diagnosed Bannister as schizophrenic, his life ruled by obsessions, paranoia and an inner voice he believed to be that of Gingerich.
Bannister was placed in a medium-security ward at the psychiatric hospital in St. Thomas. The past year his freedoms have been curtailed: he's walked the grounds with staff and gone on hour-long outings, to nearby restaurants for example, with his parents.
But that appears likely to change. Legal representatives for the hospital, the Crown and Bannister recommended granting staff discretion to give him more freedom when they believe he can handle it.
The changes would enable staff to allow Bannister to walk the grounds without an attendant and leave the hospital for as long as 72 hours with his parents, although he wouldn't be allowed close to Gingerich's home in Zurich.
The hospital recommended that Bannister be allowed to attend school without direct supervision, likely the Adult Education Centre in St. Thomas, so he can earn a diploma.
That was opposed by the Crown, which warned he could have access to illicit drugs like those he used previously, drugs believed to have played a role in his psychosis.
In the past year, medications have stabilized Bannister but he is still a significant risk to others, his treating physician, Dr. Arun Prakash said.
He said Bannister may be ready in the next year to be transferred to an unlocked, minimum-security ward.
While Bannister has been mostly free of psychosis, two months ago he again heard Gingerich's voice in his head, Prakash said.
Yesterday, he heard her real voice despite the protests of his lawyer, David Stoesser, who twice asked the board to only permit a written submission because her speaking would cause "a great deal of stress" to Bannister.
Bannister showed no emotion at the hearing, rarely taking his gaze from the table before him and keeping his back to Gingerich supporters. The turnout was so large, the board moved to a larger room.
The board is expected to announce its decision in coming weeks.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Hoorah for the London Cartel
Downtown savvy
A group of prominent businesspeople is jointly buying property, waiting for the right time to develop it.
NORMAN DE BONO, Free Press Business Reporter 2004-05-14 02:57:55
Just call them London's Gang of Eight. Some of the city's most prominent businesspeople have formed a business consortium to invest in property downtown.
The Ridout Downtown Corp. is waiting for the right time to develop and aid downtown revitalization while turning a profit, they say.
Calling the group an "A-list" of London developers, George Kerhoulas, vice- president of commercial sales for Royal LePage, says it bodes well for the future of the downtown. "The investment savvy of any of them independently is significant, but together it is enormous."
Glen Sifton, a London developer and one of the members, says it means local people will help shape the core.
"I think we just see an opportunity to help the city and prepare it for a stronger economic revival. The people involved in this are involved in London and they want to make sure the core is strong."
The group bought the Ridout Tavern and a nearby building at 73 King St, which it wants to demolish.
The investors also own, with a few different players, the former London Mews (Smugglers' Alley) on Dundas Street, which has been a parking lot since it was torn down in 1999.
Group members include:
- Glen Sifton, of Sifton Properties Ltd.
- Brayl Copp, owner of Copp Building Materials Ltd.
- Andy Spriet, head of Spriet Associates.
- Vito Frijia, of Southside Construction.
- Joe Carapella, president of the Tricar Group.
- Mitch Baran, owner, Trudell Medical Group.
- Geno Francolini, businessperson and board chair of the Greater London International Airport Authority.
- One other member, a London businessperson, didn't want to be identified.
"The focus of this group is to look at downtown property and see what can be improved. We want to help the downtown," said Copp, who put the group together. "We will hold on to the space until it can be developed. My feeling is it could mature in 10 years."
The Ridout development could include a highrise apartment condominium complex with a commercial development on the ground floor in five to 10 years.
"It is not cast in stone, but that is most likely what we would like to see . . . If we can get people downtown, it's good for the city," Sifton said.
Far from altruism, the group believes the site will be a money-maker.
"There are eight of us and this will not make or break any of us, but we're all committed to the core," said Sifton.
The seeds for the deal were planted about three years ago. Ridout owner Chris Georgopoulos contacted Copp, a friend, and asked for financial help, said Spriet. Copp contacted group members who lent about $1.5 million, receiving an option on the mortgage in return.
When the business faltered, the group exercised the option -- total price paid was more than $2 million.
"The building there now is a definite detriment to the core . . . but it's a great spot," Spriet said.
But the demolition plan could be in for a rough ride. In 1995, the city implemented a policy to prevent demolition of downtown buildings for temporary parking lots. The consortium argues the vacant Ridout buildings are plagued by vandals and are a fire risk, but city staff said they'd oppose rezoning for a parking lot.
The group has never met together and there is no formal structure. So why share an investment when any one of the group could take on the project?
"It's nice to work with guys who are known winners," said Spriet.
"To take $2 million out of cash flow is a lot of dough, but if it's a few hundred thousand dollars, we can do that. We all know each other and we would just get a call asking if you're in. And we'd say OK. Brayl (Copp) is the one spearheading the whole thing."
The group doesn't want prime downtown real estate "falling into the wrong hands," he said -- for example, an out-of-town or inexperienced developer.
"We don't want to see some bandits come flying in here. It is an excellent property," said Spriet.
"We are interested in London, we want a vibrant downtown and some of the people involved are movers and shakers."
Kerhoulas likens the group to an "investment club" in which people pool resources and knowledge in making business deals. He's not surprised the group would want to have a direct hand in future downtown development.
"When the market is there, they will build something significant. It will be a quality project, well thought out," he said. "If you look at the experience there, these people have been through this game before many, many times."
There are four apartment and condominium developments going up in the core now -- Drewlo Holdings has two on Dundas Street, Old Oak Properties is building a highrise on Talbot Street and Tricar Properties on Pall Mall Street. It may take three years after they open to fill. Only after that can future development be decided upon, Sifton said.
"The city's at a critical point right now. There will be a lot of competition in the next few years for those units but once it sorts itself out, there is real potential it will get the ball rolling, the core will be more lively, more attractive. It could become the thing to do, to live downtown," said Sifton.
As for the Ridout Tavern and its nearby building, it has been recommended for heritage designation by a city advisory committee. Of particular concern is 73 King St. because it's part of the heritage streetscape and one of the area's few remaining examples of a late 19th-century industrial building. The demolition application, approved Monday by city hall's planning committee, goes to council next week.
"We just believe there is a direct link between the health of the city and a vibrant downtown," Sifton said.
"The city has done a lot, with the convention centre, John Labatt Centre and the market and we want to step in and try do our part."
THE PLAYERS
Brayl Copp: Owner of London's Copp Building Materials Ltd. and the Copp's Buildall stores, Copp is chairperson of the London Business Hall of Fame. He helped develop East Park Golf Gardens and spearheaded the purchase of the former Smuggler's Alley mall.
Glen Sifton: As president of Sifton Properties Ltd. since 1982, Sifton is London's largest landlord. Sifton, who has won numerous awards for his work in London, is responsible for building the city's first land-lease development at River Bend.
Andy Spriet: Head of the Spriet Family of Companies, which includes Spriet Associates Ltd., Spriet has contributed to renovating and revitalizing a number of downtown properties. A recent inductee into the London Business Hall of Fame, Spriet is also known for his donations to numerous downtown projects, including the new children's library.
Vito Frijia: Owner of Southside Group Ltd. and Southside Construction, one of the city's largest general contractors, Frijia is currently working on a 450,000-square-foot commercial development on the site formerly occupied by the Wally World water park. Frijia was involved in the construction of the central firehall, the library at King's College and major developments at Wonderland and Southdale roads.
Joe Carapella: As president of the Tricar Group, Carapella is building a $20-million luxury highrise condominium project near Richmond Row, at Pall Mall and Wellington streets. He is well-known for adding necessary housing to downtown revitalization efforts.
Mitch Baran: Owner and chairperson of Trudell Medical Group, Baran was recently inducted into the London Business Hall of Fame. Baran is chair of London-based medical research firm Viron Therapeutics Inc. and is known for his support of the London Biotechnology Commercialization Centre.
Geno Francolini: A well-known London businessperson, donor and volunteer, Francolini is chief executive of Xenon Capital Corp. He chairs the board for the Greater London International Airport Authority and co-chairs the Community Spirit Foundation of Western Ontario.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
MORE REGULATIONS IN SIGHT...
Opening my eyes to life in a chair
Ian Gillespie, Free Press Columnist 2004-05-15 03:16:01
They say you should never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. That's why I found myself in a wheelchair yesterday -- although I wasn't going to judge but merely try to understand.
I don't suggest that spending a morning in a wheelchair can duplicate the struggles faced by the estimated 40,000 Canadians living with a spinal cord injury. But there were two reasons for briefly trading legs for wheels.
First, it'll spread the word about London's second annual Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion fundraiser, scheduled for June 13 at Parkwood Hospital.
Similar events are planned the same day in St. Thomas and Woodstock. (Check online at www.rickhansen.com for details.)
And second, it was designed to be an eye-opener.
My eyes started widening moments after organizers dropped the wheelchair at The Free Press staff entrance. Because although I could get through the door, I was then faced with two paths into the newsroom -- and both featured a six-step staircase.
Those steps came to mind later when I talked to Chris Fraser, co-chairperson of the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion London event committee.
Fraser, who has been using a wheelchair since an accident 16 years ago, laughed when I mentioned the small but seemingly insurmountable steps.
"Sometimes I'll call up a restaurant or a store and ask, 'Are you wheelchair-accessible?' " she said. "And they'll say, 'Oh yes -- we just have three stairs at the front.' "
It's the little things.
Although there are two automatic doors at the Free Press main entrance, the button is right beside the door.
It was easy to roll close and push the button, but that meant the wheelchair was also close enough to block the door as it swung outward.
I started to understand what Fraser meant when she said, "Everyday, you're strategizing." Because at every turn, my path was blocked by desks, chairs, cords and garbage bins.
Even the simplest act -- like heading to the cafeteria for a coffee -- required a scheme. After getting my cup of joe, I realized the plastic tops were stored around the corner. I had two choices -- either balance the brimming cup between my legs as I rolled to where the tops were kept, or leave my coffee on the counter, grab a top and then return.
I opted for No. 1 and managed, thankfully, to avoid scalding any sensitive parts.
I rode the elevator down to the main floor, but then faced with a heavy, outward-opening door, opted to wait for help.
In the next few hours, I managed to smash my hand against a desk and back into the leg of a passerby. I made it into the library, but quickly realized I couldn't reach anything on the upper shelves. It was academic, anyway, because my path was blocked by a stepladder.
I could -- just barely -- reach a water fountain in the hall. But because the faucet was now shoulder-high, I had to approach it from the side, which meant the water dribbled down my chin and onto my shirt.
There were also subtly demeaning aspects. In the wheelchair, my perspective now resembled that of a child's -- I constantly peered up at people and things. And like a child, I was often forced to ask for help.
Within an hour, my hands hurt from gripping the wheel rims. Within three hours, my left shoulder ached.
I rolled into the building's wheelchair-accessible washroom but found no way to manoeuvre the chair between the toilet and facing wall.
Later, Fraser inspected the washroom and declared it unsafe and not practical. She said the toilet was too low, the seat too loose (wheelchair users often rock back and forth to get in and out of their pants or dress), and the wall-mounted grab-bar was positioned too far forward to provide enough leverage for a wheelchair user to hoist themselves up.
Last year's local Wheels in Motion event raised $12,000. But more money is needed -- for everything from building accessible washrooms, buildings and playgrounds to supporting wheelchair sports, managing chronic pain, treating over-use injuries and, ultimately, finding a cure.
Oh, and opening eyes.
"You want people to see you," said Fraser. "And not your chair."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
The Bylaw Saga continues
Council members to contest exclusion
PATRICK MALONEY, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-15 03:16:01
Two embattled city politicians, at the centre of an ongoing bylaw controversy, are determined to fight against efforts by city council to exclude them from debate. After signing affidavits for a lawyer hoping to quash the bylaw -- which temporarily freezes development along a stretch of Richmond Street -- Coun. Roger Caranci and Controller Bud Polhill declared a conflict of interest over the issue.
But Monday, the pair will present to council the opinion of their lawyer, Christopher Williams, a noted municipal law expert, who doesn't consider them in conflict.
"Anything to do with the Richmond Street bylaw, we are not in conflict," Caranci said yesterday.
"We can be involved with the discussion and we should be allowed to discuss it."
Although they declared a conflict over the zoning issue in April, Caranci and Polhill say they reserved the right to retract it, which they hope to do Monday.
Williams, who has written extensively on the province's Municipal Act, declined comment yesterday.
The controversy has drawn attention to the contentious issue of closed council meetings and touches on the councillors' connections to development lawyer Alan Patton, who obtained sworn statements from the pair.
They said a council committee voted privately on the bylaw in January.
Under the Municipal Act, such votes held in closed sessions are not allowed.
Caranci and Polhill said they felt pressured into declaring a conflict of interest, but that doing so interferes with the civic duties for which they were elected.
Caranci said the two will ask council to cover their legal costs.
It's clear the pair aren't in conflict on the temporary zoning bylaw, Polhill contends, because they voted in favour of it.
"We supported it. We agree with the bylaw," he said. "We were asked (by Patton), 'Did we take a vote?' And I said we did . . . There was no further information given.
"We'd certainly like to be involved in the process. I got elected to make decisions."
But discussing legal issues involving Patton in front of two councillors who signed affidavits for him could be a "significant" conflict, said Coun. Joni Baechler.
She has disputed the Polhill and Caranci statements, but said she will listen to them "objectively."
"They have the right to present their case and I won't prejudge it before I hear their case."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Friday, May 14, 2004
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT SOLO ART EXHIBITION
It's spring, and Chris Wright is having an art opening!
Friday May 21st - London, Ontario Canada
Christopher Wright Solo Art Exhibition
Internationally renowned local London artist Christopher Wright welcomes you Friday, May 21 to an exclusive solo art exhibition. Highlights include: paintings never before seen by the public, the introduction of the print of the month club and a very special silent auction for a landscape painting, the proceeds of which will be donated to cancer research.
Doors open at 8:00pm - Paintings unveiled at 9:00pm. Free admission. 366 Richmond Street: Studio #3, London, Ontario - 519-697-1897.
http://chriswright.org ; http://supersmallgallery.com
Chris' work is a mixture of classical styles with a surreal twist. Although the viewer is confronted with the strange and unexpected in Chris' work, paradoxically, we get a sense of the familiar through his use of classical and everyday references. Chris has a wide body of work, and is especially famous for his surreal and twisted cityscapes and non-typical representations of the female form. He has collectors all over the world, and has recently expanded his offerings to the ebay community.
Chris was recommended for and attended the Beal art program and has participated in many group and solo shows. Below are some notable London exhibits Chris has participated in:
1997-2000 St. Pauls Cathedral Art Exhibition. The largest annual art show in London. Over 100 artists.
1999-2001 King Street Gallery
2000 Forest City Gallery, Member Show and Sale
2000 The Jonathon Bancroft Gallery, BealArtists reunion show and others.
2001 Galleries in Galleria - three seperate showings
2001 London Regional Art and History Museum LRAHM Sales and Rental Gallery - Oil and Acrylic Paintings for sale
Of late, Chris has mostly participated in private showings, so the May 21st show will be a very extraordinary and exclusive event.
Images of Scenic London Ontario
An example of the vibrant artistic culture flourishing here in London, Ontario.
HERITAGE POLITICS ON LONDON
Watchdog fears library may lose heritage tag
JULIE SACCONE, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-14 02:57:55
The City of London would set a dangerous precedent if it removes the heritage designation on the former downtown central library building before selling it, the chairperson of council's advisory committee on heritage says. "The important thing that concerns us is that this is a statement -- if city council approves it, it's a statement of the value they put on their buildings," George Goodlet said yesterday. "Up until now, we have seen a lot of heritage buildings in private hands . . . but we have considered that buildings owned by the city would be safe."
Board of control approved a recommendation Wednesday to put the vacant building on the market to see what offers it would draw, with and without its heritage designation.
The property has been assessed at about $6.6 million. Renovations have been estimated to cost as much as $7.7 million.
Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell said a heritage designation can reduce the value of a building on the market because it can affect redevelopment on the site.
The board of control recommendation goes to council for approval Monday.
Goodlet is concerned the recommendation is an indication of the city's readiness to remove the designation.
"If they could do that to this (building), they could do it to others."
Most of the facade of the building at 305 Queens Ave. and parts of its foyer have been designated as being of heritage importance.
The 64-year-old building, designed in a style similar to a classical Greek structure, has pilasters or column-like constructions along with marble on the front exterior.
It is one of few stone buildings in the city, Goodlet said.
There are about 2,900 heritage properties in the city, of which about 500 have a heritage designation.
George Kerhoulas, vice-president of commercial sales for Royal LePage in London, said there are several factors that must be considered in determining a fair price for the building, all of which his firm hasn't looked at.
But Kerhoulas said the property has several attractive features, including its good location and attractive exterior.
"It is a highly desirable location and it is saleable."
Don Menard, interim heritage planner for the city, said developers could easily work with the existing building.
"I don't think in my own mind that the heritage features would be an obstacle in the development of the property," he said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
MCDONALD'S IS NOT FORCING PEOPLE TO BUY THEIR CRAP
THE WAR ON FREE CHOICE CONTINUES
McDonald's 'poisoning' customers, NDP MP claims
DENNIS BUECKERT, CP 2004-05-14 02:57:55
OTTAWA -- McDonald's Restaurants was battered by the Commons health committee yesterday for not reducing heart-clogging trans fats in its french fries, chicken McNuggets and other products, despite a public commitment to do so. Richard Ellis, vice-president of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada, conceded in committee testimony the company had failed to achieve its targets.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin accused the fast-food chain of "poisoning" its customers with trans fats, which are known to raise blood cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease.
"It's the biggest public health risk since the war on tobacco," Martin said after confronting a McDonald's spokesperson during committee debate. "Another generation of children is being poisoned as we speak.
"We've got doctors with 10- (and) 12-year-old patients presenting with high cholesterol. It's madness."
Trans fat is created when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil, a process called hydrogenation.
In September 2002, McDonald's U.S.A. announced it would cut trans fats in its fries 48 per cent by using improved cooking oil. A similar announcement was made in Canada.
In November 2003, Consumer Reports magazine tested the products and found the fries were swimming in as much "bad fat" as ever.
"The truth is . . . we missed the goal and we missed the goal completely," Ellis said.
The Commons health committee is discussing ways to improve nutrition in the fast food industry.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
ARE WE SURPRISED? PAYS TO BE A LIBERAL
Scandal probe ends in deadlock
CP 2004-05-14 02:57:55
OTTAWA -- The clock finally ran out on the parliamentary inquiry into the sponsorship scandal yesterday as MPs split along partisan lines and failed to reach agreement on a draft report. The deadlock means there will be no conclusions or recommendations published by the all-party panel despite three months of testimony from more than 50 witnesses.
"All we did the past two days was waste time," Conservative Jason Kenney said as he emerged from the last of a series of closed-door meetings.
"It was a completely sterile debate."
Kenney and other opposition MPs blamed the Liberal majority for cutting the investigation short, with an eye to the general election Prime Minister Paul Martin is expected to call next week.
Odina Desrochers of the Bloc Quebecois noted it was the Liberals who insisted on halting public testimony so MPs could meet privately this week and attempt to draft a report.
"The end result is no report, no recommendations," Desrochers said.
Liberals predictably blamed their opponents for scuttling the effort.
"The opposition at every turn have filibustered any attempt to get a document that would bear the stamp of the House of Commons," said Marlene Jennings, vice-chairperson of the committee.
"So why should I waste my time even trying?"
The panel did publish a working paper drawn up by research staff, summarizing evidence to date.
But it couldn't agree on a list of 30 draft recommendations.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
2 Billion Dollars Later....
Firearms Act protester guilty of gun charges
CP 2004-05-14 02:57:55
EDMONTON -- A former sergeant-at-arms of the Alberta legislature was found guilty yesterday of weapons charges brought against him after he protested Ottawa's gun registry. Oscar Lacombe, a Korean War veteran, brought an old .22-calibre rifle to a rally on the legislature grounds Jan. 1, 2003, the day new registration requirements under the Firearms Act came into effect.
He later was charged with offences that already existed under the Criminal Code: possession of a firearm without a licence or registration certificate and carrying a weapon to a public meeting.
Judge David McNab did not jail or fine Lacombe, but instead offered him a conditional discharge if he completes 75 hours of community service by August. That means Lacombe would not have a criminal record.
"There is no logical connection between the accused's freedom to express his view of the Firearms Act and the need to have a firearm present when doing so," McNab said.
Outside court, Lacombe said the conviction was worth it because he made his point.
"I feel good. I think I have accomplished something -- you're all standing here," he told a crowd of reporters after the verdict.
"I'm challenging an unjust law. I've had my day in court."
Lacombe testified during his trial last November that he believes the gun registry is a huge waste of money that should have been used for important work such as heart surgeries.
He said he wanted to bring attention to the fact that the Firearms Act was a bad law.
Court heard testimony from three Edmonton police officers who worked on the file after Lacombe alerted police to his plans.
Deputy chief Michael Bradshaw testified Lacombe told him he planned to bring the gun to the rally.
The gun was wrapped in plastic, unloaded and had its bolt removed so it couldn't be fired. Lacombe asked to be arrested under the provisions of the Firearms Act.
Alberta justice officials have said they won't prosecute gun owners who break the law by failing to register their weapons.
Ontario, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick have taken similar stands.
Protesters carrying banners outside court Thursday vowed to continue their campaign against the registry.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Once again, London is ignorant about how the free market really works
Paramedics' huge raise defended
JOHN MINER, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-14 02:57:55
The 28-per-cent pay hike for London-area paramedics was badly needed to keep them from jumping to better-paying areas, a Middlesex County administrator said yesterday. Thames EMS, which serves London and Middlesex County, lost 10 paramedics in the first 4 1/2 months of this year, said Denis Merrall, the county's transportation and emergency services director.
"You cannot deliver an emergency medical service with that level of turnover, in my opinion."
The service depends on experienced paramedics working with younger ones, Merrall said.
"If all you have is younger paramedics without experience, you are in trouble," he said.
"If we can hang on to what we have now, I think we will do all right."
Paramedics negotiated a settlement with Middlesex County, but the agreement was vetoed by the City of London.
The issue ended up going to arbitration and the award announced yesterday was the same as the tentative agreement.
Paramedics paid the top rate received an increase to $26.66 an hour effective Jan. 1, up from $23.08 under the previous contract.
On Jan. 1, 2005, the top rate will increase to $27.90, followed by an increase to $29.02 on July 1, 2005, and $30.12 on Jan. 1, 2006.
London administrators said the award will cost the city $1.4 million a year and will put a tremendous strain on city coffers.
Merrall said it is the cost of running an emergency service.
"I understand people think it is a very high dollar amount and it is expensive, but it's the price that people with this level of training get," he said.
"And if you are going to be delivering that service, it is the price you are going to have to pay.
"I compare it to paying wages to nurses. If you are not going to pay competitive wages to nurses, you are not going to have nurses," he said.
"It is the same kind of scarcity in specialized training that we are dealing with here."
London and Middlesex benefited from the first contract with paramedics, which also was arbitrated, Merrall said.
That contract turned out to be substantially lower than later ones in neighbouring municipalities.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Protest - London Style
Gas protest fuels interest
The gas station shortchanged by a senior has been doubly busy.
DANIEL PEARCE, Special to The Free Press 2004-05-14 02:57:55
SIMCOE -- A Simcoe-area senior who pulled off a gas-and-dash this week to protest high prices at the pumps has become a national celebrity. Terry Blake's insistence on paying $20 for $25 of fuel at a Simcoe station and his invitation for police to arrest him has turned him into a hot commodity with the media.
"Oh my," Blake, 71, said yesterday afternoon after a day of many interviews. "I've been on the phone since six o'clock this morning."
His suitors included several newspapers and 20 radio stations from Halifax to Saskatoon.
"In a way, I'm glad it's drawn so much attention. I never expected in my wildest dreams anything like this."
On Tuesday, Blake gassed up at an Esso station, paid $20, and left his name, address, and phone number so police could find him.
He said he's fed up with skyrocketing gas prices and blames greedy oil companies. Yesterday, he reiterated he won't pay station owner Mary Padyk the $5 and will go to jail.
"I hope they don't (arrest me)," Blake said. "I'm not a rabble-rouser. I'm just an ordinary guy."
Blake said he has been contacted by Norfolk OPP and told he has until tonight to pay up or face a theft charge.
"He should be punished," Padyk said yesterday. "He's 71. He knows what he's doing.
"The guy is setting a bad precedent."
She said virtually all her customers support her.
"Everybody who came in today said he . . . should be charged."
Padyk said Blake, who is a regular customer, has failed to make his point because the missing $5 comes out of her pocket, not Imperial Oil's.
Mind you, Padyk's station is not suffering in light of the incident. Business has nearly doubled since the story made news.
"I'm busier than ever," she said.
On Wednesday, however, a male driver filled up with $28 in gas and left without paying, an incident Padyk blames on the media attention given to Blake's stunt.
One unidentified woman has offered to send a $5 money order on Blake's behalf, but Padyk said she won't accept it.
"It has to come from him. Even if I cash the cheque, he still gets charged."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Equality reigns in London Ontario
Paramedics get big pay raise
Officials say the city can't afford the hike of about 28 per cent over three years.
TEVIAH MORO, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-13 02:48:18
London-area paramedics have been awarded a pay raise of about 28 per cent over three years in an arbitrated contract settlement. The arbitration award, announced yesterday, will give the 170 paramedics wage parity with counterparts elsewhere in the region, a union spokesperson said.
The specific rate they will be paid under the contract was not immediately available. But city officials say the huge pay hike will put a tremendous strain on civic coffers.
The contract is expected to cost the city about $1.4 million a year, said Vic Cote, the city's acting finance manager.
Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell said the province is to blame for the high cost of the deal.
He said Queen's Park has been cutting its share of funding for ambulance workers, downloading the burden onto municipalities.
"That's a health-care issue and the province should be responsible for it, not us," he said.
"They're just dumping it on the backs of local taxpayers."
London and the paramedics, members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Local 147, couldn't agree on a contract and the issue was sent to binding arbitration for a settlement.
City council in January rejected a proposal that would have increased salaries of paramedics to the level of those in Essex, Chatham-Kent and Lambton, who made as much as $7 an hour more, the union had said.
The local paramedics have been working under a contract that expired last September.
With the arbitrated award, they will have wage parity with other area paramedics, said Steve Turner, an OPSEU spokesperson.
"We were probably over $8,000 or $9,000 (a year) behind other services," he said of the previous contract.
The city had countered in January with another offer the union wouldn't accept.
"The process that we were put through was kind of unnecessary. The city really didn't have to push us to that point," Turner said.
The new wages will help keep ambulance workers in London. Some have left to work in higher-paying neighbouring centres, he said.
But Cote said the three-year contract will have an adverse affect on the city's already stretched budget.
"It just means another cost imposed on us. Now, we've got another $1.4 million each year going forward that stretches us even further," he said, adding taxes will have to be increased and services cut.
But Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco said smaller centres have already been settling at higher rates to retain their ambulance workers.
"It just keeps going around in a domino effect," she said.
"It makes it incredibly difficult for us to afford the kinds of contracts that are occurring."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Bono is proud to be a slut
Bono happy to be 'used'
The rocker's praise for Ottawa's support of AIDS work gives Paul Martin's Grits a pre-election boost.
KATHLEEN HARRIS, Free Press Parliamentary Bureau 2004-05-13 02:48:22
OTTAWA -- Irish rocker Bono made it a Beautiful Day for Paul Martin's pre-election campaign. Admitting he was being used to boost the prime minister's political fortunes, the U2 frontman dropped by the nation's capital yesterday to sing the praises of Martin's commitment to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa.
"Yes, I'm being used. I want to be used," said Bono, wearing his trademark shades. "That's my job here -- to provide applause when someone does the right and courageous thing and to provide criticism when they don't."
Days from an expected election call, Bono applauded the Liberal government's boosting its contribution to the Global Fund to Fight HIV and AIDs by $70 million on top of a $100-million pledge to the World Health Organization.
Because Canada's cash will help save lives, Bono said he doesn't mind "bending over" a bit to help the cause. But he urged Canada and other western countries to go further, committing 0.7 per cent of GDP to fighting world poverty.
"We can be the generation that eradicates that kind of stupid poverty," he said. "There will always be poverty -- but the sort of stupid poverty, where children are still dying for lack of food in their bellies at this age of plenty, that is over," he said.
"Our generation is saying 'No, we're not having it.' "
Martin wouldn't commit to that spending target, but said Canada will continue strategic investments to help the Third World through debt reduction, access to cheaper drugs and direct dollars to fight AIDS.
"It's a priority for us now, it's always been a priority for us," Martin said.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper suggested his priority would be to invest in Canada's health-care system before spending in Africa.
"I'm prepared to follow the government's commitments on this, but my focus would be more on dealing with the health-care crisis in Canada," he said.
Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, noted the timing of the announcement is politically advantageous for the Liberals.
"But you know what? I don't care," he said.
"As long as Canada is doing this, and we're making a serious commitment and it's ongoing and we understand the human implications, I don't really care if there are subterranean political motives."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Welcome to Pleasantville
Crews called back to chemical spill
Free Press staff 2004-05-13 02:48:15
London firefighters were back at the scene of a chemical spill that shut down Richmond Street Tuesday after London Hydro workers saw a foamy substance in the sewer system yesterday morning. Parts of Richmond Street were closed while firefighters took readings of the sewer system. They found the foamy substance was a white absorbent substance used to soak up liquid.
The team sent to clean up the original leak returned to the scene to pump the substance into a waste removal truck.
All roads were reopened late in the afternoon.
About 500 litres of isocyanate, a substance used in commercial paints, was discharged Tuesday afternoon.
According to police, witnesses spotted spills from a cube van from Hyman Street south to York Street and called police.
Police traced the spill to a vehicle parked at Clarence and Bathurst streets.
One person was taken to hospital, where he was treated and released.
No charges have been laid, but police said the investigation is ongoing.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Can't we just change the rules?
City to appeal decision to let lawyer work on zoning case
PATRICK MALONEY AND JOE BELANGER, Free Press Reporters 2004-05-13 02:48:17
London is preparing to appeal a judge's decision to let a development lawyer remain on a controversial zoning case before the courts. City council's board of control yesterday recommended a report be prepared on options to appeal Superior Court Justice John Kennedy's decision Monday to dismiss the city's request to take lawyer Alan Patton off the case.
Kennedy called the city's bid "absurd," but Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco said yesterday that decision could drastically change how city hall operates.
The appeal deadline is before council's Monday meeting, so city legal staff were instructed to file necessary documents, though full council approval is still required.
"This could set a precedent . . . on how we conduct our business," DeCicco said.
Patton represents a firm seeking to overturn a temporary zoning bylaw that effectively freezes development along a stretch of Richmond Street near the University of Western Ontario until area zoning issues are ironed out.
Patton obtained sworn statements from two council members saying city hall's planning committee voted privately on the bylaw before it went to the approval stage.
Such votes are illegal under Ontario's Municipal Act.
The case -- which resumes May 26 -- has thrust the issue of closed council and council committee meetings into the spotlight and raised city hall concerns that politicians' hands could be tied.
"This could cost this city a lot of money if we can't have discussions in-camera. For instance, on labour negotiations, if we have to discuss our position in public, the other side is going to know what our limit is for negotiations," DeCicco said.
Controller Russ Monteith said board of control is concerned with reasons Kennedy offered in explaining his decision.
"The judge's reasons may be precedent-setting and challenge the conventions of local government," Monteith said.
Reached last night, Patton said he found the city's news release "confusing" and he's surprised they're looking to appeal the decision.
"The city went to court to have me removed as lawyer of RSJ Holdings. (Now) they want a clarification of his decision," Patton said. "It's very confusing."
Patton's bid to have the temporary zoning bylaw quashed rests largely on the sworn affidavits he obtained from Coun. Roger Caranci and Controller Bud Polhill.
City hall had asked Kennedy to remove Patton from the case, arguing he "improperly" approached the two politicians without first consulting city solicitors.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
That's OK. Just put it on the credit card.
Bring in the Liberals!
London faces deficit of $2.7M
It's blamed on higher-than-expected snow-removal and social services costs.
JOE BELANGER, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-13 02:48:18
Two months after approving its budget, London is already projecting a deficit of $2.7 million -- and it could get worse. But homeowners won't feel any immediate pain, since this year's budget and property tax increase are already set.
The shortfall stems from two key issues -- an expected $1.25-million overrun in drug costs for people on welfare and disability pensions and higher-than-expected snow- removal costs of $1 million.
Revenue from issuing building permits and legal documents is also expected to fall short by about $566,000 as the city's building boom ebbs.
But board of control was also told yesterday there are "emerging issues" that could drive the shortfall higher, especially employee health benefits.
Vic Cote, acting finance manager, said it's not unusual to project a deficit after the first quarter of the year since the budget isn't set until March.
For instance, a $2.4-million deficit was projected at this time last year, which ended with a $1.6-million surplus.
As well, the bulk of snow- removal money is spent in the new year and can stretch the budget in the early going.
"It's an annual experience that all the bad news comes before you get the good news," Cote said in an interview.
He said city staff can find ways to make up the $2.7-million shortfall. But if the deficit grows, the options shrink.
"It's increasingly becoming more and more difficult," he said. "As we tap every penny and program (to save money at budget time) there's much less flexibility to continue to address surprises and shortfalls."
The potential for "surprises and shortfalls" appears high.
In a separate report to the board, staff said the cost of extended health benefit claims for city workers could hit $2 million this year, nearly double last year's $1.1 million.
The claims include costs for medical footwear, surgical stockings and body braces.
Those benefits are the main obstacle in the city's contract impasse with its 550 outside workers, whose old contract expired Dec. 31.
The city wants to cap those benefits. Contract talks have been stalled since March.
Last year, those benefit claims for outside workers soared to $462,325 from $32,400 the year before. The total for all city workers was $1.1 million last year compared with $482,000 in 2002.
So far this year, the city has already spent just more than $1 million on such benefits.
"It's scary to think it's going to go to $2 million by the end of the year," Controller Bud Polhill said. "We need to find a solution to this and I don't know what it is, but we have a problem here we're going to have to deal with."
Other emerging issues that could drive up the deficit are:
- The expected contract settlement with outside workers.
- An arbitration award giving area paramedics a huge wage hike over three years.
- Rising gas and power prices.
Two other variables affecting the city's bottom line are a planned crackdown on overdue court fines and an early 2005 budget review aimed at cutting costs for next year that could be adopted earlier.
The $2.7-million deficit relates only to the city's portion of the $423-million operating budget. All city boards and commissions are still projecting balanced budgets.
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco said she's confident the books will balance by year end.
"That's why we have these quarterly reports so we can respond quickly with enough time to fix it by the end of the year," DeCicco said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
CHANGE IS BAD!
Councillors Propose Placing Entire City in Giant Freezer Bag
Old Central Library may be sold by city
JOE BELANGER, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-13 02:48:22
London's former Central Library building could be sold. But heritage proponents sounded the alarm over that prospect yesterday, fearful the building's heritage designation could be removed to make it more attractive to buyers.
"It won't be stripped of its designation without a fight," vowed Coun. Joni Baechler, who advocates protecting historic properties.
"There will be a lot of people . . . who will fight for this one. It's a connerstone of London, part of its heart and soul."
City council's board of control yesterday approved a recommendation to put the vacant Queens Avenue building on the market to see what price it can fetch for the city.
The board accepted Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell's recommendation offers be based on the site with and without its heritage designation.
The issue goes to full council Monday.
"If we're going to get value for that building, we should understand how that (heritage) designation affects the price," Gosnell told the board.
"A designation can significantly reduce the value of a building on the market because it affects redevelopment on the property."
"We need to know what the price will be without the designation," Gosnell said.
Once offers are in, staff would weigh the price against the cost of other options, such as using the building to ease the space-crunch at city hall.
The former library closed in September 2002 when its operations were moved to Galleria London. Since then, the city has wrestled with what to do with the 64-year-old building.
Costs of renovating the building have been estimated as high as $7.7 million.
The site is heritage-designated for its facade and doorway.
The library was built for $250,000, most of it paid through a legacy left by Elsie Perrin Williams, heir to the Perrin biscuit fortune.
After city hall's recent call for expressions of interest for use of the site failed to bring in acceptable proposals, attention turned to a potential sale.
That appears to be the preferred option since council has asked staff to look at all surplus properties that could be sold to ease the city's financial crunch.
With council still reeling from a public backlash to an idea of selling city hall and leasing it back, the thought of removing the former library's heritage designation drew sharp reaction from some.
"I hope we're not sending out the message to the public that we're going to sell it and end up with a flat piece of land," said Controller Bud Polhill, referring to the prospect of the building being sold and razed.
The move is an about-face for controllers, who in 2002 insisted the site's facade be maintained no matter what happens to the building.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Bush si Hitlar!! teh fotoz proofs it!!
Yes folks, we're back from vacation!
Wow:
Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, the Saudi government appointed imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, will give a series of lectures in Canada next week and attend the Islamic Society of North America conference in Toronto...
The themes of his sermons are characterized by confrontation toward non-Muslims. Al-Sudayyis calls Jews "scum of the earth" and "monkeys and pigs" who should be "annihilated." Other enemies of Islam, he says, are "worshippers of the cross" and "idol-worshipping Hindus" who should be fought. Al-Sudayyis has been consistent in calling for jihad in Kashmir and Chechnya, for Jerusalem to be liberated, and for the "occupiers in Iraq" to also be fought...
They hassled GG Allin at the border, and then they let this guy in?
Saturday, May 8, 2004
Bye, bye Burpee
Looks like another lynching down at the old city hall!
City rights watchdog raises storm
MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-08 03:02:07
London's human rights watchdog over-reacted by having police called in after anti-racism posters vanished from city hall, critics charge. One city councillor says if Joyce Burpee's allegations against city hall cafeteria chef Adam Kopala are unfounded, he wouldn't expect the city to keep her on after her job probation ends in June.
"If the findings are (the complaint is) unfounded, council's decision is a simple one," Coun. Ab Chahbar said yesterday. "But I don't want to prejudge the investigation."
Or make any suggestions to the media regarding the future of Ms. Burpee
Kopala has been off work with pay since (Oh my God!!! Not another one! Is leave with pay written into all contracts at city hall?) April 26 after Burpee, hired in January, complained he'd poisoned her work environment by circulating racist hate literature and repeatedly removing anti-racism posters she'd posted in the cafeteria.
Burpee's written complaint, a copy of which The Free Press obtained, contends Kopala "breached the city's discrimination policy and the human rights code" on several fronts.
She concludes Kopala "is connected to this hate activity and that he is dangerous."
Burpee has declined comment.
Kopala also declined comment but formally responded to the city, denying Burpee's allegations. He says he knew nothing of the posters or hate literature alleged to have appeared in the cafeteria. He acknowledged approaching a Burpee aide, to tell the assistant neither he nor his staff removed the posters, but has rejected Burpee's claim he did that in an "aggressive" way.
Because Burpee cannot investigate her own complaint, the city has retained London lawyer Marg Szilassy, who charged the city close to $130,000 two years ago to draft an anti-harassment policy. This is insane.
London police Chief Murray Faulkner confirmed an officer responded to a concern over missing anti-racism posters at city hall but concluded it wasn't a police matter.
"We went there more for advice," he said.
Councillors Bernie MacDonald and Fred Tranquilli questioned getting police involved.
MacDonald said, "I think (Burpee) went overboard calling in our men in blue."
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco declined comment, other than to say the city takes all such complaints seriously.
The issue comes as questions swirl about Burpee's availability on a job she holds in London when she lives in Toronto. DeCicco has dismissed that as irrelevant, saying Burpee does her job.
Not everyone is critical of Burpee's actions.
Jo-Dee Phoenix, local chairperson of the union for cafeteria staff, said Burpee should be applauded for blowing the whistle on any suspected hate activity at city hall.
BURPEE ALLEGATIONS
Joyce Burpee's written complaint says the city hall chef violated London's human rights policy by:
- "Circulating racist hate literature in the cafeteria on March 31, leaving it on the tables for all to see. This action has negatively affected my ability to work in a harassment-free workplace contrary to city policy, created a poisonous work environment for people of colour and engendered in me fear for my safety and life from hate groups that are known to incite hatred against black people, like myself, and advocate harm against us."
- "Repeatedly removing legitimately placed city property in the form of laminated posters on human rights and anti-racism and placing them in the garbage disposal bins to be destroyed . . . thereby ameliorating the poisoning effect of the hate literature previously placed there."
- "Aggressively approaching my assistant with manufactured stories to influence her against me, damaging my reputation among city staff."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Friday, May 7, 2004
FASCIST WATCH ..........
Stiffer price put on stronger beer
APRIL KEMICK, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-07 03:00:38
High-octane beer is causing a buzz -- but not the usual kind. Dramatic price hikes have been slapped on high-alcohol beer by both the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and the Beer Store, in the name of social responsibility.
The jacked-up prices -- as much as 60 per cent higher -- affect dozens of high-alcohol products, the beverage of choice for customers with little to spend.
"The new minimum price hopefully discourages those who might consume the products excessively," said LCBO representative Chris Layton in Toronto.
"We're trying to strike that balance between making the product available and trying to ensure responsible consumption."
The new sticker shock on strong suds came without warning Monday, and is still sending customers for a loop.
"Now, anything with 10 per cent (alcohol) is a little out of my price range," a chagrined Andre Carter said outside a Beer Store in London. Though he prefers the strongest brew, Carter opted instead for a cheaper alternative.
Regular beer contains 5.6 per cent alcohol.
But the superstrong suds -- typically sold in big bottles or cans, under brand names such as Olde English, Lucky Lager Force 10, Maximum Ice and Bull Max beer -- range in alcohol content from about 6.1 per cent to 10 per cent.
Before the price hike, those brews sold for pocket change -- about $3 or $4.
Now, customers will have to fork out as much as $6.80 for the same products, with escalating increases tied directly to the alcohol content.
"The higher the alcohol content of the beer, the higher the increase," said Layton.
The prices of all beer products containing more than 5.6 per cent alcohol were raised following talks between the LCBO, the Beer Store and the provincial government.
Public concerns, including worries about young drinkers, encouraged retailers to raise the prices, Layton said.
Minimum prices on beer products hadn't been raised since the mid-1990s, when there were far fewer strong beers on the market, he said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
I THOUGHT IT WAS NORWAY?
New D-Day plan in works
CP 2004-05-07 03:00:38
OTTAWA -- The federal government, under pressure to help more veterans attend D-Day ceremonies in Normandy next month, says it will announce a new scheme within days. Veterans Affairs Minister John McCallum made the commitment after the government came under attack in the House of Commons over its plan to pay for only 60 veterans to accompany the official delegation to the 60th anniversary of D-Day on June 6.
Between 80,000 and 90,000 Canadians took part in the Normandy campaign in northern France from June to August 1944.
About a quarter of those veterans are still alive.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
STUPID LONDONER TRICKS
Parents protest board inaction
A couple seeks answers after their little girl was hung by her clothes from a coat hook at school.
JOE MATYAS, Free Press Reporter 2004-05-07 03:00:38
The family of a girl who was hung by her clothes on a hook at school last month demonstrated for school safety outside the Thames Valley District school board's London headquarters yesterday. Terry Micheal, Dawn Moffatt and daughters Paige, 11, and Tallon, 4, began their demonstration about 7:30 a.m. outside the Dundas Street administration building and ended it about an hour later when they were invited in for a discussion.
Paige and Tallon, pupils at Victoria public school in London, were pulled out of the school April 15 by their parents, who were unhappy about the lack of reaction from officials to the April 5 incident.
Micheal said the incident was worrisome, considering 10-year-old Myles Neuts died after being hung from a washroom hook at his Chatham school in 1998.
Micheal said he and Moffatt expected feedback from officials when they expressed concerns.
"We were upset that our voicemails were ignored for a month, so we decided to come to their door to ask them for answers to our questions," he said of the demonstration.
Micheal said it was the second time the family has raised concerns about an incident at school.
Paige was threatened by a pupil who held scissors to her face about 18 months ago, he said. "We never heard back about that, either."
But the family's placard-waving got results yesterday.
John Thorpe, executive superintendent of the board, spoke to them as he arrived for work. A short time later, Chris Dennett, the board's communications manager, invited the family in for a chat.
"We've been promised another meeting," Micheal said. "We've been home-schooling the girls and helping them with homework provided by the school. We'd like to see them back in school, but we want to know they'll be safe."
Michael said he and Moffatt are concerned for the safety of other children as well.
One solution could be hooks that break if more than nine kilograms is hung on them, he said, adding educating children to the dangers of hook hanging is another option.
Dennett said the meeting with the family was productive and there will be another on Monday involving board officials and the school principal.
Dennett said safety is "job No. 1 in our school system.
"We have well-developed policies on safety, we have professional development days on it, we work with parents on it and we do everything we can to make students aware of it."
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
THE SOCIALIST STATE WILL CARE FOR YOU - IN ANOTHER COUNTRY
Cancer scanner cuts outrage specialist
They mean London patients will have to go to the U.S. for tests -- at greater cost.
JOHN MINER, Free Press Health Reporter 2004-05-07 03:00:38
London cancer patients who live just blocks from one of Canada's best medical imaging machines will have to travel to the U.S. for their tests -- at a much higher cost. If that isn't strange enough, patients from other provinces have come to London to use the so-called PET/CT scanner at St. Joseph's Health Care London.
It's a situation that outrages Dr. Al Driedger, a thyroid cancer specialist in London.
"I am just so angry," said Driedger, a member of the provincial committee that called for the introduction of PET scanning in Ontario.
The PET/CT scanner at St. Joseph's, one of only eight in Canada, is being shut down for regular patient use and will be limited to research use after a one-two punch from the Ontario and federal governments cut funding to operate it.
It costs $1,100 to check a patient on the London scanner, but the bill for doing so south of the border will be as high as $5,000 US, Driedger said.
A spokesperson for Ontario's Health Ministry said yesterday the province sent 22 patients to the U.S. for scans over a one-year period until the start of February 2004.
Adding insult to injury, Driedger recently cared for a patient sent from another province to be scanned -- and that province readily paid for the procedure.
"It's OK for me to do a PET scan on a patient from outside Ontario and get paid for it. I can send a patient that lives in Ontario to the United States and have a scan done. But a patient that lives in Ontario can't have a scan done in Ontario," Driedger said, adding the technology is crucial for finding and deciding how to treat some cancers.
In the past two weeks, Driedger said he had two patients that blood tests showed had cancer spreading in their bodies.
But CT scans, ultrasounds and other methods failed to find the source of the cancer.
"I did PET scans on them and in both cases found where the residual cancer is. Both of these patients will now be properly treated," he said.
The advantage of PET/CT scanning is it can detect cancerous cells by measuring their energy use. Other technologies rely on finding actual damage to the structure of organs or an enlargement of lymph nodes.
The Ontario government announced recently it will conduct clinical trials of PET/CT scans to see if they should be used here.
But Driedger said the government was given a report in 1999 documenting that 45,000 Ontario patients a year would benefit from having the scans.
"For the last five years, people have been designing trials and as of today not a single patient has been entered into any trial. They have just played me and my colleagues for monkeys," he said of the province.
Driedger said he believes the delays are an attempt by the province to save money.
"It saddens me to observe this downhill spiral in Canadian health care," he said.
Doctors who want to use the technology were dealt another blow last week when Health Canada said it would no longer allow the drugs used in the scanning to be used under its Special Access Program.
The drugs already have been approved as safe in the U.S. and Europe, Driedger said.
Health Canada is living in a "fictitious dream world" by maintaining the drugs still must be investigated here before they're used, he said.
He noted the London cancer centre was going to take part in a study to assess PET scanning in childhood cancers, but the prestigious National Institutes of Health in the U.S. this week advised it would not pay for the study.
"It is the opinion that PET is the standard of care for cancer patients and should no longer be funded as research," Driedger said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
Thursday, May 6, 2004
High Shaman Shakes Beads At Bad Juju
Health minister declares war on tobacco industry
KRIS MCCUSKER, CP 2004-05-06 03:03:38
TORONTO -- There were harsh words yesterday from Ontario's health minister toward cigarette-makers as the province gets ready to fight the war on smoking with tough new legislation to be introduced in the fall. "If there were any other product out there which leaves this kind of trail of death and destruction, we would have banished it a long, long time ago," George Smitherman said in a speech at the opening of the Ontario Tobacco Control Conference.
"It's time that we did the right thing . . . Let the battle begin," said Smitherman, whose remarks were met with a standing ovation.
The province announced in January it would introduce legislation this year to ban smoking in all public places and workplaces within three years.
Smitherman said he blames the tobacco industry for premature deaths estimated at about 16,000 each year.
"The tobacco industry says that they sell a legal product," said Smitherman. "But it's a product which kills people when used exactly as the manufacturer intends that it be used."
An aide to Smitherman said members of the tobacco industry, who usually attend the conference, were invited and then told by Smitherman they were not welcome.
The government's decision to yank away the welcome mat infuriated the big tobacco companies, who said they were given no chance to present their side of the story.
"We're disappointed and felt that was not a fair and reasonable vision for a conference that was publicly funded," said John Wildgust, director of corporate communications for J.T.I. Macdonald Corp., Canada's third-largest tobacco producer.
Rothman's Benson and Hedges, the country's second biggest tobacco manufacturer, was just as pointed in its criticism.
"We're deregistered (for the conference) and then all these accusations are made about the way we conduct ourselves," said John McDonald, director of public affairs at the cigarette company.
"They (the government) regulate and control every aspect of it, collect virtually 10 times more than the manufacturers do and yet come out with these statements."
The firm paid a registration fee the government had promised to refund but has yet to do so, McDonald said.
Smitherman said Ontario residents will understand how seriously the government views the problem of cigarette addiction with measures to be introduced in the May 18 budget.
"I want to make sure that we bring forward a piece of legislation that is as well thought out as any piece of legislation that's ever been seen," he said.
Smitherman has been consulting with several organizations, including the Lung Association, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Ontario Medical Association.
"It's certainly one of the issues that I believe will define my term as minister of health," he said.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003
TASTE THE HATE IN EVERY BITE
I don't know about this story, but it's pretty scary!
How can Joyce Burpee protect my human rights from all the way over in Toronto?
And the Free Press is so fucked up. Notice how they never say who is doing the quer(ying).
So, do you side with city hall, a union, or a human rights mandarin?Specialist's time here queried
Damn you Free Press, give some details for once.
The mayor says London's new human rights official is 'doing her work.'
MARY-JANE EGAN, Free Press City Hall Reporter 2004-05-06 03:03:38
Questions are being raised about the availability of London's human rights watchdog, even as she logs a complaint against city hall's chef. Joyce Burpee was hired by the city four months ago as a human rights specialist to probe any rights complaints involving the city.
The latest investigation comes in response to a complaint filed by Burpee herself, The Free Press has learned.
It also comes amid questions about how much time Burpee spends at city hall and how much in Toronto, where she has a residence.
Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco declined comment yesterday. She said she doesn't comment on personnel issues, and that how often Burpee is at city hall isn't an issue.
"Joyce is doing her work," she said.
A reporter who waited an hour in Burpee's office this week was first told she was in a meeting, then that she couldn't be located and ultimately -- via DeCicco -- that while Burpee was at city hall, she wouldn't speak to the media.
Burpee's voice mail is changed daily to reflect the date. She did not return messages left by The Free Press.
Adam Kopala, city hall cafeteria chef, has been off work with pay for nearly two weeks as a result of concerns Burpee raised over the disappearance of a Stop Racism poster in the cafeteria, sources say.
Was he not wearing his Kim Il-Sung pin either?The investigation also is probing suggestions white supremacist hate literature had circulated in the cafeteria.
Sounds like we need to shut down the cafeteria!
On second thought, maybe Gord Hume is right and we don't want them wandering the streets!
Let the hate smoulder in the City Hall cafeteria where it belongs.
See, you unions, this is what you get for getting in bed politically with outright cultural Marxists.
Contacted this week, Kopala would only say he's not able to comment on his situation.
Kopala is employed by Sodexho, a U.S.-based food service company that holds a contract with city hall and the city's Dearness seniors home.
The situation is stressful for the four cafeteria workers who belong to Local 302 of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union because they've been left in the dark about reasons for Kopala's absence, said Jo-Dee Phoenix, union chairperson.
While Kopala is not a union member, Phoenix said her members are feeling the fallout from the investigation. She said the issue underscores the need for a joint city-union investigation process into any harassment and racism complaints.
"There is an investigation and if my members are able to aid in that they will," Phoenix said. "In our last round of bargaining we asked for a joint investigation process and the city said emphatically 'no.'
"In my . . . opinion, it's as if we're second-class citizens and they're saying 'you couldn't possibly be as smart as us.' "But Phoenix said in the wake of the Stephen Joksas case, over the fired city building inspector who sexually assaulted and tortured a city hall co-worker, the court made it clear "we do have an obligation, under law, to investigate (harassment) complaints."
Phoenix said the frustration is that in the cafeteria probe, the union's been told nothing.
This week, cafeteria workers Amy and Sherry Lazaravitch confirmed city hall security staff investigated the disappearance of an anti-racism poster.
Burpee was hired Jan. 7 to replace Catherine Burr, who stepped down after nine months, citing interference by some senior managers.
Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003