Archive for the ‘ Patrick Bay ’ Category

Loud and clear

Posted on June 10th, 2013 Be the first to comment

It has become more or less a sick joke with the so-called “right” these days; marking occasions such as National Public Service week while simultaneously, and very publicly, destroying the very things they’re there celebrating; just like Ford’s speech at International Freedom of the Press Day, made shortly after he announced his open war against all the “maggot” media.

One might almost call it a perfect example of irony if it wasn’t so disgusting.

“I want to extend my appreciation to all federal public servants who serve with dedication, professionalism and commitment to the interests of Canadians,” Harper said in a statement issued Sunday.

This is, of course, anti-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is doing his damnedest to make Canada’s civil service into a glorified form of slavery, something he’s trying to do to the rest of Canada too because, after all, it’s the absolute highest ideal of the neo-Con business model / government. No, seriously, I defy anyone to name a business that wouldn’t want its workforce labouring for free and cowering in fear at the whims of the owner(s), and that’s what Ford, Harper, and the rest of their slimy cronies, have been pushing for loud and clear.

This is all being done under the manufactured banner of austerity which the politicians have made quite clear will only be saddled on the regular, average taxpayers while they themselves can be free to “misplace” billions of dollars of our increasingly hard-earned money. On top of this, it’s painfully obvious that the government is not in any way interested in making the civil service more effective and they sure aren’t interested in reducing any waste. Regardless of how much they lie in public, it doesn’t take much to put these facts together and to determine what their intent is.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay

As City Hall bleeds…

Posted on June 7th, 2013 2 Comments

Lost among the tumult of Rob Ford’s office staff leaving is a Globe piece about brother Doug that exposes more rot surrounding the Ford family tree at City Hall.

We learn that Doug is now the only member of a 13-person Build Toronto board after all of his colleagues quit for one reason or another.

Build Toronto is the group that’s supposed to be revitalizing the east-end waterfront; you know — the people behind the monorail, water hotel, and the Ferris wheel ideas. And just like his brother, Dougie is now trying to get his lapdogs into every vacant position on that board (it’s not hard to guess why):

The prospect of [Doug’s short-listed candidate] Mr. Kraljevic taking over at Build Toronto is a cause for concern among citizen groups who worked for years on plans for the Lower Don Lands only to have them threatened by Mr. Ford and Toronto Port Lands.

“How is this okay?” asked Cynthia Wilkey, chair of the West Don Lands Committee, a coalition of community groups that has worked for more than a decade on the waterfront development.

Ms. Wilkey said she was “gob-smacked” that the head of an agency that flouted the will of council is under consideration for a job managing a large city-owned real estate portfolio.

This must be the Fords’ definition of building a consensus.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay

Lessons of gas plants

Posted on June 5th, 2013 Be the first to comment

Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian has found yet another government body breaking the law simply because they can:

“At the root of the problems uncovered over the course of our wide-reaching investigation was the practice of indiscriminate deletion of all emails sent and received by the former chief of staff to the minister of energy,” Cavoukian wrote.

That is in violation of the Archives and Recordkeeping Act (ARA).

Cavoukian said it is impossible for citizens to hold governments to account if potentially important documents are destroyed.

This is in her quest to find out what happened to the Ontario Power Plant cancellation under Dalton McGuinty, and that’s the conclusion she comes to:

When the government breaks the law, it’s impossible for anyone to hold them to account.

At this point the dull wit of the Ford/Harper supporter would mumble something about these being my Liberals, and why do I keep supporting them, etc.

That’s the sad dry rhetoric that anyone with more than a few brain cells has to endure these days — you’re either with the Conservatives or you’re with the Liberals, and there’s absolutely nothing in between. Doesn’t matter how many times you try to explain that it’s possible to support neither — that just doesn’t quite compute.

But I don’t want to get hung up on that because there are numerous disturbing parallels and trends here:

Ford – Repeatedly broke the law in direct, proven ways; has Chief of Police unwilling to even dish out a dangerous driving ticket, and judges willing to absolve him of any wrongdoing even when it’s proven he broke the law.

McGuinty – See above.

Harper – Has illegitimately seized control of Canada and has committed treasonous act after treasonous act intended to enslave Canadians, all while openly deceiving and lying to citizens, and without so much as a slap on the wrist (in fact, being aided and abetted by those who should be keeping him in check). He is being allowed, even encouraged, to circumvent any legal or moral objections to his regime — just like the two examples above.

I know if you’re reading what I’ve written here for the first time that it sounds like almost insane ramblings — just please do me one favour and follow some of the links, you’ll see that nothing is in any way false or exaggerated. In fact, what I link to doesn’t even come close to the truth once you start digging around, and that truth is a lot darker and more disturbing than what I can dredge up at any given moment.

Even more disturbing are Cavoukian’s further comments:

“I am very disturbed the former minister of energy’s office produced absolutely NO records in response to the speaker’s ruling on the gas plants issue, and that the former premier’s office had so few records that were responsive to two freedom of information requests relating to these decisions.”

She singled out Craig MacLennan, former chief of staff in the energy minister’s office, for deleting all emails, calling it “a matter of great concern” given legal requirements to keep records of public policy decisions like power plant closures.

“It is simply unbelievable that MacLennan would have no understanding of this,” Cavoukian wrote. “I find it strains credulity to think . . . no records documenting the decision-making process were ever created.”

If that doesn’t sound familiar, here’s a reminder:

“In view of the respondent’s leadership role in ensuring integrity in municipal government, it is difficult to accept an error in judgment defence based essentially on a stubborn sense of entitlement (concerning his football foundation) and a dismissive and confrontational attitude to the Integrity Commissioner and the Code of Conduct. In my opinion, the respondent’s actions were characterized by ignorance of the law and a lack of diligence in securing professional advice, amounting to wilful blindness. As such, I find his actions are incompatible with an error in judgment.”

That was Judge Hackland’s take on Rob Ford’s “but I didn’t know anything!” defense at his conflict of interest trial. Clearly the Libs are doing the same thing, and I’m sure I can find plenty of examples of the Conservatives wielding the same bullshit.

As Conservative MPP Rob Leone says (hopefully just ignorant to the irony):

The Libs create “a secret world hidden from the opposition, the media and the public eye . . . people are breaking the law.”

Yes they are, only it’s happening up one side of government and down the other. And as commissioner after commissioner is finding out, the people of Canada are powerless to stop it.

Except, of course, we aren’t. We just need to rise up in sufficient numbers and with sufficient anger to force the powers that be out. If they have seized power of the nation illegitimately and are committing open treason to boot then we are justified in using force to do so (something that the courts and RCMP should be doing), just as we are justified in using force to repel their illegal and tyrannical advances (if the rule of law prevails then surely so must our highest laws, things our courts and the RCMP should be protecting). And if you don’t believe in the law then at least believe in your God-given rights to exist and be free.

Or we can sit back and let the known public liars and repeat criminals run roughshod over everything we think of as Canada, while they pass ever increasing laws designed to literally put anyone at all arbitrarily in chains, as they themselves continue to publicly commit crimes with completely impunity.

You still have a choice…

Filed under: B Sides, Patrick Bay

Full circle Ford

Posted on May 30th, 2013 Be the first to comment

Seems like these days you hardly have time to turn around before another casualty of the Rob Ford administration comes out of the woodwork.

Just today another two staffers have been “escorted” out of City Hall. This time around it was Brian Johnston, Ford’s policy advisor, and Kia Nejatian, his executive assistant. That makes five people in total. So far.

Then comes the news that someone involved with the crack video (at least in terms of being in it), has been arrested in connection with the murder of Anthony Smith, the guy standing next to Ford in the same video (at least in the still that’s been floating around). In fact, they’re all hugging it up, making Ford’s presence smack dab in the middle of the group just that much more suspicious.

And the “non-existent” crack video, as Ford vehemently claims, seems all the more real every passing day as additional details surrounding his staff’s efforts to hunt it down have emerged. Seems Rob was personally involved in trying to get his hands on the video that doesn’t exist.

There’s also that pesky rumour that Robbie’s been busy behind the scenes destroying records — presumably of his misdeeds. Regardless, that’s just plain illegal.

If that wasn’t all bad enough, both friendly and not-so-friendly politicians are all taking a step back and saying they want nothing to do with the Fords.

And in the meantime, as a little gift to all of his taxpayers, he hasn’t even mentioned the one thing he vowed to be fighting: excessive spending at City Hall, specifically a computer project that has ballooned from around $8 million to $70 million on his watch.

This project sounds eerily familiar to the MFP computer scandal … that one resulted in the creation of the conflict of interest rules that Rob Ford was the first one to test and get away with on an egregious technicality — and then wanted the watchdogs responsible for preventing a repeat of that fiasco to be gotten rid of (among others asking too many questions for his liking).

Basically, the muddle of corruption, greed, and criminality has come full circle, and the Fords are sitting right in the middle of it in one way or another.

But don’t worry, maintains Robbie … everything’s fine!

Filed under: B Sides, Patrick Bay

It’s not all about frothing anger

Posted on May 29th, 2013 Be the first to comment

Sometimes, it’s just about the pretty pictures, like the ones that ones that were featured in the 2013 Toronto Workforce Innovation Report: http://workforceinnovation.ca/sites/default/files/TOP2013_WebVersion_0.pdf

Here are the originals:

http://www.torontocitylife.com/2010/04/20/going-parking/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torontocitylife/3685347357/in/photostream/

The second photo was also used, oddly enough, in an Israeli textbook (or so they claimed!)

So you see, it’s not all about Rob Ford all the time. It’s just that he makes it so damn easy.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay

Porter visits Ford Nashun

Posted on May 28th, 2013 Be the first to comment

It takes some guts to insert anyone critical of the Fords smack dab in the middle of Ford Nation these days. After all, these are the same people who openly threatened to cut Sarah’s head off on Facebook (I wish I was kidding).

But Catherine Porter of the Star did it anyways, standing outside of Rob’s cherished Humbertown Mall with nought but a sign inviting people for a talk, and a smile, asking Ford supporters what they thought of their man these days.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Ford Nation if at least a few of them didn’t throw out insults like their corpulent hero, but thankfully a few people decided to talk to her and provide us with a glimpse into the brilliance that makes up their ranks.

The person that stood out, for me, was one Robert Tycholiz, a former drug addict turned musician, and a die-hard Ford backer.

“I have a lot of faith in the mayor. The things he’s done for the city are the ones he promised to do,” said Tycholiz, 54. “I believe him.”

The word “believe” here is really very appropriate, because it exposes a sort of blind faith. And it would have to be blind to claim that the mayor has “done” anything for the city outside of an extra $0.12 each day in your pocket (but only if you can afford to drive a car; go figure), and privatizing half of Toronto’s garbage collection (which doesn’t exactly qualify as the City Hall “gravy” that Rob used to scream about).

I guess this is enough to impress some people. Fine.

Then there’s this little gem:

“Anybody on coke, addicted to coke, could never carry weight like Rob Ford. He’s a big man. Those drugs slim you down like nobody’s businesses,” he said. “He’d have to be very, very stupid to have that happen, and I don’t see him as a stupid man.”

To claim that Ford’s tenure has shown much intelligence is a huge stretch. And about drugs like cocaine slimming you down like “nobody’s business”…

ChrisFarley

This is Chris Farley, in case you don’t recognize him; a jolly, good-natured, and infinitely more intelligent version of Rob Ford who died of a cocaine overdose, and who remained quite beefy right up until the end. Farley exhibited the same sweaty, ruddy-faced demeanor that Ford does, making accusations of Ford’s drug use all the more plausible.

But not to Ford Nashun, the people who are willing to believe a known public liar (remember how vehemently he denied his Florida DUI charge? Or the drunken hockey incident?) over overwhelming evidence and fact. Reality clearly doesn’t matter. They’ll buy whatever the fat man is shoveling, even if that happens to be so much fetid bullshit.

The questions I’m left with at the end of all of this: should these people be allowed to walk around without a chaperone and some sort of protective head gear? And for God’s sake, we’re letting them behind the wheel of a car?!

Filed under: B Sides, Patrick Bay

Everything’s fine!

Posted on May 27th, 2013 Be the first to comment

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first time Rob Ford has publicly apologized:

I’m sure you understand this has been a very stressful week for myself and my family, but that doesn’t justify using the terminology I did to describe the media, so I sincerely apologize to each and every one of you. I understand you have a job to do. It’s been bothering me a lot: I know we agree and disagree on some issues, most of the time, some of the time, but you have to move on.

So, to be fair, we have to give him this little ray of sunshine. Plus, he knew that “maggots” comment would be a stinky turd the moment he opened his mouth.

But the rest of his statement, delivered this afternoon with the intent of addressing the recent “personnel” changes in his office (plus those additional, pesky, ongoing stories), don’t fill me with much additional confidence:

And that’s it, it’s business as usual.

Everything’s fine. I have no idea what the police are investigating. It would be best to talk to the police about that.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay

Two more bite the dust

Posted on May 27th, 2013 Be the first to comment

Last week it was Towhey who was cast adrift on the high seas, today it was Rob Ford’s press secretary, George Christopoulos, and communications aide, Isaac Ransom, who decided they don’t want to sail on the S.S. Ford any longer :

“Mayor Rob Ford’s press secretary has quit”, Toronto Sun City Hall Bureau Chief Don Peat tweeted Monday.

Ford communications aide Isaac Ransom also quit, according to Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale.

Seems the smart rats can all sense the impending wreck. Maybe it’s Ford’s latest “the media are a bunch of maggots” comment, or maybe the crack thing, or maybe it’s the connection to the murder of Anthony Smith, or maybe it’s the fact that brother Doug is now under the microscope for his own history with drugs, or maybe the uncountable middle fingers Rob has given to supporters and detractors alike. Any way you slice it, shit’s getting real, and it’s about damn time — just in time for the Crackstarter campaign to wrap up (only a few thousand to go as of this post).

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay

Ford fires chief of staff

Posted on May 23rd, 2013 Be the first to comment

Rob, in proper Ford fashion, continued to stay mum and ignore the swelling crack scandal, and has instead decided to fire his chief of staff of just 10 months, Mark Towhey.

The firing was likely pretty sudden and not terribly congenial as Towhey was escorted out of City Hall by security. Rumours are that it had something to do with football, but it’s hard to imagine what exactly that could be.

This is Rob’s second chief of staff in as many years, and is in line with the Fords’ disdain for pretty much everyone and everything that doesn’t lick their shoes.

It should be noted that the choice of the mayor’s chief of staff is well within Ford’s purview, so I’m not suggesting that he did anything wrong or illegal, but there’s obviously a tempest brewing behind the scenes, and we all know who’s providing the hot air for that storm.

Shit’s about to get real!

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay

Ford’s coaching is officially kaput

Posted on May 22nd, 2013 Be the first to comment

Seems like the Don Bosco community’s grievances have come home to roost:

“He can coach wherever he wants, but not at a TCDSB school,” [TCDSB spokesperson John] Yan said Wednesday.

In case you’re wondering, TCDSB is the Toronto Catholic District School Board, meaning Ford is now banned from coaching at any Catholic school in the city.

The review was prompted by an interview with Sun News in which Ford made comments that were called inaccurate by Don Bosco’s parent council, many teachers at the Etobicoke school, and even the offensive coordinator on Ford’s coaching staff. Among other contested statements, Ford said that Eagles players would not attend school if not for the football program, that many players “come from gangs” and from “broken homes,” and that Don Bosco is a “tough school” in a “tough area.”

I don’t think there’s a need for any follow-up commentary here — just another day in Ford Nation. I just can’t help but wonder how he’s going to use his newly freed time — attending City Hall and doing his job, maybe?

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay