So the Green Party Asked Me for Money…

Friday, December 27, 2013

Earlier this morning I received a rather innocuous email from the Green Party asking me to make a political donation.  I’m interested in politics, but I don’t belong to any political parties.  I cast my ballot based on the issues in that election and whether the local candidate supports the causes that I care about — for me, public transit is a biggie.

So, when the Greens asked me for money, I felt compelled to respond, as their candidate had not impressed me during the last federal byelection.

My email to the Green Party, verbatim:

Hello Green Party,
 
I appreciate the note, however, I cannot in good conscience donate to your party at this time, following the position your candidate took on public transit in the recent federal byelection in my riding (Toronto-Centre).  John Deverell, although very well spoken, did not support expansion or funding of public transit in either Toronto Centre, or the City of Toronto in the election debate that I attended.  His position was that Toronto already has transit and other communities are in greater need.
 
If you would like my vote, let alone a donation, please field a candidate that will enthusiastically work to support their constituents.  Toronto has a desperate deficit of public transport infrastructure; I was very disappointed that your party, via your candidate, did not support the obviously “green” alternative to private autos.
 
Thanks,
William

My message to the Greens, or any political parties that may be reading:  if you want my vote, then be sure to support public transit 100%.  Hint:  I like what Olivia Chow has been doing lately at the federal level, with respect to public transit.

© 2013 http://talkinghead.ca


‘Toronto tax’ going away

Monday, March 31, 2008

I was reading the Metro newspaper on the way to work this morning; I’m always interested in municipal affairs, so the articled headlined “More money for municipalities” caught my eye. More on that in a bit.

If you’re not familiar with the municipal structure of the Greater Toronto Area, here’s the Coles Notes version. From 1954 to 1997, “Toronto” was a group of six municipalities that belonged to the higher level Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto; the member municipalities were:

  • City of Toronto
  • City of North York
  • City of York
  • City of Etobicoke
  • City of Scarborough
  • Borough of East York

Metro Hall Banner

Read the rest of this entry »


Proof that Toronto Doesn’t Suck

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Sidewalk Plough in Ottawa, Ontario

As a resident of Toronto, I’m proud not to participate in the national passtime of Toronto-bashing.

This was re-inforced today after I spent some time this afternoon shovelling snow as Toronto and neighbouring suburbs have received 15-20 centimetres of precipitation over the last couple of days.

How you ask? As I was shovelling snow, the sidewalk dude drove by. I had already done some yesterday, and the snowfall between now and then had already been packed down on the sidewalk, so he didn’t have much to do. I nodded “have a nice day” as he passed, and went about my work. A few minutes later as I’d reached the end of the driveway and had started clearing that heavy snow at the edge we all know and hate, sidewalk dude was on his way back on the other side of the street.

The nice man driving the sidewalk plow saw my struggle and stopped his plow. He crossed the street and cleared that horrible muck at the end of the driveway for me!

How awesome is that!?