Arthur Weinreb

Province wants to run Toronto’s transit – why stop there?

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced last week that he would like to see the Toronto Transit Commission eventually taken over and run by the province.

Our Dalton, who art in doo-doo

Yesterday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that he wanted to banish the Lord’s Prayer from being recited in the legislature on those rare occasions when the MPPs actually sit.

Little gangbangers – where are the parents?

A report was released on Monday by Crime Prevention Ottawa that dealt with street gangs in the Ottawa area. Among the many findings was that children as young as eight were being recruited into gangs while kids in the age range of 10 to 12 were routinely selling drugs.

Let’s have an election

There are currently three matters before Parliament that are matters of confidence that could lead to the fall of the Harper government and a new election.

Toronto Board of Trade: we like higher taxes more than you do

Nah nah nahnah nah nah.

Ease the burden on the health care system – drop dead!

A Dutch study was released earlier this week about the impact of smoking and obesity on the Dutch health care system.

Advocating killing Canadian soldiers; it’s the right of every Canadian

Among the millions of people who have immigrated to Canada in recent years is a little piece of trash named Salman Hossein. Hossein, a Bangladeshi-alleged Canadian university student with a lot of time on his hands, likes posting his views on the Internet.

The tree that couldn’t die

Perry Thompson and his wife Nora Graham had a problem. The roots of a large Norway maple got into the foundation of their home causing damage to the pipes, walls and floors.

Blue hair and flip-flops

Proper modes of dress have been in the news lately. The city council of Vaughan; “the city above Toronto” where overtaxed Toronto businesses flee for refuge, recently debated a proper dress code for municipal employees. During a heated vote on Monday, the dress code passed and such attire as vinyl, tube tops and miniskirts are out. Boo hoo hoo cried some of the city councillors.

Banning drive-throughs: we have to keep just one

A British Columbia municipal councillor introduced a motion to ban drive-through businesses from opening in his bailiwick of North Vancouver. The proposed bylaw also calls for preventing the only existing drive-through restaurant from ever expanding.

Toll roads – at least we voted for them

The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario has released a report this week on reducing gridlock in and around the province’s major centres. The report, written by Trent University Professor Harry Kitchen, recommends that tolls be imposed on the 400 series of highways, major expressways and just about any other road that Dalton’s little heart desires.

Keeping American guns out of Canada

In less than a week, two innocent Toronto men were shot to death in the city that was once known as Toronto the Good. First, 42-year-old John O’Keefe was shot while returning from a few drinks at his favourite pub. As he was walking past a Yonge Street strip club, a couple of patrons that had been ejected from one of A-Rod’s favourite haunts fired in an attempt to hit the club’s bouncer. Two arrests were quickly made.

Young jihadis are now “criminals”

Last week, the U.K. announced that they will take steps in an attempt to prevent young Muslims from becoming radicalized. It has been apparent for some time in the West that murder and mayhem from Islamic terrorists is just as likely to emanate from the so-called home grown terrorists as they are from those in the Middle East.

Increased user fees: what’s not to understand?

The city of Toronto recently announced an increase in user fees in some of the city’s recreational programs. Never being satisfied to resort to half measures when it comes to parting residents from their hard earned money, councillors will raise fees this year by a whopping 21 per cent. These fees will then be increased a further 10 per cent per year for the next six years.

John Tory: Ontario’s Hillary Clinton

Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory has something in common with US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. No, it’s not their political philosophy, although that would be a good guess.

Ontario:  another private property grab on the way

A recent study has shown that the incidence of drinking and driving is on the increase in Canada. It is no surprise that this fact elicited a response from Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino.

It’s cold out there – so let’s fix it

Currently Toronto and much of eastern Canada is in a deep freeze. The temperature in some areas is close to -20 degrees Celsius (4 F). The temperature combined with strong winds makes it just a tad nippy out there.

 Canada readies to give U.S. deserters refuge

Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, U.S. military deserters have been trickling into Canada and seeking refugee status, arguing that they face persecution if returned to the United States.

Drinking, driving and zero tolerance

The Traffic Research Foundation, a Canadian organization, released a report that the percentage of Canadians who drive while exceeding the legal limit of alcohol in their blood is 8.2 per cent; significantly higher than the 5.6 per cent that did so in 2004. According to the Foundation, 90 per cent of people who drink and drive do so regularly.

Mulroney-Schreiber: Forget the public inquiry

One of these days, Canada will be headed by a really fiscally conservative government. And the first thing that that government will do when they come into office is to have a public inquiry into why we have so many public inquiries.