October 24, 2005 was one of the bloodiest and most violent days that Toronto has ever seen. There were five separate shooting incidents, including a shootout just outside the Sherbourne subway station where a bullet entered the door of a passing van and narrowly missed the driver. In the 48-hour period that ended on October 24, three men were killed and two more are in hospital with life-threatening critical injuries. at the time of this writing, the death toll from guns in 2005 stands at 44--the same number as those who died from SaRS three years ago.
Toronto Mayor David Miller began this violent day with an address at a breakfast meeting of the Toronto Board of Trade. after informing the audience that violent crimes such as sexual assault and armed robberies are down, Miller urged the business execs in attendance to hire "disadvantaged youth" on the theory that giving someone a job making $12 or $15 an hour will prevent them from selling drugs and blowing someone away who looks at them the wrong way.
as Sue-ann Levy wrote in the Toronto Sun, the city has hired a few of these disadvantaged youth but not enough to anger David’s union buddies at CUPE. and it’s highly improbable that Mayor and Mrs. Miller will ever step out for the evening and leave their kids with a disadvantaged and youthful babysitter. Like most on the left, it’s do as I say--not as I do.
On the day that saw multiple shooting incidents throughout the city, even Police Chief Bill Blair parted company with the mayor that brung him. Blair is the darling of the left on Toronto City Council and the Toronto Police Services Board and was handpicked to succeed Julian Fantino, a real cop because Blair can sit around and sing Kumbaya with the best of them. But even Blair referred to Miller’s plans as "simplistic". He didn’t actually say that David Miller was simplistic, but you get the idea. If the situation on our streets is such that Blair stops being a social worker and becomes a cop, things are really getting out of hand.
Both the other levels of government, neither of which can ever be accused of being tough on or taking an interest in violent crime have started to take action. The federal government has proposed, in addition to their stupid idea of suing american gun manufacturers over the fact that their products are smuggled into Canada, tougher sentences for violent crime, including an increase in mandatory minimums for gun crimes. This is a drastic change from the previous position of the Liberal government where Justice Minister Irwin Cotler insisted that minimum sentences would not be expanded or increased. Okay, so the Liberals are more concerned with the safety of Liberal MPs’ seats than they are with the safety on the streets and this is only a pre-election goody, tougher measures to fight crime could still be on the way.
The province of Ontario has announced that more senior police officers and crown attorneys will be deployed to fight guns and gangs. Even though both of the opposition parties complained that the announcement contained no new resources; only redeployment of existing resources, nevertheless it is a start at combating the ever increasing shootings and gun murders.
a recent poll by Ipsos-Reid showed that 55 percent of Toronto residents list violent crime and guns as the number one problem facing the city. a whopping 87 percent said that the city is more dangerous than it was five years ago.
While Torontonians become more concerned about the burgeoning gun violence and the federal and provincial governments swing into action, David Miller continues to tout his hire-a-thug program. It’s hard to think of another Canadian politician who is so out of touch with ordinary citizens who just want to take the subway to work or go to a shopping mall without getting caught in crossfire. Miller cares about his ideology--he couldn’t care less about the people whose lives are shattered by the increasing level of gun violence.
Toronto to mother ship--it’s time to take David home.
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