Toronto Subway Fiasco – I agree that Rob Ford ran on building subways on Toronto and city council should have backed his plan. However, when he had no solid business plan the leftists on council smelled the opportunity and won a key vote on sticking with the original short sighted transit plan of ex-mayor David Miller. After the loss, Rob Ford took every opportunity in the press to whine about not winning; it just made him look pathetic. Solution: As we’ve mentioned in a previous article, it’s better to take the loss and move on. Nobody likes a whiner and the public won’t respect you for it.

The Weight Loss Challenge – A noble idea and if Rob Ford had the drive to actually lose the weight this could have been a great PR move. We all have troubles losing weight and to have the Mayor of Toronto step up and hit his weight loss goal could have been inspirational. Instead, he skipped weigh-ins and was captured on video with KFC bags. Solution: If he really wants to win some public support, suck it up and start trying. Losing weight is hard but it can be easier if you are grossly overweight like Rob Ford is. Dropping 50 lbs. isn’t that hard at that starting weight. Make the commitment to do it, and get it done. The public will cheer and the fat jokes will stop.

Attend the flag raising for Pride week – My suspicion is that Rob Ford isn’t comfortable among gay people. Is that become he hates gay people or that for religious reasons he doesn’t condone it…I don’t know and I don’t care. Apparently other people who shouldn’t care either have made it a rallying cry against the mayor. “He is mayor of all of Toronto, not just Etobicoke”, “Rob Ford doesn’t support the Pride parade but supports the income generated” are cries hitting the media and the airwaves. Solution: At this point, showing up at the Pride Parade would be bad for his image because it shows him caving in to this pressure. I respect his ideals that if he wants to spend time with family instead, so be it. He should simply attend the flag raising, maybe some other smaller event and the public will probably leave him be afterwards. He should have gone to the flag raising last year and this would have all died down but whoever is advising him is an absolute idiot!

Mayor Rob Ford still has 2 years left on his term and there is still work that needs to be done to save this city from the tax and spend councilors giving out $64,000 cleaning jobs to their union supporters. These mistakes that Rob Ford has made can be corrected but he needs to bend a bit and learn that winning the war will cost you a few battles in the process.

That plan included finding financial efficiencies and eliminating waste (gravy), eliminating certain levies such as the license tax and the Toronto land transfer tax and creating new subway lines instead of the LRT’s that the previous regime proposed.

Although he has faced some opposition for some initiatives, Rob Ford has won some big battles including bringing the outside workers union to its knees and accepting some major concessions.

When the subway agenda came to the table, Rob Ford was railroaded (pardon the pun) by Karen Stintz and lost a key vote to build his subways.

Ever since that vote, Mayor Rob Ford has kept pushing his subway agenda only to have his pleas fall on deaf ears.

Personally, although the new proposed subways don’t benefit me at all, I agree that if the money can be found WITHOUT NEW LEVIES OR TAXES, a new subway should be built in Toronto. The voters elected Rob Ford to do all of his proposed objectives – including building new subways.

Toronto city council seems to continually forget that they were voted in by their community but the people of Toronto elected the mayor. There are a number of councilors that I would turf if given half the chance but that’s an article and rant for another day.

The reality is Rob Ford is starting to sound like a whiny child who hasn’t got his way. There are ways to still battle the subway issue but lately every time he’s been in the media, the first words out of his mouth are “Subways”.

Unfortunately with the left wing council, he is going to do battle on almost all of his issues until the next election with they figure out who they want to run up against Ford to win back the socialist vote.  What he needs to do is step back from this subway battle and get back to all of the other issues that face Toronto.

Continue finding efficiencies, keep the pressure on the unions, start the tough battle of cutting council from 44 to 22 (another election promise that Rob Ford campaigned on) and keep doing what he started his term with.

He has lost the subway vote, time to dust off the pants and get back into the game…crying about it will only continue to make things worse.

As for the hinted proposal of raising property taxes 1% to build the subways; MyTorontoNews endorsed Rob Ford to be mayor because he was geared to finding efficiencies in the system and shifting wasteful spending to other needed projects. The idea would be use money found in one pocket, then put the excess along with the $8.5 billion that McGuinty has promised and there is your new subway.

For Rob Ford to now propose a new tax, and a parking levy to pay for the subway…that is a David Miller tax and spend plan and it disappoints us greatly to have the mayor even propose such a ludicrous suggestion.

Mr. Ford, the battle is lost; don’t lose the city’s vote in the next election pushing a lost cause. Keep at the unions and start working towards turfing 22 dead weight councilors…leave the subway issue alone!

The first press release after the Drummond report came out stated that Full Day Daycare (Kindergarten) won’t be cut. Now comes word that the 10% Ontario Hydro rebate won’t be looked at as well.

Those two programs by themselves amount to a savings of $2.5 billion which means that McGuinty needs to cut elsewhere to come up with the savings.

When the Drummond report came out, the ex TD economist was quick to state that this is not an ‘a la carte buffet’ of suggested cuts to pick and choose from to save the province of Ontario from the financial destitution that we are heading into. These are cuts that need to be made to save us.

Admittedly I knew that McGuinty was never going to cut All Day Kindergarten and secretly I am happy for my bank account that the Hydro rebate may be staying.

I figured I would come up with some suggestions for the Liberal government to look at to find money or savings to offset these two programs and others that McGuinty wants to keep.

The suggestions of the MyTorontoNews Report are free of charge, although I could use some of the $1,500 a day that Don Drummond received in creating his report.

Here are some of the report highlights;

Hire University Students – Since the 30% tuition reduction is supposed to be eliminated, university students will need more money. Let’s hire them for summer or part time jobs to work at Queens Park searching for money. They can look in the cushions of the couches for spare change, collect aluminum cans to collect 5 cents, check the closets or storage areas for bags of money that may have been misplaced or put away for safe keeping by previous financially sensible governments.

Have a bake sale – proceeds support the credit agencies to not downgrade Ontario and causing more financial hardships

Create a new premium on Booze and Cigarettes – He won’t raise taxes, but as we learned in McGuinty’s first term, a premium is not a tax! So let’s add $3 per bottle of wine and $2 per pack of smokes and watch the money roll in

Create an e-book – McGuinty could write a ‘how to’ manual on how to screw up a province financially, lie to voters, repeatedly raise taxes and still get re-elected.  Should be a best seller for other aspiring politicians.

A Dance-a-Thon – watching the Liberals dance at Queens Park during question period should be a fundraising opportunity for the province

Buy some scratch and win lottery tickets – The OLG has a “Cash for Life” lottery game, imagine if the Liberals could win a bunch of these instead of using the “Taxpayer has Deep Pockets “ game that they usually play.

Our full report can be seen at www.StartDoingYourJobandFixOntario.ca/You’reStillTheWorstPremierEver

Aston Martin One-77 at the Toronto Auto Show

Every year in February, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre gets transformed into an automobile showcase that has become one of the largest in the world.

The Canadian International Auto Show entertains over 300,000 people each year with everyday cars that can be bought, classic cars that we wish we could by, concept cars that are a glimpse into our future and a showcase of exotic cars that only the richest of the rich could entertain owning.

Since I was a kid, heading to the Toronto auto show has brought me joy. Now as an adult, I use it for practical purposes such as research for my next car or creating a checklist of cars to one day hope to own. And still, I find myself drawn there each and every year, even if I’m not in the market for a new car.

This year’s 39^th edition of the 2012 Canadian International Auto Show features something for everyone with approximately 1,000 cars and trucks valued at $30 million showcased by over 125 exhibitors.

But that’s just the beginning.

The Auto Exotica exhibit showcases a line-up including a bevy of Ferraris, the Callaway Corvette, the Bugatti Veyron and this year featuring the Aston Martin One-77. The Aston Martin One-77, being shown in limited North American venues and is currently not available for sale anywhere in Canada or the States, is currently the most powerful naturally aspirated production engine in the world. The Aston Martin One-77 is truly a showpiece that you have to see when down at the show.

Other features of this year’s show are geared to classic car enthusiasts.

The Haggerty Cruise Nationals features a display of classic cars ranging from rare models to the most popular production vehicles ever built. The 2012 Toronto auto show also features the largest ever indoor display of Triumphs with over forty vehicles from Triumph Motor Car Company.

For people heading to the auto show in Toronto, you should focus on bringing comfortable walking shoes as you will see every inch of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The venue almost directs you into a walking course that they suggest you follow to see everything at this year’s show.

If you bring the little ones, there is an onsite daycare area to rest their weary legs and allow you to continue on with checking out all the featured exhibits.

As a kid going to the show I loved the opportunity to sit in as many cars as I could but to my dismay they never allowed the expensive cars to be unlocked. Gradually that has changed and some top car companies like BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, and Lexus have expanded their publically accessible cars to include some of their higher end fleet.

Not being a rich man, it was nice sitting in a $100,000 Mercedes or the BMW Z4 roadster.

For those looking to buy a new car, there are plenty of sales associates to help you without the full court sale press that comes at any Toronto car dealership. I’ve always used the Toronto auto show to check out cars that I am considering buying so that I can weed them out and focus on a select few to actually test drive.

If you love cars, this is the show for you.

The 2012 Canadian International Auto Show runs from February 17^th to the 26^th and is open from 10:30 AM to 10:00 PM every day (Closes at 6:00 PM on the 26^th).

It is located at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and can be entered from either the Front St. entrance or the Bremner Blvd. South Building entrance.

Ford Mustang Boss 302 Toronto Auto Show

Ford Mustang Toronto Auto Show

Yellow Ferrari Toronto Auto Show

Lamborghini Toronto Auto Show

I would assume the next word’s you’d hear would be “I hate you!” before they storm off to their room in tears.

Now you understand what Premier Dad is faced with.

Ever since he took office he has gleefully given out toys to everyone; full day daycare (kindergarten) to parents and teachers unions, 30% tuition cut to new voters and university students, playing Robin Hood to the health care system by imposing a health premium (tax) and shelling out the wealth to the hospitals – ultimately to CEO’s  and e-Health and ORNGE scandals that blew through that money  jumping right over the sick and the needy, and of course the wonderful public sector unions that kept voting him in and advertising for him during election time.

Now Daddy Dalton is faced with this Drummond reports that says “take it all back to save Ontario”.

What to do, what to do?

Now news organizations have begun conducting polls asking people what cuts they would be happy with; surprisingly, none of them are palatable to Ontarians.

What a surprise, the genie is out of the bottle and refuses to go back in.

Parents taking advantage of the free daycare don’t want to give up their free afternoons to watch over their own children again – Dalton promised that he would take care of them.

Teachers unions and doctors are being asked for pay freezes – but other unions  got a sweetheart raise, “why not us too”?

Kids were given 30% of their tuition back in exchange for their first ever vote – “What do you mean you have to break a promise?”

Eliminate Green Energy Credits – “But I just bought a red Toyota Prius”.

Dalton was so quick to gain power and lavish riches on all of Ontario that he forgot the simple fact that money doesn’t grow on trees and now he is faced with the Drummond report telling him “take it all back!”

McGuinty has tried to defuse the situation by stating that eliminating full day kindergarten is off the table but Drummond has been quick to state that this report is not a buffet of suggestions that you can pick and choose which programs you want to keep and which you want to cut – his report states you must cut this all to save Ontario.

So Premier Dad will undoubtedly make some people cry when cuts are made and the hope is that instead of screaming “I hate you’, voters simply boot out the Liberals the first chance they get to punish them for the financial crisis that they were ultimately responsible for here in Ontario.

When McGuinty ran against Ernie Eves, I warned friends around me; ‘Don’t vote for him, it won’t turn out well’…very few listened.

When he was elected and brought in the health tax… I got to say to people ‘I told you so’.

When he was re-elected (which still baffles me), Dalton McGuinty brought in the HST…again I got to say ‘I told you so’.

(By the way, the idiot Liberal voters of Toronto are to blame for constantly re-electing McGuinty so they should feel the brunt of the shame, the rest of Ontario can be spared the shame).

Now in his third term (I almost fell out of my tree with this last re-election), Dalton McGuinty is faced with a huge problem.

He has commissioned Don Drummond to tell him everything that opposition leaders and other sane people in Ontario have said for the last 9 years…you spend WAYYYY too much!

Now he gets it and he is faced with the problem of how does he undo all the “good” that he has done in Ontario without ending his third (and God help me it better be his last) term and still leave some sort of legacy.

The report from Don Drummond recommends to eliminate the full day daycare/kindergarten program, claw back the tuition cuts, reduce the size of public workforce, and chop salaries amongst over 300 other recommendations.

When Mike Harris took over from the Bob Rae NDP he inherited what was then a record $6 billion deficit. Mike Harris made cuts where necessary and was reamed in the province for his slash and burn techniques. Even after Dalton McGuinty took office he blamed Mike Harris for most of his first two terms for what he had to fix.

For all of McGuintys Liberal tax and spend initiatives, he forgot the most basic of tasks…to budget. Now during these tough economic times and after his orgy of spending trying to make every Ontarians life better, he has successfully put our province into near bankruptcy.

What was once a prosperous province is now a ‘have-not’ province. Credit agencies are threatening to lower Ontario’s credit rating which would even further tumble our province down the rabbit hole.

For the record…I TOLD YOU SO!

I guess if there is any joy in my life, it’s that now the man that put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Mike Harris for all the cuts that he made, will now have to make those same type of cuts thus undoing all the “good” that he has accomplished.

Although Full Day daycare will not be eliminated, Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers that are the second teacher in the classroom may be chopped. Funny, do you know how many jobs will be eliminated for ECE’s that invested into this long term career only to now have a useless degree?

The Health Care system in Ontario which gets an extra $2.4 billion a year from the health tax imposed by McGuinty, now will be cut. That’s OK, those long lines at the ER will only increase your wait to see a doctor by an hour or two but since we’ll all have no jobs, we’ll have the time to spend there.

Don’t have a family doctor yet…wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.

Looking to get one of those new jobs that McGuinty promised would come as a result of the HST implementation and Green Energy initiatives…better head for the employment agency office now before the lineup gets too long.

And yet, all you people kept voting Liberal fearing that if the big bad Conservatives ever came in to power they would cut everything again just like Harris did.

Maybe now you will stop and think…why did Mike Harris have to make all those drastic cuts? Oh right, it’s because he took over for an incompetent tax and spend politician.

It should be an interesting 3 years in Ontario watching McGuinty try to spin this one…I wonder at what point does this also become Mike Harris’ fault?

If I were you, I wouldn’t go out this year and buy any Ontario savings bonds; they may not be worth the paper they are written on.

As for the next time there is an Ontario election…don’t make me say ‘I told you so’ again!

This is the 39^th year that the Auto Show has come to Toronto and every year it has seen attendance numbers grow. Last year over 300,000 people walked through the massive display of cars and automotive displays.

The 2012 Canadian International Auto Show will be as big as ever with over 125 exhibitors showcasing approximately 1,000 cars and trucks valued at $30 million.

That’s just for starters!

Throw in the Auto Exotica with an exotic line-up which includes the Ferrari FF, Pagani Zonda, the Callaway Corvette, Fisker Karma, Bugatti Veyron and features the Aston Martin One-77. The Aston Martin One-77 is currently the most powerful naturally aspirated production engine in the world. The One-77 is being shown at limited North American venues is currently not available for sale anywhere in North America.

For classic car enthusiasts, The Haggerty Cruise Nationals features a display of cars ranging from rare models to the most popular production vehicles ever made.

The 2012 Toronto auto show also features a Triumph exhibit with over forty vehicles from Triumph Motor Car Company.  This is said to be the largest ever indoor display of Triumphs.

Opening Family Day weekend in Toronto the 2012 edition of the Canadian International Auto Show will have added features which include Toronto FC Alumni Jimmy Brennan and Danny Dichio available for autographs, as well as race car drivers signing posters and autographs for lucky show goers.

MyTorontoNews will again be on hand at this year’s auto show for a full review of the sights and sounds of one of the most popular events to hit Toronto every year.

So check out the 2012 Canadian International Auto Show this weekend or check back with us for a review of the show and decide whether or not to go this year.

Given its past history and popularity, the Toronto auto show fails to ever disappoint!

Whether people see or or not, Toronto is in financial trouble. Past mayors had their pet initiatives to make Toronto a “world class city”. Nice ideal to have but when you keep spending taxpayer money as if it is an unlimited financial resource you eventually dig a deep hole.

Additionally, when you give union workers everything they want to ensure your re-election, you further dig that financial hole that is even harder to get out of.

When Rob Ford won the election he did so with one clear goal in mind…save the city of Toronto.

Unlike past regimes that just looked for one item on a balance sheet to chop and hope that would fix the financial mess, Ford is trying to alleviate the financial pressure with a 1000 little cuts.
Cut the city council spending budget by $20,000 each, no more free meals for council, reduce library hours, shut down unused social centres…we’ve heard all the cuts.

None of these cuts are sexy, but they are meant to save money anywhere possible.

Recently the sale of valuable real estate has begun and in this hot market in Toronto, old dilapidated houses are going for a king’s ransom. None of the people will be left homeless, but single old ladies will no longer get to live on the government teet in a million dollar house.

With this settlement with the unions, we shall see how many concessions were made to make Rob Ford happy. Rob Ford stood up to the unions and sealed his fate with any future votes that he could have garnered in the future. Past mayors talked tough, then gave the unions everything they wanted to solidify another term as Mayor of Toronto.

We haven’t yet seen the details of the agreement and I would suspect that the city did not break them down as much as I would have like to have seen. According to Rob Ford, this agreement will help them solve some future financial issues that previous agreements have handcuffed them on.

When election time comes around again, many contenders will point to Rob Ford and blame him for the cuts that had to be made. The left wing tree hugging hippies will put down their pot, come out of their tents and cast their first vote ever to try to eliminate Rob Ford from office.

Whether Ford will be able to beat back the rivals and win another term has yet to be seen, but in the end, he will allow the city of Toronto to avoid financial bankruptcy…at least until the David Miller want to be Adam Vaughn steps in and starts Toronto back on the path to financial ruin.

I grew up during the time when the 80’s material girl was every boy’s wet dream as she was a shot in the arm to the airwaves with her provocative videos, scintillating lyrics and her outgoing sexuality.

That was the 1980’s…now in the 21^st century the 53 year old going on whatever, is still trying to keep up her youth with her outgoing sexuality.

Ewww…the 80’s pop girl has surpassed cougar status and now is crawling into the creepy category.

Hey, I’m all for women who are older trying to remain young, but Madonna almost tries too hard to go out of her way to say “Look at me! Look at the crazy thing I’m about to do next”.

All of her musical life, Madonna has tried to be the centre of the universe. Her ‘Like a Prayer’ Video sent shockwaves through the catholic community, the whole ‘Like a Virgin’ thing angered parents of teenage girls, getting arrested for sex acts on stage, her coffee table book “Sex” which was basically a hardcover porn magazine…these were all when she was still good looking and young.

Fast forward a couple of decades, after settling down for a bit and getting married, she decided to scrap the white picket fence life and get back to her sexual roots. Unfortunately for her, she was well past her “best before date” at that point.

The Britney Spears on stage kiss, back to touring trying to pretend to be young and hot, going after married sports figures (A-Rod, what the hell were you thinking) and now of course Nicki Minaj, the “15 minutes of fame” singer that Madonna has kissed.
Madonna has always been the queen of P.R. and tabloids fodder but enough is enough!

Maybe I’m getting old but watching her plastic surgeon sculpted body taking the stage at half time at the Super Bowl maybe the perfect time to head to the bathroom and wash my eyes out with soap. The sad truth is what has been seen, cannot be unseen.

Let’s just hope that there is no “wardrobe malfunction” this year!

After Ford’s election as mayor of Toronto, Councillor Joe Mihevc solicited the legal opinion from “a respected Toronto Law firm” to see if Mayor Rob Ford has the power to change the transit plan that had been ushered in by the previous regime.

In the report “respected lawyers” Freya Kristjanson and Amanda Darrach state;

“Under the City of Toronto Act, the power of the city resides in City Council. The Mayor of Toronto has very little independent authority beyond his role as head of City Council. Unless specific power is delegated to him, the mayor does not have the authority to speak for the city independently.”

In full disclosure, Freya Kristjanson was the lawyer who represented Mayor Hazel McCallion during the judicial inquiry that found her guilty of sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong and allowing the awarding of lucrative contracts to her son.

So three issues I have with all of this;

Calling a lawyer “respected” holds about the same amount of water as the tern “beloved politician” the two words just don’t work together.

Secondly, Joe decided to go outside of the city instead of using Toronto’s own city hall lawyers to get this “unbiased” report. When reports are being paid for, I don’t believe that the term unbiased should ever be used. Whether the law firm is being motivated financially, politically or some other motive, bias will always attach itself in some form. You get what you pay for.

Finally, the statement itself ignores the whole democratic process itself. “Unless specific power is delegated to him, the mayor does not have the authority to speak for the city independently.”

Umm I don’t know; does winning an election by a wide margin not count as power delegated to him?

Toronto councilors are elected by their own riding but the mayor of the city of Toronto is elected by everyone in the city. Rob Ford ran on a platform of building subways and the overwhelming majority of people agreed to this by voting him in.

Whether people like what Rob Ford is doing, he was given a mandate to stop wasteful spending, build subways, get rid of the vehicle tax, remove the land transfer tax and the one thing that should happen but won’t, purged Toronto city council to 22 seats instead of the bloated 44.

There was a lot that mayor Miller did that people didn’t like and at re-election time, he was renewed as mayor by the Toronto voters. This was a reaffirmation of his policies.

If people don’t like what Rob Ford does in his 4 year mandate, then they can come out of their tents and vote for once in their life and boot him out. Until then, the majority of voters have said “Rob, you’re in charge”. Not Joe Mihevc, not Adam Vaughn or any of the other union catering left wing hippies on Toronto city council.

This report is simply a new stall tactic to negate progress in Toronto and keep the TTC running as poorly and inefficiently as it has been.