Funding Cricket and sports in Ontario

Yesterday Perdita Felicien won the 100M hurdle silver medal at the World Track and Field Championship meet in Osaka, Japan. Athletes have complained repeatedly about not getting support from the government, however our cricketers have been lucky. A month ago it was revealed that the Ontario Cricket Association were the beneficiaries of a $1M grant after requesting $150,000. The only problem the association seem to be having is deciding what to do with the $600,000 they still have in their coffers. It's election time Premier McGuinty. more

TO is world's No. 5 most livable city!

Toronto is ranked No. 5 on the Economist magazine's world most livable cities list after No. 1 ranked Vancouver. Way to go Canada! more

Toronto and the Mayor's tax plan

Today Royson James outlined in his Toronto Star article what might be the genesis of the city's tax woes. Whatever happens for the rest of Mayor Miller's tenure there will still be a need for strong leadership in the city in the years to follow.

In times of desperation

As I watched the newscast last week where the people in a town in the northern Indian state of Bihar were stricken and devastated by flood waters, I couldn't help but notice the reporter's words on how the residents were fighting for the food being released from the helicopters bringing in relief supplies. This brought to mind, the basics of humanity and how we all react when confronted by desperate situations. I was at Ontario Place, Toronto a year ago and a crowd of probably a thousand or more had converged on the TTC station to get the street car back to the city centre.

The small street cars were still running at the usual schedule of 10 minutes or less and the crowd grew restless and started pushing/shoving each other and the customary queue disappeared. In Canada, we are not accustomed to these desperate situations however by the example I have outlined there are no exceptions when they do happen, desperate circumstances almost certainly provokes desperate responses, not just in the developing world.

The Mayor is on the offensive again

His Lordship is carrying out some of his threats to Torontonians as he can't seem to have his way at taxing the population. The mayor has not displayed any form of negotiation skills since he started threatening the Federal Conservative government about campaigning against them (which he always does since he is affiliated with the NDP) unless he gets 16.7% (his misleading 1 cent plan) of the GST revenue collected in the city. Mayor Miller never negotiates from a position of strength and seems surprised when he is unsuccessful. His leadership ability is now being questioned and he should be doing some serious self assessment if he has not done so in the past couple days. Things have not changed since he first took office and the city's debt has climb to where it now sits. The Mayor now has some critical decisions to make and chief among them should be his tenure in office.

Gordon O'Connor's future

Gordon O'Connor could leave his post of Defence Minister in the near future when Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to shuffle his cabinet. Political opponents are clamouring for his removal however, I doubt it will be from the cabinet. Afghanistan has been very challenging however there has been a number of accomplishments namely the renewal of the military infrastructure. Opposition leader Stephan Dion could see his wish for a full removal only partially granted as a full removal of Minister O'Connor from the cabinet could be harmful for progress made in the development of Canada's ill-equipped military.