ETOBICOKE GUARDIAN | Friday, December 14, 2012 |
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Opinion The Etobicoke Guardian is published every Thursday and Friday at 175 Gordon Baker Rd., Toronto, ON, M2H 0A2, by Toronto Community News, a Division of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Ian Proudfoot Marg Middleton Peter Haggert Clark Kim Warren Elder Alison Fauquier Debra Weller Mike Banville
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Ford’s mandate must continue, despite ruling: reader
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Keeping the holidays happy and enjoyable W
ith less than two weeks until Christmas Day, the festive spirit is increasingly evident in the streets of Etobicoke . For some, that means decorating the Christmas tree or buying gifts for loved ones. For others, volunteering your time to help those less fortunate is a rewarding experience. Need more ideas? Visit our website at www.etobicokeguardian.com and scroll down to the Featured Content section where our columnists offer no shortage of things to do. Get creative and try making a winter snow globe with simple instructions provided by entertainment columnist Jennifer Peters. (http://bit.ly/UnYhz4) Or make your holiday season delicious by following the easy-to-do main course recipes ranging from salmon with oven roasted tomatoes to sweet potato mash. (http://bit. ly/W9ebQ9) If you would rather go out and eat, listen to the advice of Jessica Ruby, the Gourmet Frugalista, in her latest column on where to dine for comfort food to get you through the cold winter. (http://bit.ly/XbFgkI) To keep this season festive, it’s important to stay healthy and pain-free as health columnist Gita Mikal reminds readers in her Less Pain, More Gain column this week. (http://bit.ly/SUdnhf ) “The sweet smell of freshly baked gingerbread fills the air, a stack of greeting cards are ready to be mailed and a pile of wrapped gifts are all reminders of the hustle and bustle of the season and the joyful time to be shared with family and friends,” Mikal writes. “Let’s make it pain free and enjoy the festivities.” For sweets lovers, heed the words of dentist Dr. Jody Zajacz in her column and take care of your oral health, especially when sugary foods like cookies, chocolates and candy are readily available. (http://bit.ly/UpEwrT) And pet owners, keep your animals safe as veterinarian Dr. Brad Cotter warns that veterinary emergency hospitals see an increase in accidental poisonings during the holidays. (http://bit.ly/UHsHex) “Chocolate may be the most well-known toxin, but is still one of the most common,” he writes in his 24/7 Vets blog posting. We welcome more ideas and suggestions on how to keep Christmas merry and the holidays happy. Write us a letter to the editor at etg@insidetoronto.com and share your annual traditions that make this time of year enjoyable for all.
our view
Columnists share good ideas on staying festive
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Chief Blair left with limited options
A
t the centre of the debate freezing the Toronto Police Service budget is the question of whether residents will remain safe. Police Chief Bill Blair originally thought that limiting his budget expenditures to last year’s level would have consequences. “When we don’t have enough police officers,” he was quoted as saying, “our ability to keep ... communities safe can be affected.” But the Police Services Board remained unconvinced, and unanimously voted to approve the budget without an increase. Chief Blair commands 5,320 uniformed officers and a budget of almost $930 millon. Like Blair, residents may now wonder if they will remain safe. Toronto’s backdrop of declining crime rates is promising. The most recent data show substantial decreases in all forms of crime, with the exception of a minor jump in the murder rate. On a per capita basis, we are safer now than we have been for decades. Part of the reason is demographics, since the section of population most engaged in crime, young
Beyond the headlines
david soknacki
men, is declining. Part of our crime reduction is due to the intelligent use of technology and smarter policing. Yet the Police Services Board, in combination with city council, has given Chief Blair a tough assignment. With a budget consisting of more than 90 per cent in labour costs, he must look at the number and productivity of his staff. He begins from a difficult position, since the board agreed to a collective agreement that keeps Toronto’s officers the highest paid in Canada. With increases on average three times more than council paid to its unionized staff, the board locked-in budget increases and expensive officers. Nor was the board particularly helpful in wresting productivity gains during labour negotiations. It follows that Chief Blair must get more out of his workforce. He will probably
start with reviewing his organization, and work to reduce the practice of twoofficer patrols. Although these and other changes are essential, such ideas are easier said than done. The biggest challenge to achieving enough productivity gains is due to the size and power of the police union, the vigilant, wellfinanced Toronto Police Association. The board is already anticipating legal challenges should Chief Blair downsize his organization or attempt productivity gains contrary to the wishes of the union. And so we come back to questions of whether Torontonians will remain safe, and how Chief Blair can make that assurance with constrained resources. Thanks to fewer young men in our population, adequate investment in technology and a history of smart policing, Torontonians will be safe. But due to inflexibility in labour relations, Chief Blair’s options are limited. n David Soknacki is a former City of Toronto councillor and budget chief. Contact him at www.soknacki.com
To the editor: I would deduce that Clayton Ruby’s victory in dislocating our great Mayor Rob Ford from city hall has outraged hard-working, taxpaying Torontonians like myself who welcomed Ford’s prudence after the excesses of the David Miller years at city hall. Maybe Ford will delight Ontarians if he announces that he is going to run provincially in the election next spring for the Conservative Party paving the way for PC inroads into the heartland of Toronto along with other candidates. Turning it a Tory blue would finally mark a cessation to teacher and public sector compensation increases that have far outpaced the rate of inflation over Dalton McGuilty’s stewardship, which has become a legacy of skyrocketing debt, over two-fold the damage of Bob Rae’s N.D.P., shamefully leaving Ontarian’s well over $100 billion deeper in debt. Should Rob Ford lose his appeal I only hope for the sake our city that Doug Holyday or Doug Ford will fill the void, shielding Toronto from regressing back to the Miller-era days, which elected to support union jobs rather than go with the most cost-efficient TTC streetcars and subway train replacements at the expense of the taxpayers and who gave us the abhorred land-transfer tax that has hindered real estate transactions across the city. David C. Searle
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