Panicked city councillors express contempt for democracy
As the October 25 date for Toronto's mayoral election draws closer, so does the prospect of Rob Ford becoming the city's mayor.
The most recent polls have Rob Ford holding the support of 32% of Torontonians. Former frontrunner -- and Liberal candidate all-but-officially -- George Smitherman is running second with 21%.
Many members of Toronto's City Council are rather alarmed that Ford may well be the next mayor. Some of them are all but planning a revolt.
“I hope that the citizens of Toronto wake up," said soon-to-be-former City Councillor Kyle Rae. "I can’t believe Toronto is prepared to do it.”
Rae insists that Ford has no record of accomplishments for the City of Toronto.
“All he has done is attack and vilify other members’ work, he has got nothing he can point to,” Rae insisted.
“Most thinking people in Toronto would be so embarrassed by him being mayor that there would be an obligation on council to do something,” he concluded. "In my opinion, if Mayor Ford is elected, city council will have a caucus meeting and they will choose their own mayor and he will be the mayor in name.”
It's worth noting that Kyle Rae is the individual who threw a $12,000 goodbye party at taxpayers' expense. This in a city where Ford is being ordered to payback $3000 in charitable donations solicited with stationery bearing the letterhead of his Council office.
It's also worth noting that Ford is the one who blew the whistle on Rae.
But it seems that the fiscal priorities of Toronto City Council are an absolute joke: $12,000 parties for themselves, while Councillors whose politics they disapprove of are ordered to repay $3,000 in charitable donations.
Other comments offered by Councillors at this Council's final meeting also smack of elitists who think they know better than the citizens of Toronto.
Others have chosen to take a negative view of politics -- focusing more on what he wants the citizens of Toronto to vote against, rather than what they might be voting for.
“The ballot question has been framed, ‘Rob Ford? Yes or no,’” said City Councillor Adam Vaughan. “It’s just a question of where the no vote moves now.”
But all this apparently seems to be the attitude of Toronto City Council -- where individuals who declare themselves to represent the "thinking people" of Toronto claim the privilege of governing the city however they see fit, and what individuals think voters are voting against is more important than what they may have voted for.
They believe it to be a dictatorship of the proletariat in Toronto -- and Toronto City Council seems to have decided that they are the proletariat.
Showing posts with label Kyle Rae. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kyle Rae. Show all posts
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Homosexuals Turn Up the Heat on Harper Government
But may be missing the parade for the "dykes on bikes"
Believe it or not, there is a time and place for public dancing in crotchless leather pants. Believe it or not, there is a time and place for men to wear women's clothing in public. And there is even a time and place for members of the same sex to ride on floats together and kiss each other in public.
That's right, folks: it's gay pride time again.
Perhaps the most visible and recognizable tactic of those fighting for gay rights and acceptance, "freak parades" have become the centerpiece for gay pride holidays all across the world.
Some credit gay pride parades with helping advance the promotion of tolerance for gays and lesbians. Some claim these parades only increase tension between homosexuals and the rest of society. This is all entirely debatable. One thing that is certain is that gay pride parades are a commendable use of the constitutionally-entrenched right to freedom of expression that every Canadian possesses.
This year, gay pride activists in Toronto -- home to one of the largest gay pride parades in all of North America -- have mixed what some consider to be a healthy dose of politics in with their festivities, in particular taking aim at the governing Conservative party over a pledge to hold an open vote on re-opening the issue of same sex marriage for parliamentary debate.
But these activists -- while their hearts certainly seem to be in the right place -- may have their heads entirely in the wrong spot. Trying to turn homphobia into a political issue may be fair enough. But trying to turn it into a partisan political issue is simply a bad idea.
For one thing, if there is anything gay pride activists have failed to adequately address, it is homophobia among members of all Canada's political parties. For example, Mary Pollack, a former Liberal candidate for BC's Surrey riding, at one point, while serving as the Chairperson of the Surrey School Board, spent one million dollars trying to bar text books from school libraries. The books in question portrayed same-sex families in a positive manner. Courts eventually forced her to allow the books. Joe Borowski, a former Manitoba NDP cabinet minister, wrote a number of articles in the late 1980s that many people considered to be homophobic.
In other words, homophobia is not a blight that is restricted to the Conservative party. While more critics of the Conservative party take aim at them with these accusations, there has been, is, and will continue to be prevalence of this problem within Canada's other parties as well.
Another problem with the stance these people are taking regards the opinions of homophobes. " I think the message from the Prime Minister about reviewing marriage has given homophobes a feeling of power," said Kyle Rae, a co-founder of the Toronto gay pride parade. " It gives them a license."
But doesn't failing to have this debate at all give these "homophobes" (and not everyone who opposes same sex marriage can simply be dismissed as such) more power? It gives them the complaint that they are being ignored, and that homosexuals are being given preferential treatment by the government. Certainly the latter is not true, but what if the former were? It is certainly better to have the debate.
James Loney, the Canadian hostage recently freed in Iraq (who also happens to be gay himself) said, "I think Stephen Harper's intention to reopen the same-sex marriage debate is providing a forum for people to express what I think is a kind of intolerance and a very narrow view."
Loney, who, after his terrible ordeal, must have a full understanding of people with narrow views, must not think that it is also narrow to deny dissenters the opportunity to express their views. It is every bit as narrow as the bigotry that he is speaking against.
Like anyone else, homosexuals have the right to be politically active. Like anyone else, homosexuals have the right to lobby and influence their government.
But they must also recognize that even those who ignorantly hate them have these same rights, and must be allowed the same opportunities to do so. Most importantly, they must recognize that homophobia is not a partisan political issue.
When they do this, the time when they can wear their crotchless leather pants in public everyday will be that much closer.
Believe it or not, there is a time and place for public dancing in crotchless leather pants. Believe it or not, there is a time and place for men to wear women's clothing in public. And there is even a time and place for members of the same sex to ride on floats together and kiss each other in public.
That's right, folks: it's gay pride time again.
Perhaps the most visible and recognizable tactic of those fighting for gay rights and acceptance, "freak parades" have become the centerpiece for gay pride holidays all across the world.
Some credit gay pride parades with helping advance the promotion of tolerance for gays and lesbians. Some claim these parades only increase tension between homosexuals and the rest of society. This is all entirely debatable. One thing that is certain is that gay pride parades are a commendable use of the constitutionally-entrenched right to freedom of expression that every Canadian possesses.
This year, gay pride activists in Toronto -- home to one of the largest gay pride parades in all of North America -- have mixed what some consider to be a healthy dose of politics in with their festivities, in particular taking aim at the governing Conservative party over a pledge to hold an open vote on re-opening the issue of same sex marriage for parliamentary debate.
But these activists -- while their hearts certainly seem to be in the right place -- may have their heads entirely in the wrong spot. Trying to turn homphobia into a political issue may be fair enough. But trying to turn it into a partisan political issue is simply a bad idea.
For one thing, if there is anything gay pride activists have failed to adequately address, it is homophobia among members of all Canada's political parties. For example, Mary Pollack, a former Liberal candidate for BC's Surrey riding, at one point, while serving as the Chairperson of the Surrey School Board, spent one million dollars trying to bar text books from school libraries. The books in question portrayed same-sex families in a positive manner. Courts eventually forced her to allow the books. Joe Borowski, a former Manitoba NDP cabinet minister, wrote a number of articles in the late 1980s that many people considered to be homophobic.
In other words, homophobia is not a blight that is restricted to the Conservative party. While more critics of the Conservative party take aim at them with these accusations, there has been, is, and will continue to be prevalence of this problem within Canada's other parties as well.
Another problem with the stance these people are taking regards the opinions of homophobes. " I think the message from the Prime Minister about reviewing marriage has given homophobes a feeling of power," said Kyle Rae, a co-founder of the Toronto gay pride parade. " It gives them a license."
But doesn't failing to have this debate at all give these "homophobes" (and not everyone who opposes same sex marriage can simply be dismissed as such) more power? It gives them the complaint that they are being ignored, and that homosexuals are being given preferential treatment by the government. Certainly the latter is not true, but what if the former were? It is certainly better to have the debate.
James Loney, the Canadian hostage recently freed in Iraq (who also happens to be gay himself) said, "I think Stephen Harper's intention to reopen the same-sex marriage debate is providing a forum for people to express what I think is a kind of intolerance and a very narrow view."
Loney, who, after his terrible ordeal, must have a full understanding of people with narrow views, must not think that it is also narrow to deny dissenters the opportunity to express their views. It is every bit as narrow as the bigotry that he is speaking against.
Like anyone else, homosexuals have the right to be politically active. Like anyone else, homosexuals have the right to lobby and influence their government.
But they must also recognize that even those who ignorantly hate them have these same rights, and must be allowed the same opportunities to do so. Most importantly, they must recognize that homophobia is not a partisan political issue.
When they do this, the time when they can wear their crotchless leather pants in public everyday will be that much closer.
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