Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Christopher Hume's Withering Assessment of Rob Ford and His Enablers
That Ford can still find five members of council willing to do his bidding, no matter how transparently shabby it may be, also speaks volumes about the sorry state of Toronto politics. The members of this odious quintet — TTC commissioners Norm Kelly, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Frank Di Giorgio, Cesar Palacio and Vincent Crisanti — shame all Torontonians, including the mayor.
And that's only a small excerpt from an excellent analysis.
And that's only a small excerpt from an excellent analysis.
A 'Dwarfish Thief' At Toronto City Hall
For those who think Shakespeare has lost his relevance in our time, try out this quotation from Macbeth when you think of Mayor Rob Ford and his abuse of power:
He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule...
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
The bard was, indeed, a man for all seasons.
The Arrogant and The Obsequious
For those both fascinated and repelled by the abuse of power happening in Toronto, and the obsequious who make possible that abuse, I highly recommend today's column by Royson James, who speculates on the qualities of pusillanimous appeasement that will be required in Gary Webster's replacement.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Tim Harper on the Vic Toews Debacle
In my opinion Tim Harper, a Star columnist with whom I tend to agree more often than disagree, misses the mark with his latest piece.
Entitled A mean town just got a whole lot meaner, the article laments the ugliness that has ensued in reaction to Toews' attempt under Bill C-30 to erode our online privacy under the pretext of ferreting out child pornographers. Toews and his government's resort to ad hominems, absolutism and other acts unworthy of a democratic government against those with reservations to the bill have provoked a furious response from the Twitterverse, including revelation of the ugly details of the Public Safety Minister's messy divorce.
Tim Harper suggests that those details should have remained private, arguing that Toews has done nothing criminal, hypocritical, nor unethical in his Parliamentary position:
In other words, there was no need to pull back the curtain on a family mess that involved others who did not choose politics as a vocation.
What the columnist ignores here is that the Twitter tactics were perfectly predictable, given the debased public climate fostered and promoted by Stephen Harper since assuming office six years ago.
In the Harper world, anyone who questions or impedes his government's vision is regarded as an enemy of Canada, a Taliban sympathizer, or disloyal to our troops. In Harper's Canada, anyone with a competing vision is villified, marginalized, muzzled, mocked or otherwise neutralized. And in Harper's world, if all else fails and real democracy threatens, there is always the prorogue option.
After six years of exposure to these abuses of power and with no recourse, is it any wonder that people, not only feeling impotent rage at their marginalization but also victims themselves of this government-led warping of public morality, are resorting to measures that in normal times would have been considered beyond the pale? Indeed, haven't more and more Canadians lost hope of legitimately influencing a government that no longer even pretends to represent the best interests of the people?
Entitled A mean town just got a whole lot meaner, the article laments the ugliness that has ensued in reaction to Toews' attempt under Bill C-30 to erode our online privacy under the pretext of ferreting out child pornographers. Toews and his government's resort to ad hominems, absolutism and other acts unworthy of a democratic government against those with reservations to the bill have provoked a furious response from the Twitterverse, including revelation of the ugly details of the Public Safety Minister's messy divorce.
Tim Harper suggests that those details should have remained private, arguing that Toews has done nothing criminal, hypocritical, nor unethical in his Parliamentary position:
In other words, there was no need to pull back the curtain on a family mess that involved others who did not choose politics as a vocation.
What the columnist ignores here is that the Twitter tactics were perfectly predictable, given the debased public climate fostered and promoted by Stephen Harper since assuming office six years ago.
In the Harper world, anyone who questions or impedes his government's vision is regarded as an enemy of Canada, a Taliban sympathizer, or disloyal to our troops. In Harper's Canada, anyone with a competing vision is villified, marginalized, muzzled, mocked or otherwise neutralized. And in Harper's world, if all else fails and real democracy threatens, there is always the prorogue option.
After six years of exposure to these abuses of power and with no recourse, is it any wonder that people, not only feeling impotent rage at their marginalization but also victims themselves of this government-led warping of public morality, are resorting to measures that in normal times would have been considered beyond the pale? Indeed, haven't more and more Canadians lost hope of legitimately influencing a government that no longer even pretends to represent the best interests of the people?
The Dark Ford Forces Prepare
Were I given to rhetorical flourishes, which of course I am not, I might refer to the gathering tomorrow of Mayor Ford and his good soldiers as a mini-Wannsee Conference as they prepare their plan to dispatch not just TTC head Gary Webster but up to five TTC executives.
Says good soldier/Ford loyalist/TTC commissioner Frank Di Giorgio:
“We will discuss whether removing some managers — and it may in fact be three, four, five — we may discuss whether that’s the way to go,” ...“We’re trying to eliminate some of the problems that surfaced over the last month that should not have surfaced and need not have surfaced.”
In his quest for a final solution to the vexing problem of bureaucrats thinking independently as they search for the best transit options for Toronto, Di Giorgio said the responsibility of the city’s bureaucracy is to follow the will of the mayor and achieve the objectives set out by his mandate, which TTC managers have failed to do.
Put another way, I suppose that grovelling obeisance has suddenly become the prime qualification for employment in the upper echelons of the TTC under the Ford regime. Next stop? Fealty oaths, anyone?
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