The Glacial Pace Of Change At The TDSB

Regarded by some as a master of platitudes, Toronto District School Board Director Chris Spence says that things are getting better.

As outlined in The Star's investigative series, the board, in the thrall of Jimmy Hazel's Maintenance and Construction Skilled Trades Council, which forms the backbone of the TDSB’s facilities division, has for years been grossly overpaying for simple repair jobs. This was well-known to administrators and board officials for many years, and in 2006 a review was conducted by consultants Blackstone Partners, who then submitted a report to officials in January of 2007.

Despite the passage of almost six years, we are told today by Mr. Spence that some progress has been made, and the report is “working its way through the committee structure” at the board.

In what passes for clarity, lucidity and justification (cynics might call it base political posturing), the former football player drew a sports analogy:

“To use a football analogy, we are trying to move the yardstick. There is no quick fix,” said Spence, who became director two years after the review. “But I am not running, I am not hiding from the problem.”

“Blackstone took us so far. Some of the work we are doing now will take us farther,” Spence said in the interview.

To continue with Mr. Spence's sports metaphor, given the lack of specifics about this putative progress, combined with the aggregate revelations of the Star's series, some might conclude that it is time for this team to be kicked out of the league.

If It Walks Like A Duck....

Strange about Dean Del Maestro. Says he's innocent but....

H/t Brandon Laraby

Just How Much Fear Does Harper Inspire?

We know about the loathing part, but July 10 will answer the title question.

Chief Blair's Poodle Speaks

First, bullets flew through the Eaton Centre food court. Then, two weeks later, on a sun-filled patio in Little Italy. On Sunday, a man was shot while hundreds watched a fireworks display in the city’s east end. Just 24 hours before that, a stray bullet grazed a toddler’s leg in North York.

Yet Mark Pugash, Toronto police spokesman and spinmaster, tells us there is really little to worry about here.

I guess, despite evidence that would seem to contradict this skilled communicator, This is the best of all possible worlds.

Asbestos Redux

Canada continues to be an outlier amongst Western nations as the sole exporter of death, aka asbestos, a topic that I have written about many times on this blog. The federal government continues to perpetuate the lie that the highly carcinogenic substance is safe if handled properly, despite the fact that the Harper regime vetoed an international proposal last year that would have made labeling and safety instructions mandatory.

Now, aided and abetted by that criminally negligence federal stance, Quebec's Premier Jean Charest has given a $58 million lifeline to continue mining this lethal export.

The Star has a good editorial today excoriating this measure. I hope you will read it and keep the issue alive this summer should you encounter your Tory M.P. lurking about the constituency.

More on The Harper Betrayal of All of Us

I wrote a recent brief post on the Trans Pacific Partnership that Canada recently signed onto, the price of admission being the surrender of much of our sovereignty over the environment, working conditions, etc.

A new article published in The Nation paints a grim portrayal indeed of the future we face as a nation when this pact is finalized, going well beyond the compromises made in NAFTA.

I urge you to read it, and consider what each of us can do, given the fact that we, our children and our grandchildren will all be the poorer for this absolute betrayal by the Harper government.

H/t to Kev.

Harper Refuses To Release Taxpayer-Funded Study On Pensions

The conclusion the cynic would draw (that's me) is that the report suggests no need for the changes Harper has made in the OAS.

H/t Brandon Laraby