On Tasers And Tim

As usual, Star readers offer their penetrating commentary on recent events and the benighted Tim Hudak. Enjoy!



80-year-old woman tasered a day after rules changed, Sept. 4

I find it extremely disturbing that Peel Region police officers called to Thomas St. and Erin Mills Parkway on Aug. 28 around 3:30 a.m. were unable to “talk down” an obviously anguished 80-year-old woman. According to the article, the woman was “walking along the road,” which is not at all busy with traffic at that time of the morning. Surely, even if they could not get her off the road of her own volition for safety reasons, they could have easily overpowered this senior citizen.

Instead, they tasered an 80-year-old, causing her to fall, at which time it seems that she fractured her hip, as well as incurring other injuries. In view of all of the unfavourable publicity regarding how police appear to rush to use force above all other methods, this does not bode well for our citizenry, young and old.

Grace A. Taylor, Streetsville

Really? Tasering an 80-year-old woman? Did Peel Regional Police feel so threatened by her that they felt their only option was to use a Taser?

Mary Smart, Kingston



Collision course for Hudak, labour, Column Sept. 5

The Conservative party in Ontario is ready to self-destruct and one big reason is that Tim Hudak, Randy Hillier and other dinosaurs in the party want to “deunionize to reindustrialize,” medievalize not modernize labour in Ontario. This backward vision whereby the province transforms itself into Mississippi or Arkansas in order to attract exploitive employers who treat their employees like dirt instead of paying living wages and providing fair benefits is a non-starter with the Ontario public. It is one of the main reasons the Tories are tanking in the polls.

We don’t need political leaders who take us backward. We deserve leadership that moves us forward, by following successful examples like Germany. Attacking unions might throw some red meat to the dinosaurs in the Conservative party, but the quicker they become extinct, the brighter Ontario’s future will be.

David Lundy, Merrickville

Re: Proposed bill would help building firm, hurt unions, August 31

Bill 74, a private members bill introduced by London-area Tory MPP Monte McNaughton, to overturn a Labour Relations Board decision re: the use of unionized workers caught my attention. This strikes me as another “race to the bottom” for Canadian workers.

The Labour Relations board gave the giant construction company, EllisDon, whose head office is also in London, two years to lobby Queen’s Park for a change.

A couple of questions: Did EllisDon become a giant company without the help of Canadian education/training programs/Canadian infrastructure/benefits and resources? Benefits that support the growth and success of Canadian companies are also due to Canadians.

If companies from other countries can bid for jobs here with complete freedom to hire non-union workers, isn’t that a sure sign that Canada and Canadians have been sold out by our governments?

If I were the head of EllisDon, I would exert pressure on the federal government to establish a level playing field, rather than try to undermine the workers who have made EllisDon profits possible.

If Canadian companies lost their right to a level playing field due to the free trade sell out, why should the most vulnerable workers be bullied and sacrificed?

Donna Chevrier, Mississauga

A True Gateway Drug

For those who believe in the virtues of unfettered capitalism, you might want to read up on how teens and pre-teens are now ingesting nicotine, many for the first time, thanks to the diabolical marketing of e-cigarettes to them. Available in flavours that include bubblegum, cherry and strawberry, the lure is proving irresistible to more and more youngsters, many of whom 'graduate' to 'real' cigarettes once they are hooked on the nicotine:



Evil seems to be a wholly inadequate word to describe what is going on here.

Feet Of Clay?

This from the folks at prima facie. Enjoy:

Told You The Right Hates Rachel Maddow

Listen to this for confirmation:

The Power Of Pictures

'Nuff said.

Another Union-Busting Eatery I Will Not Patronize

Several days ago I commented on a story from The Star about the unsavory labour practices of Richtree Market, a Toronto restaurant that 'closed' its business, terminated all of its unionized staff, only to reopen this coming Monday a few doors down from its prior location. None of the old staff was rehired, and all who currently staff the 'new' operation are non-union, a clear violation of Ontario labour law.

In this morning's edition, The Toronto Star reports that the same tactic has been used by the Lai Wah Heen restaurant, housed within the exclusive Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto:

For 17 years, Ricky Chu served the lauded dim sum at Lai Wah Heen restaurant with a smile. The unionized job at the Metropolitan Hotel eatery fed his kids, after all.

When a new owner took over the hotel in January, the high-end restaurant was shut down. Chu lost his job. But he considered it salt in the wound when Lai Wah Heen reopened in March — without him or ten other servers who were laid off. In their place was a non-unionized staff.

The Metropolitan Hotel changed hands this year, being purchased by Bayview Hospitality Group. This fact, according to its president, Al Gulamani, gives it every legal right to treat over 100 of the hotel's former workers like disposable commodities.

Unite Here Local 75, the union representing them, disagrees, arguing that the owner has violated labour law and their collective bargaining agreement by shutting down certain departments only to subcontract them out.

Employment lawyer Howard Levitt says new ownership can’t break a union agreement, especially if the nature of the business hasn’t changed.

“It doesn’t matter if the ownership changes, there’s something called successor rights in the Labour Relations Act. Employers who think that just by changing ownership they can escape the union are unfortunately deluded.”

Meanwhile, employees in other departments of the Metropolitan live in daily fear that they will be next. One of those is Rahman Aliheidari, 49, pictured above, who fears the room service department at the Metropolitan Hotel, where he works, will next:

“I have a 4-year-old daughter. When I work, I have fear. When I sleep, I have fear. You call this a stable job?”

Indeed.

He's Everywhere!

Disclaimer: Despite the fact that this is my third recent posting about him, there is no 'bromance' budding between me and Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt. It's just that I am fascinated by him, given his seemingly ubiquitous media presence, one that belies both his profound, quite peculiar stupidity and smug self-righteousness.

As reported in The Raw Story, Klingenschmitt recently appeared on The Ed Show to try to explain the unholiness of Obamacare.

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