Awaz Apni

Awaz Apni Reported: After a day that left downtown Toronto looking like a combat zone, the city is bracing for more disruptions Sunday. The demonstrators who broke off from a noisy but peaceful march against the G20 on Saturday and provoked hours of confrontations with police will be back, Toronto's top police officer predicts. "There will be more violence Sunday because they have not achieved their objectives yet," Chief Bill Blair told CBC News. The demonstration Saturday split into two parts, as protesters from a variety of causes marched while so-called Black Bloc anarchists — who promote violent confrontation with authorities — tried repeatedly to break into the secure zone where leaders of the G20 are meeting. Police successfully moved to block the militants, who then smashed windows and spray-painted walls. Four police cars were set alight, 412 people were arrested, and hospitals and the Eaton Centre shopping mall were locked down. Subway and streetc...

Are you tired of blaming fate, the vagaries of nature, or God for your misfortunes? Try blaming CUPE. It's fun and easy. Here's an example, provided by the Toronto Sun. CUPE killed summer . That's right. Summer is dead, and CUPE perpetrated the murder. Try it yourself. Car won't start? Blame CUPE. Weather too cold? Blame CUPE. Miss the bus? Stub your toe? Spill your coffee? You know who to blame.

In my inbox today: OCAP STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH TORONTO CITY WORKERS The members of CUPE 416 and 79 who work for the City of Toronto are now on strike. The business media has begun its inevitable campaign of misinformation to produce the greatest possible backlash against these workers. We are encouraged to focus on uncollected garbage and suspended services but not, of course, to give any regard to the rights of public sector workers or to think as working people about what is at stake in this strike. OCAP, as a matter of basic principle, stands in solidarity with workers' struggles. We don't hate or blame workers who have been able to win a living wage or support calls for them to be driven into poverty. Rather, we want to see the poor provided with wages and incomes that raise them out of poverty. This strike occurs in a context that makes it especially important for all of us that it end in victory and that the concessionary demands of the 'progressive...

Puzzle me this: Why is it that the same people who bitch about workers sense of entitlement (you know, workers wanting decent treatment and wages) themselves feel entitled to free plastic bags? ( It's true ) I think its a marvelous success so far: Toronto's new 5 cent plastic bag law has reduced the use of plastic shopping bags by something like 75% .

If there were an annual worst headline award, The Sun would probably win pretty much every year. Today's paper screamed "'Enormous' fraud at City Hall" It makes it sound as though the city council or mayor has been caught doing something corrupt or fraudulent. Reading the article, one finds out there were 9 civil servants (working in social services) who are accused of insurance scams with Manulife, the city's supplier of health insurance. They allegedly made fake claims. This is being investigated, has been turned over to the Toronto Police right now, and the city sent the accused employees home (with pay, which is necessary when a charge is unproven). Rob Ford , (the only councillor interviewed in this article on the same topic , opined "I've always said corruption is rampant at City Hall," he said. "I believe this is the tip of the iceberg." The city is scrutinized in ways the federal and provincial governments aren't. The city i...