It is a well known fact that there are many negligent landlords in Toronto. Although tenants complain about serious issues, their complaints fall on deaf ears. Hopefully these landlords are now going to be called to task. The City of Toronto has created a new unit that as of December 1st will be inspecting and assessing the worst buildings in Toronto. The unit members are not new hires therefore this program will not incur any additional costs. They are being redeployed from other areas in the licensing division. Their focus will be on common areas in buildings - parking garages, balconies, electrical, water and heating systems, and exteriors. Tenants who have ongoing complaints about their specific units should not despair as there will be separate team investigating those complaints. Every negligent landlord is fair game for this newly formed unit including community housing that is owned by the city.

This is going to vastly improve the current situation. In 2008 to date only 14 inspections have been done. This is absolutely not acceptable. The new unit, in its first year will inspect 176 buildings that have been identified by residents, councillors, and city staff as the worst. And, they have some power to wield as well. They can charge negligent landlords $60/hour for inspections. The new unit will inspect a building and on the basis of their findings work orders will be issued. Two inspections will take place. If the repairs as required in the work order have not been completed and a third visit is required, then the negligent landlord will be charged a $60/hour fee for subsequent inspections until the repairs have been satisfactorily completed. In the event that the landlord refuses to do the required work, the city will take care of the repairs and charge the landlord on his tax bill. The results will be posted on a new city website.

This may not solve all of the long term problems related to negligent landlords, but this is certainly a good start.

York University is now officially closed. A strike by part-time workers has caused the cancellation of all classes and the postponement of all assignments. There are picket lines from 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM. Cars are only being allowed onto the campus every few minutes and busses are letting students off at the gates. There are a few things that remain open - residences, food services and recreational facilities. Intramural games and varsity leagues are continuing as usual. And, non-credit night school classes are on.

The strikers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903, are the 1,850 graduate students who work as teaching assistants, 550 who work as research and administrative assistants, and 950 contract faculty members who teach almost half the courses at York but do not have permanent status. York offered a wage increase of 9.25 % over three years, improved dental and health benefits and paid leaves, matching other settlements across the public sector. The union wants an 11% wage increase over 2 years in addition to better health benefits and more job security for long-term contract teachers.

York’s teaching assistants are the highest paid in Canada. They are complaining that the sector is poorly paid. Well then, get out of the sector. All of these strikers are in LALA Land. Job security doesn’t exist in the real world anymore so get with the program. And even asking for an 11% wage increase over 2 years is ludicrous. If the situation for the students wasn’t so pathetic, the irresponsible demands of the union would be comical.

No one is talking and the students are suffering. York will agree to binding arbitration, but the union will not. If need be university officials will consider stretching the first semester into January. The students are merely pawns in a game being played by union officials. When is someone going to consider them? When is someone going to end the stranglehold that megalomaniac union bosses have on our society?

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is taking place from November 7 - 17 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place located at 100 Princes’ Blvd. It is the largest combined indoor agricultural fair and international equestrian competition in the world. From its humble beginnings on November 22, 1922 it has grown exponentially and this year over 326,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Bring the whole family and take in the rodeo, SuperDogs, horse shows, education programs, wine competition, apple competition, an unbelievable 8-horse Roman riding event, and more. One of the highlights of the fair is Christmas at the Royal which will take place on Sunday, November 16th. Christmas will be abound with everything that you would expect including a visit from Santa Claus. Eat, drink, and be merry with traditional holiday dishes and some Christmas cheer.

There is plenty of activity to keep the wee ones busy and happy. The Ag-tivity Centre has been created for children between the ages of 4 and 11 to amuse themselves with colouring, painting, and play. On Sunday, November 16th there will be gingerbread decorating, special prizes, and other special Christmas activities.

Buy your tickets online or in person.

Leave the car at home and take the TTC or GO Transit. If you are traveling by TTC take either the 511 Bathurst Streetcar from Bathurst Station or the 509 Harbourfront Streetcar from Union Station. If you are taking GO Transit, get off at Exhibition Station.

For more information contact the specific department of your interest directly.

Until now the only way that you could get into an airport business lounge was to have a business class or first class ticket, or be lucky enough to know someone working the lounge who let you in. The first “common use passenger lounge” is now open at Pearson International airport’s Terminal 1. I do wish that they had given it a better name than “common use”. It sounds so pedestrian.

The official opening was on November 1st. This lounge is available for all international travelers in Terminal 1 at the cost of $35.00 which entitles you to wireless Internet access, use of printers, monitors and flat screen televisions, in addition to unlimited food and beverage access. Samsung Electronics Canada provided workstations featuring Samsung’s T200 Touch of Colour monitors and a number of 400DXN 40-inch Large Format Displays, ML-4551 monochrome printers and CLX-6210FX colour multifunction printers that print wirelessly as well as from the workstations. For entertainment there are several Samsung 52″ Touch of Colour 6 series LCD TVs located throughout the lounge.

The lounge has been created to make time spent traveling more relaxing and more productive. Some airlines may offer the use of the lounge free of charge to business class passengers. There is also an annual membership available which may appeal to frequent flyers who travel coach. Of course Samsung is not providing the equipment for altruistic reasons. They are hoping that once you try their products you will become a convert and buy Samsung. I’ll be interested to see if their experiment works and the lounge drives business.

Will you pay $35 to use the lounge?

There is a great deal of controversy about whether or not using electronic devices while driving causes accidents. No one is denying that they cause distractions, but that is an entirely different matter from causing an accident. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Quebec have already banned the use of hand-held devices in vehicles. The proposed legislation in Ontario does not affect the use of hands-free devices, and therein lies the hypocrisy. Aside from benefiting the companies that manufacture and sell hands-free devices, who is this law really going to benefit?

According to Jim Bradley, Minister of Transportation, research shows that drivers using hand-held devices are four times more likely to be in a crash than drivers who are focused on the road. Where is the statistic on people using hands-free devices? According to Evelyn Vingilis, an auto safety expert and professor at the University of Western Ontario’s department of family medicine and a member of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals, research shows that it’s the attention that’s paid, not whether it’s hands-free or not hands-free. Ms Vingilis’ statement is backed up by the Ontario Medical Association in a report which states that there is no difference between hands-free and hand-held cellphones “when it comes to cognitive distraction.”

The Ontario Medical Association found that talking on a hands-free or hand-held cellphone while driving:

•    led to a large reduction in the driver’s functional field of view
•    changed average driving speed
•    decreased safe distance between vehicles
•    slowed brake reaction time
•    slowed response times to traffic light changes
•    resulted in a 15% increase in non-response to stoplights
•    slowed braking by 18% and slowed the time it took to come back up to
speed by 17%
•    reduced visual monitoring of mirrors and instruments with some
drivers abandoning them entirely
•    resulted in fewer inspection glances at traffic lights and an increased tendency toward hard braking

A study conducted by University of Toronto professor Donald Redelmeier reported that cell phones might not be the biggest cause of driver distraction. It reported that inattentive drivers caused about 9% of serious accidents with only 1.5% of those people using a cellphone at the time of the accident. However 11.4% were distracted by the radio, cassette or CD player. Almost 30% were distracted by another passenger or outside event.

The Ontario Medical Association has stated categorically that using hands-free devices instead of hand-held devices doesn’t lower the risk of accident and these findings are backed up by the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals. What are we doing? Either ban all electronic devices or don’t, but let’s not be hypocrites.

Image courtesy Flickr

The Art Gallery of Ontario  is celebrating its brand new look with 3 days of free admission. Bring the entire family. There will be plenty of indoor and outdoor activities to mark the auspicious occasion. The building is not the only aspect of the transformation. There are over 4,000 works of art in 110 newly installed galleries. One of the most dramatic signature elements of the new building is the iconic sculptural staircase emerging from Walker Court.

Free admission days and times are:
•    Friday, November 14th from 4:00 PM to Midnight
•    Saturday, November 15th from 10:00 AM to Midnight
•    Sunday, November 16th from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM

Local artists will be on hand to draw your portrait. Show off your own talents and contribute to a series of outdoor canvases. There will be free snacks and drinks outdoors all day and some special surprises.

Members will have the opportunity to see the new and improved AGO before anyone else. Membership does have its privileges. Members days and times are:
Sunday, November 9th from 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Monday, November 10th from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Tuesday, November 11th from 9:30 AM to 9:00 PM

One of the great new programs at the AGO is free after-school admission for Ontario students ages 13-18. Free Wednesday nights at the AGO will continue as will its free access partnership with the Toronto Public Library’s Sun Life Museum Arts Pass program, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s Cultural Access Pass program for new citizens, and the access program for all members of the Ontario College of Teachers.

How many times have you walked by one of Toronto’s homeless people and looked away? Many of us have become jaded. We’re sick and tired of people asking for money on every street corner. Most of them look able bodied and capable of work, particularly the teenagers sitting on the street with enough jewelry in their faces to pay a month’s rent and a healthy, well-fed looking dog beside them. However, not all of Toronto’s homeless are lazy, drunk, drug addicts, or mentally ill. Some are just down on their luck and could really use some of the pocket change that we wouldn’t miss, but they have become invisible because we don’t want to look at them.

A few weeks ago I was walking along and in the distance I saw one of the area’s regular homeless people at his usual spot. He looks like he exists in an alternate universe, frail, sitting cross legged, staring into space, chain smoking, with his hand out and a cup beside him. I watched a lady bring him a bottle of water and set it down beside him. He continued staring into space until she walked on. He then rose like a phoenix from the ashes, stood up straight as a die, picked up the bottle of water, marched several yards to the nearest parkette, hurled the water bottle with the skill of a quarterback, marched back to his spot, and resumed his position - frail, cross legged, chain smoking, staring into space.

As I walked on I came across another homeless person and I didn’t even look at him because of what I had just seen. For some reason I stopped and looked back. He was sitting on the sidewalk, his entire face and what ever was visible of his body was totally burned. He had no hair, no ears, and no fingers. I fished into my handbag for some money, turned back, put the money in his cup and wished him a good day. Here was someone who clearly could use a little help, but sometimes we just don’t want to see. Not all of Toronto’s homeless are created equal. Please don’t become blind.

Overcrowding, scheduling pressures, and increased ridership are being blamed for low morale. There is no such thing as a job without frustrations and pressure. Suck it up boys and girls and be grateful that you have a job with high pay and a strong union. These coddled TTC employees should talk to some unemployed Torontonians to hear the real deal on low morale. You would expect that these highly paid workers would be grateful to have TTC jobs. But, no, absenteeism has risen by 1.7% this year. In dollars and sense these numbers are astronomical.

-    In 2006 absenteeism cost the TTC approximately $150/day in benefits for 112,690 sick days which equals $16,903,500
-    In 2007 based on approximately $150/day in benefits for 116,693 the TTC paid $17,503,950 in benefits for sick days
-    In 2008 by the end of September the TTC had already paid out benefits on 99,270 sick days which equals $14,890,500 - on track to be yet another record in absenteeism

This year absenteeism among TTC employees rose by 1.7%. In order to stem this tide the TTC is expanding an early intervention program to get workers back on the job sooner and trying to transform the workplace culture. As it stands now TTC workers get 5 paid sick days annually. After that they have to produce a certificate from a doctor. However when sick benefits are refused the TTC employee can appeal and the union prevails over 95% of the time. What is the TTC going to do if the early intervention program doesn’t work? In essence they really can’t do anything, because of the union.

Now that the TTC has officially been declared NOT an essential service we can expect that any time their outrageous demands are not met, we can expect service interruptions and strikes.