Protesters at Pride 2009 (Image: Neal Jennings)
One of the actions the city has undertaken in relation to the annual Pride Festival is to ask its staff to determine if the use of the words “Israeli Apartheid” constitutes hate speech. The term was at the centre of controversy last year when the group Queers United Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) was banned and then un-banned from the Pride Toronto Parade. Yesterday, the city staff concluded that, under criminal law and provincial human rights rules, QuAIA is not engaging in hate speech. Case closed? Hardly. Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and others on council are now threatening to pull not only Pride Toronto’s grant, but also its city-provided police and cleanup crews, if QuAIA is allowed to march. “We don’t support hate groups, that’s our view. If they want to march in the parade, then we won’t fund them,” said councillor Doug Ford, according to the Post.
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Here’s a nutty story we don’t quite know what to make of: former provincial insider Jodie Parmar (mainly known as the dude responsible for the 407 during the Mike Harris years) tells the Toronto Star that he knows how Ontario could save $1 billion. For a government facing many times that in deficits for the next few years, this should be an easy sell. The problem, apparently, is Parmar’s insistence on an unorthodox payment scheme: 2.5 per cent of any money he finds through existing provincial projects. See? Nutty. 
Do Canadians stagger under the unbearable weight of the coins in their pockets? Do baristas and bartenders struggle to carry home their tips at the end of the night? If so, the good news is that the Royal Canadian Mint is bringing in lighter-weight loonies and toonies—a move that will save taxpayers $15 million a year by replacing the old coins with new ones that have cheaper metals at their core (steel or zinc are common). 
Nobody likes to see TTC operators breaking the law by using cellphones while they drive, but the headlines this morning suggest that the friendly local transit commission may be going too far in the other direction, cracking down on TTC operators for using their phones in ways that don’t break traffic laws. 
Kvetching about bad service from phone, TV and Internet providers is a national sport in Canada. Well, the rules for that sport got a little more interesting last week when one (now former) Rogers customer posted a curious note on Facebook. Anyone who’s been with one of the major telecoms—Rogers, Telus, Bell—for a while now knows that the companies have the ability to change the terms of a contract without notice. But, according to one Al McGale, there’s actually a remedy for consumers. His solution, after the jump. 