The Last Exile

This morning’s 4am started with the fact the cat was hungry and for whatever reason I didn’t have any cat food or even a tin of salmon or tuna in the cupboard. I discovered this right after I set the coffee to perk. This isn’t a big deal to people who live in normal neighbourhoods but I live in the downtown east side of the Centre of the Universe. There is a 24 hour variety store less than a 100 feet away but it means I have to run the gambit of crackies, their dealers and other sundry ‘night’ people all in various states of distress to get into the store. Besides, they usually stand like an army of deranged sentinels just outside the variety store doors.

Years ago,I wouldn’t think twice of running out the door, but if anything, the last few years have taught me the lessons of human fallibility. Of course, years ago, I could have just woken up Glen and told him to run to the store to get some cat food and avoided the inner monologue. Now I have to two large sons who would have gone with me but it would mean waking them up and asking. They would not have refused me but I would have to admit my unease. Since I am the only official ‘adult’ in the household;I find I am still reluctant to show or acknowledge any form of weakness. I will have to soon enough but does it have to be today?

So the cat is demanding food rather vocally and swatting at my feet. The coffee is ready and I am debating with myself if I can sneak in a coffee before going to the store. Most normal people would have a coffee first but I live under the burden of my grandfather’s morality which requires all animals to be feed and tended to before yourself. As he would say – what is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. I decided against the coffee. Besides not being caffeinated makes me mean, as in real mean. I grab my coat and walk out the with my back steeled with meanness against the ‘hostile’ others who go lurk in the night.

but there is no one anywhere. I walk into the variety store mumbling a Blessed Heaven under my breath for deliverance when it hits me. The overwhelming smell of Turkish coffee in the air. I put it down with the universe screwing with me. I get the cat food and walk up to the cash just as a middle aged male clerk who looks as rough as I feel is pouring himself a cup of coffee.

He looks me hard in the eye and says, ‘Shalom, do you want a coffee?” in a French accent. The little girl voice quips up a desperate – yes, please. As he pours me a cup I ask, ‘Beirut?’ And he smiles with that wishful look all exiles possess when they are reminded of home, and asks how did I know. The answer is simple. He was obviously Arab and spoke English with a French accent – that and the fact he knew to say ‘Shalom’. But then it occurs to me to ask as he loads me up with sugar; how did he know to say ‘Shalom?” He gives the universal shrug and says it was your necklace. Ah, the ‘Jew-ry’ as my youngest call it. I usually wear a silver circular medallion around my neck with the words of Shema prayer inscribed in Hebrew.

We spent a few minutes more chatting pleasantly as I paid for the cat food. I try to pay him for the coffee but he refuses. I insist; he just as adamantly refuses. He tells me the pleasure is all his for serving such a beautiful woman so early in the morning. I laugh, given my state and wonder how it is that Lebanese men never lose their ability to flirt so graciously even as they age or under any circumstance.

I come home and as I approach the door I can hear the cat howling immediately on the other side. It makes me wonder if Lebanese tomcats are gracious too. As I feed the cat I am struck once again about what I wonderful country I live in where he and I can converse in such a civilized fashion. But it saddens me too that it so rarely happens where Lebanese and Israelis are in fact neighbours. And the cat, he eats a quarter of the bowl of food and walks away to play with his mouse toy.

I was reading about the snow storm battering the US Eastern states and couldn’t resist taking this shot outside my front door in Toronto for comparison. Call it schadenfreude.

Finally a liberal idea I can fully get behind – selling off the provincial government run liquor stores and getting out of the casino business. Yes, please. Toronto Star.

Blaming the recession for Ontario’s record $24.7 billion budget deficit, Premier Dalton McGuinty admits his cash-strapped government is actively considering the sale of Crown assets like liquor stores, casinos and the electricity system. Although he once campaigned against similar moves by previous Progressive Conservative administrations, McGuinty said Wednesday that changing his mind might be the “right thing to do.”

Beachnut – there might finally be a business for you in Ontario….

The Globe and Mail:

As suspected, it will be Toronto, not Muskoka, that will host the G20 summit of major developed and developing nations next June.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak revealed the change of location after meeting in Seoul Monday afternoon, meaning the city will play host to Mr. Obama and 19 other world leaders next year. No venue was announced, but the dates are June 26-27.

(…)When Canada was chosen last September to host a G20 leaders meeting in June 2009, the Conservative government originally planned to dovetail the two meetings in Muskoka. But it became increasingly clear that the 10,000 participants and media expected for the G20 would overwhelm the capacity of the upscale tourist destination, while also creating virtually insurmountable security concerns.

Mr. Harper’s announcement Monday confirmed that Canada’s largest city, rather than one of its most attractive resort communities, will take on the event, with the Toronto Convention Centre as one possible choice to host the meeting.

I think this is where the pottery barn rule should apply. The Conservative literally poured dollar after dollar into the Muskoka area for the summits and there just isn’t the kind of funds in the city budget available to pay for the kind of security detail required to host the G-20 circus – so Muskoka it should be. Besides the idea of world leaders having to bunk with each cracks me right up – who knows what hilarity will ensure?

The Toronto Star is reporting the government has loss approximately $2.4 billion dollars in potential tax revenues from cigarette smugglers. There are some days where I think I live for these kinds of shoddy reports in our media. Either the reporter have a vested interest in parroting the government’s party line with no questions asked or the reporter is dumber than a bag of hammers. Pick your poison.

One in two cigarettes smoked in Ontario is illegal, robbing provincial and federal coffers of more than $2 billion a year and raising concerns about children gaining easy access to tobacco. “There’s absolutely no doubt that there’s an incredible amount of revenue lost both in the province of Ontario and Quebec and to the federal government as well,” provincial Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci said in an interview. A study for the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council found that illegal cigarette purchases in Ontario have climbed to 48.6 per cent, followed by Quebec with 40.1 per cent.

(…)Ontario and Quebec represent about 95 per cent of illegal tobacco sales in Canada, and about 33 per cent of cigarettes sold in Canada are contraband, according to the manufacturers’ council study.
Bartolucci said the problem is so widespread because smokers do not realize purchasing untaxed cigarettes for as little as $20 for a carton of 200 cigarettes – compared to about $75 for legal products – is against the law.

I would interject that every single citizen who purchases contraband cigarettes knows its against the law but no longer gives a crap because the smoker’s perception is that the inordinately high taxation is way out of line with what individual smoker believes would be a fair punitive rate of taxation for smoking. Lower the taxes so a carton of cigarettes sells around the $35 dollar mark but why believe me when The Canadian Coalition for Action on Tobacco has a handy dandy solutions list for government to close revenue ‘gap’ – although, the unintended consequences will require increases in taxation to fund further demands placed on law enforcement officials to implement the list.

1. Work with the U.S. to shut down the illegal, unlicensed factories on the American side of Akwesasne.
2. Prohibit the supply of raw materials including raw leaf tobacco, cigarette packaging, filters and rolling paper, to anyone without a valid tobacco manufacturer’s licence.
3. Promote with First Nations the benefits of having a native tobacco tax equal to the provincial one.
4. Increase penalties substantially to deter would-be smugglers and manufacturers.

Of course, why should the US care? Its not their ‘crime’ issue and the local, state and federal levels of law enforcement officials in the US have more than enough crime to keep their officers busy without making new classes of criminals to accommodate the Canadian government’s funding needs. My favourite boneheaded suggestion has to be ‘promote with First Nations the benefits of having a native tobacco tax equal to the provincial one….good grief. All I can say to the last suggestion is to poise this question; how much has the war on ‘drugs’ cost us so far?

I take this to mean the TTC is having more than an inkling of just how unpopular their proposed fare increase is to be. The Toronto Star:

The TTC has further limited the number of tokens riders will be able to buy before an anticipated fare increase goes into effect on Jan. 3.

Collectors will now sell no more than five tokens per customer to try and prevent stockpiling by some riders in advance of a proposed increase from $2.25 to $2.50 each.

On Friday, the TTC said it would limit token sales to 10 per customer but some collectors were already running low on Monday, so a steeper limit was implemented, said TTC spokesperson Danny Nicholson.

And don’t think the automatic vending machines will be accommodating your needs where the ticket collectors will not be. The TTC has decided to recalibrate the automatic vending machines to issue only a single token per transaction. Interestingly preemptive action on the TTC’s part – considering the proposed fare hike is only ‘proposed’ at this stage and not even tabled for discussion or a vote before November 17th.

I suppose the TTC management is so use to having any demand rubber-stamped by the city councilors that a fare increase, no matter how outrageous, leads them to conclude any demand is inevitably met. I suspect the TTC management is right in this, but if that is the case, why bother going through a discussion and a vote? Seems like a colossal waste of money and time.

If I was a commissioner or city councilor I would tell the TTC to start cutting back on their more suburban routes during off peak hours rather than raising rates during an economic downturn and/or time to start the lay-offs process but that’s just me. I am sure there is a wisdom in running virtually empty buses for hours every day just so one can be said to be meeting the needs of imaginary customers although the wisdom of it escapes me. But what do I know? I am just one of those working stiffs who will soon not be able to afford to take public transit on a regular basis. Of course, there is an irony in having a public transit system so expensive it now has to be classified as a luxury expenditure.

The Toronto Star has come out with some numbers for the rumoured fare increase the Toronto Transit Commission is set to debate:

The TTC is considering double-digit fare increases in the New Year that would put the price of the popular Metropass up to $126 a month from $109 and see cash fares jump to $3 from $2.75. The increase being proposed by TTC staff would generate about $62 million in revenue for the transit system. Councillors who sit on the Toronto Transit Commission will debate the increase on Nov. 17.
The TTC is projecting a $100 million revenue shortfall next year and with no provincial subsidy increase in sight and transit officials reluctant to cut recently introduced service boosts, their only option to raise money is to increase fares. Under the proposal released Wednesday, the cost of tokens would go up about 11 per cent to $20 for eight. They now cost $11.25 for five or $22.50 for 10.

I have been a metropass user since the program was first instituted and since the transferable pass was introduced it has saved me maybe $20 dollars in student fares. As it is now, I often walk home from work rather than waiting the 25-30 minutes for the bus to show up and have done so even in bad weather. I’d rather be moving in a snow storm than standing still.

I most often use public transit in the morning so I can use the time to sleep in a little later but I’d rather get up a tad earlier and save me the cost of paying for a metropass which is double my regular monthly land line and cellphone costs combined. Once the weather is better I will just use my bike, and frankly, I’d rather buy $60 with of tokens to use as our ‘emergency’ transit fares. Plus with the savings from not buying the metropass I can invest in some high quality thermal underwear and footwear to ease my walk in ‘bad’ weather.

If I was a transit commission, I’d start praying to whatever deity the Commissioners believe in, that I am in the minority. But I sure do feel for those with disabilities and seniors living on a fixed budget. This is so going to hurt, and when you add on the cost of the HST kicking in come July 2010, this is so going to bring a world of pain onto the backs of those who can least afford it.

If riding on the TTC wasn’t bad enough now there will be ‘politeness’ fines which cover all whole range of offences from propping your feet up on the seat to playing your ipod ‘too loud’. And Good Luck with that – since streetcar drivers rarely give the boot to non-paying passengers who then go on to harass the paying riders for money. The Globe and Mail:

Starting this week, the special constables who police Toronto’s subways and buses have the power to fine someone for refusing to move out of their seat if they have been instructed to make room for an elderly or disabled person. The new fine for impoliteness is just one of a number of bylaw changes that went into effect Monday, with riders who prop their feet up on a seat, or those who lay down on a row of seats, now facing potential fines.

The new bylaw concerning priority seating doesn’t mean that it’s an offence to sit in the area of a bus or subway that’s reserved for the disabled; rather, fines can only be issued if a rider acts “in contravention of instructions” from a special constable to remove themselves. The Toronto Transit Commission has also beefed up the deterrents for what it says are the most common problems in subway tunnels and terminals. Anyone caught smoking on TTC property now faces a fine of $195 plus a victim surcharge of $35. That’s up from the old fine of $95. Vandals hoping to add felt-pen mustaches, graffiti tags or other markings to any advertisements might want to think twice; the new fine is $345 plus a victim surcharge of $75. The amended bylaw also forbids playing music aloud. Those listening with earphones must keep it at a volume that “does not disturb other passengers or TTC employees,” the bylaw states.

Egads this is what it has come down to now – legislating manners and having politeness fairies handing out tickets…what ever happened to it was a free country? Thank G-d, I bought a bike.

I really don’t understand what exactly this ‘victim surcharge’ is suppose to represent? Is there now to be a victim fund where victims of crime while riding on the TTC can now apply to for compensation or is it merely another way to spell TTC Tax? Or perhaps it’s to help offset those unruly members of the public who see fit to challenge and demand a court hearing and trial for alleged impolite offences. This potentially can get very, very expensive for the tax payers.

I am not likely to be impolite on the TTC but I am not about to endorse it unless as a TTC rider – I have the authority to hand out fines substantial fines to bus/streetcar drivers and subway token booth workers who are rude and obnoxious with frightening regularity.

And really – you don’t need to lie about it. Toronto Star.:

From the beginning, there was something fishy about Marcia Simmons’s story, said RCMP Sgt. Dave Vautour, who is based in Woodstock, N.B.

The first red flag: How could someone sit in the back of a car for 17 hours without going to the bathroom? The second: The 44-year-old teacher said she stopped for gas four times after she was hijacked in New Brunswick and ordered to drive to Toronto – why wouldn’t she run for help? By the time Simmons got to the part of the story where she and her alleged captor arrived in Toronto – where he forced her to drive aimlessly for three hours – investigators had serious doubts.

Yesterday, the RCMP announced Simmons had recanted the story. She, in fact, was not abducted by an armed man outside a Woodstock, N.B., campground a little over a week ago. And she was not forced to drive her captor to Toronto, as she had claimed. “She said she went for personal reasons, which she has not disclosed to us,” said Vautour. Now the RCMP is pushing to charge the woman with public mischief.

Personally, I blame the rest of Canada for this situation….and they never even stop to wonder why we are so ‘cold’.

Not only am I an olfactory handicapped citizen of the Centre of the Universe now I am confused. From all accounts it looks like Mayor Miller caved into union demands but he did leave us with the suggestion a ‘deal’ had been reached between the union and the city. Apparently, that just isn’t so if this Toronto Star report is accurate:

The union representing the city’s outdoor workers have cancelled a ratification vote scheduled for 7 a.m., saying that there are more issues that need to be ironed out.

In a written statement released at 7, CUPE Local 416 President Mark Ferguson said they were still working to complete the final pieces of a settlement with the city. “I said on Monday that we had the basis of a deal, but there were still final pieces to put into place,” Ferguson said in the statement. “That is what we have been trying to do. There are still outstanding issues that the city has yet to address. We hope to resolve those issues in a meeting with the city this morning.”

Oy, ‘final pieces’, so tell me why, when I read this; a vision of a hand reaching even deeper into my pocket crosses my mind?