"I've got these queers right where I want 'em..."

Just over a year ago, I wrote a piece called “Why Pride” in which I argued 2 points related to the 2010 Pride celebrations in Toronto. In brief, they were:

1. Pride should distance itself from aggressive political messages that are not its own, specifically the messages related to Israeli/Palestinian relations promoted by QuAIA.
2. Pride should make better use of their its platform by de-emphasizing the naked, gyrating party and trying to put more media spotlight on their core messages of acceptance and openness.

On one of those two points, the one dealing with Queers against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA), I feel somewhat validated by the events of the past few months. Pride did distance themselves slightly from QuAIA which was enough (at the time) to get the wolves at City Hall to back off their bull-headed pledge to pull Pride’s funding. But more than that, it put the focus of this year’s parade back squarely where it belongs, on the continuing day-to-day struggles of LGBTQ peoples in Toronto. Even the flap over the absence of Mayor Rob Ford from the parade was at least centred on the idea that a leader of the people of Toronto should represent all the people of Toronto, especially those who have been marginalized.

On the second point, concerning the emphasis on crazy fun over strong political messaging, I was quite wrong. I failed to grasp the power of an event where people can be themselves, even if only for an afternoon. I can see now that Pride allows those who perhaps spend much of the year couching their real feelings and personality to break free. In that way, the parade is both precious and beautiful and the way in which it creates spaces where people can feel completely comfortable IS the broader political message. I’d overlooked that in the past and I’m relieved to have seen the error in my thinking.

With that mea culpa humbly managed, we must return to the business of the day, which again is centred on QuAIA and the continued funding of Pride by the City of Toronto.

On the July 4^th edition of the John Oakley show, we were treated to an incomprehensible exchange between city Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti and XTRA writer Andrea Houston. After the dust settled on the largely comical endeavour, we were left with a clear signal that the right-wing faction on Council would be renewing its quest to defund Pride and that they’d once again be using QuAIA as a wedge.

Sadly,  Houston mishandled her opportunity, spent far too much of the interview calling Mammoiliti names and worse, she confused the messaging about whether or not QuAIA had actually marched in either the main Sunday parade or the Dyke March. So intent was Houston on making hay out of Mammoliti’s silly videotaping stunt that she allowed him and his accomplice, John Oakley, to frame the conversation entirely around defunding Pride on the grounds that the festival had somehow broken a promise to sideline QuAIA.

Only near the end did Houston clearly state that QuAIA had not marched in the Dyke March or the Sunday parade, but by that time the damage was done. Mammoliti had successfully re-launched his campaign to defund Pride and the pro-Pride contingent was left looking both petty and incapable of providing a compelling argument against defunding.

This morning’s AM radio spectacle was the opening salvo in the war to kill Pride. It was the Fort Sumpter of what’s sure to be a long and painful struggle against the forces of the ignorance and fear. Do not for a second underestimate the importance of what transpired on this morning. Mammoliti used a friendly forum to firmly established his message and the Pro-Pride contingent came off as though they weren’t taking any of this seriously.

So let’s stop fucking around, ‘cause this is serious. And while it might be good Twitter fun to take pot shots at Mammoliti for his perceived pervy behaviour, it’ll get you exactly nowhere with the AM radio crowd. And guess what, you need the AM radio crowd. Sorry.

If an effective defense of Pride is to be mounted in the coming months, it must, in my opinion, accept the following 3 statements:

1. There has never been a persuasive argument for defunding Pride. If ever you are presented with an argument, it will be a bad one. If ever you encounter a person making such an argument, they will not be able to back it up. The whole notion that the city should not fund public festivals is weak and easily attacked. But knowing one is righteousness does not assure victory. In fact, it often guarantees the opposite.
2. If Pride is to survive it must distance itself from QuAIA and by extension, it must also concede that arguing for Pride in the context of Freedom of Expression is not an effective method of convincing Mayor Ford’s base of Pride’s benefits. They don’t care. They should, it’s horrific that they don’t, but they don’t. That was proven this year and last in reference to QuAIA and Pride and it was really fucking proven at the G20. Please, I get how horrible this statement is and what it says about Canada in the 21^st century. But you to deal with reality of reality’s terms. And today, these are the fucking terms.
3. Pride and its supporters must set the terms of the debate with the anti-Pride contingent, they must be willing to focus on issues that might appeal to that contingent and they must strongly resist the efforts of the Mayor and his cohorts to engage them in a debate about QuAIA or any related topic.

Pride meets all the requirements of the Respect for Taxpayers model. It provides good return on investment, it’s pro-business, it provides a service to a segment of Toronto’s population and it’s a shining example of a Public Private Partnership. These are our weapons. They’re clear, they apply to all public festivals and they focus on issues of economic development over social politics. In short, they’re coffee shop topics. That’s why they’ll work.

If the numbers I’m hearing are correct, the 2011 Pride celebrations have generated $13 million for business owners in the City of Toronto. That’s a 100x return on the City’s investment. Supporters of Pride should be publically thanking the City for their wise economic investment in Toronto business owners and for their continued focus on the economic development of the city in these tough times.

That’s not enough, you say? Alright, well how about citing Pride as an example of a PPP. No one loves PPP more than the Mayor and his cohorts. Hell, that’s how we’re going to pay for the whole city, right? Private businesses chip in their share of the Parade funding and they get advertising and naming rights in return. No one is asking the City to fund the parade all on their own, just to maintain their share of a successful PPP.

And as to these claims that Pride should be self-supporting; well economic stimulus is a lost leader. If Ford and Co. don’t believe that, just cite their pals in Ottawa who’ve given away millions of dollars to boost small business owners. The city’s just keeping in step with their ideological brethren and for a fraction of the federal sum. Again, Pride supporters would do well to praise the City at every opportunity.

Finally, Pride and its supporters should follow Mammoliti’s argument and frame this as a debate about the funding of festivals in general. Show the people of this city how their modest investment of tax dollars is paid back to small business a hundred-fold. Show them how big festivals like Pride, Luminato, Caribana and Nuit Blanche are key economic drivers and important sources of stimulus in depressed economic times.

Yes, I understand that the debate about Pride isn’t about the money for Ford, Mammoliti and any of the other scared, bigoted people who currently inhabit the halls of power in Toronto. For them, it’s about not wanting to fund a gay event. But tragic as it may be, that doesn’t matter. Ford wasn’t elected by passion and he can’t be defeated by passion. He was elected with consistent messaging. You need to convince Ford’s base in order to get his support. The methods for motivating his base aren’t a secret, so use them.

There is absolutely no benefit derived from launching personal attacks on the very people who control the purse strings to which Pride is desperately beholden.

“Hey, you’re a dirty homophobe…now see the error of your ways and give me some money.”

This is flawed logic, based in fantasy and only those blinded by self-righteousness would bother to use it. Make no mistake; this is going to be a war. And if the supporters of Pride continue to fight it indignantly, they will lose. Pride is too vital for its defense to be left to those who think shouting down the other side is an effective debating technique.

We have to do better and be better; that’s the only way it’ll get better. This isn’t about appeasement; it’s about fighting the enemy using their own weapons against them. It’s strategy over passion, reason over emotion and finally, Pride over prejudice. This isn’t a battle the forces of good can afford to lose. The death of Pride would be the social equivalent of dropping a bomb on the city. All of the hard-won advancements in universal rights would be wiped out and worse, it would give the purveyors of fear all the momentum they’d need to start chipping away at the rights of other minorities and eventually, everyone.

This is the time for mind over heart. So get your head into the game.

POSTSCRIPT:

I’ve seen other people make arguments like this only to be told that straight guys shouldn’t be telling the LGBTQ community  how to conduct their affairs and/or defend their festival. Well, fuck you. A festival of this kind can and should be just as important to a straight man like me as it is to a member of the LGBTQ community. Either we’re all in this together or we’re not. Make up your fucking mind, already.

I’m here for you all the way. I’d love to get on the radio and engage with Mammoliti or Ford or any of them. I’d love to shower them with praise for their funding of Pride and all the other festivals that make this city great. I’d give my left nut to see their faces when they’re put in a position where they have to argue against Conservative-style stimulus.

Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone’s going to be asking me to do that. So it’s up to you, Pride-friendly media of Toronto. You really need to get over your righteousness and start talking to the people who matter. Namely, Ford supporters. It’s only your very existence that’s at stake. 

Politics is the art of the possible.

• Otto von Bismarck

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

• Winston Churchill

I’m not a giddy person by nature. Sure, I’m happy enough. Well, happy enough for someone with my particular temperament. Which is not to say that I’m unhappy, but rather to say that I’m not terribly demonstrative or given to…well…giddiness.

But today’s news that the Federal New Democrats are planning to step up to the plate and defeat the government had me on cloud nine. Not only had the party I’d once supported and have recently maligned risen to its promise and refused to offer any further assistance to the corrupt and contemptible (both objectively and legally) Conservatives, but they’ve also presented us with an opportunity to reverse 10 years of political ennui in a mere 30 days.

Like so many others, I immediately took to the facebook-twitter-blogosphere to express my joy over our likely election. Not surprisingly, my happiness was met with the usual Conservative memes: namely, “elections don’t change anything”, “elections are too costly” and the crème de la crème; “elections are too risky”.

If you feel like you’ve been addressing these arguments for a long time, you have. Cynicism has become the predominant symptom of our current governmental reality. And rather than rise above it, we’ve not only allowed it to fester, but we’ve also allowed our representatives to use it against us. The Conservatives haven’t been in power for 5 years because their better, they’ve been in power for 5 years because they convinced us to stop worrying about who’s in power. Through endless media assaults, the Harperites have convinced a great number of us to believe that as long as everything is mostly OK, why should we bother worrying about who’s in office?

And for our part, we lefties have not risen to meet this threat. Rather we’ve descended deeper and deeper into despondency; taking each loss worse than the last. And in our depression, we abandoned our core principles of hard work and sacrifice and attempted instead to rely on gamesmanship. Nowhere did this manifest more malignantly than in the Toronto Municipal Election; arguably the lowest point in recent memory for progressively-minded people.

The cornerstone of this failed gamesmanship was certainly the “Anyone but…” strategy, if you can call it that. In this horrible scenario a “best worst” candidate is picked and promoted while at the same time, the “supporters” of this “best worst” run a concurrent campaign against the leading right-wing candidate. In the case of the Toronto election, the best-worst was George Smitherman and the concurrent campaign was “Toronto CanNOT afFORD”.

(For my part, I supported both of those efforts. I wrote a lengthy endorsement for Smitherman on this site and also spread the negative “toronto canNOT afFORD” message and materials as far and wide as I could manage.)

So aghast were we that not only could a candidate as unfit as Rob Ford be leading the polls, but that he could at the same time marginalize the entire downtown progressive population. But then, his attack was more focused and less inconsistent than those launched by the anti-Ford side. Rob Ford was clearly against David Miller, against “elitism” and against “waste”. The other candidates tried weakly to be for something and to use those meagre tentpoles to change the focus of the campaign, but like any good warrior, Ford refused to engage the enemy on the enemy’s terms. While Smitherman, Pantalone and Thompson scrambled to figure out which way to shoot, they were already dead. Simple populism destroyed unfocused quasi-progressivism.

Rob Ford’s team knew what the Harper Conservatives know (not surprising, as they regularly exchange strategists and fixers), and that is that the right can play negative and win because they only try to appeal to a person’s base emotion and more importantly, their base fears. And, thanks to an extraordinarily fragile economy, the Right has been able to focus in on the big tamale with all their guns and missiles…they’ve focused on your wallet.

Lefties don’t have it so easy, what with us being so high-minded and, more recently, so arrogant about our high-mindedness. Even at our best, when we are communicating with people on a human level about the larger issues of caring for the less fortunate, building a just society and working in harmony despite differences, we can never use fear as an incentive. When we try, we die. Look at the floundering environmental movement and specifically the climate-change movement if you want proof. (That’s a topic for another day, I suppose.)

But I digress. The point is that even when we’re doing it correctly we are attempting to engage on ideas that require a great deal of selflessness on the part electors to be realized. And you can’t scare people into being selfless.

So, what do we do if the job is hard and the easy ways out have only lead to defeat? What’s the alternative? Especially when faced with an increasingly hostile and cynical electorate.

Let’s not be tempted to let the citizens of Canada (our self-righteous selves included) off so easy. Right after I heard the announcement that the NDP would not support the 2011 budget, I posted the following:

Truly, the politicians and citizens of this country are reflections of each other. As well they should be, as one does indeed come from the other. But it’s deeper than that. While we can always be somewhat susceptible to the whims of our political masters, we the citizenry can ultimately exert control over their agenda and the tone of their discourse if only we’d do so. Sadly, we’ve been amazingly delinquent in this task. And it shows.

Only in a country where the people have ceded their power could a government like the Harper Conservatives ever exist. We criticize the NDP and the Liberal for not standing up to Harper. But we don’t stand up to Harper…why should they?

So the question is obviously one of figuring out how to get the people to shed their fear and retake the reigns?

We (the left) can only win by reengaging the electorate. In doing so, we will likely have to endure the two most difficult months in the history of Canadian politics. We will certainly have to endure an onslaught of people saying it can’t be done. And yes, there’s a chance we could lose it all, but that’s a worthy risk; especially if the point is to build a strong society, rather than simply to win.

The Left cannot play to fear and it cannot play to greed. It doesn’t scare people into caring by reminding them how bad off they are. Only the Right can do that. They are the party of “can’t” and “too risky” and “maybe next time”. We have to be better.

In my heart and mind I believe that Canadians are eager to reclaim the ideals on which Canada was forged – positive ideals.

Canada is a settler’s country; forged by people who faced the unknown with conviction and earnestness. Progress was life, stop somewhere too long and it’d be the end of you. While we might not all have the tundra with which to contend, we all struggle with formidable challenges which require as much personal fortitude and conviction as anything faced by Coureurs de Bois.

The idea of Canada has lasted almost 144 years and I assure you that no venture could endure and prosper for that long if it was built on a foundation of fear.

The message to the Left is clear. We can spark the imaginations of Canadians. But only if we pick ourselves up from out of despondency, shed off our fear of losing, stop playing our pointless games and start telling the truth; that tough times call for more selflessness, not less. That sharing is a natural thing and that working together is the only way we advance.

But let us not forget to demand much of ourselves, saying time and time again that if the political climate is bad, it’s because we as Canadians are allowing it to be so. And that if we want our leaders to change, we first must dare to change.

Finally, the word “progressive” gets tossed around a lot these days, more often pejoratively than not. We have to reclaim that title and remind people that to move forward, to progress, is to thrive.

And whenever someone says they’d rather have the status quo than take a risk on an uncertain election, remind them that Stephen Harper hasn’t be re-elected because he led us to the Promised Land; he’s been re-elected because he has convinced us that he’ll find the Promised Land soon, but only if we continue to re-elect him.

We know we can do better. But first we have to be better.

We are progressives. You are a progressive. Own that.

We recognize that the country is in a constant state of evolution and that the challenges we’ll face tomorrow are unrecognizable to us today.

But we needn’t fear the unknown.

We needn’t fear, because we’re together.

And together we’ll be just fine.

So here we are in the final week of the campaign. In 6 long days, this campaign of 2010 will become our 4yr. hangover when whichever of these dopes we elect will take their turn fucking over one part of the city or another. Probably several at a time. Bumbling, blustering Rob Ford will take great pride in teaching downtown residents a lesson in much the same way Joe Pantalone will ignore the 50% of the city or so who evidently don’t give a shit about public transit or bike lanes. Smitherman…well, he’ll piss off everyone equally. The left will self-righteously attack him for lying about being a progressive. And because he’s a Liberal, he’ll inevitably infuriate the right with a graft scandal or two.

You wish we had a 4th option? Well, so do I. But the job of Mayor of Toronto is a sucker gig and the really smart people don’t fall for a sucker gig. And no amount of bullshit ballot ranking systems are going to fix that. You want to attract talent, you have to make the job worth having.

While pondering my unenthusiastic support of George Smitherman (read my quasi-endorsement) I’ve come upon a few revelations that I’d like to share with you tonight.

First, the split between Ford/Smitherman/Pantalone is virtually identical to the current split between the Tories/Liberals/NDP, both federally and provincially. Coincidence? Not fuckin’ likely as in all 3 cases the 3 options represent the roughly the same thing. Ford/Tories represent the rural/suburban voter who perceive themselves perpetually as victims. Smitherman/Liberals represent middle-of-the-roaders (middlers) who decide by choosing not to decide, seeing both alternatives as too extreme. And NDP/Pantalone…they’re the urbanites who feel like they have all the answers, yet no one’s listening. They also feel terribly victimized. Difference between the victim complex of the Ford supporters and Pantalone supporters is how it manifests. Ford supporters get angry. Pantalone supporters get indignant. And neither side realizes it, but these emotions feed off each other. The angrier the suburbanites get, the more indignant (and exasperated) the downtowners get; the suburbanites perceive this exasperation as arrogance and get angrier…and so on and so on.

The only thing they have in common is that they like to take shots at the people in the middle (Smitherman/Liberal supporters) for being lazy sheep, which might cause the middlers some angst, if they were even paying attention.

Second, the tact of the left to attack the middlers only emboldens the right. Remember, the people in the middle aren’t listening; they aren’t looking for an enemy or a friend. They’re just looking to get by. Sometimes their middle candidate is a fellow sheep and sometimes he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing…whatever, who has time to pay attention let alone care? Torontonians have a rep for walking the city looking at their shoes. This is the political manifestation. So when Pantalone attacks Smitherman supporters for being fearful dupes, the only people who hear them are Ford supporters, who (as I stated previously) just use it as justification for hating all “self-righteous downtown elites”. I know it makes Pantalone supporters feel good to crap on the Smitherman vote, but it’ll be worth exactly ZERO come election day.

And what of the Smitherman supporters who are calling Panatalone a Ralph Nader? They’re bleating a bit too much to fit into my sheep analogy, no? Well, here’s the kicker…they aren’t actually Smitherman supporters. They’re secret Pantalone supporters who either don’t want to look stupid to their friends come election day or maybe  just wish Pantalone was Miller (or Giambrone), instead of his 2nd choice also-ran successor. Whatever their motivation for making a lot of noise, it’s a misdirection. Mark my words, real Smitherman supporters don’t say a goddamn word.

And what of me? I came out and supported Smitherman and I’ve suggested Pantalone should drop out. Does that mean I’m not really a Smitherman supporter? Well, yes.

I’m a scared lefty…just like all the others…difference is, I’m not scared of Rob Ford. I’m scared of the political divide in Canada. I’m scared of those polling similarities and mostly, I’m scared for what they’ll mean for Toronto in 351 days.

You see, I’m not basing my choice on civic issues. I’m basing it on the provincial election calendar. In 351 days, we’ll have Tories in Queens Park and then it won’t matter one fucking bit who’s the Mayor. We’ll be fucked…completely. So if we don’t have some dough out of the province by then it’ll be years before we see another dime. That’s a problem. And it’s one that I think only Smitherman has a chance of addressing. And it’s a slim chance.

So here’s where I come to the inevitable conclusion and the equally inevitable minor change in tune…

I don’t want Pantalone to drop out. I promise I’ll never suggest it again. If he did there’d be a big downtown part of the population going unrepresented and that’s not democracy. People deserve a candidate. (If only the lazy pricks voted in greater numbers). Also, I won’t suggest that a Ford mayoralty will be the death of the city. It won’t. And it gives him too much credit to suggest otherwise.

Finally, I’ll reiterate that in the steering of civic issues at a council level the Mayor doesn’t have much power…it’s a sucker gig. His greatest power is as a representative of the city to the upper levels of government, see David Miller and Transit City. And if you see things in that way, as I do, Smitherman is the best choice. Not a sure thing, but a good bet.

Yeah, I’d rather vote for someone else too…but who are they? Name them… Fuck it, name one person. Anyone? Bueller?

No matter where I go, my heart is always in Parkdale.

In some ways, this election has been the easiest ever for downtown, progressive types like me. Not only has there been an obvious target for our righteous rage, the apparent lack of a clear alternative has allowed liberal progressives to lazily wallow in depression and negativity while avoiding the difficult work of supporting a particular idea and by extension, a candidate as well as the painstaking work of defending their choice to others.  This campaign is all negativity; from the leading candidate on down to his most ardent detractors. Negativity is so very simple because it’s purely reactive. Your opponent says or does something and you react. And thanks to Twitter and Facebook, you don’t even have to leave the house to be on the reactionary bandwagon.

To be fair, I’ve not only been on the Anti-Rob Ford bandwagon, at times I’ve been pulling it forward with my teeth. I’ve taken pot shots, at various times I’ve wished violence upon Rob Ford and/or his supporters and I’ve engaged in brutal arguments with good friends about the mental capacity of Ford’s supporters. And to be clear, in general it’s been great sport. Ford is not only an easy target, he constantly provides you with new material. A fact which makes attacking Ford a very hard habit to break. Truly, were I not deeply concerned about Ford’s chances of winning and the untold damage his mayoralty would do to our city, I might be inclined to keep the blinders on and hammer away on Ford until judgement day…or the election.

But the stakes are too high and I can’t bear the thought of even four years of Rob Ford. Under the Ford administration, every large project in the city will be at risk, regardless of its necessity and/or quality. Of course, items like Transit City will fall. Worse, Ford’s lack of enthusiasm about the waterfront could set Toronto back years on a project that’s already decades behind. His love of the car will stunt our progress towards becoming a more pedestrian, bike and transit centric city. And worse still, his style of divisive anti-intellectual governance would virtually assure us years of unrest in the city as Ford wages a personal war against trade unionists, downtowners and any other “elites” from whom his base demands blood. Add in the risk of a Conservative government at Queens Park (something that one might think unlikely, but would anyone have bet on Rob Ford two years ago?) and you have a perfect storm of anti-urban sentimentality. No, the risk is just too high to treat Rob Ford with the same bemusement Americans applied to George W. Bush in the run up to the 2000 election. It wasn’t until it was far too late that liberal Americans paid his political machine the credit it deserved.

So, if one is not satisfied simply being anti-Ford, one must be pro-someone. And without belabouring the difficulty of the decision or running through the individual debits and credits of the four non-Ford candidates, I’ll simply say that my choice for the next mayor of Toronto is George Smitherman.

Now, allow me to tell you why.

Reason #1 – He seems to have the best chance of beating Rob Ford

I’ll concede that Smitherman has run a terribly imperfect campaign. (Nice, eh? Starting an endorsement with a criticism?) His message has been mixed and he groped for the crown long before it might be raised above his head. All of these things are regrettable tactical errors, but they don’t dissuade me. It’s not easy to run a broad, issues-based campaign. This entire election is proof of that. All of the non-Ford candidates have stumbled, some badly at times. Rob Ford, on the other hand, has stayed consistent but he’s also stayed well clear of the issues. Why? Because it’s tough to run a broad, issues-based campaign. And while not always successful, I would argue that it’s relatively easy to run a narrow, populist campaign. Ford’s biggest credit is not that he picked the right style, but rather that he picked the right time to make such a run.

However, despite Smitherman’s failings as a broad campaigner, he still has the numbers to keep himself solidly in second place and a brand new Ipsos Reid poll suggest that he’d win a head to head. So, for purely mathematical reasons, I’d be inclined to pick Smitherman.

But wait, there’s more…

Reason #2 – Toronto does NOT have a spending problem, it has a revenue problem

Downloading has been breaking the back of this city for nearly 10 years and will continue to do so unless a new deal can be struck with the province. If I could highlight one major failing (the most significant in my opinion) of David Miller it’s that he was never able to create any kind of positive working relationship with the province. When faced with a situation in which he felt like the Ontario government was mistreating Toronto, Miller typically adopted his fighting stance, making demands for restitution or attempting to lay a guilt trip on the McGuinty government by repeatedly suggesting that he “do the right thing”. This strategy was clearly in error, hindsight shows us that clearly. Despite his efforts with the gas tax and Transit City funding, the city has still failed to make remarkable progress towards pre-Harris levels of funding. And maybe it never will, but creating an acrimonious relationship with the province is an effective way to ensure it won’t.

I will state this unequivocally. George Smitherman is a career politico, an insider; the kind of Teflon politician that makes some people squirm. Yet I believe that it is only with this type of person in the big chair at city hall that we have a chance of increasing provincial funding to the city. With Ford, it’s certain we’re dead in the water. With Pantalone, despite his admittedly wonderful platform, I’m confident of a continuation of Miller style wrangling. With Rossi or Thompson…well, they ought to get out of this thing before they ruin it for everyone.

Toronto cannot generate much more revenue on its own. Road tolls are a genius idea, but should Smitherman win, he wouldn’t dare propose something like that to a city that’s so politically fractured. So despite their merits, you can put road tolls out of your mind. If David Miller was too much of a chicken to touch them, expect no more from Mayor George.

So, without selling our assets and with the prospect of new taxes or tolls being essentially zero, the only source of new money is the Province of Ontario. So my vote goes to the guy with the best chance of getting that money.

And I accept that the Liberal government might be ousted in two years. All the more reason to get someone in there now that has a snowball’s chance in hell of squeezing out some cash.

And who can bear the thought of Ford in the mayor’s office and Tim Hudak in the Premier’s. Might as well just pack up Toronto and move it to another country. I’d suggest Sweden.

Reason #3 – He’s not likely to do anything rash

If you’re like me and think that Toronto is actually in a pretty good place right now, the last thing you want is anyone who’s out for massive change. Despite anything that George Smitherman might say on the campaign trail, it is my firm belief that he’ll be a very passive mayor. And that’s just fine.

I don’t want a mayor that has his or her own ideas about waterfront development. I want a mayor that will let the development that’s already been planned and/or started to continue as planned; with a little extra cash, if possible.

I don’t want a mayor who has his own ideas about transit. I want a mayor who’ll go to Queen’s Park, suck up to the Liberals and get Transit City going, with full funding restored. (PS…despite what he’s said, George is not going to build subways. You know why, because no one is going to build subways.)

And finally, I don’t want a mayor who’s going to get up on his soap box, shake his fist and “stand up for our city”. That brand of populism is just as useless as Ford’s suburban pandering. I want a mayor who’s going to calmly steer the ship, get the Provincial money going again and let the very positive work of David Miller continue to shape Toronto into a more people friendly, urban city. That’s not work for a barnstorming, change oriented mayor. That’s work for a reasonably intelligent person who wants to survive politically. No waves…steady as she goes. Between waterfront development and Transit City alone, there’s more than enough work to keep one busy. And with those projects quietly humming along, there’ll be plenty of time for other worthy and politically warm and fuzzy projects like bike infrastructure to progress. Imagine how much time David Miller would have had on his hands if he wasn’t always looking for an upper level of government with which to fight.

So there…I like George. My endorsement is both strategic and passionless. He doesn’t light a fire in my belly, but that’s probably a good thing. David Miller lit a fire in my belly and I supported his first campaign with great zeal. And what did I get in return? I got an enthusiastic Mayor who was great on long term thinking, a terrific planner and an ideal city booster while at the same time being perhaps the worst politician this side of Joe Clark; a man who could misread and misplay almost any situation. From passing needed taxes to playing chicken with the Feds over the streetcar purchase; from the gas tax campaign to the island airport. The man was full of passion and woefully light on savvy.

The upshot is that his wonderful long-term thinking has given us substantial, positive long-term development. The downside is we can’t pay for it without help. I’m voting for the guy who I think can get us the help. I encourage you to do the same.

Vote George Smitherman.

————-

Here we are in the third week of September.

The leaves are starting the change, students are getting over their frosh week hangovers and slowly we’re all getting used to our “normal” lives. Fall is here, my friends.

But hey, it’s not all bad. Fall clothes are the nicest clothes, right? You can wear that sexy jacket or those new leather boots without worrying about being too hot. And sure it rains, but you’re too busy to be outside all day anyway. Fall is working time.

But take some comfort, brothers and sisters, in knowing that we all have to go back to work.

Down the road in sleepy old Ottawa, even the political class is about to resume their duties; which of late have included yelling at each other, threatening elections, backing down on those threats and then yelling at each other. That might sound like business as usual and perhaps it is. Occasionally, I like to reminisce about a time when Members of Parliament conducted themselves with a bit more composure. It’s certainly hard to imagine a barnstorming gorilla like John Baird existing in the time of Mackenzie King. And if he did, he certainly wouldn’t have been recognized as “MP of the Year” by a certain national rag of a magazine. But hey, maybe I’m languishing in nostalgia. It wouldn’t be the first time.

With Parliament set to resume, it only seems fitting that this week should be an ALL CANADA, ALL NATIONAL ISSUES edition of the Action Items.

The first issue is a redo; which might sound odd as we’re only in the 3rd week of this segment, but the issue is pressing and it needs your support. I am of course speaking about the LONG GUN REGISTRY.

In the midst of all the Conservatives efforts to create a wedge issue out of gun control, pitting their powerful rural base against us city dwellers, the very simple concept of protecting people from being shit is getting lots. And make no mistake, that’s exactly what the Conservatives want.

Now, the Friday Morning After isn’t necessarily an opinions show, but let me say this…

..Owning a gun is not a right in Canada. This isn’t the US, there’s no 2nd Amendment. That anyone is allowed to own a weapon is a privilege and one that needs to be tightly controlled.

I understand that we were once a pioneer country. And as such, certain parts of the country are more accustomed to having guns than not having them. Fine. Lucky for those people, no one is saying they can’t own a gun. But let’s be clear, unless anyone has forgotten.

Guns are not mere property, they’re deadly weapons. And yes, you NRA spindoctors, I know that things like cars also kill, which is why you need a license, registration and insurance in order to operate one. Here’s the difference…Cars were invented to get around. Guns were invented to kill people!! And yet, in Canada it takes more to own a car than it does to own a gun.

So, if you want to own a gun, there need to be some more hoops to jump through. And that’s Too Bad. So you miss pheasant season this year because your gun’s not registered…WAAAAH! I don’t care. You’re lucky you get a gun at all…’cause let me tell you this. If it were up to me, you’d have to stand in front of a judge and make a pretty convincing case for owning a gun at all. For me, there’s no such thing as too much gun control.

SO…once again, your action item is to write to your MP or any MP you chose and urge them to support the gun registry and to vote NAY on Bill C-391. The vote is on September 22nd (that’s next Wednesday) so DON’T DELAY! ACT NOW! AGENTS ARE STANDING BY!

BUT WAIT…THERE’S MORE.

Double karma points are given to anyone writes one of the 7 remaining NDP MPs who intend to vote with the government to defeat the long gun registry. They are:

Peter Stoffer – Sackville-Eastern Shore

John Rafferty – Thunder Bay-Rainy River

Bruce Hyer – Thunder Bay-Superior North

Dennis Bevington – Western Arctic

Nathan Cullen – Skeena-Bulkely Valley

Jim Malloway – Elmwood-Transcona

and

Nikki Ashton – Churchill

Oh and there’s a piece about the gun registry by the great Don Newman on the CBC’s politics page that I quite like. Links to everything are of course on the blog: ckutmorningafter.wordpress.com

Moving on…

The order paper for the next session of parliament won’t just feature an important bill about gun control…oh no…

You’re also going to get bills like C-32, the Copyright Modernization Act, which makes things none of us do any more like ripping CDs LEGAL, but it also puts new restrictions and fines on things all of us do (especially you shifty university students) like downloading movies.

If that’s not enough, it would also allow you ISP to break confidentiality agreements with you and release your personal information to copyright holders if the copyright holder SUSPECTS you’ve done something naughty; it’s shifty stuff and woefully out of touch with technology.

Another sure to be juicy bill for the fall session is Bill C-4, which proposes to make amendments to the Youth Justice Act which could make it easier for young people to be tried as adults, among other things.

I haven’t read enough of the Bill to form a specific opinion, but when it comes to dealing with young offenders (or any offenders) we Westerners do tend to be a bit bloodthirsty for justice and like it or not, even crooked kids are kids. And kids deserve extra protection. After all, whatever they’ve done, they didn’t get that way on their own. That’s why we have to look out for them. So we’ll need to keep a close eye this.

Alright, where’s the action item in all of this? Well I’d like you to go to the website for this 40th session of Parliament and take a look at some of the items on the order paper for the fall. The link is on our blog ckutmorningafter.wordpress.com

And while you’re there, take special note of the Private Members bills as they’re often overlooked by the mainstream media. For example, Bill C-391 (the gun registry bill) was a private member’s bill.

And as a Private Member’s Bill doesn’t usually get the same amount of time for debate as Government Bills, they’re a sneaky little way to get controversial stuff through Parliament when no one’s looking.

On the other hand, some Private Member’s bills can do good. Bill C-208, for example would prevent the open market sale of Canadian war medals. I don’t think we should be selling our heritage to anyone, so I think that’s a great initiative.

OK? Good.

Finally…and I have to be quick about this last one…

I urge you to go to www.avaaz.org and sign the petition against SUN TV NEWS, often referred to as Fox News North. Not for political reasons, but for cultural ones. We have absolutely no need for more phony news in this country and even if we did, that need is more than filled by the 24h hour networks from south of the 49th parallel. Having our own set of bleating morons shouting at each other and infesting our culture with the lies of their political and corporate masters might seem like fun, but I assure it won’t contribute a thing. We don’t need SUN TV NEWS or any of the other fake news channels that would be sure to follow.

So please sign the petition. You don’t have to take a a stand against the politics of SUN MEDIA or their masters at Quebecor, but you should take a stand against this brand of news.

And it’s worth noting that the petition is having an effect. On Wednesday, Kory Teneycke (the head of the proposed network and former Harper spinmaster) resigned amid accusations that he’d attempted to sabotage the petition, adding fictitious names and even his own name as part of a vain plot to discredit Avaaz. Well…it didn’t work, jerk-off.

That’s a good sign brothers and sisters…when the man tries to screw with your petition; you know he’s feeling the heat

So keep pouring on the heat my friends and never let up.

I’m Joshua Hind and those are your Action Items.

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Stephen Harper’s greatest crime is stoking the fires of regionalism in this country. Remember that this is the same guy who spent years in the house accusing the Liberals of a Quebec bias. Well you see his true colours now. Stephen Harper is without a doubt to the West what Gilles Duceppe is to Quebec. He’s got the same chip on his shoulder and the same sense of entitlement born of the same victim complex. Those attitudes breed regionalism and regionalism is and always has been the greatest threat to our massive and fragile nation. You may not be a fan of Pierre Trudeau but he had a unique ability to identify this threat and he attacked it wherever he could, most famously in Quebec. He didn’t fight the separatists because they sought independence; but rather because they sought to reward Quebecers for thinking small by embracing isolationism. The Conservatives play the same game; rousing their base while casting the rest of us aside. It’s somewhat ironic, actually; for someone who so gleefully mocks the separatists to be so like them.

So here’s the diatribe, unedited from “Mr. Freedom”. Oh, one more thing before we get to this little missive. I hate it when people flame using an alias, so I Googled the author and thought you might like to know that…

…Mr. Freedom is actually NEVILLE A. ROSS of Toronto. He’s a bit of an artist who loves comic books and Star Trek. He likes Star Trek so much that the only 3 people he follows on Twitter are Wil Wheaton, Levar Burton and Leonard Nimoy (and he calls me a man-child). He’s also into photography and cosplay. Comments for Neville can be directed to solex10@hotmail.com

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Hey Josh, I see that you love to kiss cop ass and suck on cop dick; do you love to get fucked in the bum by cops, too? Do you love to kiss and lick cop pussy? Are you a lover of brainwashing by the semi-neoconservative MSM? It seems that you do, because all I see here is the rant of an out of touch, socially, politically and (dare I say it) emotionally stunted man-child who will kiss the ass of anybody in power just to live and survive-that’s what this rant of yours looked like to me.

<i>NOTHING</i> in this rant looked, or sounded like, you had any inkling of what the protesters (not the Black Bloc) wanted to say to the world. Nothing sounded as if you had <i>any</i> idea of the issues the protesters were on the streets trying to bring to everybody’s attention. Instead, all I see here is an immature nobody who’s taken his talking points from Rex Murphy, Bill Riley, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Makin, and every other neoconservative bully with a big mouth and small sexual member. It also sounds like the typical North American sheep who vote and pay taxes, consume like there’s no tomorrow and who only knows what’s on <i>Canadian Idol</i>, and what’s happening in the NHL playoffs/Super Bowl/Grey Cup/NCAA championships, plus whatever’s playing a the local multiplex or what’s going on with the latest celebrity.

I could be wrong about this, and if I am, please let me know. But so far, what I read above is what I’ve described you as.

————-

So there it is. I might make a habit out of showcasing the most hate-filled comments I get here on the blog. The only question I have in response is…what’s MSM??

G20 Protests, Friday on College St. In happier times. Photo by Tomasz Bugajski

There’s little point to me spending any ink talking about the looting, vandalizing criminals who ran rip shod throughout our city last night as I’d only be preaching to the choir. Not only am I sure the anarchists don’t read my blog, I’m pretty sure they don’t read at all. Any group who thinks they can change the world through acts of violence like we saw today clearly haven’t read a lot of history, for example. History would show them people like Martin Luther King, or Gandhi; people who sold their message using peace. Peace, no matter the cost.

Nor will I spend any time separating the peaceful protesters from the violent ones. Fuck off. We know it wasn’t you doing the smashing. Yes, yes…it was the other guy. Enough already.

Rather, I want to discuss the myriad people who commented online, in print, radio and TV about their “right to protest” and any numbers of other rights they believe were being infringed upon this weekend. I want to talk about the culture of self-righteous, irresponsible entitlement that has permeated our culture and was made manifest by the petulant and confrontational actions of not just the violent few.

No, it wasn’t just the Black Bloc trying to provoke the Police and the “establishment” yesterday. And late last night, in front of the Novotel hotel on the Esplanade, everyone finally got what they wanted. Pictures of Police in riot gear arresting non-violent protesters.

Steve Paikin, from TVO’s The Agenda, was in the thick of it and didn’t waste any time showing off the play acting he’s certainly learned from watching World Cup soccer. After reading his piece (link) I don’t even have to close my eyes to imagine the slow-mo instant replay of him making the journalistic equivalent of the classic soccer “pained face”. Just as the soccer player waits for the opportunity to take a dive for the benefit of his team, so too did Steve hit the Twitter with his harrowing account of the arrests, declaring it scarier than Bosnia.

And his team, the angry and the self-righteous did benefit. One even went so far as to recall the sacrifices of WWII veterans in the defence of peace. A weak argument considering those same veterans weren’t even happy with their own children using protest and disruption to affect chance. I’m sure if you transplanted a veteran from 1960 to 2010, he might have the same message…get a haircut and get a real job. But I digress…

I have no doubt that being in the midst of the Police dispersion last night was a tense experience, but calling it worse that the Bosnian war zone stinks of histrionics. Almost 40,000 civilians were killed in the Bosnian war, as such Mr. Paikin’s comparison is utterly shameful.

Results of real terror in the Bosnia War. Mass graves in Srebrenica.

Let’s talk about responsibility, personal and professional. By the time midnight rolled around last night, the Police had been managing a near riot for 12 hours; wouldn’t it have been responsible for protesters to consider packing it in for the night. Even the Police are human and have emotional limits brought on by stress and fatigue. By defiantly staying out so late and carrying on so long I begin to wonder if one of the goals of these late night protesters was to test that limit. To see how far they could push their rights and the Police before one or both cracked. The media repeatedly spoke of  the Canadian actions of the establishment, well how about the very Canadian quality of empathy. I’m not surprised that the protesters couldn’t bring themselves to have any empathy for the Police, not could I reasonably expect the protesters to give any credit to the Police for their remarkable restraint throughout the day. But, it’s can’t possibly be too much to ask for the remaining, late-night protesters to have some empathy for the city. The city was tired, bruised and beaten. It’s too much to ask that they give the city a break. Apparently so.

For the sake of fairness, let’s assume that the Police came to the Esplanade protest knowing they were going to break it up and arrest anyone who resisted. I’m quite willing to believe that by the time midnight rolled around, the Police had migrated from a containment posture and begun a strategy of clearing the streets. After 12hrs of protest and near-riot conditions in some parts of the city, I’ve no doubt that an order came down from the commanders at the Integrated Security Unit to encourage and if necessary force everyone to go home. But would the protesters, peaceful or otherwise play along and be content with the great day of freedom they experienced? Would they pack it in and give the Police and the city a chance to catch its breath? Not a fucking chance.

You would think that an almost fanatical devotion to the rights of free assembly would be admirable, but for some reason it comes off as belligerently self-righteous. And I think that demonstrates a terrible lack of perspective on the part of the Canadian citizenry. Steve Paikin’s assertion that the Esplanade was akin to a war zone is shameful from someone who claims to have seen real pain and destruction. I’ve been to a war zone or two myself, having spent a short time in Kandahar in 2002 and let me tell you, even at our worst Canadian have it 1,000,000,000 times better than 95% of the world. It’s ironic that while protesters take to the street on behalf of that 95%, they seem to have no perspective on our level of freedom vs. theirs.

To be very clear, I’m not defending any inappropriate action by the police. If they acted excessively, they should be called on the carpet. But the ripple of what I can only describe as thinly veiled joy that ran through the blogosphere and Twitter when the first reports of police violence came in was palpable. Steve Paikin’s report had finally, after 12hrs of calm response for the Police, somehow justified both the general dislike of cops and the nonsense ranting about “police states” that ran that ran thick through all the various media I’d read, heard or seen leading up to and during yesterday’s protests and violence. Finally, the paranoia had seemingly been validated. Who cares if his report was entirely one-sided? Does it matter that it didn’t offer any comment or perspective from the Police? It’s ludicrous to suggest that what Mr. Paikin presented was journalism…it might have been reporting, but it wasn’t journalism.

In the hour or so between the initial reports from Mr. Paikin and Kate Cullen from the Globe and Mail, the ugly response on the internet approached schadefreude. They didn’t really care if people were getting arrested, rather it seemed they were glad that after a day of the Police making the hysterical press  look like asshole by being calm, collected and measured —all the things the media and new media said the Police couldn’t be—the Police were finally giving the press what it wanted: Violence. You see, peace doesn’t make for good headlines, excitable reporting or allow for future recriminations. Only violence does that, and I freely charge the media of relishing every broken window and every single arrest.

It was impossible to ignore that certain people were happy the cops might have screwed up. As if they’d been waiting for it all day. As if they’d wanted it. …As if they were trying for it.

It was a dark day for Toronto and for Canada. But it was a dark day for journalism as well.  A day when the media’s lustful need for disorder was gleefully on display. Opportunism, populism and immediacy trumped journalistic integrity at every level of reporting. Even Peter Mansbridge was editorializing on The National. It’s something you expect from the hyper-opinionated blogospere and Twittersphere (of which I know I’m a part), but it’s totally reasonable to expect better for from the mainstream, people who really can shape public opinion. And in their most significant test in recent memory, they failed…epically.

And that, as much as anything is a terrible shame.

One large man to another...avoid the fisheye lens.

UPDATE (2010/06/18):

OK, fuck it…Rob Ford is far too interesting to me. I have to keep talking about him, so I think I’ll regularly update this post with my thoughts on the bloated candidate. Today, here’s something I posted on Spacing in response to this fun article by Jonathan Goldsbie:

A year ago, Rob Ford was a clown and now he’s a serious contender. How does that happen? How does a guy with no political savvy do an end-run around everyone’s preconceptions and come out as a new person, even though he has all the same faults?? Confused? Joint the club.

Rob Ford, who’s entire purpose seems to be antagonizing fellow councillors, entire ethnic groups, the media and AIDS sufferers is AT THE SAME TIME a leading candidate for Mayor. It’s like he’s a superhero…by day he’s a goonish, loud-mouthed, racist buffoon, but when the sun goes down he puts on his costume and becomes “ROB FORD FOR MAYOR!!” Except in this situation, his Clark Kent outfit and he super-suit are the exactly the same, yet still no one puts two and two together.

The only way this would make sense is if Rob Ford had at one time been a moron for whom every opening of his mouth was a precursor to foot insertion, BUT now he’s been enlightened and has working “like a dog” to become involved and aware of our entire city’s diversity. If that were the case, I could understand his popularity. But let’s be honest…he hasn’t changed a but and is proving it regularly.

So here’s my question (and it’s likely the same question asked by Ford’s doctor, ZING!)…when will Rob Ford reach critical mass and explode? It’s gotta happen sometime.

Right?

ORIGINAL POST:

Alright, I haven’t been around much lately and as such I think the internet’s been about 0.0002% off it’s usually quotient of know-it-all, smarmy intellectualism disguised as social commentary. It’s also been about 0.000445% off on social commentary disguised as weak humour. But I want to come back into the fray. There are simply too many terrible and incredible things to say about what’s going on in Toronto, Canada and the World.

I should mention that although I like to focus on Toronto issues, I’m writing to you from Montreal. I’ve been forced to relocate here for work. I say forced and you may roll your eyes but hey, if you could find me a salary gig in Toronto as a lighting designer, I’d move back. But since no such gig exists in Toronto and I don’t want to wait until I’m 45 to have some cash I gotta follow the money…all the way to Montreal. I’m slowly warming up to Montreal’s civic issues, but I’ll still write mostly about Toronto. It’s the city I still call home and when you have brutish morons leading the Mayoral race, it’s no time to cut and run.

I’ve spent the better part of this evening trying to express how baffled I am that Rob Ford is even in the race and I can’t do it. How does a guy go from joke to contender overnight? How fucking desperate is the Toronto media for a story that they’re giving Ford so much attention. I spent a long while assuming they were just waiting for him to fuck up, but that can’t be the whole reason. Sure, he’s going to fuck up, but while they wait for that inevitable disaster the Toronto Star seems to be singlehandedly running Ford’s PR campaign. I’ve never seen a guy get this much press from nothing. At best he’s a fucking catchphrase.

Of course, that’s his strength. Like Sarah Palin, he’s just well-known enough and loud enough to be the poster child for people’s frustration with government. He’s not doing well because he has anything constructive to say, quite the opposite. Being completely negative is Ford’s fuel. And our cousins to the south have proven that while you can’t win simply by being a malcontent and a noisemaker, you can gather quite a following.

How much shit would we take as an electorate if we rewarded our Northern Palin’s cynical style of politics with a victory. It’s pretty hard to feel superior to Teabaggers when we’re giving this clown a real chance at being our leader. Even in America’s stupidest state they’d recognize Rob Ford for what he is, an even Chris Farley with a huge ex-jock chip on his shoulder.

But hey…fuck it, Rob Ford might be leading now but it’s the start of the summer and no one really gives a flying fuck about the election. If he’s still leading in September, it’s time to worry. Until then, just sit back and enjoy the clown show. But keep your umbrella handy. ‘Cause when Rob Ford’s whole campaign explodes because he gets drunk and runs over an old woman, or punches a reporter, or eats a baby while trying to kiss it you’re not going to want to get hit with the spray.

In the meantime…let’s all stop talking about Rob Ford.

We're here, we're queer...uhh...pass me another beer!

About this time last year I got into a heated debate with my good friend and fellow blogger, Catherine. Catherine and I don’t typically engage in deep political or social debates so the fact that we were not only delving deeply into the socio-political, but also that it got so involved made the topic worth remembering. I had suggested that the LGBT community wasn’t making good use of their annual time in the media spotlight; that the community as a whole was allowing itself to be defined by videos of half-naked people shooting each other with water guns rather than by a conversation about something important…like the ongoing struggle of gays, lesbians, et al for equality in this country and around the world. I kept coming back to the idea that when all the world is watching and you have something important to say, why the fuck would you waste your time putting on a big clown show?

And hey, I’m not so hip, but I’m hip enough to get that Pride is about getting together and yelling at the top of your lungs “HEY WORLD, HERE I AM AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LIKE THAT? ‘CAUSE I THINK IT’S AMAZING TO BE ME!!” And back in the not so distant past when just being gay in public was a dangerous, it made sense for the parade to be about a concept as simple as being out and not being afraid. But it doesn’t seem like we’re there anymore and I can’t believe the community is getting as much mileage out of scaring the squares. That’s not to say there isn’t still plenty of hate and ignorance, but it do homosexuals still need the big FU?

I don’t think I’m the only on who’s confused; as evidenced by the Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) debate.

Pride Toronto was absolutely right to ban the words Israeli Apartheid from the parade. Not because they’re inflammatory or even because they’re harshly bigoted. They don’t belong in the Pride Parade because they don’t belong in the Pride Parade. What benefit do LGBT people get by having the parade hijacked  by the purveyors of rhetoric? Could the plight of the Palestinians, however important, be any further from the prevailing message of pride? But maybe I don’t understand Pride. To be certain, I’m an outsider.

So here’s my question: Why Pride? Am I completely missing the point when I suggest that you can’t mix a message about gay rights with naked men shooting each other with super soakers and reasonably expect the message to get through? Sure, the people at the parade can pick through the noise. But that doesn’t count. The people at the parade are your choir and you don’t get special points for preaching to them. There’s a message to be sure, but I argue that it’s going unheard.

Maybe I’ve got it wrong and Pride is just a party. If so, fine…but why then would there be any flack concerning QuAIA. No need for those bummers at a party, right? If, on the other hand it’s about something deeper than just a party, what’s the message?

It’s not surprising that the LGBT community in Toronto seems to be in transition. Several of the big battles have been won in Ontario and once the big battles are won, it’s hard to keep the troops from going home. And if you can keep the troops mustered, it’s hard to keep them from getting distracted by things like Israel. Until every single homosexual or transgendered person on Earth can wave his or her or his/her ass as freely as you do every year then you ought not to allow your focus to be so easily shifted. Shit, you don’t even have to look very far to see that what you have in Ontario is special, unique and rare. Just on the other side of Lake Ontario are a bunch of LGBT folks who’d love to have what you have. And what do you do to help them? Wiggle your balls around? Doesn’t seem like you’re really making an effort, does it? Rather, it seems like you’re forfeiting an opportunity in a time when even in Canada, where things are good, dark forces are gathering against the LGBT community. Led by Stephen Harper, they’re coming to legitimize your event and ultimately your way of life. But hey…the super soakers and Israeli Apartheid need their time in the sun, right?

Listen, this isn’t just the usual pot stirring about Pride. The health and well-being of the LGBT community is vital to the health of the City of Toronto and the cause of equality is central to the vision of Canada. It’s important that we not let that ideal get misplaced or stolen.

In 1994, a dear friend of my family, a man I called Uncle Larry came to Toronto to visit some friends and get away from what I imagine was a very difficult life for a closeted gay man in a small Ontario town. He did this occasionally and was openly welcomed by the community, something for which I am grateful. On that last trip to Toronto he met the wrong person, was drugged, kidnapped, murdered and left in the Rosedale ravine. It barely made news in my small hometown; no one cared about some fag getting killed. That was 16 years ago, but anytime I go down to Church and Wellesley I’m reminded that it must have been heaven for him to come to such a fun, open and safe place. Yeah, I say safe. Although he died in Toronto, it wasn’t the city or the community that killed him. Rather, I believe it was the community that allowed him to live, if only in short spurts.

To the LGBTTIQQ2SA community at of Toronto; you’ve built something truly wonderful. Mightn’t it be time to pass it on? Isn’t it time to take a little responsibility for this grand thing you’ve created and put some more focus on the broader and even-continuing struggle of LGBT people everywhere? You get the world’s attention once a year without fail and yes, the reason you have that attention now is because you shook your ass and had a great time. But the world’s listening now, however briefly. Don’t waste a golden opportunity to say the real things you’ve always wanted to say. You have the world’s ear; don’t shoot it with a super soaker.