Our weekly recap of the week’s news nuggets in Toronto will bring you up to date and add some fuel to your small-talk tank heading into the weekend.
Former GTA hockey stars on Olympic men’s team
Four of the most exciting players on the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team getting ready to defend their Gold Medal in Sochi, Russia skated for local club teams around the GTA. Steve Stamkos reps the Markham Waxers and the North York Canadies, John Tavares played for the Oakville Rangers and a couple of Mississauga teams, P.K. Subban flies the North York Canadiens flag while Alex Pietrangelo patrolled the blue line for Richmond Hill Stars and Vaughan Kings. As if your kid needed any more motivation to make those 6 a.m. games…
The Great York University Kerfuffle
One of the biggest stories in the city this week has undoubtedly been the great religion vs. gender debate at York University. For those of you living under a rock: Weeks ago, a student asked his professor to be excused from a group project because, he said, he could not meet with women in public for religious reasons. The professor denied the request, and the student relented and worked women like any adult man living in 2014. Why did the issue catch fire this week? Maybe because as universities make greater efforts to accommodate students’ diverse religious requests, the human rights of other groups, particularly women and the LGBT community, are at risk of being marginalized. Or maybe not. Feel free to have a heated debate about it at your upcoming dinner party.
Garth Drabinsky is out of order
Theatre mogul Garth Drabinsky has lost his legal battle to reclaim his membership in Order of Canada this week. Drabinsky was stripped of his membership while he served time in prison after being convicted of fraud and had asked the court to declare the decision of the Order of Canada advisory council unlawful.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, Toronto, but did you know that Rob Ford enjoys drugs?
This week, the mayor came out in support of the decriminalization of marijuana, admitting to a US sports radio show that it “probably won’t happen up here because we have a Conservative government.” He added that the feds are “very strict when it comes to marijuana and any other drugs” …. but not strict enough to arrest or denounce prominent conservative mayors, he might have added.
Raptors win?
While it may come back to haunt sports fans, The Toronto Raptors are basically out of the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes. Remember him? Within a span of maybe two weeks tops, the team established themselves as playoff contenders and quite possibly the third best team in the Eastern Conference. Before you get too excited, that’s the same conference that has just four teams of 15 with winning records. Still, the Raptors are on an uptick after coming back to beat the Detroit Pistons this week.
Newborn Carnivore is 2KEWT OMG!!
In happy news, the Toronto Zoo released new images of their newborn polar bear cub this week and he is just the CUTEST. While polar bears are among the most dangerous animals in the world and are known to attack, maul and devour humans unprovoked in the wild, this little guy is an exception because he is little, and chubby and has a pink nose and drinks from a bottle! He’s a furry little angel, Toronto, a furry little angel.
Disaster management
As it turns out, in order for the city to qualify for funding from the provincial and federal government in the wake of last week’s unprecedented ice storm that caused an estimated $100 million in damages, city staff recommended that city council declare Toronto a bona fide disaster area. At press time, we’re unsure how many food cards that works out to…
Airport boss finally speaks up
After days of delays and cancellations and thousands of angry customers stuck in luggage-filled purgatory, Toronto Pearson Airport’s head honcho Howard Eng finally sucked it up and admitted “we dropped the ball” in an interview with CBC’s Metro Morning radio show.
Unemployment rises. Again.
Do you remember the Great Recession? That’s probably because you are still living it. Canada’s unemployment rate rose last month led by the largest drop in full-time work since 2011. Full-time employment declined by 60,000 workers in December, while part-time positions increased by 14,200. The jobless rate in Ontario jumped to 7.9 per cent from 7.2 percent as employment fell by 39,300, according to Statistics Canada.
Neil Young is still grumpy, awesome
The great Canadian musician, who will be kicking off is “honour the treaties” tour in Toronto next week in support of First Nations, played a series of shows at Carnegie Hall in New York last week during which, the New York Times reported that he harshly shut-down an attempt by some in the audience to clap along with the music. Young, a world-renowned performer who has been experimenting with sound, music, rhythm and acoustics for some 40 years, is apparently less than thrilled when audience members blindly clap along to what they think is the beat. “It’s something that you probably don’t know,” he told the audience in New York, “but there’s a hell of a distance between you and me.” So Toronto audiences, hold your clapping, and just listen to the man you came to see.