The Library, The Public Library

The Toronto Public Library recently announced that branch closures were not part of their budget cuts, which comes as a relief for some residents. This could've been a heartbreaking decision as a member of the library board had proposed that as many as 38 branches should close.

As a reader, I'm thankful these cuts weren't approved, because for many residents, the library has been their centre of learning.

Let me take you back to this month, 1997. A nine year old in the city of Brampton received his first library card and proceeded to take out books related to the computer industry.

As time went on, these books became guides to the internet, and the same library branch took this boy's knowledge further by providing computer time.

The books he read became computer scripts, and these scripts became pages on the internet. They then had photos, audio, video...

Which brings me here today, 14 years later, the product of what I read. Thanks to a library book, my dreams were realized.

To shut down a library branch is to shut down the brain of a community. And cost cutting should never be the reason to end the dreams of our community's readers. There's a hidden cost in cost cutting.

A little bit about fares...

It's the quarter of a billion dollar technology that was supposed to simplify how we pay for the bus. But after years of delays, the contact-less Presto fare card is still not being rolled out in a wide manner, and people are still milling for change, with change.

Every single city, town, or region has its own prices for their systems, and GO Transit charges commuters by distance. If I suddenly walked off the Airport Express bus from Pearson in Richmond Hill and headed north to Beaverton by York Region Transit and another GO bus, I'm still paying three different fares!

The province needs to step up with its Metrolinx division by finding a much more simpler fare system that would put riders on the fastest mode for the least fuss, from any node. Hong Kong, London, and Brisbane, Australia are excellent examples where transportation authorities have a simple system applying to all public operators who charge on distance. In other words, people don't pay for the different buses or transit they take, but where and how far they go.

Presto will not change a thing no matter how much money we're pouring in, if we don't find a quicker, smarter way to use it.

A Loveless Marriage

Veolia Transportation and the Amalgamated Transit Union local 113 will be meeting for one last time before York Region Transit employees serving the region's southwest will officially be in legal strike position. The YRT says in an e-mail to me that the dispute was between the two above parties, and it was simply out of their hands.

What does this say about trying to make public transit a viable option for all stakeholders? What about the tens of thousands of York Region commuters who make the smart choice by not hogging the roads in tonne-heavy cars, who will now have to take costly alternatives to get to where they're going?

The regional government should never have let anyone who would provoke a strike take a contract. Part of a harmonious (and conflict-free) workplace involves keeping everyone happy and if the quality of transit has to suffer under crippling strikes (remember Viva a couple years back), it's not worth the savings that the lowest bidder for the contractor provides.

Veolia has only operated local service in Southwest York Region for only a few months now. What does this say about an employer who can't keep their employees happy enough not to get a settlement in a quick, timely and painless manner?

And then the ATU. They sent a press release claiming that it was Veolia that has forced them to strike. What truly intrigues me is the fact that this union can speak of things like sick days when the patrons who take service operated by their stakeholders usually have none of these liberties. Students lose marks if they don't show up to learn, and many employees (union or otherwise) could even lose their jobs because they can't get to work as efficiently if at all.

Not listening to employees: Not cool. Not seeing outside of union demands: Not cool. Washing hands in regional government when a contract goes awry: You guessed it.

For I, a college student, have prepared for a prolonged egotistical mania - saved by my hometown of Brampton (with their buses running through Woodbridge) and ironically... the TTC, which has union staff.

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Eco "Tax"?

This is clearly a lesson in the quest to ensure that the facts are accurate, because some in the media have put a weary political spin into what was supposed to be a levy that manufacturers pay to make sure that their products are disposed properly.

With Canadian Tire receipt in hand the Toronto Star made light of the issue, correctly saying that it was manufacturing that pays the fees, and that consumers are paying the new fee because these companies aren't absorbing the cost.

CP24, the local almost-news channel, had spun the eco fee out of its original set up, scaring at least one citizen through their live eye into thinking that the province sneaked the extra cost onto him. Not the greatest thing to do in such a fragile economy and state of mind.

Let's make this clear: some companies are passing on the eco fee to consumers, while others might not.

A minister says that not a penny of this fee will land in government coffers at the end of the day. How could this be a tax then?

Sweatbox, T.O.

Global warming seems to be looming like the Angel of Death as a heat wave struck Toronto, making even the evening feel like an unbearable sweatbox atypical of the usual weather that is encountered this time of year. Some residents have begged for this sort of heating up for quite some time after an unusually tepid July and August last year, but this seems just a bit selfish considering the consequences of this extreme.

Let's start thinking about the elderly and the vulnerable - why should we? With weaker immune systems, this important part of society is much more susceptible to the ailments of temperature fluctuations. There's a reason why local governments suggest that we check on family and friends; heatstroke is just as dangerous as frostbite.

It's not just heat that's the culprit: Humidity and the power of the sun has made us feel much warmer than what is forecasted. An official from Environment Canada told a major daily newspaper recently that it may feel as hot as 50°C thanks to the above two factors. We're essentially in a desert and a tropical rainforest at the same time, which is definitely not very pleasant for some people.

The City of Vaughan has opened "cooling centres" which proves the severity of the situation. It might just be a few droplets of sweat for you, or Niagara Falls for others, but this is the time to make sure that everyone is alright.

So visit your Nana, or Popo, et cetera...

The True Choice

The conventional television viewer, whether it'd be the giddy tween who is looking forward to another horrible bit of American teen drama, or the butch man who focuses on hockey games, is becoming quite a very rare breed indeed. According to a recent Ipsos Reid poll, Canadians spend an average of an hour and six minutes more on their personal computer than on the black box, panel et al.

It's the result of a gradual transition as the information superhighway becomes a haven for the bored and lovelorn, while conventional broadcasters try to ignore the news with the sort of content that drove their audiences online in the first place.

Just like when television forced radio into a source of elevator and commuting music, this decades old technology is finally not the dominant medium of this dear land.

Let's face it: We have more choice over what we see online, and the repetitive nature of programming (especially those reality shows) are the main reason why the traditional airwaves are losing their control.

Meanwhile, the CRTC thinks that the courts will figure out whether or not broadcasters can spend more, or if cable and satellite companies will want to jack up their rates.

Face it, Corporate Canada. Stay tuned for a good old activity called "adapting to the current market environment". You haven't done so until now.

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The Province of Toronto?

Who knew: A Progressive Conservative MPP, of the same stock who had transformed what used to be Metropolitan Toronto into the City of Toronto, wants it separated to form its own province? The same party also came up with the idea of uniting various municipalities in York Region into pasteurized pockets with names like "York North" and "York South", and is trying to win the rural electorate by some sort of separation.

First of all, this is the first ever instance of separation, proposed by someone else, rather than as an act of self-determination.

Mel Lastman, the first mayor of the megacity, had played with the idea before, but it would seem that people will be a bit more serious to the idea this time around - there are newspaper rumours where London could usurp Toronto as Ontario's provincial capital.

Would I be a happy camper as a citizen who is no longer Ontarian? Absolutely not.

Said MPP was worried about how urban issues have been dealt with in more often a manner than rural issues such as agriculture. He may be correct in saying that people need a more representative voice that includes the farmer et al, but isn't that the point of a county-level government?

This proposal would exclude the rest of the GTA from separating - what kind of a twisted divide is that?

No one should separate because of such solvable problems like this, and said MPP should be reprimanded for trying to force the Ontario out of Ontarians.