A Shirtless Protest Movement, My Conversation with Joe Killoran and it’s Outcomes.

Please bear with me as I make a few separate yet related points on the matters of:

Politeness

Frustration

Protest

And PROTEST

Politeness

I’ve always felt grateful that most Torontonian’s repress their inner desire to let rip on a person or situation that is particularly disturbing. Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking the politeness we show to tourists, and I know we’re not saints, we’ll mutter under our breath something fierce, or snipe from the sanctuary of a locked vehicle, but it’s rare that someone will rant in open public (anonymous social media venues aside). This self imposed prohibition by most people generally makes Toronto a wonderful place to live.

Sotiropoulos' Motion on TDSB Participation in the Gay Pride Parade. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

As the child of an educational psychologist and a teacher, it’s no surprise that I advocate for providing Canadians with access to a world class educational system, nor should it come as a surprise that I am an advocate for diversity, equality, and universal human rights.

Mere school attendance does not guarantee improved economic status for Canadians. Research demonstrates that cognitive skills and the quality of education have a far greater influence on individual earnings, income distribution, and economic growth. We must provide quality education as a long term financial investment in Canada.

However, I believe one of the greatest strength’s our educational system is its formal contribution to the enculturation of our children; the deliberate socialization process by which our children learn the obligations of Canadian culture and acquire the values and behaviours appropriate and necessary to broader Canadian society.

While informal enculturation may have Canadians identifying closely with Molson’s “I am Canadian” rant, hockey and Tim Hortons, it’s the formal enculturation through our educational system that have the majority of Canadians identifying closely with the higher ideals of multiculturalism, diversity, and equality.

This brings me to a tale of two cities, our Toronto and the alternate reality inhabited by Trustee Sam Sotiropoulos.

Toronto Fire Service Cuts. Life or Property?

Back before Crackgate, and the shift to distance themselves from Mayor Ford, Toronto Council supported his "fiscal irresponsibility" agenda, voting to cut Fire Services.

Only now, 12 months after 2013 Toronto Fire Service budget cuts are area residents learning the full impact of the cuts. Fire Stations are losing apparatus (fire trucks) and staff; the following equipment is being removed due to 2013 cuts:

• Pumper 424 (426 Runnymede Road)
• Pumper 215 (5318 Lawrence Ave. East)
• Aerial 324 (840 Gerrard Street East)

The primary concern of eliminating Fire Trucks is the resultant increase in emergency response times. Seconds count, both in terms of increased property damage and increased risk to human life. In the case of the elimination of Pumper 215, the increased response times represent too many seconds, too much risk for area residents.

This year the Budget Committee is once again approving more long term Fire Service cuts for the 2014 Budget... except perhaps for their own wards.

One of the perks of being a member of Ford's hand picked Budget Committee is the ability to influence budget decisions in your favour. Michelle Berardinetti was able to pass a motion to obtain $1.311 million in 2014 and an incremental $1.185 million for 2015 for a new pumper for the new Station "D" being built in her ward at Midland and Eglinton, rather than accepting the reallocation of an existing a pumper from Fire Station 224. 

The optic's of Michelle Berardinetti's action is not of an altruistic act, but rather one of cynical electioneering, since she wasn't concerned with also restoring funding that would allow pumper 215 to remain at Station 215. Nor was she concerned about aerial 324 or pumper 424.

Helpful twitter lists and websites for Toronto Election 2014

Here you will find my collection of helpful information on Toronto Election 2014.

Twitter Lists - Please subscribe to get easy access to all the candidates on twitter! 

Toronto 2014 Election
This above list follows Twitter accounts of those candidates seeking election to the position of Mayor or the position of Toronto City Councillor. 

NOTE: Unless the Integrity Commissioner rules that Councillors may use their existing twitter accounts currently used to communicate with constituents, those accounts will not be followed on this list, but are included in the TOCouncil list below.

Toronto District School Board Candidates
The above list follows known Twitter accounts of candidates seeking election to the position of Trustee. NOTE: The Toronto District School Board has only 22 wards, they are not the same as Toronto's 44 municipal wards. To find what TDSB ward you live in click here. Not sure what a School Trustee is responsible for? The People for Education website has that answer.

Toronto Council
The above list follows those Twitter accounts 'normally' used by Toronto City Councillors to communicate with constituents, regardless of whether or not it is also used as a personal twitter account. Yes, the Rob Ford's account too...

Parody #VoteTO candidates
Yep, politicians just cry out for parody accounts, so to must any world class election.  Here's my list which features such infamous parody accounts as @TOMayorFrod

Do you know an account you'd like me to add, send me a tweet @JohnFurrToronto

The sites below can help you prepare... or find who your local candidates are.

Links to Toronto's official election pages:

Key Dates in 2014 Election Campaign

List of All Candidates

List of Withdrawn Candidates

Find Candidates by Your Home Address 

Want to get in on the action?

Nomination Period
Nominations are accepted from Thursday, January 2, 2014 to Thursday, September 11, 2014, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding statutory holidays.

Locations: City Hall, 100 Queen Street West,1st floor North
Election Services, 89 Northline Rd.

On Nomination Day (Friday, September 12), nominations may only be filed between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at City Hall, Council Chamber.

Becoming a Candidate Information Session
Wednesday, January 22, 2014 (7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.)
City Hall, Council Chamber
Email candidateinfo@toronto.ca to register.

Running for Election as a School Board Trustee: Guide for Candidates & Communities

Ford's 905 Area Conservative Support. It's more than just money. #905Trolls

Toronto, why are outsiders interfering in our municipal elections by trying to shape people's decisions, often through deceit and sophistry? 

UPDATE:
On TVO's The Inside Agenda Blog, Steve Paikin is reporting on what to me may be the penultimate Conservative attempt to interfere in Toronto's Election and see Rob Ford re-elected in 2014.

"Could Stephen Harper do something to help his ideological soul mate, Rob Ford? The answer is, absolutely yes. One of the things he could do is remove the front runner from the race, at least, the front runner according to recent polls.

"Here's the 'something else.' David C. Onley's tenure as Ontario Lieutenant-Governor is coming to an end later this month. Lieutenant-Governors are appointed by the prime minister."

"I'm told Chow has been offered the job by Prime Minister Harper."

Well, it there's one thing that can convince me that Chow is the ONLY candidate to back, this is it. The Conservatives are very good at identifying where they are vulnerable. I believe Harper erred in offering the Lieutenant-Governorship to Olivia.

Outside Conservative Money Flows into Toronto

During the 2010 Toronto Election campaign, Rob Ford received the support of many Conservative party backers from outside of Toronto, now in 2014 many of those same Conservative party backers are once again poised to interfere in our Toronto's Municipal Elections to foist their agenda on our community. 

I'm not just speaking about the large number of conservative trolls who beat all opposition viewpoints into submission, I'm speaking about the financial contributions to Ford's campaign... some of which raise as many eyebrows as Ford's infamous Billboard.

According to Press Progress 33.5% of Rob Ford's 2010 campaign contributions came from outside of Toronto. Below is a map of the source of Ford's 2010 contributions:

Outsiders, you have an opinion, you're entitled to it, but that's about it.

How to restart a boiler with frozen pipes & radiators

Curse you #IceStorm2013, my hydronic heating system froze!

Are you like so many other Torontonians, having suffered an extended power outage this past week? Do you have frozen heating pipes and or radiators?

If so, you can damage your boiler if you try to restart the boiler while the system is frozen. This can cause thermal shock that may crack the heat-exchanger leading to a costly repair.

You need to know a safe manner in which to restart your boiler without damaging it and to avoid a lengthy and expensive repairs. If you book a service call to have a heating technician restart your system it will cost a fair bit as well, typically more than a couple hundred bucks.

The following, in simple layman's terms, are the steps to restart your system safely.  

DISCLAIMER:
Among my qualifications I am a gas fitter & HVAC designer so i know what i'm speaking about, but if you read beyond this point or use the following information you accept all liability for your actions, and you understand that you are using this information at your own risk. It is provided for entertainment purposes only.

Canada Post by the Numbers

Customer Base

Canada Post services approximately 15.3 million addresses, of which only 5 million receive door-to-door mail delivery. The balance of the 10.3 million addresses are served by a centralized point, with 3.9 million of those addresses having a neighbourhood community mailbox as their centralized point of delivery.

The number of delivery addresses has been increasing at an average of 169 thousand addresses per year over the past 5 years. At an average annual cost of 168 dollars per address, operating expenses related to new addresses are increasing by 28.4 million dollars per year.

Annual Profits and Revenues

Canada Post has annual profits of 118.2 million dollars (5 yr average) on an annual revenues of 7.5 billion dollars (5 yr average).

Source: Canada Post 2012 Annual Report

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers frequently cite an 18 year average annual profit of 139 million dollars both to provide an inflated view of Canada Post's 'current' viability and to imply that this level of profitability can continue. However, past profitability can never be used as an predictor of future profitability.

Total Mail Volume

Canada Post has a 5 year average Total Mail Volume of 10.8 billion pieces. Total Mail Volume is broken down by market segment:

• Direct Marketing - Addressed and unaddressed Admail,
• Transactional Mail - Lettermail, 
• Parcels.

Canada Post has a the following 2011 - 2012 two year average Mail volumes:

• Direct Marketing Volume of 5.1 billion pieces, 
• Transactional Mail volume of 4.5 billion pieces, 
• Parcel volume of 148 million pieces.