Reimagining climate action
Re Big Oil’s Climate Cop-Out (NOW, April 22-28). To “enact legal safeguards against unethical partnerships and make sure our political representatives prevent the criminalization of peaceful protest” are useful proposals. But the big takeaway from this article is its indictment of police as the enforcement arm of rapacious corporations and corporate media as their propaganda arm. The problem is structural rather than one of ethics and behaviour. Didn’t we learn that lesson from Black Lives Matter, Idle No More and Occupy? This important article is clear in its conclusion: “With police spending reaching $15 billion annually in Canada, as settlers we can do our part to dismantle the harmful notion that oil infrastructure somehow deserves more protection than Indigenous land rights. [As] Robyn Maynard writes … defunding police ‘is part of a broader political vision that is rooted in reimagining public safety.’”
Eric Mills – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Bank Job speaks to the disempowered
Re Hot Doc Review: Bank Job (NOW Online, April 27). I watched the film and it was apparent to me from the very start that it was designed to speak to people who feel disempowered, alienated and confused about the financial system, and who are likely themselves to be in debt. It’s totally valid to point out where that approach fell flat, but it seems you’ve gone further, and it feels like you are seeking a slicker documentary aimed at university-educated types, who themselves are probably not at risk of indebtedness. This review would feel less dickish if it made a bit more effort to try to see why the film’s makers might have taken the approach they did, and the tradeoffs involved.
Brett Scott – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Doug Ford’s COVID failure is wrapped in corruption
Re Doug Ford Goes MIA As Calls for His Resignation Grow Louder (NOW Online, April 20). Our “Dear Leader” and Pinocchio Premier Doug Ford has been nothing but an epic failure wrapped in a disaster shrouded in corruption. Premier Ford has been busy waging a legal battle with the makers of the film about his brother while the third wave of the pandemic is overwhelming our hospitals and health care workers. Thug Ford and his regime of bobbleheads have allowed patients and staff at long-term care homes to die unnecessarily while protecting their corporate owners.
Nolan Strand – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Loss of grey market hurting quality of weed
Re Buying Legal Weed Can Be A Mind-bending Experience (NOW Online, April 25). Ever since the grey market was disbanded, it seems that the core focus of legal retail shops is the Starbucks-style decor and marketing of stale sub-par products. Previously, you could deal with highly experienced budtenders who had limited varieties though the quality was considerably better compared to the vast majority of recreational cannabis currently available. My “homegrown” organic cannabis puts these products to shame and costs around $2 a gram to produce from start to finish.
Name withheld by request – From NOWTORONTO.COM
City regulations make laneway housing impossible
Re Affordable Housing Should Not Come At The Expense Of The Environment (NOW Online, April 17). Laneways and the backs of properties with old garages should be utilized fully. However, the City makes it nearly impossible unless there is a huge wide lane to the back of the property for fire and other emergency vehicles.
Dan Jones – From NOWTORONTO.COM
What makes good smoked meat, according to Montrealers
Re Toronto Restaurants That Opened And Closed This Week (NOW Online, April 27) Sorry Kelsey Adams, smoked meat, like corned beef and pastrami is technically steamed meat, cured, smoked then steamed. The hallmark of a good place according to most Montrealers is hand-cut meat, i.e. no slicer.
Anthony Lee – From NOWTORONTO.COM
The problem with Piquettes
Re What To Drink: Three Picnic-Perfect Piquettes (NOW Online, April 27) “Piquette” means very low-quality wine in French only used for cooking a “boeuf bourguignon” or other types of stews. So the word Piquette on a product is kind of strange.
Charles B. – From NOWTORONTO.COM
