Fordists don’t care enough about kids to protect them
Re Ontario’s school reopening announcement turns into a gong show (NOW Online, January 13).
Children may be the future, but they’re clearly not a priority for the Ford government. Whether in schools or learning remotely, governments are showing us how little they truly care about our children.
Making social distancing in classrooms possible, better ventilation (3,000 new air filters is less than one per school when they should really be in every classroom), and ensuring all staff have adequate N95 masks would show actual effort. Meeting the recommendations of Sick Kids in the earlier stages of the pandemic would have cost only about a quarter of the pandemic funding the Ford government was sitting on.
But they were determined to show us that they just don’t care about kids enough to protect them.
Michael Nabert – From NOWTORONTO.COM
School vaccine clinics should have been in place
Ford, Lecce and Moore are completely useless.
PPE and vaccine clinics at schools should have been in place last week. Instead, we’re offered a “promise” the government is starting to work on it now (if the feds don’t hamper us). Is the plan to put kids and education staff at high risk for a few days and then close down again? It’s the Doug Ford story.
D. Wyseman – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Kids who rely on school food programs forgotten in COVID debate
A significant number of school children rely on school food programs and other help they get from attending school. Every job has certain dangers. Teachers and health care professionals need to do their jobs. Most are happy to do it. We need to do what we can to protect the vulnerable but kids need to be in school.
Sietze Peereboom – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Calandra appointment shows weakness of Ford’s “all-star” cabinet
Re Surprise exit of Rod Phillips spells big trouble for Doug Ford (NOW Online, January 15).
Appointing Paul Calandra to replace Rod Phillips as minister of long-term care shows the absolute weakness of the Ford caucus.
Ford should have used Phillips’s departure as an opportunity to also appoint more “all-star” cabinet positions: Minister of Lurching, Minister of Fits & Starts, Minister of Doubling Down, Minister of Loopholes, Minister of Triangulating Federal Money and Minister of Announcement Announcements.
Ray Fredette – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Silver Snail remains a destination
Re Toronto pillars: Silver Snail is back where it belongs (NOW Online, January 13).
I started going to the Silver Snail when I was a teenager. The store on Queen was a must-see destination when I visited Toronto. I brought my two sons to the store at a very young age. Their fondest memory of that store was the day the Star Wars light sabres were introduced with light and sound. The two employees at the store shut off the lights and had a duel!
When the store moved to Yonge we still went but it was not the same. The cafe was awesome, but, we are glad the Snail is back on Queen. It just feels right. When we start travelling again, it is again a destination.
Mark Andrews – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Erin O’Toole’s anti-vax act is funny until it’s not
Re Amid Omicron, Erin O’Toole calls for “accommodation” of the unvaccinated (NOW Online, January 10).
Cons are funnier than a 90s sitcom – until they get elected.
Laz R. – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Those who fight renoviction can face harassment
Re Op-ed: Advice to tenants facing renoviction – stay put (NOW Online, January 12).
I was renovicted three-and-a-half years ago and had to move out of Toronto to find affordable rent.
I was told by the Landlord and Tenant Board that I could fight it, but chose not to because landlords usually continue to harass the tenants to move out. I had this happen to me before, and it was awful. Nobody seemed able to do anything about the harassment. I wish that the laws had some teeth to prevent this kind of behaviour by landlords.
Penel Smith – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Andrew Phung makes his teacher proud
Re Andrew Phung’s terrific run (NOW, January 6-12).
You make me proud, Andrew. From your humble beginnings in my drama class in junior high to your humble stardom on TV. Keep up the good work. Your proud teacher…
Norman Dumais – From NOWTORONTO.COM
Hyper-consumption has become normalized
Re David Suzuki: It’s everything under the sun in 2022 (NOW Online, January 12).
We have lived with this new normal of hyper-consumption for only a century or so. Yet we carry the idea in our minds that this is the way we are supposed to live.
Humans are clever and have invented many things that we now consider everyday items such as the car, the airplane, cruise ships, clothing laced with plastics, food items in stores encased in plastic. Many of these things are not sustainable, but we are still not really paying attention to that.
These things have become normalized and so we tend to feel entitled to them. After all, everybody else is using them, so we don’t want to miss out. We really need to change our way of thinking about how we can get off our addiction to hyper-consumption.
Carol Essex – From NOWTORONTO.COM