John Laforet – Ward 43 Toronto City Council Candidate » 2009

Archive for May, 2009

Laforet.ca Coverage of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Leadership Race Will Start Soon

by John Laforet
posted on May 31st, 2009 at 12:14:03 pm

We’re about a month away from the Ontario Progressive Conservatives selecting the next leader of the official opposition, and their candidate for Premier in 2011. It’s a four person race, by any one’s standards a wide open field that will come down in large part to folks second and third choices.

Around this point in the Ontario NDP leadership race in March 2009, working with Jeff Hume, I began covering the race and giving candidates an equal opportunity to get their message out unfiltered, while providing other bloggers with some original content to work with as they chose.

daybreakers spierig

Currently, I’m in the process of setting up the remaining interviews with candidates, and hope to have footage to share from these one on ones soon.

As with the Ontario NDP leadership race, my coverage will be done with an open mind, fairness for all candidates and a simple goal – to provide bloggers with original content to work with, to provide a wider audience with introductions to the four candidates who will shape the future of the official opposition, and one of three leaders who will be in a position to form the next government in Ontario.

I have to say, I have sincerely enjoyed my new role as a political active, non partisan. Doing things like covering the Ontario NDP leadership race, focusing my activism on local issues that go well beyond the limits of partisan politics has been quite the experience as well. It is my hope that using new media tools to cover this leadership race will open up the process, the issues and the candidates to folks across Ontario.

Until there is footage of the sit down interviews with the Ontario PC Candidates to post, I am going to share with you a number of my favourite videos that Jeff Hume so expertly produced as part of our coverage of the Ontario NDP race to give you a flavour of what is to come.

Enjoy.

Greg Elmer – Professor of Media Studies at Ryerson University on New Media and Conventions

Campaigns Talking Get Out the Vote Strategies

Andrea Horwath – Just Before First Ballot Result Interview

Andrea Horwath Friday Rally

Emergency Policy Resolution on US Steel (Stelco) Layoffs

Andrea Horwath Pre Convention Interview

Peter Tabuns Pre Convention Interview

Gilles Bisson Pre Convention Interview

Michael Prue – Part One Pre Convention Interview – Michael Prue the Man

Michael Prue – Part Two Pre Convention Video – Prue the Candidate

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Wait a Minute – Smitherman DEFENDS Energy NIMBYism now?

by John Laforet
posted on May 28th, 2009 at 00:00:00 am

So let me get this straight… Residents of Scarborough and their three Ontario Liberal lap dogs ’representatives’ (this is in quotations because I hear this is what they’re supposed to do, but fail to see any evidence of it happening) are told to sit down and shut up when they legitimately oppose environmental concerns and breaches of law committed by Toronto Hydro as part of their plan to install turbines, but Minister and MPP Bartolucci of Sudbury can get away with totally supporting nuclear power, but opposing waste being stored in his constituency? Isn’t that the essence of NIMBY? ‘Sure it’s a great idea, but not in my constituency’ – that’s NIMBY right?

He’s even allowed to cite ‘landscape’ – read aesthetics in opposing this plan and gets away with saying, he thinks its a great idea to build nuclear plants, so long as Sudbury does not have to deal with spent nuclear fuel. What a totally ridiculous proposition. Meanwhile in Scarborough there isn’t enough wind to create energy, and yet we’re still expected to live with the health and environmental impacts without proper review and tolerate a law breaking, totally ignorant proponent that doesn’t have a clue what it’s doing.

The opposition of Guildwood residents to Toronto Hydro’s breaches of law, and total disregard for health and environmental impacts saw us insulted by the Premier and his Deputy and a law passed with a clause the Premier said was designed to block communities like mine from participating in democratic decision making.

What’s more – that Nuclear power Bartolucci so willingly supports being built on the shores of Lake Ontario – hundreds of miles from his precious home, kilometres from mine, and with legitimate impacts on the Lake my community lives on, and receives its drinking water from. Could anyone be a more irresponsible in pushing public policy than this?

Liberal friends in Scarborough Guildwood, including those very close to Minister Best – who was publicly silent on our community’s behalf and failed to even attempt to publicly represent our views – tried to convince me that she couldn’t because she was in Cabinet and didn’t have the ability to speak out against the government. I said I thought she could, and offered to help her and her office develop the messaging that would allow her to stand between government and community to see our issues heard publicly, without getting her thrown out of Cabinet. They didn’t disagree, they just never took me up on it. Liberals were afraid big bad George would get her if she did.

Smitherman has come out in defense of Bartolucci’s blatant NIMBYism – even though Smitherman doesn’t believe Bartolucci has valid points.

‘Energy Minister George Smitherman said he doesn’t share Bartolucci’s reservations, but defended the comments, saying his colleague “is allowed to be a local MPP” as well as a cabinet minister.‘ Critics question Liberal’s energy plan – CTV May 26 2009

It was made quite clear to me that under this Liberal government Scarborough Guildwood is not entitled to a local MPP who also serves as a Cabinet Minister. My Liberal friends in Scarborough Guildwood can continue to get upset when I raise this point privately, and now very publicly in the face of total hypocrisy, but voters don’t care of their MPP gets a car with a driver, a bigger staff and more money – they want a voice and if the incumbent won’t provide it, elections will change who that representative is, and the perks of Cabinet will be lost anyways.

If the opposition parties get candidate selection and fundraising right, this will be the case in Scarborough Guildwood – and George Smitherman’s ‘playing to the crowd’ approach to public speaking will continue to serve up gems to seal the fate of those who cowered when it came time to vote for or against the Green Energy Act, a vote Margarett Best, Lorezno Berardinetti and Wayne Arthurs – spent hiding in the hall so they didn’t have to go on record either way.

I’ll never understand how it feels to hop into bed with folks whose ethical backbone is so weak they are OK knowingly killing family pets because it would be inconvienant to solve the crux of the problem, and so ignorant of their own equipment they assure parents children are safe – a couple days before electrucuting a dozen small children. Ladies and Gentleman this is the corporate mentality at Toronto Hydro Energy Services (THES Legal Department – again feel free to fact check and request any inaccuracies be corrected. Naturally we know these things are provable… so same deal as before? you read, you fume, and don’t reply?) vampire Personally, I couldn’t do it literally or figuratively – yet I know quite well there are folks in Dalton McGuinty’s government who are quite comfortable with this, including George Smitherman, Toronto Hydro’s prime defender and ‘knee capper’ (George, your swipes at mine didn’t take).

Toronto Hydro’s illegal application, lies and attempt at scientific review that would probably not meet the rigor of a primary school science fair is now under review of the Ontario Minister of Environment and the officials at the Ministry of Natural Resources. They have the opportunity to end it here and force Toronto Hydro to do a real review and recognize they are going to cause significant environmental damage and regardless of how dense Joyce McLean and Jack Simpson are – something will have to be done to address it.

I’ll start making bets that come 2011 – Toronto Hydro Energy Services will be no closer to putting turbines in the Lake off the Scarborough Bluffs, and the three swing ridings that are currently in envy of the people of Sudbury’s representation, will be changing hands, proving that bad public policy is also bad politics. Hey if George Smitherman can just keep talking, he’ll practically write the flyers for opposition parties.

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Toronto Island Boat Ride Pictures

by John Laforet
posted on May 24th, 2009 at 21:30:37 pm

It was a beautiful day today in Toronto. This evening I went over to the Toronto Island for a Sunday night boat ride in between the various islands that make up ‘the Island’. Most of the pictures I took were taken in Long Pond and the Hanlan’s Point channel between about 8PM and 8:30PM. Most are of the skyline – a simply amazing view from the water.