Conservative Party Pulls Gay Pride Funding

In the heart of Toronto, one of the most famous annual events in Canada took place last year, the Gay Pride Parade, which has obtained fame nationwide for being a quite liberal and free spirited celebration of individual rights and sexuality. The Minister of Tourism, Diane Ablonczy, presented a $397,500 cheque to the event's organizers last year, and after pictures appeared online, a large number of compliants came from rural town in Canada, appauled that the Conservative Party of Canada would fund this event. Now, it is 2010, and Diane Ablonczy has had her authority taken away, and Industry Minister Tony Clement has now made it clear the the Gay Pride Parade will receive a whopping zero dollars. His reasoning, however, is that “this is a two-year stimulus program. In year one of this program, almost 75 per cent of the funding went to events in Canada's largest cities. In year two, we wanted to ensure that the money was spread out to some of the smaller cities so they were able to benefit as well. So Montreal got two. They got the Jazz Festival and Juste pour Rire. Toronto got two, Luminato and the Royal Fair. Edmonton got two. Vancouver got two. Winnipeg got two. There's only so much money to go around". The Liberal Party does not see it like this, and they think Canadians won't either. “Canadians see this for what it is, blatant discrimination and political pandering among the Conservative right-wing base.” The Liberals are also rightly questioning why, of all the festivals, Gay Pride should be cut. “Pride leaves a $100 million economic footprint, creates 650 jobs and generates $18 million in tax revenue. Why does ideology trump economics in this Conservative government?”. Hopefully the parade, being a famous and wildly enjoyed event within the LGBT community in Toronto and all across Canada, will still be able to run the same and bring a similar message about being open, and crushing homophobia within Toronto and abroad. To see the original article, click here.

Jordan Manners Case Reaches Mistrial

Quite a few weeks ago, I posted about the murder of Jordan Manners, a 15 year old in the GTA, who was shot dead in the school hallway by two miscreants who remain anonymous due to their age. Now, last Friday, the trial of the murder of Jordan Manners has come to a close, and due to a disagreement in the jury, the conclusion was a mistrial. This decision was made after 4 days in deliberation didn't change that a unanimous decision hadn't been reached yet. Quite suspiciously, Ian Nordheimer, the judge, is believed to having placed blame for this on two teenage witnesses, for not providing sufficient testimonies; while sharing the theory with the court, the jury was not informed about this information. Had the jury been told this, rather than believing there was not enough evidence at all, they would know that information had been poorly told by the two witnesses. As is to be expected, the family of the deceased ordan Manners has requested a retrial, so justice may be found.

The trial of Jordan Manners has reached quite a significant bump in the road, but I still stand by my belief that these two teenagers should be persecuted of this crime. Giorgio Mammolti, known for his proposal of a teenage curfew, is a Toronto mayoral candidate who now suggests that convicted gang members should remain on a database, with constantly added information in order to track them. I believe this is too strong, and people will disagree. This is helpful, but not a solution, as we will only be preventing the second crime, but the murder of Jordan Manners would not have necessarily been prevented by this idea. Overall, I think this problem needs a solution, but rather than mistrials and strict politicians, there should be a real solution brought forward.

Police Caution Torontonians! Dog Killer on the Loose!

For Karen Lloyd and her dog, it was a normal day in the Allan Gardens park; fresh grass, a cold chill, and her dog, going to the toilet. Being responsible, she crouched down to pik up her dog's deposit, only to find at least 50 crushed pills scattered around the entire park. Today, police are investigating the death of a dog in it's own backyard, surronded by the same crushed pills. Going through the rest of the neighbourhood, several backyards had their own deposit of the crushed pills that Karen and the deceased dog has encountered. The kind of medication is currently unknown, but the meaning of the pills isn't; some believe the pills are not a definitive cause of death, but all are sure that there is a dog murderer on the loose. Police are guessing that the motive would be the barking and noise from the dogs in the Sixth Street/Lake Shore West Area, where the killer lives. This is actually not the first time someone has gone homicidal on man's best friend, as in High Park in 2008, two dogs died and many got very sick, after digesting intentionally planted bread that had been heavily soaked in antifreeze. Hopefully, before another victim is found, we can discover what kind of medication it was, and if it was prescription, track it to the killer.

As a dog owner, I was pretty horrified that anybody would want to kill a dog, and a little scared for my pets (irrationally, though, I don't live near the Newer Toronto Area). I definitely think that the perpertrator is totally insane to go and murder dogs for the sole purpose of their own silence. I would suggest people look after their dogs with caution for the next while, and maybe bring their dog on a leash to your frontl awn for the next few weeks. If you would like to read the article, here is one of many of the publications on the topic.

Toronto Mayor Candidate's Girlfriend Speaks Out

As you may have heard by now, Adam Giambrone, a member of Toronto's city council, dropped out of the mayoral race due to a shocking sex scandal, where he cheated on his live-in girlfriend with a woman 12 years younger than him. Being the youngest city council member ever, at 32, his mistress, a 20 year old university student, read in a newspaper, as a result of an error, that her lover was married. This article lead her to coming clean about their fling. Their whirlwind affair began when Kristen Lucas was just 19, but hit a rough patch when she found out she was not his only partner, and that Adam would tell the press his steady girlfriend would be the one in the papers as his partner; as you can guess, this was horribly embarassing for Kristen. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Sarah McQuarrie, the "official girlfriend" was overheard by Kristen's stepmother as saying that Kristen was crazy, based on a few derogatory Facebook messages. So Kristen came to the press, and told them about their relationship, which was met with Adam claiming they had an "inappropriate" relationship, but that it wasn't sexual, even though she has said they had sex several times in his office. When Adam came clean about her, he also admitted to affairs with other women outsid Kristen and Sarah. Now, Kristen's family is worried about her wellbeing, while Adam has dropped out of his race to be mayor.

After reading this article, I have quite a strong perception, which would be the only one at fault here is Adam Giambrone. Kristen Lucas was not "the mistress" in her own eyes, as she thought she was the only one. People also forget the big age difference, which leads to their being a person in the relationship with too much power, which isn't fair or healthy. I do have to wonder, though, what kind of person this Sarah McQuarrie is, as from what I've read, she sounds quite wretched, if you ask me. Overall, I think this is less about one mistress, and more so about a promiscuous man who is now being punished for cheating on his girlfriend, and more importantly, setting a bad example as an influential member of the community. Kristen Lucas' interview can be found here , and I hope you enjoyed this article.