@aeolianblues / aeolianblues.tumblr.com
Did you know
In Ontario, landlords cannot say “no” to overnight guests. Just like homeowners, tenants have the right to say who they want to invite into their homes. A landlord who tries to control who stays overnight on the rental premises may be harassing a tenant.
I hate that this was ever in question. As if the landlord is concierging at your place. Yet so many will try and get away with this shit
I know I’ve got music friends on here—in fact I’ve accidentally become 80% a music blog— if you’re in Toronto, or around Ontario and travel to Toronto for gigs, we’ve had disappointing news about the Horseshoe Tavern and Collective Concerts, who book and promote a shit ton of concerts around the city.
The owner of the Horseshoe, who is also affiliated with Collective seems to have come out as a massive racist shithead, which is a shame given the Shoe’s legacy. There was a Palestinian fundraiser concert scheduled to happen at Horseshoe this week, the nature of which was made clear to the venue, and the bands and organisers were promoting the show as the venue preferred: making it clear that this was a fundraiser charity concert for Palestinian humanitarian aid. The venue was okay with all this until the very last minute, when they phoned, said they received “complaints” (on the details of which the owner did not elaborate), and that they were cancelling the show. He then just hung up.
Obviously, the music crowd is not your usual apathetic crowd as sits in chambers of power, a music promoter and venue should have first hand knowledge that the music scene leans left. The backlash is coming in waves, and the owner has now resorted to replying rudely, doubling down, making lewd remarks at, and obviously (wouldn’t complete the package without it, would it?) making racist and Islamophobic comments at complainants.
I know it sucks because Collective books a bunch of gigs and venues around the city, but give them the middle finger and walk around for a while. Fuck them.
As for the fundraiser, the organisers are encouraging people to donate directly to humanitarian organisations while they potentially work with other venues who have come forward to help host this gig.
Here’s the organiser’s announcement of the gig cancellation, text below the cut.
Contacts:
416-598-4226 Horseshoe Tavern [email protected] (owner) 647-448-3841 Craig Laskey (booker) [email protected]
Just the absolute journalistic malpractice of the way that media are covering this, as if the protesters vandalised the Indigo outlet because Heather Reismann is Jewish, without making any mention of the fact that she and her billionaire husband literally underwrite a programme to encourage foreign mercenaries to enlist in the Israeli Army and settle in Israel--you know, that whole "Funding Genocide" thing that the posters allude to.
Just got a letter in the mail from my doctor's office. Says that things that were/are uncovered by OHIP that were free will now have fees, or I can pay $115 annually to get them covered.
Some fees are:
$25 for massage/orthotic/physio referrals & sick notes
$103 disability tax credit application
$65 guarantor documents
$20 prescription renewal without visit (faxed renewal from pharmacy for example)
$80 electronic transfer of medical records
Then not covered with the annual fee:
$200 drivers medical examination/form (75% discount with the annual fee)
Gotta love our free healthcare /s
Ford and his Tories will chip away at our Healthcare until there is nothing left. Fuck the conservatives.
80 FUCKING DOLLARS to send a FAX???
Not sure if there is a post about this yet, but the Ontario Health Coalition is organizing a protest (against the privatization of healthcare) on September 25th.
www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/event-stop-the-ford-governments-privatization-of-our-public-hospitals-core-services/
Ottawa has a LOW FORTIES heat warning what the fuck?
Oh, it’s all of southern Ontario and Quebec. All the way from London, ON to Quebec City, there’s a weather warning that this week might see temperatures going into the low 40s. That can’t be good given northern Ontario and Quebec are already on fire… and this week is also the start of some major Canadian outdoor festivals. FÉQ is this week from Thursday in Quebec City, Bluesfest is in Ottawa from 6th. There better be lots of water and ample warnings and sunscreen, or people will be sweltering or passing out at festivals outdoors in the sun. Not good.
A new indicator from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows there are close to zero private rental units that are affordable for the lowest income households in Ottawa.
CMHC looked at the share of rental market housing that meets a threshold of costing no more than 30 per cent of pre-tax income for households earning in the lowest 20 per cent.
In Ottawa, as in nine other Ontario cities, the indicator found there were so few units meeting those criteria that it could not even report a reliable figure.
Even Vancouver had more affordable units, with one per cent availability under that measure.
"What this first measure tells us is worrisome, to say the least," said the CMHC report.
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
“Thanks to the Canadian wildfires, the air quality in the US—
“The air quality in the US—
“Air quality across north-eastern American states continu—
“Smoke from Canadian wildfires visible from Minneso—
“in the US—
Quite a few notes are framing this as “the air quality might be bad in the US but Canada is actually on fire”, which, while yes Canada is on fire and Quebec is like. The third province in two MONTHS to be on fire (Alberta, then Halifax in Nova Scotia, now Quebec), the point of my post wasn’t “hey we have it worse up here!” Air quality being bad, ‘smoke’ being a weather and ‘fire’ being a season is AWFUL. Even if this was just about smoke causing people awful trouble, it would still be a pretty fucking pressing concern!! I don’t want anyone to have to normalise ‘fire season’!! I’m personally not in Quebec but in neighbouring Ontario, which is not directly on fire, but again, affected by the drifting smoke. Because of how the smoke appears to be blowing southwest, parts of the US east coast are actually facing heavier smoke right now than parts of Canada. The air quality indices for earlier today said that New York had the 2nd worst air quality in the world. Toronto was listed as the third worse, but that definitely means parts of the US do in fact have worse air quality right now than parts of Canada.
That wasn’t the point of my post, my heart goes out to anyone in New York: wear a mask, preferably an N95. It won’t help with the gases unfortunately, but it will help with filtering out particles, which are more harmful to your lungs (source: public health official in my city this morning). Carry sunglasses because smoke can get in your eyes. Watch yourself to make sure you’re not overexerting yourself— if you feel dizzy, nauseous, have a terrible cough or itch in your throat, consider heading back indoors. Postpone anything physically strenuous that’s outdoors. If you’re far from home outside, check to see if there are any ‘smoke reprieve shelters’ near you. I don’t know if the US has these, but we’ve recently had reprieve centres open where you can pop in and breathe safely, which is handy if you’re closer to a centre than home and need a quick place to stop by. Stay safe!
The point of my post was that global news coverage doesn’t seem to mention Canada much if at all, it’s just focusing on the US.
These screenshots are a few I came across in the Guardian and Reuters. I do understand US-based news sites focusing on the situation in the US. I don’t quite know why global coverage seems to be less bothered about how Canada itself is doing, beyond just the fact that the fires are from Canada. That surprised me.
And of course, this:
Google already steals so much data from me, it knows exactly where I fucking live. I just want to know if I’m good stepping out of the house man. Where’s the coverage for Canada. “Results for [your location]” indeed. What the fuck. Why is everything so US-centric?
OH WAIT! I just remembered this reminds me of one of my favourite Onion News reports made FOURTEEN YEARS AGO
>Ontario, which is not directly on fire
Uh. No we’re definitely on fire. Perhaps not as much as Quebec but uh, this is from the Ontario Forest Fire Map (which is active and always updating)
the little flames are forest fires (the red flames are currently active ones and the orange ones are new ones). The rest of the colour coding is the fire hazard/risk level (blue being low and red is high).
Here's the Ontario Forest Fire Map site: https://www.lioapplications.lrc.gov.on.ca/ForestFireInformationMap/index.html?viewer=FFIM.FFIM
Ontarians! The healthcare referendum is coming up on May 26th and 27th, the one where we can vote about the privatization of our healthcare that Ford is trying to pass.
You can register to vote or find out more details via this website, you can also vote through the website itself and it only takes a minute or two of your time. I'd really rather not have our core services more gutted than they already are to create a two tier pay to get served system, so.
Voting is closed on Saturday May 27th at Midnight, if you’re an Ontario resident and you don’t want Ford privatizing our public system for a for-profit one, i encourage you all to vote
You can vote online too, it takes minutes. Here’s the link to the online voting page: https://publichospitalvote.ca/vote/pledge
Nearly two dozen agencies in the Kingston, Ont., area are asking residents what they think about decriminalizing illegal drugs for personal use as the region sees deaths from opioid use skyrocket.
Between 2014 and 2020, there was a 330 per cent rise in opioid-related deaths in the region served by Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFLA) Public Health, according to numbers from the health unit.
As a result, the Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington Community Drug Strategy Advisory Committee has launched a survey to get people's thoughts on decriminalization — a tactic that's been implemented elsewhere, though not without controversy.
"It's not quite the same as legalization, but it's lifting that legal penalty for someone that may have [drugs] on them," said Sara Tryon, program planner with KFLA, one of the committee's community partners. [...]
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
Ontario has expanded eligibility for PCR testing for COVID-19.
Anyone 18 and older now qualifies for testing if it has been at least six months since their last COVID-19 shot or infection.
As well, anyone 18 and older who is unvaccinated can access testing.
Previously, the only people under 60 who were eligible for testing were people who were immunocompromised or who had risk conditions and fewer than three vaccine doses.
Additionally, anyone 60 and older now qualifies for PCRtesting, up from the previous general cut-off of age 70.
The changes are meant to align with eligibility for Paxlovid treatments for COVID-19. [...]
Tagging: @politicsofcanada
The premier of Canada’s most populous province is under fire for a “draconian” bill that would fine school support staff C$4,000 (US$2,900) a day for striking, prompting concerns that Ontario is eroding fundamental workers’ rights – and setting a troubling precedent.
Doug Ford’s conservative government tabled legislation this week that would unilaterally impose a contract on education workers, and levy hefty fines for striking. The move escalates a bitter dispute over pay for education workers, including custodians, early childhood educators and educational assistants.
Justin Trudeau has waded into the standoff, the prime minister sharply criticizing the Ontario government decision to “suspend people’s rights and freedoms”.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 55,000 education workers, has called for an 11.3% raise for its workers – often the lowest-paid in schools – arguing that stagnant wage growth and high inflation have hit the lowest earners hardest.
The government has countered with a 2.5% annual raise for the lowest-income workers and 1.5% raises for others.
With little progress on negotiations and a strike planned on Friday, the government fast-tracked Bill 28.
If passed, the controversial legislation – which fines workers C$4,000 a day and the union C$500,000 for striking – would mark the first time in the county’s history that the right of workers to collectively bargain and to strike could be legally stripped away.
The government acknowledges its bill breaches the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Human Rights Code, but says its priority is averting a strike.
Ontario’s government is invoking a rarely used legal mechanism known as the notwithstanding clause, which allows provincial governments to override certain portions of the charter for a five-year time period.
Quebec has long used the clause to pass its language rights laws, but most governments have been hesitant to use the mechanism, said constitutional lawyer Ewa Krajewska.
“The Ford government has been much quicker to reach for the clause and the worry from a constitutional rights perspective is that it’s becoming increasingly normalized to invoke it,” she said. “And I’m concerned that every time there’s a bit of a blow-up about rights and legislation, the government is just going to invoke the notwithstanding clause. The fact that they’re willing to go to it so quickly should give everyone pause.”
Canada’s justice minister called it “exceedingly problematic”, but Krajewska says there is little the federal government can do to stop it.
Lawyers say they are also troubled by the government’s pre-emptive use of the clause which would shield Bill 28 from judicial review.
“The Ford government is essentially saying it is above the law. This is not just an attack on the fundamental charter rights, human rights and labor rights of education workers. It’s also an attack on our constitutional democracy and the rule of law,” said Adrienne Telford, a constitutional and labour lawyer.
Canada’s top court recognised workers’ right to strike in 2015. In cases where employees are deemed essential, the right to strike is replaced by arbitration.
Telford said that Ontario’s attempt to unilaterally impose a contract and working conditions was even more worrying.
“Workers weren’t even allowed to exercise their right to strike. It’s pre-emptively taken that away. But what’s even more shocking is that the government isn’t replacing their fundamental right to strike with the right to arbitration,” she said. “Basically, this is an attempt by the government to avoid having to appear before an independent arbitrator and not get what it wants.”
Ford has long styled himself as a champion of the working class, but the row has prompted one union that previously endorsed him to call for the premier to reverse course.
Earlier this week, a branch of Labourers’ International Union North America, Canada’s largest construction union, lobbied the province’s education minister to restore collective bargaining rights.
The Ontario Bar Association also condemned the move, calling the uncertainty surrounding fundamental rights “potentially destabilizing” and prompting fears the short term gains won by Ford’s government could come at a cost to society “that might not be recognised until it’s too late”.
“In theory, governments could just include the notwithstanding clause in every piece of legislation that they have,” said Telford. “What is the point of fundamental rights and freedoms if they can just be pre-emptively and overridden – and shielded from review by a court?”
“The Keeping Students in Class Act is an attack on every union member, every worker, every student, and every parent in this province. If we allow Doug Ford to get away with it, all other workers will face the same threat: contracts imposed by law instead of free collective bargaining. We won’t let it happen. We will defend the right to fight for our schools, good jobs, decent wages, and a better life.”
If any of my followers live in ontario canada, please fill this out. Im going to summarize what it's about, but the link has a lot more details!
Essentially, its a letter writing petition to try and get Doug Ford to double ODSP (ontario disability) because it is basically impossible for people on ODSP to afford groceries and rent because of cost of living skyrocketting.
As someone on ODSP i am only able to afford eating by also getting weekly deliveries from a local food bank, and even then just barely. A lot of people arent as lucky as me, because most food banks only let you get food from them like once a month.
Its super unfair that people who are on ODSP cant even afford a small bachelor apartment because rent for them is never less than 800, and thats if youre lucky.
So if youre living in Ontario please fill this out, even if you arent on ODSP. And if you arent from ontario, please share!!! The fact that this push for an increase
Omg thank you, I am also on odsp and it is fucking awful.
What
