Back to Normal...

It was quite a week in Toronto! Hosting the G20 Summit was exactly as advertised… a huge inconvenience to anyone who lives or works in the south end of the city. For most of the week leading up to the event, it was actually nice - quiet and easy to get around downtown with no traffic issues and easy parking. Not so much on the weekend.

I found it disturbing to watch TV and see “protesters” burning police cars and breaking shop windows in Toronto. We see it often enough in world news but never in our own backyard.
It is clearly the kind of thing we are not used to however, listening to talk radio this morning made it sound like half the city was destroyed – like it was some kind of violent war zone and that somehow the police did not do thier jobs. I know the media sensationalize everything but is it really necessary to create controversy where non exist? The truth is that despite the inconvenience, the conference went off safely, the delegates were protected (which was clearly the first priority) and the small amount of violence while unnecessary was relatively minor. In fact our friends in Montreal do more damage to their own city every time the Habs win a big hockey game.

Whether the summit should have been held in Toronto is a separate debate but I think the police did a good job keeping the order.
What I don’t understand is what the protesters hope to gain by breaking windows at a Starbucks. Reasonable people listen to rational arguments and protests. Rational people lose interest in protests that are violent or destructive.
In the end, the irony is that most of the reporting ends up being about the protest itself and not the actual reason for the protest.

In the end, it was a few strange days and now that its over, we return to normal. The Leafs did not make a deal on draft day, the Raptors are going to lose Bosh, the Jays continue to chase the Yankees and Red Sox and there is road construction everywhere. Summertime in Toronto!
Time to kick back and enjoy the Canada day weekend and the finish of the world cup.

Cheers and have a great day.
George

PS to my Dutch friends – go orange go!

Back on Monday

As you might have noticed, I have taken a bit of an unscheduled blog break. Sometimes things just get too busy… sometimes I just don’t feel like I have anything of value to say. On this day after Father’s Day, I should credit my father who taught me (among other things) that it is OK to say nothing. In fact, sometimes its preferable.
It so happens that there are so many things going on in the world that silence is bound to end.

The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico remains top of mind. Previous to the current chaos, one of the worst oil spills in history was the Exxon Valdez – a tanker that spilled 250,000 barrels of crude (10.8 million U.S. gallons) into Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989. The effects of that disaster are still felt more then 20 years later. To put it in perspective, it is now estimated that the Deepwater Horizon collapse is spilling 60,000 U.S. gallons per day – meaning each 4 days is the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez. That’s 15 tanker loads and counting with the only apparent end in sight not coming until August… maybe! How sadly ironic it is that the rig causing all this collapsed on Earth Day (April 22).
I can’t imagine the impact of this on the eco system and the lives and livelihoods of the people who live around the Gulf of Mexico.
Obama blames BP – with cause - but where are all the regulators hiding? No company should have the ability to cause such disaster.

Changing gears, I had to smile last week when I received a petition to stop the HST. This proposal was originally tabled in the September 2009 Provincial budget and is set to launch on July 1st. Does anyone really think it can be stopped now?
I was reading the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants paper on the budget and Sales Tax Reform and find it hard to believe there is any benefit to businesses or taxpayers other then a single reporting system. I am afraid to find out but would be interested to know what % of our income actually goes to tax including all the hidden taxes, the sales taxes, income taxes.

The FIFA World Cup is in full swing and almost every car I pass has a flag flying from the window. In addition, many an afternoon is interrupted by loud horns honking in celebration of a country's victory. I am admittedly a marginal soccer fan and have had difficulty getting interested in the 2010 tournament. I'm not entirely sure but think that the horn (vuvuzela) buzzing in the stadium is not helping. In the past I have gotten really interested – perhaps I can turn down the sound, rededicate myself and that passion will return! However, maybe not - the NBA finals just wrapped up and despite the fact that the Lakers were playing the Celtics, every time I turned it on it just seemed boring.


Cheers and have a great day!
George