What Happens In Vegas...WTF?

I am ashamed to be a Torontonian. There, I said it.

About two months ago, for those of you who don't know, there was a civic workers' strike in the city. This walk-out effectively closed day-cares, swimming pools, and halted other city run services, including garbage collection. We could sit here all day and argue about the legitimacy (or lack thereof depending on your stance) of what the strikers wanted, but in the end there can really be no true consensus, just by the very nature of the negotiations; the unions wanted certain things that the city did not want to give them.

Sure, battles of rhetoric and childish name-calling are to be expected in these sorts of situations, but I can't help but feel a little disgusted by the extent to which these elements were used by our very own Mayor Miller (not that my expectations were that high to begin with, oh snap). To insult city councilors who disagreed with his push to ratify the deal with the workers, and hint that they are sub-standard councilors who lack any shred of human decency, and are undeserving of their positions is an appalling commentary on the state of how business is (likely) conducted by the city on a day to day basis. My five year old cousin can tell you he disagrees with you without insulting your dignity. Maybe he should be mayor. I'll tell you one thing, McDonald's happy meals would be a dietary requirement. Works for me...

Now we get to the fun stuff. Mark Ferguson.

This union leader, on top of rather conspicuously bragging about the deal that was struck with the city, made one particular comment that makes me want to scream. When several striking individuals got a little trigger-happy and slashed the tires of innocent people who were dropping their garbage off at temporary dump sites, all Mr. Ferguson had to say, with an arrogant smirk was "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

What the f*ck?
Are you f*cking serious?

The worst part is, the city listened to him and granted amnesty for violators of the law. Thanks again, spineless city hall! There are alot of people who can hardly afford their cars as it is, much less the 1000 dollar deductible that they will probably have to shell out to replace their tires without their insurance rates going up. How will these people be reimbursed? Why the hell should violators of the law not be prosecuted? Wow, I sound like my grandfather (a lawyer, who coincidentally was involved in Torontonian politics many years ago). I think if Mr. Ferguson's tires were slashed by an angry Torontonian, his attitude would change, not that I'm advocating that type of vigilante justice, because I'm not. I just think he's needs a paradigm shift. The fact that he was so smug about helping those workers avoid termination for BREAKING THE LAW also perturbs me in ways that I couldn't do justice to on paper.

I think we, as a city, have a lot to think about when it comes to who represents both our major unions, and our city as a whole.