G-20 a Missed Chance in the Making
June 25, 2010
Away from the clashes between police and protesters at the G-20 Summit, looms a battle of a different sort – between Canadians trying to tax, regulate and rein in banks and financial institutions, and those who will do everything in their power to maintain the status quo.
Streets don't have to be a battlegound
September 2, 2009
Toronto Star
We should not regard the horrific death of a cyclist as a one-off event to be dismissed as the act of a lone motorist.
Not only have there been similarly ghastly events in the past – including the driver who, last November, used his vehicle as a weapon to permanently maim a cyclist, costing him his leg – people's lives are threatened by road rage on our streets every day.
Bailing out insurers on backs of accident victims
July 2, 2009
Toronto Star
Of all the bailouts bequeathed to Canadian companies, there is one of which few people are aware. It's being considered in the recesses of Queen's Park, and would come in the form of new automobile insurance legislation.
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario, which regulates the auto insurance industry, conducted a comprehensive review that will affect drivers and passengers all over the province.
Of FSCO's 39 recommendations, one has shocked health professionals.
Bring on the Bike Lanes
June 3, 2009
Toronto Sun
When you're cycling in that narrow space between the curb and fast-moving traffic, and you're hit by a truck, you tend to see the whole bike-lane debate differently. I was riding on Queen St. W. last year when a truck came from behind, ran me over, and dragged me under it for 100 metres. With a broken pelvis, leg, ribs, and profuse bleeding, I was lucky to be alive.
But no one prepared me for this: Drivers who fight to deny cyclists a tiny fraction of the roads they dominate. Drivers who say "Yes, we may have three-quarters of the city streets, but that's not enough."
My near-death experience
August 11, 2009
The Globe and Mail
Lying dazed on a downtown street, I looked up at the moving clouds. As I began to focus, I saw a vast, empty road with vague figures in the distance.
I had been riding my bike to do interviews for a pilot radio show. The roads were dry and the wind was with me. But as I powered ahead, one question kept nagging me: What is this van doing so close to me?
It was narrowing the already slim space to the curb, leaving me with little room. Then, after pulling away from an increasingly erratic driver, I turned to see he was coming straight at me. There was no time to move.
Harper, Kyoto and Kim
October 26, 2006
Fast Forward Weekly
First he was raked over the coals for abandoning Kyoto. Now Prime Minister Stephen Harper is being excoriated for simply finding a more lenient due date for cutting greenhouse gas emissions — 2050.
Regulations that do take effect, as early as 2007, limit emissions from motorcycles, snowmobiles, and interestingly, forklifts.