In fact, if you live in Ontario then you should get out and vote in your local municipal election. The municipal level is where people feel the impact of government the most since it literally impacts our day to day existence. Want more transportation choices than just a car? Vote
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Scripturient: I have filed my papers
As of today, I am running for a seat on Collingwood Council, in 2022. I will use my new campaign website at www.chadwickforcouncil.ca to publish updates, comments on current issues, policy and position statements, pictures, upcoming events, and other relevant material. As many of you are aware, I served on
Continue reading52 Ideas: Calgary Municipal Election Candidates are ignoring the Elephant in the room
If you listen to Jyoti Gondek, Jeromy Farkas or Jeff Davison, you will hear a similar story. In fact, if you listen to most of the mayoral or council candidates, you will hear the same narrative: Calgary’s municipal administration is experiencing a problem of fiscal management and not a revenue
Continue readingcmkl: Why are we subsidizing landlords to keep commercial buildings vacant?
How is this even a thing? A 30 or 35 per cent refund on property taxes for vacant commercial or industrial properties. What purpose does that serve? It doesn’t seem like there’s a time limit either. Someone could keep a building vacant for years, make no attempt to rent or
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: The road tolls for thee
Last week, Toronto mayor Join Tory announced a plan to toll two major Toronto highways, the Gardiner and the DVP. The city is starved for cash with huge shortfalls for both infrastructure (new housing, new transit lines) and even everyday operating expenses. Tolls are supposed to help close this gap.
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: THE PROBLEMS OF CARDING: Excising the Discriminatory Police Street Check Process
Over at Academia.edu, I have posted an updated public policy analysis of the police practice of carding, also known as “street checks” that I did as part of my Master’s course load. The full paper can be found HERE. But here is the Executive Summary: This policy analysis paper examines three options
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: Podcast: When the left takes the city
This week, the focus is on experience of left parties and organizations at the municipal level. Although the left has still exercised only limited political power in many places since the financial crisis, some cities have seen left projects come to power or build new institutions in interesting ways. My two guests shed light on […]
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: The Political Economy of The Sharing Economy
Introduction Today, getting a lift to the store is as easy as loading an application on a digital device and summoning a roving car to one’s door. It is fast, cheap and, many argue, less onerous than ownership. The so-called sharing economy is on the…
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: From Participatory Budgeting to Co-operative Tenant Control: An Alternative Policy Recommendation For Toronto Community Housing
Toronto Community Housing (TCH) is a huge organization with a crucial mandate. Located in Canada’s most-populous city and the capital of the Province of Ontario, TCH provides housing for 164,000 low and moderate-income people in 58,500 homes. The age…
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: GOOD READING: @camilacore on the political economy of Uber in Toronto
Today, taxi drivers are demonstrating in Toronto over the city dragging its heels on regulating Uber. Cabbies have also let the politicians at Queen’s Park know how they feel. Ontario also has not moved to regulate Uber. The following post has …
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Ontario’s Common Sense Revolution at 20: A Look Back
Today marks 20 years since the Progressive Conservative Party foisted its so-called “Common Sense Revolution” on Ontario. Former PC Ontario leader Tim Hudak took to Twitter this morning to extol the virtues of this full-throated neoliberal experiment, declaring it “the most effective, courageous gov[ernment]” in his lifetime. Some remember those days
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Ontario’s Common Sense Revolution at 20: A Look Back
Today marks 20 years since the Progressive Conservative Party foisted its so-called “Common Sense Revolution” on Ontario. Former PC Ontario leader Tim Hudak took to Twitter this morning to extol the virtues of this full-throated neoliberal experiment, declaring it “the most effective, courageous gov[ernment]” in his lifetime. Some remember those days
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Post-Democratic Trend Lines in Etobicoke
Since news broke of the decision by Toronto mayor candidate Rob Ford to step away from the mayor’s race and be replaced by his brother Doug the term “feudal” has been thrown around a lot. The argument quite often associated with the use of this term generally appears to be that the
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Rob Ford’s Political Body
Toronto’s Rob Ford lives a political life. Both his bare existence and his public personae have taken on a politicization since he entered municipal governance. Plainly said, his weight and other biological issues have become just as political as his public life as “mayor” of the City of Toronto. The Ancient
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Needed: A Real Deal For Cities
Over at NinetyTwoPointEight, I have written a post about the need for substantive discussion during the ongoing Toronto municipal election about freeing up the city from the paternalism of its relationship with and dependance on the province of Ontario. Here is the link: Election 2014: A Lost Opportunity To Push For
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Why I Stopped Calling Myself A Progressive
Progress can mean a lot of things. The achievement by marginalized people of social citizenship. Collective movement toward big goals that make life better on a societal scale. State intervention with the aim of lessening the burden caused by the market. Smoke from an oil field and tailing ponds as the economy chugs
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Open Letter To Council Requesting Affirmation Of Toronto As A Sanctuary City
Dear Deputy Mayor, Councillors and city staff. My name is Joe Fantauzzi. I’m a resident of Toronto and first generation Canadian. My family immigrated to this country from Italy in 1957, fleeing a region of that nation torn by the Second World War. My family was lucky. Low-skilled urban labour was
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Open Letter To Council Requesting Affirmation Of Toronto As A Sanctuary City
Dear Deputy Mayor, Councillors and city staff. My name is Joe Fantauzzi. I’m a resident of Toronto and first generation Canadian. My family immigrated to this country from Italy in 1957, fleeing a region of that nation torn by the Second World War. My family was lucky. Low-skilled urban labour was
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Ontario’s neoliberalism: Coercive, Intense
Do you ever wonder why policing budgets rise in Ontario when the crime rate falls? At Illuminated By Street Lamps, I argue Ontario has been, and remains, among the jurisdictions at the forefront of a business-friendly neoliberal agenda in Canada, despite rising structural unemployment, major challenges in the core manufacturing sector
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Ontario’s neoliberalism: Coercive, Intense
Do you ever wonder why policing budgets rise in Ontario when the crime rate falls? At Illuminated By Street Lamps, I argue Ontario has been, and remains, among the jurisdictions at the forefront of a business-friendly neoliberal agenda in Canada, despite rising structural unemployment, major challenges in the core manufacturing sector
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