By Joe Fantauzzi @jjfantauzzi Drug use is a multifaceted issue in urban life. Addiction can take an enormous toll on individuals and can leave the municipalities in which those people live struggling to adequately service their needs as well as the needs of the community. Supervised injection facilities, in which
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Illuminated By Street Lamps: Ontario: A leading jurisdiction for intense, coercive neoliberalism
By Joe Fantauzzi@jjfantauzzi Global capitalism has liberalized incrementally since the end of the Second World War. As the Keynesian welfare state fell out of favour in the late 1970s amid a stagnating economy and rising government spending, a new business-friendly approach dubbed neoliberalism (literally, “new liberalism”), emerged and ushered in
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: The Toronto G20 Summit: A State of Exception
By Joe Fantauzzi@jjfantauzziBetween June 26 and 27, 2010, thousands of demonstrators[1] descended on Toronto, Ontario to protest while the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies[2] met behind a protective fence built of steel and secretive legislative authority. When the tear gas cleared and the G20 Summit ended, 1,105 people had been
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: In Brampton, Few Recorded Development Votes After Developers Contribute To Political War Chests
By Joe Fantauzzi@jjfantauzzi Key Findings: – The development industry is clearly engaged in the political process at Brampton City Hall. – 233 development companies and development-affiliated individuals were publicly disclosed to have contributed money to Brampton candidates in the 2010 municipal election. – Of those 233 developer donors, 48 were
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: Why The Rob Ford Verdict Is Good For Canada
That Justice Charles Hackland found Mayor Rob Ford in violation of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act and ordered him removed from office bodes well for a more progressive Canada. [ Read the full text of the decision here. Thanks to Torontoist for posting the document. ] For the past
Continue readingIlluminated By Street Lamps: Draft Chow 2014
Photograph by/Photo par Montrealais. UPDATE (Sept. 27, 2012) Olivia appears to be willing to consider the idea of running for mayor!At least, she’s not ruling it out! “We’ll see what happens down the road,” she said, when asked again by the Toronto Star if she is willing to run for
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