Stefan Caunter

I am a TFC fan. I go to all the games. I cannot believe the collective response to this video. The media have all got in a huff, asserting that they have the right to have nice people saying nice things on camera, or else they will show what they didn’t like, and those people will get fired from their jobs.
I’ve attended sporting events in Toronto for 43 years. This has never happened. People need to get a grip. The media do not have an unquestioned right to have urban street scenes play out like a Disney parade. Yes, people say hurtful things, during, before and after Toronto sports games. That does not give media the right to stalk in with TV cameras, and then complain about what happens when you are in the middle of that unhappy bunch of people.
This was not covering a major earthquake, this was a journalist seeking reactions to a local sport team’s loss. If that reaction isn’t to your liking, don’t use it. No one shot at you, or took your equipment away, or took you hostage. That’s actually what happens when you are a journalist who is in danger. No one who pays to go to a TFC game owes the media anything. It will be a sad day for freedom of speech when the commercial power of the media suppresses that freedom.
Freedom of the press is closely tied to freedom of speech. Toronto media forget this at their peril. The Toronto media benefits massively from Toronto FC and this seems like an unnecessary cheap shot at a loyal and attractive fan base and demographic who provide lovely backdrops for your sports news segment advertisers. Who is going to talk to CP24 now? Why would anyone, given the potential consequences? Today it is vulgarity. Tomorrow, what can I not say? I get interviewed and anything I say can be held against me now? If I say “I think the team sucks” will I get banned by MLSE? If I say, “I don’t want to talk to you” will I get fired for not cooperating with the media? Sorry CP24, it’s “no comment” next time I think.

If you look at any reasonably planned and executed metro system in any world city, the underground rail gets people around the downtown. There are subway stops everywhere, at the major intersections. Toronto is a lovely little city but only because you can walk most of it. Its leaders have failed its people for generations since the original subway and expressways went in. There should be lines under King, Queen, Dundas, College, Bathurst (going to the Island Airport), Spadina and Church. There should have been an extension to York, and to Pearson, years ago.
But there’s no local representation in Ontario. There are arbitrary boundaries built for convenience 20 years ago. This stuff will happen for as long as this is true. A specific area will pull ridiculous attention as a swing riding/ward and get all kinds of promises. That’s what happens. That’s why Lastman got his idiotic Sheppard line through his friend’s neighbourhoods. It’s why there is consensus funding for another colossal mistake of a subway to nowhere, right in the middle of a (largely sane) debate about what to do about transit.
Scarborough is 30 km away from downtown. It’s not the “city” in anyone’s mind except election boundary drawings. But it’s not this that makes you think. There are current subway projects, and none of them are downtown.
Apparently, one is mostly done to York University, although it’s years from opening. There is one going up to Vaughan I think. I don’t really know, as it’s about as relevant to me as one in Scarborough will be to anyone who ever visits Toronto.
Apart from the obvious places downtown that should have subway stops, a quick look at a map shows that Downsview Park makes more sense for a subway. Pearson Airport. Annette and the Junction, which is a terrible area in which to get around. The Beach Kingston road would be perfect for another horrible area for transit. Subway to the Islands (Berlin is doing this). Dufferin. Jane. Pape.
For the past 50 years, leaders that people elect have failed to do this. It’s the people’s fault for putting up with it. Those leaders were failures. David Crombie. John Sewell. David Miller. Bill Davis. David Peterson. Easier to get elected than to actually build something for the people.