When bring-your-own wine was our vintage news
10 years ago in the Town Crier
Local reaction to provincial moves was the big news in the Leaside-Rosedale Town Crier 10 years ago. The front page of the April 2004 issue featured comment on wider taxing powers Queen’s Park had just given the city and, perhaps more controversially, on the proposal to let Ontario diners bring bottles of wine to restaurants.
While the taxation story got reaction from area city councillors (namely, Case Ootes and Jane Pitfield — remember them?), the wine story quoted local eatery bosses.
The restaurateurs were split on the idea of bring-your-own wine, with some saying the McGuinty government should “put a cork in it” and others welcoming it, in the story by Andrew Matte.
Most focused on how it would affect restaurant economics, since wine is sold with dinner at a high markup.
But Faroukh Chiniforoush of Esco-Pazzo also questioned who would be responsible for consequences of drinking BYOB wine:
“What would happen if someone brought in their own bottle of wine, got drunk, and then left and hurt someone? What would happen then?”
Which makes us curious today: how has that question been answered? If you know, let us know.
Incumbent returning
In other 10-year-old news, Bill Graham announced he would be running for re-election as MP for Toronto-Centre Rosedale in the federal election expected that year.
The Liberal would be challenged by the NDP’s Michael Shapcott, who had been nominated two months earlier.
Much of Graham’s comments quoted in the article by Paul Hutchings concerned the value of minority governments.
He apparently got to demonstrate his theory as the election in June 2004 resulted in the Liberals forming a minority government under leader Paul Martin.
Graham was to win the election with 56 percent of the vote, compared to Shapcott’s 24 percent, and serve as Defence Minister and later as interim Liberal leader.
No return
The Conservatives were also active locally, nominating David Turnbull in Don Valley West for the same expected election, according to another story.
Turnbull told reporter Hutchings he wanted to return to public service, but this time as a federal candidate, after having ended a 13-year stint as a provincial MPP.
However, he was to fail to unseat Liberal John Godfrey, who had held the riding since 1993 and would serve in Paul Martin’s cabinet and as an opposition critic until his retirement in 2008.
By the way, Turnbull’s provincial run had been halted the previous year by a former trustee running for a seat in Parliament for
the first time — someone by the name of Kathleen Wynne. Anyone know what’s become of her?
8 years ago in the Town Crier
Two kinds of protests were featured in the April 2006 issue of the Town Crier.
The front-page story by Sandie Benitah followed plans to march against Rosedale, no less. The controversial poverty group, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, said it wanted to protest the provincial government’s recent budget by taking its anti-poverty message to one of the city’s wealthiest neighbourhoods.
Rosedale political representatives, police and residents speculated on what might ensue with police calling for calm heads.
“Don’t get into a verbal confrontation,” advised a local officer. “If they’re trespassing, they might be asked to leave and they refuse, then the worst-case scenario is they’ll be arrested but that’s the last thing we want to do.”
In the end, events on April 8 didn’t come to that.
As reported in the next issue of the Town Crier: “They chanted, hollered and scampered on private property and even burned an effigy, but after all was said and done, OCAP’s demonstration in Rosedale was a peaceful protest.
“Despite receiving warnings from police to lock their gates and hide their valuables, Rosedale residents had nothing to fear as about 150 protesters from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty marched through their neighbourhood on the evening of April 8, chanting, ‘We’re hungry, we’re angry, we won’t go away. Stop the war on the poor. Make the rich pay.’
“There was no damage to property and no arrests were made during the protest, despite concerns over OCAP’s longstanding reputation for provocative and aggressive measures.”
Opposition to visitation centre lingered even after defeat
Also in the April issue, of the Leaside-Rosedale Town Crier, Benitah covered the opposition to the plan for a visitation centre to be built for Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Moore Avenue.
Signs had just gone up for the centre but, the article noted, “Moore Park residents shouldn’t be alarmed by a billboard announcing Mount Pleasant Cemetery’s plan to build a visitation centre by 2007 because as far as the president of a local ratepayers’ group is concerned, the development is far from being a done deal.”
Later that month, local residents would themselves march against the centre, starting with a rally at Moore Park just down the street from the site.
And opposition to the centre continued throughout the rest of that year and the following year.
However, the centre would eventually be built, with tree clearance beginning in December 2007.
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