Nov 14th 2011- Firefighters were showered with applause when they were called to a fire at the site of the Occupy Toronto protest.
Fire crews weren't cheered for extinguishing the blaze -- they were applauded for allowing it to burn.
Source: http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111114/111114_occupy_fire/2011...
Firefighters took a look at the small fire and spoke to the people responsible for it, and decided not to extinguish it because it's considered a sacred fire and is being tended to by aboriginals around the clock.
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111114/111114_occupy_fire/2011...
Toronto firefighters have launched a website and say they'll go door-to-door in the city to explain to residents why their jobs shouldn't be cut in the upcoming budget exercise.
All city departments have been told by Mayor Rob Ford to cut their budgets by 10 per cent as part of a plan to wrestle with a $774 million shortfall — and that includes the fire department.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/09/07/toronto-firefighters-b...
Toronto Firefighters you are the 99%- Occupy Canada Stands with you against Mayor Fords proposed Austerity cuts. Toronto Fire Services are fighting back against Mayor Rob Ford's proposed budget cuts on their new site notgravy.com, but the city's budget chief insists there is no money "to shell out."
It's a tongue-in-cheek jab at Ford's mayoral campaign to "stop the gravy train" at City Hall.
Toronto Professional Fire Fighters' Association are concerned cuts will mean fewer firefighters and trucks on the road, resulting in delayed response times.
Ford has mandated 10 per cent cuts across all city departments -- including essential services such as fire, police and TTC -- to offset the $774-million budget deficit.
Their current budget is $371 million, 92 per cent of which goes toward salaries and benefits. They say a 10 per cent cut would mean 400 fewer firefighters and the permanent removal of 20 trucks.
Source: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110909/toronto-fire-not-crav...
Thank you Firefighters of Toronto! hearts go out to all of you! you are the 99% The city of Toronto is proposing austerity cuts to firefighters. Occupier's across Canada stand with you! You are an essential service, respect goes out to the heroes who put their lives on the line to save lives.
Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday is performing to justify cuts to fire services, given that the police ended up receiving a budget increase. According to Holyday, carrying a gun and protecting citizens from bad guys make the police a special case. "Their job does not carry the same degree of hazard as a police officer," Holyday told the Sun. Because there's nothing safer than running into a burning building
Source: http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/political-whoas/2011/11/09/doug-hol...
Occupy Toronto protesters applauded emergency crews after an early-morning visit on Monday.
Fire fighters showed up at St. James Park around 3:30 a.m. to examine a campfire. Demonstrators said it was a First Nations sacred fire and then linked arms around the fire, preventing crews from extinguishing it.
City crews eventually left the fire alone, allowing it to burn. Demonstrators applauded the firefighters, thanking them for a peaceful resolution. -
-I was there linking arms with fellow occupiers at 3:30 am and thanked the fire fighters and emergency workers for respecting the sacred fire and our peaceful assembly. We all showed respect and applauded them for the peaceful resolution. Hope the video goes up, I'll post it when it does..so much positivity! -Derek
Source: http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/168030--occupy-toro...
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Toronto Firefighters Protect Aboriginal Sacred Fire- St James Park -Occupy Toronto
Krellant Special Report on Occupy Toronto
In this episode of the Krellant Evenings News, Cat Reporter infiltrates the Occupy movement and learns of their secret plans to take over the world. Oh, and Frank freaks out.
Police Provocateurs stopped by union leader at anti SPP protest
Peaceful protesters stop police provocateurs from starting a riot at the Stop the SPP protests in Montebello Quebec. The police admitted they were their officers. CEP President Dave Coles confronts men with rocks and sticks. Find out more about what's wrong with the SPP at www.canadians.org Help us make our documentary about the SPP and TILMA find out more at http://www.manlymedia.com
G1000: Belgium’s Citizens’ Summit
On November 11, 800 citizens from across Belgium were brought together to discuss the future of their country. G1000 was conceived a few months ago by a small group of Belgian citizens (the key player is a prominent author and columnist, David van Reybrouck; the others are a mix of academics, journalists, and civil society activists) who were concerned about the failure of their political system to get to grips with the economic crisis.
Exercised in particular by the inability of Belgium’s politicians to form a government and the resulting political limbo, the opening line of the group’s manifesto, states: ‘if the politicians can’t find a solution let the citizens’. G1000 seeks to show the country’s political leaders that they should engage with the citizens in seeking a way out of the mess. Their principal objectives are both to show that deliberative democracy can work, and to produce concrete proposals for the government to consider.
Making use of every means possible to mobilize interest (briefings around the country, media interviews and newspaper articles, website and social media) they put out a call to the wider Belgian public to propose policy issues for discussion. This resulted in over 5,000 proposals, which the organizers than aggregated into 25 key topic areas, ranging from detailed proposals for political reform through to key economic and social policies. Belgian citizens were then invited to vote on-line for the topic area that most concerned them, resulting in the three topic areas that were discussed at the Citizens’ Summit: social security; wealth inequality and the economy; and immigration policy (in a final session of the day the tables were each invited to select a topic from the remaining 25 key topic areas and discuss that).
image from http://www.spitting-image.net
