Chris Tindal

Gun violence is male violence

Chris Tindal — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 01:05:39 +0000

As I went to bed last night I wondered about the colour of the shooter’s skin, and what that would mean for how we labeled his actions and what we did about them. If he was brown, we’d call him a terrorist and use him as an excuse to punish other brown people. If he was white, we’d do nothing. Since the former creates additional harm and neither is of any use, I idly hoped he was white.

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Remembering Rob Ford

Chris Tindal — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 19:12:24 +0000

There were moments during Rob Ford’s time as mayor of Toronto when I hated him. I mean real, deep, I’m-not-proud-of-it actual hatred. And whenever I sank into one of those moments, I would remember the time I met him, and how it continued to challenge and complicate my impression of the person. In early 2010 I was a candidate for city council in downtown Toronto, and like many other politicians...

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Some quick thoughts on Toronto Centre by-election results

Chris Tindal — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 19:39:30 +0000

Overall, Wells’s first rule — that “for any given situation, Canadian politics will tend toward the least exciting possible outcome” — held up. This is the result you might have predicted, and that most of us did predict. Folks in Toronto Centre are used to voting Liberal, and changing habits is hard. Notwithstanding, each of the other three main parties had notable results, good and bad. At 36%

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George Tindal, in his 95th year

Chris Tindal — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:48:02 +0000

George W. Tindal, in his 95 th year, after a short illness and with family at his side. Born at Morrisburg on July 10, 1918, he was the eldest of nine children of Howard and Fannie (Gamble) Tindal. He started work during the depression, including a stint in Montreal with the Fur Trade department of the Hudson’s Bay Company. During World War II he served with the Canadian Army in England, France...

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A climate negotiator’s tearful plea

Chris Tindal — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:17:43 +0000

The world’s most poor and vulnerable nations experience climate change as a present reality, while we tend to talk about it as a future abstraction. They’re already suffering, but can’t do much about it. We could do something about it, but we’re not yet suffering. I became aware of that distinction in Copenhagen during the COP15 climate talks three years ago. At the time, I wrote: The context of...

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Mandatory Minimum Accidentally Applied to Powerful White Man

Chris Tindal — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:41:42 +0000

Many political observers in the Canadian province of Ontario are calling for a change to the law after a mandatory minimum penalty was accidentally applied to a powerful white man. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s seat has been declared vacant by a judge after Ford was found to have violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, which also contains the harsh requirement that he lose his job.

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The one option left in Don Bosco’s playbook

Chris Tindal — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:40:09 +0000

When things go wrong, those with the least power usually suffer the most. Football players at the bottom of a pileup have the most weight pressing down on them, and can’t get up unless others do so first. This holds true with the numerous scandals involving football coach and occasional mayor Rob Ford’s inability to keep his professional and volunteer responsibilities separate. Most recently...

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New boundaries could turn a safe Liberal seat into one apiece for the NDP and Conservatives

Chris Tindal — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:27:13 +0000

The voters of Toronto Centre have always felt divided. The federal riding includes some of the richest (Rosedale, Yorkville ) and poorest (St. James Town, Regent Park) neighbourhoods in the country. At an all candidates meeting in St. James Town during a recent election one audience member accusingly asked if any candidates lived “south of Bloor,” in other words, if they could identify with and...

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Michael Bryant’s failure to relate to the public

Chris Tindal — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:35:18 +0000

The morning after Darcy Allan Sheppard died, Michael Bryant emerged from police custody wearing a clean change of clothes and headed straight for the waiting microphones. In the hours since the altercation that resulted in Sheppard’s death Bryant had not only secured a legal team but had also, it’s been reported, retained a PR firm that immediately got to work. From the first moment...

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The Big Idea that The Grid DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE

Chris Tindal — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:22:24 +0000

I’m honoured to have been included in The Grid’s 34 Big Ideas To Make Toronto Better issue. However, the big idea I originally submitted to them was just TOO CONTROVERSIAL for noted censor David Topping and his consensus media crony Katie Underwood. Either that or it was TOO SCATTERED and UNFOCUSED to fit into the feature they were putting together, so they reasonably helped me adapt it.

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