The Globe and Mail - John Barber Columns

Police say 'nay' when it comes to disclosing cost of horses

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comNow that Toronto police have shown how well they can control unruly crowds using bicycles, why are so many of them still riding around on horses? No other municipal service, after decades of relentless budget pressures, still permits itself such expensive fripperies. By any rational standard, cutting the mounted unit is the first efficiency municipal leaders should institute as the police budget soars above a mind-boggling $1-billion for the first time.

Hail to the chief for his deft handling of the Tamil protests

Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comDo you remember where you were when the Tamils closed the roads? I was driving north up Spadina, just off the Gardiner, and nimbly deked west in time to avoid a six-hour jam. The rest I forget - as will, soon enough, everybody else with a similar story of minor inconvenience.

Upbeat Yankee doodling dandy picture of Toronto

Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comYou may be in recession, but Richard Florida is not. The man is irrepressible. Tireless promoter of the so-called ''creative economy,'' best-selling economist and famous would-be Canadian - after living here less than two years, this arch Jersey boy says ''we'' with an assurance that still evades Michael Ignatieff - Professor Florida won't even use the r-word. Certainly not ''economic crisis.''

Nameless neighbourhood seeks an end to its shame

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comIf it was a character in a book, the neighbourhood in search of a name would be a classic existential hero. It's more than a century old, as old as the Annex, but nobody knows what to call it. It doesn't even know what to call itself, despite hesitant efforts over the years to acquire a name.

Word on the street: vascillation

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.com Memo to: War on the Car H.Q.From: Propaganda Unit Re: New Strategy Recent setbacks have called into question the effectiveness of Operation Sneak Attack - our careful strategy to conquer the streets using infiltration and subterfuge to incapacitate the enemy from within rather than risking an open confrontation at this early stage of our Grand Plan to eliminate the scourge of personal automobility.

The posturing in Toronto's phony war on the car

Wed, 6 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comToronto's supposed ''war on the car'' is like one of those medieval Indian affairs in which duelling maharajas would manoeuvre solely on the basis of ancient tradition and astrology, with the happy result that their armies would wheel erratically across the countryside for months and years without ever encountering one another. It's harmless but it's a joke.

Does Build Toronto know what it's in for?

Tue, 5 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comHow many times have we heard that government should be run like a business? The assertion is rarely wrong: Even soft semi-socialism requires management expertise, as Toronto Mayor David Miller learned in his second term. But once you smooth out the concealing folds of that ''should be run'' construction - to acknowledge that it is inevitably politicians who run government - the proposition collapses.

A farce you won't want to miss: 'Housing? Who said anything about housing?'

Sat, 2 May 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comHow appropriate that Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman picked Regent Park as the stage from which to declaim his now infamous ''Streetcars? Who said anything about streetcars?'' soliloquy. It was the perfect place to showcase his role in the upcoming farce provisionally titled ''Housing? Who said anything about housing?''

Playing games with public transit

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00 EDT

jbarber@globeandmail.comA few weeks ago, Premier Dalton McGuinty proudly announced $9-billion in new spending for three major light-rail lines in Toronto. Yesterday, he scolded Toronto Mayor David Miller for ordering trains to run on the new lines.