[PHOTO] Debating McDonald's

McDonald's Canada has a new PR campaign aimed at revealing all of its secrets. Yes, they have revealed the secret behind their inimitable French fries, but as the National Post's Hollie Shaw reported that's part of a much bigger campaign.

McDonald’s Canada has launched a widespread ad campaign to promote the live online marketing initiative it launched in the summer to tackle urban myths and answer freqently asked consumer questions, “Our Food. Your Questions.”

The digital platform launched in June and asks consumers to pose any and all questions they have about about McDonald’s food and the restaurant chain vows to post honest, personalized responses online. (Example: Is it true the beef you use is washed in ammonia?”)

“The initial success of the program is a real testament to the power of creating meaningful and open dialogue with customers,” said Joel Yashinsky, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s Canada.

“This level of transparency has resonated with our guests and has created the type of conversation we want to have with them about our food. We’re excited to see how far it can go.”

The campaign from Tribal DDB Toronto runs for the next four weeks and includes television, digital and various outdoor media.

Since its inception the company’s response team has covered almost 6,000 questions at the site mcdonalds.ca/yourquestions. Answers have been posted using text, photos and video.

I overheard the three people standing on the right of the photo talking about McDonald's, the man talking--boasting--about what he knew from his experience working at McDonald's. I left the scene, at Yonge and Bloor station, before he confessed what he did to the food.

[URBAN NOTE] "TTC ready to let subway riders talk and text"

The Toronto Star's Tess Kalinowski reports on a development that's about time. While I understand the complaints of many of the people quoted in the article saying that they don't want to hear other people's conversations on public transit, I don't think those complaints are very valid: subway cars are not private spaces.

The TTC is one step closer to providing long-awaited cellphone service in the subway — at least on station platforms.

The timelines are still tentative, but TTC officials estimate that cell service will be available in most stations in about two years.

It’s expected commuters would be able to chat in the stations but not necessarily in the tunnels. Although the signal would probably bleed into downtown tunnels where stations are close together, it’s expected there will be dead zones in suburban sections of the lines where stations are farther apart.

Providing cellphone service is actually a gain for the TTC. On Wednesday, councillors on its board will vote on a deal under which Broadcast Australia Pty Ltd. (BA) will pay the TTC $25 million over 20 years to equip 61 underground stations with cell service.

[. . .]

The contract would give BA a year to establish deals with enough wireless carriers to serve at least 60 per cent of Toronto cell subscribers. That period could be extended another year to allow BA to transfer its rights to another carrier.

[URBAN NOTE] "The Heart of the City"

Over the weekend, Torontoist's Kevin Plummer posted a history of Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity. The Anglican chapel that may now most famous as the church surrounded by the Eaton Centre has a long and surprisingly radical history.

Tucked beside the Eaton Centre and surrounded by high-rises stands a small church. Since its founding in 1847, the Church of the Holy Trinity’s focus on ministering to an ever-changing urban flock has regularly put it at the forefront of emerging social issues. The church reached out to the homeless and unemployed in the thirties, welcomed Vietnam War resisters and community activists in the 1960s, incubated sentiment for urban reform in the in the 1960s and 1970s, and encouraged the city’s nascent gay community to raise its voice in the 1970s and 1980s. Such stances have, over its century-and-a-half history, regularly created friction between Holy Trinity and the Anglican establishment, municipal officials, and real estate developers.

In the summer of 1845, Bishop John Strachan, head of the Anglican Church in Toronto, received a letter offering 5,000 pound sterling from an anonymous benefactress for the purpose of establishing a church. Among the stipulations attached was that it be named the Church of the Holy Trinity and that its pews be “free and unappropriated forever.” The latter was a radical suggestion at a time when Toronto’s three other Anglican churches, including St. James’ Cathedral, relied upon pew rentals as a major source of revenue. Although the anonymous donor’s intentions had never been to place limitations on the congregation’s composition, Strachan came to refer to Holy Trinity as the “Parochial Church of the Poor of Toronto.”

[URBAN NOTE] Good news, bad news, for Toronto subways

The good? Mayor Rob Ford has come out cautiously supporting the idea of building the Downtown Relief Line that I'd blogged about last week.

When asked by a reporter at a news conference Monday morning about whether he would support prioritizing the downtown relief line (DRL), Ford replied: "It's up to [TTC CEO] Andy Byford."

"I'm open up to the idea that benefits the city, that benefits the users of the TTC. I campaigned on subways," he said.

"We're going to get subways — the relief line, the Sheppard line, Eglinton hopefully will go underground. Subways are coming to the city, one way or another."

Ford's comments come amid renewed interest and speculation about the construction of the downtown relief subway line, which is aimed at easing crowding on the Yonge line. Byford has said the line should be the TTC's next priority. TTC Chair Karen Stintz has also championed the DRL.

The TTC on Wednesday will meet to consider a staff report that calls on provincial agency Metrolinx to prioritize the DRL by setting a 15-year target date for its construction, given ridership in the downtown is projected to grow by more than 50 per cent between now and 2031.

Currently, the DRL is only included in Metrolinx's 25-year plan for construction of new transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. The report estimates the first section of the line, which would run from St. Andrew station on King Street West, along King and then swing north to connect with the Bloor-Danforth line at Pape station, would cost $3.2 billion.

It's not immediately clear how to pay for construction of the new line. Council's executive committee has given the green light for staff to start public consultations on implementing new revenue tools to fund transit expansion in the city and the Greater Toronto Area, although Ford has said he opposes any new taxes or user fees.

Bad news? The actually-ongoing extension north of the Spadina subway line is going to be delayed by at least a year.

The TTC has confirmed that the $2.6 billion Spadina subway extension to Vaughan will open about a year later than originally scheduled.

It will be at least fall 2016 before service begins on the 8.6-kilometre stretch between Downsview Station and the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

The delay is being blamed in part on time lost after a crane operator employed by one of the construction contractors was killed last Oct. 11.That job site was closed until February this year.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has laid four charges against OHL-FCC GP Canada Inc. in connection with the death of Kyle Knox, 24.

Utility relocation has also been more complex than anticipated and “was further compounded by slow response by non-municipal controlled utilities,” according to a report before the Toronto Transit Commission on Wednesday.

But some of the contractors and sub-contractors responsible for tunneling were also slow to get off the mark, says the report.

[. . .]

The TTC has said that the original 2015 opening would be tight. But this summer, transit officials warned they might not be able to recover time lost to the job-site fatality investigation.

The subway was never expected to open in time for the 2015 Pan American Games.

But the delay is almost certain to provoke those who say the TTC should get out of the construction business.

[LINK] "Conrad Black, BBC host have heated exchange"

CBC carries the story of Canadian-born convicted felon Conrad Black's rather disastrous appearance on BBC in an interview with Jeremy Paxman.

The exchange turned heated after Paxman admonished Black for saying the charges of fraud and obstruction of justice, which landed him in jail for three years, were "rubbish" and that he never would have been convicted in Canada or the U.K.

Paxman reminded Black he had indeed been convicted in the U.S. of defrauding investors.

“Would you stop that bourgeois priggishness?” Black said. “You’re talking as if...”

“What bourgeois priggishness? You’re a criminal,” Paxman interrupted.

"No I'm not a criminal," Black continued, adding everything he did was legal and that the U.S. justice system is "a fraudulent, fascistic conveyor belt of the corrupt prison system" and that he was up against a "smear job from A to Z."

When Paxman repeated "You are a criminal," Black retorted with "You're a fool. You're just a gullible fool. You're a priggish gullible British fool who takes seriously this ghastly American justice system that any sane English person knows is an outrage."

In the second half of the interview, Black said he was proud of surviving his jail sentence without "becoming irrational" and "actually being able to endure a discussion like this without getting up and smashing your face in."

[. . .]

Black has now indicated he plans to resume his seat in the House of Lords.

When asked by Paxman whether he would return to the House of Lords, he replied, "Well, why not," adding there is no rule against those with convictions from doing so.

[LINK] "Sue-Ann Levy Implies That Barack Obama Is a Muslim, Incurs Twitter’s Wrath"

Torontoist's Steve Kupferman reported how Toronto Sun journalist Sue-Ann Levy spouted birtherism in a tweet while watching last night's debate and got schooled.



Noteworthy is the fact that prominent conservative Canadian journalists like Jonathan Kay criticized her soundly. Her editor released a note that was part disavowal, part apology.

Last night, during the broadcast of the third and final US presidential debate, Toronto Sun city columnist Sue-Ann Levy was on Twitter. As usual, her tweets were combative. Levy always espouses what most would consider to be a conservative point of view, and she’s not afraid of challenging those who hold different opinions. Most of the time, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Except on this particular occasion, Levy did what she periodically does: she wrote something misleading and ethically questionable, and then, when challenged, responded with ad-hominem attacks and attempts to change the subject.

The tweet that started it all is screencapped above. Note the hashtag, where Levy appears to imply that Barack Obama is a Muslim. This is a classic bit of far-right cant that emerged during Obama’s initial rise to prominence as a presidential candidate. It seems meant to characterize him as someone who doesn’t have America’s best interests at heart. (Because anyone who would believe it would also believe that all Muslims despise the US.)

In fact, it’s bullshit: Obama is a Christian.

Torontoist has a transcript of some of the most notable exchanges in the conversation Levy started. It makes for interesting reading. Her evasiveness, particularly, is disappointing: why didn't she say what she meant, whatever she meant, instead of hiding it all behind coy phrasings?

[URBAN NOTE] "Churches in Toronto industrial areas face zoning threat"

Raja Moussaoui's Toronto Star article describing the problems associated with churches setting up in formerly industrial neighbourhoods of Toronto surprised me a bit. Why?

For years, churches have been popping up in industrial zones across Toronto. Old factories and warehouses are big and cheap, making them a perfect place for poorer, immigrant churches lacking the financial resources to build or buy a conventional building.

But the city is considering a zoning bylaw that would stop houses of worship from setting up in areas zoned for industrial use — sparking outrage among religious groups.

“Our places of worship provide a venue for spiritual growth, language and cultural advancement,” said Pastor David Loganathan, of the Tamil Pastors Fellowship of Canada. “Canada is a multicultural country, and many more people will be coming. I am thoroughly disappointed with the disregard shown to places of worship from this bylaw.”

[. . .]

It’s a delicate balancing act for the city: Religious groups fear the changes mean they will lose the very places they gather as a community. Meanwhile, neighbouring businesses worry that leaving things as they are may limit their operations or even force them to relocate.

The noise, dust, odour or vibrations that a factory kicks up may one day not sit well with the church next door, even if the factory has been there for years, worries Calvin Lantz, a lawyer representing the Toronto Industry Network.

[. . .]

The encroachment of places where people gather in the community is, Lantz claims, “one of the principle reasons ... why industry leaves Toronto.”

Letting houses of worship cluster around industrial zones would “be in effect creating barriers to attracting industry to Toronto,” he says.

But the congregations say they’ve been forced to look at industrial lands because of the high cost associated with buying or renting conventional church properties.

[. . .]

A City of Toronto report commissioned in 2009 shows the problem will not resolve itself. The report identified 1,260 “official” places of worship that were operating in the city in 2005, one-third of which had opened between 1995 and 2005. In 2008, no fewer than 22 per cent of Toronto’s places of worship were located in industrial areas.

I've seen plenty of churches in Toronto that have been converted from religious uses to secular ones, most frequently into condos. The earliest photo of such a conversion I took dates to August 2008 (later featuring in a January 2009 blogTO post, actually).


This is a picture of the former Centennial-Japanese United Church building at 701 Dovercourt Road, near the Ossington TTC station. Over the previous century, this building housed a series of Methodist and United Church congregations until its recent sale to a condominium developer that planned to convert the church into 28 heritage lofts.

Churches in downtown neighbourhoods are being converted from religious uses for want of members, while thoroughly secular building in formerly industrial neighbourhoods--I'm guessing outer Toronto neighbourhoods--are being converted into churches to meet an unexpected surplus. The basic religious dynamics of the core and the periphery of Toronto are altogether different.