Tree Equity, not bathrooms

"Don't look at me," said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, "I wasn't mayor when Canada bid for the World Cup."

It was John Tory, who undoubtedly assumed he'd be re-elected as mayor by all the soccer-mad immigrants and migrants and lavishly wined and dined by FIFA.  Unfortunately, he tripped over his own willy and that was the end of that.

But Chow's mayor now and she completely bungled the handling of the match between Inter Miami and Toronto FC yesterday.  Overrun with crowds and traffic jams, the city was utterly and completely unable and ill-equipped to handle the crowds.  

Watching footage of this fiasco was a wakeup call for Chow to get her act together for when the actual World Cup starts.  Apparently, bathroom facilities were a disgrace and completely inadequate for what befell the town.  

Chow's priority seems to be something woke and green called 'The Tree Equity Program".  I am not kidding!  Here's the headline from an article by the 'Toronto Sun's' Brian Lilley: 

"LILLEY: Olivia Chow's Toronto adopts DEI for trees with new tree equity policy"

That's how insane it's all become.

“Toronto is the first municipality in Canada to utilize a 'tree equity' approach to prioritize canopy growth at the neighbourhood scale,” Chow proudly proclaimed in announcing the policy.

"Along with their policy, the city has released an interactive website that allows you to see your tree equity score. Bizarrely, there are areas of the city that have more trees, but are given a lower tree equity score and are considered a higher priority than neighbourhoods with fewer trees."

This is all based on who lives in the area and if it's mostly immigrants or poor residents, they need to have more trees.  In other words, such neighbourhoods can have a low tree density score, but a higher equity need for more trees.  This program is managed by a woman who is pulling in almost $500,000 a year!

Toronto's trees look in pretty good shape to me.

Reminds me of when Tanya Talaga claimed it was a lack of libraries in prisons that was behind the overwhelming imbalance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous inmates and the former's high rates of recidivism.  In this case, some neighbourhoods are poor because they don't have enough trees.

Huh!!??

Never mind that Toronto's transportation system is completely broken, never mind that crime is out-of-control, never mind that food banks are overrun.  No, Chow and council's priority is making sure all residents have an equally fair green canopy.

I loved living in Toronto in the late sixties and early seventies, when sanity ruled and I feared nothing when riding the "Red Rocket".  But I would not like to live there now -- especially when bedlam will shortly rule during the World Cup.  

Get the toilets ready, Mayor Chow.  The sky will soon be falling and the toilets will need flushing!