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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Toronto City Council votes in a 'pass the buck' motion for next year's Pride Parade

City Council has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion that would see City funds go to next year's Pride if all participants comply with the city's Anti-Discrimination Policy, and it is up to the City Manager to determine whether "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid" violate that policy.

The motion that passed was a compromise on Councilor Giorgio Mammoliti's earlier motion that would also require Pride to repay funds they received from the city this year. The vote passed 35 to 1 with Sandra Bussin casting the only negative vote.

Full text of the motion and the record of who voted can be seen here

The revised motion's text is:

1. City Council direct that funding for Pride Toronto be paid after the parade and be conditional upon Pride Toronto requiring all registered participants to comply with the City of Toronto's Anti-Discrimination Policy.

2. City Council request the City Manager to advise Pride Toronto on what is required of them to meet the Policy.

3. City Council request the City Manager to advise Pride Toronto whether the participation of QAIA and the signs or banners they carry contravenes the City's Anti-Discrimination Policy.
Next year, there will obviously be intense lobbying of the City Manager, but the decision will come as a relief to the Pride Committee, who will be able to leave the decision about the anti-Israel group's participation to City Hall.

4 comments:

Harry Abrams said...

This 35 - 1 decision at Toronto city hall is actually very significant. It sends a clear message to those smartasses at Pride and those racist terror-enablers at Quaia that the larger community has seen through their hi-jacking and makes the future funding a carrot on a stick rather than a done deal.

This decision rings louder than you might think because it now raises the bar for other sponsors both corporate and civic and offers a significant example for other jurisdictions too.

Let's face it. These weirdos were perverting the privileges of gender acceptance and free expression to foist a caustic, violent and poisonous scam on the rest of us.

Not quite virulent enough to be easily caught b Canada's expression legislation, and too clever by half in their maneuverings. If you've ever heard or seen Elle Flanders speak, she's very slick and uses her nominal "Jewishness" as a dodge to promote virulent perverse antisemitism. This is well received in certain circles. But it's just as dangerous as white supremacists and neo-Nazis hiding behind the mommy skirts of free speech to promote a similar agenda.

I'm pleased to see this decision. It will guide others and hopefully drive help others shun QUAIA 's defenders and promoters as racists and swindlers.

BTW, good job on this blog.

Anonymous said...

It's only due to the hard-won gains made (by the efforts of ordinary, hard-working Canadians) for our democracy that racist shills for the apartheidist, Israeli Likud party now feel at home spewing their ongoing witch-hunt rhetoric on Canadian soil.

You're welcome.

Tim Johnston said...

The language is significant. By framing the argument in terms of anti-discrimination, they're administering a well-deserved slap in the face to those who are trying to make it a free-speech issue.
It also sends a clear message to those who want to make ridiculous accusations, antiSemitic or otherwise, that you do so on your own dime.

Richard K said...

Thanks Harry!

Anonymous at 12:48 has a rather misguided notion of democracy. It's typical of those on that part of the political spectrum who believe that only their views have a right to be expressed.

QAIA can say what they like. The city and its citizens also have a right to choose what we fund with our taxes. That is the representative democracy that has been fought for from before the time of Cromwell to today.