Election Fog

Today was a mixture of fog, rain and snow which perfectly reflects the ongoing election campaigns - partly confusing with a chance of victory. Polls continue to favour the Conservative party so people wait for a game changer or we head into another Conservative minority or maybe even a majority government this time.

Sometimes we have a vague idea that we will probably vote for a certain party and will only change our mind if they say something that makes us mad, or if the other party says something so great that it completely changes our mind about the candidate.

I don't really understand the commercial that says "A vote for the Liberals is a vote for Michael Ignatieff" because I am pretty sure that's the way it has always been. You vote for both the local representative and the leader of the party when you cast your vote. Conversely, a vote for the Conservatives is a vote for Stephen Harper. If that's the most negative advertising that's going to happen I will be impressed by how civil the election is being run.

We need everyone to jump on the streetcar, or bandwagon, and get out there and vote on election day May 2nd, 2011. You can pick one of the five main parties (Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Bloc Quebecois or the Green Party) or chose an independent or other registered political party like the Pirate Party of Canada or the Rhinoceros Party.

Remember, you can't talk about the election without talking about parties!

Condo Newspaper Boxes

The City of Toronto has introduced a new, sexy type of newspaper box - a community type of box with multiple newspapers living together in harmony, a sort of hippie newspaper commune or a condo-box for a condominium city. The grey structure I found at Queen Street West and Bay Street is branded with the City of Toronto Logo, holds eight different papers with up to four paid editions possible (yeah, like that will be necessary in the near future). Maybe they can remove the coin slot area and stick in more free editions as necessary. This design was actually released to the media in 2008 and shown in this Torontoist article but this is the first time that I have seen it in the wild.

The other newspaper boxes are scared of the beautiful lines of the new box and fearful of a future where they may have to go to for recycling. You can see the City's logo on the side of the box.

This sleek new baby replaces the long line of multi-coloured newspaper boxes that fill many street-corners and which many people consider an eyesore. I didn't mind the old individual boxes because they were sometimes the most colourfull objects on a downtown street. You can see that they must have just taken the wrapping off the installation as the dull grey finish is yet untouched by stickers, graffiti or posters. I will check back later this week to see if the finish remains virgin.

The old boxes in front of the Starbucks wait for the transfer of the paying editions to the new box. They are remarkably clean with very little marks added by artistic citizens. Both the Star and the Sun boxes have small stickers which mention agendas and lies.

High Rise Fire Unit on Queen St West

A Toronto Fire Department High Rise Unit blows past a TTC streetcar on Queen Street West as it goes into the Yonge Street intersection. Not too much slows down the pace of Torontonians so everyone goes about their business, including climbing into the streetcar.