Juno News - July 28, 2021


The activists and leftist Toronto councillors are completely out of touch


Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

144.60272

Word count

785

Sentence count

1


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

It seems the advocates from the encampment support network are not prepared to give up after a highly confrontational spectacle at Lamport Stadium Park last Thursday morning during which the activists clashed with police and charges were laid. They demand that all charges laid against activists be dropped and that Mayor John Tory resign immediately.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 it seems the advocates from the encampment support network are not prepared to give up
00:00:08.640 after a highly confrontational spectacle at Lamport Stadium Park last Thursday morning
00:00:13.740 during which the activists clashed with police and charges were laid they have issued a statement
00:00:19.260 saying in the aftermath of the city of Toronto's brutal assaults on the Lamport Stadium encampment
00:00:25.740 a series of organizations in other words the usual suspects demand an end to these violent
00:00:31.800 encampment evictions they demand that all charges laid against activists be dropped and that mayor
00:00:38.220 John Tory resign immediately frankly this is the first tough stance the mayor has taken against
00:00:45.360 the proliferation of tent cities in several Toronto's downtown parks Alexandra Park Moss Park Trinity
00:00:53.280 Bellwoods Park and Lamport Stadium which was cleared for the second time last Thursday
00:01:00.660 well I went into those encampments repeatedly over the past year they were anything but safe as the
00:01:07.260 activists would tell you crime was rampant there was sexual violence drug dealing rats and garbage
00:01:14.220 proliferated and there were fires reportedly a 250 increase in fires in one year I even saw a man
00:01:22.680 chopping down a tree to use for firewood live people living near the parks were terrified to use them
00:01:30.600 for fear of being chased by a homeless person or their dog or for fear of subjecting their kids to
00:01:37.380 sexual acts of drug dealing residents living in a condo development south of Alexander Park were horrified
00:01:45.600 to witness several raging fires one so out of control they were worried it would spread to their condo
00:01:51.780 building luckily it didn't they told me of screaming and fights at all hours of the night so much so they
00:01:58.840 couldn't sleep businesses operating near Trinity Bellwoods Park were impacted and residents living near there
00:02:07.140 were prevented from enjoying the little bit of green space that they had in downtown Toronto during many
00:02:13.880 COVID lockdowns but for a year the mayor and council council sat on their hands and did nothing allowing
00:02:21.980 the encampments to grow and multiply permitting the activists to keep continue keeping their ponds in
00:02:28.040 unlivable conditions yes the activists largely from the encampment support and harm reduction networks have used the
00:02:37.880 tent dwellers as ponds to try to increase the amount of money going into the poverty industry they have
00:02:47.060 repeatedly insisted that the homeless prefer to live in parks instead of going to a hotel shelter where get
00:02:53.780 this they get three square meals a day two snacks TV Wi-Fi and harm reduction supports they have continually insisted the
00:03:05.240 squalid encampments are safer but aside from the activists five city councillors issued an
00:03:13.800 outrageous letter to the mayor last Friday contending there should be no more police violence during
00:03:21.160 encampment evictions the five councillors are all defined the police types and they have enabled the activists to keep the
00:03:28.840 homeless ponds in squalid conditions it makes you wonder who they exactly they're working for
00:03:35.560 well I know the answer not us Kristen Wong Tam one of the councillors went one better
00:03:42.840 she voted to clear the encampments a few months ago just after she proposed that the encampment
00:03:48.840 residents get winter survival gear to make it more comfortable to remain in the parks during the cold weather
00:03:55.640 can we say opportunistic if there was ever proof that these councillors are out of touch with the silent majority
00:04:02.520 this letter is it look I'm horrified when anyone abuses their power police or politician but the police did their
00:04:11.640 jobs in Lamport Stadium last Thursday despite the best efforts by the activists to be obstructive and to stir up trouble
00:04:19.800 make no mistake they came armed with weapons they were well organized and they wanted to try to portray
00:04:27.640 the police in the worst light possible the bottom line in all of this is that the mayor and the police
00:04:33.560 did the right thing clearing these encampments it was more than time the average citizen thought they
00:04:40.040 were a blight on the downtown core and rightly so the community surrounding these parks are pleased that
00:04:46.600 they got their parks back especially during the summer the only reason the activists are screaming
00:04:53.320 believe me is because they no longer have the pawns in our faces that they can use to drive their agenda
00:05:00.280 for more money and more affordable housing what will they do now well rest assured they can take solace
00:05:08.280 in the fact that not all parks have been cleared there are still tent dwellers evidently some have
00:05:14.200 even relocated from the evicted parks to Dufferin Grove Park also in the downtown core i hope to visit that
00:05:21.640 encampment soon i'm told it's growing every day