Friday, October 30, 2026
Taxi News & Road Warrior News

Author: Rita Smith

Blue Line Taxi driver Mike Ryan (1964-2022) was a smart, hard-working entrepreneur, beloved by his wife Linda, his family and friends and admired by professional colleagues. Image: supplied
Feature/ProfileGuest ContributionsRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsTrucking

Pausing to remember beloved Drivers who lost their lives on the job, and the families they left behind

Rita Smith

Michael’s death was senseless, without reason, and extremely sad.  It left his family devastated.

He was such a very kind mind, who would do anything for anyone, who was loved by so many people.

He left behind two beautiful children, twins, Davis and Jacqueline Ryan, age 20, and his wife Linda.

As his wife, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful article you wrote about him.

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Toronto City Hall Photo: toronto.ca
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Tory not guilty of conflict of interest, Integrity Commissioner decides; Chaleff disagrees, but says he can’t afford to fight/lose in court

Rita Smith

Toronto’s Integrity Commissioner Jonathan Batty has released his report into a conflict of interest complaint filed against Mayor John Tory.

“Having completed my inquiry, the evidence does not show that Mayor Tory violatd the MCIA (Municipal Conflict of Interest Act),” Batty wrote in his report. “I will not be applying to a judge to request such a determination, or impose any penalty.

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Laugh a LittleOpinion/ColumnPropaganda WatchRide Hailing newsTaxi industry newsTrucking

“I assumed this was a joke; it’s not” – study claims unvaxxed involved in more accidents

Rita Smith

When I first saw articles covering the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study this week linking vaccine status with vehicle accidents rates, I thought I was reading a satirical parody from the Beaverton or the Babylon Bee.

But no – these were genuine articles, published by serious players like Sunnybrook Hospital and CTV. It’s really hard to view the straight-up news coverage without laughing, or vomiting.

The gist of all the words boils down to the idea that unvaccinated people cause more traffic accidents, likely because people who ignore government demands to get vaccinated are likely to ignore the rules of road, too.

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Truckers for Safer Highways has complained on numerous occasions about the number of weigh scales which remain closed across the Trans-Canada highway. Image: TFSH
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76 new enforcement officers, 10 new rest areas, updating MELT curriculum topics at MTO meeting with Truckers for Safer Highways

Rita Smith

This closed weigh scale in Serpent River is a typical sight in Northern Ontario: “I can drive from the Manitoba border to North Bay and never see an open scale,” says Travis McDougall of Truckers for Safer Highways, who says

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Photo: GM
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Inconvenient facts about electric cars: politicians make us pay more to hurt the environment

Rita Smith

The five inconvenient facts as outlined are:

Even if everyone drove an electric car, it would hardly make a dent in the fossil fuels we use.

Electric cars are not very “green.” Only 12 per cent of fuels used to charge electric cars comes from wind and solar power; the other 88 per cent is still generated by burning fossil fuels.

Mining requirements are massive: we must mine about 500,000 pounds of minerals and rock to obtain the materials required to manufacture one battery. It would take the world’s battery factories 400 years to build the $100 trillion dollars worth of batteries needed to heat Europe for one winter.

Fossil fuels are a much more efficient way to store energy than batteries: it takes a 1,000-pound battery to store as much energy stored in 80 pounds of fossil fuel.
When there is not enough electricity to both charge vehicles and power homes, there will be rationing.

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Feature/ProfileOpinion/ColumnPropaganda WatchTrucking

Blacklock’s eviction: why does it matter to you?

Rita Smith

Publishing Blacklock’s news article on the fact that Blacklock’s has been evicted from Ottawa’s parliamentary press gallery seems almost too surreal to believe.

As reported by Blacklock’s itself on December 5th, “Blacklock’s said the eviction, first of its kind in the history of the National Press Building, was a clear reprisal over its continued protests against media subsidies.”

“Eviction followed Gallery president Guillaume St-Pierre’s threat to ‘terminate’ Blacklock’s membership. The eviction letter stated Blacklock’s managing editor Tom Korski was ‘impolite,’ ‘disturbs the journalists around him’ and “streams parliamentary committee hearings on his computer.’”

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Ontario Auditor General’s report highlights “reprioritization” of highway projects

Rita Smith

Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released Ontario’s 2022 report on November 30, making special note of highway building funds which were apparently re-prioritized by the Minister’s office.

The Attorney General’s 2022 audit found the Transportation Ministry deferred six projects in 2019 and funnelled the money to four highway projects as directed by the minister’s office — “even though these projects were ranked as a lower priority by the ministry’s technical and engineering staff” the report illustrates in Figure 12a, “Expansion Prioritization Framework.”

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