Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Opinion/Column

Opinion/ColumnTrucking

FLIP FLOP: TRUDEAU’S TRUCKING TERRORISM

Rita Smith

One statement, made verbally, could be a mistake. A second statement made in writing could possibly be an error. A third statement, 14 hours later on Day #2 of the message track is not an error: that’s a lie.

We cannot, then, pretend the ensuing chaos is the unfortunate and regrettable result of an error. The ensuring chaos is the intentional result of a plan.

Why? Why would Trudeau intentionally create chaos and confusion at the border? Why would they insist upon eliminating a vaccine exemption that the trucking industry has used successfully to keep supply chains moving and store shelves full for the past two years?

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It takes $1.38 in Canadian money to purchase $1.00 US. Image: Taxi News
Opinion/Column

I call Bullshit

Rita Smith

In the 1970s, there was a popular game called “Bullshit Poker.” It was played with American $1 bills, and it really was fun. I lived in Sarnia, where there were always lots of American $1 bills around; you could always find two or more people to play a hand of Bullshit Poker at the bar.

The serial number printed on the face of your American $1 bill was your poker hand, with zeroes as aces. Every player took turns studying the number on their dollar before calling their hand: “A pair of 3s.” “Ace high.” “Three card straight.”

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Opinion/Column

My Highway leads to the Moonshine Cafe

Mike Beggs

An all-original show in the suburbs! In my 30 or so years of writing about the GTA music circuit, that’s a rarity, if not an impossibility. But that’s what listeners got when The Pistolettes appeared last Friday at the long-running Moonshine Café, in Oakville — one of the best rooms in the West End.

This all-female Hamilton band delivered a relentlessly high energy show blending elements of Rock, Rockabilly, Blues, and Classic Country. No slow, maudlin ballads here, but plenty of raucous whoops, hoots, and jokes.

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Opinion/ColumnRide Hailing newsTaxi industry news

Is Toronto going to debate, re-debate, un-debate, uber-debate, meta-debate driver training again, two years later?

Rita Smith

48 hours before today’s Council meeting, Licensing staff have submitted a fulsome “supplement” to the original report, containing loads of information and opinion that should have been before Committee on November 30th.

Now, the full Toronto City Council is supposed to waste everybody’s time debating a staff report that was intended to be written and submitted to Licensing Committee months ago? What was the point of the Committee meeting? Will Toronto wait another two years to launch its driver training program, already the subject of a lawsuit in one tragic death?

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