Source: Goan Voice Daily Newsletter, 26 May 2013 at www.goanvoice.org.uk As they say, this was the week that was. No, I am not talking about Goa where such events would have been nothing out of the ordinary, but about 'Toronto the Good' as the city was once called.
The mayor, rambunctious character that he has proven to be, tipping the scales at over 300 pounds, was recorded on a cell phone video smoking crack and making nasty remarks about the disadvantaged youth of a school football team that he coached, calling them "f---ing minorities" and making similar remarks against another disadvantaged group, in this case the gays. I don't know about London, England or New York and environs or any other place where Goans are in substantial numbers, but as far as Toronto is concerned, such behavior is a definite no-no from anybody, least of all a high profile politician. Quite a few Torontonians smoke pot but crack cocaine is another matter and accompanied by such words, would violate the country's Narcotics laws and the Human Rights Code and would attract criminal charges. If the mayor had immediately made a mea culpa, he might have been forgiven, but instead of atonement, he called the accusations made by a reputed city newspaper "ridiculous". Immediately after, this man who normally shoots his mouth off at any given opportunity, went into seclusion for the next six days, appearing only today to deny the authenticity of the event completely. To complicate matters all this took place (the actual event I mean) in the company of drug dealers who recorded their client and promptly proceeded to offer the recoding for sale for $200,000 to the quickest bidder. Next making the news not too far away, well out of the realm of comedy and well into the ambit of tragedy was the fate of a young 32 year old clean cut father of a two year-old from a Dutch farming community, who advertised on Kajiji to sell his truck. He got a response from a 23 year old male and in the company of two other male friends of the prospective buyer, also young men, the seller went on a demonstration drive, never to return. In a few days, his body was found in the fields. When the arrest happened, the accused identified by an arm tattoo, turned out to be the rich heir to an air-services company who could buy such trucks and sell them at a loss if he wanted to, without making a dent in his fortune. The victim's wife drew the attention and the sympathy of everyone with her emotional appearances on TV, first pleading for his safe return to her and the little baby and then after he was discovered murdered, her dignified and respectful mourning of the man she had loved and married for two years. The whole city cried with her. There is not much violence in Toronto, restricted mostly to a couple of neighborhoods (the city has only about 54 murders annually) connected with drug related offences. Therefore when such things happen to uninvolved citizens, everybody shares in the suffering of their families. The next surprise that sprung came from the Prime Minister's Office. The PM is a Quaker pastor type who brooks no hint of scandal from those in his cabinet or party and is a very controlling individual, relegating his caucus to helpless members who are unable to make any independent moves of their own without attracting his stern and wooden gaze. Therefore it was all the more surprising when his Chief of Staff wrote a personal cheque of $90,000 to cover a Senator's scandalous misdemeanors linked to his reimbursed expenses. This PM has a habit of immediately acting upon the minor transgressions of people he does not like, while tolerating the major slips of people who are in his favor. However public opinion generated too much heat this time and his aide had to quickly resign. All this from the office of the country's top politician who projects an aura of holier-than-thou. Very much reminding me of Goa's own Manohar Parrikar who promised clean government and zero tolerance to corruption in the state but did little to promote either. To end the stink of this week albeit an ocean away, was the heinous beheading of a young British soldier on the streets of London hacked by a couple of Islamic zealots and crackpots. These terrorists seem to have no sense of gratitude at all for their adopted countries which gave them a real shot at a good life. First the Chechen Boston bombers and now these London Nigerian Christians turned Moslem fanatics. Who's next?