Saturday, September 26th saw a major community mobilization in the West End of Toronto. The proposed rail, that was initially meant to be from Union Station to Pearson International Airport, but has been considerably cut down to a few stops. The rail is set to bisect many communities through the Georgetown-Weston regions, mostly low-income communities. To make matters worse the trains would be diesel fueled rather than electric.
It is estimated some 400-450 diesel run trains, spreading out harmful carcinogens, harmful to ashtmatics and including many cancer-causing agents, would be running up and down this corridor each day. Metrolinx is a company that is run at arms length of by the McGuinty Provincial Government. Sept. 26th was a massive day of action, a human train moving along the proposed corridor from 8:30am to 4:30pm, collecting people at various 'whistle stops'. By the end more than a thousand or so people attended.
We collected at a park where various representatives and other notable figures were present, includiong the NDP's Rosario Marchese, Peggy Nash, Olivia Chow, Cheri DiNovo, to name a few, including some progressive city councillors. Gerrard Kennedy was present from the Federal Liberal Party. Kennedy, for those who don't know used to be a member of the Provincial Liberals. He publicly stated that he was against the diesel trains, but then made the mistake of going on about how the officials in McGuinty's Government were ok and such, recieving some cat calls and light boos. He then started to point the finger at Harper's Government, but most people saw through his attempt at focusing the shift away from the McGuintites.
This day of action was a success and I hope it stirs up sh*t in McGuinty's Government. There is a really disgusting classist element here. Would Diesel run trains be going through Rosedale, or the Bridlepath or Willowdale? It seems people from low income communities are affected first and worst by environmental degredation and pollution. It seems working people have to stand up for ourselves, as our government, Liberal or Tory, does not seem to act in the interests of most people.
