Club Q Q107-Loyalty Club (Southern ON Only) v3

[NOTLER]

"Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will move ahead with a plan to eliminate the city's contentious five-cent plastic bag fee, his office confirmed.

The city's plastic bag bylaw, which went into effect on June 1, 2009, requires retailers to charge a nickel for every single-use plastic retail shopping bag requested by customers.

The bylaw was the first of its kind in a large Canadian city and was passed with the goal of reducing the amount of plastic being sent to landfills.

Ford, who took office earlier this month, was elected on a platform of cutting spending and taxes. He has already moved to scrap the $60 personal vehicle tax (PVT), but had not mentioned any specific plans to address the bag fee.

But that changed recently, said a spokeswoman for the mayor.

"The priority was to eliminate the unfair PVT, and as the mayor speaks with residents every day, the thorny issue of the bag tax keeps coming up," said Adrienne Batra in an email to CBC News. "People are sick and tired of being nickel and dimed to death, so he would like to address the elimination of the bag tax."

The city's bylaw contains no reporting or accounting provisions — retailers can simply pocket the proceeds from the fee. The city only "encourages" stores to spend the revenue on environmental or community initiatives.

A number of grocery stores such as the Metro and Sobey's chains have reported that their plastic bag distribution rates have fallen between 70 and 80 per cent since the bylaw went into effect.

Batra did not say when Ford intends to raise the issue in council. Ford would have to get the support of the majority of Toronto's 44-member council in order to scrap the fee"

Ahem (getting soapbox out). Why can't people see farther than their nose is long? I remember when this came in and not that I live in the GTA but I didn't know that when Miller instituted this by-law that he left it up to the individual COMPANY to spend their own money in GREEN INITIATIVES. Now Ford is commenting that these companies are just pocketing the money? What did Miller expect when he institutes a fee like this without checks and balances? Companies would do this out of the goodness of their hearts????? Ya OK! But maybe it was enough just so that people would start using the reusable bags instead of disposable, which is a good thing.

But what bothers me the most is this. I do not live in the GTA but when Toronto not Ontario, Toronto passed this fee, all the grocery stores, corner stores, individual retail stores involved in the food sector, etc where I live also started charging this $0.05 fee. As mentioned earlier, THIS WAS A TORONTO FEE, NOT AN ONTARIO FEE. But they went ahead and started charging this fee anyway. The point is not that I can't afford the $0.05 for a bag (in fact I have PLENTY of the "green" reusable bags). Its the fact retailers started charging for something that was apparently free or "built in" to the cost before and was considered a service to the customer. Are these retailers seriously think that "giving" customers $0.25 per sale is too costly?? Then build it into the cost. It is called overhead! What's next, are companies going to start putting a "hydro fee" on our bills for the privilege of shopping with the lights on????? Do they honestly expect retailers to STOP with this fee?? That's like expecting the gas companies to lower the prices (if oil comes down in price). This is why I sometimes hate capitalism.

Rant over and now getting off my soapbox.

We now continue with our regularly scheduled broadcast.

Good morning all and thanks to everyone for the answers and words etc!

[Two Iron]

Hi everyone! The weekend weather was better than predicted, here's hoping the forecast is wrong as well. I'm getting really tired of rain.

Reps all around!

[SillyLoocie]

Have yourselves a fine day!

[divotman]

The answer is "LONGUEUR"
The previous answer was "FOOFARAW".

[ecat444]

Escaped Tiger Turns Out to Be a Toy

Zoo workers prepared tranquiler darts and a thermal imaging helicopter was dispatched amid reports of a white tiger on the loose near an England golf course.
But there was just one problem -- it turned out to be a stuffed animal.
Police have launched an investigation into the potential hoax that sent golfers and cricket players scrambling in Hampshire Saturday afternoon.
As the helicopter neared what was first reported to be a dangerous animal in the grassy field, it detected no heat and the stuffy blew over with a gust.
On Saturday, Sussex Police helicopter officials tweeted, "Tiger seen near golf course, concerns for members of the public!"
Then later, another tweet: "Initially there was great concern for the public that a tiger had escaped the local zoo, luckily, it wasn't real."

[rockit]

Sleuth


The answer is "EXHAUSTED" for May 24, 2011.
The previous answer was "LONGUEUR".

[Gloid]

The answer is "EXHAUSTED" for May 24, 2011.
The previous answer was "LONGUEUR".

[kool_105]

[rockit]

RUSH w/w - 10:07am - Mitchell

[Wallie]

RUSH w/w - 10:07am - Mitchell

Thanks , completely missed it

[rockit]

Thanks , completely missed it

They don't give any warning at all. Have to keep on your toes!!!

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Critters are fighting over the patch of sunlight again. I'm surprised they even recognize what sunshine is.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[CocoBurp]

Hi All,
Was 'internet free' most of the weekend - good practice for the upcoming three weeks I intend to be offline (we'll see how that goes! )
Thanks for the reps and ww's.
Looks like we getting a nice sunny one today - enjoy it!

[6ffightr9]

How I lost my marbles.

[ecat444]

"Silence shows you agree" - Euripides

"You always pass failure on the way to success" - Mickey Rooney

"It is best to disregard talk and judge only actions" - Dorothy Day

"What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down" - Mary Pickford