It was read out in court that the photo shows Rehtaeh hanging out a window throwing up from intoxication, naked from the waist down, while a young man penetrates her from behind.
That’s Blatchford “brave boy.” He also sent me a death threat.
— Glen Canning (@GlenfordCanning) November 30, 2018
As the Your Ward News hate trial is starting, this Statistics Canada finding on hate crime is revealing. And important.
It’s not just Trump’s America. It’s happening here, too.
And Chad, Kathleen and Travis were all wearing clothing on the lower half of their bodies.
Pundits panel at @OREAinfo #orpc18 moderated by @Travisdhanraj with @kinsellawarren @kathleenmonk and @hckosovogta provided great insights and natural rapport.@kinsellawarren tells it like it is and not afraid to give credit to those who don’t agree with his political leanings. pic.twitter.com/kXPKAj1K4K
— Von Palmer (@palmervon) November 26, 2018
For the half-million bucks, they got the logo and a name and some letterhead, apparently. For – and this is the part that should make you want to throw up – an agency whose mandate is to fight poverty.
Both of my brothers are graphic artists. My Mom is an artist. (I’ve done art-for-pay, too.) All of us can tell you that forking over that much money for a logo is an actual, honest-to-God scandal.
So I said on Twitter.
This is just so disgusting. ‘A federal agency, created to fight poverty, spent $500,000 on a name, logo and branding’ @globeandmail https://t.co/OCNxzSq3H4
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) November 24, 2018
That elicited this response from Joseph Uranowski:
Graphic designers deserve to get paid for the work they do. https://t.co/eNAk67wdmK
— Joseph ''The Hammer'' Uranowski (@Uranowski) November 26, 2018
Fair point. Of course they deserve to get paid. But I didn’t believe that Mr. Uranowski – who was a senior advisor to Kathleen Wynne – was actually getting my point. So I tried again.
You just defended paying half a million dollars for a logo for an organization that is supposed to help people in poverty. https://t.co/0vOrdo7m5u
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) November 26, 2018
Mr. Uranowski doubled down:
F*** yes I did.
Graphic designers and comms professionals deserve to get money for the work they do.
If people don't know about a program they won't use it.
Attacking officials for stuff like this is nonsense. https://t.co/BgvKQnPkZn
— Joseph ''The Hammer'' Uranowski (@Uranowski) November 26, 2018
Anyway. At that point, I opined that my graphic design brother would fire anyone who spent that much on a logo. And then I gave up. A person in poverty would know how to spend that $500,000 better, I thought. And I didn’t understand how Mr. Uranowski – reportedly a smart guy – didn’t understand that.
And then I remembered this: $650,000 for the Cannabis Store logo, courtesy of Ms. Wynne’s government. Oh, and the $700,000 a month her Wizard reportedly received in contracts, all of which will shortly be the subject of a forensic audit.
Am I missing something? Is a logo really worth half-a-million dollars?
Or, is it, you know, a fucking disgrace?
I still think it is.
Hey! Look at the famous folks I get to hang with at the OREA conference tomorrow!
[Liam Mather has requested that his essay be removed, after initially – and enthusiastically – agreeing to post it here, because the Toronto Star gave him a better offer. You may assess his opinions in that light.]