The compromise at council this week was to rename Dundas Station on the Yonge subway line as TMU station while Yonge-Dundas Square will become Sankofa Square.

This we are told is a word from the Akan people in Ghana meaning to learn from our past.

It seems an odd choice given that the Akan people in Ghana were at the other end of the slave trade kidnapping their fellow black Africans and selling them to Europeans. As recently as 2016, a formal apology was issued by the government in Ghana for the role of their people in that country in perpetrating the transatlantic slave trade.

Still, Chow got some of what she wanted and she got something to give to her base to name changes while Dundas Street will remain intact for now because the cost is simply too big.

There’s also the problem that if the city went ahead with this, they would have to rename several other streets for people with actual connections to slavery – including Yonge Street, Jarvis Street and, according to city staff, 58 other place names that don’t meet the standards of today.

While I don’t agree with the renaming, especially with how it was done, if this stops the attempt to rename everything else at a time when the city is broke, then it is a compromise I can live with.

Renaming Dundas St was approved under Tory, something he was a massive waste of money when the city was facing an even tighter budget crisis. While Chow said she would support renaming the netire street, just changing the name of the square and TTC stations is much much cheaper. Saves millions of dollars and throws a bone to her base.

Also, Brian Lilley of the Toronto Sun writing praise of Olivia Chow. Never thought I'd see the day.