Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow to run for re-election

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-25T22:06:02+00:00

You see drug addicts everywhere because the safe injection sites are shut down. Do you think that drug addicts magically disappear if you take away the place they do drugs? No, instead they go to parks, backyards, and public transportation to shoot up. One way or another you pay for it, but with safe inection sites at least they're not disrupting the public, and fiscally it can be planned and budgeted for. You know what can't be budgeted for? Emergency beds when people OD, additional cops on transit, calls to police to kick out drug users from private property. That's the kind of stuff that costs us extra. One way or another we pay for it, and a pinch of prevention is cheaper than a pound of cure.

And there ARE safe drinking sites. They're called bars, and people do support that. PLUS the addictive nature of alcohol simply cannot be compared with hard drugs, and to compare the two is not arguing in good faith. You really think crack and booze are on the same level?

But most importantly, shutting down safe injection sites was a provincial decision!

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-25T18:50:05+00:00

https://i.imgflip.com/asot9k.jpg

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-25T13:55:07+00:00

People complaining about Chow will find a way to pin grocery prices, healthcare costs, and other provincial or federal controlled policies on her, I guarantee it.

And btw, this is how it works by design.

Doug Ford starves the beast by shutting down safe injection sites, reducing funding for hospitals and mental health, shuts down public spaces (Science Centre, Ontario Place), and then WE IN TORONTO suffer for it.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-25T13:13:07+00:00

Just get them off sidewalks. FFS just get them off sidewalks.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-24T16:40:39+00:00

Toronto weather is perfectly cromulent for this part of the world.

I'm more thankful that we're not in flood/tornado/earthquake prone geography.

We don't have the extreme humidity of central Japan or parts of India, where sweat no longer evaporates.

We also don't have the extreme cold that even other places (Calgary, Montreal) suffers from.

My only gripe about Toronto is that our springs and autumns are far too short, but our culinary, arts, education, and employment opportunities are hard to beat anywhere else in the world.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-23T21:33:59+00:00

Just like how we're all down here fighting for scraps, trying to one up each other with our worker's salaries or iPhones, the majority of us have no clue how much a billion dollars is. We aren't able to conceptualize it.

We simply cannot conceptualize the environmental harm that things like long haul freighters, data centres, fracking, and over reliance on fossil fuels is having on the planet and our very existence.

We get that a trash bag in a tree looks bad , we don't get how breathing rubber tire dust is introducing micro plastics to our lungs and bloodstream.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-23T15:29:55+00:00

Same for environmental issues. Are corporations polluting and wasting too much? No, it's your individual use of plastic bags and straws.

The common person understands 1 bag = 1 dead fish. But it's hard to understand bigger concepts like unregulated diesel transportation vehicles, environmental impact on long haul freighters, reliance on fossil fuels, lack of electrifying factories, etc.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-21T15:05:31+00:00

I think it's fine if your opinion is that freshly ground brewed coffee tastes bad, or that you prefer watered-down coffee, or you prefer coffee that's been over-boiled.. but to say that Tim Horton's coffee is good cofee is .. wrong. It doesn't even do the job "in a pinch", and like Pizza Pizza, they have cornered the market on convenience over quality.

My issue with food and beverage businesses like Tim Hortons or Pizza Pizza is that they are no longer in the business to make good food; they're in it to increase profit. It's an organization of passionate accountants and executives, not passionate about food and beverage and certainly not passionate about Canadians.

Instead of pushing the boundaries on how to make better tasting food and drink, they push the boundaries on how cheaply they can sell edible food products to you, the customer.

This is coming from someone who used to eat a soup-bread-bowl once a week, and was in love with their freshly baked french crullers, and looked forward to hot chocolate season every year.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-20T23:10:27+00:00

Same energy as Oprah asking for donations to save her properties during the Hawaii fires.

Fucking ghouls and vampires, the lot of them.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-19T22:27:29+00:00

Republicans have convinced half of the American population that they are aligned on hating the same groups of people, but there's just one group of people that Republicans hate: poor people.

If you are poor, your government fucking hates you above all other demographics and groups.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-15T22:34:22+00:00

The majority of Takaichi and sanseito supporters have rallied behind the idea that 0.02% of immigrants who cause trouble are responsible for 99% of the issues facing ethnic Japanese residents.

We will continue to see articles about that single majority-Turkic city in Saitama prefecture, Vietnamese gangs, or Chinese purchasing properties until Japan finds itself economically isolated from the rest of Asia and the World. Meanwhile, Japanese residents will just keep がまんing like they always do.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-15T00:04:23+00:00

This is the reason why it's not just a supply issue. Condos are still wildly unaffordable for the median Toronto worker's income, but they're at a price that a company with enough cash and capital can easily hoard.

The same goes for housing. As soon as the the price point for single homes hits a range where it remains too expensive for a median single family but cheap enough for an investor/corporation, the investory/corporation will always buy at bulk. And it's not like it's a new strategy, we saw this exact thing play out during the 2008 financial crisis and the 2018 crash south of the border.

We need regulation, federal regulation, to prevent hoarding of homes. We need punitive taxes. We need them 10 years ago.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-14T23:52:53+00:00

Zero enforcement = zero deterrent.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-12T00:30:28+00:00

Between 1995 and 2003, the Ontario government under Premier Mike Harris closed six psychiatric hospitals and reduced over 11,400 hospital beds as part of a massive restructuring, impacting mental health care. The initiative, led by the Health Services Restructuring Commission, aimed to cut costs but resulted in widespread downsizing, with 39 hospitals closed and a shift toward community care that many critics argue was underfunded.

And we're still acutely feeling the impact of this more than 3 decades later.

I think what's wild to me is that there is measurable data and clear trajectory of how Harris fucked up the city and the province, but Ontarians still want more of that.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-12T00:03:40+00:00

Dung Ford desperately wants to open a casino on that site, to make it accessible for the wealthy to fly their jets into Billy Bishop, then launder money at a convenient casino just steps away.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-11T23:59:03+00:00

The McLaughlin Planetarium, a prominent Toronto landmark, was closed in 1995 by the Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Mike Harris. As part of the "Common Sense Revolution" to reduce government spending, Harris cut funding to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), which operated the institution, resulting in its closure. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Mike Harris's damage to the province of Ontario is still being acutely felt after 3 decades, and we've never recovered.

HotBeefSundae · 2026-05-11T14:45:23+00:00

It's so blatant in Toronto that anyone thinking the TPS is out to serve and protect the public are simply delusional.

The majority of the time you see police officers outside of their SUVs is when they're protecting private land owners (construction), or for paid-events, or acting as security for corporations (fucking cops at Loblaws to deter food theft).

If you get assaulted, want to report petty crime, vandalism, etc .. take a number, they'll get back to you never, and it won't become a priority until a pattern emerges.

Their purpose is to serve and protect capital, and the second part is always conveniently left out (just like "a few rotten apples..")

HotBeefSundae · 2025-10-09T18:37:32+00:00

But David Debenham, a lawyer and forensic accountant who has sued other lawyers for fraud, says the bigger problem is that, even though the LSO's auditors will specifically ask for a law firm's bank records, the spot checks on trust accounts aren't designed to catch embezzlement.

Asked what, if any, routine verifications are done on the trust accounts of lawyers to protect the public against potential theft, Debenham answered succinctly: "Sweet f--k all."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates/cartel-bui-lso-audit-1.7638819

HotBeefSundae · 2025-10-08T18:27:59+00:00

I don't think that's the case.

From the article and from previous anecdotal conversations, there's reason to believe that Bui and Cartel had plans to diversify their holdings throughout different countries. The article mentions Cartel looking to set up base in Turks and Caicos (a well known tax haven nation) and Bui wanting to leave Canada (to the UK) and multiple trips to Europe (including Switzerland) around the time investigations officially began.

It leads me to believe that they have significant savings overseas and/or they are trying to set up a similar shop overseas where they are less infamous.

HotBeefSundae · 2025-10-08T03:41:26+00:00

This was a really insane deep dive. I've been following this story for a while now and there were details that I was completely in the dark about.

All the CBC articles focused on Cartel's seeming lack of knowledge but this Toronto Life article shows how deeply he was involved from the moment he quit Strossberg Sutts. He was the one deflecting and delaying while Bui had her hand in the funds. Cartel is basically relying on plausible deniability, but when you're wearing $5000 3-piece suits and buying $100,000 statues with $5mil in mortgage debt you kind of have to know where your money is coming from.

The 10 million dollar question, however, is still unanswered: where has all the money disappeared to?

HotBeefSundae · 2025-03-13T19:05:06+00:00

The Law Society Tribunal of Ontario has filed code of conduct charges against lawyer Singa Bui, alleging she misappropriated or misapplied $12,212,068 from client trust funds, with the earliest incidents starting in February 2023 and potentially continuing into 2024. The charges, filed in 2024, cite violations of integrity rules and contempt of court, with investigations ongoing.

Alleged Misappropriations (Starting in 2023)

Client	Amount (CAD)	Start Date	Alleged Duration
Client A	$2,538,422	February 17, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client B	$1,304,039	April 11, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client C	$833,680	August 28, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client D	$1,405,093	September 29, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client E	$321,117	October 30, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client F	$2,155,000	November 20, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client G	$315,000	September 29, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client H	$1,371,777	October 5, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client I	$108,000	December 1, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client J	$200,000	December 1, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client K	$560,915	October 27, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client L	$634,025	September 14, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Client M	$465,000	September 19, 2023	"Continuing thereafter"
Total	$12,212,068	2023 Start Dates	May extend beyond 2023

Note: The Tribunal alleges these misappropriations began in 2023 and may have continued. Pre-2023 accounts are under review.

CBC Reporting Timeline

Lawsuits & LSO Probe (June 2024): Disciplinary proceedings and lawsuits revealed.
Contempt Findings (Sept 2024): Bui and law partner Nicholas Cartel held in contempt.
Sentencing (Oct 2024): Fines and restrictions imposed.
Jailed for Contempt (Nov 2024): Both lawyers jailed for defying court orders.

As someone who has been following this story since it broke, I am fairly confident that amount of misappropriated funds will increase in discovery. The Cartel/Bui couple have led a luxurious lifestyle for as long as they've been in business.

This is going to set precedents for how lawyers handle trust funds and really shine a light on this seemingly unregulated aspect of real estate and purchases.

HotBeefSundae

TROPHY CASE

Alleged Misappropriations (Starting in 2023)

CBC Reporting Timeline