The clamorous reaction to Blue Jay Yunel Escobar's eye-black slur is still going strong, fuelled by Tuesday's press conference that saw the shortstop ...

Another Canada Day, another successful Pride Parade along the streets of downtown Toronto. As in previous years one of the largest parades of its kind saw hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets. The Parade itself covers less than a mile or two of Toronto's streets but the geography is far less important than the message it sends. It was only 30 years ago this February that Toronto Police raided the city's gay bathhouses, arresting more than 300 innocent men.

Woody Allen once said that 80 per cent of success is 'just showing up'. Understanding that in every encounter you may actually learn something is a key to achieving better public policy. So, Mayor Ford -- you belong at Pride.

The only banner I have seen from the Dyke March is one that said "Free Palestine". Do we really want to spend legal fees chasing this one? I suggest we'll spend at least $300,000 trying to prove that there was hate speech at this event.

Rob Ford has lost an opportunity here to show that he is the mayor of all the people. He had said on the night of his election, "To the people that didn't vote for me I will work hard to earn your trust and I will deliver the change you can be proud of." I hope he changes his mind.

If the gay community gets all righteous over yearning for the approval of this one fellow citizen, then more urgent issues are suffering. We need to get on with the wonderful work of proudly remaining open and inclusive to all.

For a man who declared upon his election that "Toronto is now open for business" -- Pride, with its plethora of corporate donors, is one of the few events that does just that -- opens our city's doors for businesses and tourists alike. After all -- did we not elect Rob Ford because of his supposed knowledge of fiscal responsibility?

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is under fire this morning on all fronts after he announced he would skip Toronto's Pride parade in favour of a weekend at the ...