{"id":430,"date":"2013-10-07T22:20:24","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T02:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=430"},"modified":"2013-10-07T22:20:24","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T02:20:24","slug":"protest-firing-of-politically-incorrect-toronto-firemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=430","title":{"rendered":"Protest Firing of Politically Incorrect Toronto Firemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian Association for Free Expression<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Box 332,<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Ph: <\/b>905-566-4455<\/b><\/span><\/a>; FAX: <\/b>905-566-4820<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Website: <\/b>http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

October 5, 2013<\/p>\n

Jim Sales, Chief,<\/p>\n

Toronto Fire Services Headquarters<\/b>
\n4330 Dufferin Street
\nToronto, Ontario, Canada
\nM3H 5R9<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By <\/b>Fax: 416-338-9060<\/b><\/p>\n

Dear Chief Sales:<\/p>\n

While I live in Port Credit, I have an office in Etobicoke. As a taxpayer, let me tell you what I expect from the Toronto Fire Services. I expect brave, trained, competent firemen to respond quickly and professionally to emergencies, especially fires, to which they might be called.<\/p>\n

What they do on their own time is no concern of mine. If they drink too much, act rowdy, tell crude jokes, that\u2019s their business. I expect them to be professional, fit and competent on the job. Their salary should pay for their dedication on<\/span> the job; it should not necessarily buy us a saint off<\/span> the job.\"RED<\/a><\/p>\n

That brings me to recent disturbing press reports about your decision to first suspend and then fire three of your firemen. According to the Canadian Press of August 22, 2013, you called yourself\u00a0 an “agent of change” trying to\u00a0 correct the “culture”\u00a0 at the Toronto Fire Department. The recent suspension (August 22) and firing three weeks later of three Toronto firemen for sexually insensitive twitter comments on their own cellphones on their own time makes one wonder whether “agent of change” shouldn’t be read as “agent of the thought police”? The Toronto Fire Service didn’t even have a policy about the use of social media on one’s own time, but, hey, fire the outspoken tweeters anyway; they were, in that catch-all of political correctese being “inappropriate”.<\/p>\n

Your action has trampled on these men\u2019s right to freedom of speech. While the comments quoted may have been juvenile and silly, when it comes right down to it, we are paying these men for their courage and competence on the job, not for their social skills or proper attitudes.<\/p>\n

I hope you will reconsider and rehire these men.<\/p>\n

Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paul Fromm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canadian Association for Free Expression Box 332, Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3 Ph: 905-566-4455; FAX: 905-566-4820 Website: http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director   October 5, 2013 Jim Sales, Chief, Toronto Fire Services Headquarters 4330 Dufferin Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3H … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[179,171],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}