A Bunch of Ice Middle Fingers Showed Up In Toronto

A bunch of businesses along one of Toronto’s busiest (and bro-iest) streets have started flipping the city the bird.

If we were a lesser publication, we might say something clever like, “cooly flipping the city the bird,” because the business have installed ice sculptures of raised middle fingers, aimed at one the city’s latest public transit projects.

The bottom of the finger reads “Fuddle Duddle” which is a reference to an infamous moment in Canadian history when Pierre Trudeau, Justin’s papi, mouthed “fuck off” in Parliament and, when pressed by reporters, claimed he only said “fuddle duddle.” So, in a relatively polite and Canadian way, the businesses are both flipping the city the bird and telling them to fuck off which is… redundant but effective, I suppose.

The whole middle finger fiasco has been sparked by a transit dispute happening along the King Street strip, one of the busiest public transit routes in Canada. The King Street Transit Pilot program, which came into effect last November, banned cars from driving straight through the busiest section of King, and has resulted in vastly improved speeds for streetcars and a significant increase in demand for public transit (the Toronto Transit Commission is claiming 25 percent increase in ridership but that’s with some caveats).

But while the pilot is app has worked from a public transit perspective, it has drawn the ire of the businesses—particularly restaurants in the theatre district—along the street. One of the owners, Al Carbone of Kit Kat restaurant, has been particularly vocal about how the transit situation is affecting businesses and how he doesn’t feel his voice is being heard.

“Listen to us, we are here we have no time to BS anyone…everyone is lying to us, they are trying to cover their ass,” Carbone told the Toronto Sun. “And I’m tired of that and I’m speaking up for myself, my business, for my colleagues for my neighbourhood.”

The restaurant owners say because of the pilot project they’ve lost out on customers that drive to their joints, although critics point out that there’s proof of a causal relationship and other factors, this freezing ass winter, a downturn in theatre productions, changes in restaurant taste—could just as likely be the culprit for any perceived downturn.

It’s being alleged that the middle finger stunt may have been the brainchild of Toronto’s perpetually pissed-off suburb millionaire Doug Ford, Rob’s older and much less popular brother, who happens to be running for mayor in 2018. A tweet by the Kit Kat restaurant, posted earlier this week shows Doug Ford in the middle of the room and is paired with the caption “brainstorming.” Big-bad Dougie—well really the whole unscrupulous Ford gang—has a history of flipping the bird. In 2013, he flipped off a plane that he thought was following his family and it has been alleged his brother, while mayor, flipped off a mother and her daughter when told to stop texting and driving.

At least one business is being public with their unhappiness for the middle finger sculpture stunt. Z-teca, a burrito stop, tweeted out that the sculpture was there “without their consent” and that they had it removed. As for the 70,000 or so riders that the King Street Pilot helps them get to work on time, well, they haven’t expressed their opinion yet but they could always take a page out of the Ford’s books and use a certain digit to make their feelings known.

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