With Halloween just around the corner, the braintrust at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has decided to cancel its annual Halloween Fest. The reasons given for the cancellation? "Safety and inclusion," if you can believe it!

By way of background, Halloween Fest is a bash the TTC has staged for several years at its so-called “ghost station” downtown. This is a station that has long been out of service, which the TTC typically rents out to movie crews when a subway scene needs to be filmed. It’s also available for parties... but not for Halloween Fest anymore.

A source sent Rebel News a memo penned by Bruce McGregor, the TTC’s Deputy CEO, which states, “After careful consideration and several planning discussions with the planning team, we’ve made the difficult decision not to move forward with Halloween Fest this year. The decision was made due to a combination of factors that meant we could not be confident that Halloween Fest would be safe and inclusive this year for both attendees as well as volunteers who run the event.”

“Safe and inclusive”? What does that even mean?

We sought clarity from TTC spokesman Stuart Green. He told us that the ghost station is only accessible via a narrow and steep staircase, which would be hard to navigate for those with mobility issues.

And thus, Halloween Fest is now off the rails.

Let’s think about this “inclusion” angle. We are sympathetic toward those individuals who cannot navigate the steep and narrow staircase. But how is cancelling the entire festival for everybody “inclusive”?

It isn’t. In fact, this is the opposite of inclusive. It’s exclusive.

And we wonder, did those with mobility issues really want this festival cancelled? We doubt it.

Not to mention, people with mobility issues have always been around. Why was Halloween Fest okay in past years but is verboten now? What changed?

The truth is, the TTC is not a safe space for commuters these days; there have been numerous vicious assaults and even homicides in recent years. So, while Halloween Fest has been axed from taking place at the TTC’s ghost station, when you think about it, Halloween takes place every day in Toronto, all year long, whenever one hops aboard a subway train.