How many Ombud civil servants does one province require?

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Does Toronto really need an Ombudsman?  That question should be carefully considered as the City’s first and current such arbiter of complaints Fiona Crean takes her leave. Ms Crean announced today that she will depart the office created in 2009 by the David Miller administration. Perhaps a careful assessment now will reveal whether the City should sustain this bureaucracy further. There are some who will say the office lends itself to self-involved meditations that mean little to ordinary people. At the Ontario level, Andre Marin seems to run the Ombudsman’s office like a public relations agency. The drama that surrounds his work is embarrassing. Among his greatest boasts is that he received 10,000 complaints about Hydro One. Little surprise when you ask millions of Ontarians if they have a beef with a utility that enters every single house in the province. With a little work, that number could surely have been doubled. At any rate, there is hardly a problem he has addressed which was not in the public sphere before it came to his office. All these things raise the question of just how many Ombud civil servants we need.

Dufour-Lapointe sisters at SkyZone Trampoline Tuesday

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Olympic medal-winning Dufour-Lapointe sisters will be in Leaside Tuesday

Canadian Olympic gold and silver medal winners the Dufour-Lapointe sisters will be in Leaside for an appearance at the SkyZone Trampoline Park Tuesday morning. (March 24, 2015). Justine, Chloé and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe will say hello to fans and sign autographs. At the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Justine Dufour-Lapointe, 19, won the gold medal in the moguls and her sister Chloe, 22, won silver. Also in the moguls at Sochi was older sister Maxime, who finished 12th. Meet them between 11 am to 1 pm at SkyZone at 45 Esander Drive behind Leaside Village.

“White powder” scare in Ottawa is an apparent hoax

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Such is the nature of our times that when a lunatic send harmless white powder through the mail to two Senators in Ottawa the country must go on alert for possible biochemical terrorism. It can’t be helped. But all staff and members of the House of Commons and Senate were warned to be careful as envelopes arrived this morning. The return address said “Ottawa shooting.”

CUPE deeply divided as mere 108 votes keep union out

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Teaching assistants at York University have rejected a settlement with the employer by a vote of 1,100 to 992. The tentative contract called for a raise to $17,500 from $15,000 for the annual funding package that PhD and master’s degree students receive for their work. This morning the Canadian Union of Public Employees 3903, Unit 1 has published a story on its website saying that it fears for the safety of people who try to cross the picket lines. It might have been more suitable to call for calm, but  with a resounding mandate of 108 votes, the union decided to say it fears for the safety of anyone who tries to cross.

Chimney fire returns on Melrose Ave. to cause roof damage

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Platoon Chief Turner

Toronto Fire has been called to 271 Melrose Ave. twice Sunday evening (March 22, 2015). Platoon Chief Gary Tuner explained on CP24 that TFS responded to a call of a fire in a fireplace chimney early in the evening, perhaps about 6 p.m. They put the fire out but as the Platoon Chief explained, fire somehow crept into woodwork behind the chimney tiles and started a two alarm blaze that badly damaged the roof of the home between Elm Rd. and Avenue Road. Homes on Melrose Ave. would date from the 1920s. Many fire units and as many as 45 firefighters were at the second fire and they remain on the scene looking for spots that are still smoldering. No one was hurt.

Should governments like Ontario’s harangue us to gamble?

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This is an exceptionally well done feature by Public Broadcasting in the U.S. It is of both general and local interest in Canada — particularly Ontario. It explores the wisdom of sports gambling (now illegal) and of gambling in general. The two main areas discussed are sports gambling as an invitation to game-fixing, and the moral question of whether governments (as is the case in Ontario) should be haranguing poorer citizens to spend their money on what will be a losing proposition for the vast majority of them. In this discussion, the point is made that people ought to be free to gamble locally (bingo, horse racing, poker etc) but not under the urgent advertising campaigns launched by government. In this province the elaborate and insistent advertising from the Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation is well known.

Police safety meeting recalls rescue of woman, 94, last year

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A meeting today in Thorncliffe Park is a reminder that families and friends should always be watching out for elderly citizens, especially if they live alone.This meeting was held by PC Alex Li of the 53 Division Crime Prevention Unit to review strategies for Senior Safety/Frauds/Elder Abuse. It was organized by the Community Unity Alliance with funding from New Horizons for Seniors Program. In April, 2014, a Thorncliffe senior was saved by the alert work of a pharmacist Selina Chan-Ying and a deliveryman who works for her from bullying and theft of people who had forced their  way into the senior’s apartment. Citizens save Thorncliffe Park woman from elder abuse