Woman, 80, robbed at Castle Frank station

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Toronto Police Service report:  An 80 year old female reports that on Saturday, October 05, 2013 at approximately 1315 hours, she was on the westbound platform at Castle Frank Subway Station when she was approached by a male suspect. The suspect threw the victim to the ground and removed two gold chains from the victim’s person. The suspect then fled the scene in an unknown direction. The victim sustained minor injuries and was transported to a hospital by Toronto EMS. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described person in connection with this offence. Description of Suspect: Male, black, 20 to 30 years, 5’8” to 5’10”, 130 to 150 pounds, medium build.

The pathological, self-hating ban on Halloween

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Now a school in Port Colborne near St. Catharines has declared an end to Halloween. Instead, the administration at McKay Public School will have an “orange and black”: day with no costumes. Earlier this week a school in Winnipeg did the same thing. A common thread running through cases of Halloween cancellation is that school authorities have no explanation or reasoning whatsoever behind their decision. “Why are you doing this?” parents are asking. There is only silence in return.  How is it that a time of childish dressing-up fun is now to be forbidden in our schools? Is there a secret fear that Halloween is rooted in ancient religious rituals? Does it offend somebody (no names please) in a spiritual or practical way? Are school authorities fretful about naughty costumes or the simple high-spirited behaviour of children? The suspicion grows that whatever the nominal excuse, these decisions are born in our society’s pathological need to somehow zero-tolerance itself to a higher-state of perfection. Who cares if this spoils the fun for a lot of kids? What matters, it seems, is our hatred of the harmless way that we are.

Balloons, fireworks colour the skies across world

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The eye-catching events shown here take us from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Sydney, Australia. The balloon event is always a crowd pleaser and the weather was surely never better than this weekend. It is the 42 annual balloon fiesta. In Australia, it is the 100th anniversary of the  Australian Navy. The country has put on what it calls one of the most ambitious firework displays ever..

Malaysia pledges $36 billion petro-investment

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Najib Razak and Stephen Harper 
National oil giant Petronas will invest $36 billion to set up a liquefied natural gas plant in Canada, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced Sunday as he stood with Prime Minister Harper at a news conference. This will make Malaysia the largest foreign direct investor in Canada, Najib told reporters after receiving a courtesy call at his office in Putrajaya from Harper. “Malaysia is confident in the policies of the Canadian government and sees a wealth of opportunities in opening up the country’s energy industry to new markets,” said Najib. “There is a 30-year timeline for the CAD$36 billion investment and Petronas is very positive about taking this decision. We have a high level of confidence about Canada. “Malaysia strongly believes that this decision will not only be supported by the present Canadian government but future ones as well,” he added. Najib said Canadian companies in Malaysia also shared the same confidence about doing business here as well as about government policies. Echoing Najib, Harper said feedback he received from Canadian companies in Malaysia, such as Scotiabank and Manulife Financial Corporation, was very positive.

Sarah’s 6th Annual Food Drive delivers the goods

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There was a great send off yesterday for the hampers of food collected through Sarah’s Food Drive. It happened at Tremblett’s Valu Mart, a store which has been a consistent supporter of the charitable effort, now in its sixth year. The 2013 drive has a new goal — it wants to gather 24,000 pounds of food by October 9 (that’s next Wednesday). Last year it collected 21,000 pounds.  This year, the food drive has expanded to include six local primary schools. Long-time supporter Rob Tremblett was present with  Sarah, 11, and seven-year-old sister Claire and friends, as hampers were packed up and loaded onto the Daily Breads delivery truck. Kraft Canada  also handed in a $10,000 cheque to Daily Bread. Truly an impressive  and moving example of the important good work of all these people. All previous posts

Canadians out of jail but still stuck in Cairo

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John Greyson and Tarek Loubandi were released on Sunday after seven weeks in custody following their arrest amid clashes in Cairo North Cairo Prosecution made the statement after Greyson and Loubandi were released on Sunday morning. They apparently tried to fly out to Germany later Sunday but were turned back because their names are on a police list. They are now said to be safe under Cananadian consular supervision. The men were arrested on August 16, 2013 amid clashes between security forces and supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi while passing through Egypt on their way to the Gaza Strip. There was an international petition and an official Canadian campaign for their release. Both men underwent a hunger strike for two weeks to demand their release. In a joint letter posted on a website created by supporters, Greyson and Loudandi said they were “slapped, beaten, ridiculed” by police after their arrest and accused of being “foreign mercenaries.” Ahram

Parents upset as Winnipeg school kills Halloween

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Great Cody teachers in 2011
A report from Winnipeg says the Hastings School, part of the Louis Riel School Division, will cancel Halloween this year. It will also cancel  the school’s annual winter concert and replace it with an evening of African drumming. Parents are quite upset about this. But the school board says it doesn’t get involved and has directed parents to the school. It isn’t clear from the news reports whether this school is under the control of the Winnipeg Board of Education. For our part, The South Bayview Bulldog cannot wait for the annual Halloween march by the Cody kids along Bayview Avenue. We like it so much we remembered a picture from 2011, inset.

Proud day as Tykes Christen Leaside’s new rink

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It’s a proud day in all of South Bayview and Toronto as the new ice pad at the Leaside Arena is officially opened. Board of Management Chair Ray White (seen top left with l-r former Chair Brooke Biscoe, John Parker (Toronto Ward 26) John Carmichael (MPP Don Valley West) and Premier Kathleen Wynne) declared the rink open. In the centre row of pictures we see the first skaters permitted on the new ice and the first hockey game played on it — a Tyke event which was very enjoyable.  Lower row are the directors of the arena, Cheryl, who was in charge of guarding  the cake (and who had her hands full) and the busy new parking lot. Overflow cars were permitted into the Self-Storage lot across Millwood Rd. Skating and celebratory events will go on all day. Tomorrow (Sunday, October 6, 2013) another attraction will be the Junior Wildcats vs the Mississauga Chiefs at 3.30, Organizers today appealed for all those who use the rink and love the game to consider making a donation to the on-going cost of finishing up and running the arena. A donation desk will be permanently installed at the rink for those who are interested in picking up a donation card. It does cost money and any amount is both welcome and appreciated.  There was a large barbecue outside at noon hour thanks to Valumart, the Fox and Fiddle, Neal  Brothers Foods and many willing volunteers.
                                                                



Nuit Blanche gets plugged in at 6.51 Saturday

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Younger than the new century, the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche contemporary art event may seem to have come out of nowhere but it hasn’t. This is its sixth year in our town. Nuit Blanche is Toronto’s annual all-night celebration of contemporary art, produced by the City of Toronto in collaboration with Toronto’s arts community. Since 2006, the event has featured more than 850 official art installations, created by nearly 3,500 artists and has generated more than $138 million in economic impact for Toronto With the public-spirited sponsorship of the Bank of Nova Scotia this all-night lighting up of visual and constructed art is a genuinely electrifying  civic happening. (Sorry, couldn’t help how that came out).  So when your son or daughter (or maybe you too) leave the house Saturday night to meet the archly chosen start time of 6.51 p.m. you will be in good company. Scotiabank and the City of Toronto website linked below appears to be an excellent planning tool. Few Nuit Blanche goers will want to miss the enormous Forever Bicycles structure created by the celebrated artist Ai  Weiwei. It’s in Nathan Phillips Square. There have been a few changes. The Eaton Centre has said it will no longer stay open all night because it just took too much of a vandalism hit last year. So this year, a focus of much all night activity will be the south end of Queen’s Park. Police figure it will be safer for  everyone and much easier to patrol.  Nuit Blanche website  Also here.