Month: December 2012

Nominations open for the Agnes Macphail Award

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Lorna Krawchuk has sent out mail reminding us of the deadline for nominations for the 2013 Agnes Macphail Award.  The award is open to residents of the former East York (which includes Bennington Heights, Leaside and Thorncliffe Park). The award is given for a commitment and contribution in what is described as   “social justice issues, contributor to community life in areas such as women’s rights, fairness to seniors and youth, criminal justice system and penal reform, international peace and disarmament, access to adequate housing, access to adequate health care or access to adequate education.”  The award will be presented on Agnes Macphail’s birthday which is Sunday, March 24, 2013. The Awards Ceremony will be held at the East York Civic Centre starting at 2:30 p.m. Agnes Macphail was the first woman MP in Canada in 1921 until her defeat in the 1940 General Election. Later she served as MPP for York East and lived at 2 Donegall Drive in Leaside. The nomination form and more detailed information about the event are found at this link.  Here are previous winners  (asterisk denotes deceased).
Alice Carriman 2012
 John Carter 2011 
 Bill Pashby 2010 
 Patricia Moore 2009
 Geoff Kettel 2008 
 Lorna Krawchuk 2007
 Shamsh Kara 2006 
 George Hurst 2005 
 Vi Thompson 2004 
 Dorothy Rivers-Moore 2003 
Bob Hart * 2002 
Grace Stephens 2001 
Audrey Tobias 2000 
Barbara Thompson 1999
Elisabeth and Robert Lister 1998
Ruth Goldhar 1997 
Marjorie Lewsey * 1996 
Eileen Morris Adams 1995 
J. Edna Beange 1994

Sandra Pupatello plays “the Toronto Card”

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Ontario Liberal leadership contender Sandra Pupatello played “the Toronto Card” Thursday as she addressed the Canadian Club. All the other candidates are too Toronto in their thinking and general interests to lead the party back to power, she said. That group would include Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West) Glen Murray (Toronto Centre Rosedale) Eric Hoskins (St. Paul’s) Gerard Kennedy (not a member of the Legislature) and even Mississauga MPPs  Harinder Takhar and Charles Sousa.  “If you live in Toronto you probably don’t realize that there are 217 locations in rural Ontario that have mini-liquor stores inside the grocery store,” said Pupatello, referring to LCBO agency outlets. “There’s a big old province out there,” Pupatello said. The Liberals were almost wiped out in rural Ontario in the Oct. 6, 2011 election that cost McGuinty his two-term majority, resulting in an unwieldy minority government. Pupatello, a former MPP and cabinet member, currently lives in Windsor. 

Canada produces 59,000 new jobs in November

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Canada produced an unexpected 59,000 new jobs in November. The excellent performance came largely from a jump in full-time work. That  pushed the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.2 per cent, according to statistics released today. Statistics Canada says there were job gains in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island. There was little change in the other provinces. Much of the job gains came from the private sector, because public-sector jobs and the number of self employed people were basically unchanged. CBC

The South Bayview Bulldog’s 4 click video pick

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Here we go with another Bulldog 4 click video pick. Clockwise from the upper left, authorities have a plan to trick a deadly breed of mosquito in Florida into mass birth control, leaving the area free from the disease bearing pest. But wait. Folks are not so sure they like the science. Or something. AP report tells all.  Next, famed jazz pianist and cultural leader  Dave Brubeck has died at 91. His iconic composition Take Five revolutionized jazz.  He plays it here in Germany. Brubeck insisted on including black players in his quartet even though in those days it cost him work. A leader. Lower right, what a night for high school basketball player Lucas Marty. He hurls the ball discus-style the full length of the court to sink the basket, beat the buzzer and win the game for Monticello High School in Wisconsin. Lastly, divers rescue a 15-ton pregnant whale shark off Mexico which somehow got wound up in a heavy rope and would have almost certainly have died had  she not been discovered and received help. 

Stalemate and rancor return to NHL talks

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If you follow and care about the NHL you probably have your sides pretty well sorted out by now. But one sense of how the two parties are positioning tonight after what appears to be a complete collapse of talks is that they hardly understand each other. The owners are not prepared to give up as much as the players are intent on extracting. Click picture to see video.  New York Times

Christmas cards in but Dollarama still not open

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They’re now saying that Dollarama on South Bayview may be open in a week or two. Gee, that would make it about Christmas Eve. Oh well, the Dollarama elves are in there stocking the shelves. One employee allowed as how they really are hoping to be open for the Yule because they just received a huge shipment of Christmas cards.  Suppose there is always next year.

Sunnybrook repulsed superbug attack in 2011

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There have been outbreaks in two Toronto-area hospitals in recent months of infections caused by the so-called superbug, a very difficult condition to treat. The outbreaks are now over. They occurred at Brampton Hospital and at Sunnybrook Health Centre where the last incidence of this infection was seen nearly a year ago. The linked story might seem alarmist although the matter is obviously serious. Read about the challenges of the rather longer process and diligence required to identify the superbug. National Post

Matlow gives notice of Davisville meeting on Tues

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Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has issued notice of a meeting on  Tuesday, December 11, 2012 to discuss the proposed re-development of the townhomes on Davisville Ave. and Balliol Street. It will be held between 7 and 9 pm at Greenwood College School, 443 Mount Pleasant Road. The brief history of the development of the homes numbered 87 to 107 Davisville and 108 to 128 Balliol goes back to December, 2011. when the owner proposed two condo towers, 12 and 29 storeys. Apparently there have been some changes of a perhaps cosmetic type and the plans will be on display.

Want to own a piece of the Loblaws store?

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321 Moore Avenue

Loblaws is going to form a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to include many of the properties in owns. It’s a nifty way to get the public to give you money in the expectation that commercial real estate will continue to hold  and increase its value. And for a lot of people, the familiar feeling they have for the homegrown grocery giant will make that decision easier. Maybe you can own a piece of 321 Moore Ave (inset). Units of the REIT are expected to be sold in an initial public offering expected to be completed in mid-2013, subject to regulatory approvals. Own a piece of Loblaws. Hmm. We’ll take the Ziggy’s.   CBC

Two improbable videos for this Thursday

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In New Zealand, left, a charity is training dogs to — um — “drive” so that they may be seen as intelligent and thus more eligible for adoption.  And it is quite remarkable but  please, not on Jarvis Street. On the right, two  gents who say they are on their way to doing away with the tea bag. Wot!  We certainly hope not. But it is an interesting device they have and much safer than letting Spot drive the VW.

$4.4B hostile bid for Primaris shopping mall REIT

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The leader of the ambitious takeover is KingSett Capital which doesn’t have a very high public profile. But its got money and it has formed a consortium of Ontario and Qeubec interests to try to scoop up the Primaris Reit. Primaris is owner of among many other malls, the Eglinton Square Shopping Centre at Victoria Park Ave. and Eglinton Ave. E. The very high -profile RioCan Inc, owners of at least two properties in Leaside, has also agreed as part of any successful bid to buy up some of the assetts, unnamed at this stage separate from the consortium holdings. RioCan owns Sunnybrook Plaza and the RioCan Leaside Centre at Eglinton Ave E and Laird Drive.   CBC

Tory, NDP members slang it out in Commons

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They’re saying in some news reports that the kerfuffle in the Commons between Conservatives and NDP members was just short of fisticuffs. Well, maybe. But it seemed tamer than that. It began when CP house leader Peter Van Loan took issue with a motion from his NDP counterpart Nathan Cullen calling for the House Speaker Andrew Scheer to revoke the report stage of the marathon omnibus budget vote taken Tuesday. Cullen argued that the end of the vote should be deemed “illegitimate” because Finance Minister Jim Flaherty wasn’t in his seat at the time. Van Loan didn’t like that and walked over to Cullen. The mikes were off but it’s said Van Loan’s language was unparliamentary and he may also have used his finger, well you know. The picture shows all the parties, including the cooler heads who arrived to put an end to it. Just like the old Fuddle Duddle days.