Month: February 2017

White, black and red

Mechanics have unforms too

All aboard

Black bottom with logo

CBC — Air Canada has unveiled a new twist on an old look for its planes and uniforms for staff, adding black to its iconic red-and-white colour scheme. The airline introduced the makeover at events in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver on Thursday. All the airline’s 300 planes will soon resemble the Boeing 787s that were on display at the events. The tail, engines and undersides are black, but the red maple leaf icon will be on the fin. It marks a return to the airline’s look 24 years ago, when its maple leaf in a circle logo — known by the French term for a hockey puck, the rondelle — was replaced with just a maple leaf. CBC

Closer

Alison Simpson has posted video on the Leaside Community Facebook group showing a man in a hoodie taking a package from inside the screen door of her home. She reports that this was a shipment for her 14-year son of some Beats headphones delivered earlier in the day. The thief is fairly unrecognizable but the site is here. It is a private group however and you may not be able to see the video. The home is in North Leaside east of Laird Drive. Heather Rose added that a member of Davisville Moms had posted a warning Tuesday of a guy in a hoodie driving a white car taking packages. She says: “He got someone’s diaper delivery yesterday. Joke’s on him in that case…but what a loser. Definitely share this video with police!!!” Definitely.

They’re through

Ed in the sky

Some fire for you?

Lives unfold in pictures this Thursday as (left) Gayle and Bill McCormick of Bellingham, Washington get divorced over Donald Trump. She voted for Hillary and he voted for the Trump man. It was a deal breaker they agreed. Then, David Mirvish is vowing to see his late dad’s Barnum and Bailey-style sign rise above the family’s theatre on Victoria Street. Long may it dazzle. And in the Gaza Strip, there’s a new hair straightening technique called “flaming” for those in need of such alteration. The man wielding the blow torch concedes it can be a bit dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Loblaws has extended its recall of  PC Organics baby food pouches due to the risk of deadly bacteria forming in the product. The first recall was for PC Organics Apple, Blueberry and Green Pea baby food. Now all 32 flavours of the product are being pulled back following an investigation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA). No sickness has been reported.

Judy Keenleyside 1928 – 2017

Judy Keenleyside has died at the of 88 at home in Toronto on Monday, January 30, 2017. She was the wife of the late Dr. Hubert (Hub) Keenleyside.  Judy was born in Ottawa and met her husband-to-be in Montreal working as an RN. She had two children, Dave and Anne. She was a tireless volunteer on behalf of the Royal Ontario Museum after the couple moved to Toronto. She served as a docent and at the ROM Reproduction Shop.  She was also a member of Oriole-York Mills United Church. The family will receive friends at the Humphrey Funeral Home — A.W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Davisville Avenue) from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, February 10..  A funeral service will be held in the chapel on Saturday, February 11 at 11 a.m.  Interment Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Obituary

Behind the scaffold, a sign

Recently opened in SmartCentre

690 before deal was done

Meridian Credit Union has taken the long-vacant space at 690-692 Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Soudan Ave. Workers are busy putting a bank-like stone front on the premises this week. It is a tenancy which seems likely to bring important additional vitality to the Mount Pleasant Village BIA strip. Meridian is Ontario’s largest credit union and it has vowed to take on Canada’s banking “Five Sisters” by creating a sixth national bank. The ambitious firm was formed in 2005 in the Niagara Region where it is still headquartered in St. Catharines. Meridian was formed April 1 of that year by the merger of the Niagara Credit Union and the HEPCOE (hydro workers) Credit Union. Since then Meridian has been on a tear, opening more than 40 branches in Ontario, one of the most recent being the outlet in the SmartCentre on Wicksteed Ave. Locally, the Meridian strategy has caused it to straddle Bayview Ave. where BMO, CIBC, TD, Royal and Scotia have formed a well-known Canadian banking cluster. But no such cluster exists on Mt. Pleasant. Only RBC has a branch there.  All the banks are represented on Laird near the SmartCentre but only two — Royal and BMO — are in the shopping complex.

Persons per sq. km.

More and more tower dwellers

The 2016 census headline released Wednesday suggests that Canada, at slightly more than 35 million souls, is more than ever a land of city-dwellers with an increasing trend to condominium life. It is a fascinating and in some ways sobering view of the country with the second-largest land mass in the world (9,984,670 sq. km.) As the Statistics Canada comparison above shows, our enormous land mass is populated on average by just four persons by per square kilometre. Russia, the largest national land mass in the world (17,075,200 sq. km.) has nine people were square kilometres. For those who think strategically about a country’s capacity to truly command its territory, disparities like these cause unease. It is of course why Canada more than any other country is so eager for immigrants, and is prepared to grant dual citizenship almost without exception. Few other countries are as generous. On the plus side, the 2016 numbers show our cities are growing with those in the west growing fastest. We have the fastest rate of growth of any country in the G7.  Statistics Canada reveals this in the first of what will be seven tranches of 2016 census data to be released over the course of the year. Wednesday’s release focused on population and dwellings; the next one, in May, will be focused on age and sex. CBC

Wallet theft suspect #1

Wallet theft suspect #2

Wallet theft suspect #3

Wallet theft suspect #4

The timeless downside of carefree fun among downtown crowds is the message from Toronto Police Service Wednesday as they hunt for four suspects alleged to have stolen “multiple wallets” in a 48-hour period last Thursday and Friday. They were taken from victims’ coats and bags while customers were seated in coffee shops and eateries in areas with high pedestrian traffic Credit cards were compromised and used for cash advances and retail purchases. Don’t hang your coat with the wallet in it on the back of your chair.

The City will demolish and then re-build the eastbound off ramp from the Gardiner Expressway to York, Bay and Yonge Streets. Get ready. Here

The City of Toronto has issued an extreme cold warning for Wednesday night and Thursday morning when temperatures will sink to minus 11 and similar depths. It is a reminder to check on friends and family who may not see these extremes heading their way. Saturday is predicted by the Weather Network to see a high of five degrees with the sun peeking through clouds now and then.

Connaught pool

Penny Oleksiak

Mayor Tory

Toronto Executive Committee voted 8-4 Tuesday to cease funding for the Duke of Connaught swimming pool at the S.H. Armstrong Community Centre on Woodfield Road. The pool will close for lack of the $85,000 a year subsidy which has kept it going until now. There is bitterness expressed Wednesday at the role of the mayor, who voted with the majority, because of previous expressions of sympathy with those hoping for an extension. He had been messaged in January by Olympic Swimmer Penny Oleksiak asking him to save the pool and had replied “Gold medal message received.”  His tweet below says he will ask the budget chief to try to find a way to save pools. This is no guarantee but it was taken as an assurance that Tory was prepared to save the pool. Mary-Margaret McMahon (Ward 32) made what is being called an impassioned plea in the cause.  But on a day when the mayor felt the need to explain how City staff had found several million dollars in savings to balance the Toronto budget, the Connaught pool was just another casualty.

Gold medal message received, @OleksiakPenny. I've asked Budget Chief Gary Crawford to find a way to save these pools. https://t.co/A9N9HK2inH

— John Tory (@JohnTory) January 11, 2017

Thanks to all our new families for coming to our JK/SK Open House! #davisvillerocks All are welcome. pic.twitter.com/vQHZHnS2WC

— Davisville Jr PS (@DavisvillePS) February 7, 2017