Month: March 2018

Christine Elliott has followed a meeting Sunday evening with PC leader Doug Ford by stating that she is confident in the results of Saturday’s voting and concedes his victory. She congratulated Ford on his win. “The pace of this Ontario PC leadership race has been rapid and there have been a number of unexpected turns along the way. That is why our team took the last twenty-four hours to review the results of an election that was incredibly close,” she said in the written statement.  She also said she will be running for a seat in the provincial election. During the day, many party members including former leader Mike Harris had called on Elliott to reunite behind Ford.

WYNNE CONGRATULATES FORD

Premier Wynne tweeted congratulations and told a Brampton rally that she’d “like to wish Doug well, even though we disagree about many things, I welcome him to provincial politics  This news, however, changes very little for us. Who we are fighting against has changed, but who we are fighting for has not. We are fighting for the people of Ontario — and that’s what this election is about,” later warning Ford’s plans for the province could cost up to 40,000 public sector positions. Globe and Mail

She’s a shooter

Schrutt to the rescue

To be forever treasured

It’s a trick, right?

Window replaced at Dove Cleaners on Moore

Upper left, Mackenzie Macdonald scored in the shootout climax of the PWHL quarter-finals game Sunday at Leaside Memorial Community Gardens. The marker gave the Jr. Wildcats a 2-1 win over Cambridge Rivulettes and a 2-0 advantage in their best of five series. Upper right, Mark Schrutt, co-ordinator of the Wildcats March Madness Tournament this weekend, demonstrates how to wear a cape in support of Capesforkids.ca, the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital charity. Below, medals to be treasured now and for a lifetime given to more  than 2,000 girls playing in the annual Madness games. Lower right, its been three months since a woman drove her car through the window of Dove Cleaners at 325 Moore Ave. That’s just about how long it takes to get the insurance sorted out. Workmen were there Sunday. Finally, a glimpse of a St. Patrick’s Parade shaman with a good trick.

Car insurer Aviva Canada has found clear evidence that both auto body shops and tow truck drivers in Ontario are committing widespread fraud. Canadian Press writer Colin Perkel says that Aviva created ten test-case bumper bender wrecks and put them on highway roadsides. Agents posed as hapless drivers in trouble. What they found was that in nine out of ten cases, auto body shops essentially lied about the work done. In some cases those charged with fixing cars deliberately damaged them further and installed used parts and charged for new. Tow truck drivers charged for towing and storage that didn’t happen. Motorists were asked to sign blank work orders. Vehicles were then maliciously damaged and various trick played over parts used to repair them. Colin Perkel

Made in Belfast

This convoy of Delorean cars built in Belfast is a fixture at the Toronto St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It goes Sunday at noon. Routes and TTC changes in story. Road closures for St. Patrick’s Day Parade will cause some traffic congestion, so plan ahead

OTHER NEWS

• Toronto’s long lost jazz clubs take centre stage in new exhibit
• Days after giving birth to a baby boy, mom dies of strep A in hospital
• Judge rejects injunction to extend Ontario PC leadership voting period
• Landmark World of the Fatimids exhibition opens at Aga Khan Museum

Doug Ford has been declared the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Ford won on the third ballot of preferential voting. His win was revealed by the party after a chaotic day that included members being sent home from the Markham convention hall as the party worked to resolve an issue regarding some key ballots. Christine Elliott came in second, 153 points behind Ford on the final ballot. Caroline Mulroney and Tanya Granic Allen, both Ford’s rivals in the race, were on hand for the official announcement. Elliott was not in the room for Ford’s statement.

ISSUE “NOT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT”

CBC News reported earlier Saturday that Ford had indeed won the snap, six-week leadership race, but party officials decided not to announce any results until outstanding questions over some disputed ballots could be answered. Hartley Lefton, chair of the PC’s leadership election organizing committee, said that the party’s chief electoral officer determined that the issue was not statistically significant enough to change the outcome of the race. — CBC  Christine Elliott promised PCs unity, but refuses to unite behind Doug Ford

Lefton: Go home

Ford: Reported to have won

Crawley: Broke news they won’t confirm

Members of the Ontario PC Party gathered in Markham to celebrate a new leader were told by the Chair of the Organizing Committee Hartley Lefton to go home Saturday evening. Some five hours after the winner of the leadership vote was to be released at 3 p.m., Lefton had to tell frustrated members that a dispute had stalled the united outcome they had come to celebrate. He said a review is underway and that members and media had to leave the convention hall at 8500 Warden Ave. The space had been promised to another event. Lefton told the packed convention centre that there are 1,300 ballots under dispute, and that the party will reveal results “as soon as practically possible.” “Unfortunately we don’t have access to the hall any longer. Members, I ask you to please go home to wait for results. We cannot stay here,” Lefton said.  Loud booing from Doug Ford’s supporters filled the hall as Lefton spoke. The confusion was made worse because the nature of the concern about the ballots is obscure. Reporting by Mike Crawley of the CBC during the afternoon unfolded a picture which had Christine Elliott insisting on a recount of a close outcome. Crawley further reported that a recount had confirmed Doug Ford as the winner of the election. Crawley said that his sources suggested that the impact of the 1,300 ballot on the outcome was not significant. The members left the room as asked and when the lights came on the litter and unreleased balloons intended to celebrate a leader were revealed. The scene was carried on television live coverage.

Oh balllons !!! The PC party that never happened #onpoli #PCPOLdr tearing down the party pic.twitter.com/PQ91Bx49yb

— Jack Boland (@TorSunphoto21) March 11, 2018

New location at EYTC

Bayivew and Merton now closed

The second-hand children’s clothing and equipment store Once Upon A Child has moved its long-time location at Bayview Ave and Merton St to a newly-created storefront at the East York Town Centre. It opened there on March 1, the firm said. It sits in a line of five new storefronts which have direct access from the parking lot, unlike other stores in the Town Centre. OUAC is a large franchise business with 450 outlets in Canada and the US. EYTC has been in a long tumult of construction since the close of the Target store two years ago. The work also includes the construction of a large dialysis centre to be operated by St. Michael’s Hospital in part of the former Target space. Across Overlea Blvd work continues on the new Costco store, which is scheduled to open in April or May.

Mike Crawley of the CBC says that Doug Ford has won the vote for the leadership of the PC Party of Ontario but the outcome is being withheld because Christine Elliott is demanding a recount. Crawley says he has two sources who have told him that Ford won both the first count and the recount demanded by Elliott. Crawley is saying the matter is over except that there is no word on the position of Ms.Elliott. The convention remains without any word from the organizers about the result at 5 p.m. But word of Ford’s victory has run through those present because of the CBC and tweets. Ford is a Toronto City Councillor. If the reportage is correct, he has beaten out rivals Christine Elliott, Caroline Mulroney and Tanya Granic Allen in a tense contest. Announcement of the results has been delayed more than two hours after a technical issues with one of 12 ballot counting machines. As of 5 p.m. ET, lawyers representing the campaigns of Ford and Elliott were in a closed room trying to resolve the problems, according to the CBC

See later report

Jon Burnside and Michael Ellison

Cats vs Rivs in Leaside Sunday at noon hour

Ribs, chicken, coleslaw and potatoes. Wow.

4 Burgers, 4 Sides and 4 Drinks

Mob scene Saturday at Gardens

East York Runners up early

Upper left, Jon Burnside (Ward 26) and Michael Ellison, Manager of Community Recreation in North York, were present Saturday for the ribbon-cutting at the indoor Paradise Playground at 150 Grenoble Dr. in Flemingdon Park. The two-storey play structure, a favorite with local kids, has been refurbished. To the right, a reminder in this great action shot that the Leaside Jr. Wildcats face off against the Cambridge Rivulettes in Game 2 of their quarter-final series in the PWHL on Sunday. Leaside won the first game 3-0 Friday in Preston. Puck drops Sunday at 12.40 p.m at the Gardens. Below that, two local merchants are offering fast and easy March-break dining. Check the offers from Andy Elder’s Grilltime at 62 Laird Dr. and UrBun Eats on Eglinton Ave. E. at Laird. Centre right, a glimpse of the Saturday mob scene at Leaside Memorial Community Gardens as March Madness continues. At bottom is a nice shot tweeted by the East York Runners after their early Saturday “fast run” You go guys.

Lineup for doughnuts

Members from some Toronto BIAs

Great button

Thousands of Hamiltonians and a few residents of Toronto have flocked to Hamilton’s Locke St. South in the City’s southwest quadrant Saturday to show support for merchants after last weekend’s anarchist convulsion. It’s called #LoveLockeDay. The street has a long history, dating from the 1840s before the community was incorporated. The high-minded name appears to come from John Locke, the 17th Century English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism.” Quite a long way from anarchism.

A ticket sold somewhere in Ontario claimed Friday night’s $32 million Lotto Max jackpot. The exact location of the sale has yet to be revealed. The jackpot for the next Lotto Max draw on Mar. 16 will be approximately $10 million.