Month: January 2021

The new logo for the Leaside Heritage Preservation Society has been designed by Cathy Lam Freer of the Freer Group Ltd. She is a Leaside resident. Her design, seen above, was among 29 ideas submitted. Leaside Heritage Facebook

Novavax Inc. has submitted its C-19 vaccine to Health Canada for approval. Word came over the weekend that the US firm, headquartered in Maryland and with labs in the UK and Sweden, had quietly submitted its product. Canada has ordered 52 million doses of the Novavax shot. Because of the emergency nature of the pandemic, Health Canada is accepting applications for vaccines before the final trial data is ready, allowing the review team to start pouring over the documents on an ongoing basis, rather than waiting until everything is finished. In results reported Friday, the Novavax vaccine scored an 89.3 percent effectiveness against the virus during tests in Britain. It is said to be especially effective against the so-called UK variant. This perhaps suggests again that while the variant is highly infectious it is possibly less virulent (i.e. deadly) than the original.

Johnson & Johnson has brought another C-19 vaccine to market with interesting added-value qualities. It is a cheap, single-shot vaccine. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, explains.

The Leaside Residents Association had a good turnout Wednesday for its virtual town hall held in conjunction with the LRA’s Annual General Meeting. The LRA is the former Leaside Property Owners Association. Co-president Carol Burtin Fripp said the Zoom Webinar attracted an estimated 150 people to the online forum. About 50 of these texted in questions, enough that many could not be dealt with during the allotted time. They’ll be answered by email. The transition to virtual large meetings requires specialized skills. On this occasion, John Hiddema, from the Executive of the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents (SERRA) took charge. LRA past president Brian Athey was the moderator.

Laird Drive a concern

Ms Burtin Fripp said that development was a major concern. Controller Jaye Robinson said Laird Drive gives her the most concern, given the applications for mid-rise buildings (approved and/or pending). Trustee Rachel Chernos Lin discussed the challenges the TDSB is facing and MP Rob Oliphant provided a description of the range of federal policies and services impacting Toronto and Leaside. Leaside Residents Association

In California, two women are accusing Subway of selling fake tuna. They filed a lawsuit against the company in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Their lawsuit claims that independent tests couldn’t find any actual tuna in samples. The attorney for the plaintiffs told the Washington Post the ingredients not only were not tuna but also “not fish.” Instead, they say the testing found, “a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna.”

Subway says the claim “baseless”

Subway says the accusation is entirely baseless. Their tuna is tuna, they say. The two women are identified as Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin. Many will wonder if they got their inspiration to test subway tuna from the ongoing chicken legal action between the CBC and Subway in Canada. Subway sandwich suit against CBC gets top court approval

Both Ottawa and Queen’s Park have announced Friday they are tightening up Canada’s barely-there testing of people coming and going at the nation’s airports. It seems to have taken a long time. Below that, the Prime Minister was trying to reassure Canadians about vaccine supplies in the wake of word that Moderna is now saying it can’t ship as much in the early term as it had agreed. Lastly, the World Health Organization is finally looking around Wuhan. That’s the place that is universally believed to be the epicenter of the pandemic — except in China where the government seems to think C-19 broke out all over the world more or less simultaneously.

The Ministry of Health has reported 1,837 new cases of C-19 infection Friday for the 24-hour period ending at midnight. The number is based on findings from 69,040 tests. It’s an encouraging report and holds hope that rigid lockdown rules are beginning to control the viral pestilence. The province’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 2,010. It had reached 3,273 two weeks ago but has been on the decline since then. Of the new cases, 595 are in Toronto, 295 are in Peel Region, 170 are in York, 59 are in Durham, 54 are in Halton and 53 are in Hamilton.

MOH reviews extended rules, prospects on City News

The South Bayview Bulldog has been notified by its internet service provider Bluehost that the site will be moved to a new, superior server in the next few days. Although there is expected to be no downtime it is possible that a temporary maintenance sign will appear for a brief time. The move is necessary because of failures in the present server that have slowed both access by readers and the posting of news to The Bulldog. We appreciate your understanding and thank you for reading The Bulldog.

Four people are dead following a three-alarm fire at 95 Gainsborough Rd. in East York. The alarm came in just before 5 a.m. Friday to the home near Coxwell Ave and Eastwood Road. Carl Hantske of 680 News reports. Twitter posts with video.

Rogue traders who have been influencing social media investors through their Reddit group have been slapped down by restrictions placed on their favorite stocks Thursday. One of these, GameStop Corp. plunged at mid-morning after moves were made to curtail its trading. Among those taking action were Robinhood Markets, TD Bank and Interactive Brokers Group Inc. GameStop stock plummeted as much as 68% when trading was halted. CBC Here is an earlier analysis from Mike Eppel.

Metrolinx says that as early as Saturday, crews at Mt Peasant Station will perform a major concrete pour within the work zones on the north side of Eglinton Ave east of Mount Pleasant Road. The concrete will form one of the permanent station structures underground. To ensure the integrity and continuity of the pour, work will begin as early as 6 a.m. and take approximately 12 hours to complete. Concrete trucks will stage on Eglinton, Mt. Pleasant and within the work zones. Two concrete pumps will be set up at the secondary entrance site. Traffic control personnel and/or a paid duty officer will be present while this work takes place.

Regular vitamin D seems to be an essential element for those who want a good immune system, especially in winter climates where sunshine can be rare. Now some are saying “good immunity” may help people dodge the worst effects of C-19.

Fired bureaucrat has assets worth $28 million

The Ontario government computer specialist fired after the alleged theft of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds has about $12.4 million in cash in Indian banks, according to the Toronto Star. While Sanjay Madan helped the province recoup $11.6 million in COVID-19 aid allegedly funnelled to hundreds of Canadian bank accounts, he testified in a sworn affidavit he has money in five accounts in India. Combined with his real estate holdings, the ex-bureaucrat, terminated in November from his $176,608-a-year Ministry of Education job has assets worth about $28 million. Civil servant family accused in $11 million Covid-19 fraud

Air Transat stops flying until Spring

Air Transat says it’s suspending all flights out of Toronto for the remainder of the winter season in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, Air Transat says travel restrictions and measures imposed by the federal government, including the requirement to present a negative COVID-19 test and to quarantine upon return to Canada, have impacted its operations. City News