Bidding has opened on a series of decommissioned Toronto street signs, the first of what is said to be several batches that will be sold by auction. A badly rusted but familiar sign for Hillsdale Ave. that hung at the corner of Duplex Ave is among this series of signs. The sign has collected five bids to stand at $75. But there are still 60 days bidding to go.  It’s easy to see how these signs might fetch much more money than one might think. A sign off of Mt. Pleasant Rd. autographed by Mayor Ford is doing well for just a few hours of bidding. The price to beat is $215 offered by “eva”. The signs are nicely displayed on the site of Palladium Liquidations Inc. Over the next 12 or more months more than 1500 of the decommissioned signs will be made available for auction, with additional signs added each week.  Each sign will be posted for 60 days and is only available through the auction process  The minimum opening bid is $30 with bidding continuing in increments of $5.  You will need to register (it’s free) on the Palladium site in order to bid. A countdown timer displays the ending date and time for each sign. A certain  number of signs will be autographed by Toronto personalities  Successful bidders can have their purchase shipped by Canada Post (shipping cost extra) or picked up in person at Platinum at 1001 Petrolia Road, Toronto. Signs being auctioned. 

As many as 85,000 Sikhs thronged street downtown leading up to Nathan Phillips Square today to mark the 29th annual Khalsa Day parade. It is intended to mark the birth of Sikhism and Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year. The event is filled with traditional music, hymns, prayers, and food served from the langar, a communal kitchen. The Khalsa Day Parade began at Exhibition Place and went along Lake Shore heading to Nathan Phillips Square. Mayoral candidates Olivia Chow, John Tory, Karen Stintz, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Don Valley West MP John Carmichael, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau were all present at one time or another for the parade. Since its inauguration in Toronto in 1986 with 2,000 people, the event has grown to become the city’s third largest parade, featuring colourful floats, martial arts performers and members of the community dressed in traditional saffron colours. Everyone attending is asked to bring donations of non-perishable food items for the annual food drive by Sikh youth for the Daily Bread Food Bank. More than 15,000 pounds of food donations were collected at last year’s event.

Rogers Callow’s incredible 29-year tussle with the court system to regain a job he lost way back in 1985 would seem to be very near its end. Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin McKinnon has issued the ultimate “don’t come back” order to Callow by declaring him a vexatious litigant.  Callow’s ill-founded odyssey began when he was fired as a social studies teacher by the West Vancouver Board of Education. His union looked at it and passed. Since then Callow, of Ottawa, has launched 20 legal proceedings at unknown expense to himself. He has been declared unwelcome by the B.C. Supreme Court and generally rebuked for his lame complaint by the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice McKinnon said. “Having been rebuked by the courts and tribunals of British Columbia, the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada, Mr. Callow has now taken aim at Ontario. Ontario lacks the jurisdiction to deal with his case. As a result, Mr. Callow’s litigation must be stopped. Now.”