The Dufferin Bridge will be to be removed this weekend  The old overpass to the CNE gates will be replaced. As a result of this work, pedestrian access over the bridge will not be permitted from Friday, November 30 at noon to Saturday, December 7. Pedestrians can cross the railway tracks between Liberty Village and Exhibition Place via the GO Station tunnel at Atlantic Avenue. Motorists can enter Exhibition Place from any of the entrances on Lake Shore Boulevard or from Strachan Avenue. Go Train service will be affected as a result of this work.  A temporary pedestrian bridge will be installed and is expected to be opened by December 7. Two temporary bridges for vehicles will be installed and opened by February, 2014. 

Talk about Standing Up to the Big Guys. We may never know who miscalculated at Bell Media’s TSN. But you can be sure that if the right to be the Big Boss of hockey broadcasting in Canada is worth $5.2 billion to Rogers Media, it is absolutely worth that much to Bell. So what happened? Did Bell even get a chance to counter-offer and or did it foolishly think that the NHL would have to come back to Bell regardless? If this deal was the result of an auction — and that seems for sure — did Bell get over-confident about its pre-eminent position in Canada? One thing is clear, the NHL was big enough in its own right to stand up and say we’re going with the other guy. The fallout at Bell is yet to come. The company has written a gracious statement congratulating Rogers but you have to know that at the top, the Bell Big Guys do not like this. Remember how they chased the CRTC all over Canada after they were turned down for Astral Media? But now they are faced with less than the crumbs as the rest of Canada tries to analyse this seismic re-ordering of hockey broadcasting (and streaming) which even the experts are struggling to comprehend. The best information and some educated guessing comes from Cassandra Szklarski  of the  Canadian Press 

It’s the up and down of business. Couche Tarde, the corner store and gas bar phenomenon from Montreal, continued to spin out money like they own the printing presses. Couche Tarde posted a Q2 profit of $1.21 a share, up from 97 cents a year earlier. Adjusted earnings climbed to $1.32 a share from 91 cents, beating expectations. The convenience-store operator also raised its dividend 14.3%. Meantime, Sears Canada seems to cursed to misery. It announced Tuesday afternoon that it is laying off 800 people at head office and in service departments today. This comes after stories are told that Sears Canada is being shopped around for sale by Edward Lampert, the CEO of Sears Holdings, which continues to own a 51 per cent stake in the firm. Sears Canada has already sold the leases to its best properties, including the Eaton Centre, unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars which is being returned to shareholders as Sears tries to find itself in a ever more complex retail market. 

The growing framework of the Wicksteed Business Park is seen yesterday. It is a nine-acre commercial condominium complex at 195-209 Wicksteed Avenue. There are as many as seven proposed commercial buildings in this development, one of which is said to be a Canada Post distribution centre. The buildings in the background are the Scenic on Eglinton. The developer of the business park is the Rockport Group. Rockport is also busy locally with a proposal for the redevelopment of Postal Station K at Yonge and Montgomery.  Yonge-Montgomery  Photo courtesy Rudy Limeback.