This is International Women’s Day and in Sweden the movement is alive and well. One politician (a man) feels there should be legislation to make boys urinate sitting down rather than standing. It would make things simpler in the washroom and keep the place cleaner, he says. He also feels it would be healthier for the boys, to which we have no comment. Also fueling debate in Sweden these days, where gender equality is a national goal, is a new word in the dictionary. It is hen. Hen is a neutral pronoun that, again, makes everything equal. Some Swedes feel that neutrality initiatives are being exaggerated. Not everyone agrees with hen says school director Lotta Rajalin: “They think we are going to change girls to boys and boys to girls and that’s of course not what we are doing. We like to give every human being the same rights, the same possibilities, the same responsibilities. And that is a question of democracy.”
Carden-Cunietti wins prestigious design award
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| Audrey Carden, Eleanora Cunietti |
Eleanora Cunietti is a Toronto girl who has made it big in London. The graduate of Branksome Hall and the Ontario College of Art and Design moved to the United Kingdom in the 1990s where her field, interior design, led her to a partnership with Audrey Carden. The team of Carden-Cunietti has become a virtual household name in British and European design and build circles. Now Carden-Cunietti has added the Home and Gardens Magazine award in design which recognizes British designers who have made a significant contribution to their field. The award was made March 7, 2013, at the British Museum. Audrey and Eleanora beat the fabulous Martin Hubert and Paolo Moschino to win the coveted award. Carden Cunietti is well known for its personal, hands on approach to each client’s needs and seeing all stages of each installation come to fruition. The breadth and depth of the company’s fame and acceptance is shown on its website where the partners note that they are now completing two large new build houses in Dublin and Herzelia. They are also working on projects in London, Dublin, Warsaw and Jersey.
Strange complaint against Mayor Ford
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There is an astonishing story from a former election opponent who says Mayor Ford molested her at a public function. She is Sarah Thompson, publisher of the Women’s Post who ran against Ford in 2010 for mayor but withdrew a few weeks before election day. She did not go to the police but rather posted her story on Facebook after she got home from the event early Friday morning. Ms. Thompson’s story, and her general credibility given the way she has complained, has been widely criticized. Mayor Ford has categorically denied he touched Ms Thompson. There is however no way of knowing what crossed between them at the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee party at Arcadian Court. Online polls are tending to show that a majority of people don’t believe the story. But either way the allegations cannot help Mayor Ford. His problem is that his judgement in many areas has been shown to be faulty. He may mean well at all times, but that is unfortunately not enough. This is especially the case when the number of instances become burdensome. The CFRB radio link has audio with both Ms. Thompson and Mark Twohey the mayor’s chief of staff. Story Newstalk 1010
Six in custody for Thistletown CI incident
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Police say they have six young men in custody tonight apparently in connection with the brazen invasion at a Toronto high school. Four masked and armed youths invaded a classroom at Thistletown Collegiate during the mid-afternoon. They brandished at least one weapon and stole cellphones from two girls. One girl had a gun held to her head. When another student fled the classroom he was chased and shot at. No one was injured. The four fled the scene in a stolen blue Toyota which has apparently been recovered in conjunction with the arrests.
Mayor Ford tears a strip off OCAP bed protest
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Mayor Ford says there are at least 100 empty beds most nights at Toronto shelters for street people and he doesn’t the sense in creating more. Mr. Ford said he found the activities of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) in demanding more beds to be “nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt.” Meantime, OCAP took its travelling protest to Metro Hall where as usual a sit-in began.
Will TDSB recruit parents for kids graduation?
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Toronto District School Board is apparently quite unclear about how to provide elementary kids with a graduation ceremony this year. Teachers are on a boycott of extra-curricular duties — either militantly or per force — and that leaves only the possibly of recruiting parents for the job. The school board also says that a staff member — teacher or other — has to be present for the ceremony for legal reasons. The board spokesman Ryan Bird is quoted in the Star as saying the board cannot guarantee there will be graduation ceremonies. Here in South Bayview its known that teachers range between “solidarity” union members to those who would much prefer to participate in these important rites of passage for children leaving elementary school.
Good old Stompin’ Tom Connors dead at age 77
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| Stompin Tom’s last letter and tributes |
LCBO to open store at Bayview and Millwod
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The LCBO will open an outlet at 1524 Bayview Ave at Millwood Road in the premises formerly occupied by Blockbuster Video before it went bankrupt. Several sources on the site have confirmed the arrival of the liquor store. Renovations are underway even as the old Blockbuster sign remains outside on the long vacant store, which is beside epi breads. It will hardly need saying to anyone with business to do on South Bayview, merchant or shopper, that the arrival of an LCBO is long overdue for the many neighborhoods that look to this street as a preferred shopping destination. The Blockbuster, which has been vacant now for more than 18 months is an ideally-sized space for the liquor outlet. We note the coincidence that 1524 Bayview is slap up against the west border of the provincial riding of Don Valley West whose member if the premier herself.
Star reporters protest layoffs with byline ban
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Reporters at the Toronto Star withheld their bylines from the newspaper’s Wednesday edition in a show of protest against upcoming layoffs and restructuring. Where a byline should be in the paper, it simply reads Star Staff. National Post Previous post
Kate’s slip-of-the-tongue signals it’s a girl
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Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has made a slip of the tongue that apparently suggests that she is going to have a daughter. During a routine royal appearance a woman gave Kate a teddy bear. Kate, 31, said: “Thank you, I will take that for my d… for my baby.” After the slip Kate insisted she did not know the sex of her baby — who will be third in line to the throne — with Prince William. Another woman who was next to the duchess in the crowd, said: “I distinctly heard her say ‘thank you, I’ll take that for my d …’ then she stopped herself. I said to her: ‘You were going to say daughter weren’t you?’ and she said ‘No, we don’t know’. “I said ‘Oh I think you do’, to which she said: ‘We’re not telling’.”Will streetcars fit on the tracks — we’ll soon know
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Funny thing about streetcars — they have to fit on the tracks. But we love those big electrical passenger ferry boats of the streets and the TTC has 204 of them just waiting to see if they fit on the city’s tracks. Paula Fletcher (Ward 30 Danforth) told the CBC she’s excited and nervous to see them in action. The trams were designed for Toronto by Bombardier as part of a deal signed in 2009. Ms. Fletcher’s worry is that a vehicle of this kind has never operated in open traffic anywhere in the world. “Everyone’s just waiting to see how well they’re going to work on the current track,” she said. So later this month, when the snow subsides, the new streetcars will hit the tracks and we will all find out of they fit the tracks. Can’t help wondering where the bus is. Montage: It shows the exterior of the new Bombardier, self-contained motorman’s cab where operator can lock him/herself inside, new miniaturized fare boxes, token and transfer dispenser.
Toronto now 4th largest city in North America
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News that Toronto has become the fourth largest city in North America seems easy to understand. People are flocking here from all over the world. Wonder why? Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York. It’s an easy one. Toronto overtook Chicago last year apparently. According to the latest census data from Statistics Canada, as of last July 1, Toronto’s population was 2,791,140, about 84,000 more than Chicago’s 2,707,120. So after all the self-flagellation at City Hall over starvation (where?) bad transit (here comes the bus now) and crime (just try and buy a handgun at Wal Mart) Toronto comes out ahead in the migration stakes.