The new home of Gyro Hyundai across the street from parent Gyro Mazda is taking shape at the corner of Laird Drive and Industrial Street. The  modern sales and service centre will add quite a nice “we’re-in-business” feeling to Laird Drive. South Bayviewites can only hope this Hyundai dealership is a harbinger of more new car business on Laird. East central Toronto is very poorly served by the automakers. Gyro Hyundai is said to be looking at an opening later this year.   Previous posts.

Admitted “intellectual”  Deborah Coyne is profiled here and drops the word that while she is running for leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, she also has plans to contest the new riding of Mt. Pleasant in the 2015 general election. Mt. Pleasant will extend west from Bayview Ave. and include Bennington Heights, which was formerly part of Don Valley West. It also would include Moore Park and Rosedale above Rosedale Valley Road. Ms. Coyne was asked in this long interview whether she found it awkward running against Justin Trudeau since her daughter is Mr. Trudeau’s half sister. She said no. She is  the author of a biography A Life Devoted to Building a Better Canada in which she touches on her relationship to former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and the daughter she had with him. Story

The federal Liberal Party has held its second last leadership debate in Halifax with the front runners once again trading personal barbs. Marc Garneau worked his thesis that Justin Trudeau is full of platitudes with no substance. Trudeau says he is proud of his “positive” campaign and called Garneau negative. Observers seemed to feel that the the contenders generally ducked the big issues. Michael Den Tandt, writing for Postmedia, feels Trudeau has it locked and made the cheeky suggestion that if  Trudeau is ever elected Prime Minister he will behave somewhat like Stephen Harper. Said Den Tandt: “Neither Trudeau nor his people will concede this. But Grit economic policy in 2015 is liable to look something like Harper economic policy — save for tweaking and packaging. Why? Because red-meat rhetoric aside, Harper & Co. haven’t been much interested in bucking centrist public opinion, either. If popular sentiment leads policy, and sentiment is broadly centrist, then the “new” Liberal party’s policies will be broadly centrist, with a socially progressive inflection. It’s simple logic”.

Rita, Roseanne and Chef Grayson

Rita Tripathy of the “Jelly Sisters” (Rita and Roseanne) writes to note that the first of the Jelly Modern Doughnut shops to be set up in Toronto will be owned and operated by the Calgary company that created the brand. Rita says their collaborator in specialty doughnut-making, Chef Grayson Sherman, is going to create “some great doughnuts for Toronto”. In a 2011 interview Grayson told the website 101 “If you work with quality and you understand it and you approach it with a respect you’re going to end up with a wonderful final product. I’m a huge advocate of comfort food. I’m probably at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from molecular gastronomy. I feel that just because we’ve reached a level of evolution in the technology that we can do it, it doesn’t mean that we should.” 

One of the better larks by the tourism-hungry Irish was to ask the Queen to let them turn Buckingham Palace green for St. Patrick’s Day. Her Majesty kept on smiling and said her decision to pass on this lovely offer was not to take anything away from the very special affection she has for the country and the people of Ireland, especially following her historic State Visit in 2011.  Here in Canada, many will have noticed the vigorous campaign by Tourism Ireland to persuade us to visit that land this year. It’s a lovely experience even if — we might say especially if — you are not Irish. Pre-recession Ireland was in a kind Euro-happy high. The streets of Dublin, Cork and other towns were humming with hundreds of thousands of workers from throughout the EU. It was frequently difficult to find an Irishman in Grafton Street, except for the statues of endless poets and patriots guarding every corner.  Now, in much harder times, Ireland looks abroad for dollars and as a beautiful, congenial and safe place, there hardly seems a better vacation choice for those with the time and money.

The new Target store in the East York Town Centre is all dressed up and loaded with stock. Inside, staff is putting the last details in place because the biggest store in the Target Canada chain is set to open to the public on Monday, March 25, 2013. Sources at the Town Centre said today there will be a media day held at the Overlea Blvd. store on Sunday, March 24, 2013. Target announced yesterday that some of its stores would open in March, with many more unlocking the doors in April. The Overlea store is said to be the largest by square footage in the chain. It’s one of only a few with two levels. Outside, the familiar Target colours can be seen on the trademark shopping cart racks. Target has also installed security cameras in the parking lot and placed several signs to that effect as a matter of reassuring shoppers. 

CBC and others named wanted man

Police have arrested a man wanted for the Wednesday night stabbing of a subway passenger on a train near the Davisville Station. The individual, Cassim Celani Cummings, 20, was named following the attack as police viewed surveillance video. Witnesses say the attacked person had been standing up for other passengers who were being verbally abused by the wanted man.   The victim, a 45-year-old man, was taken to hospital with serious, but non life-threatening injuries. He is expected to recover.