The Globe and Mail recounts the exploits of a fabulously rich “out-of-province” buyer of the two-bedroom corner suite in the Hazelton Hotel at 118 Yorkville Ave. He/she (they?) flew into town to see the place which is described as having “limited access” whatever that means. Maybe it was rented to another party. Anyway, it was love or something close as the buyer parted with $3,850,000 to own the two bedroom unit. Not a steal but a good deal better than the original listed price of $4,199,000. It has been on the market for 6 months. Taxes are a tidy $25,835. Check out the corner sitting room (top left below).

As predicted, The Bay will introduce two locations of Saks Fifth Avenue in February.  In a news release, Saks said it will open at the “Eaton Centre” which is really the old Bay store. Another store will open in Sherway Gardens soon after. Both locations will feature a Saks Food Hall with gourmet international food products from Pusateri’s. Oliver & Bonacini is also providing restaurants at both stores. The company says the 11,000 square-foot restaurant and bar in the Eaton Centre will span three floors at the corner of Yonge and Richmond streets while the Sherway Gardens restaurant will be 5,500 square feet.

The list is not as informative as one might think. The five big grocers (Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, Longos and Walmart) will all get a chance to sell beer but as before there is no word on just where. Each will have to apply on a store by store basis and overall the vast majority of their stores will not have beer. The other grocers named are mostly local businesses in out-of-town places. CBC

John Tory is a can-do guy when he’s inspired to get  a job done. But when it comes to finding homes for 5,000 Syrian refugees in 45 days, Toronto’s Chief Magistrate was sounding more like someone who has been dragooned into a scheme that won’t work. The Mayor admitted today (Wednesday November 18, 2015) that he is uncertain as to how Toronto will accommodate that many refugees before New Year’s. But he said, the City will simply have to find a way to do it. “It’s a big challenge but when you’re confronted with these challenges the thing is to make sure that you meet them,” said Tory. He said that it would be difficult to find homes immediately for a portion of the 25,000 Syrian refugees that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to resettle by year’s end. Obvious places like the Pan Am Athletes’ Village or Toronto Community Housing are problematic, he said, because in the first case the structures are in the process of being converted for private-sector housing and in the second, Toronto Community Housing already has a sizeable waiting list. Ontario looking at decommissioned hospitals for temporary refugee housing

Maurice Cody Public School will hold its Winter Fair on Saturday, November 28, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the school on Belsize Drive. It looks like a lot of fun and the many highlights are described on the Maurice Cody Parents’ Website.

Suneel Joshi

Dan Matheson

Bill Hutchison

James Bradshaw,  the Globe and Mail’s media reporter, is tweeting Wednesday morning that many familiar faces from CTV Toronto are now gone, caught in the mega-media layoffs out of Bell Canada HQ. They are Suneel Joshi, Dan Matheson, Bill Hutchison and Tom Kennedy. There are expectations that more names will surface in the coming hours.

Supposition

Such cutbacks raise the speculation once again that any capable president might have already done the cost-benefit analysis of folding CTV News Toronto into Bell’s all-news service CP24. There is no basis for such a guess except that Bell management would have to be slower than a rotary-dial cradle phone not to have pondered such an economy. The government would kick and scream and deny permission but then, Bell Canada does not fear the CRTC.

Loblaws earned $166 million in its latest quarter, up nearly 17 per cent from a year ago. The results show earningfrom Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart banners. The quarter ended October 10, 2015 with a profit of 40 cents per share versus 34 cents per share a year ago.

Sheri Forde

Two years after it was shut out of NHL hockey by Rogers Media, Bell Media has begun cutting deeply at TSN, once one of its most valuable properties. That dazzling deal left TSN scraping for content. Today (Tuesday, November 17, 2015) the company released reporter Sheri Forde and cancelled its Off the Record program hosted by Michael Landsberg. He will continue to work for TSN, producing shorter Off the Record segments for the network’s flagship news show SportsCentre and online.

Three men are seen on the mechanical scaffold stuck at the 23rd floor of the Arcadian Court building at 401 Bay Street at Queen Street West. This was the way they spent Tuesday evening when the machine, also known as a swing stage, developed an unknown malfunction. “They were cold but they were fine,” Toronto Fire Squad Captain Peter Hayes told reporters shortly after the men were rescued. “Apparently there was a mechanical problem with the swing stage,” Hayes said. “As far as we know there was an electrician on the roof trying to get it going. He changed some fuses but unfortunately it didn’t work.” Nearly 20 firefighters were called in around 5:50 p.m. to take part in the rescue. Trained Toronto Fire highrise personnel requested a power saw and ladder because they couldn’t break the window beneath the two men. The workers had used a cell phone to communicate with their rescuers. It appears workers and the electrician wanted to see if they could fix the scaffold rather than cut a hole in the building.  In the end however, it was necessary. The whole drama lasted four hours. All lanes on Queen Street West near Bay Street are now open to traffic after being closed as the team coordinated the rescue.

Ottawa Citizen

Merchants on Mt. Pleasant Rd. are hoping for a speedy mid-week repair job on sidewalks in the business district. Today (Tuesday, November 17, 2015) it was the turn of the east side of the street between Belsize Dr. and Manor Rd. to have patching and re-curbing done at a number of spots. This work goes quickly in good weather and with any luck it will be clear sailing for this weekend’s business. Coming soon at the Mt. Pleasant Village BIA will be Santa’s Village. That’s on Saturday December 5, 2015. Watch this page for the exact location of events. The BIA’s popular and cleverly-named Window Wanderland begins December 1, 2015.