Maria Charlebois has shared the thanks of the Canadian Blood Service for the outstanding effort by citizens at the most recent clinic at North Elementary and Middle School. This semi-annual clinic has deep roots in Leaside and is an important public service for everyone who attends and donates. This fall the clinic fell on the same day as the Blue Jays return to Rogers Centre in their series with the Texas Rangers. Many felt the chance conflict of the game and the clinic might hurt turnout. But. as organizers suggest, maybe the excitement of the series got people moving. There was a large screen outside the gymnasium where the clinic was held. In any case, 83 units were collected, enough to treat ten leukemia patients. The thank you note to the school and Leaside from the blood service is inset.

CBC

Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson and Ryan Goins homered as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 11-8 in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. Kansas City now holds a 2-1 series lead. TSN

The Liberal Party of Canada under Justin Trudeau has won the general election, defeating the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. The CBC is sayiong the Liberals won 184, a solid number over the minimum of 170 needed to form a majority government. The Conservatives have won 99. The NDP has been reduced to a third party status of previous decades, winning 44 seats. The separatist BQ won ten in Quebec and the Green Party elected only its leader, Elizabeth May. Locally, Chrystia Freeland has won the new riding of University Rosedale defeating a strong challenge from NDP candidate Jennifer Hollett. Don Valley West has seen Rob Oliphant defeat John Carmichael. Marco Mendicino has defeated Finance Minister Joe Oliver in Eglinton Lawrence. One of the few CP cabinet ministers relected in Ontario was Kellie Leitch in Simcoe Grey. Adam Vaughan defeated Olivia Chow in Fort York Spadina. Her loss and that of Ms Hollett in University Rosedale symbolized the collapse of the NDP vote which became apparent in the final two weeks of the campaign. Commentators are saying that this solid majority for the Liberals was achieved with something like 35 percent of the popular vote. It seems a remarkable and felicitous landing of ballots where they were needed. Six elected in South Bayview 

Toronto Zoo has released new pictures of the newly born panda cubs of mother Er Shun. They are “becoming quite vocal, active and bright,” the zoo said in a statement. “Their white fur appears to be fuzzier and hints of black pigment can now be noticed on their skin over their ears, around their eyes and even over their shoulders. While their eyes are still closed, they are wiggling and demonstrating all of the right behaviours looking for nourishment from mom.”

SEVERAL MONTHS TO DETERMINE SEX

Er Shun “continues to demonstrate strong maternal instincts, cradling, nursing and continuing to form a bond with both cubs.” The pandas were born on Oct. 13 and it is still a critical time, the Zoo cautioned. It may take several months to determine the cubs’ sex and they have not yet been named. There is no immediate plan to show them to the public, but the zoo has been updating its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds with photos of the cubs. For now, they are living between their mother’s care and an incubator set up in a quarantined room next to the panda’s maternity ward, which is closed to the public. Sperm from three different donors – Da Mao and two pandas in China – was used during the one-day fertility window back on May 14, and it’s unclear whether the cubs are twins. If they survive, the cubs will live at the zoo for about two years and will likely return to China once they are weaned from Er Shun.

Blue Jays fans sitting in the 500 level of Rogers Centre for tonight’s playoff game against Kansas City will not be allowed to have beer cans. The suds will be in a plastic cup instead.  This decision comes after some beer can throwing in the last game of the series to the Texas Rangers. One man, 33-year-old Albert Grummitt of Caistor Centre in the Niagara Peninsula, was arrested and charged with mischief after a baby was hit by the spray of a thrown beer. He has since been released and is due in court on Nov. 24. Game time is  8 p.m. and the televised play is on TSN.

There was a scene of special kindness at the breezy corner of Millwood Rd. and Sutherland Dr. Monday afternoon. Walk signals are being installed at the intersection at the Fix It Again Sam Plaza. But at about 2 p.m. they were not working yet. In fact, the traffic lights were out and the corner was unattended. This situation made it frankly dangerous for a vision-impaired lady who approached on Sutherland to the north side of Millwood. As you will see in the video, cars and trucks were routinely blowing right through the blanked out lights at speed. The rules call for them to stop. The impaired-vision woman had enough sight to see the walk signal and try to activate it. But she could not tell that they were not working. That’s when a Good Samaritan pulled up to the corner, stopped and got out to explain things to the pedestrian. She then helped the woman  across Millwood. So like this great place we live in. As for the drivers who can’t tell a dead traffic signal from a live one — boo on you. Now, the question remaining is whether the new walk signals are like the hardly-working semi-actuated type 2 signals at Bayview and Manor (Fleming) and Bayview and Merton (McRae). There is a rude name for them. If someone knows if these are type 2 before we get back to check them, let us know at news@bayview-news.com