Ford will add 400 new jobs at the Oakville as production of the new Edge crossover SUV is set to launch. For the first time, a Canadian plant will make cars for shipment to the U-K as well as North America. Ford announced last October that 1,000 jobs would be added at the facility by the end of 2014 This ups the number to 1,400.  It is very good economic news for the whole area from Hamilton to Toronto and beyond.  news to build the redesigned Edge.  And, with the addition of right-hand-drive and a diesel engine, the Edge will also be exported to the UK. Ford told Canadian Press that global demand for utility vehicles is up 88 per cent since 2008 and now account for 19 per cent of the global automotive market.

A Toronto man, Ahsen Ali Siddiqi, has told CP24 that two or more chunks of concrete fell from the Gardiner Expressway onto his mother’s car and another vehicle yesterday near the foot of Simcoe Street. No one was hurt. Siddiqi says however that vehicle glass was smashed to a crumpled safety-glass mess by the objects. The Gardiner Expressway has had pieces fall in recent times. Twitter suggests the last incident was recent December 2012. At that time several chunk were reported down and City Hall asked anyone seeing fallen concrete to leave it where it had dropped. The entire expressway is supposed to be under a type of maintenance to prevent such things.    

Four little boys have died in a farmhouse fire in the tiny Manitoba crossroads of Kane. They were caught in the two-storey home when fire destroyed it shortly after midnight. Their mother, 34, and three other children, a boy and two girls, escaped the flames and were found by police and fire officials sitting a vehicle on the property. The children who died are said be between the age of two  and 15 years. The father arrived home from work to find his home in flames. He and his wife are said to have tried to enter, but were unable.  Ralph Groening, the reeve of the area told CBC News many in the community know the family. “It was a large family and it’s a huge tragedy,” said Groening “We also know that the adults, the parents, put every effort into saving all of their children but were unsuccessful.”  Bernard Schellenberg, fire chief  is quoted as saying that “one section of the house, which is a new addition, had already collapsed, and the older portion of the house had fire coming out of the windows.” There is very little else known “It sounded like the parents tried to go in to get their children, but with heavy smoke conditions, they could not.” Schellenberg said the father made the emergency call when he saw smoke coming from his house as he was returning from work. He said 20 firefighters in three trucks responded to the call. He said the remains of those who died are still in the rubble of the house and the scene is now in the hands of the Office of the Fire Commissioner.

It appears that Bayview Ave. and Laird Drive will have serious developments at the corners where they meet Eglinton Ave. E. courtesy of the Ontario Government. This is because Metrolinx, the Ontario  transit authority that owns the sites will be trying to maximize the return to the government at the sites of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT stations. Bayview (Leaside) station will be on the southeast corner where the McDonalds is now located. Units on the east side of an office or condo there would overlook Talbot Park. Nice. At Laird Drive, the strip plaza containing many familiar businesses on the southwest corner will be home to the main station. There will be a secondary location in what i snow the parking lot of  the RioCan Leaside Centre on the east side of Laird.