It is a profound thing to consider the end of car manufacturing in Oshawa. But that bleak prospect may be just around the corner unless General Motors finds something else to do at its plant in that City. Word came today that the new Camaro will be made in Michigan. Glen Woodcock writes in the Toronto Sun 

l-r Former Mayor Barbara Hall, Briony Glassco, Patrick Case, Shirley Hoy, Vicki Bismilla, Richard Powers and Jennifer Williams

There are lots of complaints about the Toronto and District School Board. Some people think it should be abolished. Premier Wynne has decided to get the view of seven prominent Toronto citizens, all of whom are acquainted with the board in some fashion. It is a purely advisory group and the premier may be sure she has a like-minded thinker in former Mayor Barbara Hall who will chair the panel. What’s heartening is that these people aren’t going to lurk around for years. They’re expected to come back with an opinion by summer. Education Minister Sandals announced the panel Monday after a year or more of bickering and complaints at the board. Her emphasis is on what’s wrong with the board but in fairness the cash-strapped government of Ontario has a dog in this fight. It’s called the enormous value of surplus school board property. The panel will be tasked with asking questions about the size of the board, the efficiencies within the board and the “culture of fear” among board members. It’s perhaps relevant to note that however much fear was in the air at the board it didn’t stop many people from complaining. To learn about the background of the members check the Education Department Release

People coming and going from the former DEW location at 1553 Bayview Ave north of Rosie’s on Monday say the spacious shop will become a shoe store. “It will be a very good shoe store,” said a man who seemed to  know. Keep watching. Up the street, MacFAb Home has opened at 1685 Bayview and is full of lovely home decor. One of the owners, Dale Sonier, says the reception has been great and asks everyone to come in and take a look.

Mayor Tory will meet with Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair Monday to talk funding for the $8 billion SmartTrack plan. And why not? It’s not likely that Mr. Mulcair will form the next federal government but it is smart politics for the mayor at home. Also, devious thinkers know that the popular mayor (a Conservative) may have the influence to make the NDP more of a contender in Toronto against the Liberals than might otherwise be the case in the forthcoming federal election. This may be far from the mayor’s mind on a sunny Monday morning but you may be sure it is on the minds of some people. You bet. The Tory-Mulcair meeting will have a public part when they address the media about 1 p.m.

President Vladimir Putin has appeared in public for the first time since 5 March, quelling intense speculation about his health. He was meeting President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, in St Petersburg. Commenting on the rumours about his health, Mr Putin said “things would be boring without gossip.

Justin Bieber’s attempt to re-make his image into a humble guy who can take a ribbing may have worked — there’s no way of knowing just yet.The cutting remarks of celebrities like Will Ferrell and Snoop Dogg may help Bieber or leave him by the side of  the road.  His plunge into the ditch of bad behaviour a couple of years ago may not be that easy to forget. .The 21-year-old put himself forward for the Comedy Central program in an attempt to revive his image.  Among the most ruthless treatment was Snoop Dogg’s shot at Bieber: ‘You have it all,’ he told the Stratford native,. ‘except love, friends, good parents and a Grammy’. The roast will be seen March 31, 2015 on Fox.

If you are still at home, it seems like a good guess you’re probably not going to the Toronto St. Patrick’s Day Parade. That gathering is already travelling Bloor Street and will hold things up a bit on Yonge and Queen Streets for a while this afternoon. In the U.S., some Irish communities are celebrating the second year of the Sober St. Patrick’s Day. No translation is required here. At Ahern’s Banquet Hall in Cleveland it will cost but 15 dollars for a grand spread of delectables and entertainment from a show bill headlined by Mary Agnes Kennedy and Patrick Kilroy. Ah yes.

OPP veteran Martin McNamara (left) had questions. Chief admin officer Walsh is fired

When OPP union executive officer Martin McNamara was asked to approve some cheques last fall, he wanted to know what they were for. One, it turned out, was a down payment on a condo in the Bahamas. It was the beginning of a whistleblower uprising at the Ontario Provincial Police Association that saw four members taking their concerns to the police department their members worked for. The OPP immediately sent all the files to the RCMP and this month it has been revealed that the Mounties are claiming there has been fraud and deception at the OPPA. Today the union announced that chief administrative officer Karl Walsh, a former Liberal candidate, has been fired. Two other executives, president Jim Christie and vice president Martin Bain are on leave. McNamara was the first to complain to authorities about unusual financial transactions involving the union’s top brass. He had signing authority for the 6,000-member union and according to Jim Vanderlinde in the Barrie Advance was asked to authorize a $5,000 cheque last August payable to a consulting company he had never heard of. He wondered what services the mystery firm provided. Then came other cheques including the one for a retreat in honeymoon heaven. It was no honeymoon. McNamara and three other employees, an accountant, an IT manager and a human resouces officer are the sources of the RCMP case

It is like nothing that has ever happened in the 15 year on-and-off reign of Vladimir Putin. He has vanished and efforts by the government media to make it look like he is still around are being dismissed by everybody. The Mirror (U-K) says this morning there has been a bloodless coup. The New York Post has a juicy story about how maybe he is in Switzerland where a daughter he just been delivered to his girlfriend.  Mirror  Telegraph  New York Post 

As of Saturday night, it is four days since the jury received the case of two men accused of trying to detail a VIA Rail train and kill as many passengers as possible. The jury in the trial of Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier will return Sunday for a fifth day of deliberations. It is an interesting pace of deliberation in a matter in which the accused offered no defense. Maybe Sunday will bring a revelation.  CBC