The Bulldog

Blowing more smoke than usual at City Hall

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Blowing smoke took on a new meaning at City Hall this afternoon in rather a frightening incident that ended with no one hurt. It began during a training program, according to fire officials, as civilian wardens were being taught what to do during a real fire. A ladder fell onto a transformer in the municipal electrical room causing a nasty short circuit. City Hall had to be evacuated and there was a report of low level smoke inhalation. It does not appear that anyone was hospitalized. The short caused a total blackout at the 27-storey building and forced the cancellation of all services and events including civil marriages. And the outlook for tomorrow is not clear yet as hydro workers assess the damage and how to fix it. More pictures  City’s news release.

Witness video of Brampton shooting linked here

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A man has been shot to death in a confrontation with Peel Region Police in Brampton after he was stopped in a car about 10 p.m. last night. The CBC recorded a very coherent witness named Richard Appleby. He was outside the Crabby Joe’s Restaurant on Kennedy Road during a break when the incident occurred. Mr. Appleby’s interview can be seen here. 

THEN THERE’S THIS SUAVE GENT

Can class warfare win Doug Ford the mayoralty?

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It is certainly among the most unique and nastiest campaign tricks ever seen in Toronto politics. Doug Ford has unveiled an attack on rival John Tory as a man who is unfit to be mayor because he was born with a silver spoon his mouth. Yes, Tory is running for mayor without having served on council, but that will not be the bone that plugs the stomach of Ford Nation. No.  Rather it is the view of Tory as a spoiled rich kid who has never had to work for anything in his life. Someone who has been parachuted into job after job in a way that none of them could ever experience. It is a picture that has been colour-adjusted and enlarged to excite envy and resentment. It’s a terribly twisted picture too but there can be no denying Mr. Tory’s privileged background nor the opportunities he has had in life. Today Mr. Ford planted that class warfare seed and then gave voters a thin excuse to believe that Tory doesn’t know how the City works. John Tory seems to be playing it cool but his reaction to this afternoon’s onslaught has been well sprinkled with the word bully. 

Tory’s dilemma: Be tough without scaring people

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Those who want to get immersed in what happened at the rowdy mayoral debate last night can sample the opinion of writers below.  It was apparently a brutal affair in which Ford Nation attendees screamed at Olivia Chow to  go back to China (Christie Blatchford) and in which Rob Ford and John Tory hurled a stunning series of insults at each other (Marcus Gee). Ford may have been most effective — although typically unpleasant — as he numbered off the council votes in which he and his brother had engineered lop-sided votes to accomplish their agenda. This in response to Tory’s claim that they could not achieve consensus. Olivia Chow ground away at her somewhat narrow and possibly accurate concern that Tory’s showpiece Smart Track plan will require tunnelling in the Weston area. Some say Tory was not ready for the ferocity of the debate. This is not a serious criticism if he can make voters believe that he will be an effective protector of their pocketbooks. That is the Ford cache to debunk. Tory’s dilemma is to make it clear he will be tough without frightening people. Google leads on debate     

Harvest Fair on Mount Pleasant this Saturday

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Merchants of  Mount Pleasant Village will hold their annual Harvest Fair this Saturday (September 27, 2014). From 10 a.m to 4 p.m. They celebrate “all things Autumn.” This year there will be a sidewalk sale, food samples, giveaways, prizes, an apple-pie eating contest, pumpkin pie bake off and a pumpkin-carving contest. The first 100 guests at the Petting Zoo at the Mount Pleasant Village BIA booth and pumpkin-carving contest will receive a free gift from the BIA. There will also be an opportunity to win one of 5 $100 Mount Pleasant Village gift certificates and participate in a Scavenger Hunt to win great prizes. Sounds like fun. Website 

Wonderful picture from 1965 worth another look

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Here is a popular local picture treasure reproduced and tweeted by Rudy Limeback, We see Millwood Road looking east from Bayview Ave. in 1965 and today. A larger rendering of the picture showing the then Esso and Shell stations on the south corners of Millwood can be seen at Rudy.ca   We loved it in 2009 too with some detail of what is where now.   

Loblaws opens online-grocery pilot project

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Loblaws will run a pilot program in Richmond Hill which permits shoppers to buy groceries online and then pick them up at a drive through at the store. It is known as click-and-collect. The above diagram shows how the British supermarket chain Tesco explains it to customers. It appears that you have to undertake to pick up your groceries within a certain two-hour period. According to the Toronto Star, the Loblaws at 301 High Tech Rd. has been set up with a bright orange click-and-collect area that includes assigned parking. Customers will be able to have the groceries they chose and pay for online, loaded into their vehicles. Loblaws announced the idea in brief earlier this year. “The service is not yet available to the public, but we’re excited by the prospect of offering busy customers another option to complete their shopping, saving considerable time in the process,” said Loblaw spokesperson Kevin Groh. Pick and pay is said to be a popular option for grocery shopping in Europe. 

Naughty pictures online? It’s Mom’s rule vs United Nations

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emmaThere was a time when many mothers considered their most important coming-of-age lesson for any daughter to be: Never let anyone — anyone — take a picture of you unless you’re fully dressed. Yes, we know, those days are gone forever but it might surprise readers of the Internet how  many women both young and — um — less young tend to live by this effective rule. On the other hand, millions of others have embraced the view that being naked is protected by an array of UN sponsored human rights. It seems one of these rights ensures that a celebrity can be naked on the web without anyone finding out. Variations of this include the right to be unbothered by hackers who somehow unlock naked pictures from the cloud. What the Bulldog trips over, apart from his big silly tongue, is an utter lack of faith in his own gender. How on earth could any woman — the UN notwithstanding — trust men to behave. As a sex they are scoundrels. In the case of Emma Watson the revelation of certain pictures is blamed on someone who was upset with her recent defense of feminism.