Thousands gather at 60 St. Clair West, location of the Russian consulate-general/Camille Beaubien Twitter

At the rally/Gary Bakuniac Twitter

A crowd of Torontonians estimated to number as many as 10,000 rallied for the freedom of Ukraine Sunday outside the Russian consulate-general at 60 St. Clair Ave West. The #StandWithUkraine rally was organized by the Toronto branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and began at 2 p.m. Demonstrators held the Ukrainian flag and signs condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions. In a tweet Sunday afternoon, Toronto police said St. Clair Avenue from Yonge Street to Avoca Avenue was closed due to a “large crowd” blocking traffic in the area. Twitter

Construction deck moved by the wind/Carla Bosaski Twitter

High winds were causing stuff to fly around and at Portland and Adelaide Sts the road was closed briefly when a construction platform looked like it was ready to fall. Yonge St was closed between Asquith and Yorkville because of blowing construction materials. And a rolled truck has caused a temporary closure of the Burlington Skyway. The picture below is courtesy of the OPP. They have also tweeted a bad single-car accident on the 403 (posted below) which may or may not be wind-related. Fingers crossed as we see the Toronto Hydro Outage Map is quite clear approaching 3 p.m. Winds appeared to subside in Midtown about the same time.

It will be sunny and warm Sunday with high winds that may cause power outages, according to forecasters. The coming week will see consistent temperatures slightly above freezing.

A parliamentary committee says a proposed takeover of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications should be rejected by the CRTC. In a report tabled Friday the report, which is not binding on the CRTC, says the regulator should think first about what it calls the affordability and accessibility interests of Canadians. It cited Freedom Mobile, Shaw’s wireless carrier, as a critical fourth wireless provider that competes with the Big Three of Rogers, Bell and Telus. The report came a day after Ottawa pledged to block the wholesale transfer of Shaw’s wireless licenses to Rogers as part of the deal. The deal is under review by three different federal regulators including the Competition Bureau and the CRTC as well as spectrum regulator Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED). BNN

There are fears that the courageous Ukrainian resistance to Russian forces may soon be crushed as fighting rages across the country. A ceasefire to permit civilians to escape is said to have been ended by Russia. Prime Minister Trudeau will be meeting with European leaders Sunday as many Ukrainians continue to call for NATO air support. President Zelensky spoke with President Biden for 32 minutes Saturday night but the content of that talk has not been revealed.

Canada can sell gas to Europe — why doesn’t it?

Why doesn’t Canada sell its oil and gas to Europe? It would knock the stuffing out of Putin’s most profitable source of income. But yes, we have to come to grips with the way we keep cancelling pipeline projects.

Fins, Swedes look to their security

The President of Finland has made an emergency visit to Washington. His country shares an 800-mile long border with Russia. The Fins and fellow Scandanavians in Sweden are on edge, to say the least.

Dollarama on Mt Pleasant south of Eglinton

A Facebook post by a woman with two small children describes a disturbing warning she received from “two security guards” at the Mt Pleasant Dollarama store. They approached and warned her “to keep my children in sight because there was a high risk offender at the store”. It seems shocking but it comes three days after police posted a public warning about a recently released offender. He was said to be living an at unnamed “Toronto Community Residential Facility”.

Christine Elliott

Christine Elliott, deputy premier of Ontario and MPP for Newmarket-Aurora will resign from government at the end of the current electoral term this Spring. She will be 67 by then. She is the widow of former Canadian Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2006–2014). Elliott has triplet sons by Flaherty. She calls her children life’s greatest blessing. Elliott was the runner-up in both the 2015 and 2018 PC party leadership races and placed third in the 2009 race.

Half of the 200 top American donors to the Ottawa protest convoy have names matching those of donors to Republicans and former President Donald Trump. At such times it’s good to keep in mind the words of former western Canadian politician Robert Thompson. His timeless remark that the Americans are our best friends whether we like it not has been echoed in Ottawa more than once. Jean Chretien told it to Bill Clinton in front of Parliament. Clinton is said to have laughed.

Seen on Laird Drive, but can he see?

On Laird Drive Thursday/Rob Lushman

Rob Lushman has posted a picture taken Thursday through the back window of a pickup truck which shows the fully obstructed windsdhield of the car behind him. Good grief, people.

Losing money by mixing romance and bitcoin

This man gave $230,000 to a bitcoin scam proposed to him by a woman he was talking to on a dating site. What could go wrong?

Defiant Ukraine president Zelensky and a number of his compatriots are seen in a video released Thursday. What courage they show. Meanwhile, Canada has committed to accepting as many as a million Ukrainian refugees. It’s a decision that echoes the great Ukrainian influx of the early 20th Century when these people helped populate Canada’s largely vacant western lands. Then, there was the telling vote at the UN condemning Russia. Only five voted against it. They were Russia, its stooge appendage Balrus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria. But 34 others abstained. That seems a shameful act too. Among them were China, India and Iran.

The monthly release of year-over-year home prices from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board tells us what homeowners already know. You can’t beat having one. Compelling evidence of this is the cost. The average price of a home in the GTA has leaped from just over a million in February 2021 to more than $1.3 million last month. Full release

MacLennan Ave footbridge

The friendly, bearded homeless man known to residents of Moore Park and North Rosedale as Brian has suffered a stroke, according to a post (above) in the Google neighbourhood app. This apparently occurred in recent days and Brian’s familiar cart and other belongings have been removed from Summerhill Ave where they were a common sight tucked under the MacLennan Ave footbridge. It’s said that friends are looking after his things. There is also a long thread at Leaside Community