MP Rob Oliphant (top) with young attendees at job fair. Below busy gathering of applicants and employers at St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Cathedral on Overlea Blvd/photos supplied

MP Rob Oliphant has released information on his third annual Youth Career and Job Fair held Friday, April 24. More than 300 young people and some 50 employers filled a large reception room at St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Cathedral on Overlea Blvd. The Don Valley West event was open to all youth between the ages of 15 and 30 who were searching for work, career advice or volunteer opportunity. Those looking for advice had the chance to engage one-on-one with employers and experts at the Employment Café, where they received support to improve their resumes, participated in mock interviews, and got employment counselling.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS OFFERED

Attendees also had the chance to get professional photos taken at the free photo booth. Employers in attendance included Toronto Parks, Forestry, and Recreation; The Canadian Armed Forces; Service Canada; IKEA Canada; Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF); Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; CIBC; and many more. Partners for this event were Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation; TNO (The Neighbourhood Organization); The Centre for Education & Training; Labour Education Centre; and Employment Ontario — with release.

Bayview Ave south of Merton St.

A commercial for Coors beer is being shot at 1376 Bayview Ave south of Merton St. all day Thursday. The shoot is expected to last one day. Orange cones start at Balliol St. and traffic is a single lane southbound from there down to midway past the cemetery.

Jason Botchford

Well-known Vancouver sports reporter Jason Botchford has died at the age of 48. According to a statement released by his family Wednesday morning, the longtime Vancouver Canucks reporter died of apparent heart failure. Botchford was born in Aurora. He gaIned prominence in Vancouver for his coverage of he National Hockey League team, with bylines first at the Vancouver Province, followed by The Athletic Vancouver, TSN Radio and television. Among sports fans, he was widely known for his post-game stories – first called “The Provies” and then “The Athletties,” and his edgy commentary and plugged-in reportage.He leaves behind three children with his wife, Kathryn Botchford

Advertising assault at Mt. Pleasant and Merton Esso

Inside and outside Circle K

Vaping clicks?

Motorists at Esso stations operated by Circle K across Toronto find themselves inundated by advertising for the vaping product Vype, a creation of the British-American Tobacco Company (BAT) of London, England. Ads are found around and on the gas pumps. The promotion is present on the walk to the store, on the inside and outside of the door as well as on, around and behind the counter. Advertising for the Vype product, which contains nicotine, is said to be controlled to prevent lifestyle depictions. Just how that is defined seems an open matter to most laypersons. Health Canada shut down a Vype pop up promotion on Dundas Square on April 22 because it was deemed to be promoting vaping as a lifestyle.

MOORE PARK MOM COMPLAINS

Rani Jamieson, the mother of three young sons, believes the Vype campaign is designed to recruit impressionable kids into the habit. She has been told that vaping has appeared among seventh graders at Deer Park Public School. Ms. Jamieson has seen Vype advertising in bus shelters this week on Bayview Ave. The Moore Park resident says she finds the campaign unconscionable and is in the process of complaining to the Health Department.

• Models in silver suits promote vaping at Yonge and Dundas

Colleagues celebrate Tania Tiller’s honour holding up her badge number/TPS

Toronto police and friends of the 911 emergency response team have met to honour their colleague Tania Tiller as the service’s Comumnicator of the Year. Ms. Tiller was instrumental in getting police to the scene of a life and death crisis as two men faced certain drowning in a submerged elevator on Alliance Ave. last August. The elevator was stuck in the basement as Klever Freire and co-worker Gabriel Otrin desperately clawed at the ceiling of the unit to permit their cell phones to catch a signal. They had been unable to get the emergency hatch open. “As I was with him (Freire) on the phone, the water had risen to their waists,” recalled Tiller. “The call was sent right away and two officers were in the area. By the time they got there, the two men were standing on the top hand rail of the elevator. They couldn’t get the emergency hatch open and they were yelling and screaming for assistance.” Tiller kept police units and the Fire Department updated on the gravity of the situation until the officers arrived and started interacting with them. “The 9-1-1 operator was incredibly calm and level-headed when faced with our screams for help,” said Klever Freire in a letter to police.

The Ford goverment will introduce legislation Thursday to upload responsibility for many major transit projects in Toronto. This will make the province responsible for new subway construction projects, including the downtown relief line (Ontario Line) the Scarborough subway extension of Line 2, the Yonge-north subway extension and the Eglinton-West LRT project.

True conservative?

Premier Ford

Mayor Tory

Josh Matlow (Ward 12) told the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents AGM Tuesday that there are things to like about Doug Ford’s Ontario Line scheme for a downtown relief line. It makes sense, said the Councillor for St. Paul’s, to take the relief line up to Eglinton and build the line in one fell swoop along with the route downtown.  Elsewhere, Mr. Matlow was doubtful about the extension of the line out to Ontario Place and of the three-stop arm reaching into Scarborough. This option would add two stations to the infamous City-owned One-Stop Wonder plan. Matlow called Ford’s Scarborough plan “just as crazy” as the City’s. He once again proposed an LRT alternative to a subway that would be built along the Scarborough RT right-of-way and spread into northern Scarborough with multiple stations.

“TRUE CONSERVATIVE”

(Some think the subway option remains alive because of a macho-like demand by residents for the real thing. Ford won four of six Scarborough ridings in June.) A “true conservative” said Matlow would insist on getting as much as he could for the figure of $4 billion often cited as the cost. His six-year-old daughter understood such things. “Whether you love Doug Ford or don’t, whether you love John Tory or not, they cannot continue to advocate or promise plans for transit that are not evidence-based. I’m going to continue to challenge both of them on that,” he said to much applause. In closing, the Councillor offered an interesting glimpse of his transit thinking when he said the City should consider a “bus rapid transit route” for Avenue Rd. and/or elsewhere.

SERRA AGM at Greenwood College School Tuesday

Unifor, the union representing school bus drivers for TDSB and TDCSB, has reached a tentative settlement with Stock Transportation, avoiding a strike on Thursday.  A strike would have stranded around 4,235 TCDSB students and 4,105 in the TDSB with the majority of affected schools east of Yonge St. A press release said the tentative contract is supported by the union’s bargaining committee, but details will not be released until the deal is ratified.

A man fell off the roof of a home at a construction site near Old Orchard Grove and Greer Rd Tuesday afternoon. Police say the man, a construction worker, is in 30s. He fell about 25 feet and was unconscious but breathing when emergency crews arrived.

CNN is saying that FAA records suggest the fatal crashes of two Boeing 737 Max 8 jets was caused by an unreliable external sensor that could send the aircraft into a nosedive. Not only are the AOA sensors said to be chancy, they were the only device installed to tell whether the plane was gaining altitude safely. Then, Japanese Emperor Akikhito has retired, the first Japanese monarch to step down in 200 years. His father Hirohito, who presided over the insanity of Japanese warlords, kept his life and his job when the Americans decided to leave the monarchy in place after WWII. Below that, the future of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock seems uncertain as the biggest backer pulls out. Lastly, a decision to take down a video of a woman eating a banana at a Polish art gallery has caused what they’re calling a banana rebellion by fans.

The annual Creative Clay Pottery Show runs from Friday to Sunday inclusive this weekend at the studio, 566 Mt. Pleasant Rd. at Penrose Rd. This is the 16th Annual Show and Sale. (416) 322-8889. The studio was formerly known as Pleasant Pottery and has a new owner.