Widespread reports say that the new Ontario license plate slogan will be A Place To Grow. The 1967 words are straight from music burned in the hearts and minds of most Ontarians by the Centennial year anthem A Place To Stand. Those nostalgic for the song can hear the original in pretty good quality at the flag. Then, reports from Queen’s Park on a $28.5 billion transit injection and beautiful stained glass windows being restored at Massey Hall. Lovely.

Benjamin Netanyahu has won a fifth term as prime minister of Israel with one seat over that of his main rival, the country’s Channel 12 said Wednesday local time. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuand his main challenger Benny Gantz claimed victory in Israel‘s election but exit polls and early results indicated on Wednesday the veteran right-wing leader was on course for a record fifth term

Can we redeem anything today?

The federal government will give $12 million to Loblaws Inc so that it make its refrigerators and freezers more energy-efficient, Canadian Press reports Tuesday. CP notes that Loblaws annual report for 2018 indicates that the firm had $800 million in net earnings after covering interest payments, taxes and other charges. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced the $12-million award at a Loblaws Superstore in her Ottawa riding Monday. The money will cover one-quarter of the costs of retrofitting the refrigeration systems in 370 of the company’s supermarkets over the next three years. Loblaw is to invest $36 million in the project. McKenna defended the funds Tuesday saying the greenhouse-gas emissions reduced through the project will cut Loblaws overall emissions by nearly a fourth and be the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road. “This was an open tender, open to any company or organization across the country to get bang for the buck because, guess what,” McKenna said in response to Fast. “Canadians want to reduce their emissions,” she said. Global News clip

599 Bathurst St.

Young Ernest Hemingway

The current listing for a condominium at 1599 Bathurst St. which was briefly home to Ernest Hemingway, has recalled the great writer’s six month sojourn (1923-24) in Toronto as an employee of the Toronto Star. It was the condo, then an apartment, to which Hemingway retired each day after frequent humiliating assignments given him by Star editor Harry Hindmarsh. One such embarrassment was to write a fluff piece about a white peacock which the Star was donating to the Toronto Zoo. The recollections of a fellow reporter, the late Tom Williams, recount how that instead of writing the story, Hemingway went out and got very drunk. “Returning to the office stiff as a teakwood plank, he sat down at his typewriter and wrote his resignation. To hear it from the news people present, it was one of the great moments in Canadian journalism, certainly one of the most unforgettable,” wrote Wilson. “Hemingway knocked off page after page of vitriolic prose in which he castrated the unfortunate peacock and the loathsome Hindmarsh. As the pages flew from his machine the reporters would scoop them up and pin them to the walls.” The condo by the way is in a pre-1925 building called The Hemingway and is listed for $730,000. Oh yes, it’s a fourth-floor walk up. Take a look.

Ontario will announce free dental care for low-income seniors in Thursday’s budget, the Canadian Press has learned. Anyone 65 and over in the province making under $19,300 — or $32,300 for couples — would qualify, said senior government sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the budget item. Preventable dental issues such as gum disease, infections and chronic pain lead to more than 60,000 emergency visits per year — a “significant portion” of which are by seniors, one source said.The program, which will cost nearly $100 million per year, was promised by the Progressive Conservatives in their election platform last year.

Taken from Leaside backyard/Facebook

Tisha

Tisha has been found. Tisha, described on Facebook as a Wuxly Ambassador, was stolen from a Leaside backyard and “appeared briefly on Kijiji but the ad has since been removed.” The owners are appealing to the thief, or anyone, to help return Tisha. They ask for mail at aidan@wuxly.com There will be a warm reward for the safe return. They add: “For the person who committed this act: please, do the right thing. Reach out and we can work out an anonymous and safe return of Tisha.”

The Israeli general election Tuesday will decide if Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, 69, will serve another term or if the country will slip into the hands of parties to the right of the long-time leader.

• Quebecor takes fight with Bell over TVA Sports into public arena
• Liberals say lawsuit threat needed to stop Scheer’s ‘misinformation’ on SNC-Lavalin
• Scrapping front licence plates could make it harder to fight crime, police chiefs warn

This CityNews report tells of a full meeting in Mississauga Monday night to discuss possible separation of that City from other municipalities in Peel Region. It is by any measure a bold proposition from Mayor Bonnie Crombie. It flies in the face of 40 years of enforced regional government inspired originally by the Bill Davis Conservatives. Many places might be eager to leave such regional governments. Towns near Hamilton famously said the only thing they got out of amalgamation was higher taxes.

A meeting was held Monday evening at Northlea Elementary and Middle School to discuss recommendations for redrawn catchment areas for the school. The proposed changes are part of an area-wide plan produced by a body known as the Program Area Review Team (PART). Such changes are required to achieve equitable school populations. It appears that Northlea will accept students who previously would have attended Eglinton PS and Hodgson Middle School. As many as 14 such pupils are forecast in September 2019 at Northlea (see table below).. The meeting was attended by an unknown number of parents and members of the Northlea PART team. They are Barbara Sandler, Northlea principal, Arti Panday, Past-Chair, Northlea Home and School Council and Heather McCann, Parent Representative of the Home and School Council. Also present was Trustee Rachel Chernos-Lin. The meeting was closed to the media. Recommendations as published by the Toronto and District School Board. 

Current recommendations

A post to Leaside Community from a member who is evidently a landlord or superintendent has drawn much interest. She talks of “a tenant” who, it seems, drives while intoxicated. This person “reversed from her parking spot and backed into our truck mid-day. She hasn’t approached us about it yet and it’s been over 24 hours. On our surveillance camera she is seen reversing and gaining speed, all the while appearing to pay no attention of the direction she’s driving in. She hit the truck hard. It shocked her and she got out of her vehicle but didn’t go to look directly at the damage.” And so it goes at Leaside Community. 

Sports fans in Ontario will soon be able to have a drink and tailgate before a game. The government will announce in its budget this week that it will legalize the practice often seen in parking lots at sporting events in the United States. Premier Doug Ford’s executive director of strategic communications tweeted that the change means the government. Tailgating will be made possible by amending a regulation that sets out the terms for special occasion liquor permits. Permit holders would also be able to sell alcohol on their property.

Seen at North York General Hospital

Stole from employee lockers

Suspects in other hospital thefts

Police have released surveillance pictures of a woman who they say robbed employee lockers early last Thursday at North York General Hospital. She took several items of property including a set of vehicle keys.  She was able to identify the car and use the keys to steal it. Through video police say the same woman responsible for a similar theft that occurred at Humber River Hospital during the early morning hours on the same day.