OPP reports of a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 407 have been supplemented by social media posts of a death having occurred. This was in the eastbound lanes east of Jane St in Vaughan. “One patient pronounced dead on scene, three others transported by @YorkParamedics. All lanes closed” was the tweet by DR@Media371.
City Council has voted in favour of doubling the staffing budgets for individual members. It’s a move which appears to eliminate any saving intended by the reduction of Council from 47 members to 25. The vote was 18 to 8 in favour with Ward 15 Councillor Jaye Robinson in opposition but with from Ward 12 Josh Matlow and Ward 14 Kristyn Wong-Tam. New council member Brad Bradford from Beaches Ward 19 also voted in favour. The staff budget per councillor is now $482,000 annually from $241,000. Office budgets for Councillors was also increased, going to $50,000 from $34,000. Mayor John Tory voted in favour of these increases.
JUST A FACT, SAYS MATLOW
“When Premier Doug Ford told the people of Ontario that there would be $25 million in savings to cut council roughly in half it was never true. There was never going to be $25 million in savings and that is just a fact,” Ward 12 Toronto St Paul’s Josh Matlow said during Wednesday’s debate. “What has happened now is that we are going to need more staff to be able to respond to our constituents because we are going to be busier in both having to address the needs and priorities of double the population but also spending more times sitting at these committees.” Some, like Stephen Holyday, Ward 2, felt that Council had missed a chance to see what the real cost of serving constituents might be before simply doubling the budget.
HOE ABOUT 1.5 TIMES?
“I was a little confused when I read the table in this report where it gave us the three options and two of the three options were dividing up the leftover money and all I could think of was the Romans coming in after and dividing the spoils of war amongst the people,” Holyday said during the meeting. “I understand the temperature of Council and think Council is looking for a significant increase in budget. I will submit to this Council that 1.5 times your current office budget is an enormous increase and it allows you to hire one or maybe two additional constituency assistants.” Ward 17 Don Valley North Councillor Shelley Carroll said that doubling the staffing budgets would help to address the range of workloads in different wards with different levels of development. She said that some councillors in large downtown wards will now have 50 or 60 active development applications and will need extra resources to deal with them while Councillors in other wards may be able to get by with less.
His son, George W. Bush, was both poised and then tearful as he delivered an uplifting eulogy to his father, George Herbert Walker Bush on Wednesday. former Prime Minister Mulroney also eulogized Bush, who was a friend. The service was in Washington and stock markets were closed in New York.
About 30 demonstrators blocked the intersection of Queen and Bay Sts. to protest he closure of the Ontario Child Advocate’s Office for economic reasons. The PC government announced this decision earlier. The photo is on Twitter from Pappi@Pappi23 who says the sign reads Our Experience Our Way.
The Bank of Canada is widely expected to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75 per cent today after a 25-basis-point increase at its last setting in October. This morning’s announcement comes in the wake of a move by the Alberta government to curtail oil production in the province after Jan. 1 to try to clear a crude storage glut that has driven western Canadian oil prices to multi-year lows. Meanwhile, the recently announced plan to close the General Motors of Canada car plant in Oshawa similarly offers a downside risk to future growth — Canadian Press
It was a busy week for CGS scientists last week. They had been charged with answering puzzling questions. Why does salt melt ice, where do the stars go during the day, what’s the effect of temperature on water volume and what are eggs made of? CGS students presented their findings to judges, teachers, parents and their peers at the 2018 CGS Science Fair. The young scientists were well prepared and knew their experiments back to front. It was very clear how much fun they had discovering the answers. It was especially wonderful to see the peer-to-peer learning that took place. The Science Fair is mandatory for Grades 1-3 students and optional for SK students. There were 12 SK students presenting this year, the most ever. Congratulations to all. May your love of science continue to grow. For more information about Children’s Garden School on Eglinton contact Kelly Scott, Director of Admission at CGS at kscott@cgsschool.com.
Home sales across the Greater Toronto Area fell nearly 15 per cent in November, compared with a year ago, as sale prices continued to see moderate growth, the Toronto Real Estate Board says TREB says there were 6,251 residential transactions recorded last month through its multiple listing service (MLS) system, down 14.7 per cent versus a year ago. On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales were down by 3.4 per cent compared with October 2018. The average sale price was up by 3.5 per cent year-over-year to $788,345. Adjusted seasonally, the average sale price was nearly flat, down by 0.8 per cent compared to October 2018 — Reuters
A Leaside woman is keeping her key fob in a tea tin to prevent the use of so-called relay theft of her car equipped with keyless entry. This matter continues to occupy the interest of residents as it is reported that another vehicle has been stolen over the weekend. Leaside Community.
The Dow dropped 799 points, or 3.1 percent, on Tuesday and Toronto fell into line plunging 211. The erratic performance of recent months is thought by many to foretell a new recession as the bull market of the second decade grows old. Others attribute the declines to a realization by traders that although the US has delayed tariffs on China, the trade war is not over. At one point, the Dow index was down 818 points. Big tech stocks fell sharply. Apple and Alphabet lost more than four percent apiece. Amazon and Netflix plunged more than five percent. The sell-off wipes out a chunk of last week’s huge rally. The Dow jumped 288 points on Monday on relief about the ceasefire between the United States and China on trade.
Mayor Tory on Breakfast Television says he can see, and expects, more efficient decison-making with smaller City Council.
William Nylander is aged 22 (that’s 22 people) and he has revealed how at about 40 minutes to deadline on Sunday he told his agent to call the Leafs. Sigh. Then, City Council 25 will convene for the first time Tuesday. Duffers galore. Below that, GM is stinging from the blowback on the closure of the Oshawa plant. The Canadian president, who appears to be an Aussie, talks wonderful electric cars with the CBC. Sigh again. And what would you call a country with lots of oil it can’t sell but which continues to buy oil at premium prices from places like Saudi Arabia because it has no pipelines? Stupid fits.
The roots of social-justice anger run deep in old East York despite the middle-class patina on so many neighborhoods. Some of those fighting for a more perfect world, including at least one member of the Communist Party of Canada, broke up a nomination meeting for Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Sunday. They supported postal workers upset with being sent back to work in the absence, by most measures, of any good reason not to work. “No justice, no peace,” they shouted about these two moving targets. Anyway, Mr Erskine-Smith may have appreciated the attention.
https://twitter.com/compartycanada/status/1069369406336188416
