Government required new cabinet members, all of whom are no doubt vaccinated, to wears masks for the official photo

A major cabinet shuffle Tuesday morning has brought new faces to the forefront and seen others demoted and effectively discarded. Chrystia Freeland, the MP for University Rosedale, will remain as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. The full story is here. Her permanence and proximity to the Prime Minister’s ear reveal again the stark difference between ministers who really matter and those who are appointed for reasons that seem merely convenient.

Walied Soliman

Melinda Rogers-Hixon

Edward Rogers

The lawyer for Rogers board member Melinda Rogers-Hixon says he is confident a “strong judge” at the BC Supreme Court will “see through” the plan of Edward Rogers, Melinda’s brother, to appoint a new board for the firm “with the strike of a pen”. Walied Soliman of Norton, Rose, Fulbright LLP, is quoted by Canadian Press Monday as follows: “My response to that is we have shareholder meetings for a reason. If at any time, somebody had the majority of votes in connection with a company and were able to just sign a piece of paper and replace the independent directors then we would never have shareholder meetings.” There’s no indication so far just when the matter might be referred to the court or how quickly it might act.

Windy weather appears to be responsible for wires down at Oak Park Ave and Danforth Ave Monday morning. Police have the roads closed. And power outages are seen on the Toronto Hydro Outage Map in west-end Toronto.

Report windsurfer in trouble off New Toronto

A marine rescue has been launched Monday afternoon after a report that a windsurfer was seen trying to climb onto a buoy off Colonel Sam Smith Park in New Toronto. The outcome of all this remains in the hands of fate, it seems.

MARINE RESCUE:
Colonel Samuel Smith Park
* 1:37 pm *
– Windsurfer trying to climb onto Buoy
– Waves are knocking him/her over
– Reports they are 500m from shore
– Caller can no longer see them
– Marine Unit responding
* Boaters in the area may provide assistance *#GO2053029
^dh pic.twitter.com/pqyVutemr8

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) October 25, 2021

A pair of Michael Jordan’s shoes, the Nike Air Ships from 1984, were sold at an auction for over 1.4 million dollars. The signed sneakers are from Jordan’s fifth NBA game in his rookie season

Elephants in pumpkin-crushing mood in Portland, Oregon

They do it every year and it always amuses us.

How much will you spend on Halloween?

Two full days of rain are forecast for Monday and Tuesday as October grinds to a close. Miserable. Weather Channel

Bad weather snakes across US and Canada Monday morning

Photo by Ian Smith

Many residents are commenting Sunday about the on-going challenges of the pedestrian crossing at Bayview Ave and Soudan/Parkhurst. There are calls for a more elaborate pedestrian crossing similar to the one on Moore Ave at Mud Creek. Other people want a stoplight but the hostility to this idea is expressed in a one-word comment (No!) from Ario Hojabri. Sadly perhaps, only stoplights will help the carnage at this bugaboo corner. Unlike the Moore crossing, which is single file pedestrians and just two (not four) lanes of vehicles, the Bayview/Soudan corner is a busy, multi-lane intersection that obscures the view of drivers in the curb lanes. Facebook

• Bayview/Soudan a tricky cocktail of congestion, blind spots

Twitter salvo Saturday

Empire that Ted built

The nasty family battle for control of Rogers Communications Inc. continued Saturday with the company claiming its recently fired chairman, Edward Rogers, intends to hold a weekend meeting with a slate of hand-picked board directors and pre-emptively rejecting the outcome of any such gathering. “The proposal by Mr. Edward Rogers to hold a purported board meeting with his proposed slate of directors this weekend does not comply with laws of British Columbia, where Rogers Communications Inc. is incorporated and is therefore not valid,” newly appointed board chairman John MacDonald said in a statement. And Mr. Rogers sister, Martha, also a board member, exploded in a series of tweets vowing to “spend every penny” of the firm’s money to stop him from taking over. Another sister, Melinda, and their mother, Loretta, board members too, equally oppose Edward Rogers. Global

Empire that Ted built

Rogers stock was down early Friday as the world awaits the outcome of a legal battle over who controls the giant telecommunications firm. Late Thursday the Rogers board removed Edward Rogers as chairman. But now Mr. Rogers, as head of the Rogers family trust, says he will replace five members of the board with others who have a more sympathetic view of his plans. Rogers has been maneuvering to replace CEO Joe Natale. And there is more. The present management is casting doubt on the legality of a wholesale firing of directors. It says it “is not aware of this mechanism ever having been utilized in respect of a public company in Canada.”  Counsel will be consulted. CBC

Post to Leaside Community/Wilmar Kortleever

The season is upon us and neighbourhood lawns are blooming with ghoulish goodwill as shown above. Below, a reminder of the time-honoured free pumpkin morning at Valumart courtesy of Patrick Rocca. The making (and eating) of cookies is one of life’s great blessings and there are inventive ideas galore at the Leaside Community FB. Here’s a one for Chocolate Pumpkin Pinatas (really?)

How seriously should anyone take the reported Facebook rebranding leaked Wednesday? Remember, we still call Google (um) Google (not Alphabet).

Workmen take down St Cutherbet’s fence Wednesday/Bulldog

A whole new look is coming/Bulldog

Old fence seen last year was built in 1947/Google

The 1947 drystone embankment fence in front of St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church was removed Wednesday, part of a carefully prepared plan to create a more inviting entrance to the old church. The St Cuthbert’s Norman-style building dates from 1914 but the fence was something of an afterthought. As told by Lorna Krawchuck in Leaside Life, there was a lawn bowling green on the church picnic ground to the south. Bowls frequently rolled right into Bayview Ave it seems. Her article describes the many pleasant and welcoming features of the new frontage.