Tess Virtue and Scott Moir are home in glory and at Pearson Monday night they talked a lot about getting back inside the family circle. For sure. Then, the dopey guy who rode the back of a subway. It appears from this report that he is known to the media. Then, the CBC notes how the Trudeau committment to balancing the budget has vanished. Easier it seems to pile on debt giving people stuff. Finally, another clue about how it’s money, not angry people, that matters in social media protest. Corporations are worrying about the bottom line as they flee from the NRA.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins, the member for St. Paul’s, will resign from his portfolio and from the Legislature immediately. Sources tell the CBC that the physician-politcian will be appointed to head a federal commission to investigate options for a national Pharmacare program.  Hoskins is an officer of the Order of Canada. He was first elected an MPP in 2009 in St. Paul’s. He ran for the Ontario Liberal Party leadership in 2013. Premier Kathleen Wynne appointed him economic development minister in her first cabinet, then made him her health minister after the 2014 election.

Springy toy suitable to toddlers

Another one

Alpine Hut for 2019

Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has tweeted a link Monday to an update on his ongoing consultation and plans to fine-tune the equipment at Sharon, Lois and Bram playground in Davisville Park.  Discussions had revealed considerable satisfaction with the present equipment but also some concern about safety because of a lack of equipment geared towards younger children. Mr. Matlow says the City has available play equipment in storage that will provide more options for toddlers in the interim, until they will be replaced by Earthscape equipment in 2019. “Given the restriction on the play area space by mature trees, they were able to find several pieces that could be installed temporarily for this spring/summer season. This includes two spring toys and an elephant monkey bar set. City staff will also construct new permanent toddler-friendly pieces including:an elevated Alpine hut with steps and another small slide and an outdoor kitchen that will be placed in the sandbox.” Update here.

Loblaw Inc and Metrolinx will soon offer a service that sees customers order online from home or office and pickup their grocery order at certain GO Transit stations. Metrolinx has confirmed that the first phase of the rollout will see the PC Express service offered at five GO Stations, including Bronte, Oakville, Clarkson, Rouge Hill, and Whitby. The scheme looks like it will require an overnight element. The Loblaw spokesperson interviewed on CP24 threw in the word “overnight.” Still, the idea seems to hold out an efficiency for those who can plan.

For Special Olympics Ontario/TPS re;lease

Fernz in town/Leaside Wildcats release

Leaside United Church team/LUC

Weather Network

A hardy few from the Toronto Police and others took a plunge into chilly Lake Ontario at Sunnyside Beach Saturday to raise funds to support Special Olympics Ontario. The 75 polar bears raised $17,500 for the cause. Well done all. To the right, the hockey bond between the Leaside Wildcats and the New Zealand Ice Fernz women’s hockey team will be strengthened this week as the Kiwi ladies are billeted with Wildcat families. On Tuesday, March 6, the Wildcats Senor BB will play the Fernz at the Beaches Complex and on Wednesday, March 6, the match will see the Wildcats Midget AA and the Fernz at Scarborough Village Arena. Centre right sees the Leaside United Church team (LUCY) getting ready for their “coldest night of the year” walk in aid of the Yonge Street Mission. And at the bottom is revealed another week of warm temperatures taking us into March. Could be good.

Six injured in Leicester

Dead at 54

Russian-style meddling feared

Companies cutting ties with the NRA

Six people have been injured, two critically, in the explosion of a corner store in Leicester in the UK. Authorities have confirmed that it is not a terrorist act. Upper right, Sridevi, Bollywood’s leading lady of the 1980s and 90s has died prematurely at the age of 54 of a heart attack. She redefined stardom for actresses in India and became known as the first female superstar in India’s male-dominated film industry. Below that, scurrilous material on the Internet has Ottawa worrying about a possible Russian-style meddling in Canadian elections. Who knows. At the bottom, the logos of companies which are responding to a #BoycottNRA campaign over the gun lobby’s continuing opposition to control of any kind. Two videos (below) are a look at the remarkable new Samsung phone and then an NBC report on how the big four tech companies, Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook, are dividing societies by feeding users just the stuff they want to hear. Name your poison.

Players, staff, police and friends of the Thorncliffe Park Youth Committee

The newly-formed Thorncliffe Park Youth Committee was at work Sunday with a first event, the creation of the Jenner Premier League. It is an indoor cricket organization which will play at the splendid new (in 2010) Jenner Jean Marie Gymnasium at 48 Thorncliffe Park Drive. The committee is a testament to the ingenuity and ambition of the young men and women who brought it to reality. With the help of the City of Toronto, Toronto Police at 53 Division and many community friends like Councillor Jon Burnside (who was present) the committee hopes to assist Thorncliffe Park area youth in endeavors ranging from sports to education. Many business sponsors have stepped up and Pharmacist Mohamed Mobarak is the principal supporter of the league. He owns the Guardian Drugstore at 28 Overlea Blvd. Mobarak spoke graciously of his desire to give back to the community for its support of his business. Notable Jenner staff present were Toronto administrator Fidelia Nelson, youth activity organizers Nasser Khan and Sakib Manjawala and PC Harold Shin, among many Toronto officers.

PCs Natalia Epperson and Kyle Widmeyer on sign duty

Fidelia Nelson helps hand out team shirts

Sponsor Mohamed Mobarak was awarded his own jersey

A man, 19, has died in the crash of his car into a guardrail on Highway 400 near Bradford. The vehicle was impaled by the rail.  OPP report that they found the man lifeless when they arrived as the scene about 5 a.m.  Northbound 400 is closed between Highway 88 and Highway 89 until at least noon.

Sikh separatism in the open

Xi Jinping the new Mao?

Mao Zadong

It is said there are between a 1.5 and two million Canadians of Indian extraction and fearfully, as many as half are inclined to support Sikh independence on the subcontinent. It is not a problem Canada needs but it will never perplex a country like China. They will curry favour with the Indians without such silly irritants Now, with the prime minister due home from a somewhat mixed trip to India, Global News is reporting that Sikh separatists in Canada, and in the Liberal Party, are lauding Mr. Trudeau. “I condemn in the strongest terms the Government of India’s cold shoulder behavior during reception of PM [Trudeau],” pro-Khalistan activist Sukhminder Singh Hansra, president of one of the Canadian chapters of Punjab-based political party Shiromani Akali Dal, said in a statement. “Once again, [Trudeau] and his team displayed the higher standard of democracy as they put the interest of people ahead of their own by meeting with the head of Punjab state, the arrogant Capt. Amarinder Singh,” the statement read.

LEADER FOREVER?

Speaking of China, the news seems quite ominous. The Chinese Communist Party has proposed scrapping term limits for the country’s president. That’s what was reported by the official news agency said Sunday, appearing to lay the groundwork for party leader Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023. Leader forever it seems. It is not a good omen for China nor democracy. The party’s Central Committee proposed to remove from the constitution the expression that China’s president and vice-president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms,” the Xinhua News Agency said. “Xi Jinping has finally achieved his ultimate goal when he first embarked on Chinese politics — that is to be the Mao Zedong of the 21st century,” said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, referring to the founder of communist China. What would Deng Xiaoping say?

OTHER NEWS

• What really happened on Trudeau’s India trip: Trade concerns overshadowed by wardrobe choices, extremism talk
• Customers get their $25 Loblaw gift card as compensation for overpriced bread read 
• South Korean women on ‘birth strike’ as children come with too high a cost 
• Bollywood star Sridevi dead at 54

No winning ticket was sold for the $9 million jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw. However, the guaranteed $1 million prize was claimed by a ticket holder in Quebec The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Feb. 28 will be approximately $12 million.

OPP have found four people dead in a home on Starrat Rd. in Ryerson Township about five km from Burk’s Falls west of Algonquin Park. They received a 911 call on Friday night from an unknown person who apparently discovered the bodies of two men and two women. All the victims showed signs of unspecified trauma. The Northeast OPP Criminal investigation Unit is investigating, alongside the forensic identification unit, emergency response team and a canine unit. Police say the preliminary work intends identify the victims and identify the caller.