The prime minister is saying that a Sikh man convicted of shooting and wounding an Indian cabinet minister who was on a visit to BC in 1986 should never have been permitted to tag along on the PM’s trip to India this week. Sounds reasonable, but he was. Then, Harry and Meghan have been subject to the dangerously misguided among us with an anonymous package of white powder sent to them. It was harmless. Below that, the US has broken Canada’s 20 year record of gold medal victories in Olympic women’s hockey. The Americans broke a 2-2 tie in the shootout. We’re crying too. Finally, City News summarizes the onslaught of flu cases at Toronto hospitals.

A minority of Toronto police officers and civilian staff have voted 86 percent to express so-called no confidence in the Police Chief Mark Saunders. But just 48.1 percent of some 8,000 eligible association members even bothered to vote. Immediately after the result was announced, the police board issued a statement saying it continues to “fully and unequivocally” support him. The vote is part of a campaign by the association to drive home the belief that the TPS is understaffed. Right or wrong, that view is a hard sell among politicians and police brass.

Building on Whitewood Rd/Bulldog photo

Jenner Cricket Sunday at 1.30

What a rumble to visit that great dealer/Deke Macdonald

Where is the Art Shoppe anyway?

John Turco and friends/Beach Mirror

Needs some love/Jen Bluestein

Eden no more/Bulldog photo

Upper left, here we are on Whitewood Rd. where desirable South Bayview beckons builders. This is No. 4 on the postman’s route and another new build is happening two doors north. Upper right, Harold Shin of the Toronto Police has kindly reminded The Bulldog about the opening ceremony of the Jenner Cricket League Sunday, February 25 at 1.30 at the Jenner Jean Marie Community Centre, 48 Thorncliffe Park Drive. Below that, Deke Macdonald posted this nostalgic brand name a while ago on Leaside Chit Chat. The car (Pontiac) is long gone and even more distant is Rumble’s itself. We liked the corner (Bayview and Broadway) better as a car dealer. Then, an expensive billboard at Bayview and Moore is up to remind you just where the heck the Art Shoppe went after they knocked it down on Yonge St. Lower left is a great photo owned by the Beach Mirror and tweeted by east-side girl Joanne Lavoie showing Scarborough teacher John Turco with the paramedics who saved his life when he had a heart attack while playing basketball at Neil McNeil High School. To the right of that, Jen Bluestein‏ @JenBluestein tweeted a suggestion that this bus stop at Mt. Pleasant and Davisville could use a little love. No kidding. Finally, at bottom right, Eden is no more. The dark little marijuana shop has packed it up after two raids and an armed robbery. Time to go.

Kaden Young

Minivan driven by his mother

The search goes on Thursday for three-year-old Kaden Young in the turbulent waters of the flooded Grand River with little hope left that the child will be found alive. He apparently slipped out of his mother’s arms as she tried to get out of her flooded and tilted minivan Wednesday. She is Karen Hanson and it appears that she miscalculated the edge of the road in water that hid an embankment into the river.  The Welland Tribune says that conditions along the waterway have been hazardous since Friday when a flood watch was issued by the Grand River Conservation Authority in anticipation of as much as 40 to 60 millimetres of rain. Days of melt run-off caused by unseasonably warm weather and heavy rain caused flooding to push water as much as a foot over the road, soaking residential properties along the banks. As many as 2,200 homes were evacuated in Brantford Wednesday and some remain unreachable.

Alan Sorkin, director on Bayview Ave/Angela Lam

Molly’s Chance star Jessica Chastain/TIFF

The annual Doors Open Toronto (DOT) will offer a special insight into the City’s film industry. It is set for the weekend of May 26/27 and will be called Film: The Great Romance. Mayor Tory in a release Thursday said that there are more than 1,400 on-location film, television and digital media productions each year in Toronto and that the City is North America’s third largest screen-based production centre.  A series of walking tours exploring several of Toronto’s neighbourhoods will be on offer along with the Open Insights speakers series, a music series and other special programs.More details on Doors Open Toronto, including a complete list of this year’s buildings, walking tours, talks and programs will be available on May 1 at http://www.toronto.ca/doorsopen.

Elegant at Taj Mahal

Dressed to the nines

Not appropriated

Halloween on Parliament Hill

Publications such as the Globe and Mail and HuffPost online are criticizing the current visit to India by the Prime Minister and his family. Typical photo-op cosplay performances have seemed close to baroque. This might be fine, if gaudy, were it not for what appears to be a calculated snub from Indian Prime Minister Modi. Trudeau and Modi have yet to set eyes on each other with just two days left in the trip. Some say it is because of perceived sympathy for Sikh separatism in the Canadian cabinet. Others think that Trudeau and Modi are just too  far apart in their view of the world generally. Globe and Mail.

The lightning-like flooding of Central Ontario’s Grand River has spread misery through a number of towns, not least of which is Orangeville where a three-year-old child has been swept away when his mother lost her grip on the infant. To the right, Billy Graham is dead at the age of 99. Then a reprise of the nasty deceptions played on young Chinese students in Ontario last Fall to get a ransom from their parents. The trickiest part of the scheme was its reliance on the naivety of kids far from home.

Patrick Brown will be allowed to run for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. The decision of a party committee in charge of “vetting” candidates was held out as a possible obstacle but it appears to be have been more like a formality. All the other candidates were also approved. They are Christine Elliott, Doug Ford, Tanya Granic Allen and Caroline Mulroney. Voting will take place in the days before an announced winner is made March 10

Grand River swells from melting snow

Ice pushed onto road

2,200 homes evacuated

Not seen for many years

The City of Brantford has declared a state of emergency as the Grand River floods streets and homes with water from rapidly melting snow. Some 2,200 homes have been evacuated. The state of emergency was issued at around 10:30 a.m. with an “immediate evacuation call” for residents in areas near the river. “The levels and height of the water is something that most people haven’t seen in this community for a long, long time,” Brantford Mayor Chris Friel told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday morning. “Absolutely stay away from the river. There is no reason to be within any area near the river.”

Her Excellency and His Worship/DPS students @TinkerClass

Join the Pixies

Weather Schmeather

1973 LBA program / @Nickhockeycards

Oompah!

Bantam Cats win Silver/Wildcats Hockey

Grade Five students from Davisvlle Public School got to meet Governor General Payette and Mayor Tory at City Hall yesterday and they brought a gift for each. The excellent renderings at upper left prompted Her Excellency to confide to the mayor that “I have wonderful hair as you can see.” The Mayor ventured “You seem to have a lot of freckles.” See more at @TinkerClass. At upper right, the Bayview Pixies Want You! The elite band of tireless gardeners and street beauticians needs to grow. Below that, the Bayview Leaside BIA is encouraging people to grab an umbrella and enjoy the warm weather. We agree. Centre left, a Wayback Playback in the form of a Leaside Baseball Association program from 1973. See it @Nickhockeycards. Centre right, get ready for the first ever Toronto Tuba Euphonium Symposium coming Saturday, March 17 to Lawrence Park Community Church. Absolutely love it. Oompah, oompah. Then finally, hats off to the Leaside Bantam Wildcats for their Silver win at the Durham West tournament. Well done ladies.

Large crowd at Lawrence Park Community Church

Chief is taken to his place on late arrival

Chief Mark Saunders was delayed by other business Tuesday night but his arrival at the Ward 25 Safety Meeting was warmly applauded by the large crowd in attendance at Lawrence Park Community Church on Bayview Ave. Saunders rushed in from a warm evening to take a seat and then quickly go to the microphone at the invitation of Councillor Jaye Robinson. In brief remarks and questions, Saunders talked of the need to modernize the Toronto Police Service. He emphasized the need to integrate public information with active policing, efficiencies and the use of technology. The meeting heard Robinson and police officers on these points as well. The meeting heard of the use of photo images taken by door bells to identify persons who seem merely suspicious but using the digital science of face recognition are seen to be criminals. Such an arrest has occurred in 53 Division. Chief Saunders spoke of using personnel more efficiently. But he also said that scheduling is largely out of his hands. It is a matter decided between the police association and the police board. The Chief did not say it but the process seemed subject to the burden of a union vs management mentality.

JAYE ROBINSON

The Ward 25 member said the Safety Meeting was inspired by the many break-ins late last year in York Mills and the harrowing incident of a teen girl who was slashed on Dinnick Crescent in a random attack in October. She also spoke of “white vans” following children although there appears to have been one incident of this which did not turn out to be criminal. Ms Robinson alluded to resistance to modernization from the Toronto Police Association although she did not name that body. She said she did not agree with much of what was said.  Stabbed jogger, 19, gets ride to hospital from Lawrence Park

KFC has temporarily closed hundreds of locations in the UK and Ireland on Monday night after its shops ran out of chicken following delivery problems. The fast food chain switched its delivery contract to German shipping giant DHL, which had promised to “set a new delivery standard” after winning the contract with KFC. On Monday, 575 KFC restaurants were closed. Stores had initially run out of chicken over the weekend. “Due to administrative issues, a number of deliveries have been incomplete or delayed. We are doing our utmost to rectify the situation as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused,” a DHL spokesperson said.