Palleta Internatioal meat packing Burlington

Beside the QEW

Damage Thursday morning

A large fire has destroyed the Palleta International meat packaging plant on Palleta Court in Burlington right beside the QEW Wednesday. The plant made sausage and other processed meat products from turkey, chicken and pork. The cause of the fire has not been stated but there was maintenance of some type going on at the plant when the fire struck about 4 p.m. The fire was a spectacle and a distraction for drivers in the afternoon rush. No one was injured in the conflagration which required help from nearby fire services in Oakville and Hamilton.

Wildfires are causing fear and chaos in Los Angeles as homeowners are being forced to evacuate from Bel-Air to escape the blaze above the 405 Freeway. Then, Donald Trump has gone where no US president dared by saying he will move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It is an old issue and one commentator told CNN that Trump should have bargained for more if he was determined to do this. Below that, the remarkable skills of eight-year-old Savino Quatela of Woodbridge have been chronicled by the CBC. And finally, in New York this week, they put the final bridge on top of the jaw-dropping piece of architectural art known as the Vessel. It is the focus of the enormous Hudson Yards redevelopment in Manhattan. Most interesting.

The Auditor General has found thar privately operated power plant companies are charging all sorts of expenses to the government (that’s you) and that one, Goreway Power Station in Brampton, loaded $100 million in “inappropriate” charges onto taxpayers. This is part of the what the AG, Bonnie Lysek, found that might well make the hair of any kitchen-table accountant stand on end.

• Power company ‘gamed’ $100M from Ontario’s electricity system, investigation reveals
• Ontario auditor general finds wasted spending in health care, education and empty buildings

One of the entirely unofficial but widely anticipated rites of Christmas on Bayview Ave is the appearance of children from Maurice Cody Junior Public School at the local Starbucks to sing carols and seasonal songs. The tradition continues beginning Wednesday, December 13 when a number of classes will visit the coffee shop and entertain whoever happens to be there at the time. This will of course include many parents. Very nice.

Rendering vs. reality. pic.twitter.com/pEEqnc9g5s

— Jonathan Goldsbie (@goldsbie) December 5, 2017

It’s a reminder perhaps of how chancy it for us to try to hang onto the past that the newly-installed Sam the Record Man sign is but a shadow of the 1960 glory of Yonge Street and the vinyl records sold there. In fact, the sign is a ghostly imitation of the original because the background is missing. The video tweeted by Jonathon Goldsbie records this shortfall. Below is the real thing.

Google says it will pull its YouTube video service from Amazon’s Fire TV and Echo Show devices in a nasty fight between the big boys of consumer tech that leaves consumers in the crossfire. The decision to block YouTube is in retaliation for Amazon’s refusal to sell some Google products that compete with Amazon gadgets. That includes Google’s Chromecast streaming device, an alternative to Fire TV, and an internet-connected speaker called Home, which is trying to catch up to Amazon’s market-leading Echo. Amazon’s high-end Echo Show has a screen that can display video. The power being thrown around by these two giants is the type of conduct that has some talking about the need to break them up by way of anti-trust action.

Please take a look at the posters here for events and opportunities in our neighbourhood in coming days.

Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) will try to stop the purchase of a small strip mall plaza on Danforth Rd. which the TTC thinks would be just perfect as the home of a power station on the $3.35 billion one-stop subway to Scarborough.  Mr. Matlow is a determined foe of this project (and he is right).  But political expediency has gathered great strength to waste money in the name of subway equitability. “I am going to be asking about whether or not it is premature, to once again be spending money on a project that has not been approved by council”, Matlow said December 5 as quoted by the Scarborough Mirror.

Reporter Natalie Wong of Bloomberg News says Wednesday in the Toronto Star that Rogers Communications is considering selling assets such as the Toronto Blue Jays or its interest in cable company Cogeco Inc. to free up capital for other investments. Wong quotes chief financial officer Tony Staffieri. The Toronto-based telecommunications giant wants to get more value for the assets, though no deal is imminent

ROGERS CENTRE NAMING RIGHTS?

Late in October former player and sportswriter Bob Elliott said the company was considering selling the naming rights to the Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome). That possibility has met silence from Rogers The late Ted Rogers would not have liked his name coming down from that landmark. But Rogers president Joe Natale cannot be indifferent to the $800 million the Bank of Nova Scotia has paid for the right to put its big red logo up on what is now the Air Canada Centre.. .

The International Olympic Committee has banned Russia from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, following a vote Tuesday. Russia, it is reported, won’t quietly digest the IOC’s ban and walk away. Vladimir Putin has said that this is a US attempt to thwart his reelection next year. National TV has vowed not to cover the games. Russia might refuse to permit its athletes to compete as private citizens, a concession the IOC offered to clean Russians.

PUNISHMENT FITS THE CRIME

In Ottawa, Canadian curlers were on the ice as the news broke. The CBC says that Marc Kennedy, who won Olympic gold in Vancouver in 2010 as a member of the Kevin Martin team, said: “This is a punishment that fits the crime but I’m surprised. I didn’t think they would do it. Good for them,” Kennedy said. “It’s been proven it was state-sponsored and they should be punished accordingly. I’m 100 per cent in support of the decision.”

Toronto Police have received judicial authorization to name and show a picture of a 15-year-old boy wanted in relation to reckless shooting at a home on Woodfield Rd. in east Toronto north of Gerrard St.  The name and picture of the youth may be seen at the police website. This occurred Sunday and two other teens are already in custody.

146/150 Laird showing Durant Building with added floors just south of the present Local restaurant (formerly the CIBC building)

The development of two retirement homes on the site of historic buildings on Laird Drive south of McRae Dr. has been featured in Urban Toronto. The City fought this development as first submitted but ultimately lost at the Ontario Municipal Board. A revised plan calls for the retention of the structure of the historic Durant Building. The original plan to make one of the buildings a condominium has been replaced as well with more rental for seniors. The two buildings will now have 248 rental units The Durant Building was the office building of Durant Motors Canada and later (in 1960) occupied by the Metro Toronto Separate School Board. .OMB okays 146/150 Laird, saves old Durant building