The appalling number of deaths among gas station attendants who have been run down by people stealing fuel may well see the arrival of pre-pay gasoline sales only in Ontario. A Toronto police release Wednesday announced a partnership among Crime Stoppers and Petro Canada to place decals on card readers at pumps to permit the public to detect criminal skimming devices which steal PINs, names and card numbers. It should make pre-pay more receptive to drivers. Also this week, Husky Energy said it will require payment before fuelling up at all Ontario stations. This is now the standard in Alberta where five attendants have died in three years. In Toronto, the case of attendant Jayesh Prajapati run down by career criminal Max Tutivan recently concluded shocked the public.

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) planning and priorities committee has voted unanimously in favour of a staff report to end the police officers in school program because, as the report said, some students feel threatened and uncomfortable by it. The remarkable quote offered in the report was that a kid’s life at school would be over and he would be condemnd as a snitch if seen talking to a cop. This was a view of a minority. The results of a survey of students is said to have found that a substantial majority approved of the presence of police. The report also recommended that the TDSB and police should continue to work together to ensure safety in learning environments.

A body of some 15,000 scientists is said to have issued a warning about the end of the world. And they have finally hit upon the thing that is never discussed at climate meetings in Paris or among followers of David Suzuki or Al Gore. Humanity is on its way to crushing hardship they conclude by creating more and more people. That’s the issue. All of the wearying worry about “the environment” goes away if billions and billions of people merely stop eating, burning, breathing, making garbage and trying to keep warm the way mammals have always done. To accomplish that, it will be necessary to do more than simply recycle or do without. As billions more of us arrive, our lack of capacity to live with less and less will be evident. Where does anyone propose that the world start on this project? Africa? Leaside? Brazil? Palm Beach? All leads

Dr. Jeff Powis and the flu shot throne/ Michael Garron Hospital

Preparing to pour concrete at 433 Belsize/SBB

Concrete forms

Last house before Bayview

EYCI football champions/ @HPE_TDSB

Here’s Dr. Jeff Powis sitting on the latest incentive to good health at Michael Garron Hospital. It is an Iron Throne used to encourage both staff and outpatients to sit, reign and get a flu shot. Dr. Powis, an infectious disease expert, does not say how or from where he wangled this great prop into surgery but we’re hoping it isn’t missing from the HBO set, right doc? Then to the right, they were preparing to pour concrete for the foundation of the re-make of the last house on Belsize Drive before South Bayview. That would be #433. Look at the reach of that concrete pouring arm. Down below, a great picture of the East York Collegiate Institute Senior Boys Football Team. They are your 2017 TDSSAA Champions.

Mariah Hinds/Credit Terry Simpson

Defensive strength with offensive threat/Lindenwood Lions

Hockey scholarship/Lindenwood Lions

Jr. Wildcats defensive alumnus Mariah Hinds has been chosen Leaside’s 2017 Athlete of the Year and will be honoured at the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame reception in the Lea Room at Leaside arena Friday night. A protegé of Wildcats head coach Kim McCullough, Mariah draws high praise from the coach. “She had the hardest shot in the league, by far, and has the highest hockey IQ of any player I’ve ever coached. She has a magnetic personality, her teammates love her, and she leads by dominating on the ice,” McCullough told Allan Williams of Leaside Life. Mariah is now studying law on a hockey scholarship at Lindenwood University in Saint Charles Missouri, an NCAA Division One school. Details of the Friday event and tickets may be had by writing to the address below.

• leasidesportshalloffame@gmail.com

Premier Wynne will speak Wednesday night at the Rise and Dine Eatery, 2714 St. Clair Ave. E. at the launch of the East York flag campaign. The campaign is inspired by East York Hall of Fame, which will encourage current and former East York residents to display the flag of the former Borough of East York. The Premier represents part of East York as the MPP for Don Valley West. Residents will be able to purchase a large flag for $60 or a small desk flag for $10. The East York Hall of Fame operates in partnership thanks to the support of the East York Foundation. The event begins at 7 p.m.

Home delivery Dec. 8

Instcart is California based

Instabuggy delivers liquor too

The foreboding around just what grocery sales will look like in five years time is prompting Loblaw Companies to adopt a home delivery service offered by California-based Instacart. This firm should not be confused with the Canadian company Instabuggy, that delivers groceries and liquor to homes. The plan will begin in Toronto December 8 and in Vancouver in January.  The purchase of Whole Foods by Amazon and the decision by Walmart to deliver in some parts of Toronto, are behind the Loblaw move. The competitive edge for a grocery firm ranges across things like price, faster checkout and location. All of these might be less important if a consumer opts for home delivery. So far, most people still like to go the store to see what looks good. In that regard, traditional grocers like Loblaws and Metro are well-located to keep most if not all of the customers they have.  On the subject of locations however, Loblaws says it has finally decided on the closure of 22 poor performing stores from across its range of outlet brands. It has not made the locations public.

Toronto Police are warning of a scam that intimidates Mandarin-speaking people in Canada to send money so that it may be “examined for evidence of money laundering.” The funds are required to be transferred by “cash and wire transfer” and of course are never returned. How money is “examined” for specifics of the bills when it is wired isn’t explained. But the scheme has enough credibility, apparently, among people who are perhaps not citizens of Canada to cause the loss of money. A police body called the Toronto Strategic Partnership is warning the public and specifically Mandarin-speaking residents to be wary of this fraudulent scheme. The police will never ask witnesses and/or suspects to send money transfers for examination. It is requesting anyone who receives this type of call or solicitation to contact police.

Chief executive’s report

Marijuana most common drug

The head of the TTC, Andy Byford, has issued his omnibus report on operations at the transit agency. It includes numbers showing that marijuana was the drug of choice among those randomly tested in recent months. The numbers are below. The tests were performed on 1,174 employees arbitrarily and found that 23 people, or about two per cent, were not compliant with the TTC policy. Sixteen tested positive for drugs, five tested positive for alcohol and two refused to take the test with whatever consequences flowed from that. .

Streetcar land

Restaurants watch and wonder

Carefree carless King St. is apparently the commuters joy now that wrenching new rules force driver to get off and say off the old drag. But is causing congestion elsewhere. You know what happens on Bayview Ave. when they close the DVP. And the restaurant owners on King are a little uneasy. No cars, no people.

A North Korean solider who defected to the south was shot five times as he scrambled across the border. Surgeons in Seoul say they think he will survive. In Iran, that fearful earthquake on the border with Iraq has now claimed 450 lives. In Australia, the centre-right party of Malcolm Turnbull has lost its majority in the House of Representatives (Commons) when four of its members were required to resign because they have dual citizenship. Places like New Zealand and the UK. Quite weird. Also on this day in Oz, the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage has returned a “Yes” outcome of about 65 per cent in favour and 35 percent opposed. Finally, there is a new Barbie, and she is wearing a hijab. Very chic.

With the minimum wage in Ontario set to leap $2.40 to $14 an hour on January 1, 2018, the Finance Minister, Charles Sousa, told the Legislature Tuesday that the government will cut corporate income taxes on the first $500,000 of profit to 3.5 per cent from 4.5 per cent on the same date. Also, smaller businesses with fewer than 100 employees will get an incentive of $1,000 to hire a young person aged 15 to 29 and another $1,000 if the company retains that worker for six months. Sousa made the pledges in his fall economic statement. The statement is typically a mid-year tweak to the budget, but this edition takes on extra significance the 2018 general election set for June 7. Media reports contain much disdain by small business operators of the tax reduction.

REV. GRETA VOSPER TOLD HER HEARING DELAYED

United Church of Canada minister Greta Vosper, 59, the rogue shepherd of a West Hill congregation, has been told the hearing to decide on her expulsion from the church has been delayed. Vosper has been a source of anger, anxiety and confusion for the church since 2014 when she openly declared her atheism. She has asked to remain a minister of the church. An ecclesiastical court hearing was set for this month but Vosper says she has been told it has been delayed for apparent logistical reasons with no new date in sight.