The U.K. government is set to ban new diesel and gasoline cars from 2040, following a similar move in France, in a bid to tackle pollution that could mark the end of traditional combustion engine vehicles in Europe. The government is set to unveil its much-anticipated clean air plan after a protracted legal fight with the country’s High Court, the BBC and other media groups reported Wednesday. The government was ordered by the courts to produce new plans to tackle illegal levels of harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide when judges agreed with environmental campaigners that previous plans were not sufficient to meet EU pollution limits. The government was given until July 31 to unveil the plan — The Street

Why can’t he be our president?

The magazine that will rip your skin off for a story is in love. Rolling Stone is out with a feature on Prime Minister Trudeau that sees him as the last best hope of the free world. Justin Trudeau: The North Star

Principal dancer and baseball fan Heather Ogden threw out the first pitch before the Jays game against the Oakland A’s on Tuesday night. Ogden is a sand lot graduate, having played plenty of baseball with the girls well before she became a lead with the National Ballet of Canada. She called her decision to choose ballet over baseball a big decision but the right one. Ogden has commented on the game previously as in the amusing video here.

Loblaw Companies says minimum wage increases in Ontario and Alberta are expected to increase its labour expenses by about $190 million in 2018. The company made the comments as it reported a second-quarter profit attributable to shareholders of $358 million or 89 cents per diluted share. That compared with a profit of $158 million or 39 cents per diluted share a year ago. Revenue for the quarter ended June 17 amounted to nearly $11.08 billion, up from $10.73 billion in the same quarter last year.

A Little Bit of Showbiz

Megan Slater and Carrie Laureola

Dramatic Arts

You’re invited to A Little Bit of Showbiz, the end-of-camp performance of Bamboobay’s three-week summer camp for kids in drama, music, art and dance. It takes place Thursday, July 27 starting at 7 p.m. at St. Bonaventure Church at 1300 Leslie Street. The church is set in the beautiful property nestled on the edge of Edwards Gardens. It’s entirely free although organizers Carrie Laureola and Megan Slater will offer an optional donation in lieu of tickets. Carrie and Megan outlined this summer camp to The South Bayview Bulldog in the Spring and they are very excited about the chance for the children who enrolled to perform with singing, dancing, acting and even an art gallery presentation. Says Carrie “I’m so excited for this show.” So are we. Please join us. Performing Arts Summer Camp offered for area children

What appears to be a fairly large study of sperm counts among men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand over four decades has revealed a decline of more than 50 per cent.  The lead author is Dr. Hagai Levine of the Hebrew University’s Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Jerusalem. This CBC story contains much reaction. Some sources hint at causes like smoking (although smoking has declined) weight, a lack of exercise and from one doctor, the presence of plastics as a source of female hormone compounds in the environment.

Premier Wynne (the member for Don Valley West) vows she will waive parliamentary privilege and testify in the Sudbury byelection bribery trial that begins in six weeks. Her former deputy chief of staff Patricia Sorbara and Liberal activist Gerry Lougheed are on trial for alleged Elections Act violations stemming from a February 2015 byelection. The Star calls it a “stunning development that breaks with precedent” although it is the Premier alone who knows what she has to say. Of course there will be questions too. But it must be said that politically, at least in advance, it seems appealing to those who remain loyal to Ms. Wynne and maybe others. “I could (claim parliamentary privilege) but I’m not. I will testify and I will go along with the process and do what I can to clarify as I have in the Legislature many, many times,” Wynne said Tuesday.

Janet Zuccarini

Gusto 101

Neighbours of Rosedale

The August issue of Neighbours of Rosedale features restaurant maven and total insider Janet Zuccarini. Her many businesses include Cafe Nervoso, Gusto 101 and Cubby’s. Ms Zuccarini has been profiled a few times but this one is directed to readers in Rosedale (and Moore Park). You can borrow a copy from anyone you know who lives south of the cemetery. Neighbours of Rosedale is one of the proliferating Best Version Media magazines, a media company in Wisconsin with a popular formula for sitting room publications  The publisher of Neighours of Rosedale is Susan Warburton

Bell cable (another) for Bayview

The stretch of construction equipment, trucks and decorative orange traffic cones on the east side of Bayview Tuesday was all in aid of another Bell cable as the best any of the men working there could say. Maybe it’s Fibe, maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s a coffee tube. Some cynically commented it was on the wrong of Bayview because there is no Fibe available on parts of the west side.

US retailer Michael Kors will buy Jimmy Choo Plc, the stiletto standard for women who can navigate in them. The 20-year British firm will go for $1.2-billion. Towering Choo heels were famously worn by Princess Diana in the 90s and displayed in 2017 on the feet of Kendall Jenner. “Jimmy Choo is an iconic premier luxury brand that offers distinctive footwear, handbags and other accessories,” said Michael Kors, honorary chairman and chief creative officer.

New rules for condominium corporations will be brought in by the Government in coming months. They cover a number of areas as listed below but in the end are all designed to ensure the honest use of money that belongs to the condo board (and owners). Concerns have been raised that members of a board might initiate or support contracts for work or maintenance that benefit them personally. Below is a summary of planned changes as published by the CBC.

• Regular mandatory updates about a condo corporation to help improve communication between boards and owners.
• Improving condo corporation governance and addressing conflicts of interest by introducing new disclosure requirements for directors, including whether they are not owners or occupiers of units in the condo or if they have interests in contracts involving the corporation.
• Mandatory training for condo directors.
• Clearer rules to make it easier for condo owners to access records.
• New notices, quorum and voting rules to make it easier for owners to participate in owners’ meetings.
• Mandatory education requirements for condo managers applying for a general licence.

Traffic camera looking southwest

Bayview Ave. and York Mills Rd. is a construction scene Tuesday morning with traffic restricted because of ongoing work to repair a water main. Here are the limitations applying. It appears that it is still possible to access York Mills Shopping Centre from entrances distant from the corner.

• Southbound Bayview Avenue has been reduced to one lane with no right turns allowed onto York Mills
• Both lanes of northbound Bayview Avenue are open but no left turns are permitted onto York Mills Road
• Eastbound York Mills Road has been reduced to one lane west of Bayview
• Traffic heading westbound on York Mills Road can turn north and south but west of Bayview Avenue, westbound traffic is reduced to one lane

The task before workers is said to be fairly challenging in terms of locating all utilities which might need replacing as a result of the rupture.

Looking southbound toward York Mills/Twitter