The Bank of Canada is keeping its key interest rate target on hold as it raises its outlook for economic growth this year. The key rate remains at 0.25 percent where it has held steady for more than a year. The decision came as the Bank of Canada raised its prediction for economic growth this year to 6.5 percent, up from an earlier forecast of 4.0 percent.

April 21, 2021 on Moore Ave beside the cemetery/Bulldog

Wednesday’s snow and cold weather is an unfortunate blast from the not-too-distant past. But many streets looked pretty. The high is expected to be 4º with Friday promising a sweltering 16º

Bessborough Drive Wednesday/Bulldog

Elegant pieces taken from midtown gallery

Stolen Monday

Easily recognized

Police say four burglars pried open a door of the Galerie De Bellefeuille on Avenue Rd south of Davenport Rd. Monday and stole works said to be worth as much as $265,000. Police have released photos of the pieces and security images of the four wanted persons seen at a distance. They were last seen leaving the area heading north in a grey Toyota Sienna minivan with no license plates.

It’s Tuesday and there is anger in the UK and across Europe over an out-of-nowhere elite league for certain soccer teams. Players, soccer leaders, politicians and even royalty have voiced their concerns over the Super League project, a plan to break 12 teams away from the European club system.

CN and CP slug it out for Kansas City Southern

Canadian National Railway Co. has offered to buy US railway Kansas City Southern in a cash-and-stock bid valued at $33.7 billion US. The offer of $325 a share plus agreeing to take over $3.8 billion worth of KCS’s debt tops a proposal made by Canadian Pacific Railway for KCS last month, one that offered $275 a share for a total price tag of $25 billion. The move would bring ports and rail lines in the United States, Mexico and Canada together under one network to create the most far-reaching transportation networks in North America.

Rogers wireless back is up but what a mess

Rogers has restored wireless service nationally after a day-long outage. It says the problem was a recent Ericsson software update that affected a piece of equipment in the central part of its wireless network. Yes, updates are always enough to send savvy users screaming in fear of the wonderful improvements in store.

Catalpa on Manor Rd. at Belcourt Rd.

200 year old tree coming down

A Catalpa tree that has been a landmark on Manor Rd has been cut down with the approval of the City Forestry Service. The Catalpa was at Manor and Belcourt Rd since before there were homes there. A sonic tomography procedure was conducted on the tree which revealed that it was hollow and rotten in several locations. As a result, staff concluded that the tree was in poor condition and have since secured a compensation plan for replanting.

NASA flies small chopper on face of Mars/animated

After successfully test-flying a mini-helicopter on Mars, NASA is calling the flight a “Wright Brothers moment” on the Red Planet. NBC’s Tom Costello reports

Rogers says it is working to fix a wireless service outage across the country. The disruption is affecting cell voice and data services.

In a tweet, at 5:39 PM (Apr 19, 2021), the @RogersHelps account stated that “no estimated time of resolution has been provided yet, however, we continue to work diligently to get this wireless service interruption resolved as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you during these already difficult times. -^rm”.

A notice from Jorge Fernandes, Chief Technology Officer at Rogers, states that a software update issue has caused the outage.

Early this morning, our network operations centre started to see that some wireless customers were experiencing intermittent issues with voice calls, SMS and data services. Our TV, home and business wireline Internet, and home phone services were not impacted.

We have identified the root cause of the service issues and pinpointed a recent Ericsson software update that affected a piece of equipment in the central part of our wireless network. That led to intermittent congestion and service impacts for many customers across the country.

We have addressed the software issue and our engineering and technical teams will continue to work around the clock with the Ericsson team to restore full services for our customers.

We do not have an exact time yet as it may take us several hours to get everything back up and running normally. It’s important that we bring wireless services back up gradually as we return to full service. You have our full commitment that we will not rest until all services are restored.

https://twitter.com/RogersHelps/status/1384200104555401216

Reuters is quoting the Toronto Star as saying Monday’s federal budget will herald a tax on luxury goods. It says cars over $100,000 will be a target. It cites a “digital services tax” that will land on Google and Facebook in 2022. Count on a huge counter-offensive from them. The Star says we’re heading for the highest deficit since WWII. Read it

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning Saturday about Peloton’s Tread+ treadmill, warning people with kids and pets to stop using the treadmill after one child died and nearly 40 others reported injuries. New York-based Peloton Interactive Inc. said in a news release that the warning was “inaccurate and misleading.” It said there’s no reason to stop using the treadmill as long as children and pets are kept away from it at all times.

Also Monday

• Peaky Blinders actress dead at 52
• Bill Barilko legend alive on 70th anniversary of Leafs 1951 Cup

The federal budget will be revealed Monday afternoon. It expected to offer ongoing cash for child care and extended pandemic aid programs. The deficit will push $400 billion. CTV

Ontario says the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will be offered to people 40 and over beginning Tuesday at hundreds of drugstores already stocked with the serum. The office of the Health Minister, Christine Elliott, confirmed the change on Sunday. The federal committee that first stalled on approving AstraZeneca, then approved it for over 55s, has now approved it for adults over 18. But supplies will limit such use to those over 40 in the coming days. Medical advice to the public throughout the western world has been universal to take the first vaccine available, including AstraZeneca.

• Maclean’s review asks: “How did it come to this?”