The Bulldog

Airbus 1000 maiden flight in challenge to the 777

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The Airbus mini-jumbo contender A350-1000 took its maiden flight at Toulouse in France this week as the European planemaker hustles to try to get back into the lucrative category dominated by Boeing. The 1000 carries 366 passengers and is made with many parts of synthetic materials similar to Boeing models. Time will tell.

Presto installed at Bessarion “ghost station” on Sheppard

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They were crowing today about the newly-installed Presto gates (below) at Bessarion station on the Sheppard line. This may not have been the best place to look for transit publicity. Bessarion — named after Bessarion Road west of Bayview Ave — is absolutely the least-used station on a lightly travelled subway line. In 2014, the website Urban Toronto wrote that the “Sheppard Subway (Line 4) is the most modern rapid transit line in the system, and while much of the line’s length has been home to intense urbanization since opening in 2004, the Sheppard Line’s stations are still some of the least-used underground transit stations in the system. Bessarion Station is in fact the least used underground rapid transit station in the city…” In fact, the online magazine calls it a ghost station. Did our City Council do that? Read the many tart comments published by Urban Toronto

Norovirus suspected at Selwyn Elementary in East York

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An ominous pattern of apparent norovirus outbreaks in the Toronto area is being seen in East York where some 66 kids out of a total enrolment of 245 were off school Thursday. Selwyn Elementary is on Selwyn Ave between O’Connor Drive and St.Clair Ave. E. Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird said: “Given that large increase, we did notify Toronto Public Health, who suggested that the symptoms they were experiencing – nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, were consistent with norovirus, but that’s not been confirmed.” He said parents are probably keeping another 45 kids at home as a precaution. Earlier this week two York Region schools tested positive for norovirus. One of the schools is located in the City of Markham and the other is in the Town of East Gwillimbury. Thornhill Woods Public School has a possible outbreak of the virus. Previous

Surprise narrowing of 3 lanes to 1 at Avenue Rd. and Bloor

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ave-and-bloor Southbound drivers were in for a nasty surprise Friday morning as traffic backed up to well north of Davenport when a crew narrowed three lanes into one at Bloor Street. A hole was dug in the centremost lane and the next was perfect parking for the huge truck. By the watch, the crawl from Davenport to Bloor was 20 minutes.

Beaches Santa Claus Parade set for Sunday, Nov 27

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Santa Claus will come to the Beach on Sunday with the Community Centre 55 and the Village of East Toronto Beaches’ Santa Claus Parade. Road closures will be in place from 1 to 2 p.m westbound on Kingston Road (eastbound will operate in a limited capacity) from Victoria Park Avenue to Walter Street and 1:30. to 2 p.m. Walter Street, from Kingston Road to Swanwick Avenue  TTC will experience minor delays during this event. Motorists are advised to consider the road closure when planning their travels.

Mayhem galore as captured by @LateNightCam guy

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There’s been accidents and associated mayhem galore overnight around the GTA. It is both pedestrian (a woman knocked down but okay in North York) and dramatic (a York Region municipal bus and a motor coach with 7 people treated, below).  As well, a car hit a shop on the Queensway severing a gas line, a head-on collision at Finch and Midland and two people trapped in a car at Weston and Old Weston Rds. but also okay. Much of it is captured by Tony Smyth and tweeted to his account @LateNightCam

Whoa! Cop finds kid with (toy) gun in trunk of mom’s car

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In Lewiston, Idaho officer Thomas Woods got a bit of a surprise when a young man came bounding out of the trunk of his mom’s car intent on escaping. Left to right from the top we see Woods touch the lid. The man inside, Jesse Harnell, tries to bound out but Woods slams the lid back down. Trouble is Harnell, 20, has his leg in the way. It causes Woods to stumble and Harnell is out of the trunk. After a struggle he was put in cuffs by backup police. Woods had stopped the car because he knew it was driven by Harnell’s mother. When he heard a noise in the trunk, he asked her if her son was in there.  Angelia Barnett-Harrell, 47, immediately responded, “It’s a toy gun, don’t shoot him.” Police confirm it was a realistic looking toy gun. See video

Problems seen for Premier in Toronto road tolls bid

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Mike Crawley of the CBC thinks there may be a nasty backlash from 905 voters if the Ontario Liberals permit Toronto to impose tolls to drive the DVP and Gardiner.

WHO? Women on short list for currency underwhelm

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The committee to find a female face for the Canadian five dollar bill has reported. It names Viola Desmond, who fought racial discrimination in Nova Scotia, Pauline Johnson, a poet who was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an English woman, and Elsie MacGill, the first woman in Canada to receive a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. Also on the list is track and field athlete Bobbie Rosenfeld, who won a silver and gold medal at the 1928 Olympics and went on to become a sports columnist, and Idola Saint-Jean, a feminist and pioneer in the fight for suffrage in Quebec. All fine women no doubt but there are some who have impacted life more, like Lucy Maude Montgomery, whose literary work has entertained millions and incidentally made Canada a real place in distant lands. Or Agnes Macphail.  Canadian Press

Photos of quad truck believed to be hit-and-run vehicle

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Police have released images of a quad-style pickup truck apparently the vehicle involved in a hit and run at the intersection of Sheppard Ave and Aragon Ave/Bayview Mills Blvd on November 14. A pedestrian, 76, suffered fatal injuries and the driver fled. The images released appear to civilian observation (not police) to show a Toyota Tundra double cab.

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Greyhound wins Best in Show at U.S. National Dog Show

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One of the most enjoyable events at U.S. Thanksgiving is the National Dog Show in Philadelphia. This year a sleek greyhound won Best in Show. Much more from NBC on this show 


$2 expressway toll would run commuters $1,000 plus a year

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The toll road snowball is hurtling through City Hall Thursday morning with reports that Mayor Tory is in fact committed and all it requires is a perfunctory vote on council and the stroke of a pen by Transportation Minister Del Duca. The mayor opposed such a scheme during the election campaign. The excitement as reported on CP24 seems heady. There is talk about a $2 toll as just the thing to fix Toronto’s finances. So far no one has pondered that this price for a one way trip would cost drivers more than $1,000 a year to get to and back from work

SOUTH BAYVIEW SPILL?

It is by no means clear whether a toll on the Don Valley Parkway would cause much, if any traffic, to divert onto City streets. But at more than $1,000 a year to use the expressways for work, it is possible. And as residents of South Bayview know very well, the local roads are jammed on weekends when the parkway is closed. Those who care about the number of cars merely passing through — and especially on Bayview Ave. — may wish to ask whether a study is needed to examine this possibility. It is an interesting irony that many of these streets are in the Premier’s riding of Don Valley West.

BLAME GAME

Jennifer Pagliaro of the Star writes that City Planner Jennifer Keesmaat and James Pasternak (Ward 10) are among many people pummeling those who live outside Toronto for not paying their “fair share” of road costs. Keesmaat says 40 percent of drivers on the DVP are from outside town. That means 60 percent live here. In the same report James Campbell (Ward 4) says TTC riders pay 70 percent of the cost of the service. But he knows that drivers pay enormously more money in taxes than the price of a Metropass. Blame is the name of the game. Jennifer Pagliaro