The CBC is saying that the police transformational task force may advocate abolition of the police transit unit and may even venture into whether the City should be divided into Divisions. The report is due this week. Such guessing is inevitable. The notion of a City the size of Toronto without police boundaries however seems a recipe for confusion. The study is about money. It seems possible to reduce the number of unionized police officers and replace them with civilians in some areas. CBC

The mayor of London Matt Brown is temporarily stepping down from his post after admitting to engaging in an “inappropriate” months long affair with Deputy Mayor Maureen Cassidy, who resigned Tuesday evening after apologizing for what she called a brief relationship. Mr. Brown is married with two young children after a radio station heard of the infidelity from several sources at city hall. “Over the past many months, during a period of intense workload, I developed a close working relationship and ultimately an inappropriate personal relationship with Deputy Mayor Maureen Cassidy, for a brief period of time. This was a grave error in judgement on my part. The relationship ended some time ago,” she said.

There will soon be three new mental health walk-in clinics in the City, one at Delisle Youth Services at Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave. The information was released today by Olivia Heffernan, 26, youth engagement facilitator with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in comments to the CBC. The other two clinics will be near Danforth Avenue and Woodbine at a new ‘What’s up’ walk-in at the South East Toronto Family Health Team and at Markham and Ellesmere Roads at the ‘What’s up’ walk-in at East Metro Youth Services in Scarborough. The Scarborough location is open while the other two will open in July. The clinics are designed for patients 11 to 25 and offer access to “solution-focused therapy, peer support, system navigation, access to Internet-based tools and on site access to psychiatric services.”

Youth, community agency & hospital partners cut the ribbon at #youthcanImpact @CAMHnews @EastMetro_EMYS @DYSToronto pic.twitter.com/0VAU4VAqht

— Likwa Nkala (@EMYSLikwa) June 14, 2016

 

Saturday, June 18, 2016, the City will hold what it is called a pop-up consultation on Toronto’s ravine strategy n the East York Memorial Arena parking lot. It is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The news release speaks of generalized vision for future decision-making related to ravines. It seems like it wants to fine tune things. In any case, people are invited to offer ideas on how the ravines might best be used. Saturday is Community Environment Day in Ward 31. The arena is at 888 Cosburn Ave. at Cedarvale Avenue Full news release 

The East York Farmers Market had a beautiful — and busy — Tuesday in Memorial Gardens Park, 880 Coxwell Ave at Mortimer Ave. The market is on every Tuesday this summer from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The stand selling big fat hot dogs with licentious condiments was mobbed and saw several scrubs-clad employees of nearby East General Hospital tucking into a lunch not approved by the institution’s dietician. Oh well.

General Motors has invented a “rear seat reminder” that begins boinging if you’ve left someone in the rear seat as you get out.  It will appear first on the 2017 Acadia SUV. The device is a response to annual incidents of children and pets left behind especially in hit weather. As many as 12 children died in the U.S. from heatstroke in cars, safety advocates say. It works like a seat belt reminder: a warning tone sounds and alerts drivers to “Look In Rear Seat,” with a message flashing in the center of the vehicle’s speedometer. The feature will be included by default in all new Acadias, GM’s global safety strategy engineer Tricia Morrow told CNNMoney, though you can shut it off if you choose to do so. The company says it will integrate the tool into other four-door GM models in the future.  Consumerist

Kevin Somers, vice-president of operations at Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., has told The South Bayview Bulldog that a “consolidated” service will continue to operate at the 1391 Bayview (at McRae Dr) office even as some staff moves to the company’s York Mills Centre office on Yonge Street. “We remain very committed to Leaside and will continue to be doing business there,” Mr. Somers said Wednesday.  There has been a question about the future of the long-standing real estate office on Bayview. Some people believed that it was going to close.

The United Kingdom votes on a momentous referendum June 23, 2016. It will decide whether Britain stays in the European Union. There is said to be movement toward leaving although the EU side is said to still hold an edge. .

https://twitter.com/stanselm_cs/status/742374328373809152

Former New Democrat MP Glenn Thibeault is Ontario’s new energy minister following a cabinet shuffle by Premier Kathleen Wynne, who also created several new ministries.Thibeault was lured from the NDP by Wynne to run as a provincial Liberal in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, and was rewarded Monday with a promotion to cabinet. Six other new faces were promoted to cabinet, including Eleanor McMahon in Tourism, Culture and Sport; Kathryn McGarry in Natural Resources and Forestry; Marie-France Lalonde in Consumer Services; and Indira Naidoo-Harris as associate minister of finance. Mitzie Hunter will become Ontario’s new Minister of Education, replacing Liz Sandals, who becomes president of the Treasury Board. Michael Chan moves from Citizenship and Immigration to the new Ministry of International Trade, while Yasir Naqvi will become attorney general. Wynne says 40 per cent of the cabinet is women, and defends expanding the size of her executive council, insisting the new ministries are needed to implement key parts of the Liberal agenda. Group photos of the new cabinet were taken indoors in this fine June day. The reason was the lockdown and terror scare ongoing at nearby University of Toronto.

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