Premier Kathleen Wynne (Don Valley West) continues her visit to India. The linked dispatch from NewsX  offers both reportage and insight into Indian news coverage and how some of India sees the Premier. This story from a major television news source notes first that Ms Wynne is “the premier of Canada’s Ontario province known for her support for gay rights.” It goes on to say that “Kathleen” was  dressed in a “firozi blue (turquoise) suit with her head covered with a dupatta (Punjabi-style stole).” It describes how controversy attended the visit.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar earlier said that the Canadian leader was welcome to offer prayers at the shrine but the SGPC would not honour her with a siropa due to her views on same-sex marriages. The SGPC maintained that the Sikh religion did not legitimise same-sex marriages. However, a major controversy was avoided as she was welcomed by SGPC officials, escorted to the SGPC information office, and presented with a gold-plated photo of the holy shrine.

Thus does the world differ.

Eight members of the Leaside Wildcats team were honoured Saturday night at Leaside Gardens as their days with the team dwindle down to a precious few. These stalwart teammates are off to university and in most cases university hockey. They are seen here with members of the Wildcats Novice A team (in red) who marked the occasion by giving each of the women a bouquet of roses. From left to right: Alex Woods, Siobhan Birch, Cynthia Cavanagh, Caitlin Heale, Danielle Toland, Bronte Mutukistna, Brooklyn Sarnovsky and Rachel Knee. Leaside 3, Devilettes 2 

Leaside Wildcats recorded a 3-2 victory against the London Devilettes Saturday evening and as the score suggests, the visitors put on a spirited performance. The battle at Leaside Gardens was only one of two triumphs for the Wildcats. The second emerged from inside the computer of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League  At the end the day, it found that the Wildcats had shoehorned themselves into second place leaving the Whitby Wolves in third. It is a fractional lead but part of a picture emerging in January of a Leaside team that knows how to win.  Durham West still tops the league. At the arena, Megan Pardy scored in both the first and second periods. What turned out to be the winning goal was also scored late in the second courtesy of Samantha Jones. A Leaside penalty to Emma Pye in the third gave London a chance to challenge and they did. Bryce Desa recorded the power play marker for the Devillettes. But that was all the scoring there was. Molly Jenkins faced 33 shots for London and the Wildcat’s Katie Mowbray, 27. Assists go to Emma Pye (twice) Cynthia Cavanagh, Caitlin Heale and Mariah Hinds. Standings

Next Saturday there is a nice opportunity for children to participate in a Valentine’s Day card making drop-in class at Bamboo Bay, the arts, craft and play school in Leaside. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and pre-registration is recommended to make sure you get a spot. It’s $30 a child for 30 cards and envelopes plus card making supplies and materials. That’s Saturday, February 6, 2016 at Bamboo Bay, 1515A Bayview Ave Suite 200W. That’s at the corner of Bayview and Millwood Rd above Write Impressions. See poster enlarged 

With the three fatalities announced by the OPP overnight, the number of fatal snowmobile accidents in Canada is rising quickly. Known and widely reported cases seem to number at least 11 since New Year’s. Two men are reported to have died early today (Saturday, January 30, 2016) as a result of injuries received when their snowmobile crashed through ice on Go Home Lake near Georgian Bay west of the TransCanada Highway. Another died Friday night in an apparently similar way in the waters of Dark Lake in Haliburton. Yesterday, five snowmobilers died in an avalanche near McBride B.C. On the New Year’s weekend there were reports of deaths in King Township, Nova Scotia and during a Wilderness Adventure vacation on Blackcomb Mountain in B.C.

Leaside Wildcats host the London Devilettes at Leaside Gardens tonight (Saturday, January 30, 2016). The opening face off is set for 7.40 p.m. The Devilettes sit in 11th place in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League. The Wildcats reside in third. The London ladies carry a saucy urban-slang name for sure. Fun. We will see how they are at hockey against the Wicked Leaside Wildcats tonight.

A man has changed his name so that it will appear as ZnoneoftheAbove on ballots in the Oshawa-Whitby by-election February 11, 2016. Sheldon Bergson has told the CBC that he’s trying to give an option to people who are fed up with voting over and over for the main parties and seeing nothing really change. Uh-huh.

The raccoon that attacked a 6-year-old boy walking to school with his mother in New Jersey two days ago has tested positive for rabies. Local police have issued a door-to-door warning. Aryan Gavali was targeted by the raccoon in a running attack directly at the child. It climbed atop his head and began biting the boy’s face. Many people came to help including a painter who used a heavy pole to kill the raccoon. It is an insight for parents into the danger posed by rabid raccoons. An earlier post today describes the continued growth of the rabid population of raccoons near Hamilton.

The Globe and Mail and others are making it seem that Metrolinx has blundered because it’s been discovered that new electric GO trains (due in 2024) are a couple of inches high to fit into the Union Station train shed. Metrolinx confirms that either the roof of the shed will have to be raised a couple of inches, the tracks lowered a couple of inches, or something. No word on whether the trains, presumably still unbuilt, could be altered. But in addition to that, there is fretting that because the train shed, built in 1929, is a heritage building, it might not be possible to correct ceiling space in there. Here is where ordinary people are asking why a train shed is a heritage building?  Millions have been spent to update the place, even to installing a glass roof. Heritage?