The South Bayview Bulldog

An Alberta Conservative MP, Jim Hillyer, has died in Ottawa in his office Wednesday morning of an apparent heart attack. Mr.Hillyer, 41, had complained of feeling poorly. He had faced serious health issues including a battle with leukemia in 2003.

 

The day after an apparently generous (or perhaps terribly profligate) $880 million federal gift to Toronto for “transit” comes word that the TTC needs $34 million to repair old streetcars because of the failure of Bombardier to deliver useable new vehicles. It is this type of seemingly incompetent spending that makes reasonable taxpayers blanch. The City shows no indication of divorcing itself from its costly streetcar mentality. It isn’t clear that bureaucrats even understand the wastefulness of the current streetcar strategy. And to be fair, it costs a lot to run transit and there may be ways that the City will see a reasonable return.  Perhaps new resistance will form to the senseless Scarborough subway — an underground to nowhere with no stops. Here’s the view through rose-coloured glasses.

She comes off as a caring East York mom who wants to enroll her child at the local school but while she’s there the woman shown above is rooting around lockers and offices to steal phones, cash and anything else she can easily carry. Cops say this has been going on since February 4, 2016. At 54 Division detectives have released the surveillance camera image in hope of catching up with the school mom thief.  The woman is described as white, standing five-feet-two inches tall, with long blonde hair Below are the schools she has hit. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5400, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World

– Adam Beck Junior Public School, 400 Scarborough Road
– Blantyre Public School, 290 Blantyre Avenue
– Gledhill Junior Public School, 2 Gledhill Avenue
– Kimberley Junior Public School, 50 Swanwick
– Secord Elementary School, 101 Barrington Avenue
– William J McCordic School, 45 Balfour Avenue
– Malvern Collegiate Institute, 55 Malvern Avenue

The money goes to set up five health, life and dental trusts that will consolidate more than 1,000 current benefit plans. The government believes it will eventually recover the set-up costs — $175 million to establish the trusts and $125 million to consolidate the plans — due to “long-term efficiencies” and “improved purchasing power.”  Canadian Press 

Now French’s says it will bottle some of its ketchup in Canada as the ultimate trick of one-upmanship on rival Heinz. Canadian bottling of Leamington-grown tomatoes would make French’s a 100 percent Canadian product. Loblaws recent clanger of removing French’s ketchup revealed the potent appeal of Canadian-grown food to Canuck consumers. French’s, a British firm, says it is getting ready to announce plans for bottling here soon with an unnamed partner.

 

Liberal backbencher Bas Balkissoon has abruptly resigned his Scarborough seat in the Legislature without explanation. Premier Wynne’s office announced Balkissoon‘s decision also without reason. A statement said there will be no further comment other than to thank Mr. Balkisson for his public service. He was first elected to the Legislature in 2005 and served as parliamentary assistant to several ministers but was never promoted to the Liberal cabinet. The 63-year-old MPP was born in Trinidad and Tobago. He served as a Toronto city councillor before his election to the riding of Scarborough-Rouge River. The government has six months to call a byelection to replace Balkissoon.

Tuesday evening saw a large crowd on hand in the William Lea Room at Leaside Gardens to hear a lecture by the eminent astronomer Dr. Bryan Gaensler on The World Records of the Universe. Dr. Gaensler is Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics and attendees were familiar with his work. Many were alumni and colleagues from the University of Toronto.

As condolences flow in, the City awaits to hear of the family’s plans for funeral services for former mayor Rob Ford. Plans will be shared with the municipal administration and some form of official honour will be paid. The City’s protocol office says state funerals are normally reserved for sitting mayors, but exceptions can be made. Mr. Ford succumbed Tuesday to the soft tissue cancer he had fought for nearly two years. The high marks of his mayoralty — privatization of garbage collection west of Yonge Street and his populist bear-hug of Toronto — are being recalled tonight. The sometimes less than polished Ford was known to have once called himself “300 pounds of fun.”  He was disliked by many for his political toughness on government spending. But it was his weaknesses to drugs and alcohol that led to his loss of public support. His secret and then public use of such substances scandalized the City and humiliated its chief executive. Ford was first elected as City Councillor for Ward 2 in 2000. He built a name for himself by attacking councillor office budgets, using his own money to pay for his expenses and giving his cellphone number out to any constituent that needed his help. The following statement was issued by his chief of staff Dan Jacobs. CBC

“With heavy hearts and profound sadness, the Ford family announces the passing of their beloved son, brother, husband, and father, Councillor Rob Ford earlier today at the age of 46.

A dedicated man of the people, Councillor Ford spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto.

The family asks that you respect their privacy and join them in their grieving and their prayers.

The family will not be making any statements to the media or taking any questions. Information will follow at a later time regarding memorial services.

Over his decade and a half in municipal politics, Ford won a devoted following for being a straight talker who championed the average taxpayer.”

A group of students from Crescent School at 2365 Bayview Ave. are stranded in Brussels because of the terrorist attacks there today. The circumstances which have left the kids camping in a convention centre are a fluke. They were making a stopover at Brussels on their return to Toronto from an Outreach trip to India. As they were landing, the explosions occurred. The plane was permitted down but after that, all bets were off. All nine students, who range from grade nine to 12, and two supervising teachers have all been confirmed safe.

Authorities locked down the Belgian capital on Tuesday after explosions rocked the Brussels airport and subway system, killing as many as 36 people with 170 injured, many are in critical condition. The second explosion was at the Maelbeek metro station near the EU parliament. Late reports speak of a  police action to perhaps apprehend associates of the suicide bombers. CBC

European stocks fell and investors rushed for the safety of gold and government bonds on Tuesday, after the explosions at Brussels airport. Travel sector stocks including airlines and hotels fell the most, pulling the broader indices down from multi-week highs as reports on the scale of the carnage in the capital of the European Union.

TRUDEAU DEPLORES ATTACK

Justin Trudeua issued a statement saying he deplores the terrorist bombings in Brussels today and said Canada stands with Belgium and the EU. Air traffic in and out of Brussels is paralyzed with many flgths cancelled.

An outbreak of painful skin sores, rashes and lesions among children on the remote Northern Ontario Kashechewan First Nation reserve has caused authorities to organize a mass airlift of kids out of the community tomorrow (Tuesday). There is no specific diagnosis of the condition but the federal health minister Jane Philpott says it appears the cause is an infection of some type. She said it is not caused by unclean drinking water as some have said. The issue came to a head over the weekend with pictures on social media showing dreadfully afflicted children. A team of physicians is on its way to do door-to-door inspections. Hygiene conditions are not known. Kashechewan First Nation is a Cree First Nation band government located near James Bay. It is incredibly remote. The community is located on the northern shore of the Albany River nearly a 1,000 km from Toronto. Kashechewan First Nation is one of two communities that were established from Old Fort Albany (now the Fort Albany 67 Indian Reserve) in the 1950s.  Shocking pictures on Twitter

Citizens braved cold Lake Ontario water in an unsuccessful effort to rescue a woman in a submerged car at the mouth of the Credit River in Mississauga Monday afternoon. In time, Peel Regional Paramedic Services finally were able to remove the lone occupant of the vehicle and take her to Trillium Health Centre. Her vital signs were absent. Police received a call at around 4:15 p.m. about a vehicle that went into the Credit River near Stavebank and Lakeshore Roads in Port Credit. They say they aren’t sure how the car got into the water. It appears the vehicle may have been submerged for two hours before the body of the woman was removed.

“