A sun-drenched Saturday on Bayview Ave has marked the beginning of the season so far as most people are concerned. Once again food stores have their samples on the street and dogs are meeting up while owners chat. At Davenport Garden Centre at Bayview and Davisville the first weekend of business was brisk. Carla Rose, the amiable owner (above) was advising on soil for potting as opposed to the garden.
Hydro rates go up May 1, 2016 because you used less power during a mild winter. Such is the upside down logic of government thinking and you will hear in this CBC report DCeiran Bishop, manager of the Ontario Energy Board Rates and Prices say that “revenue” is the issue. The government needs money. The province has a $308 billion debt you know. It cost at least $10 billion a year just to carry it. When Hydro was created by Adam Beck in 1905 the committment was to “power at cost”.
Minerva Hui
About 150 people gathered at the Canadian Legion at 243 Coxwell Ave Saturday morning to protest the privatization of Ontario Hydro by the Liberal Government. This chapter of the province-wide protest is intended to pressure Beaches-East york MPP Artur Potts to oppose his party’s plan. So far, there is little sign of that with the member saying the government has a mandate for the sell off. If so, many people missed it and an Environics poll released by organizers at the meeting says that 84 percent of people living in downtown Toronto, East York and York oppose the sale, with 52 percent saying they strongly oppose it. Some 64 percent of the 727 person sample said it will make them less likely to vote Liberal in the next election. Minerva Hui, organizer of the meeting, said the poll “shows a vast majority of people in this riding and in Kathleen Wynne’s backyard (Don Valley West) wanted the government to stop the sale of Hydro One from going any further even before last week’s sell-off a further 15 percent.” The meeting plotted other activities to oppose Hydro privatization. There will be a leaflet campaign Thursday, May 26, 2016 at 5.30 at the Woodbine subway station. Where’s Adam Beck when you need him?
A desperate search for survivors is underway in Southern Japan even as authorities and residents brace themselves for the possibility of a third quake. Rescue crews scramble through rubble Saturday in a race against time following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Japan’s Kyushu Island, the same region rattled by a 6.2 quake two days earlier. A total of 25 people have died in both earthquakes, according to current estimates. The death toll in the latest Kyushu earthquake is 16 people, according to Kumamoto Prefecture’s disaster management office.
At the Vending Machine Expo in Chicago this week there is a look into the fast food mechanics of the future. We’re going well beyond chips and candy bars here. Vince Geresole reports.
Kathy Gooch
Funeral services for Kathryn (Kathy) M.Gooch will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Humphrey Funeral Home chapel at 1403 Bayview Ave. Ms. Gooch died suddenly at home on Thursday, April 7, 2016 at the age 61. Kathy Gooch was predeceased by her parents, Reverend Canon Francis Gooch and Bernice Gooch, Kathy leaves behind to cherish her memory her brother David Nelson Gooch, his wife Cathy and nieces Megan (Jon) and Erin (Mark) of Winnipeg and her brother Peter Francis Gooch of Toronto as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. She will be sadly missed by many friends and work colleagues, especially her closest friend Margot Doey-Vick. Full obituary is here.
A company called the Ontario Energy Group and its director Eugene Farber have been charged with 142 counts of violating the Consumer Protection Act in the wake of hundreds of customer complaints against the door-to-door sales firm. The government says complaints have been appearing since 2009. The company sells air conditioners and furnaces. The charges were laid Friday and include using false, misleading or deceptive practices, failure to deliver a valid contract and failure to issue a refund. CBC
The wrecker is busy daily and it won’t long before the job is done. The final hours of McDonald’s at Eglinton and Bayview is seen in a photo from above taken by reader Gary Slippoy and below looking north from the driveway of the four-plex to the south (South Bayview Bulldog)
A couple in Montana was so busy making out they missed three armed robbers holding up a bar early Monday morning, surveillance video appears to show. Billings police are looking for three suspects who hit the Tap Inn at gunpoint and the cops probably didn’t get much of a description from the two lovebirds. Very funny. Except for the robbery.
A British reporter has visited the Starbucks Annual General Meeting in Seattle and found all the odd things about SBUX HQ are true. Is it a business or a cult, asks Ruth Sutherland This is Money
The Canadian Real Estate Association reports a slowdown in Vancouver and Toronto markets even as agents sold a record number of homes overall. CREA says about 60 per cent of all local markets showed an increase in transactions, including Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal and Victoria. The national average price for homes sold through its members was $508,567, up 15.7 per cent from a year earlier. Excluding the Vancouver area and Toronto area, which have Canada’s most expensive real estate, the national average would be $366,950 — up 10.4 per cent from March 2015.
A top doctor at Brockville General Hospital has been suspended by the College of Physicians and Surgeons for four months because of rude and abusive behaviour toward women. The targets of Dr. Jayant Bhatt’s choice epithets like “stupid” and “useless” were his patients, nurses and other female staff. But the language was even worse than that from time to time. Dr.Bhatt apparently missed all those portrayals of sweet and kind physicians ranging from Young Doctor Kildare to Marcus Welby. He had been known to dismiss nurses questions with “shut the f— up.” An investigation launched by the College revealed some patients refused to be treated by him. The information has come to light from the College’s discipline committee decision which found that Bhatt’s behaviour amounted to professional misconduct. It took away his licence to practise medicine until the end of July. “The details of your comments and arrogant behaviour can only be described as egregious and completely unacceptable,” the committee said in addressing Bhatt, a specialist in internal medicine. “The committee was particularly concerned that the behaviour was directed almost exclusively at women colleagues, patients and co-workers.” The future will see what Dr.Bhatt can manage in this regard. He has a long history of such conduct and one nurse who had the courage to tell him off said he changed his manner for a short time but then returned to his obnoxious ways. This matter was brought to the College’s attention by Brockville General Hospital.
