The South Bayview Bulldog

Kostaki Papakonstantinou

They will be pals forever if fate permits after one seven-year-old, Kostaki Papakonstantinou, clung to the clothes of his young buddy, also seven, to keep him from falling 40 feet from a ski lift at Lakeridge Ski Resort in Uxbridge. Kostaki is being called a hero by police for tenaciously holding his friend long enough for resort staff to set up a safety net below. The boys were on a class trip at Lakeridge  The boy turned in his seat to look back when he slipped off the seat and began to fall. “He slipped out of the chair lift then he got back on. Then he slipped again,”  Kostaki  told CTV  “I was worried that he would fall on the snow and they wouldn’t be there in time,” he said. “I was holding him until they were ready and then I let him drop into (the net).” The boy fell into the net and then bounced onto the hill. The boy was airlifted to Sick Kids hospital and he’s expected to make a full recovery.

The Canadian International Auto Show has dozens of fascinating exhibit vehicles like the Toyota small delivery vehicle the U2 (U squared) and  the new concept truck from Hyundai — the Santa Cruz.  CBC

The BBC is claiming that the little-known secret setting for Facebook Groups is being used by various people to trade  and show child pornography. It says the groups category has three settings — open, closed and secret. Facebook is quoted as saying it removes solicitation for  sex and other similar material from groups. The BBC suggests that the activity there would be actionable under most criminal legislation. BBC

Basketball fans lined up for hours in frigid weather this morning to be the first through the door of a Michael Jordan pop-up store on Yonge Street.The store just north of Dundas Street West opened at 6:23 a.m. but hundreds of fans had been waiting in line all night, and in some cases for days, in temperatures that dipped to -15 C.CBC

News Release – February 12, 2016  Today, the City of Toronto announced its contingency plan for service delivery in the event of a labour disruption involving members of the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union (TCEU) Local 416 (CUPE) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79.

“We remain very much committed to reaching negotiated settlements but we must also be responsible in preparing our operational contingency plans in advance of a potential labour disruption,” said City Manager Peter Wallace. “As always, there is a high priority on maintaining public safety and ensuring the delivery of as many critical services as possible.”

In the event of a labour disruption, Toronto Police, Fire Services, Paramedic Services, Long-Term Care Homes and Services (Homes for the Aged) as well as the TTC, Toronto Community Housing properties and most Toronto Public Library branches would not be affected. The City remains prepared to respond to emergency situations. The City’s water supply and sewage treatment systems will also continue to function within established safety and quality standards.

In the event of a labour disruption, there will be significant impacts to services and programs. Residents and businesses are asked to be patient as the negotiation process continues.

The City’s contingency plan and any future updates will be posted on the City website http://www.toronto.ca/labourdisruption. Residents and businesses with questions about the contingency plan may also call 311.

The City’s approximately 4,200 outside workers represented by CUPE Local 416 will be in a legal strike position and the City will be in a legal lockout position as of 12:01 a.m., or one minute past midnight, on Friday, February 19. Additionally, the City’s approximately 21,000 inside workers represented by CUPE Local 79, will be in a legal strike position and the City will be in a legal lockout position as of 12:01 a.m., or one minute past midnight, on Saturday, February 20.

The City has been at the table with its bargaining agents since the fall and remains committed to negotiating new collective agreements that are fair and reasonable to employees and residents and that allow the City to respond effectively to the needs of Toronto residents and businesses.

City Manager Peter Wallace will speak at 1 p.m. Friday about contingency plans for service delivery in the event of a labour disruption involving members of the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union (TCEU) Local 416 (CUPE) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 79.  Mainly that’s what do you do with your garbage.

There is anger in the United Kingdom over an alleged 10-year tax dodge by Google that has seen European boss Matt Brittin grilled at the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament about how much he makes personally. He could not — or would not — answer. It was a bit of grandstanding by MPs but it appears true that Google has been able to avoid the full payment of monies it should have paid. For reasons not explained, the government revenue collection arm, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) settled for 130 million pounds .

The Ohio Art Co., owner of the Etch A Sketch concept, has sold the well-known children’s pastime to the Toronto toy firm Spin Master Corp  with offices at 450 Front Street West.  The price was not disclosed. Etch A Sketch was created by a French inventor. The brand was produced or owned by Ohio Art since 1960, when it bought the rights for $25,000.

The Canadian International Auto Show opened Thursday with the 2016 Honda Civic being named Canadian Car of the Year by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. The Civic beat out the Volkswagen Golf R and the Golf Sportwagon, the other finalists up for the award. The 2016 Mazda CX-3 beat out the Kia Sorento and Volvo XC90 to capture the 2016 Utility Vehicle of the Year title.

The Progressive Conservatives have won the Whitby-Oshawa byelection according to the CBC and CP24. The candidate, Lorne Coe, was said to have about 50 per cent of the vote.

Mayor John Tory warned of a “real chance” of a labour disruption involving indoor and outdoor workers in a letter to city councillors Thursday. He says that the “climate at the negotiations table and the union’s declaration that they will accept no concessions indicate that there is a real chance we will have a labour disruption”. .The Toronto stock market sank nearly 100 points Thursday, the fifth day of large losses. Traders were saying things like:  “Everyone is looking at negative rates in Europe and Japan, and trying to figure out what that means to the banking system.” And scientists for the first time have detected gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesised by Albert Einstein a century ago, in a landmark discovery announced on Thursday that opens a new window for studying the cosmos. The waves were unleashed by the collision of the black holes, one of them 29 times the mass of the sun and the other 36 times the solar mass, located 1.3 billion light years from Earth, the researchers said. It’s not clear from news reports just how, if at all, this knowledge might be applied to human life.