The South Bayview Bulldog

Here’s a lovely moment to start off your day as Canadian Forces officer Damon Perrault meets his wife and three children at Toronto airport last night. He was returning from a six month tour overseas. Look at his youngest girl jump for joy while the older daughter is quite grown up about it.

This CBC report tells of a variation on the Canada Revenue phonies who say they are coming to put you in jail unless you give them money. This time the scam was an alleged problem at Citizenship and Immigration to a woman who is a foreign national living here.

THREAT OF JAIL IS A GIVEAWAY

Look, there are many lies which you may not be able to dispute on the spot but threats that you are going to jail is an easy one. No one goes to jail in Canada on the basis of a phone call. No one. We won’t bore with the details of the Constitution and 1,000 years of British law, but such things are not allowed.

BUSINESS, OFFICIAL NAMES ABUSED

It would seem useful for law enforcement to try to address the widespread use of important business names like Bell Canada and Canada Revenue Agency by criminals. The appearance of such names in phone and Internet scams is increasingly common. One fraud tries to create a sense of importance by telling the citizen that he or she is being called by a Bell Canada operator with an important call. The potential victim is told to wait on the line until the fraudster takes over. Such names as Microsoft. RCMP and many other official bodies are used in Internet deceptions

The days to Christmas are slipping away and there are a lot of pleasant things still to do. This Sunday. December 20, 2015, Leaside United Church will have its Annual Christmas Pageant at the church. It begins at 10.30 a.m. at the church. Below is a charming picture of those who participated last year.

The Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett (St. Paul’s) has decided to let aboriginal reserves off  the hook for not complying with the federal spending transparency legislation introduced by the Conservative government. The legislation required bands to explain publically where the money went.  MPP Bennett is quoted in the Huffington Post as saying the change is part of Ottawa’s new “nation-to-nation” relationship with indigenous peoples.

The foundation is nearly finished at the long-delayed six home development that will replace Glebe Presbyterian Church at the corner of Belsize Drive and Thurloe Ave just west of Mt. Pleasant Rd. The project has been variously delayed for more than two years and is expected to see occupancy by the end of 2016. It calls for three buildings which each contain two semi-detached homes. They will sit on the large foundation which contains a common garage with 13 parking spaces. The video looks south to Belsize

Isis Redbanks

Sometimes a girl can’t catch a break. Isis Redbanks has a name that is rooted in pleasant mythology. Isis was the Egyptian goddess of health, marriage and wisdom. Who knew that just a few years after this perfectly lovely daughter named Isis was born in Toronto that some wretched thing call the Islamic State would co-opt the name? More than that, Ferrero, makers of Nutella, have decided that it cannot give Isis Redbanks a personalized jar of the famous chocolate flavoured cocoa spread, as it has promised to do for millions of other children. It has caused a lot of hard feeling in the Redbanks home and worst of all Isis does not get to have her personalized Nutella container. When bad things happen to good names.

Former Penrose Fish and Chips to again sell neighbourhood favorite

After a long period vacant, the shop at 600 Mt. Pleasant which housed Penrose Fish and Chips is slated to once again sell the neighborhood favorite. Contractors on the scene say it will be about three months before a new fish and chip restaurant, The One That Got Away, will open there. Renovations carry on daily at the store, just down the street from namesake Penrose Rd. and much old equipment is still inside (inset). Penrose Fish and Chips closed after 64 years last year. Penrose Fish and Chips to close 

A group of Leaside and area kids have banded together in a six-person choir to do something good. “I always wanted to do community service so I rounded up some friends who I knew could sing,” said organizer Emilie Chodat. “It was my Dad’s idea, but I really liked it,” she said. Between them, Emilie and father Steve, found a welcoming reception at three large local restaurants where the kids could sing their carols. “For the restaurants, it was all about community,” said Steve Chodat. They are Against the Grain, Leaside Pub and the Local. Thursday (December 17, 2015) the five girls and one boy, all between 11 and 13, sang their selection of carols and Christmas favorites to diners and bar patrons at the three restaurants and — as might be expected — they were greeted with applause, cheers and shouts of support.

TRACE MANES PROJECT

The children seemed to love it and parents who came along were both proud and appreciative of the friendly patrons. The idea was to draw attention and receive donations to the Trace Manes Park Playground Project in honour of Georgia Walsh. The singers collected $605. Georgia was killed by a car at the corner of Millwood Rd. and McRae Drive in July, 2014. Steve Chodat said his daughter Emilie is a voice performer at Musica music school on Laird Drive. She arranged for  the newly-formed Leaside Carollers to take some coaching from a teacher there.

FUNDRAISING

Also present Thursday night was Jillian Walsh, Georgia’s mother and the mainspring of the plan to modernize the Trace Manes playground. Ms. Walsh spoke of the launch of a formal fund-raising which will take place early in 2016. The new playground is estimated to cost about a million dollars, a reasonable figure for a complete renewal including a super-safe rubberized field underfoot and the replacement of the wading pool  with a modern splash pad. The new mechanics of a splash pad are estimated to cost half of the proposed budget. All monies are held by the City in trust prior to construction. Thanks to Steve Chodat for this video taken at the Leaside Pub.

Remarkable invention that permits paralysis patients to stand up is changing the lives of otherwise capable people struck by down by accident.

Jillian Walsh has posted a Facebook reminder that Emilie Chodat & the Leaside Carollers may be seen tonight singing in support the Trace Manes Playground Rejuvenation project in honour of Georgia Walsh. The times are: 5:45 – Against The Grain, 6:30 – The Leaside Pub and 7:15 – The Local Eatery

Criminal charges were laid Thursday against two top aides to former premier Dalton McGuinty, the ultimate fallout of the decision to cancel gas-fired power plants hours before the 2011 general election. In the aftermath of this expensive political act, it was revealed that computer hard-drives in the Premier’s office had been wiped clean, apparently to cover up whatever they might have shown about who was responsible. Now the OPP says David Livingston, 63 (left) McGuinty’s last chief of staff, and Laura Miller, 36 (right) the deputy chief of staff, are facing charges of breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system. They will appear in court Jan. 27. CBC Torstar