The South Bayview Bulldog

High School teachers who staged illegal strikes last spring will receive full pension credits for the time they were off the job. The Liberal government has quietly agreed to create an exception to the rules for them. The decision will certainly fuel belief that Queen’s Park is frightened of the teachers unions and their capacity to either paralyze the school system from Thunder Bay to Niagara Falls — or unelect the Liberals. The move raises questions on whether the province has set  a precedent and removed a disincentive for public employees to illegally strike. The Globe and Mail reported that a memo dated October 1, 2015 from the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan to school boards says the government made a deal to ensure teachers do not lose any pension over the walkout.  It goes on to say teachers who tried to make up the days by working extra, will be eligible for refunds of those pension contributions, and teachers who have since retired but took part in illegal strikes will have their benefits recalculated.

Heath Minister Eric Hoskins (St. Paul’s) says Ontario will accept roughly 4,000 of the 10,000 Syrian refugees set to arrive in Canada by the end of the year. It is not clear if this includes refugees who are privately sponsored like the 50 families who will be placed in Guelph. Mr. Hoskins said that since Ontario accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s population, it is prepared to take in that proportion of refugees.

PACE OF ENTRY SEEMS TO HAVE SLOWED

Governments have been considering army bases and in Ontario decommissioned hospitals as accommodation  But Mr. Hoskins said they may not be needed. “We have sites identified. Some of those sites have taken the extra step of ensuring they are prepared to accommodate the refugees, but we’ll see if that type of facility is in fact required,” the minister said. “It will depend partly on the numbers that arrive.” It appears the pace of entry has slowed as the federal government plans are shaped

Hamilton Spectator

The traditional participation of well-known figures in the City’s life sees Mayor John Tory playing a moose in the 2015 rendering of the Nutcracker.  Well done your worship. CBC

Attractive green pine and spruce boughs with decorative cones and red wood have arrived on Bayview Ave. to start the Christmas shopping period. It is the work of the new Business Improvement Area which is looking forward to its first such season on Bayview. Very nice.

William and Kate have released two pictures taken by the Duchess of their daughter Princess Charlotte on Sunday. Charlotte was born May 2 and will turn seven months Tuesday. The photos by the 33-year-old Duchess of Cambridge were taken at home at Anmer Hall, Norfolk, in November. Charlotte looks too wonderful for words in a floral dress and pink cardigan with a pensive pose in the first shot and a good laugh in the second.

Telephone criminals continue to extract millions of dollars from gullible people by telling them they owe the government money. This scam is alive in both Canada and the United States and may originate in phone room operations in India, says the U.S. treasury department. The signs were seen in South Bayview as early as August when calls hit homes in Leaside, Moore Park and Rosedale. Some of the calls employed recorded messages demanding a callback, apparently an attempt to filter easier targets. Toronto Police are warning that the onslaught continues with fraudsters getting people to hand over more than $800,000 this year by threatening that they will be arrested and jailed immediately if they do not pay within hours of getting the call.

ONE MAN LOST $500,000

In the U.S. bogus collectors posing as agents of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have extracted more than $15 million from more than 3,000 people. One U.S. man lost $500,000. It staggers the imagination how someone might amass such money and be naive enough to let it go in such a way. Victims are told they owe either the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or the IRS large sums of money and that an arrest warrant exists for  their immediate detention. They are told to go to the nearest Post Office and, and incredibly say Toronto police, told  to send the money to a Connecticut address using MoneyGram

YOUR DAY WILL COME

One IRS investigator said he had received a call from the fraud gang himself.  He said he told them “Your day will come.” Maybe, but the persistence of this criminal activity is almost as alarming as the crime itself. It is worrisome that people can build untraceable systems and continue to steal without getting caught. Most big businesses — banks and money transfer firms — are on the alert for customers who may be about to fall for this racket.  Some people have been stopped by tellers who may hint kindly about why a withdrawal is taking place. So far, says the IRS, only two people have been arrested in Florida and are accused of somehow assisting in the racket.

Leaside Junior Wildcats saw Whitby Wolves Samantha Isbell score the winning goal on a powerplay in overtime Saturday night at Leaside Arena. Isbell scored the first Whitby goal as well at 12 minutes of the third. Both Whitby markers were scored while the Wildcats were shorthanded. The home team might have won the game on speed and guts alone but they were unable to capitalize on any of the five powerplay opportunities they had. Whitby netminder Rachel McQuigge stopped all but one of some 26 shots. That goal was scored by Maria Hinds with help from Siobhan Birch and Caitlin Heale at 16.34 of the third. McQuigge committed frequent sheer robbery on Leaside including her save on Megan Pardy’s memorable breakaway in the third. The loss drops the Wildcats to eighth in the 20 team PWHL with ten wins, well behind in games played however by six of the seven teams ahead of them. Danielle Toland stopped 25 of 27 shots in net for Leaside.  Boxscore