Northbound lane cleared (12:30pm); reveals costly consequences of following too closely! Ouch.
Traffic alert: Fender bender blocking NB Bayview north of Millwood.
12:14 PM – 10 Mar 2015
Fender bender slows traffic Bayview north of Millwood
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Confusion as striking CUPE units split at York University
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The much hoped-for end to the strike of professors and others at York University has not occurred. One unit of contract faculty has voted to accept the offer of the university and two units representing graduates and teaching assistants have voted to reject it. This outcome has produced total confusion. There is no informed view on just what it means and who, if anyone, will be at work Tuesday. Clearly, many will not be at work and that means students remain up in the air on the outlook for their school year. Other unexpected details, the teachers who voted to accept the offer will have to decide whether they should now cross the picket line of their colleagues tomorrow. It is not a pretty nor particularly rational picture.
Wrist-phone risks new flood of distracted driving deaths
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“I’ve been waiting to do this since I was five years old,” says Timothy D. Cook
Timothy D. Cook was as excited as a five-year-old when he introduced the new Apple wrist watch, phone. sketch pad and whatever else in San Francisco Monday. He said he had been waiting to place a call from wrist watch since he was that tender age. Of course, now’s he’s 54. Oddly, he seemed to have no awareness of the kind of problems this device will now cause for the world as young motorists (and some not so young) use their fun phones as they try to navigate traffic. And why should he, some may say. Is it his fault that the iPhone contributes to hundreds of thousands of accidents and many deaths every year across Canada? Perhaps not. But you can prepare yourself for the necessary over haul of traffic legislation and difficult enforcement to deal with the Apple wrist phone. As it stands, it is illegal for a driver to have a cell phone in his hand in Ontario while operating the car. But, hey now, we wear the Apple watch right on our body as a fashion statement. Let see how society deals with that.
Is this good? BMO to be official bank of the NBA in Canada
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BMO Financial Group and the National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced a multiyear partnership that will make BMO the Official Bank of NBA Canada. We guess this can’t be bad but is it good? Would it make you change banks? The agreement is the league’s first partnership with a Canadian bank and will also make BMO an official partner of the Jr. NBA program in Canada.
Pam Wallin: RCMP dig into corporate travel expenses
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The RCMP are investigating 150 Senate expense claims made by Pamela Wallin, including those for 24 trips related to her work on corporate boards, according to documents filed in court. Among the documents detailing the RCMP’s probe into the suspended senator’s expenses is a letter from her lawyer explaining why she provided two different calendars to investigators. CBC
CBC assesses the galloping invasion of the Keurig K-cups
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You may have one. It is said 40 percent of coffee drinkers own one or more. Help!
John Godfrey appointed climate adviser to Ontario
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John Godfrey
John Godfrey, the former member of parliament for the riding of Don Valley West, has been appointed a special adviser to the Ontario government on climate change. As adviser and chair of a climate action group Mr.Godfrey will report to Environment Minister Glen Murray on ways for Ontario to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets. Ontario is in the midst of a 45-day public consultation period on climate change, as it weighs whether to implement a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax. The government says the discussion paper will inform its decision – expected to come this spring – on which carbon pricing mechanism to adopt. The Ontario government committed to carbon pricing in 2008 when it signed the Western Climate Initiative with California and Quebec, which have since created a joint cap-and-trade system. John Godfrey was for MP Don Valley West from 1993 to 2008 and most recently was the headmaster at Toronto French School.
Matlow, Colle slug it out over whether TTC is out of control
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Is the TTC out of control? Is it doing what City Council tells it to do? This complaint is not unknown and this time Josh Matlow (Ward 22) insists that the transit authority seems to be ignoring Council’s direction on how to lay-off liability for possible overruns on the Scarborough subway. TTC Chair Josh Colle has an elaborate denial. It is a tangled tale which Tess Kalinowski of the Toronto Star seems well able to tell. But it is tangled.
Second Cup sees $27 mln loss on slower sales, fewer shops
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The Second Cup has reported an annual loss of $27-million or $2.66 for the 52 weeks ended Dec. 27, including a net loss of $469,000 or four cents per share in the fourth quarter In 2013 Second Cup lost $7.4-million or 74 cents per share for the year, but earned a profit of $1.2-million or 12 cents per share in the fourth quarter. The 2014 fourth quarter included a $391,000 provision for café closures and a $692,000 item for acquisition of some franchise shops..The 2013 fourth quarter including $883,000 for restructuring charges, a $105,000 provision for closures, and a $299,000 charge for asset impairments. Same-store sales at locations open at least a year was down 3.9 per cent in the fourth quarter and down 4.7 per cent for the full year, while the number of shops as of Dec. 27 was 347, down from 356 a year earlier.For the full year, Second Cup had adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share, down from 54 cents per share in fiscal 2013. Annual revenue for Second Cup rose to $28.2-million from $27.2-million while system sales dropped to $182.8-million from $191.4-million in fiscal 2013.
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Team Canada defeats Northern Ontario to win 2015 Brier
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Solar plane lifts off for five-month flight around the world
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The long-awaited attempt to fly around the world in a solar-powered plane has gotten under way from Abu Dhabi Monday morning. Takeoff came around 7 a.m., well before midnight Toronto time. The aircraft is called the Solar Impulse-2. It took off on a trip that may take five months and will see the plane cross the U.S. to land in many places including New York. The pilot at takeoff was Andre Borschberg. He will share the duties with a fellow Swiss, Bertrand Piccard. The plan will stop at various locations around the globe, for rest, to carry out maintenance and to spread a campaigning message about clean technologies. Before taking off, Borschberg told BBC News: “I am confident we have a very special aeroplane, and it will have to be to get us across the big oceans.
Court slashes legal cost assessed to wind turbine opponents
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Divisional court has slashed the amount of legal costs four Southwestern Ontario families will have to pay to three wind-turbine companies building huge windmills near their homes as part of Ontario’s alternative energy program. The turbine firms had demanded #$340,000 from the local homeowners near Goderich because they lost their action to have the construction of wind farms stopped on health and environmental grounds. The court said that $67,000 was the proper amount. The court noted that the families fight against the wind turbines was more than a personal crusade. Globe and Mail