The South Bayview Bulldog

John Tory’s plan to build a surface level rapid transit system on electrified GO tracks follows appears to be based on a report issued late last year by the Neptis foundation. It called for essentially the same thing and said politicians were preparing to unnecessarily spend billions on transit. The plan seems to assume that motorists will turn to these lines and thus reduce traffic on the roads and that transit lines originating in the east and west will persuade commuters from crowding the Yonge line and  provide some relief to that burdened system.  Globe and Mail 

Mark Buehrle became the first nine-game winner in the majors, Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind hit back-to-back home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays extended their winning streak to eight games, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 9-6 on Tuesday night. AP

Sobeys has cooked up a deal with Shell Oil that seems quite similar to a discount program offered by Loblaws on gasoline purchased at Esso stations.  In the Sobeys-Shell arrangement, customers will get a cent off the price of gasoline per litre for every $20 spent at Sobeys for groceries up to a maximum of 10 cents per litre off the gas. It may be worth it but for a lot of people it is not as easy or attractive as the points rewards for groceries now offered in many supermarkets. With grocery points the bonus is recorded on the store till and is instantly checkable. In the Loblaws-Esso case at least the user has to become a keeper of paper chits until he/she gets to the gas station. Then he becomes a searcher of chits. No doubt some organized people make this work well and ten cents off each litre of gas is attractive. It is probably more helpful to large families which can easily rack up $200 in grocery sales between fill ups. Here in South Bayview, the consolidation and disappearance of gas stations makes it tougher for a Shell customer to buy in. There is only one station handy (Bayview and Roehampton) whereas there are at least three Esso outlets (Mt Pleasant, Bayview and Millwood). 

There is a genuinely unreal feeling in the air when Canadians talk about owning the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is as if all our troubles will vanish if only the nice people (and their leader Rufus Ewing) will just say yes. Common sense departs on a Caribbean breeze. There’s not a serious thought among the twittering tweets tonight. It’s all just “yes sirree Bob, let me at that Canadian tropical beach”. Never a word about the incredible canyon between the cultures of Toronto and Grand Turk or the lop-sided economic advantage offered to the Turks and Caicos by being part of Canada. CPP does not stand for cinnamon and pear pie. Nor a thought as to whether dominantly European-extracted Canadian millions really want to become the inevitable big brothers to 35,000 people of the Turks and Caicos. Is there a potential for unfulfilled expectations? Would this be an arrangement that would prompt the ever watchful “rapporteurs” of the United Nations to tell the world that Canadians were behaving a lot like imperialists? Would it make the people of the Turks and Caicos feel like colonials? Would there be plenty of people to tell them that they were colonials?  Sorry to raise these little matters during your reverie in the sun.    

Relationship expert Kimberley Moffit was speaking to the South Leaside Monday Group this morning (May 26, 2014) Kimberley makes regular appearances on Canada AM, Breakfast Television and The National. Her topic was “ways to keep our relationships strong despite the demands of kids.”  Okay.