HMCS Toronto makes heroin seizure off Tanzania

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The RCN reports that the frigate HMCS Toronto has seized a large haul of heroin while on patrol in the Indian Ocean about 40 miles off the coast of Tanzania. These are pictures of Toronto preparing to board the drug vessel and sailors in required hazmat wear as they assess the seizure. They found 265 bags of heroin weighing in at more than 280 kilograms. The narcotics were catalogued and then disposed of. It’s the ninth time the frigate has intercepted drug shipments on the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, and the military says 8.5 tonnes of narcotics have been recovered so fa. HMCS Toronto is on patrol in the region as part of an international effort to curb terrorism and deter piracy on the high seas. Last month the frigate made what the military called the largest heroin seizure in the history of combined maritime forces operations when it recovered 538 kilograms of heroin after stopping a ship off the east coast of Africa.

We don’t yet know the definition of new rush hour

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Set to change?

A million questions would appear to await Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34) when he holds a news conference Tuesday to discuss the city’s new rush hour parking prohibitions.  There has been seemingly no explanation thus far about plans to extend rush hour from the present 4 to 6 p.m. to a rather staggering 3 to 7 p.m. A similar extension is planned for the morning rush hour. Police have been unable to say just what the extension may mean. Will turn prohibitions like those in place at Welland and Moore Aves. be extended to reflect the new definition of rush hour? We do not know. But similar questions are likely to be asked all across the city as people wonder how much they will have to adjust, if at all, to changes in local no turn and no entry prohibitions. The extended rush hour may not impact local restrictions, but until we know — we don’t know. 

1936 “People’s Car, People’s Beer” poster surfaces

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Some curious advertising posters for Guinness ale have surfaced after more than 77 years lost in the archives. One of them shows the original Volkswagen at the time of its creation in Hitler’s Germany. It is titled  “People”s Car, People’s Beer.” The ads were created at the behest  of the Dublin office of the brewing firm and are said to have caused embarrassment in the London office. Germany and the U.K. were at peace in 1936 and there was a warming of relations generally because of the Olympics held that year in Germany. But the Nazis were exhibiting worrisome behaviour both at home and externally. The posters were drawn by John Gilroy, who produced most of the company’s classic advertising  The images, which were never used, include a smiling German soldier holding a pint of stout with the slogan ‘It is time – for a Guinness’.The Mailonline says one picture features a Wehrmacht soldier holding a pint with the caption, ‘It’s time for a Guinness’, while another features toucans with beer glasses balanced on their beaks flying above the Olympic stadium which is draped in Swastika flags. The paintings are all originals, made using oil on canvas, and would have been used to mass-produce poster copies, but were never actually used. The images, which are now thought to be worth £1.2million, feature in a new book, Gilroy Was Good For Guinness, written by former Guinness brewer David Hughes. Mail Online 

Punishing parking fines in effect this week

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You’ve heard that it is coming. Fines of $150 for getting caught with your car in a rush hour zone. And much else. Will it help traffic? Maybe. It is guaranteed to make the City zillions? Yup.  Metro News   Rush hour to be extended too. 

Durham police press on with search for teacher

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A week has passed and there is no indication of what has happened to Whitby high school teacher Jeffrey Boucher. The 52-year-old high school teacher who has been missing since Monday.  Durham Regional Police continue their so far thankless task but say they would be “remiss” if they did not scour every foot of the area where Mr. Boucher might have gone. And so the search goes on.

Writer compiles inventory of our artificial rinks

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Marcus Gee   in the Globe and Mail has a seasonal accounting of some ice skating facilities in town. 

LATEST: 12-year-old boy returned home safely

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Toronto Police say a 12-year-old boy who was reported missing has been found safe. Levi Moore-Gemon disappeared Saturday from the St. Clair Avenue East and O’Connor Drive. Police say he was located Sunday morning in East York and returned home safely. Toronto Police are thanking the public for assisting in locating the youth.

What’s the real return on a longer rush hour?

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Down at the venerable clam shell overlooking Nathan Phillips Square they may have a clear view of what makes Toronto tick. But the quietly legislated extension to rush hour — from 4 to 6 p.m. to 3 to 7 p.m. — seems ready to exact a price on the city’s economy that has not been calculated. Some say there’s so much traffic that rush hour needs to grow. Really? Why not a five-hour rush hour morning and night? Let’s see, that would be a 10-hour speedway heaven to boot the cars back and forth across town. It would also mean that there might be two hours left in a normal day to park on the street to do business at a specialty shop, drugstore, dentist, doctor or restaurant. Is this a city for people? Will rush hour drivers notice a whole lot of difference? . 

Hot dog wieners found scattered in dog park

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Police have been alerted following the discovery of about a dozen hot dog wieners in the snow in a newly opened dog park near Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Avenue E.  It’s not clear why but the park has not been named by police. The meat is being held in the event there are reports of dogs becoming sick. There have been other cases of meat, some contaminated, found in Toronto parks for dogs. In September, hot dogs with pills were uncovered at Oakvale Green Community Gardens near Danforth and Greenwood Avenues. Traces of acetaminophen were also later found. In October two beef patties were found here at Stanley Park on Wellington Street near Strachan Avenue. One was covered with a suspicious white powder while the other had metal pieces in it. No injuries or deaths have been reported in any of the cases. 

Air travel: “Don’t complain, they’ll arrest you”

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There’s an airline Catch 22 at work in Canada that essentially prevents airlines from taking complaint unless you go to the media. Then you might get the attention of Air Canada, for example. But if you’ve been short-changed or made to feel like a nobody on board an AC flight, chances are you are never going to be able to say it to them privately. The government requires many industries to permit access to a complaint process. But airlines can still hide behind the Internet, and Air Canada does. You will fill out forms and guess at endless “capchas” before they even acknowledge you are a person. How about complaining on the spot. Better not. Flight attendants do not want to hear what you think. Just what you want for dinner. And if it looks like you are even slightly unhappy the captain is in touch with the ground. So it is that some passengers who lost luggage in the recent mob scenes at Pearson and elsewhere are saying  Canada should be required to publicly disclose complaints about baggage, cancelled flights and tarmac delays, just like their counterparts do in the U.S. 

Josh Matlow favours ranked rush hour routes

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Josh Matlow (Ward 22) says he would be in favour of ranked rush hour routes which permit some streets to remain with a 4 to 6 p.m. rush hour prohibition. City council is planning to extend rush hour from the present 4 to 6 by an hour at each end — 3 to 7 p.m. It is a move which would appear to have profound impact on the ability of stores and restaurants on city streets to do business. Mr. Matlow said he was not the author of the motion to extend rush hour and took objection to a previous headline which called the city’s new regulations “Matlow’s Law.” He suggested that South Bayview might reasonably be retained in a 4 to 6 class. He said that as a resident of South Bayview he had an interest in seeing that the business district thrived. The city has decided to increase rush hour no-parking fines (to $150) and extend the hours of prohibited parking where posted. Mr. Matlow is a leader in the move to increase parking fines and argues the higher fines will ease congestion. He said he did not believe that it would increase what The Bulldog has called the victimization of shoppers who over-stay their limit without an intent to do so. It is not clear to those at TPS Parking Enforcement just when and where this new prohibition on parking will take place. Friday night 53 Division said however that briefing has begun on the new regulations. There seems little doubt about the intent of the city government or the impact on store owners.

Bay will make Yonge-Bloor Saks Fifth Avenue

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Quite sane
As recently as November 30,  2013 the The Bay was saying it was certainly taking a close look — yes sirree — at putting a Saks in the huge Bay store at the corner of Yonge and Bloor Sts. Yes, said everyone from the smallest shopkeeper to retailing tycoons, and if they don’t, Bonnie Brooks will have to declare temporary insanity. Ms Brooks is the 60-year-old president and CEO of the Bay and helped engineer the staggering $2.9 billion  U.S. takeover of Saks by The Bay last fall. Well, guess what?  Bonnie Brooks is not insane. Not even temporarily.  Thus the flossy story in Toronto Life that the great gray whale of a building sitting at the crossroads of image-refined shopping in Toronto is going to be a Saks.  Also in the cards but not previously telegraphed, Saks Fifth Avenue will get a face lift worth some $1.25 billion. It will include new labels from Britain and France, luxurious merchandise like runway fashion and exotic skins. Woo-hoo. Skins. We love it. Stand by.