The South Bayview Bulldog

Jeff Gray, Law Reporter for the Globe and Mail, dishes up the juiciest serving of sordid court news this Saturday. Rib-tickling reading   Jeff Gray 

Staples  will follow Future Shop, Best Buy and Radio Shack in a retreat from the storefront market as online giants like Amazon gobble up their business. Staples announced in Framingham, Mass., today that it will close up to 225 more stores — 
12 percent of its U.S. and Canadian locations . As much as half of Staples sales are now done online the company said. It it targeting $500 million in costs in the next two years. Staples has more than 2,000 stores in 26 countries, the vast majority in the United States. Locally, the company has shown versatility in recent years at its Brentcliffe Rd. store where the emphasis has been on service. 

Former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord will be taking over as chairman of Ontario Power Generation, the province’s government-owned utility. Ex-Ontario cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello has also been tapped to take over as chairwoman of Hydro One, which operates the province’s transmission network. CTV

The following story is from Yonge and Roxborough: “”Famous journalist David Crane reports that the owner told him Patachou (at Yonge St. and Macpherson Ave.) is closing in May. They were planning to do it later but construction of a condo in the rear means they will be losing the kitchen. Also their chef who has been with them for 35 years wishes to retire. Another issue which helped reinforce the decision is that the car rent space opposite Patachou patio is to be torn down this summer, and a new building put up. Patachou owners think this would make the patio largely unusable this year due to noise and dust. 

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s accountability legislation was tabled on Thursday. It’s intended to get control of what some might call the provincial gravy train. That would be the persistently high and out- of-touch payouts to executives at Ontario corporations. As part of the process, according to the Canadian Press, the province intends to give the Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin, additional powers to investigate school boards, colleges and municipalities. Ms. Wynne spoke with conviction about transparency. It’s a fairly well-worn series of issues. The eternal misuse of money by executives and their boards at Ontario Hydro is a provincial scandal.  As to the extension of the domain of the Ombudsman, taxpayers will wonder why it’s necessary. There is also talk of additional Ombuds. No one at City Hall likes that because Toronto already has one. The move to more un-elected functionaries doing ministerial work offends democracy. As to Mr. Marin, he may be a nice man but his unctuous pronouncements won’t change anything at Hydro. 

K-W Record — Torstar Corp., owner of the Toronto Star and other newspapers and the Harlequin book publishing company, reports that its fourth-quarter profit was stable despite a decline in revenue The Toronto-based company, which also owns the Waterloo Region Record, Hamilton Spectator, Guelph Mercury and other community newspapers across Canada, had $20.6 million of net income in the three months ended Dec. 31, little changed from $21.1 million a year earlier. Net income per share was unchanged at 26 cents; adjusted earnings fell one cent to 48 cents per share. Total revenue from Torstar’s newspaper and book divisions was $366.5 million, down seven per cent from $395.7 million a year earlier, although the media divisions revenue was up from the third quarter. K-W Record 

There’s been a rally Thursday morning in Torstar shares on the improved news from that company. Some, like the Financial Post, are speculating that the paper’s crusade against Rob Ford may have helped to solidify its position after the free fall in ad sales and readership of recent years. It will certainly have increased readership but Torstar itself warns that advertising remains under great pressure. Today’s Q4 results seem to come largely from cost cutting and maybe some help from the relatively new reader paywall. The paywall experience has been a mixed one for newspapers. Some publications have removed this barrier after finding it lowered the number of online readers or “unique users”‘ in the language of the Internet. Bulldog