Forget the polar vortex Let’s go with this polar bear cub instead. He has been generating absolute gurgles of love and affection since the Toronto Zoo released this video early Wednesday. Adorable, Huggable. Put him in your pocket. Just remember, he’ll grow up. The sole surviving polar bear cub of three born in November is growing and is now taking his first steps forward. The video shows the cub taking a few steps and making sounds. The cub, now growing whiskers, is kept in a permanently air conditioned room and receives six bottles of milk each day. He weighs just 4.4 kg but according to a Zoo press release, has started to bite things — his blanket being one of his main targets. “He is beginning to teethe and likes to bite objects such as his blanket. His canine teeth, incisors and some of his molars can now be felt.”
China tourist with H5N1 flu dies in Calgary
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Salt at Valu Mart, bags limited 2 to a customer
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There is a supply of road salt at Tremblett’s Valu Mart at Bayview and Davisville Aves. The 10 kg bags are nicely priced at $5.99 and the limit is two to a customer. Wednesday afternoon there was still a stack outside the front door. They were saying inside that this was first road salt they had seen in nearly two weeks. Previously, people were taking bags by the cart load. None of that today but apparently the old husband and wife trick of each going through a separate check-out to buy four is fairly common. We love our salt.
Ice storm work thaws Rob Ford’s approval rating
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Bayview Bulldog’s Secret Road Salt Diary
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Dear Diary, They were very nice at Sobey’s over in the Smart Centre on Wicksteed. It’s just that one girl had a kind of smirk when I asked about the road salt that Ian said was there. But, that was two days ago. It was already gone and there had been another order of several skids since then. However it was sold out too. People were taking them in 50 bag purchases, they said. Gee. Then Marcel beeped me that there was some at Tru Valu Hardware on Bayview Ave. but it was $39.95 for a 10kg bag. Sigh. I guess that’s private enterprise, Diary. It’s not like the old Soviet Union where it didn’t matter if there was road salt because no one had a car and if you complained about it they sent you to mine salt. Canadian Tire Corporation had some salt but they seem very weary of people like me asking them if there’s any left. Probably the best chance of getting some salt is to keep an eye peeled for yellow bags piled up by the gas pumps at the local service station. Don’t you think so, Diary?
So why a total ground stop at Pearson today?
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Many sources including the Toronto Star have raised the question of why a paralyzing ground stop was necessary at Pearson Airport this morning. It has been a frightful frigid day and anyone can understand how the cold will slow down human activity. After all, humans have to ensure their survival before they can work. So there was a real issue. But other airports continued to function. Why a shutdown? Here is a medley of photos showing the jammed luggage carousel, crowded halls and sleepy passengers. Robert Palmer, a West Jet spokesperson, said the ramp was dangerous and it was not safe to put ground crew on it. He called the cold weather extraordinary and unpredictable.
Wreckers demolish Coke bottling plant on Overlea
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Backhoes are working in record-breaking arctic temperatures this week to knock down the abandoned Coca Cola bottling plant at 46 Overlea Blvd. Next door, the former Coke office building at 42 Overlea remains intact, the subject of a pending decision by City Council on a request to demolish the 1965 structure to make way for a Costco store. Tuesday, the bottling plant was crumbling in front of workers inside the heated cabs of their machines. The bottling plant is seen inset right under demolition Tuesday, January 7, 2014. The top photo shows it behind the Yarwood bronze and steel sculpture (which will be saved) and below is the view from the East York Town Centre across the street. Skin was freezing at a minute’s exposure in the former Coca Cola parking lot, site of last September’s large barbecue held in support of the Costco bid. The office building is said to have certain desirable architectural features in the Midcentury Modernist style. The buildings sit on a huge property which held all the vehicles associated with Coke’s business, including its fleet of trucks. The office building has been designated a heritage site but the matter will be discussed further by council. There is substantial support on council and in the Thorncliffe community for the construction of a Costco store. Ten dead from flu, 300 in hospital in Alberta
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A sharp uptick in flu cases in Alberta has caused a bit of a rush to get a shot. Here is a lineup yesterday in Edmonton. Note little guy on the left who doesn’t want to get a needle. There is a lesson here for us. Twitter photo Edmonton Journal. Cops called as flight delay upsets travellers
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There has been an unusual “ground stop” at Pearson Airport. The problem is blamed on the frigid weather and has stalled the unloading and loading of planes. CP says passengers became angry and airport authorities called the Peel Police to restore order. It seems unusual for cold weather to cause a ground stop in the way the term is normally understood. While the cold might slow down machinery on the ground it should not impair the ability of aircraft to take off or land. The latest tweets from the airport (at 9.15 a.m.) say that incoming flights are delayed to 10 a.m. Tuesday January 7, 2014 at the earliest. Canadian Press
New Year’s week break-in on Sunnydene Cres.
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A New Year’s week break-in on Sunnydene Crescent off Bayvew Ave. just south of Blythwood Rd. offers evidence again of the importance of solid outside doors and secure locks. A door was forced at this address between 1 p.m. January 1, 2014 and 8 p.m. on January 4, 2014. An amount of jewellery was stolen.
Olivia Chow denies PM offered job as Ontario LG
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| She just laughed |
Reporter Steve Paikin says he put it to Olivia Chow directly. Had the Prime Minister offered to make her the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario? Her answer made Paikin write in his blog that the prospect of such an appointment was alive. All Ms. Chow did, by way of response, was to laugh and change the subject. But now that the idea is down in black and white, the NDP MP from Toronto is denying it. “It seems the rumor mill is in full force this morning. Let me be crystal clear, the reports of an LG [lieutenant-governor] offer are completely false,” Chow tweeted. Such a move by Mr. Harper, if accepted by Ms.Chow, would be seen as a kind of reprieve for those who think she is almost a certainty to be elected mayor of Toronto in the present municipal context
PM jokes about protest
Elsewhere, Prime Minister Harper was targeted by protesters who say that “hundreds of millions of people” are dying because of climate change around the world. The apparent connection with this concern is the government’s determination to build pipelines and sell Canadian oil abroad. Harper noted the presence of demonstrators on the stage within inches of him by saying after they were taken out that “It wouldn’t be B.C. without it.” The protesters had merely walked into the Vancouver venue and were not questioned by security. Harper repeated his view that the Keystone pipeline will be built some day and said President Obama had “punted” the decision.
Sharon, Lois and Bram honour “certain to pass”
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| Sharon, Lois and Bram |
As readers of the The South Bayview Bulldog will recall, Josh Matlow (Ward 22) is the force behind a move to honour the popular children’s musical trio Sharon, Lois and Bram, Mr Matlow proposed re-naming the playground in June Rowland Park to this end. Previous post. That effort will come to fruition January 15, 2013, at the regular meeting of the Toronto and East York Community Council where the motion will be be put to a vote. It seems certain to pass. There was a curious detour to reach this happy destination because Toronto policy prevented city facilities from being named after living persons. All three of the memorable trio — Sharon Hampson, Lois Lilienstien and Bram Morrison — are still alive. An amendment to the policy was recently enacted to permit the naming. Sharon, Lois and Bram were a wholesome part of the childhood of millions of Canadian kids during the 1980s and 90s through their CBC program The Elephant Show, which also appeared Nickelodeon in the U.S.