Toronto Star reporter Amy Dempsey does a kind of stately dance here on how Billy Bishop Airport could become, step by artful step, a great big roaring airport with planes from all over North America landing there. Amy Dempsey
Target hopes card breach limited to the U.S.
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Target Corp. is telling Canadian cardholders that, so far as it knows, the breach of the company’s databank of customer information has not extended to this country. But if they shopped in the U.S. in recent days, Canadians could be in jeopardy. Target authorities learned only a couple of days ago that millions of American customers information is now in the hands of criminals. The Thanksgiving mentioned in the report is the U.S. one — November 30, 2013.
LeDrew unable to get Premier off talking points
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Premier Wynne has granted Stephen LeDrew of CP24 a sit-down interview at the year-end. Snippets of it are being run in advance of the full airing this weekend Thursday night’s preview revealed Mr. LeDrew quite unable to get the Premier to set aside her armour-plated talking points. Every foray came back to Ms Wynne’s rapid-fire recitation of what the Liberals have done for Ontario. The CP24 pundit was earnest nearly to tears as he tried to persuade the Premier to ponder human nature and the practice of spending. On the Ontario Power Generation Corporation, yes, the premier said there is a problem. But the problem was decades old and the Liberals had already replaced all the bosses ten years ago and it didn’t change the culture. Whether that’s entirely correct, who knows? But that was why, she said, the government needed more control over OPG. It was dispiriting to hear the Premier skirt the need to clean house and to keep plugging until the province gets the management it deserves at OPG.
Christmas trees still available from 58th Scouts
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John Spence writes to tell everyone that the 58th Scouts still have trees available at their lot at 111 Manor Road next door to the Church of the Transfiguration right where Redpath Ave joins Manor. These are nice ones. There are Balsams and Fraser Firs stretching up to 8 feet. Wow! They come from Drysdale Farm locally and of course they help support the activities of the 58th Scouts who have sold trees at Christmas now for over 50 years. Remarkable. The sale is on evenings between 6 and 8 p.m. and will be in full force this Saturday and Sunday between 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 88 hurt as theatre ceiling falls in London
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Some 88 people have been injured but there were no reports of fatalities in the collapse of part of the ornate plaster ceiling of the famous Apollo Theatre in central London. As many as seven are in hospital with serious injuries. There is said to have been about 700 people in the theatre at about 8.30 p.m. local time watching a performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime. Witnesses said a chunk of ceiling about 10 feet by 10 feet came crashing down on patrons underneath it. There was apparently little warning. One witness said some people had reported an odd creaking noise. A thunderstorm struck London about an hour before the incident but there is no known connection with the collapse. Witnesses said that after the immediate shock people behaved in a fairly orderly way. A London bus was used to accommodate theatre-goers and move them to hospitals to be checked. Shocked patrons were said to have shown little panic. Martin Bostock was in the audience with his family, and said “complete chaos” erupted in the theatre. “At first we thought it was part of the show,” he told Sky News. “Then I got hit on the head.” . Special search and rescue teams remain on the scene, along with ambulances and police. Pictures: Upper inset, theatre-goers in bus, centre inset, injured outside Apollo, lower inset, file picture of ornate ceiling taken this year. Crane operator says he is retiring from life’s work
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| Adam Jastrzebski |
Crane operator Adam Jastrzebski says he is calling it quits. The 68-year-old construction worker spoke from his hospital bed today as he recovered from the burns and trauma caused by his harrowing escape during yesterday’s raging fire in Kingston. Jastrzebski, 68, was stranded atop his crane at the centre of the massive fire and was “severely burned” before a military helicopter was able to navigate smoke and flames to airlift him to safety. Mr. Jastrzebski is said to have been burned on his hands, legs, back and buttocks. His employer, Aram Malek of Canadian Professional Crane Inc., said “He’s in severe pain right now in the hospital and they’re giving him morphine.” He added, “I’m just surprised no one got hurt more than that because the fire was enormous.” Firefighters from neighbouring communities had to be called in to help Kingston crews battle the flames which had engulfed an apartment building that was under construction. A crowd watched from the streets as the crane operator got out of his cab, crept along the boom of the crane to its very edge and waited to be rescued by a team from CFB Trenton.
Ford gives complete apology, Dale ends action
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It seems to have taken some people by surprise but the supplemental apology tonight (Wednesday, December 17, 2013) from Rob Ford was inevitable. On Tuesday, Mr Ford displayed his habitual defensive behaviour throughout the day. He mocked the City Hall speaker Frances Nunziata and made a parody of his apologies. Now we have a full apology written by who knows and which Mr.Ford has signed in silence. The reporter, Daniel Dale, is vindicated and has withdrawn his action. Apology
PO boss: Old folks will exercise on way to mailbox
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| Deepak Chopra |
The head of Canada Post Deepak Chopra has said that seniors have told the corporation they want more exercise and fresh air. This was his answer to an MP’s question about how the elderly will be especially hard hit by the cancellation of home mail delivery. The answer has enraged many people and prompted one Ottawa website to headline the story: HOW STOOPID IS THIS GUY?
Residents fight “Flying Table Top” at Yonge/Strathgowan
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A series of meetings to try to reconcile local uptown residents to the design of a proposed condominium at Yonge St. and Strathgowan Ave. has failed. A communication from the Uptown Yonge Neighborhood Alliance (UYNA) rejected the final compromises offered by the architect Will Alsop. The unorthodox appearance of the Alaska condo with its much ridiculed “Flying Table Top” component has yielded widespread opposition to the building. In the last of a series of working group meetings last week the development team behind Alaska presented its proposed revisions to the original application. The members offered to reduce the height of the building one storey, add a service vehicle entrance off Yonge which would pass through the building and exit onto Strathgowan across from Sheridan Nurseries, add landscaping along the eastern and northern frontages and create a single residential entrance for condo owners and tenants off Strathgowan. The UYNA newsletter says these “minor revisions” leave the fundamental scale and design of the building unchanged. The design team is said to be standing by the present form on grounds of “economic viability and design integrity”. But UYNA insists Alaska continues to “unapologetically flout the zoning by-law, key sections of the Official Plan, and the Avenues and Mid-Rise Buildings Study.” UYNA maintains the position that a development at Yonge and Strathgowan should respect the City’s policies and says it remains committed to appropriate development at Yonge and Strathgowan.
Canadian Tire stages Inglewood Santa spectacle
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First there were five, then eleven and by last night, when Canadian Tire Corporation got finished donating a bunch, there were as many as 29 giant air-filled and electrically lighted Santa Claus figures on the lawns of Inglewood Drive in Moore Park. Best estimate of the number and location of the proliferating polyethylene symbols of the season comes from a walk along the ever-pleasant street from Hudson Drive on the east down to Mount Pleasant. Yep, it looks like 29. It started with a bit of yule-tide lightheartedness down at the west end of the street and somehow just took off from there. Here was see Twitter-sent pictures of the residents enjoying the treats like Beaver Tail sweets handed out by CTC as they installed the freebie Santas. The Santa parade got its first mention in the South Bayview Bulldog a week ago today. It was picked up soon after by CTV. Last night, many media recorded the scene. What a promotion. Previous post Overlea kids centre gets a paint job from Wrigley
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Employees of Wrigley Canada moved into the Thorncliffe neighborhood offices of the Ontario Early Years Centre at 45 Overlea Blvd. and went to work painting the walls this week. The place apparently needed some freshening up. It had not been painted in 16 years. Wrigley associates did that job and as well they painted a fun and child friendly mural, designed by one of the Wrigley group. It comes just in time for the holidays at the community space — a well used service providing free early learning opportunities for children from birth to 6 years of age. Wrigley Canada is a longstanding supporter of the United Way, which has helped foster the creation of a meaningful relationship with the Thorncliffe community. Over the years, Wrigley has actively supported many initiatives including funding a local summer camp, which has welcomed nearly 900 students over the last four years. Edited from Wrigley Canada release. Daring rescue of crane operator from inferno
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This thrillingly graphic series of pictures has travelled by Twitter to the world (and the Bulldog) from Kingston where a craneman has been plucked from the end of his crane. Upper right, air force rescue officer descends to the stranded man. Top right, he hooks safety line of some type on the worker. Now move to lower left for the lift-off which continues lower right the short distance to chopper heaven. Also see below.