A fine new mansion is nearing completion on the wooded lot at 140 Dinnick Crescent in Lawrence Park. This highly-detailed and elegant residence is the work of designer Lorne Rose. It will become the home of a couple who were almost denied the use of the property. Tim and Charlotte Stanley bought the 1930 home on the site in 2011 after careful checking that they could demolish it. It was a run-down and poorly cared-for place that was barely fit to live in. But the day after the Stanleys were given a permit to knock the place down, North York Community Council snatched it back and called the property a heritage building. There was very little basis for this arbitrary and unjust act. The Ontario Municipal Board dismissed the preservationists’ claim and ordered the city to issue a demolition permit. Certainly, the appearance of the home that the Stanleys have built is a justification of their good taste and a big bonus for neighbors, who will doubtlessly see an increase in the value of their homes with the addition of the new 140 Dinnick.
Couche-Tarde spinning money, Sears fires 800
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It’s the up and down of business. Couche Tarde, the corner store and gas bar phenomenon from Montreal, continued to spin out money like they own the printing presses. Couche Tarde posted a Q2 profit of $1.21 a share, up from 97 cents a year earlier. Adjusted earnings climbed to $1.32 a share from 91 cents, beating expectations. The convenience-store operator also raised its dividend 14.3%. Meantime, Sears Canada seems to cursed to misery. It announced Tuesday afternoon that it is laying off 800 people at head office and in service departments today. This comes after stories are told that Sears Canada is being shopped around for sale by Edward Lampert, the CEO of Sears Holdings, which continues to own a 51 per cent stake in the firm. Sears Canada has already sold the leases to its best properties, including the Eaton Centre, unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars which is being returned to shareholders as Sears tries to find itself in a ever more complex retail market.
Business park on Wicksteed Avenue going up
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The growing framework of the Wicksteed Business Park is seen yesterday. It is a nine-acre commercial condominium complex at 195-209 Wicksteed Avenue. There are as many as seven proposed commercial buildings in this development, one of which is said to be a Canada Post distribution centre. The buildings in the background are the Scenic on Eglinton. The developer of the business park is the Rockport Group. Rockport is also busy locally with a proposal for the redevelopment of Postal Station K at Yonge and Montgomery. Yonge-Montgomery Photo courtesy Rudy Limeback. Bringing Buffalo Bills to Toronto is a long game
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Rogers strikes 12-year NHL deal freezing out TSN
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The National Hockey League says it has reached a 12-year, $5.2-billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the league’s broadcast and multimedia rights. As part of the deal, Rogers says the CBC will continue to air its iconic “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast and that the TVA network in Quebec has all of the Canadian French-language multi-media rights. The league says the deal gives Rogers national rights to all NHL games, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final, on all of its platforms in all languages. Longtime NHL analyst Bob McKenzie said in a tweet early Tuesday that ”TSN’s national rights package for NHL games expires at end of this season and isn’t being renewed.” NHL website
Libs win Toronto, Tories take squeaker in West
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| Click for all election results |
The four federal byelections on Monday produced enjoyable races but in the end, the outcomes were not very surprising. Here in Toronto, Chrystia Freeland defeated NDP candidate Linda McQuaig by a margin of at least 3,200 ballots or about 13 percent of the popular votes as counted at the time of this post. There were at that hour 205 of 268 polling stations reporting. That number showed 27 percent of the 91,000 plus of registered voters had bothered to go to the polls. It was after all, a byelection and the results really do show it. The Conservatives saw a fall in popular support from about 24 percent in the last general election to only nine percent (or 2,248 votes) at posting time. The candidate, Geoff Pollock was a late nominee and it was easy to conclude that he was, in the parlance of political parties, a “sacrificial lamb.” If the Conservatives hope to be taken seriously they may have to try harder. It was a jubilant night at Jack Astors cafe and bar where Liberals whooped it up. The party retained its seat in Bourassa. Justin Trudeau made a gracious speech in that riding where he promised Western Canada that the Liberals would be responding to what they saw as renewed interest there. In the Conservative stronghold of Brandon Souris Larry Maguire barely held the riding against Liberal Rolf Dinsdale. Maguire won by about 400 votes out of more than 27,000 cast. The other Manitoba seat, Provencher, was a cakewalk for Conservative Ted Falk who recorded a thumping 58 per cent of the popular vote. Back in Toronto, commentators John Tory and Steven LeDrew criticized Chrystia Freeland for falling into a personal attack on the prime minister, something they said might better have been left to the House of Commons. Such rhetoric was much in vogue however with MP Olivia Chow who had her anti-Harper script and seldom strayed from it, prompting reporters to “ask me about Harper”. Pundits Tory and LeDrew had praise for NDP candidate and Toronto Star crusader Linda McQuaig. They found her speech gracious. They predicted a future for this stormy petrel of journalism in the new lower Toronto riding of Toronto Centre if she chooses to seek it after re-distribution.
East York’s Lorenzo Ferrara a city garden finalist
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| Garden of Lorenzo Ferrara |
Toronto has announced the finalists of the Toronto Garden Awards 2013. The awards recognize residents, businesses and organizations for beautifying their non-public spaces. Most of the green space in Toronto is made up of front and back yards. The finalists for the 2013 awards were winners of local community garden contests during the previous year. In selecting the winners, the judges took into consideration the use of landscape, the condition and overall maintenance of the garden, the use of plant material, colour and texture, and the overall garden’s appeal. The finalist in the traditional residential garden is Lorenzo Ferrara of Strathmore Blvd off of the Danforth. Other finalists are Michael Fitzpatrick and Marilyn Ferely of Heathview Ave in North York for their environmental residential garden, where the homeowner uses environmentally-friendly garden practices and some or most of the lawn area consists of plants and/or ground cover
Ten ex-NHL players sue league over concussions
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Ten former NHLers, including all-star forward Gary Leeman, are claiming in a class-action lawsuit that the league hasn’t done enough to protect players from concussions. The lawsuit seeks damages and court-approved, NHL-sponsored medical monitoring for the players’ brain trauma and/or injuries, which they blame on their NHL careers. It was filed in federal court in Washington on behalf of players who retired on or before February 14 of this year and have suffered such injuries. CP24 ex Canadian Press
Okay given from Canada to make GM salmon eggs
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A Prince Edward Island company has received federal approval to make genetically modified salmon eggs on a commercial scale. AquaBounty Technologies says Environment Canada has concluded that the eggs are not harmful to the environment or human health when produced in contained facilities. AquaBounty CEO Ron Stotish says Ottawa’s approval is a significant step as it waits for a decision from regulatory bodies in the U.S. before the fish and eggs are available for sale. The company’s hatchery in Souris, P.E.I., produces sterile-all-female eggs. The technology has drawn opposition from some state lawmakers in the U.S. including Alaska, and from environmental groups who fear the fish could escape their onshore farms and affect wild populations. It is an interesting concern. If the fish are sterile they cannot reproduce and it would seem there would no multiplication. The GM issue continues to bedevil food producers and consumers. Those who favour GM, say fear of it has failed to produce any science which might cause reasonable concern for the health of humans. Stunned in the subway: “My Bad Wired”
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Hey, there’s going to be Wi Fi in the Bloor station on Yonge Street as an experiment. Isn’t it thrilling to think that we can now delete mail and “Like” The Bulldog while boarding a train? Wow. It’s the same as hanging out at S’bux (Starbucks if you don’t text). But check the TTC guidance. Legislation is on the way to curb distracted walking. No falling onto the tracks please! And, although most people know better, the transit cops are watching for sneaks who try to set up a desk and hang out all day. Train City is not the Green Mermaid. Also, you have to understand that there will be some noise when the trains enter the station. Failure to communicate may occur. Karen Stintz will not take responsibility for that. Next thing you know, people will expect her to fix the tracks in her spare time. Oh, yes, if you stumble into another person whose head is also in the ether be aware that the new etiquette of live blundering is a confidently spoken “My Bad Wired.”
OLPH school on Garfield Ave. welcomes electors
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Byelection day, and as usual the old premises at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School welcomed Moore Park voters from the neighborhood’s nine electoral subdivisions Monday morning for the exercise of parliamentary democracy. The original OLPH school dates from the 20s but even the “new” section built in 1963 is getting on. The school is nestled in a leafy corner of Garfield Ave. just where it meets Mount Pleasant Rd. It is in the newer wing that residents young and old truck to the auditorium to show their ID. The old complaint is still heard, both among Liberals and Conservatives, that each would easily win Toronto-Centre if it weren’t for the other parts of the sprawling downtown constituency. What they mean is that there is limited NDP support in the area. One brave family on Moore Ave. had their Linda McQuaig sign out on the lawn. It is always an interesting practice when all the results have been posted online to see how subdivisions voted. It takes a few days for that to happen. It will frequently show that Moore Park has once again voted rather differently from those south of the CP main line, much less south of Bloor Street. That is why the next general election, slated for 2015, is so interesting. It will almost surely see the creation of a new riding, University-Rosedale, which will include Moore Park and Rosedale plus areas off to the southwest. Grey Cup 101: Regina wins lopsided tilt 45 to 23
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It was a sorry thing to see the Tiger Cats lose in any case but the score was distressingly lopsided as the Roughriders won 45 to 23. Regina was clearly the better team, however, right from the kick off. Globe and Mail