The South Bayview Bulldog

The Ministry of Health is recording only 745 new C-19 cases Tuesday because of the ongoing data migration of City of Toronto data to a different system. In recent days, Toronto Public Health (TPH) has been migrating all of its data to the provincial data system. The process is now said to be complete. “Most notably, TPH’s case count is negative following the identification of duplicate cases as well as data corrections to some fields, resulting in an underestimation of today’s cases,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Alexandra Hilkene, said on Tuesday. Presumably, a reliable number will be issued Wednesday but even the partial number suggests the province’s reduction of daily cases is continuing.

Novavax will produce vaccine in Canada but not soon

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a deal has been struck with Novavax to produce its COVID-19 vaccine in Canada, but the pharmaceutical company won’t be ready to roll out doses for several months. The federal government has signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Novavax to pursue options to produce its COVID-19 vaccine at a new Montreal facility that is under construction. The plant won’t be finished until July, meaning production is many months away.

Arija Jansons, 30, (right) remains in hospital after a fire broke out at 95 Gainsborough Rd. Her son, Kai, 6, (left) and her mother, Jana, and two close friends, Amanda Freimanis and Matthew Zdybal, were the four who died in the blaze. Two fundraisers have been started in aid of Ms Jansons and a third for all the victims. Jenny Yuen, Toronto Sun

The government has verbal assurances only that the European Union (where all the German cars come from) won’t use its new power to stop all vaccine shipments to Canada. Nonetheless, the fed remains optimistic that we will indeed get shipments as scheduled after early production issues are resolved. As the same time, efforts are being made to persuade big vaccine makers to set up shop in a planned government factory here. CTV

Bell closes newsroom, fires reporters at venerable CJAD

Bell Media has laid off all of the reporters at Montreal’s CJAD on Monday, two union sources told the Montreal Gazette. Bell Media would only confirm it has made “a limited number of staff reductions, many of them changes in on-air broadcast roles due to programming decisions” at CJAD. Radio and television reporters across the country at Bell Media are uneasy as the big multi-business firm faces a changing information world. Montreal Gazette

Council to vote Tuesday on narrowing Yonge St

Toronto City Council will decide on Tuesday whether to keep Yonge St. between College and Queen the way it is or rebuild it to make way for — guess what — condominiums. The vote itself revolves around a new watermain construction project between College/ Carleton St. and Queen St. and a far more important accompanying endeavor that will see the number of traffic lanes reduced from four to two in order to expand sidewalk space. They’ll be no need for cars of course because at Yonge and Queen you’re about as far downtown as you can get. Toronto Sun

 

Mandatory testing for travellers arriving at Toronto Pearson carries a $750 fine for refusing this new requirement. Then, Vancouver police raid a huge illegal nightclub roaring away atop a downtown penthouse, Telus Garden. Below that, Facebook says it’s ready to be regulated. Lastly, a sweet Welsh girl, Lilly Walker, 4, has found a perfect imprint of a dinosaur foot and her name will now go down in history as perhaps the world’s youngest palaeontologist.

The new logo for the Leaside Heritage Preservation Society has been designed by Cathy Lam Freer of the Freer Group Ltd. She is a Leaside resident. Her design, seen above, was among 29 ideas submitted. Leaside Heritage Facebook

The Leaside Residents Association had a good turnout Wednesday for its virtual town hall held in conjunction with the LRA’s Annual General Meeting. The LRA is the former Leaside Property Owners Association. Co-president Carol Burtin Fripp said the Zoom Webinar attracted an estimated 150 people to the online forum. About 50 of these texted in questions, enough that many could not be dealt with during the allotted time. They’ll be answered by email. The transition to virtual large meetings requires specialized skills. On this occasion, John Hiddema, from the Executive of the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents (SERRA) took charge. LRA past president Brian Athey was the moderator.

Laird Drive a concern

Ms Burtin Fripp said that development was a major concern. Controller Jaye Robinson said Laird Drive gives her the most concern, given the applications for mid-rise buildings (approved and/or pending). Trustee Rachel Chernos Lin discussed the challenges the TDSB is facing and MP Rob Oliphant provided a description of the range of federal policies and services impacting Toronto and Leaside. Leaside Residents Association

In California, two women are accusing Subway of selling fake tuna. They filed a lawsuit against the company in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Their lawsuit claims that independent tests couldn’t find any actual tuna in samples. The attorney for the plaintiffs told the Washington Post the ingredients not only were not tuna but also “not fish.” Instead, they say the testing found, “a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna.”

Subway says the claim “baseless”

Subway says the accusation is entirely baseless. Their tuna is tuna, they say. The two women are identified as Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin. Many will wonder if they got their inspiration to test subway tuna from the ongoing chicken legal action between the CBC and Subway in Canada. Subway sandwich suit against CBC gets top court approval

The Ministry of Health has reported 1,837 new cases of C-19 infection Friday for the 24-hour period ending at midnight. The number is based on findings from 69,040 tests. It’s an encouraging report and holds hope that rigid lockdown rules are beginning to control the viral pestilence. The province’s rolling seven-day average now stands at 2,010. It had reached 3,273 two weeks ago but has been on the decline since then. Of the new cases, 595 are in Toronto, 295 are in Peel Region, 170 are in York, 59 are in Durham, 54 are in Halton and 53 are in Hamilton.

MOH reviews extended rules, prospects on City News

The South Bayview Bulldog has been notified by its internet service provider Bluehost that the site will be moved to a new, superior server in the next few days. Although there is expected to be no downtime it is possible that a temporary maintenance sign will appear for a brief time. The move is necessary because of failures in the present server that have slowed both access by readers and the posting of news to The Bulldog. We appreciate your understanding and thank you for reading The Bulldog.

Four people are dead following a three-alarm fire at 95 Gainsborough Rd. in East York. The alarm came in just before 5 a.m. Friday to the home near Coxwell Ave and Eastwood Road. Carl Hantske of 680 News reports. Twitter posts with video.

Rogue traders who have been influencing social media investors through their Reddit group have been slapped down by restrictions placed on their favorite stocks Thursday. One of these, GameStop Corp. plunged at mid-morning after moves were made to curtail its trading. Among those taking action were Robinhood Markets, TD Bank and Interactive Brokers Group Inc. GameStop stock plummeted as much as 68% when trading was halted. CBC Here is an earlier analysis from Mike Eppel.

Metrolinx says that as early as Saturday, crews at Mt Peasant Station will perform a major concrete pour within the work zones on the north side of Eglinton Ave east of Mount Pleasant Road. The concrete will form one of the permanent station structures underground. To ensure the integrity and continuity of the pour, work will begin as early as 6 a.m. and take approximately 12 hours to complete. Concrete trucks will stage on Eglinton, Mt. Pleasant and within the work zones. Two concrete pumps will be set up at the secondary entrance site. Traffic control personnel and/or a paid duty officer will be present while this work takes place.