Pumpkin carving contest deadline is today

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Hey, it’s not too late to enter the Annual Leaside and Davisville Pumpkin Carving Contest. Mind you, the deadline is 5 p.m.October 30, 2013, so you have to get carving. First thing to do is email Charlene Kalia your address and put Carving Contest in the subject line. Next step, get busy making a creative and fun pumpkin. Then put your pumpkin outside your house by 5 p.m. Wednesday night. Charlene will take pictures of all entries and the judges will decide who carved the most creative pumpkin. Contest winners and photos will be posted at Charlene’s site linked here. The prizes are pretty good. 1st Prize is $250.00 RBC Visa Card, 2nd Prize a $100.00 Scholar’s Choice Gift Certificate  and 3rd Prize is a $50.00 Cineplex Gift Certificate. Good luck. 

Toronto Centre candidates debate November 21

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There will be a candidates debate for those running in the Toronto-Centre byelelction. It will be held in the Cody Room of St. Paul’s Anglican Church at 223 Bloor Street E on Thursday, November 21, 2013.  It will be a two hour debate — 7 to 9 p.m.  The deadline for candidates is Monday November 4, 2013.  Candidates so far are:  

Dorian Baxter – Progressive Canadian
Party Leslie Bory – Independent
John Deverell – Green Party of Canada
Chrystia Freeland – Liberal Party 
Travis McCrae – Pirate Party
Linda McQuaig – New Democratic Party
Geoffrey Pollock – Conservative Party
Bahman Yazdanfar – Independent

American Girl doll to be sold at Indigo in 2014

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The upscale and expensive American Girl doll will be sold starting next spring at Indigo stores in Toronto and Vancouver. The company’s president Heather Reisman said today that so-called “store-in-store” boutiques of  up to 5,000 square feet will be installed in  Yorkdale Shopping Centre, and at the Robson Street location in Vancouver. Up to now, the American Girl product has been available only online in Canada. Hamilton Spectator 

The Slaights make $50 million gift to hospitals

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The Slaight family has once again made a large donation to the city’s hospital system. This time, five  hospitals will share a $50-million charitable gift from the Slaight Family Foundation. They are the University Health Network, St. Michael’s Hospital, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Mount Sinai Hospital. The Slaight family patriarch Allen Slaight built a radio empire which was sold to Astral Media Inc. Astral was recently sold to Bell Media.  

So upset about Banksy but don’t care who he is

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It appears that the graffiti artist Banksy, who somehow continues to maintain his anonymity in the presence of intimate business with the media, has upset many people by saying in an unpublished op-ed piece that the World Trade Centre is bland. It is so bland, said this elusive spray-paint virtuoso of bomb-throwing misfits, that it looks like something they would build in Canada. Yawn. The New York Times is said to have refused to publish this article. That’s their business. What astonishes is that once again the media finds it is just fine to play dumb about Banksy’s identity.   

Sears Canada bails out, Nordstrom, Saks stand by

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Sears Canada will abandon its flagship store at the Toronto Eaton Centre and also close four other stores in a so-called leaseback deal with landlord Cadillac Fairview. Analysts gulped back the shock and said this seemed to be the first part of a plan to move Nordstrom stores into these spaces. There is no confirmation of that although, as is known, the southwest U.S.  retailer has already said that it is coming to Canada. Sears will exercise an option to sell back the leases for the spaces. They are Eaton Centre,  Sherway Gardens and Masonville mall in London. As well, Sears’ outlets in Markville Shopping Centre in Markham and Richmond Centre in Richmond, B.C. will shut in 2015. Both Nordstrom and Saks Inc. are looking around the suitable locations. Cadillac Fairview Corp. is said to be anxious to get more rent for the Eaton Centre location.At present, Sears leases permit it to pay as little as about $1 per square foot in rent. Look here for BNN story with video of analysis by anchors and others this morning.

Hodgson rink down for a re-build this season

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Robert Crump, the manager of Toronto Parks, has delivered the news that the Hodgson Public School outdoor rink will be shut down for a season beginning immediately. The rink dates back to 1980 and has been living on borrowed time.  It is the last of the city’s antiquated “direct ammonia” rinks and according to Crump repair personnel say they can’t be sure where the next ammonia leak will occur. They express fear for the pupils in Hodgson school next door. As legions of kids, hockey players and parents will know, the Davisville Ave rink is a popular spot. It has also been a challenge to get the Toronto District School Board to let the city do their work on TDSB property. According to Mr.Crump: “The City originally scheduled reconstruction of the rink in its 2005 capital plan and requested a 20 year renewal of the shared use agreement for the right to renovate and use the AIR located on TDSB property at 282 Davisville Avenue. TDSB did not take action on the proposal. We asked again in 2008, again to no avail. We asked again in February this year after we experienced a minor ammonia leak (the second in two years – one from a leaking pipe in the floor) and were advised it would cost over $50,000 to remove and replace the 6,000 lbs of ammonia in the system in order to replace the major valve that had failed and caused the leak. The refrigeration mechanics who work on our equipment expressed real fear that they didn’t know where the next issue was going to crop up and were concerned for both their safety and that of the public, particularly the children in the adjacent school. After much foot dragging on the part of the TDSB, and much prodding from parks staff, it appears we finally have their approval to extend our shared use for another 20 years. 

Committee votes 5-1 against recreation fees

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The community development and recreation committee is has voted 5 to 1 to cancel the fees paid for recreational programming and instead to provide them free across the city. The motion was moved by Kristyn Wong-Tam (Ward 26).  It would take the city back beyond the amalgamation year of 1998 to time when the City of Toronto offered such programming free, but all the suburban cities applied what many call a token payment. The Wong-Tam proposal, now goes to full city council.  The argument seems, on the basis of news reports, to have been fuelled largely on ambient emotion. Joe Mihevc (Ward 21) declared “Every child has a right to an education, every child has a right to health care, and we’re saying it be the right of everyone that we take the cost of recreation out of a common pot.” The city earns $30.6 million from the fees, 

Sara a happy toy seller at Loblaws on Moore

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Here’s Sara from the Canadian Property Stars charity arm Charity Fundraising Events (CFE). The busy Sara was selling toys at Loblaws at Bayview and Moore Aves.  She seemed to be doing pretty well.  The Property Stars firm is, as the name hints, a property maintenance company. CFE says it donates 20% of net income from all product sales (in this case it was toys) to CPS chosen registered charities and 100% of all toys purchased and placed by customers in the on-site receptacles which are then donated to established holiday toy-collection charities. CPS has quite a pleasant story. One of their reasons for doing charity work is fun, they say. And also, as their website notes, the seasonal property maintenance industry is super-competitive and involves long, tiring days filled with hard labour, equipment issues and constant logistical challenges. Charity in the off season is an exciting way, they say, for staff to keep working without having to endure “the same wear-and-tear on their bodies that they go through each spring and summer.” Ouch.