The South Bayview Bulldog

The wealthy Beijing doctor who built this fantastic “villa” atop a 26- storey apartment has had to bend to the will of the municipal authorities. The place is not quite to code. However the doctor, who is interviewed on the video at left, says some of that great mound of fake rock and greenery, is legal. He is making changes to parts that may not have approval. Stayed tuned. Maybe a James Bond villain will move in. 

It has been a kind of sainted life for Pamela Wallin. She started out as just a girl from the small town of Wadena, Saskatchewan (population 1300). She broke into journalism at the tender age of 21 when she was hired by CBC Radio. Along the way,  Ms Wallin worked for CTV, the Toronto Star and in 1992 was famously hired to try to fill the void left by the death of Barbara Frum. It might be said it was here that the first bit of rain began to fall in Ms Wallin’s professional life. Her efforts did not fare too well and in 1995 she was replaced by Hanna Gartner and dismissed. But she bounced back, starting her own production company which created a show called Pamela Wallin Live. It found a spot on the CBC and she continued with this work for four years. Subsequently she moved on to cable-TV and in 2000 hosted CTV’s Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?  Her first political opportunity came in 2002 when Jean Chretien appointed her counsel general to New York,  a very plum position. Her stature in the public eye continued to grow with the flattering elevation in 2007 to the chancellorship of the University of Guelph. Along the way, Ms. Wallin was made an honorary colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The girl from Wadena also acquired several important board memberships and in 2009 was appointed to the Senate by Stephen Harper. Now, in what must seem to her as quite a fall from high, she is largely in disgrace as accusations of irregular expenses from her tenure as a senator are made public. The CBC has this quite good review of what’s ahead of her now. 

These two Edwardian beauties on Roxborough Ave. are getting full makeovers as new owners move in. As a local resident told us: “The first thing people want to do is take them all apart.” This activity seems to be in keeping with a brisk trade in Canada’s re-sale housing market. Homes sold well in both Vancouver and Toronto in July with prices continuing to rise. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) takes this to mean that the market overall is beginning to stabilize after a decline earlier in the year. CREA says resales edged up 0.2% from June on a seasonally adjusted basis and up 9.4% from July 2012, when tighter rules put the brakes on lenders and buyers. Despite the recent uptick, the total of 284,865 homes that traded hands in the first seven months of 2013, is 4.6% fewer than the corresponding period last year. “Canadian home sales have staged a bit of a recovery in recent months after having declined in the wake of tightened mortgage rules and lending guidelines last year, but the numbers for July suggest that national activity is levelling off at what might best be described as average levels,” said Gregory Klump, the real estate association’s chief economist. The national average home price was $382,373, 8.4% higher than a year ago, although Klump said that was mostly because sales were concentrated in expensive major markets. Excluding sales in Toronto and Vancouver, the national average price would have gone up only half as much and sales volume would have been down from June, the CREA report notes. Pictures courtesy Yonge and Roxborough News

We’re getting the full picture now on what our little two and three tree forests will look like on South Bayview. Here we see gardeners hired by the city digging out the tree holes prior to planting. It was a hot job even on a pleasant summer day like Friday. The inset picture (lower left) reveals there will be a fairly large patch of open earth at sidewalk level and anyone who doesn’t want these spaces to turn into a messy garbage collection will have to plant them. Just like the old days. 

Good morning, South Bayview. Out this week among Parliament Hill platitudes is the view that Canada’s auditor general, Michael Ferguson (left) will be trying to restore public confidence in the Senate when he launches his thoroughgoing review of how its members spend money.  Mr. Ferguson is said to be ready to dig for dirt and his decision to release information as he gets it seems to coincide suspiciously with the General Election of 2015. Could it be that Conservative strategists think a sure-fire way to propel the party back into office would be a sinkhole under the Senate? This enormously popular platform might even eclipse the sunshine of Justin Trudeau and his new Ministry of Marijuana. Okay not fair, but blowing out the unelected, redundant and costly upper house would look awfully good to most voters. Then we have the mandate of the Democracy Minister Pierre Polliviere. His job is to persuade the Supreme Court that the elected House of Commons can send Senators on a permanent vacation without the agreement of all ten provinces. Please. Countries like New Zealand and Sweden have long since abolished their upper chambers in the interest of democracy and efficient government. Sober second thought?  Let the voters assume that task. Previous Post 

What appears to be healthy Cottonwood tree comes down on the south side of Southvale Drive at Astor Ave. This is beside the garages of the Crestview Apartments and its not too clear why it had to go. There are two more of these tall trees on the same small plot of land. The Cottonwood is a species indigenous to Southern Ontario.