Mayor Ford says there are at least 100 empty beds most nights at Toronto shelters for street people and he doesn’t the sense in creating more. Mr. Ford said he found the activities of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) in demanding more beds to be “nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt.” Meantime, OCAP took its travelling protest to Metro Hall where as usual a sit-in began.
Will TDSB recruit parents for kids graduation?
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Toronto District School Board is apparently quite unclear about how to provide elementary kids with a graduation ceremony this year. Teachers are on a boycott of extra-curricular duties — either militantly or per force — and that leaves only the possibly of recruiting parents for the job. The school board also says that a staff member — teacher or other — has to be present for the ceremony for legal reasons. The board spokesman Ryan Bird is quoted in the Star as saying the board cannot guarantee there will be graduation ceremonies. Here in South Bayview its known that teachers range between “solidarity” union members to those who would much prefer to participate in these important rites of passage for children leaving elementary school.
Good old Stompin’ Tom Connors dead at age 77
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| Stompin Tom’s last letter and tributes |
LCBO to open store at Bayview and Millwod
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The LCBO will open an outlet at 1524 Bayview Ave at Millwood Road in the premises formerly occupied by Blockbuster Video before it went bankrupt. Several sources on the site have confirmed the arrival of the liquor store. Renovations are underway even as the old Blockbuster sign remains outside on the long vacant store, which is beside epi breads. It will hardly need saying to anyone with business to do on South Bayview, merchant or shopper, that the arrival of an LCBO is long overdue for the many neighborhoods that look to this street as a preferred shopping destination. The Blockbuster, which has been vacant now for more than 18 months is an ideally-sized space for the liquor outlet. We note the coincidence that 1524 Bayview is slap up against the west border of the provincial riding of Don Valley West whose member if the premier herself.
Star reporters protest layoffs with byline ban
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Reporters at the Toronto Star withheld their bylines from the newspaper’s Wednesday edition in a show of protest against upcoming layoffs and restructuring. Where a byline should be in the paper, it simply reads Star Staff. National Post Previous post
Kate’s slip-of-the-tongue signals it’s a girl
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Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has made a slip of the tongue that apparently suggests that she is going to have a daughter. During a routine royal appearance a woman gave Kate a teddy bear. Kate, 31, said: “Thank you, I will take that for my d… for my baby.” After the slip Kate insisted she did not know the sex of her baby — who will be third in line to the throne — with Prince William. Another woman who was next to the duchess in the crowd, said: “I distinctly heard her say ‘thank you, I’ll take that for my d …’ then she stopped herself. I said to her: ‘You were going to say daughter weren’t you?’ and she said ‘No, we don’t know’. “I said ‘Oh I think you do’, to which she said: ‘We’re not telling’.”Will streetcars fit on the tracks — we’ll soon know
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Funny thing about streetcars — they have to fit on the tracks. But we love those big electrical passenger ferry boats of the streets and the TTC has 204 of them just waiting to see if they fit on the city’s tracks. Paula Fletcher (Ward 30 Danforth) told the CBC she’s excited and nervous to see them in action. The trams were designed for Toronto by Bombardier as part of a deal signed in 2009. Ms. Fletcher’s worry is that a vehicle of this kind has never operated in open traffic anywhere in the world. “Everyone’s just waiting to see how well they’re going to work on the current track,” she said. So later this month, when the snow subsides, the new streetcars will hit the tracks and we will all find out of they fit the tracks. Can’t help wondering where the bus is. Montage: It shows the exterior of the new Bombardier, self-contained motorman’s cab where operator can lock him/herself inside, new miniaturized fare boxes, token and transfer dispenser.
Toronto now 4th largest city in North America
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News that Toronto has become the fourth largest city in North America seems easy to understand. People are flocking here from all over the world. Wonder why? Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York. It’s an easy one. Toronto overtook Chicago last year apparently. According to the latest census data from Statistics Canada, as of last July 1, Toronto’s population was 2,791,140, about 84,000 more than Chicago’s 2,707,120. So after all the self-flagellation at City Hall over starvation (where?) bad transit (here comes the bus now) and crime (just try and buy a handgun at Wal Mart) Toronto comes out ahead in the migration stakes.
Hugo Chavez dead at age 58, Venezuela reports
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President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, surrounded by other government officials, announced the death in a national television broadcast. He said Chavez died at 4:25 p.m. local time. National Post
China, U.S. agree on new action against N. Korea
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Reuters is reporting this afternoon that that U.S. and China reached a deal that “significantly expands” U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its third nuclear test, eliciting a renewed threat by Pyongyang to scrap an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea also said it would sever a military “hotline” with the United States if South Korea and Washington pressed on with two-month-long war games. China’s U.N. ambassador, Li Baodong, told Reuters the 15-nation Security Council was aiming for a Thursday vote on a draft sanctions resolution, which was agreed to by Washington and Beijing after three weeks of negotiations. The landmark move, in which China finally seems to have agreed to taking action rather than merely disapproval, still has to unfold. But it is different and reveals the growing concern in China that North Korea might somehow trigger a war. In any such conflict, North Korea would be beaten but the death toll and social impact of the regime’s collapse is troubling to most parties. North Korea’s response to the news is revealing as well. It has not threatened a cataclysm as it frequently does, nor does it dare say a word against China. Rolls Royce Wraith has dangerous “suicide doors”
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Remarkably, the half million dollar or so Rolls Royce Wraith has shown up at the Geneva Auto Show with front-opening suicide doors, a dangerous and antiquated feature that was largely abandoned by automakers more than 70 years ago. This video is an amusing change of pace which will sit in this position for a few hours before moving to the side. The gentleman behind the wheel is the aptly named Andrew English
Casino lobbying ahead of April council vote
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The sides are lined up in advance of the vote by the city executive committee today on the prospect of a casino for Toronto. Whatever the outcome, the final vote will occur in April at
city council. 680 News