The South Bayview Bulldog

Mid-week vaccination news includes good results from the Oxford University vaccine. But apparently, the on-going trials need additional older subjects to fully meet test targets. In Ontario, the government will issue proof-of-vaccination cards to those who have been vaccinated. Fretful anti-vaxers, or those who simply oppose an injection in principle, will have to make their way without such proof. Checks are likely before anyone can board a plane, enter a building or meeting.

Heath St. at Welland Ave

Wednesday’s snowfall has coincided with garbage and leaf bag pickup in Moore Park and Rosedale. An early casualty was this car on Heath St. at Welland Ave. Below, an 88 Leaside bus was having trouble staying on the road at the same corner.

Into the bus stop

Hoping for 5º Celius high to melt a lot of it

The Weather Network is calling for that hoped-for “high-five” degrees. The snow is predicted to taper off during the morning with sunny breaks in the afternoon.

The C-19 pandemic seems well on its way to turning the TTC into a white elephant. It’s a stark assessment but use of the subway, bus and streetcar service has fallen 80 percent over the summer. If, as some think, the public aversion to transit continues, will such things as the Eglinton LRT be just an enormous white elephant? City News

Food price jump is predicted by university

The professors at the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia are predicting an increase of $695 in the cost of groceries for an average Canadian family. Have they got this right? You can read the report here.

Don Valley owl plays peekaboo

Steven J. Shpak Jr. has posted this charming photo taken in the Don Valley. FB

Evidence at the trial of Yonge St. van killer Alek Minassian has again heard evidence from a defense psychiatrist that is it possible for someone to understand the meaning of right and wrong intellectually, but not understand it morally. The key word would seem to be understand. What do we think it means?

The first people to be vaccinated in Ontario against the coronavirus will be residents and staff of retirement and long-term care homes, health care workers and adults in remote indigenous communities. The priority list was published Monday by the government. Release

It’s been a $240 billion roller coaster ride since the federal government began spending big time to soften the economic destruction wreaked by C-19. Call it the Big Spend. Is anybody worried about creating enough debt to last to the year 2100? Then, the prime minister saying that the first shipments of vaccine might arrive in Canada next week. Here’s hoping. Below, the Toronto Sun is soliciting opinion on Toronto’s new vacancy tax on empty homes. Lastly, here’s the man who is the new voice of Bugs Bunny. It’s an unbelievably happy twist of fate for Scarborough’s Eric Bauza.

David Crombine, the man who won the affection of Toronto voters in the 70s, has resigned from the Ontario Green Belt Council over the government’s changes to how the lands will be administered. Half of the council has resigned with him. Crombie was mayor from 1972 to 1978 and won the widely used title as the City’s “Tiny Perfect Mayor.”

80 households part of UrbanHensTO program

A program inspired by Leaside brothers Andrew and Matthew Patel to keep chickens in City backyards has been renewed for another year by the planning department. The CBC reports Monday that the first year of the pilot, which ends in March, has been extended for another year. More than 230 hens in 80 households have been registered for the program. UrbanHensTO is legal in specified areas, but not Ward 15, where Leaside is located. At present it spans four former City of Toronto wards, based on boundaries set before the province chopped the number of wards in 2018, meaning the program currently applies to some parts of Wards 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 14, and 19.

First test drive of 2021 Bronco blast from past

And the first test drives of the new Ford Bronco SUV have taken place. The Bronco was an SUV almost before the term was used. When it was discontinued in 1996 it had only two doors but the 2021 Bronco has four.

Downsview Park fire/KKTPP @KKTPPKK

A three-alarm fire has ravaged a townhouse complex being built in Downsview near Frederick Tisdale Drive and Downsview Park Boulevard. Fire Chief Matt Pegg tweeted concern about the many collapses occurring as his crews worked to extinguish the fire. The blaze was declared under control shortly before 1 p.m. Video from KKTPP

Collapsing buildings

But not in Canada as HBO Max is only available in the US. In Canada the studio’s films will launch theatrically along with other worldwide territories, Warner Bros. Canada said. Nonetheless, the decision seems to signal a profound and possibly permanent new world for movies. It may mean lights out at many movie theatre chains.

Excitement at College and Spadina/Lucas @kschischang

There was fire at dawn briefly Friday morning on the top floor of a building under construction at 484 Spadina Ave. north of College. The 15-storey building will have retail and rental units. The fire was quickly extinguished and there were no injuries.

The Ontario Government has appointed nine citizens to form the C-19 vaccine distribution task force. Notable names are former police chief Mark Saunders and social media advocate Dr. Isaac Bogoch of TGH. Release.

Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s Chief Coroner and Head of Provincial Outbreak Response
Dr. Homer Tien, trauma surgeon and President and CEO, Ornge
Dr. Maxwell Smith, bioethicist and assistant professor, Western University
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases consultant and internist, Toronto General Hospital
RoseAnne Archibald of Taykwa Tagamou Nation
Dr. Regis Vaillancourt, Director of Pharmacy, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corporation
Angela Mondou, President and CEO, TECHNATION
Mark Saunders, former Toronto Police Chief