“Rouge” is Air Canada’s new discount carrier

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Air Canada held a news conference this morning to announce the creation of a new discount carrier named Rouge.  The new carrier will  focus on holiday destinations in Europe, the U.S. and the Caribbean. The first flights aboard Rouge will take place next July 1, 2013 with two Boeing 767s and two Airbus A319s borrowed from Air Canada’s main fleet. More destinations will be added later. Eventually, Rouge will expand to 50 planes as Air Canada begins to take delivery of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2014. Reuters

Toronto public elementary teachers strike day

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Teachers picketed public schools throughout South Bayview today. Most of the contingents were a small representation of the total staff.  About a dozen teachers carried signs outside Rolph Road Elementary School for example. Elsewhere pickets said they were glad to be fighting for bargaining rights but some also said they would be happy to return to class tomorrow. At the office of former cabinet minister and Liberal leadership candidate Kathleen Wynne (inset) on Eglinton Ave E just west of Laird Dr a large group of noisy pickets heard speeches and waved to drivers who honked support. Notices on elementary school websites are commiserating with parents. This is the text of the notice on the  Maurice Cody site:
 Dear families of Maurice Cody, 
There have been many questions regarding the impending one day strike/walkout by Elementary Teachers of Toronto. The local media reported last night that Tuesday, December 18, 2013 schools in the Toronto District School Board will be closed to all students. Please go to the TDSB website for additional information regarding the one day strike. Many thanks for your patience and understanding through the labour action. Happy holidays to all and warm wishes for a very healthy and Happy New year.  

Why not send urgent medical records by 9-1-1?

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The federal body that regulates smart phones and  myriad other linked devices is holding a hearing in Ottawa this week to plan how to make 9-1-1 emergency services function in all the applications of the digital present.  Can 9-1-1 service be enhanced so that it will transmit useful emergency information to police, fire or EMO staff? Many people think so. The prospect that an iPhone for example might be able to send emergency medical records to EMO staff using the patient’s own phone seems quite likely.

City budget headed for a 2% increase: writer

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Paul Moloney writing Monday night in the Toronto Star says that Toronto’s property taxes are going to rise a bit more than earlier proposed, to add a few spending items and account for the impacts of reassessment and council tax policy. He writes that after originally pegging the increase at 1.95 per cent, the budget committee Monday boosted that to an even 2 percent. The difference is enough to raise an extra $1.15 million that will provide:
 • $500,000 in increased grants to community service agencies.
 • $300,000 more to local arts organizations.
 • $75,000 to Toronto Botanical Gdns, which ended 2011 $198,000 in the red. 
 • $30,000 to help lawn bowling clubs.
 • $17,800 extra for student nutrition.
 • $227,200 still to be allocated.

Abducted kids returned from Zimbabwe

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A mom has finally been re-united with her two children after they were apparently abducted by a relative of her husband while they were on a vacation trip to Zimbabwe in April. Today Biatra Muzabazi, the children’s mother, appeared at a Toronto Police Service news conference and thanked all those who assisted in the return of the children, Rene, 7 and Shane, 4. Many Canadian agencies assisted in the international effort to return the children and the story is told in the police video at the right taken at the news conference. 

LRT might impact Eglinton condo foundation

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Remarks which were emailed Sunday night to members of the Leaside Property Owners Association say that concerns have arisen about protecting the foundation of the Scenic on Eglinton condominium complex if the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT tracks follow their original overland route approved in 2010.  In a previous post The South Bayview Bulldog reported that Metrolinx, the Ontario Government planning body responsible for construction of the LRT, had decided to tunnel the line all the way from Laird Drive to Don Mills Road. In the 2010 plan, trains were to exit the tunnel at Brentcliffe Rd. The change requires trains to travel under the Don River. The emailed remarks, said to have been authored by Carol Burtin-Fripp, vice president of the LPOA, say that residents who attended a meeting on December 11, 2012, were told of  “new property constraints” related to the Scenic on Eglinton, which is still under construction. It is said that the original overland route, exiting the tunnel at Brentcliffe, would require temporary shoring to protect the foundation of the condominium. Other matters raised in the remarks were the inconvenience created by the elimination of two stops (Leslies and Ferrand Drive), congestion at Laird and Eglinton if Leslie-York Mills commuters are bused to Laird station and the additional cost of the longer tunnel.  

Million stories behind 30-year history of President’s Choice

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Galen, Amanda House and Trader Dave

There are a million stories behind the 30-year campaign of the Loblaws chain to extend its private brand, President’s Choice, into a household term representing thousands of products. In the process, Loblaws went from being merely a bunch of grocery stores in the 1980s to a huge manufacturer and creator of many of the items on its shelves. Amanda House and her complaint that Loblaws failed to deliver on buying her yogurt treat is just the latest tale. She says that Loblaws didn’t carry through on undertakings it made to buy and sell her pro-biotic product. Loblaws then produced a product of its own which Ms. House says looks a lot like hers. Her $20-million lawsuit with Loblaw Companies Ltd., and an especially sad plea on YouTube for Loblaws to do the right thing, have earned her a meeting with the Loblaw chief this week.

Trader Dave

Ms House said no settlement offers came out of the hour-long meeting with Loblaw executive chairman Galen Weston Jr. But she was hopeful that communication will remain open between her company YoPRO Treats Inc. and the supermarket chain. “It was a step in the right direction,” said 35-year-old Ms. House, who attended the meeting at Loblaw headquarters in Brampton with her lawyer. The thing is, Loblaws can readily argue that it has done nothing wrong here. It just decided not to buy the YoPRO product and instead do what it’s been doing since the day of the fabled Loblaws President, Dave Nichol, and make its own. It was Nichol, kindly known by many customers as Trader Dave, who engineered the first jaw-dropping scheme to make Loblaws very own soft drinks.

A million stories

In the process, he kicked Coca-Cola to the back of the store. Did we say there are a million stories about President’s Choice? You have to know that every big brand name firm from Kraft to Maple Leaf got indigestion over Loblaws private label program. In the end, however, success sells. The public has embraced this concept even though some customers continue to complain that time-honoured brand names have been removed from Loblaws shelves for good. In the meantime, we can only hope that there is sympathy at Loblaws for Ms House and her colleagues. They seem like decent people.

The Flower Nook is back at 1542 Bayview

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Tannis and Michael flanking Jen

The Flower Nook at 1542 Bayview Ave has been an institution on our street for decades. It is owned by the solid family of Mom (Agnes) Dad (Grant) and Daughter (Jen). They are celebrating a return to the Bayview shop which has housed the business for so long. The family bought The Flower Nook in 2010  but they barely got started before the store was ravaged by smoke damage during the fire that destroyed Leaside Cleaners in October 2011. It was necessary to move out for eight months but now they are back and the place is humming. That’s good news for all South Bayview and especially nice for The South Bayview Bulldog because The Flower Nook is our newest advertiser. So welcome back to Bayview to the Flower Nook and welcome to the pages of The Bulldog.

CBC producer says it’s your fault he fooled you

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According to Chris Kelly, producer of the CBC fake news program This is That, it’s more or less your fault if you believe much of what it broadcasts. Kelly appears to bring a whole new school of thought to the field of journalism ethics. This week the program ran a story, complete with a fake interview, that a Montreal Councillor was insisting that dogs in Montreal parks should be able to respond bilingually to commands. It was a ridiculous idea but it came from a place where there are many ridiculous ideas about language. It’s hard to imagine that anyone who ran the story really believed such a mental feat is possible for canines. But it was — and is — entirely possible that Quebec can generate ideas of this quality. The daily news run is loaded with stories which are ridiculous but which are also true. Check the post right below  this one. Kelly is unfazed. “We obviously feel for the City of Montreal and city council who are probably getting some calls right now. We feel bad that that was an outcome of this, but it’s a joke. A pretty funny one,” said Kelly. “The overarching truth that we’ve noticed about this style of stuff is we live in a very knee-jerk age and people sometimes don’t take the time to go beyond the 140 characters,” Kelly said.  There you are. It’s your fault he fooled you.  

4 Click Video Pick circles the world

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The Click goes clockwise and begins with a promising invention to reduce cycling deaths.  The British brain and barnstormer for the Blaze is Emily Brooke. While in university, she created a neat handlebar mounted laser lamp that casts a green image of a bicycle out onto the pavement ahead  of the cyclist. Motorists are able to detect the presence of bikes even  in the blind spots and thus avoid turning into them.  Number two is a charming re-union of Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta some 35 years after “Grease”. Below that are some of Vuitton’s chic mini bags (arm candy if you please) showing this season. Finally, most touching is the story of the Landfill Harmonic, a very good orchestra made up mostly of poor kids from Paraguay who fabricate their instruments out of salvaged junk.