How George Cope had his Bell rung

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Nice little play on words here as Globe and Mail writer Steve Ladurantaye has his go at explaining what went wrong in Bell Media’s bid to buy TV, radio and billboard giant Astral Media  Mr. Cope (left) is CEO of Bell and it seems his confidence about this deal was boundless. There were rumbles that maybe it was just a touch too self-serving and frankly humongous to be in the public interest. The head of the Competition Bureau Melanie Áiken (centre) said as much a couple of weeks ago. In the end, CRTC commissioner Jean-Pierre Blais (right) and his cohorts decided that Bell had just not made the case. They rejected the whole deal. You can decide whether you like that. One problem Bell has is that it’s not very well liked. Many see it was an indifferent steamroller in the marketplace. The company’s contention that it needed Astral to compete internationally came under close scrutiny. How did buying a Canadian company help Bell compete internationally? It was an obvious question. The CRTC couldn’t figure it out. The current telecoms bogeyman Netflix was dragged out as a threat to Bell. It must have seemed silly to the government appointed commissioners. Globe and Mail

Employees get privacy right on office computers

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The Supreme Court has found that employers may not routinely check on what their employees are doing on a company computer assigned to the individual. The ruling stands to throw many company practices into confusion. In deciding the matter, the court said that workplace computers contain so much personal information that employees have a legitimate expectation of privacy in using them. It specified that the surfing history of employees should be confidential.  The court did say, however, that some matters were so serious that the right to privacy might be overruled.  But it did not explain how such criminal matters might be detected when the employer  cannot routinely oversee activity on its own computers. The case involved a high school teacher who had nude pictures of students on his computer. In this case, the court said, the pictures, which had been discovered by a technician during maintenance, may be used as evidence against the teacher.

Bessborough residents in the home stretch

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Long suffering residents of Bessborough Drive over by Sutherland Drive will be glad to see they are in the home stretch with the current construction on their street. Two great looking new homes have gone up. No 63 (right) is ahead of the home across the street, but work is moving along well. No 58 is an especially graceful looking place. It is the work of TomaValley Homes Inc. 

Gardiner X-way a menace to those underneath it

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The Gardiner Expressway is loaded with traffic today but a report from an independent Toronto engineering firm, IBI, says the old elevated highway is a menace, especially to those underneath it. The Gardiner is full of deteriorating concrete that presents a “significant hazard to public safety.”  More than that, it contradicts the much more optimistic assessment made by the City’s engineering department.  The IBI survey finds the underside of the expressway  has sizable cracks, spalls (pieces that have detached from a larger mass), problematic patches, and/or splitting in six areas where the city found “no signs of surface deterioration.”  The report also warns that it is possible for concrete to fall off in the future no matter what precautions are taken.  Guess we’ll be taking side streets. 

World of accountability growing so fast

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The offices of the City Ombud, Integrity Commissioner and Lobby Registrar are just so busy. The budgets of these three “accountability” services are proposed to go up because there are more general complaints, more complaints about integrity and more lobbyists.  For the budget committee, the suspicion seemed to be that more accountability invited more business. Toronto Sun

Millwood-McRae townhouse sold in one day

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The Toronto Star’s What They Got feature today reports on a townhouse at Millwood Rd. and McRae Drive that sold in one day. It fetched the asking price — $609,900.  The home sold previously in 2007 for $515,000.  It has 1,800 sq feet with a single car garage. This home and its attached neighbors sit right across the street from Leaside United Church and have the appeal of being kitty-corner to Trace Manes Park. Of course the corner is a bit busy but not excessively so. What they got.

Looks like a Ding-Dong Dollarama Christmas

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That’s right friends, if Dollarama at 1531 Bayview Ave. isn’t open by Christmas call this scribbler a Terrier not a Bulldog. Every night the lights blaze and a peek through the (very narrow) crack in the papering shows shelves moving into place. For Dollarama this one is just store umpty-umpty in a business model that only keeps spiralling up. And no doubt they will do well. But the question remains as to whether the South Bayview buyer will merely look or shout “I’ll take this.” Anyone who has gone through Dollarama knows that it has an amazing array of goods. Some of it seems to have function, depending on the context. But frankly much if it  appears dreadfully poor and unappealing. How will all that $2 stuff play with customers? We say you will be able to take a look on Bayview before the big man boards the reindeer shuttle for points south.

Field is shaping up to pick Madam Premier

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Four names being discussed as potential Liberal leadership candidates are (l to r) Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynn (Don Valley West) Health Ministeer Deb Matthews (London North Centre) Labour Minister Laurel Broten (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) and former cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello, now a director at Pricewaterhouse Cooper. It will take a lot of courage for any of these ladies or the men in the cabinet to    jump into the toxic party pool left behind by the McGuinty stewardship.  Globe and Mail.  Toronto Sun
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Wente’s bitter judgement on Dalton McGuinty

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“Leaders are judged by whether they leave the place in better shape than they found it. So how has Mr. McGuinty done? Let’s see. He inherited a $5-billion deficit and promised to wipe it out; now it’s $14.4-billion. He promised to keep a lid on spending; during his term in office, spending per person, in real terms, went up 50 per cent. The province’s debt doubled. Back in 2003, Ontario’s low electricity rates were a competitive advantage; now its rates are among the highest in North America. Ontario’s economy used to be on top; now Newfoundland is sending us equalization payments” — Margaret Wente. Globe and Mail