The South Bayview Bulldog

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Anne Milan, a sociologist with Statiastics Canada, presents a national overview of families, households and marital status data, 2011 Census. The Census was released today and has lots of interesting stuff. There are  9,389,700  “census families” consisting of married or common-law couples, or single parents in 2011,  Same-sex marriage nearly tripled between 2006 and 2011 as same-sex couples grew by 42.4 per cent. Same-sex common-law couples grew 15 per cent, compared with 13.8 per cent for opposite-sex common-law couples. Common-law couples increased 13.9 per cent between 2006 and 2011, compared with 3.1 per cent for married couples over the same time period. Single fathers grew by 16.2 per cent, compared with six per cent for single mothers, as lone-parent families grew eight per cent since 2006. Single mothers still comprise 80 per cent of single-parent families. Stepfamilies, counted for the first time in 2011, comprised 12.6 per cent of Canada’s 3.7 million couples with children. Nearly 60 per cent were “simple” stepfamilies — families in which the children are the biological or adopted offspring of only one parent. The number of couples without children at home (44.5 per cent) continued to outpace those couples with kids living at home (39.2 per cent).

Councillor Robinson

The City’s business development mission to Chicago, Team Toronto, is on its way.  The mission is led by political and business leaders — Mayor Ford and a number of Council members including Jaye Robinson, Councillor for Don Valley West (Ward 25). Business notables on the trip include George Cohon, founder of McDonald’s Canada who is the Mission Co-Chair, Robert Deluce, president of Porter Airline, Co-Chair,  Wayne Barwise, of Cadillac Fairview,Clare Copeland, Chairman of Toronto Hydro, Paul Deegan of  BMO Financial Group, Betty K. DeVita, President, MasterCard, Mike Harris, Former Premier of Ontario, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Elizabeth Geleff, Principal, Phillips Properties, Mary Gendron, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Celestica, E. M. Blake Hutcheson, President and CEO, Oxford Properties Group Ralph Lean, Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Ian MacEachern, Vice-President, Government and Stakeholder Relations, OMERS Administration Corporation. A complete list is in the Globe and Mail with an informative article.   Marcus Gee, Globe and Mail

Fast-track for EU

Most civilized places (and probably some uncivilized) have arrival lanes at their airports dedicated to those carrying the national passport. Toronto however has always been a place of equal-opportunity delays. Arrive from New York on Air Canada and queue up behind an Airbus-load of folks from half a world away.  Maybe that’s the Canadian way. Fairness and all that. But now it seems, Ottawa’s mania with levelling out everything  has softened. Within a month of two there will be a lane especially for Canadians and permanent residents installed at Pearson Airport.  Will there be a human rights complaint about this?  Quite possibly.  Will it proceed on a Charter appeal to the Supreme Court?  Well, this is Canada.

This modest but well-maintained home must be the pride and joy of its owners. They are relatively new to the neighbourhood but like canny home buyers everywhere they sought out excellent location. And they got it. Here at the intersection of McRae and Hanna Rd (the front door is on Hanna) they have now contracted to landscape their front entrance and garden. The job is nearly done and it looks great. The walkway is bricked pavement supported at the rises with attractive garden rocks. The Garden has been cleared of scrub and will now form a peaceful green retreat for these homeowners. Good luck to them as they feather their nest. 

Michelle Dube

And the winner is Michelle Dube. Bell Media has made the announcement just a few minutes before Michelle makes her appearance on the Noon News, which will be half of her new assignment, along with co-anchoring with Ken Shaw at 6 pm.  She was certainly one of the most likely candidates for the job. She has, as one viewer said, a very agile extemporaneous style and dresses very well.  Of course, from now on it seems unlikely she will have to pay for that good-looking on-air apparel. Michelle is quoted in the release as saying “I am proud and excited to join Ken, and spend time with our viewers each day,” said Dubé. “My goal is to deliver the news with the same professionalism viewers have come to expect from this newsroom. I also hope we can have some fun along the way.”