The South Bayview Bulldog

A large barn at Brooks Farm, a popular family destination in Mount Albert, has burned to the ground. No one was hurt in the conflagration. It started late Wednesday afternoon and members of the Brooks family posting news and video to Facebook about the misfortune. Paul Brooks told Star reporter Miriam Lafontaine that he realized the barn was in flames while he was making supper for his two children, ages 7 and 8, around 5 p.m. “No sleep,” Brooks told Lafontaine early Thursday morning. “I’m fifth generation here, and my kids are sixth, so it’s been an emotional roller coaster losing so many valuable things to us.” The Mount Albert farm he runs with his wife, Kelly, is known for its fruit picking, maple sugar festival and market visited by locals in the area. The barn that burned down was a 150-year-old “party barn” used for storage.

Bombardier has announced it will build jetliners at a new facility to be built at Toronto International Airport. It’s a good thing and cynics will no doubt see the hand of controlling owner Airbus in the decision to get down to serious business in Canada’s commercial capital. Then, complaints about Air Canada’s inaccessibility to ordinary passengers. It’s not new. The national carrier has been hiding from ordinary customers since the onset of the Internet Age. Below that, food prices are forecast to rise. Everyone from farmers to distributors to retailers are likely to find a reason. Finally, it is 75 years since Canadian soldiers entered Ravenna on their hard-fought march up the Italian boot against the retreating German army.

Leaside Guys Night out at the Leaside Pub Thursday evening

Guys Night principals Jeff Hohner, David Skelly, Don Bates, Ed Wong, Daryn Everett last year

Calling all Leaside guys and good souls who want to make Christmas brighter for kids who may not have that much to celebrate. The annual Leaside Guys Night Out invites you to the Leaside Pub on Laird Drive Thursday evening. Take a look at the exciting time planned.

• Guys Night Out evening will deliver a toy to 4,500 children

Police in Hamilton say a boy of 16 has run amok with a knife in a home in an east-mountain neighborhood injuring a 22-month[-old infant, threatening others and then barricading himself all day inside the home. The occupants escaped and in the video above, the next-door resident and her daughter tell of the mother and child banging on their door in the middle of the night. Police are refusing to identify anyone in this unhappy occurrence.

Big shooters like Prime Minister Johnson and President Macron are seen giggling and gossiping apparently about President Trump. Many will say who cares but for what it’s worth, the Canadian prime minister supposedly mocked the US leader. Not much is clearly heard on the video but the body language is delicious. Old ladies will feel refined looking at these guys. Here are some of the comments posted to the City News site before copyright complaints caused it to be pulled down.

• Trump just called him 2 face. One white. One black.
• Not the kind of professional that I would want representing me in…. Anything.
• Liberals never learn. Trudeau loves to put his foot in his mouth and Canadians pay for it.
• Trump 2020 and Gitmo4Trudeau
• A child among men. Trudeau is a beta male.
• After the daily bile Trump spews, this is somehow a thing?? Pathetic. Move on media, nothing to see here.
• What was so wrong about this conversation again? Is it because Trudeau was mocking Trump for taking too long of a press conference? What’s wrong with that? Grow up everybody. Move on.
• Such a disgrace, Trudeau looks like a high school dude bro gossiping, and look at his face expression. He is trying so hard to impress the other leaders. I can’t facepalm hard enough.

Toronto home sales in November rose 14.2 percent from a year ago while home prices saw their strongest growth for the year. The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 7,090 home sales in the month as sales rose in all major market segments. The board says strong population growth and declining mortgage rates helped push up sales and competition between buyers. Sales rose as listings continued to drop, with new listings down 17.9 percent year-over-year and active listings down 27.2 percent — Canadian Press

Hundreds of thousands of high school students are out of class Wednesday as their teachers hold a one-day strike to protest the lack of progress in contract talks between their union, the OSSTF, and the Ontario government. The union said the Education Department had not made any constructive proposals.

Ice in two languages/680 News

Area beneath CN Tower restricted/680 News

The recurring danger of falling Ice has again visited the sky-high corners of Toronto’s downtown. Warming temperatures in the urban stratosphere Tuesday loosened ice and sent some falling. Incidents were reported under the CN Tower, at Union Station and on Bay St. It was closed in both directions in the afternoon between Wellington and Harbour streets due to ice.

Actions taken by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and simple cold weather are being blamed for the prospect of reduced beef and potato supplies this winter.  CFIA took stern action by revoking the licences of three companies tied to a massive beef and veal recall for falsifying E. coli lab results. It said Tuesday in a statement it had cancelled the Safe Food for Canadians licences of Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd., as well as two others operating under St. Ann’s Foods Inc., Canadian Select Meats Inc. of Etobicoke and The Beef Boutique Ltd.

PEI still to report

The potato crop has been hurt by cold weather and the impact of Hurricane Dorian in Canada and the US.  That means smaller potatoes and potential pressure on supplies for french fry processors. Manitoba’s crop has been estimated to be some 20 percent reduced from expectations.  The largest potato grower in Canada, New Brunswick, still has to report on the crop size.

Veronika Didusenko and son

Fiona Viotti

Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts Giuffre

Faces in the news Tuesday include Veronika Didusenko, 24 (left) and her five-year-old son. Veronika is about to sue the organizers of the Miss Ukraine Pageant for crowning her the winner in 2018 but then yanking the title when it was learned she had a child. At centre is once-popular teacher Fiona Viotti, 30. It’s just been revealed she had sex with as many as five boys she taught at elite Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town between 2013 and 2019. At the right are Prince Andrew and the woman who claims she was pressured to have sex with him in 2001 when she was 17. She is Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Her accusation is that she was trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew and Virginia have given dueling interviews to British television.