The South Bayview Bulldog

Skates at Union Station

Tick tock away the holidays at Sir John A Macdonald Square

TD Bank and Union Station will add a large, free ice skating rink in front of the train terminal this Christmas season. It will sit smack on Front St. in Sir John A. Macdonald Square. TD is the banker for Union Station and the ice rink is part of the annual Union Holiday. Skating will be free and run from November 29 to January 4. The rink will offer skating lessons, skate rentals and helmet rentals. In addition to the rink, Union Holiday will be the home to free music performances inside the historic West Wing and free gift wrapping from December 9 to 24, compliments of TD.

Keeping Union Station a people place

With many retailers inside Union Station to provide holiday shopping, Union Station is offering something for everyone at Union Holiday this season. In case your wondering, Union Station is still owned by the City of Toronto. The deal with TD is an attempt to make the old station a people place both before and after rush hour. Maybe TD would like to try to breathe some life in Old City Hall when the courts leave.

New Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre helicopter pad/Sunnybrook

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre has completed the new helipad on the roof of M-Wing at the Bayview Ave. Campus. The new pad will improve access to Canada’s largest trauma centre and to the hospital’s program for high-risk mothers and babies. Construction of the rooftop helipad was completed in October and air ambulances are expected to begin landing in November.

The United Kingdom and the European Union have struck an outline Brexit deal after days negotiations but it still needs to be approved by both parliaments. In the UK, both the Labour Party and the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party have denounced the outline. Critically, the DUP is an essential member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s coalition. Hours before a summit of all 28 EU national leaders, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday: “We have one. It’s a fair and balanced agreement for the EU and the U.K., and it is testament to our commitment to find solutions.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted the two sides had struck a “great new deal,” and urged UK lawmakers to ratify it in a special session on Saturday.

The principal and faculty of Sloane Avenue Public School in North York sent an email to parents this week telling them that Halloween costumes would be discouraged at the school and that the popular holiday itself would be replaced with a celebration of Fall. The outcry from parents and public in the hours following the email has caused the school to reverse that decision. Sloan PS is located at 110 Sloan northwest of Victoria Park Ave and Eglinton Ave. and is part of the TDSB. Central to the now-reversed decision was the concept of inclusion and what it might really mean versus the concept of diversity. Both are Canadian watchwords which may need generous interpretation as we courageously try to get along.

The Ontario government has dropped its plan to take over the TTC’s subway system and Mayor Tory has approved construction of the ambitious Ontario Line. In the future, new subways will be owned by Ontario but operated by the TTC. The mayor spoke Wednesday on the deal. He said the City supports the provincial government’s plan to build the Ontario Line, a longer version of the previously proposed downtown relief line and to extend the Bloor-Danforth line further north-east to meet Eglinton Avenue, and west to Exhibition Place. Tory thanked Premier Ford and Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney for sitting down to reach an agreed deal on subways. Building transit in Toronto will require a relentless focus by all three levels of government, not endless fighting, he added.

Hurontario and Matheson/City News

Vehicle that slammed into rear of tractor-trailer is covered with tarpaulin to hide carnage/CP24 capture

Two people, a man and woman, are dead after their vehicle slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was waiting for the traffic light at Hurontario St. and Matheson Rd in Mississauga early Wednesday. It happened just after 5 a.m. and police say the force of the impact was sufficient to bend heavy metal parts of the truck.

Toronto has published its updated Festival and Events Calendar Wednesday with information on many events that will appeal to both specialized and eclectic tastes. It is found here

Kamille (Cupcake) McKinney

FBI agents are scouring southern US states Tuesday trying to find kidnapped Kamille (Cupcake) McKinney,3. They have two suspects but fear the child has been handed off to others and now faces a dangerous, unknown fate. Then, the Kurdish men and women who helped the world destroy ISIS are themselves under attack by Turkish forces and their ego-driven president. Then, Menhaz Zaman, the man accused of wiping out his entire family in Markham last summer was in court on Tuesday. Lastly, a City News update on the re-make of the Gardiner Expressway which we alerted you to two weeks ago.

The union representing teachers at high schools across the province says it will be moving forward with strike votes after “months of delays and inaction by the Ontario government.” In a news release issued Tuesday, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) confirmed that strike votes will be held across Ontario in the coming weeks. “The government claims that it wants to resolve these negotiations quickly, but from the beginning they have done nothing to help expedite the process, and now they are simply refusing to discuss substantive issues at the bargaining table,” OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said in a written statement.

Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Derek DeSousa, 34, of Toronto. as the driver of a vehicle that struck two women and a toddler Sunday at Ellesmere Rd. and Pharmacy Ave. Mr. DeSousa is one of three people named by police immediately after the incident as a person of interest. They now say he was the driver. He is described as white with a beard and wears glasses. He was wearing a grey sweater, black pants, and a red hat.

• Man abandoning hit-run SUV near St. Clair and O’Connor
• Three named, hunted in hit and run of toddler, two women

Photographer Bill Milne captures pasta-making at Tutto Pronto on Bayview Ave.

Big turnout for Curriculum Night at Davisville Public School (Twitter @DavisvillePS)

Awesome Sale

Native Women’s Resource Centre

Manor Road United Church

St. Cuthbert’s Women’s Dinner

St. Cuthbert’s GreatKids StuffSale

Upper left, photographer Bill Milne was taking high-class pictures Tuesday of pasta and pasta-making at Tutto Pronto, 1551 Bayview Ave. Below that is the large turnout by parents at the Davisville Public School Curriculum Night. Then a variety of sales and events this week and on into your mid-October weekend.