The South Bayview Bulldog

Faked orthotic conditions

Media reports are saying more than 150 employees have been fired or otherwise terminated in a multi-million dollar benefits fraud at Baycrest Hospital for Geriatric Care on Bathurst St. The National Post speculates it could be “one of the largest and longest-lasting benefits fraud schemes ever discovered in Canada.” It says the geriatric hospital released the staff members Wednesday for falsely claiming as much as $5 million in benefits over an eight-year period. “It appears to be organized,” said William Reichman, president and CEO of Baycrest Health Sciences. “It had to be done in such a way that it would escape at least detection by the benefits administrator… It’s a betrayal of trust.” As in previous scams of comparable size, such as the one discovered last year at the Toronto Transit Commission, this one involved misuse of prescription coverage for orthotics, knee braces, and compression stockings, but also physiotherapy. The Post account contains a number of hair-raising interviews with perpetrators and a police comment that there is unlikely to be any criminal action unless the hospital makes a formal complaint.

• Notorious fraud on TTC, taxpayer, sees at least 223 fired
• The Great TTC Fraud

Justice Nicholas Kasirer/Michel Caron/Université de Sherbrooke

Nicholas Kasirer, 59, has been nominated by Prime Minister Trudeau to fill a pending vacancy on the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Kasirer is a graduate of McGill University and was a professor at McGill’s faculty of law between 1989 and 2009. He taught classes on the law of obligations, property law, family law, and wills and estates law in both civil and common law. He served as the dean of the McGill Faculty of Law from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, the former Conservative government appointed him to serve as a judge on Quebec Court of Appeal, the province’s highest court. Kasirer, said to be among Quebec’s most respected jurists, was also suggested as a possible Supreme Court pick in 2014 after the top court rejected a different Conservative appointment, Justice Marc Nadon, for a job on the bench. That decision was related to the obligatory representation of Quebec on the high court. Members of the Quebec bar or superior judiciary, by law, must hold three of the nine positions on the Supreme Court. Kasirer is poised to replace Justice Clément Gascon as one of three judges from Quebec on the high court. Gascon has said he will retire from his post early in September.

The Bank of Canada is leaving its key interest rate unchanged in an announcement that balances domestic economic improvements with an expanding global slowdown caused by trade conflicts. The decision keeps the interest rate at 1.75 percent for a sixth-straight meeting — and governor Stephen Poloz appears to be in no rush to make a move even as policy-makers in the U.S. and Europe signal they may introduce cuts.

Rsoedale Station Tuesday

Police closed Rosedale Subway station at Yonge and Crescent Rd. for a period of time Tuesday on reports of people coughing, burning eyes and complaints of a strong burning smell. The suspicion was that someone released pepper spray. It’s not clear if the substance was released in the station or in a train that stopped at the station.

Bombardier will cut as many as 550 employees, more than half its staff, at its rail car operation in Thunder Bay. The news is a body blow to the northern Ontario City of 110,000. Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said the provincial government has spoken to Bombardier executives “to express our disappointment that their company has taken this step.” In a statement, she said: “We urge the company to work with the provincial government to come to an agreement that would see jobs remain at the Thunder Bay plant.”

GO train blows car to bits but driver still alive

This capture of City News video shows a car that tangled with a GO train in Mississauga on Tuesday. The driver is said to be alive but it really isn’t clear how badly hurt he might be. Somehow he got in front of the commuter train near Port Credit. And there was motor mayhem in Thornhill where a man is dead after his car came flying out of a parking lot into traffic.

The 14th annual Neighbours Night Out in Thorncliffe Park will be held on Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m. in the R.V. Burgess Park. The main entrance is at 46 Thorncliffe Park Drive. Neighbours’ Night Out represents a wonderful opportunity for residents, friends and visitors to get together and enjoy a summer afternoon and evening together – accompanied by musical entertainment, games and activities for all ages, bazaar tables and delicious locally prepared food. NNO is organized by an independent volunteer committee that works tirelessly to create an enjoyable event for Thorncliffe residents and all others. All are welcome. The committee members are Geoff Kettel, Masood Alam, Sabina Ali

Councillor Robison (Ward 15) posts a reply at Leaside Community that she has spoken to the Manager of Public Relations and Issues Management in the City Parks Division about a middle-aged man who uses the wading pool at Trace Manes Park. She asked for an investigation of the matter. A long thread continues to grow in which parents and others express concerns related to the welfare of children. The man is said to defiantly reject suggestions by lifeguards that he leave the pool

Toppled cube van/@djrobinjames

“The cavalry has arrived,” says Twitter agent @djrobinjames

This was what Robin James Wynne saw from his balcony Monday. It is a view that keeps you up to date on Gardiner traffic. The cube van got itself oddly wedged on the Spadina ramp. Mr Wynne (@djrobinjames) tweeted: “Just heard a thunderous noise from my balcony and saw this just happen at the Spadina offramp moments ago. A single-vehicle collision involving a cube van has shut down a busy off-ramp downtown from the Gardiner Expressway.”

Living memory still cherishes a Toronto where flying lead wasn’t a common peril of an evening out but of course, that’s all changed. Three men were shot after they took a bar fight outside at Queen and Ossington. Little is known. And a woman is dead after emerging from a nightclub in Mississauga. Tammie Sutherland and Carl Hantske tell what is known.

Wreckage of motorcycle and at top grim reminders like a pair of shoes/Hugues Cormier City News

A man of 50 has life-threatening injuries after his motorcycle hit a tractor-trailer at Black Creek Drive and Lawrence Ave. Monday morning. A bike passenger, a man 21, has pelvic injuries but is expected to recover. The driver of the transport, an LFL vehicle from Quebec, was not hurt. Police are unable at present to say who had the right of way.

LFL Transport from Quebec/Hugues Cormier City News