The South Bayview Bulldog

Here are video summaries of the prime minister in Washington, that old cabinetmaker Doug Ford at work and the testy back and forth (we love it) of Question Period in the House of Commons. Hey, you elected them.

U.S. President Donald Trump said today that he’ll do whatever he can to help Canada in its ongoing diplomatic dispute with China. Trump made the remarks during a meet-and-greet in the Oval Office with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today in advance of talks on ratifying the newly renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement. “Anything I can do to help Canada, I will be doing,” Trump said. Asked if he would bring up China’s imprisonment of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said that, “at Justin’s request, I will absolutely bring that up.”

RAPTORS TO THE WHITE HOUSE?

Trump was also asked if he would follow a tradition of inviting the NBA champions to the White House — this year the Toronto Raptors — and he said he would think about it.

Vic Fedeli is out as finance minister, Caroline Mulroney is out as attorney general, Lisa Thompson is out as Education Minister and Lisa McLeod is out as minister of social services. Doug Downey, the member for Barrie becomes attorney general and Rod Phillips is the minister of finance. Seven positions have been added to the cabinet. Here’s the new cabinet.

• Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs – Doug Ford
• Deputy Premier and Minister of Health – Christine Elliott
• Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions – Michael Tibollo
• Minister of Long-Term Care – Merrilee Fullerton
• Minister of Finance – Rod Phillips
• Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and Chair of Cabinet – Vic Fedeli
• Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction – Prabmeet Sarkaria
• Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing – Steve Clark
• Solicitor General – Sylvia Jones
• Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks – Jeff Yurek
• Minister of Children, Community and Social Services – Todd Smith
• Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues – Jill Dunlop
• Minister of Labour – Monte McNaughton
• Attorney General – Doug Downey
• Minister of Transportation and Minister of Francophone Affairs – Caroline Mulroney
• Associate Minister of Transportation (GTA) – Kinga Surma
• Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities – Ross Romano
• Minister of Education – Stephen Lecce
• President of the Treasury Board – Peter Bethlenfalvy
• Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry – John Yakabuski
• Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, and Minister of Indigenous Affairs – Greg Rickford
• Associate Minister of Energy – Bill Walker
• Minister for Seniors and Accessibility – Raymond Cho
• Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs – Ernie Hardeman
• Minister of Infrastructure – Laurie Scott
• Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport – Lisa MacLeod
• Minister of Government and Consumer Services – Lisa Thompson

CBC News release

Selling for $9 a stalk

Stats Canada revealed Wednesday that inflation has come back to life with a 2.4 percent jump in May from the same month one year ago and a stunning 16.7 percent increase in the price of fresh vegetables. Celery for example is selling for as much as $9 a stalk. Year-over-year prices rose in all eight categories of the index, with a notable leap in food prices generally. Faster-than-average growth in food prices was driven by the spike in vegetables as well as a 2.9 percent increase in the price of meat. Statistics Canada said the rise in prices likely reflects challenging weather conditions and supply shortages in some growing areas.

Looking southwest from the traffic camera

Northeast from Gary Brian’s window

East on Eglinton/Gary Brian

Many barricades and restrictions on traffic have been pulled back for a period of time at the corner of Bayview Ave and Eglinton Ave. This appears related to the closure of Leslie St. at Eglinton Ave. during July and August. There is a discussion about this prompted by pictures from the condominium of Gary Brian.

Highway 400 at Highway 9/OPP

The driver of this SUV is lucky to be alive after a set of wheels came off of a transport truck on Highway 400 southbound at Highway 9. On June 12 a driver was seriously hurt in just such an accident at Highways 400 and 89. OPP Sergeant Terry Schmidt at Twitter

Road a patchwork of holes and plates covering holes/Bulldog

A weekend but still closed

Hydro One contractors have located the source of a so-called “leaking line” under the pavement in the westbound lanes at the Millwood Rd. railway underpass. The pinhole-sized leak was found on Wednesday morning, the utility tells The Bulldog. The search for the leak began in May when Hydro One’s Ontario Grid Control Centre was alerted to irregularities in an underground transmission line. Hydro One said in a statement that: “It was determined that the issue was that non-toxic mineral oil which is used to insulate the line had leaked. The mineral oil was contained within the cable’s surrounding duct so there was no risk to the environment however, our environmental team followed our strict procedures to report and investigate the leak.” Thus it appears that the end of the westbound closure is closer but still not exact. “We know this is causing an inconvenience to local residents and appreciate their patience while we work to ensure the safety and reliability of our electricity system,” says the Hydro One email.

Jill Knapp

Janet MacBeth

Mom kisses Macy Smith

At left is Jill Knapp. She seems to have been the victim of an entirely random strip search by Canada Border Security. Unfortunately, this report fails to raise or guess at what, if any, cause for suspicion authorities might have had to think Jill was carrying drugs. At centre is Janet MacBeth, a transgender woman who has been operated on at Women’s College Hospital to surgically change her organs. It’s called gender reassignment surgery, and it’s just what you think it is. Finally, Macy Smith, 17, is awfully glad her mom insisted she put the Find My Friends app on her phone. It seems to have saved Macy’s life.

A growing thread Wednesday sees Facebook members discussing and anguishing a bit over vulgar graffiti in red spray paint seen locally. One woman is quite practical with advice that she has found it easy and effective to use “graffiti removal spray” from Home Depot.

Well, yes, of course, if only we had foreseen that someone in a crowd of two million excited basketball fans might have a gun, then we would have been prepared right? Listen, it would be bigger news if nothing had gone wrong. The City is enormously lucky it wasn’t worse. This rally, while necessary, had danger written all over it. There was nothing anyone could do about that short of cancelling the rally.