The South Bayview Bulldog

Lions Easter Parade

Turning Pointe Academy of Dance/Instagram

The Flower Patch/Bulldog

Mini-carnations at Longo’s/Bulldog

Easter in the Park Saturday

It’s nearly Easter and there are fun things to do. Upper left, the Beaches Lions will once again stage their long-standing Easter Parade on Queen St. East. At upper right, these pixies from the Turning Pointe Academy of Dance on Vanderhoof Ave. wish you a happy weekend. Centre right, the sign is up at 1596 Bayview where The Flower Patch is set to open. At lower left some cheerful mini-carnations from Longo’s. And don’t forget the Appletree Market Easter Egg Hunt in the Park event this Saturday. Happy Easter all.

The video shows the Jeep Cherokee of a Toronto man, Leo Coronel, as it slowly started to roll after he left it in park. The motor running, he says, because he was unable to turn it off. The video was recorded by a surveillance  camera at V-Tech Auto on Lawrence Ave. W where Mr. Coronel went to try to get the problem fixed. John Lancaster CBC

Bus charged overnight uses no other fuel/John Tory Twitter

New flyer all-electric bus/John Tory Twitter

Employees applaud arrival of Canadian bus/John Tory Twitter

The first of the TTC’s zero emission electric buses was delivered Monday from manufacturer New Flyer Group in Winnipeg. The bus will undergo testing for the next few weeks before entering regular service later this spring. Unlike some electric buses that are recharged along the route, the New Flyer will be charged during overnight or out-of-service time periods. It has no tailpipe emissions and in Ontario, the electricity used to charge it is nuclear and free of greenhouse gas emissions. The bus is one of 60 that will be incorporated into the TTC’s fleet. Many dreamers wonder if electric buses, truly a 21st Century vehicle, will ever replace the 19th Century streetcar on Toronto thoroughfares.

Collision at Bayview and Parkhurst/Soudan Monday/Jennifer Peattie Facebook

A collision between a car and a van at Bayview Ave and the crossing of Parkhurst Blvd/Soudan Ave Monday afternoon has generated much comment on Leaside Community Facebook. The accident does not appear to have been serious. The dangerous intersection has been studied several times. Many postings on this occasion say the corner needs traffic lights. They seem unaware of the considerable opposition to lights. Former Councilllor Jon Burnside made it clear that there was strong opposition on Parkhurst. They fear lights will make the street even busier. No one knows if this is true. The remarks Tuesday at FB do not talk much about the LRT elephant in the room. People the length of Eglinton Ave. are enduring a once-in-lifetime, five-year construction horror which one day will be finished. There seems to be no question that all residential streets will be much safer when the Crosslinx is finished.

Construction update

Proposed Davisville Public School

Superintendent of Education Diana Panagiotopoulos will join TDSB board staff at Hodgson Middle School, 282 Davisville, on Tuesday (today) to update families and the community on construction of the new Davisville Public and Spectrum Alternative School. The meeting begins at 7.15 p.m.

Albertans go to the polls Tuesday with every indication that the United Conservative Party of Jason Kenney is some ten points ahead of the NDP led by Premier Rachel Notely. Election fever is fuelled by discontent at the rest of Canada for opposition or indifference to pipeline construction, or simple ignorance about the role of oil and gas in the national economy.

The overhaul of driver’s permits, license plates and government anger with the federal carbon tax is happening at a furious pace. Listen to Christina Howorun. Then, Leafs forward Nazem Kadri has been suspended for the rest of his the opening-round playoff series against Boston after he delivered a nasty cross-check to the head of Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk on Saturday night. Leafs win 3-2 without Kadri Monday at home. Below that, hopeful murmurings from women hockey as they are forced to watch Finland in the final of the Women’s World HOckey Tournament. They lost 2-1 on a contested goal. Finally, is there enough marijuana or not? Many say the demand is staggering.

The Ford government has raised the spectre of Ottawa regulating “almost every facet of life” if the federal carbon tax law is permitted to stand. The Liberal climate-change law is so broad, a lawyer for the province told the Appeal Court hearing, that it would give the federal government powers that would be destabilizing to Canada in the name of curbing the cumulative effects of global-warming emissions. This view seemed to evoke the alarm which occurred back in 2016 at the Wynne government’s action plan for the environment. That scheme raised fears Ontario would ban the use of natural gas in homes. In court Monday, Ontario lawyer Josh Hunter said: “They could regulate where you live. How often you drive your car.It would unbalance the federation.”

Four-day hearing at Appeal Court hearing argument for and against carbon tax law

In his submissions, Hunter was categorical that Ontario’s constitutional challenge to the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was not intended to be a debate on the realities or dangers of global warming. What’s at stake, he said, is which level of government has the power to deal with the problem. “Which measure is the best measure — the most efficient measure — is best left for legislatures to decide,” Hunter said. “Which legislature? That’s what we’re here to decide. The federal government law that kicked in on April 1 imposed a charge on gasoline and other fossil fuels as well as on industrial polluters. The law applies only in those provinces that have no carbon-pricing regime of their own that meets national standards — Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. The federal view will heard in court Tuesday.

Fire has torn through the nearly 760-year-old medieval Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The devastation to both the building and its contents seems beyond calculation. The tower familiar to millions collapsed late Monday afternoon Paris time. French media quote the Paris fire brigade sources saying the fire is “potentially linked” to the renovation work. France 24 English LIVE. Notre-Dame de Paris, also known as Notre-Dame Cathedral or simply Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. The cathedral is considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. (Wikipedia)

Coincidentally, a fire broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem just as flames ravaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Footage showing smoke and fire emerging from the roof of a structure known as the Marwani Prayer Room, or Solomon’s Stables, could be seen on social media. The Palestine News Agency, the official outlet of the Palestinian National Authority, cited a guard as saying Monday that “the fire broke out in the guard’s room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully.”