The South Bayview Bulldog

Northlea Elementary and Middle School has won the junior division (Grades 5 and 6) of the Leaside Cup Tournament Wednesday at Leaside Arena. The score was 2-0, with one marker coming from a shot into an empty net in the final moments of the game. Thursday sees play in the senior division (Grades 7 and 8) with a team from Bishop Strachan School joining the play in this mixed boys and girls tourney. Others contesting Thursday’s cup are Bessborough, Northlea, Forest Hill, Glen Ames and Cosburn.

A tournament well played. Great sportsmanship & determination. Congrats 5/6 on winning the #LeasideCup! @NorthleaTDSB @NorthleatdsbA @VPSanderstdsb @Eh_to_Z pic.twitter.com/OTIEyHSWDd

— Mme Kaziev (@MmeKaziev) January 16, 2019

An average of 58 percent of Canadians think it’s a crisis that a country some 5,000 km wide can’t seem to build pipelines. A study from Angus Reid Institute asked the question. Reid surveyed 4,024 Canadian adults between Dec. 21 and Jan. 3, to gauge national feeling. But responses varied widely though across the provinces, with a high of 87 per cent of Albertans polled calling it a crisis while, at the low end, only 40 per cent of Quebecers had a similar sentiment. Results from the rest of the country were more evenly divided, with 61 per cent calling the issue a crisis in Ontario, Manitoba and the Atlantic provinces, while Saskatchewan polled at 74 per cent, and B.C. was close to deadlocked with a slight edge toward “crisis” with 53 per cent.  The simmering issues of indigenous “ownership” of land and the import of oil from Saudi Arabia to fill the need in the Maritimes are pipeline related. Many call it a scandal.

In a world of strife and trouble, Gillette has launched a campaign which apparently is supposed to make things better. But the notion of toxic masculinity as a mainstream mans’ problem is proving (um) poisonous. Then, a crushing defeat for the UK Conservative government of Theresa May as MPs overwhelmingly defeat her Brexit plan. Fear stalks the British Isles over what an unplanned leave from the EU will mean. Below that, there has been a terrorist attack at a hotel in Nigeria and the images are quite shocking. Lastly, the passing of Carol Channing at age 97 recalls her timeless performance as Dolly.

Leaside Cup

5/6 Schedule

7/8 Schedule

2018 champs (5/6) Forest Hill and (7/8) Glen Ames

Wednesday and Thursday will see the third annual Leaside Cup Hockey Tournament at Leaside Arena. It is a co-ed competition of local elementary kids in two divisions — Grades 5 and 6 and Grades 6 and 7. Leaside Cup was conceived by parents who wanted to “level the hockey playing field” so that kids from around home were playing each other, not those from “elite hockey schools.”  Check the schedules above and try to take in a game. It should be a lively time at the arena.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun has been interviewed by the CBC the day after she arrived in Canada as a refugee. She says her mother and brother have beaten her to bleeding. She seems a thoughtful and sober young woman. “In the end, it is me who is living this life,” she said. January 15: A later statement is read to media. 

Rev. Dr. John Joseph Mastandrea/United Church

Jan Carwardine, Louise Germain, Judy MacLellan and Sandra Thain./Leaside Curling Club

Annual gathering

Hypericum bulbs

Bayview and Davisville watermain Saturday night/Michael Shearer

Manor Road United Church will welcome the Rev. Dr. John Joseph Mastandrea to his new ministry on May 1. Rev Mastandrea has led the congregation at Metropolitan United Church at Queen and Church Sts.since 2000. He is also police chaplain at 51 Division. His dad was a police officer. Rev. John Joseph will replace the Rev. Roberta Howey who has been filling in after the retirement in June of MRU’s Rev. Debra Schneider. She had served for 12 years. Upper right is the Leaside Curling Club team of Jan Carwardine, Louise Germain, Judy MacLellan and Sandra Thain. They’ve just won the Ontario Masters Women’s Curling Championship. The team will go on to represent Ontario at the Canadian Masters Curling Championship being held April 1 to 7 in Saskatoon.Go ladies. Below that a reminder of St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church Potluck Dinner coming up on January 26. At bottom a lovely flash of colour from the Genus Hypericum seen at Longo’s and a shot of the flooding we told you about Sunday at Bayview and Davisville as recorded by Michael Shearer on Twitter.

Ottawa has updated its travel advisory for China, suggesting Canadians exercise a high degree of caution “due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” This comes after China revoked the jail sentence conviction of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg and said it would instead seek the death penalty. Schellenberg is accused of smuggling drugs. “We are constantly evaluating our travel advice for Canadians traveling to China, as we do for all countries around the world,” Global Affairs Canada said in a statement. “All Canadians who are considering travel to China should carefully review the Government of Canada’s complete Travel Advice and Advisory.”

Two policemen have been captured in video apparently flirting with two women at a west-end bar, the Queen Street Warehouse. The women are seen laughing Sunday night as they are handcuffed in a suggestive moment of roleplay. The two officers, identified today as Jian Liang and Aaron Isaac, are under investigation.

Bruce Tomlinson

Judy Booth

Anja Van Beek

The three dead in Friday’s double-decker bus crash in Ottawa are named Monday as civil servants. They were all on their way home from work when the bus slammed into the overhang of a bus stop at Westboro station. They are Bruce Tomlinson, 56, Judy Booth, 57, and Anja Van Beek, 65. Close two dozen others are injured.

Montreal family members are demanding answers after their mother, 92, was placed next to a man who is a known, violent mental case in a taxi being used to carry the disabled. Photos of the badly-beaten women are shocking.

• David Lametti named Canada’s new justice minister in Liberal cabinet shuffle
• Who benefits from rescuing Rahaf? Questions linger after whirlwind story of Saudi teen’s asylum
• Chinese court sentences Canadian to death
• Who owns Canada?