The South Bayview Bulldog

The plan by Statistics Canada to require the big banks and other financial institutions to provide it with name-specific information about how some 500,000 Canadians spend their money has inspired a national petition to stop such snooping. A petition started in Calgary has gathered about 9,000 names in about 24 hours. The scheme came to light about a week ago through the digging of Global News. Statistics Canada has said that the process, while very detailed in the collection process, will not reveal any names or other personal information when the data is released. As might be expected, the reason for this extraordinary use of banking information is said to be entirely for your own good. The data will be used to see where and how Canadians spend (and possibly get) their money permitting better economic planning. Or something like that.

• Why StatsCan wants Canadians’ personal banking information
• Statscan willing to delay launch of plan to obtain personal banking records but insists it’s ultimately necessary

Here is a summary of evidence at the trial of Rohinie Bisesar from Toronto Sun court reporter Michele Mandel and a video of comments from the family of the victim, Rosemary Junor, and Ms Bisesar’s counsel.

Charles Gaines

Shirley Donoghue

Keira Knightley and Mackenzie Foy

Faces in the news starts at left with the unsplattered countenance of Charles Gaines, who says he invented the game of paintball. Someone in the YouTube comments disputes that but Gaines description of his cerebral inspiration sounds authentic. Then to Manhattan where Shirley Donoghue, 90, has been phone-scammed out of $20,000. There’s no depths to which such worms will go. At the right, we see Mackenzie Foy (as Klara) and Keira Knightley (as the Sugar Plum Fairy) in the newly released Disney epic The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. It has a huge cast including Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman. See them all here.

No winning ticket was sold for the $42 million jackpot in Friday night’s Lotto Max draw. The jackpot for the next draw on Nov. 9 will grow to approximately $50 million, and there will be six Maxmillions prizes of $1 million possible.

Friday’s debate between David Frum and Steve Bannon seemed forgotten in the anger and fear seen both outside Thomson Hall and briefly inside. The debate was described by the organizers, Munk Debates, as a discussion of liberalism versus populism. Among protesters it was viewed as a triumph of Nazism and white supremacy. Some said that Frum and Bannon were merely “two right-wingers”  City News has caught many expressions of the fearful anger here.

New Brunswick’s Liberal government has fallen after losing a confidence vote on its throne speech Friday. Premier Brian Gallant told the legislature he would be going to the lieutenant-governor to resign — and to suggest Tory Leader Blaine Higgs be given the opportunity to form government.

• New Brunswick’s Liberal government falls to Tories after throne speech defeated
• New Brunswick’s next premier is a fiscal hawk and former Irving Oil executive

Standard Time returns to Ontario at 2 a.m. Sunday bringing with it extra peril on darkened streets. As many as 17 pedestrians were hit by cars and other vehicles overnight Thursday/Friday with varying injuries. In one instance a man of 90 was walking on Annabelle Drive in Etobicoke at around 8:45 p.m. when he was struck.

MAKE A PLAN TO CROSS ROAD

Safety consultants urge pedestrians to concentrate on crossing streets and, in effect, make a plan about where, when and how to cross. Too often crossing the street is done impulsively and without regard to traffic, they say.

Hugh Heckman

Meghan Markle

The Hot One

Hugh Heckman, an-award winning news writer for CBS and other employers, was fired from the Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS) for telling a male colleague that Meghan Markle was “not bad.” The men were assessing photos and Heckman says he barely mumbled the remark. But it was heard by at least two women working in the newsroom. They complained that Heckman had engaged in sexist conduct that tainted the workplace. He was fired two days later. In an action against PBS for unspecified damages, Heckman complains of a double standard because his female coworkers had been heard saying Justin Trudeau was “hot” without similar consequences. Heckman, 72, was working on a story about Prince Harry and his then fiancée on Nov. 25, 2017 according to his statement of claim. His lawyer, Jillian Weiss, says the firing does a disservice to complaints of workplace harassment. Daily Mail and National Post

A woman driver was fatally injured in a series of rear-end collisions at Avenue Rd and Lawrence Ave. Thursday over dinner  hour.  Authorities said a car failed to stop, struck  another and then both cars hit the rear of a TTC bus. The woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries and pronounced dead there.

The mystery deepens into the discovery of two sisters, citizens of Saudi Arabia, who were found taped together at the ankles and waist, dead in the Hudson River. At first authorities thought it might be an elaborate suicide pact. But now they say that theory doesn’t fit. The sisters had applied for asylum in the US and the Saudi consulate had ordered them to go home. Then, the Arizona woman who sat beside her wrecked car for six days before being found and rescued. Amazing. Below, Walmart tries to simulate Amazon’s cash-register-free store. We’ll see. And finally, the old story that men who wear boxer shorts are more potent (if you catch our meaning) is true.