The South Bayview Bulldog

The Ontario government says it will halt a planned increase to minimum wage that was scheduled to kick in next year. Labour Minister Laurie Scott says the minimum wage will remain at $14 an hour rather than rising to $15 as planned by the previous Liberal government.

230 Sackville St.

Mackai Bishop Jackson, 15

Carl Hanske of 680 News provides succinct but informative report on death of boy, 15, on Sackville St. He has been identified as Mackai Bishop Jackson, 15, of Toronto.

The Starbucks at 167 Church St. has closed, another of the locations that proved to be one too many for the ever-present coffee chain. The closing is reminiscent of the quick closure of the Starbucks on Laird Drive about 30 months ago. Some are surprised at how quickly such closures occur. One secret is that cash-rich Starbucks doesn’t try to cancel the lease. Monthly payments continue to the end of the lease with the location standing vacant. It is an insight into the relative cost of rent versus staff and daily operation of a Starbucks. In the case of the Laird location, it was clear that the firm had too many outlets in the area.

Police at 53 Division are reporting a 112 percent increase in the theft of vehicles in the division so far this year. The division includes all neighborhoods in South Bayview. No details are given of where or by what means such thefts have been occurrring but the police ask people to do simple things like lock the car and if possible put it in a locked garage.

Parking Your Vehicle:
– turn ignition off and take the keys with you
– do not leave your vehicle running
– park in a well-lit attended area, if possible
– close and lock all doors and windows
– turn your wheels to the side to make it harder to tow

At Home:
– if you have a garage, use it and lock it
– install a motion sensor light to illuminate your vehicles and garage area
– if you have a front-wheel drive vehicle park front end first. Back in rear-wheel drive vehicles
– always set the emergency brake
– do not leave the ownership or insurance cards in the vehicle when unattended
– set your vehicle alarm

Remove Valuables:
– never leave anything on display when you leave your vehicle i.e. loose change, cigarettes, cigarette lighters, sunglasses, CDs, cellphones, laptops, cameras, clothing

Herb Harvey, the former head of science at Leaside High School, is being remembered Wednesday at Leaside Chit Chat. Mr. Harvey died Tuesday at the age of 96.

PC leader Blaine Higgs

Liberal leader Brian Gallant

Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy Vienneau

After a tight election that left the Liberals and PC parties one seat apart in the Legislature, the two party leaders seem to be arguing about what the Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy Vienneau had to say about the next government. She is in a position to grant either leader the chance to form a government, or to call another election. The party leaders, Brian Gallant and Blaine Higgs, disagree over what the LG said. Gallant said he was given permission to try to form another government. Blaine that’s not what the LG said. The results saw the PCs win 22 seats, the Liberals 21, NDP 3 and People’s Alliance 3. CBC

Paul ‘Boulos’ Rizk

Jesse Jack Breese

Nathan Hunter

Police have identified the man shot in a drive-by killing Monday evening at 80 Parkway Forest Dr. He is Paul ‘Boulos’ Rizk, 27, of Toronto (left). They say a small group of people was outside the community centre at the Parkway Forest address. A dark coloured four-door sedan approached. Shots were fired at the group. The sedan fled the area at a high rate of speed. Investigators believe there were many people in the area at the time of the shooting. Anyone with knowledge of this homicide is urged to contact police.

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO

Police say that one wanted man, Nathan Hunter, 20, has surrendered after a reward was posted for his capture and conviction related to an armed bank robbery. Another man, Jesse Jack Breese, 21, remains at large. Bankers offer $10,000 for capture, conviction of these two

Enbridge has finally withdrawn a monthly gas bill for nearly $3,000 sent to a Toronto man after the CBC called the company to ask about it. But for nearly six months the gas firm has been demanding that Toronto condo resident Andrew Alcock pay the outrageous bill. He says he has spent hours of time both on the phone and in mental distress because of Enbridge’s stoney apparent indifference to what was clearly a mistake. CBC

• Audit urges Ford government to consider selling LCBO
• Scam alert! Criminals are posing as Toronto Hydro sending fraudulent texts/emails/letters.

Farm Boy

Organic Garage

Instacart

Empire Co., owners of Sobey’s has purchased the 28-store chain known as Farm Boy. Farm Boy, which began in Ottawa, and has what is called “a cult-like following” for its fresh produce selection, prepared meals and in-house brand products like lemon-garlic dressing, fermented garlic flowers and chocolate chip cookie chips. Empire’s last acquisition of the much larger Safeway chain in western Canada was an integration disaster. Analysts find this purchase a tastier morsel, including the price of $800 million and an exceedingly cute name. Farm Boy has stayed out of Toronto but has locations in places like Whitby and Oakville.

ORGANIC GARAGE

A smaller grocery store chain with a cute name is Organic Garage. It is scheduled to open in an 80,000 sq. foot plaza at the corner of Laird Drive and Canvarco Rd. known as 33 Laird. The timetable for construction seems elusive. Work was said to be set to start “soon” last December.  Other tenants of 33 Laird announced in December are Dogtopia, a US-based dog care, boarding and spa service, a bath vanity shop called Happy Bathroom, Vivo Pizza/Pasta, Salons by JC and Glowzone, a recreational business that boasts glow-in-the-dark mini-golf. Organic Garage has three stores. They are in the Entertainment District, the Junction and Oakville.

INSTACART

Instacart says Tuesday it will transform its Toronto office into a tech hub and expand it by 200 employees over the next several years beginning in 2019. The California-based company says the Canadian location will be the second one to focus on research and development. The first is in San Francisco. The online grocery app company already has more than 80 employees at its current Toronto office. The location of the “Toronto office” is unstated in news reports and is not given online. This is a common practice of service companies which mostly don’t want anyone to know where they are.