The South Bayview Bulldog

TD Bank Group is reporting strong growth in its retail business in Canada and the US, where it has the largest presence of any Canadian bank. Retail business at home saw its profit grow seven per cent compared with a year ago, while its U.S. retail business profit grew 27 per cent.  TD earned nearly $3.11 billion in its latest quarter, up from $2.77 billion in the same quarter last year because of the US business. On an adjusted basis, TD says it earned $1.66 per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of $1.51 per diluted share a year ago.

Some City News takes we like begin with sour grapes in the subway. That’s what we think is behind the decision of Bell, Rogers and Telus to sit out service on tunnel platforms. Then, a boy falls 40 feet at supervised wall climbing. What went wrong? Below that, an amusing effort to explain why people give up exercising for reasons other than sloth. “Lift the dumbbells until your muscles ache please.” And finally, a man has wired up an old rotary wall phone and hung it out on Bloor St. West. We assume that you can’t call Paraguay prepaid. Very amusing.

Canadian negotiators are engaged in “extremely intense” discussion with the US in Washington Wednesday. They have Donald Trump’s gun to their heads on numerous issues related to the take-it-or- leave-it deal struck with Mexico. Ottawa is in a corner. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says “the Canadian economy can’t survive very well without a deal with the U.S. They’re too dependent on us.” And so, the dispute mechanism by which Canada has won countless disputes over softwood lumber is set to be tossed.

BOSOM BUDDIES? FORGET IT

Protection for dairy farmers (which many Canadians consider excessive) is under intense pressure. It’s the apparent end of a nearly 75-year road in which we’ve become used to thinking of ourselves as bosom buddies with the Americans. Forget it. In fact, we are apparently now expendable. Although Canada can make it tough for some US customers, the retaliation will be excruciating. The prime minister says that no deal is preferable to a bad deal. That has to be bluff because no deal will be very bad indeed. CBC

At major malls

Online flyer

Town Shoes will close its 38 stores across Canada within six months. Some 400 people are expected to be out of work although the owners of Town, DSW Inc. of Ohio, have promised to try to find other work for them. The reasons for the closure are said to be a fall-off in business. The chain is running at a loss. Town Shoes was founded in the 1950s by Toronto retailer Leonard Simpson and has changed hands several times since. Town was purchased by Designer Shoe Warehouse in 2014. from the Alberta Investment Management Corp. and minority owners.

Lane at right seems to dead end

Now registering

Why not?

Dog Show new this year

Always fun

Good idea

Staying hot

The corner of O’Connor Dr. and Woodbine Ave. is finished and weekend closures are over, the City reports. Above is a shot of the new intersection minus the municipally-condemned Yield lane and other changes. The lane at the right which previously permitted a quick slide onto Woodbine now dead-ends, so watch out for that. Then a gang of posters to remind you of entertaining and useful things coming up. We especially like seminars that teach kids about money. What a good idea. At bottom, a preview of our hot late-summer temperatures through next week.  A link to South Leaside Monday Group here.

A speeding car has slammed into a house on Creditview Rd near Williams Parkway in Brampton sending three men to hospital early Wednesday. It was a wild ride, as reported by Carl Hanske.

TWO DEAD, THREE CRITICALLY HURT

Two are dead and three more grievously injured following a collision at the intersection of Perth Line 26 and Perth Road 122 near Stratford Tuesday evening. Little else is reported.

Lawyers for the City of Toronto have thrown a kitchen sink of objections at the Better Local Government Act, the legislation passed by the Legislature to reduce the size of City Council from 47 sets to 25. Among the arguments are that it’s discriminatory, arbitrary, violates the Constitution, breaches the Charter of Rights and denies effective representation. Ontario Superior Court will hear the arguments Friday and the most tempting prospect is that the court might agree with all of these complaints and still find the Better Local Government Act entirely constitutional. The prospect of a different decision might delight City Council but it seems likely to throw Canada into constitutional confusion. It would require an immediate appeal by the Ontario Government and perhaps set the City and Legislature on the road to the Supreme Court of Canada.

At Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre/Mike Peake Toronto Sun

“Happy Motoring”

Murray Westgate has died at age 100 at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Westgate was the Imperial Esso spokesman who appeared in uniform and cap to promote the firm’s service and products during early televised Maple Leaf games. His dress as a gas jockey was out-dated even then, recalling an era decades before self-serve. This is a good account including black and white commercials from the North Bay Nugget

China is hinting at removing the two-child limitation on families. The restriction was first applied during Communist days when poverty and mismanagement resulted in the starvation of millions. And then, Donald Trump seems to feel he has Canada in a corner and he may be right. In the end, tiny Canada (35 million) is less important to the US than Mexico (128 million). Trump wants a deal by Friday with unknown concessions or he will slap tariffs on cars. GM, Ford and others are mute with apparent terror. As for dairy products, our cosseted farmers may find that their highly-protected world is gone. Friday! Below that, the popularity of door-bell cameras is seen again in this ABC report on incidents in Toronto and Texas. Finally, a City News summary of sex education in our schools. Will we ever be educated enough?

Canadian Press reports that Ontario Superior Court judge Frederick L. Myers has found in favour of Tesla Inc. against the Ontario government’s cancellation of an electric vehicle rebate program for the firm’s cars. He said the decision to exclude Tesla from a grace period for the program’s wind-down was arbitrary and had singled out Tesla for harm. Tesla launched the legal petition after the PC government ended the rebate program on July 11, but said it would extend the rebates to vehicles already sold through dealerships if they were delivered and registered within 60 days.The government later clarified that the extension only applied to vehicles sold through franchised dealerships, which excluded Tesla’s Ontario dealerships. Myers quashed the government’s exercise of discretion as it was made for an improper purpose and because it singled out Tesla without providing the car maker “any fair process whatsoever.” Canadian Press

277 Davenport/Birdhouse Media

Look east to Avenue Rd./Birdhouse Media

Spacious balcony/Birdhouse Media

Ensuite/Birdhouse Media

277 Davenport Rd./Birdhouse Media

A 2,760 square foot, newly-constructed condo at 277 Davenport Rd. just east of Bedford Rd. is listed for $4.28 million by Angela Mandalas of Royal LePage J & D Division Real Estate. It appears to be the top floor of a five storey building which, as the listing says, is “perfectly positioned” west of Avenue Road so the new owner can enjoy Yorkville shops and restaurants while still being far enough away “to escape the hustle and bustle (and noise) that comes with it.” Maybe. It’s Davenport Rd. But never mind. The place comes with a 900-bottle capacity wine room off the kitchen. It also has many sunny perspectives including a coy floor-to-ceiling view east along Davenport down to Avenue Rd. According to the listing, there are two bedrooms.

Not valid in court?/Draeger

A Vancouver lawyer is predicting that the Draeger Drug Test 5000, approved Monday by the federal government to test marijuana impaired drivers, will fail miserably within a year. Draeger is a saliva screening device that tests for THC — the main psychoactive agent in cannabis. A member of the firm Acumen Law Corporation, Kyla Lee, says the test will cost $20 each time a police officer uses it, won’t work in any temperature below 4 C, and the results won’t even stand up in court. In response to the approval, Lee cited Ireland. “They expected hundreds of thousands of drivers to be checked and it was so expensive and difficult and time-consuming to be used that there was only a handful of tests done in the first year.: The system collapsed she said. Furthermore, she said, the test doesn’t indicate whether or not a person is impaired, so while it will give an officer grounds to arrest someone and consider investigating, it’s not going to be proof in court. In a news release, the federal government says the equipment will now be made available to police forces across the country, and it will be up to police to decide what testing equipment they want to use. The Liberals have pledged $161 million in funding for police training and drug-testing equipment over the next five years, as well as a public awareness campaign about the perils of driving while high.