The South Bayview Bulldog

City Council has voted 25 to 15 to challenge the legality of Ontario Government Bill 5. That’s legislation which would cut Toronto Council from 47 seats to 25. But the City Clerk told Council Monday that while there is enough time to organize and run a 25-ward election, there will not be enough time to organize an election with 47 wards if the court finds in the City’s favour. She has been instructed to create a contingency plan in the event of a City victory in court. In all of this, the City is challenging the authority of the province, a signatory to the British North America Act, with statutory authority in all things municipal. Still, Councillors talk about “our democracy” and “meddling” by the Province. Bill 5 may be annoying. It may be wrong. But the City of Toronto cannot be called none of Ontario’s business.  City News report Jennifer Pagliaro Twitter

STORM WATER TAX

City Executive Committee has shelved further debate on a so-called Storm Water Fee. This concept arises in the context of too much rain, it seems. But there appears to be an absence of ideas at City Hall on how to deal with too much rain. Some Councillors decided a tax on property owners as needed was a way to “inspire” them to think of ways to deal with the rain.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to heckling about irregular border crossers by telling a woman, “Your racism has no place here.” Trudeau made the remarks in a long French-language meeting in farm fields. The translation shown in the YouTube video turns racism into “intolerance of immigrants.” The woman interrupted him during an event in Quebec on Thursday to ask when the federal government would repay the province for the $146 million that Quebec says it has cost to handle an influx of asylum seekers.

• Doctors see more harm than good in legal pot: national survey

Asia Argento

Martin Kofi Danso

Reunited after decades

Faces of what goes around, utter disgrace and the criminal seclusion of North Korea. Left, Asia Argento, one of the first actors to finger Harvey Weinstein and become a Me-Too darling. She has now paid off a former colleague to the tune of $380,000 after he sued her for taking him to bed when he was 17. Then, Martin Kofi Danso, the Toronto pastor who told his parishioner to abort the child she had conceived by him “or die.” Nice. He was worried that his wife and congregation would find out. Too late now. Finally, moving images of the reunion of Korean families permitted by the thaw in relations between north and south. What is overlooked is the 75-year criminal enforced seclusion of NK people by that despicable father-and-son tyranny. We seem unable to get it that an open North Korea would mean no North Korea.

Gossip site Royal Central says it has confirmed that Megan Markle is in Toronto. In picking up the story, Daily Hive TO, hints that Markle (the Duchess of Sussex to you) may be staying with long-time friends Ben and Jessica Mulroney at their Moore Park home. The Duchess is said to be travelling without her husband as she makes her first solo visit abroad since marrying Prince Harry in May. Kensington Palace sent a letter to Air Canada staff beforehand asking that no one take Meghan’s picture or approach her on the flight. It is also rumoured that she will be visiting Los Angeles this summer before resuming work again in September. Following her return from Canada, it is likely that the Duchess will join Prince Harry and the Queen for a short stay at Balmoral Castle.

The Kiwanis Club of East York will mark its 75th anniversary September 21^. with an evening that includes dinner, prizes, silent auction, live music and local dignitaries past and present. It’s at the The Birches (Latvian Canadian Centre)  4 Credit Union Dr. off Eglinton near Bermondsey Rd.  It will have a 1940s theme to honour the founding of the Club in 1943. Reception at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $100 and are available on Eventbrite and by email eykiwanis75@gmail.com or by contacting any member of the Kiwanis Club of East York. Proceeds go back into the East York community

Concert postponed

Cute but what’s going on?

“Postponed” signs at Scotiabank Arena

Drake’s first Canadian stop on his Aubrey & The Three Migos Tour has will not go on as planned Monday night. Live Nation Ontario tweeted that the concert, scheduled to take place at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, “is being postponed.” The promoter says tickets will be honoured for the new date when it’s announced. They did not provide a reason for the late cancellation, other than to say it was “due to circumstances” beyond their control. Drake is still scheduled to perform at the same venue on Tuesday and Wednesday. The tour also includes later stops in Montreal and Vancouver. This is the second time some fans will have their tickets rescheduled. Earlier this summer it was announced the tour was delayed, and the Toronto dates were pushed to later in the month — City News

FANS UPSET

Fans tweeted their annoyance with the postponement. One said:

AN EXPLANATION IS NEEDED. One postponed date, understandable, perhaps. But this concert was postponed from AUGUST10 to AUGUST20 and then delayed by an hour and now postponed to an unknown date?! What’s the reason?!

Shelley Laskin has announced that she will run for the Toronto District School Board in the new muncipal ward of Eglinton-Lawrence and Toronto-St. Paul’s. Previously she has been the trustee for Ward 11 for many years. The change is required because of the Ontario Government’s decision to reduce Toronto City Council from 47 to 25 councillors and realign the City of Toronto’s ward electoral boundaries to reflect provincial electoral ridings. By law, the TDSB is required to align its ward electoral boundaries with the City’s and fit the present 22 TDSB wards into the new 25 City wards.

TDSB 22 wards into City’s 25

Shelley Laskin

Roy Oribon fans young and old tell City News they find few thrills in the idea of watching their Pretty Woman icon in hologram. Tickets to see the November show will range in price from $62 to $182.

Andy Gort, president of the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association (SERRA) has written to say that a “large majority” of respondents to a SERRA poll expressed objections to the reduction in the number of Council members enacted by the Legislature. They felt that the new size of the wards will impact the level of representation needed in the City. They also felt that Premier Ford’s claim of “for the people” rings hollow since there was no consultation with residents. They suspect Ford had singled out the City of Toronto for Council reduction as a personal vendetta. Gort said comments in favour of a smaller council were almost exclusively related to the sense that City Council tended to be slow in making important decisions and Councillors engaged in self-promotion during debates. SERRA’s position continues to be that a reduction in council members will seriously affect its level of representation, which in an area like South Eglinton, with all its development, will be a significant loss.

Park ‘pops up’ on Bloor for #OpenStreetsTO. WATCH: https://t.co/nosrpCx0vl

— CityNews 680 (Inactive) (@680NEWS) August 19, 2018

Many fans of this closure of Yonge St and Bloor St. have tweeted their thoughts with video, photos.

DEVELOPING: @TorontoMedics tell me a man, who is believed to be in his 20s, was fatally shot at a residential building on Adelaide Street East, west of Parliament Street. Emergency crews were called here at 2:05 a.m. @TPS51Div and @TPSK9 are on scene. pic.twitter.com/kneLgC8suW

— Nick Westoll (@NWestoll) August 19, 2018