The South Bayview Bulldog

A long-time police officer, Mark Hayward, has written to Mayor Tory accusing him of fuelling gun violence and gang activity in Toronto by cancelling the program related to carding in 2016. The letter goes on to says that this, and other police board decisions, have reduced Chief Saunders to the status of a “puppet.” The Chief has responded with a statement saying a departmental investigation is underway into the letter and the accusations made in it. Hayward stands to face discipline. This letter and the media focus on it has raised again the nature of a divided community on carding. Some feel there’s nothing very wrong with carding if it is conducted impartially while others say it destroys the lives of black youth.  CBC

FORD HIRES FORMER PC PRESIDENT

Prermier Ford has appointed a former Progressive Conservative party president as a special adviser on health care.  Dr. Rueben Devlin will, as chair of a new council on improving health care, make $348,000 salary plus paid expenses. Devlin is said to have previously served as CEO of Humber River hospital where he made close to $500,000, according to the salaries list. We were hoping for something like a dollar-a-year man.

England goaler Jordan Pickford was Man of the Match

Advancing to semi-finals

England has defeated Sweden 2-0 to advance to World Cup semi-final play in Russia. TSN video has fist goal.

A sink hole was identified in the vicinity of Eglinton Ave E near Donlea Dr. Traffic between Bessborough Dr., Donlea Dr. and Hanna Rd is closed to vehicular traffic. Police are on site to assist with traffic. TTC buses are detouring at this time. We will notify once reopened

— Crosstown (@CrosstownTO) July 6, 2018

This is a hair-raising report done by City News on the results of an investigation by Toronto Auditor General Beverly Romeo-Beehler. It was triggered by a whistle-blower who complained a year ago that long-time privately owned suppliers of fire inspection services to the City ran them in an irregular manner, to say the least. The owner, a man named Rauf Ahmad, appears elusive. In fact, Romeo-Beehler has compiled a kitchen sink of complaints about Ahmad’s work. It all seems to have been an enormous yawn to City employees who were paying the bills. Must view.

Detective Sergeant Hank Idsinga of the homicide squad has met the media Friday morning to announce that more human remains have been found in excavation of a specific site in the ravine behind 53 Mallory Crescent. Idsinga said the discovery of remains on Wednesday and then again Thursday occurred “essentially in the same area.” Video below was shot Thurday.

Down in the ravine behind 53 Mallory Crescent where more human remains were found yesterday. They were found on what is essentially a compost pile according to @TPSHomicide @globalnewsto pic.twitter.com/XE9lkhIa3p

— Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) July 5, 2018

A man and woman said to be in their 20s robbed the Rexall Pharma Plus drugstore at 325 Moore Ave  of expensive cosmetics Friday shortly after 9 a.m. opening. Witnesses said the couple drove a black hatchback and that a number of customers were quick-witted enough to take pictures of the plate number. The man stayed behind the wheel of the car while the woman entered the pharmacy and swept a shelf for costly perfume. In their haste to escape, the couple nearly hit a cyclist entering the mall from Moore. Ave. No one was injured however.

Lawn Summer Nights/Leaside Lawn Bowling Club

Visit old school/DPS Parents

Salsa on St. Clair

Man vs Lobster/McSorley’s on Twitter @McSorleysGrill

Lawn Summer Nights

East York Farmers Market

Sopwith over Leaside by Russell Sutherland (Twitter @quist)

Upper left is one of the teams that took to the green at the Lawn Summer Night event Thursday at Leaside Bowling Club. Lawn Summer is a national charity to aid research into cystic fibrosis. Lawn Summer Nights at LLBC continues July 12, 19 and 26 at 6.30. Upper right, it is a last chance to root around the old school on Millwood Road. It takes place on Saturday, July 21 from 9 a.m. to noon. Davisville Public School will be torn down and replaced by a modern three-story facility expected to welcome kids for the 2020 school year.  At centre, Salsa on St. Clair will enliven west-central Toronto Saturday and Sunday. Many Latin moves will be seen. Below that, a peek at some diners getting bibbed up for McSorley’s Man vs Lobster feast last Saturday. At right, shots from Lawn Summer Night and the East York Farmers Market. The market goes every Tuesday until the Fall.  At the bottom, a great looking Sopwith fighter/bomber flying over Leaside to mark the 100th anniversary of Canada’s first airmail delivery at Leaside Aerodrome. 

The issue of refugees coming into Canada at unauthorized border crossings in Quebec and heading straight to Toronto has been given an “international obligations” spin by Justin Trudeau after his meeting with Premier Ford Thursday. How Ford will like being portrayed as being not quite up to speed about such matters may, or may not, surface in public.

OPP have charged a woman, 20, after a child was rescued from a locked vehicle at Temiskaming Shores, about 150 km northeast of Sudbury. When officers arrived, they were told the child had been in the vehicle for approximately 20 minutes. They broke a window and rescued the child from what they described as “extreme heat.” The child is recovering. The charge in such cases is failing to provide the necessaries of life.

Salt mine workers at the huge underground operation at Goderich are in their third month on strike. This week they formed a blockade to try to prevent the employer, Compass Minerals, from bringing in replacement workers from New Brunswick. The salt mine lies as far below the water as the CN Tower rises over Toronto and is the biggest such mine in the world. The union, Unifor, says the issue is a demand by the owners for concessions including mandatory overtime, reducing benefits, and weakening the contracting-out provisions in the collective agreement. Fascinating video

• Boeing buys 80 percent of Embraer
• Man sues Apple because the A- Watch isn’t ‘brilliantly scratch resistant’ as promised
• Race finds its way into WestJet luggage policy to West Indies
• While protesters dangle, Trans Mountain work starts again

Beginning Monday, July 9 through to October Jarvis St. between Dundas St. East and Queen St. E. will be reduced to one lane of northbound and southbound vehicular traffic for road and sewer work. Some watermains are more than 100 years old.  A fast alternate is Bayview south to River Street south. The city says most of the work on this project will take place Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. with some work on weekends and overnight as required.

ROAD CLOSURES THIS WEEKEND

• The Taste of Lawrence festival is Friday through Monday closing Lawrence between Warden and Birchmount. It runs from Friday to Monday.
• Salsa on St. Clair will close St. Clair Ave between Winona Dr and Christie St. both Saturday and Sunday
• Danceforth will close Danforth between Woodbine and West Lynn avenues on Friday. from 8 a.m. to midnight on Saturday.

CIBC economist Mendes

Make them cheaply in Oakville and sell them for US dollars in Ohio

The worst-case scenario painted by CIBC economist Royce Mendes about a US tariff on Canadian-built cars is terrifying but entirely unsurprising. Any Canadian who can count — let’s see, 350 million of them, 35 million of us — will know that US automakers are here to build cars cheaply and ship them 100 miles to Americans. Mendes guesses Wednesday that rigorous tariffs might reduce the present annual production of cars at places like Oakville and Windsor from two million to possibly half that. It would be a crushing blow to the national economy and the lives of millions of Canadians. For all Mendes knows, Donald Trump may be inclined, if he can get away with it, to be even more vicious than that. He may not do it but no one should harbour any doubt that it is all possible. Mendes is quoted as saying: “It wasn’t that long ago when it was commonplace to question whether President Trump could make good on his promises. But, so far, he’s generally found ways to stay true to his word, and that’s exactly what’s so concerning about auto tariffs.”