The U of T Mountain Bike Team is seeking volunteers to help clean up the Don Valley Forest on Saturday May 12. The gang will meet at 71 Thorncliffe Park Drive which is the entry into E. T. Seton Park. Many worthwhile and entertaining events are on the horizon now that Spring is really here. Check the South Bayview Bulldog Bulletin Board.
Sparks fly in first 2018 Ontario leaders debate: The best jabs in under 90 seconds. #CityVote #onpoli pic.twitter.com/yUI3WhygqJ
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) May 8, 2018
The City News debate between Premier Wynne, PC Leader Doug Ford and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath had qualities both improbable and predictable Monday. Twitterdom elected Andrea Horwath and the Green Party staged a demonstration in which their mouths were sealed with green tape. CP24 says Tuesday morning that Mainstreet Research randomly surveyed 2,000 adults from Toronto, North York, Etobicoke, and Scarborough after the debate and found that about 41.5 per cent of survey respondents said they watched the debate and of those who watched the debate, 35.1 per cent said they thought PC Leader Doug Ford won, while 24.3 per cent said they believed Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath won. About 19.3 per cent said Premier Kathleen Wynne fared best among all candidates, while 9.5 per cent said no one won. About 11.8 per cent of respondents who watched the debate were not sure who won. There is video at the 680 News (City) YouTube account.
Candidates in the June 7 general election for the riding of Don Valley West have been invited to an all-candidates debate on May 23 in the Lea Room at Leaside Arena. Don Valley West is the long-time seat of Premier Kathleen Wynne. She is challenged this year by Progressive Conservative candidate Jon W. Kieran. All parties have been invited, including the NDP, Green Party and Libertarian Party. The latter two are shown in the Internet to be represented by Morgan Bailey and John Kittridge respectively. The NDP Ontario slate online does not yet show a candidate in Don Valley West. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the debate is set to begin at 7.30 p.m. This debate is sponsored by the Leaside Property Owners Association. A release issued Sunday does not speak of a format for this debate.
MODERATOR BRIAN ATHEY
The moderator will be Brian Athey, past president of the LPOA. Each candidate will give a three-minute opening statement after which attendees ask questions directed to one or more candidate. Each candidate has the opportunity to make a one-minute response to any question. The Q&A session lasts approximately 75 minutes, after which each candidate makes a closing statement (in reverse order from the opening statements).Candidates’ order of speaking is decided by their drawing a number from a hat just before the meeting begins, and, as noted above, the speaking order will reverse for closing statements. Questions will be provided by the attendees only and in writing so that Mr. Athey can sort or combine them to avoid repetition. There will be index cards — and pencils, as needed —- for people as they enter the Lea Room.
Two-time Olympic medalist and 2018 Figure Skating World Champion Kaetlyn Osmond was at PetSmart on Eglinton Ave. Monday to meet owners. Here she is with Brigid (right) and her rascally pet Lucy. Lucy was sniffing around with her colour-coded nose for treats. To the right is Leaside girl Kayla, playing this season with the North Toronto Soccer Club. This was tweeted by her coach who says Kayla’s got good style. Middle right, a reminder that the Appletree Market opens Tuesday afternoon at Davisville Park. It runs from 3 to 7 p.m. Centre left, the aftermath of yet another car into the Rexall store this week at Sunnybrook Plaza. Happily, no one was in the way. At the bottom, a reminder that the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club is in operation and an Open House is set for Friday and Saturday.
Utterly fraudulent fake news can be fun when it comes in the form of National Chocolate Milkshake.Day. Can you believe it? Then, the feature is called Faces in the News and those proportioned bottoms each has one (a face that is). They belong to nudists who for utterly unknown reasons were given their own day at the Palais de Tokyo museum in Paris in a “one-off naturist event.” No encore? Finally, China has gifted the German town of Trier with a statue of Karl Marx on his 200th birthday. You remember Marx. He had a plan to make people perfect. But you just couldn’t shape up could you?
Toronto Public Health is reporting a case of measles relating to an infant who travelled abroad. They flag Saudia Airlines flights from Delhi to Jeddah to Toronto on April 29 and 30 for members of the public who may have been exposed to the disease (flight numbers SV0759 and SV0061). Exposure may also have occurred May 4 at the Pediatric Outpatient Services department, 4th floor, Humber River Hospital, 1235 Wilson Avenue from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. More information is available at City of Toronto’s Measles Fact Sheet.
It was a very sporty week over at Children’s Garden School on Eglinton this week. The JK’s and SK’s love their Term 3 Tennis Club, the Grade 1-3’s had their ‘clothes on’ session at Holland-Bloorview Pool and, now that the weather has finally turned, they also headed over to Leaside Field for their first baseball day. The senior students at CGS are also training for their upcoming Track & Field Championships on May 29. Learn more here. Everyone is so happy that spring is here and it is time to be outside.
Reuters says Nestle, of Switzerland, will pay Starbucks $7.15 billion in cash for the rights to sell the coffee chain’s products around the world, tying a premium brand to Nestle’s global distribution muscle. The deal on Monday for a business with $2 billion in sales reinforces Nestle’s position as the world’s biggest coffee company tries to fortify its place atop a fast-changing market.
BUFFETT CALLS BITCOIN RAT POISON
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett on Monday said buyers of bitcoin, which he has characterized as “rat poison squared,” thrive on the hope they’ll find other people who will pay more for it. Likening bitcoin demand to the tulip bulb mania in 17th century Netherlands, Buffett, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said the mystique behind the cryptocurrency has caused its price to surge. After Buffett’s comments, the price of a bitcoin was at $9,348.26, down $322.98, or just over 3.3 per cent.
TSX UP MONDAY
Canada’s main stock index climbed to a more than 13-week high on Monday, as the energy sector got a boost from higher oil prices and talks to update the North American Free Trade Agreement entered a crucial week. At 11:27 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 103.05 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 15,832.45.
It’s unfortunate when local folks don’t recognize art as art. But that seems to be the case for many people near Vaughan Rd. and Bathurst St. two days after the triumphant dedication of Three Points Where Two Lines Meet. The name seems to have local geographic relevance but to some, as reported by Claire Floody of the Star, it’s just a load of aluminum left at this busy corner. Floody has been browsing a private neighbourhood Facebook group where reaction ranges from “wasteful distraction” to “ugh”. Toronto Star
The enormous job of getting to the thousands of localized blackouts in Toronto is becoming clear more than 48 hours after Friday’s windstorm. Just in Leaside and near East York there are thousands remaining in the dark. Hydro workers are working night and day to get power back to homes. One large area of darkness centres on Fleming Crescent which was hit by both a falling tree and snapped wires all along the street. Similarly in Davisville Village, power remains out, according to the map, at Belsize Drive and Mt.Pleasant Rd., even though the utility pole that caused the outage has now been taken away.
It seems well beneath the attention of most people, but Ontario’s Liberals claim the public is being misled by political ads portraying a reporter who works for “Ford Nation.” It might confuse some but the alleged deception seems to be a bit of a stretch. The complaint has gone to Elections Ontario. It is part of the ruling party’s efforts to discredit the PC Party by focussing on the leader, Doug Ford. He’s a contentious figure who has never served in the Legislature. Liberals have also tried to link Ford to an unknown extremist in Quebec. Ford laughed it off saying he’s never heard of the man. In more serious matters, he quickly reversed his position last week after saying he would open some of the Toronto Green Belt to development. That seemed like a blunder worthy of Tim Hudak’s bizarre promise to lay off 100,000 civil servants. Still, public sentiment toward the Liberals seems more deeply alienated that ever before. PC advertising has had a comical but cutting edge in such attacks as The Kathleen Wynne Collection. It is puckish compilation of misdeeds and fiscal horrors ranging from the gas plant scandal to the provincial debt. The election is June 7. Fasten your seat belt.
Surveys in both the US and Canada suggest that grocery shoppers have compelling reasons to go to the store and see what they’re buying first-hand rather taking what shows up at the door. It seems obvious if you’re among the 75 to 80 percent of people who say they’re not much interested in online shopping. Things like seeing the quality and variety of what’s available and being reminded about things that aren’t on your list. People are busy but many seem ready to make time for the food they eat. There’s also the delivery cost. Overall, the experience of shopping may be more interesting than other chores. How like grocery computer wonks to forget that shopping is frequently social. A story in Food Drive says that grocers are likely to be squeezed into a combination of brick-and-mortar stores and online options with speedy delivery.
