The South Bayview Bulldog

Early speculation suggests that someone crawling through a vent or duct fell from above and got stuck behind a wall in a washroom in Calgary. It was fatal. The body was discovered Monday by a plumber fixing a toilet in a washroom of the Core Shopping Centre at Seventh Avenue and Third Street S.W., police said. But this explanation is not final. CBC

GOVERNMENT ELECTION RULES

The federal government intends to limit the length of election campaigns, restrict the amount of spending allowed in the period immediately preceding a campaign and introduce new rules to regulate third-party spending as part of a set of major reforms to Canada’s elections laws. Political parties also would face new privacy requirements regulating how they collect and use information from Canadians.

CROSS CANADA EDUCATION REPORT

Provincial education ministers have released a report on the performance of students in reading and mathematics between 2010 and 2016. The ministers form a body known as the Council of Ministers of Education. The report, which is called the Pan-Canadian Assessment, may be read here

MAN AWARDED $10,000

A Chinese restaurant has been fined $10,000 because it asked a black man and his three friends to pay for their meal in advance in 2014. The server at the Hong Shing restaurant at 195 Dundas West took the order from Emile Wickham and three friends and then came back and told them the policy of the restaurant was for customers to pre-pay. Wickham asked other customers if they had paid in advance and they all said they had not  The Human Rights Commission awarded the sum because of injury to Mr. Wickham’s feelings, self-respect and dignity.

Mt. Pleasant store

Yonge and Shaftesbury

Toys in capitals

The ambitious expansion announced by Mastermind Toys has brought with it refined signage. Original stores, like the one on Mt. Pleasant (left) show the corporate name most prominently. New stores, like the one opened in November at Yonge St. and Shaftesbury Ave. (centre) reverse the capitalization and make a bigger noise about the word Toys. Mastermind has said it will grow to as many as 90 stores by 2020 with further expansion in Quebec after that.  Analysts suggest Mastermind has carved out a niche with stores closer to home offering personalized service in toys that are exclusive to the firm.

Regular fuel at self-serve stations in Vancouver has hit 1.62 a litre, the highest price ever paid in North America for gasoline. The price was posted at stations across the lower mainland Sunday. “The 1.619 represents the single largest price point ever paid at any gas station, or any regional gas station across North America in the history of fuel,” said Dan McTeague of Gasbuddy.com. McTeague said with no end to the high prices in sight, a lot of people are changing their plans — and the impact will be felt all over the economy. “I would not be surprised to see this summer to be one in which people will withhold their discretionary spending. And that does have an effect on pretty much everything else.”

Into a tree on Spadina rd. in Rchmond Hill/Video capture off Twitter Jeremy Cohn @JeremyGlobalTV

A man is dead and another is in hospital in serious condition in the collision of a Jaguar vehicle into a tree on Spadina Rd in Richmond Hill Sunday afternoon. The dead man is said to be about 38 years old. The damage to the Jaguar is testament perhaps to the speed with which it struck the tree.

Video: Jaguar split in half during a single car crash on Spadina Rd in Richmond Hill. Man with no vital signs, another person critical. High speed is a factor, it happened in a "traffic calmed neighbourhood". @RHFES @YorkParamedics pic.twitter.com/E5yGoyKVIu

— Jeremy Cohn (@JeremyCohnTV) April 29, 2018

Efforts to stay strong in the face of unspeakable death and injury brought many thousands of people to the Inter-Faith vigil at Mel Lastman Square Sunday night. Then, in Australia, the government has committed half a billion Oz dollars to rescue the Great Barrier Reef. The huge natural feature is beset by pollution and the parasite Crown of Thorns Starfish. Below that, the US secretary of State answers some hard questions about how much trust the world may place in the word of Kim Jong-un. Finally, the benefits of microchipping your pet as ChiChi is returned home after running loose for three years.

The CBC reports Sunday night on a man who took Bell to court after it diddled a price-promise. The complaint has been heard from many Bell customers. David Ramsay says a Bell customer service rep told him on the phone that he could buy Bell Fibe TV and internet service for $112.90 a month for 24 months. He was told he’d get an email confirmation of this. But the email contained a proviso that Bell might increase that price, apparently at any time. In a judgment last month in Toronto small claims court, Deputy Judge William C. De Lucia said that Bell’s attempt to impose new terms after a verbal contract guaranteeing a monthly price for 24 months had been struck was “high-handed, arbitrary and unacceptable.”

TSE OPEN FOR BUSINESS MONDAY

The TMX group says the S&P/TSX will be open for business Monday morning after its systems failed Friday because of a “hardware failure in a central storage appliance.”

MAKING SIRI SAY BAD THINGS

Gizmodo reports that Siri will descend into vulgar language if you ask her the right question. It notes the off-colour slang option for mother as one of the more shocking examples. At the same time, Siri expects phone users to talk nicely to her. She will tongue lash brutes who say bad words. Siri, should we be committed for talking to a machine?

Crowd at #TorontoStrong vigil gives a standing ovation for first responders as they make they way to their seats @CityNews pic.twitter.com/cjNkQmofBu

— Amanda Ferguson (@ByAmandaFergie) April 29, 2018

No need to recall the wretched few weeks known as April 2018. Here it is the 29th day and the temperature is 7C at 6 p.m — but it feels like 2C. Sure. Try on some of the predictions above from the Weather Network.

Front doors of new Costco

Former Coca Cola edifice joined to Costco structure

Trees awaiting planting

Landscaping has begun at the site of the new Costco store on Overlea Blvd. Councillor Burnside has estimated an opening in June. These pictures were taken Sunday. A sign is up saying the store is hiring.

Front of former Coca Cola building shines in sun

The City has issued this order of service for the #TorontoStrong Inter-faith Vigil Sunday night at Mel Lastman Square. All times are approximate. Speakers: 3 minutes each (approximately) Choirs: 5 minutes (including transition time)

Time
6–6:30 Illuminated lanterns placed on stage
6:15 Arrival of community walking from Olive Square Park and Albert Standing Park to Mel Lastman Square
6:40 Red Spirit Singers (Drumming begins)
6:40 – 6:58 Dignitaries seated
7:00 Toronto Jewish Chorus
Soloist – Judy Gershon “One Voice”
Begins with soloist Judy alone on stage with mic, choir joins her onstage through the first verse.

7:05 Welcome
Words of Introduction
Show begins
Indigenous Elder, Steve Teekins
Rev. Alexa Gilmour, United Church
Hosts (Lily Cheng, Dwight Drummond, Pooja Handa)

7:10 Willard Metzger
V.P. of Canadian Council of Churches & E.D. of Mennonite Church of Canada
Christian community

7:14 Imam Refaat Mohamed
V.P. of the Canadian Council of Imams Muslim community

7:18 Willowdale Community Choir
Soloist – Melissa Davis
“Instruments of Peace”
Performed a capella
soloist Melissa with mic

7:28 Pandit Suraj Persad
Hindu Chaplain
Hindu Community

7:32 Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl
Rabbi Yael Splansky, Jewish Community

7:36 Toronto Children’s Concert Choir
35 performers: “Hold On Just A Little While Longer”

7:46 Venerable Dr. Bhante Saranapala
Deputy Abbot of the West End Buddhist Temple and Meditation Centre
Buddhist Chaplain to the University of Toronto
Buddhist community
Also known as the “Urban Buddhist Monk”

7:49 Eva Goldfinger
Ritual led by Inter-faith team
Instrumental accompaniment by MCC artists Diane Leah (pianist) and Colleen Allen (saxophone)
Inter-faith Community, Humanist

7:52 Choir of Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
(26 to 28 members)
“Amazing Grace – Reach out and Touch”

7:57 Final remarks by hosts

7:59 Earl Haig Secondary School & Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts
Between 30 and 40 students
National Anthem in English and French

8:04 Candles removed from stage and carried backstage by hosts and speakers (10 people, 10 candles)

Poem read by Toronto’s Poet Laureate Anne Michaels

Northbound past Eglinton Public School/TTC Collection

Southbound at Dominion Coal/TTC Collection

Leaving the Eglinton loop with 1920 bank building in background (soon to be an LTR station) TTC Collection

Some 42 years after the Mt. Pleasant streetcar was cancelled by the TTC a stretch of the street holds a buried curse on road maintenance and a smooth drive through Moore Park. It’s the streetcar tracks, covered over with asphalt. Though the tracks have been removed on many parts of the street, it seems they still lurk under the surface from just north of the Moore Park loop (now a parkette) at St. Clair to about Merton St. At a few points, the rusted steel peeks out. It’s a curious footnote to history that just as the streetcar lobby at City Hall had convinced Council to keep the big trolley brutes in Toronto, the TTC found it a good idea to get rid of the cars on Mt. Pleasant. They even double-crossed SERRA, the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association by promising to keep the cars, but then removed them less than a year later. Glimpse of Mt. Pleasant Rd. as trolley tracks are laid in 1925

About to slam into TPS vehicle

He squirms out of car and takes off like a deer. He is now in custody.

A young man in bright red hoodie slams Porsche into a TPS SUV on the Gardiner under the Dufferin Street overpass. He flees past the car where video is being recorded but is soon captured. Police say the Porsche was stolen. More as available. All video on Twitter

VIDEO obtained by Global News shows a Porsche driving on the shoulder and ramming a @TorontoPolice cruiser on the Gardiner westbound at Dufferin St tonight. Man then runs away while the officer appears pinned in his car. Lane closures in effect. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/49r44vcFTe

— Jeremy Cohn (@JeremyCohnTV) April 29, 2018