The South Bayview Bulldog

Canadian Press says Tuesday’s federal budget will include a five-week “use-it-or-lose-it” incentive for new fathers  to take parental leave and share the responsibilities for baby care.  The government has been under increasing pressure from advocates to make further changes to Canada’s parental leave policies. A recently released briefing note prepared for Morneau said Canadian women with children are less involved in the labour market than their counterparts in many of the industrialized countries in the OECD. The idea of parental leave for a second parent would be similar to a policy in Quebec, which is the only province that pays for leave for new fathers. Quebec’s system provides up to five weeks of paid leave to new fathers and covers up to 70 per cent of their income.

Ontario has banned the door-to-door sales of expensive home infrastructure like furnaces and air conditioners starting March 1, 2018. Businesses will only be able to enter into a contract in the consumer’s home if the consumer has contacted the business ahead of time and invited them into their home for the purpose of entering into a contract. Contracts that are in violation of the new rules relating to door-to-door contract solicitation will be considered void, and consumers will be able to keep the goods and services with no obligations. There will also be a 10-day cooling-off period, allowing consumers to cancel the contract for any reason without penalty. The new rules will apply to:

• Air cleaners
• Air conditioners
• Air purifiers
• Duct cleaning services
• Furnaces
• Water filters
• Water heaters
• Water purifiers
• Water softeners
• Water treatment devices
• Bundles of these goods and services

Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa

Leaside’s Meraki Intermediate Synchronized Skating Team starts off in first place as further competition continues Saturday at the Skate Canada Championships being contested at the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa. The skating runs through Sunday. Carol Wrigley, whose daughter skates with the team, says they will be on the ice this afternoon. Good luck ladies

Justin Bieber

Caroline Mulroney

Steven Pinker

Idyllic Stratford knows a good gambit and they have found one in a Justin Bieber museum. Then, it’s on to Caroline Mulroney and her one-on-one with City News scribe Cynthia Mulligan. Below that, the appalling failure of the FBI to act on all sorts of warnings about Nikolas Cruz. Finally, listen carefully to Professor Steven Pinker of Harvard. He’s actually got it right.

Leaside Cup

Grade 5/6 Winners: Forest Hill

Grade 7/8 Winners: Glen Ames

Rolph Road wins third

Nicholas Munn and Stas Mironova (right) played against each other. Nicholas goes to Bessborough and Stas goes to Northlea. Here they pose with Nicholas’s dad Jeff Munn.

Bessborough and Northlea Intermediates face off in an exhibition game. Photos by Robin Dickie.

Kirti and Caleigh from Northlea

Tireless Robin Dickie

That tireless friend of Rolph Road School Robin Dickie has provided a photo record of this year’s play in the locally organized Leaside Cup League. It began in 2017 and this year expanded to embrace kids from Grades 7 and 8 (new for 2018) as well as Grades 5 and 6. The need was seen to level the hockey playing field in a way that kids from around home were playing each other, not those from “elite hockey schools.” Thus was born the Leaside Cup competitions. The first tournament had three local schools: Bessborough, Rolph Road and Bennington Heights. Its success led to this year’s expansion. There were six schools for each age group.

JANUARY TOURNAMENT

The Grade 5 and 6 co-ed teams played on January 17 and the Grade 7 and 8 teams played on the 18. TDSB schools were represented by Grade 5/6 teams from Northlea, Bessborough, Rolph Road, Bennington Heights, Deer Park and Forest Hill. Grade 7/8 tournament teams included Bessborough, Northlea, Deer Park, Glen Ames, Hollycrest and Forest Hill. A first place trophy was awarded for each day, as well as ribbons for second and third place. The winners were, Grade 5 and 6: First Place: Forest Hill, Second Place: Bessborough, Third Place: Rolph Road. Grade 7 and 8: First Place: Glen Ames, Second Place: Forest Hill and Third Place: Hollycrest.  Ms. Dickie’s thanks are offered to volunteer friends Tracey Shepard and Sheila Allen and Bessborough teacher Ritch Couper for organizing events. She also thanks teachers and volunteer parents who offered to help coach the school teams and to student volunteer timekeepers.

Saturday only closure – During this Saturday’s closure, there will be no north-south shuttles. Instead, #TTC will have frequent express bus service on east-west routes to get customers to the University side of Line 1. Allow extra time for travel. https://t.co/kiW9PxJvW7

— TTC Service Alerts (@TTCnotices) February 23, 2018

Alberta has lifted its ban on BC wine, at least for the moment. That’s because BC Premier John Horgan put aside his threat to limit Alberta’s ability to ship oilsands bitumen by pipeline to the West Coast. Minutes later Alberta Premier Rachel Notley lifted her government’s retaliatory boycott against B.C. wine. Notley said she felt Horgan had blinked but some say the blink was kind of squinty-eyed. That’s because Horgan did not disavow the oil embargo, he merely referred it to the courts.

Sophie Trudeau with failed assassin Jaspal Atwal

Randeep Sarai — What was he thinking?

CTV says that Justin Trudeau has vowed to meet Liberal MP Randeep Sarai, the person responsible for putting a failed assassin on the guest list for two high-profile receptions with the prime minister. He made the remarks in India where he met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Sarai has taken full responsibility for the fact that Jaspal Atwal — convicted in the 1980s of attempting to kill an Indian cabinet minister who was travelling in Canada — was invited to the two events, including one where he was photographed alongside Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau. Perhaps the prime minister will ask “What were you thinking?” or other words.

The prime minister is saying that a Sikh man convicted of shooting and wounding an Indian cabinet minister who was on a visit to BC in 1986 should never have been permitted to tag along on the PM’s trip to India this week. Sounds reasonable, but he was. Then, Harry and Meghan have been subject to the dangerously misguided among us with an anonymous package of white powder sent to them. It was harmless. Below that, the US has broken Canada’s 20 year record of gold medal victories in Olympic women’s hockey. The Americans broke a 2-2 tie in the shootout. We’re crying too. Finally, City News summarizes the onslaught of flu cases at Toronto hospitals.

A minority of Toronto police officers and civilian staff have voted 86 percent to express so-called no confidence in the Police Chief Mark Saunders. But just 48.1 percent of some 8,000 eligible association members even bothered to vote. Immediately after the result was announced, the police board issued a statement saying it continues to “fully and unequivocally” support him. The vote is part of a campaign by the association to drive home the belief that the TPS is understaffed. Right or wrong, that view is a hard sell among politicians and police brass.

Building on Whitewood Rd/Bulldog photo

Jenner Cricket Sunday at 1.30

What a rumble to visit that great dealer/Deke Macdonald

Where is the Art Shoppe anyway?

John Turco and friends/Beach Mirror

Needs some love/Jen Bluestein

Eden no more/Bulldog photo

Upper left, here we are on Whitewood Rd. where desirable South Bayview beckons builders. This is No. 4 on the postman’s route and another new build is happening two doors north. Upper right, Harold Shin of the Toronto Police has kindly reminded The Bulldog about the opening ceremony of the Jenner Cricket League Sunday, February 25 at 1.30 at the Jenner Jean Marie Community Centre, 48 Thorncliffe Park Drive. Below that, Deke Macdonald posted this nostalgic brand name a while ago on Leaside Chit Chat. The car (Pontiac) is long gone and even more distant is Rumble’s itself. We liked the corner (Bayview and Broadway) better as a car dealer. Then, an expensive billboard at Bayview and Moore is up to remind you just where the heck the Art Shoppe went after they knocked it down on Yonge St. Lower left is a great photo owned by the Beach Mirror and tweeted by east-side girl Joanne Lavoie showing Scarborough teacher John Turco with the paramedics who saved his life when he had a heart attack while playing basketball at Neil McNeil High School. To the right of that, Jen Bluestein‏ @JenBluestein tweeted a suggestion that this bus stop at Mt. Pleasant and Davisville could use a little love. No kidding. Finally, at bottom right, Eden is no more. The dark little marijuana shop has packed it up after two raids and an armed robbery. Time to go.

Kaden Young

Minivan driven by his mother

The search goes on Thursday for three-year-old Kaden Young in the turbulent waters of the flooded Grand River with little hope left that the child will be found alive. He apparently slipped out of his mother’s arms as she tried to get out of her flooded and tilted minivan Wednesday. She is Karen Hanson and it appears that she miscalculated the edge of the road in water that hid an embankment into the river.  The Welland Tribune says that conditions along the waterway have been hazardous since Friday when a flood watch was issued by the Grand River Conservation Authority in anticipation of as much as 40 to 60 millimetres of rain. Days of melt run-off caused by unseasonably warm weather and heavy rain caused flooding to push water as much as a foot over the road, soaking residential properties along the banks. As many as 2,200 homes were evacuated in Brantford Wednesday and some remain unreachable.