The South Bayview Bulldog

The Grey Cup has arrived! Star Quarterback Ricky Ray carries the cup into Nathan Phillips Square #Argos #GreyCup pic.twitter.com/uxLFMVYHSc

— Momin Qureshi (@MominYQureshi) November 28, 2017

The destiny of Nathan Phillips Square was surely to host a rowdy, improbable and thoroughly righteous Grey Cup reception for the Toronto Argonauts. And so it was Tuesday noon hour as the cup, emblematic of Canadian football supremacy for 105 years, was passed around to extreme gloating. Mayor Tory was in the spirit of things. He opined that Calgary Mayor Naheed (below) looked just great in his Argo jersey and that he would be sending the same garment to every CFL mayor because they would no doubt need it after the next CFL champion game. Whoa, your worship.

An inexpensive lookalike of Meghan Markle’s priceless engagement ring can be snapped up for just £33 (C$44) at the British catalogue retailer Argos, the Mail Online reports The stunning ring was showcased by the Suits actress as she and Prince Harry announced their engagement at Kensington Palace Monday. The original includes one stone from Botswana, where the couple recently holidayed and two diamonds from Princess Diana’s personal collections. Argos Ltd, trading as is a British catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a subsidiary of Sainsbury’s.

Hanna and Lara Neal

Try it

LRT selfie anyone?

Laird in Focus

Nearing goal

Peter Neal of Leaside’s Neal Brothers Foods has posted a heartfelt expression of how pleased he is to have daughter Hanna home from school for a while. Here she is seen with mom Lara. Then, it’s time to check out Volume 1, Number 1 of the Ontario Lawn Bowling Association Newsletter. It is a fun read and offers tips to those recruiting for their club. “Remember that most bowlers join initially for the social and fun aspects, so make sure they get a warm social welcome.” For sure. For transit fans, there is surely nothing more tempting than a chance to get immortalized in front of a likeness of the as-yet-unbuilt Eglinton Station. That’s happening today at the Crosstown Photo Booth at the Eglinton Centre. If you live to the east, drop in Saturday, December 9, when the booth will be at the Eglinton Square Shopping Centre and you can be snapped in front of the future O’Connor Stop. Lower right, the energetic kids of Sarah and Claire’s Food Drive are hoping you will do just a bit more to reach the goal of 100,000 pounds of food for the Daily Bread Food Bank and Regent Park Community Food Centre.  Mom Lynda DeBono reminds everyone that we’re at 92,000 pounds. Please give. Finally, a reminder of the Laird in Focus meeting coming up next Tuesday. 

Public opinion sampling done in recent days by The Forum Poll, a Toronto research firm, reveals a strong lead by John Tory (still a year away from the election) and the nature of Liberal/NDP Toronto, where their combined support is at 58 percent.  There is also a poll on the Forum website that suggests Canadians are only lukewarm about the Trudeau government. Some 38 percent say they would vote Conservative if the election were today.

A post on Leaside Community as shown above seeks to return a lost credit card found on Bayview Ave. The finder can be messaged at that Facebook page.

Bali’s Mount Agung is feared ready to explode with thousands of tourists trying desperately to get out of the island country even as the airport is closed.

Chic white wrap coat by Line the Label

Canadian brand item sold out in Toronto

Company description

Note the ring

Harry designed with some of the diamonds from one of Diana’s brooches

The public fascination with the romance and planned wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle translated in an unexpected way Monday. The white coat which Meghan wore for the engagement announcement drew thousands of buyers to the website of the Canadian brand Line The Label. Reports indicate the demand crashed the site. The coat is sold out in Toronto. Bazaar said that Meghan was dressed in the chic white wrap coat, emerald green dress and strappy nude pumps. The most notable attraction was Meghan’s engagement ring, designed by Prince Harry himself. Some of the diamonds in the cushion-cut ring reportedly came from one of Princess Diana’s brooches.

Congratulations to our @TorontoArgos. Now the 17-time #GreyCup champions! We're so proud of you! #ArgosFootball pic.twitter.com/2IL07Eaaj2

— City of Toronto (@cityoftoronto) November 27, 2017

Toronto will honour the Grey Cup Champion Argonauts Tuesday at 12.30 in Nathan Philips Square. The improbable 27-24 victory in a snowstorm has dazzled fans. The Argonauts performed running and interception heroics to steal the game from the Calgary Stampeders. The win marks the seventeenth Grey Cup for the Argonauts franchise since its first in 1914.

Improbable heroics

Postmedia and Torstar have swapped more than 40 local community newspapers with each other, and most are destined to be shut down. The media companies announced in a press release Monday that Postmedia would buy two dozen community newspapers and two free commuter dailies from Torstar, and at the same time sell 17 newspapers — 15 community papers and two big-city free commuter dailies — to Torstar. No cash changed hands during the deal, as the papers “have approximately similar fair values,” Postmedia said. Only four papers — St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and Peterborough Examiner — will continue to operate  CBC

COMMENT SUGGESTS TAX PLAY

A reader wrote this comment to the story: “I don’t understand why Post Media and Torstar are going through this exchange of newspapers only to shut most of them down. Why not just shut them without trading them? Perhaps it is more tax advantageous? If so, that shouldn’t be allowed.”

Police are continuing to sort out an accident on Friday at Verobeach Blvd at Indrio Rd. when a 78-year-old woman was crossing the quiet intersection northwest of Weston Rd. and Sheppard Ave. It is a four-way stop and the photo above shows the view of the driver, 44, of a new Dodge Ram pickup truck as he headed south. He made a left hand turn and hit the woman as she tried to cross. The police report does not say whether she had her back to the truck or might possibly have been going the other way (north) and seen it coming. But she suffered life threatening injuries in this broad daylight occurrence. It was reported at 8.40 a.m.

Michael de Adder/Twitter

A report on the impact of the termination of the North American Free Trade Agreement says that it would trim just over half a percentage point from Canada’s economy. It finds that the end of NAFTA would shave 0.55 per cent off Canada’s GDP, push 25,000 to 50,000 Canadians from the workforce and reduce exports by 2.8 per cent. The report comes from Dan Ciuriak, the former head of computer modeling for Canada’s foreign-affairs ministry. Canadian Press reports Monday that Mr. Ciuriak, now a private consultant, spent recent weeks analyzing the numbers for a report for the CD Howe think tank.

BAD, BUT NOT AS BAD AS EXPECTED

The damage predicted in his report is the equivalent of a noticeable economic downturn, albeit far less than the 2.5 per cent GDP loss he said he was expecting to find in an interview last month, as he began his work. Ciuriak said the damage would be almost completely offset if the original 1987 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement were to survive the NAFTA. The beneficial impact of the old free trade agreement was the ease with which US automakers — Ford and General Motors — made cars in Canada and shipped them to the US. Preserving the Canada-Mexico partnership in NAFTA would have only a very slight impact on the damage if the U.S. leaves, Ciuriak found.