Toronto Police will use buses to block the truck convey from invading Queen’s Park, Chief Ramer said Friday. A multi-vehicle invasion of big trucks is heading for the City and organizers of the convoy say they will demonstrate at the Legislature. At a news conference Friday (seen below) Ramer said the police have many tactics in mind that he would not discuss. He conceded that dealing with the convoy and demonstrators may require quick responses. And he said more than once that the public safety of all citizens is the primary goal of the TPS. He also repeated a number of times a vow to deal with lawbreakers with firm “enforcement.” Ramer added that peaceful demonstrators would be free to use the parkland outside the Legislature. The news conference was also attended by Mayor Tory and Staff Superintendent Lauren Pogue.
Milk prices in Toronto have been recorded at nearly 15 percent higher at some stores after an increase of half that size was approved for February 1. Ouch.
Enbridge admits bill for $43,624 is (um) wrong
An Orillia couple was stunned — to say the least — when they got a natural gas bill from Enbridge for more than $43,000. Happily, the gas supplier has admitted its billing system got confused and the bill is quite wrong.
Drivers running out of gas rather than fill up
Call it wishful thinking but apparently many Canadian drivers are simply running out of gasoline rather than buying it at $1.60 a litre, or so says the CAA.
The City will again review traffic in Leaside with attention to pedestrian safety, speeding and what it calls “cut-through traffic”. There seems little doubt that it will be the last of these topics that gets the most attention from residents. A combination of diversionary tactics by drivers trying to avoid LRT construction and long-standing environmental prohibitions (no extension of Redway Rd) will be discussed.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission (OLG) says that several winning tickets including one on the 649 jackpot were drawn on February 2. That jackpot contains $5 million and was sold in Mississauga. Several Encore tickets worth $100,000 were sold in Toronto, Halton Region and Oxford County.
Worst weather slips past Toronto to the south/AccuWeather
As seen on the AccuWeather Radar at about 8.15 a.m. Thursday, the weather system which threatened to drop as much as 20 cm of snow on the City is slipping by to the south. There is still a chance of a further few cm this afternoon.
Conservative Party of Canada MPs have voted to remove Erin O’Toole as the party leader. Some 73 of 119 CPC members voted against Mr. O’Toole. The decision has again revealed the national divide between middle-of-the-road conservatives in Eastern Canada and Alberta-first members who are further to the right. It’s a gulf that Stephen Harper bridged and the CPC will need a leader equally popular to regain unity. Issues like gun control and abortion bedevil the CPC.
City Council has approved Garden Suites, a second house in the backyard of single-family houses, as an apparent partial means of creating affordable housing. The concept is suspect among many homeowners who are concerned about damage to the character of neighbourhoods and the infiltration of developers. The concept is seen by others as benign. The issue of actual affordability, as opposed to simple density, may await a two-year (or 200 unit permit application) review by the City. At present, it seems an open question. Release
Through the adoption of the Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments, Council has put the policies in place to increase the supply and type of housing available in the city. The new policies and zoning requirements will allow garden suites to be permitted on properties in most residential zones across Toronto. The decision also adds the term “Garden Suites” to the definition of “infill housing”, in Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 519 (Infill Construction, Public Notice).
With this amendment, people submitting a building permit application to build a Garden Suite will be required to post a public notice on the property. This move also facilitates the collection of data and monitoring of garden suites by the Toronto Building and City Planning divisions, similar to laneway suite construction. The City will require a report back after either the 200th permit for a Garden Suite has been issued or after two years, whichever comes first.
As part of the City’s adopted regulations for garden suites, issues related to privacy, shadowing, parking requirements, and protecting trees and green spaces are also addressed. City staff gathered input from the public and industry stakeholders about how to best allow the construction of garden suites in Toronto while considering these important matters.
Subsections 16(3) and Section 35.1 of the Planning Act require cities in Ontario to include Official Plan policies and Zoning Bylaw requirements to allow detached accessory housing units, such as garden suites and laneway suites, on properties with detached, semi-detached, and townhouse buildings.
A fresh warning from Environment Canada Wednesday morning again says Toronto will get 10 to 20 cm of snow by Thursday morning. The large snowstorm is seen moving across the US Midwest and is expected to hit the GTA by midday. It’s seen above on AccuWeather’s Canada Radar about 8.30 a.m.
The collapse of a busy bridge in Philadelphia is being called an example of the general decline in infrastructure throughout the US. Nine people were injured in the collapse, none seriously. That apparent miracle is being credited to increasingly better motor vehicle design. Like much of eastern North America, the City was struggling to clean up after a heavy snowstorm.
The second 20 cm snowfall of the winter is likely this week as Environment Canada forecasts a drop of somewhere between 10 and 20 cms between Wednesday and Friday. With Toronto residents still struggling with single-lane streets and snow piles blocking movement of all kinds, it’s easy to foresee considerable paralysis in the forecast as well as snow. The total snowfall accumulation is estimated to be 10 to 20 cm by Friday. There will be reduced visibilities due to snow and local blowing snow. There will be rain showers tonight changing to snow on Wednesday afternoon for the Golden Horseshoe.
No doubt business operators and all their potential customers are whispering a little prayer Monday that the reopening of Ontario, the Trillium Province, is permanent. Hope to see you on Bayview.
Ottawa mayor asks truckers to go home
Residents of Ottawa are suffering a hangover of frustrations as die-hard truck protesters seem intent hanging around the capital.
Man loses part of thumb to Mercedes “soft-close door”
A US man has lost part of his thumb to what seems to be a rather dangerous “convenience” feature of the Mercedes Benz called the “soft-close door”.
