The South Bayview Bulldog

The Progressive Conservative Constituency Association for the Ontario riding of Don Valley West will hold an all-candidates meeting for those seeking the PC nomination in the 2018 general election.  It will be held at Cork’s upstairs at Longo’s at Laird Dr. and Esandar Dr. on Sunday, February 26 starting at 9.30 a.m. with registration. The association is asking for a $10 admission from non-members.

WORLD

NASA has announced stunning news that its space probes have found seven planets previously unknown at least three of which seem entirely habitable by humans. They are said to be “near” but just how many light years that means is not stated precisely. Critically they are green (looking) and thought to be very likely to have surface water, just like you-know-where. Back on earth, fascinating details on the assassination of Kim Jung-un’s brother Kim Jong Nam are coming out in Malaysia. Police there also say that someone tried to break into the morgue where Nam’s body is being guarded, presumably to steal and destroy it. Below that, left to right, a weird looking but functioning Russian “drone bicycle” and the case of a US brain surgeon who botched 32 surgeries in 18 months and most horrifyingly did it on purpose.

Agreed! Time to temper the @OMB, Toronto should be allowed to chart its own path to growth https://t.co/lvKX8yn32z via @torontostar

— SEDRAToronto (@SEDRA_Toronto) February 22, 2017

GASP!

The Ontario government has been handed two awards for wasteful spending as judged by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The federation celebrated (if that’s the word) its annual Teddy Government Waste Award winners Wednesday. Two pig-shaped trophies were given to Queen’s Park. One is for the province’s electric vehicle incentive program, which the federation says provides subsidies for luxury cars, while the other is a lifetime achievement award for what the spending watchdog says is the lengthy mishandling of Ontario’s energy policy.

STAGGERING CRA MOVE

Canada Revenue Agency’s decision to pay an employee $538,000 in moving expenses for a 193 kilometre relocation from Richmond Hill to Belleville nets that agency the federal Teddy award for government waste. This is the 19th annual Teddy Award selection from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, with trophies named for Ted Weatherill, a former federal appointee who was fired in 1999 over his bloated expense claims. Below is the full series of presentations made by Aaron Wudrick, executive director of the taxpayers federation.

The City is dealing with an unexpected outbreak of the mumps. Recent days have revealed as many as 14 cases of the disease which is entirely preventable by vaccination. The patients are all 18 to 35. Normally, it is children who contract mumps. Complications may include infections of the covering of the brain (15 percent), pancreatitis (four percent), permanent deafness, and painful testicular swelling which uncommonly results in infertility. Women may develop ovarian swelling but this does not increase the risk of infertility. The City’s news release says many patients have frequented west downtown core bars. News release Wikipedia

The students from Rolph Road Public School were whooping it up with Nathan Downer of CP24 at Ricoh Coliseum Wednesday. He’s a Leaside resident and more importantly the father of Jason, who plays hockey with many in this gang. The TDSB/TFSS Day with the Toronto Marlies (video at right) is a charitable event that helps students in a variety of ways. TFSS stands for Toronto Foundation for Student Success. Kids video is funny.

Shrove Tuesday dinners are approaching and it’s time to make plans.

The heartening proactive work of Pink Day or Pink Shirt Day is underway in the GTA. It was inspired by classmates in Nova Scotia standing up for a fellow student who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. So the activities ask us to be friends, not bullies.

BULLIES NEED LOVE TOO

The tricky part is that bullies need love too. Psychiatrists tell us their behaviour is about their need for self esteem. They go about getting it the wrong way of course and some of them are hard to help, much less like. But that’s the challenge.

Toronto and East York Council is meeting Wednesday morning and the proceedings are streaming live here for those who wish to follow along. The area west of Bayview Ave. in Ward 22 is included in TEYC. The agenda is here.

Prominent local businesswoman Roula Panagiotopoulos has created Leef Luxury, an online luxury goods resale business. The Danforth-area entrepreneur has applied 20 years of fashion and packaged goods knowledge to the new venture. She is former vice president of Cake Beauty Inc, before that an executive at Vital Science and was nominated for the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award in 2016. The Leef Luxury site is already showing a lot of inventory but Roula is looking for salable goods all the time. A life in business has taught her the need to provide both consignors and consumers with personal service. “People want to interact with us and that is why we connect with people on Facebook and Instagram,” she confides. “Outside of other proprietary strategies we connect with people where they are. We are always looking for items and if you have any luxury designer items, we love to sell them for you,” she says. Facebook  Instagram

Garbage personnel (that’s you) servicing the Wednesday 1 pickup zone covering much of South Bayview noticed it first. Fog lays across most of Toronto and is certainly cause for careful driving in Midtown. It is set to burn off by noon or before.

A student driver at a car wash in Brampton accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes as he took a Ford Expedition out of the wash for a final shine. The car bounded out of the property, through a fence and across a road. The SUV is said to be totaled. Nadia Gangoo said it happened on Friday morning — her birthday — when she and her husband Ian had taken her vehicle to Super Suds Car Wash on Hurontario Street for a VIP Super Clean wash. The irony is obvious. But, Super Suds is saying that its insurance will cover the cost of the damaged car.