The South Bayview Bulldog

 Toronto Blue Jays will be trying to sweep the Kansas City Royals Wednesday at Rogers Stadium. Tuesday, Josh Donaldson hit two solo home runs, Troy Tulowitzki had a three-run blast and the Toronto Blue Jays connected four times to beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3 on Tuesday night.

David Holland

David Holland will resign immediately as president and chief executive officer of Torstar Corporation. He has worked at the Toronto Star since 1986. Reports have noted that Mr. Holland made no mention of his departure at the retirement of publisher John Cruickshank in early May. Instead he assumed Mr. Cruickshank’s job and spoke of his plan to carry it out vigorously. But things are in flux in the newspaper business. Many wonder how long the Star will be printed on paper seven days a week

TORY FOR POLICE FLOATS

Mayor Tory has written a letter to the Toronto Police Association supporting the presence of uniformed police participation in the Pride Parade. The ever-angry Black Lives Matter (BLM) double-crossed their new friends Sunday by conducting a petulant sit-down demonstration which stalled the parade for half an hour. In the process, BLM bullied Pride boss Mathieu Chantelois into signing a laundry list of things including banning cops from the parade. No one at City Hall apart from the mayor seems to have the interest, much less the courage, to say anything.

HOME PRICES

Resale home prices and  sales in Toronto continued to rise in June even as the number of listings dropped 3.8 percent. The Toronto Real Estate Board recorded 7.5 per cent more sales, 12,794 in all in June. The average home price was $746,546 in June, up 16.8 per cent from the same month last year.

It gives a whole new meaning to the expression “man’s best friend.” Dog trainers and medical experts are predicting an era of trained sniffer dogs ferreting out dangerous and deadly bacteria in hospitals and elswhere in way that has been beyond the reach of man. The living evidence of this is Angus, a two year old English Springer Spaniel who demonstrated his skill in Vancouver this week.

Lawn Summer Nights, the zany costumed lawn bowling benefit to combat Cystic Fibrosis, returns to the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club Thursday, July 7, 2016. The idea is to get together a team and dress it in outlandish costumes. Past teams have been named the Royal Canadian Mounted Bowlice and Guacabowle. You get the idea. Lawn Summer Nights  Previous 

Here’s the 14-day sweating scene.

The Prime Minister is saying that the government will be more hands off than the Conservatives were in 2011 in dealing with a postal lockout. That was the last time there was a stoppage of mail and the Harper regime enacted legislation to send CUPW back to work. This time the Liberal government says there are no plans to send the union members back because he respects labour. “We do not feel, unlike previous governments, that it is the immediate responsibility to be heavy-handed,” he told reporters at a press conference in Quebec City. “We respect labour. We respect the need to come to terms at the bargaining table and that is what we are going to continue to work on.” It was a nice little lecture however sooner or later the government will have to sing a different tune if there is a cessation of delivery.

It looks like the entire population of Iceland (330,000) turned out in Reykjavik Monday to honour their upstart soccer club to a hero’s welcome following a Cinderella run at Euro 2016. The tiny Nordic nation surprised the world with its run to the quarter-finals at the European soccer championships, knocking out England before falling to host France 5-2 on Sunday. It is a nation not known for soccer prowess but it has one dandy sports war chant as seen here.

Wiseys Pies and Bakehouse at 874 Eglinton (at Laird) has introduced an additional New Zealand delicacy to its summer menu — ice cream pies. The dining culture of meat pies and related pastries has caught on among many South Bayview consumers since Wiseys opened two years ago. But ice cream pies have a similar tradition down there. Hearing of the ice cream pie arrival, Graeme Beresford, owner of Kiwi Landscaping, wants to know whether the pies are of the Tip Top or Frosty Tip kind, two New Zealand brands which we can only hope continue to flourish. Here’s Wiseys co-owner Anthony Spinley on his new website.

Canada Post has issued a 72-hour lockout notice to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) bringing the the prospect of a halt to mail delivery by Friday. The notice came hours after Canada Post said its latest offer presented on June 25 was fair and reasonable and that it still hoped to negotiate a deal with the union. In the statement, Canada Post said it plans to suspend the collective agreement as of Friday.  CUPW said the corporation is using the lockout notice to drive 50,000 workers “out onto the streets without pay in an effort to impose steep concessions on them.”

PENSIONS THE ISSUE

The two sides have both said the issue is changes to employee pension plans. The Crown corporation claims CUPW’s demands are “not affordable” and would add $1 billion in costs over the life of a new contract. The union accused Canada Post of preparing to lock workers out, and creating uncertainty by warning the public to avoid the post office. The Canada Revenue Agency has deemed Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, Working Income Tax Benefit and the Canada Child Benefit cheques “essential” — even during a labour disruption. Spokesman Jon Hamilton said Canada Post has a memorandum of agreement with the union “where the federal socio-economic cheques will be delivered.”