POLL: CP24 measuring finds 18% are into Pride Parade

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A poll which is ongoing on Monday morning on the CP24 website indicates that fewer than two in ten Torontonians had much interest in the Pride Parade. More than 3,000 people have so far responded to the poll question which asked “Are you taking part/watching the Pride Parade today”. Eighteen per cent (384) had answered “Yes” by 9 a.m. and 82 per cent (1,786) had answered “No”. There is no measure of just why this result occurs but a simple lack of interest seems likely. In Toronto, both City and Ontario governments rank the embrace of Pride and all diversities as the mark of superior citizenship. Tolerance is okay but embrace is better. Pride is apparently happy to see anyone marching along with it, except maybe the police. We’ll see. Do the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or Greek Independence rank higher than 18 per cent?  Who knows, but these days there are certainly non-Irish who wish to honour the wearin’ of the green. The Stanley Cup, now that’s a different sort of passion. Easy to embrace as well at less an 11 inches around.

He ends parking lot fight by using car to kill man

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OPP allege an argument between two strangers in a Walmart parking lot in Midland has ended with one of the two using his car to hit and kill the other. It was just  before 2 p.m. when 29-year-old Corby Stott, a mechanic with two children, was hit by a vehicle following an argument. The accused, Jason Heffernan, 25, of London, is behind bars and will appear in court Wednesday in Barrie.

Mississauga librarians reject 1.5% closing all libraries

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Mississauga library workers go on strike Monday closing all buildings. It’s about money. The Canadian Union of Public Employees says 96 percent of members rejected a 1.5 per cent pay increase because, according to CUPE, inflation was two per cent.

“Black Lives” shuts down Pride, wins end to police floats

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The Black Lives Matters contingent shut down the Pride Parade Sunday for vague complaints that LGBTQ elements exhibited “anti-blackness”. The parade was permitted to resume after 30 minutes when pride organizers capitulated and conferred the title of Honoured Group on BLM.

NO MORE POLICE

Pride also agreed that it will no longer have police floats. The essence of the BLM complaint seems to be that it isn’t enough to participate in Pride as a black. Pride apparently must accept BLM as the representative of blacks. Prime Minister to march in Pride Parade  Black Lives Matter briefly halts Pride Parade 

 

Life in a fishbowl as The Bachelor couple have a baby

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The extraordinary world of voyeurism known as The Bachelor has seen a man and woman reveal their lives from first flirtation to the arrival of a family. It’s about you not them.

Leaside’s own marijuana dispensary opens on Bayview

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Leaside now has its own marijuana dispensary as the Eden group of pot sellers moves into 1625 Bayview Ave. next door to Merchant of Tennis. That’s where Whatever Lola etc lived for so long. The Eden operation is open already and staff at the clean and lean-looking premises say that their business has not been without disruption during the City’s crackdown, but they are carrying on. And expanding obviously, although many people  might guess that these small — currently outside the law — places will have no chance after the federal and provincial governments get finished legislating just how marijuana may be sold.  Premier Wynne, MPP for the street where Eden has newly-landed — has made it clear she would put marijuana in the LCBO aisle between beer and wine from Australia. You get it. The Eden store is dressed in black and easy to miss. But clerks say it is not operating incognito. A sign is said to be on the way. Among Eden’s claims are that it is non-profit (yes, but it makes money) and that you have to be 19 with “medical documentation” to buy there. MyEden  As footnote to this opening is the re-opening of the Green Room Society pot dispensary at 562 Mt. Pleasant Rd. (south of Penrose Rd.) after the police raids of earlier this year.

ELSEWHERE ON BAYVIEW

Elsewhere on Bayview Ave. at the beginning of July, a sign in the window at Elegant Garage Sale reminds people that the much-loved store will close at the end of September. The sign notes tartly that the management is emotionally unequipped to haggle. And at the Valumart store at Bayview and Davisville Ave. staff say they are still waiting for the naming of a new franchisee. The 1500 Bayview premises have been in the keeping of manager Mike Tufts since Chad and Alyssa McDowell made their way to Edmonton where Chad took an opportunity to run a larger store in the Alberta capital.

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Woman gravely hurt in high-speed sports car crash

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Remains of a Porsche Boxter on Queen’s Quay

A woman is reportedly in grave condition from injuries sustained in a high-speed collision of a Porsche sports car into a traffic island and a building near Queen’s Quay East and Parliament Street Saturday night. Witnesses told police “the driver was driving like a maniac.” He has less serious injuries. “Witnesses told us there was one woman and one man in the car and that they were both unconscious. But when we arrived, they were outside the vehicle and there was a fire in the rear,” a police officer said.

Prime Minister to march in Toronto Pride Parade

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The weather for Sunday’s Pride Parade is set to be near-perfect as long there are sun hats and parasols for those who need them. Prime Minister Trudeau will march in the celebration of LGBTQ culture and freedom as will many other politicians. It seems likely that most will be just enjoying the day but Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has marked the march with remarks affirming her activist approach to the event. “Pride is political” she announced. That could mean many things including the simple advocacy of LGBTQ rights. But some at City Hall have directed criticism toward the embrace of a spectrum of dissident cadres like Black Lives Matter and the irrational Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. The Ward 27 member reached for a higher tone of “political” when she told CBC News: “The Pride Parade is always political so (Trudeau’s) exactly where he needs to be. It’s a very important symbolic gesture. Toronto Pride pages

All roads are expected to be reopened by approximately 7 p.m. The Dundas Street TTC streetcar route will be out of service during this closure. Motorists are advised to consider alternate routes as there will be traffic delays in the area.

Shopping in Yorkville before dawn nets backpack of loot

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jewellery guy 550 So here was are in Yorkville last Monday at 4.15 a.m. inside the jewellery store at 118 Cumberland Ave. It is still dark out because sunrise is nearly 90 minutes away and the burly guy in the photos, whoever he is, is about load up a backpack with stuff and leave. He broke the glass door to get in. The suspect is male, white, 50’s with a goatee, grey hair, black shorts, black jacket, beige Reebok CRSFT (crossfit) baseball cap and a backpack. Any information on this suspect, please contact 53 Division at (416) 808-5300 or Toronto Crime Stoppers 222-TIPS

Man treated for none-life type knife wound in the Beach

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A man has been treated for injuries of knife wound at Queen Street East and Lee Avenue in the Beach over supper hour Saturday. A tweet (below) from Toronto Police Service Operations (TPS Ops) says the injury is not life-threatening.

Anne Marie Aikins tweeting from Church street festival

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ISTANBUL: Who will stop the barbaric insanity?

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The dead and injured in Istanbul are overwhelmingly Muslim. All of them were attacked by three Muslim men from remote parts of Asia purportedly in the name of a world-wide Caliphate. It will never happen, but the slaughter shows that at least some people think it will. Who will stop this barbaric insanity? Turkey’s doubtful foreign policy