The South Bayview Bulldog

.The earliest Toronto could see any job action now will be Thursday as both sides have to provide 72 hours notice. Negotiations continued over the long weekend as a legal strike or lockout position was reached on Saturday. The main issues in the dispute are changes to employee pension plans for new employees and job security.

EARLIER

There will be no strike of postal workers this weekend, as originally planned. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, representing 50,000 workers in the country, said it decided not to file a 72-hour strike notice on Thursday. That means there won’t be any strike action until at least Tuesday, the union said. Canada Post and the union have been in negotiations since December for delivery and plant employees. The Crown corporation tabled new offers but has yet to hear a response from the union, which must issue a 72-hour notice before going on strike.

This is a nice tasting of the fireworks and the atmosphere among the capital’s elegant old structures.

Premier Wynne made an appearance in her riding of Don Valley West to drive home the size and importance of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. It was on the barren little patch of land at Eglinton and Laird where once stood the nameless strip mall of a thousand bagels (and other fast food). This is where the Laird Station will rise and there was a ceremonial groundbreaking with the transportation minister Mr. Del Duca and others on hand.

The East York Canada Day parade preparations took place in damp weather Friday morning at Dieppe  Park on Cosburn Ave. But the 47th annual parade began on time and headed off to Stan Wadlow Park. The day was rainy, then sunny, then rainy, then sunny. The video shows the crowd and some old police cars. Also present was Phillip Wilson of East York with his 1948 Monarch (Mercury) showing a mere 31,000 miles on the odometer. The Monarch, like the lower-end Meteor, was produced by the Ford Motor Company solely for the Canadian market.  East York Canada Day Schedule.

Phillip Wilson shows off 1948 Monarch produced by Ford

It is undeniably a blessed place. Some might say that the wealth of Canada is still the space, water and minerals found so plentifully. They are the foundation of the many happy lives that are lived here. Greatness? Well, Canada has certainly done great things but it is good to remember that all our memorable efforts in war and peace must be seen through the human eyes of our diverse peoples. Opinions may vary. As flesh and blood Canadians, it may be said that our open and democratic ways have served us well. The pioneer leaders of the few souls who inhabited the colonies in 1867 were lucky to escape being gobbled up by the emerging United States at the end of their Civil War. It is said the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Czar by the Americans earlier in 1867 shocked the Queen and Foreign Office. Canada was forged and declared a Confederation within three months of the American move.

PEACE, ORDER, GOOD GOVERNMENT

Since then we have fought wars and recessions, welcomed immigrants and educated many generations in peace and stability. Who can forget that our founding bywords were “Peace, Order and Good Government.” Some say that’s dull stuff but just ask those who don’t have these things how critical they are. Along the way, Canadian democracy talked Quebec separatism into exhaustion. That was a victory. And it is well to remember that although we nearly all became Americans, it is upon the U.S. that we have relied in modern times for a strong friend against more populated countries which might have wished to poach land from this enormous but sparsely-populated Canada. So far so good. Have a good one.

The City has taken possession of a large piece of land on Manor Rd. on which it will build a park. Here we see Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) neighbor Derek Tilley and Lucas Barredo, son of neighbors Sandy and Frank Barredo holding a freshly sawn off sign placed there by the previous owner. The land is the former Manor Road Lawn Bowling Club property which came into the possession a contractor. This was the result of a disputed transaction carried out by former executives of the club. The developer wanted to build homes across the width of the frontage but was forced into negotiation by the City, which wanted it as a park. The saw-off compromise permits one home on the east end of the property while the rest will become a park. Councillor Matlow said that in the fall he will hold meetings to discuss with residents how this park, and another new park at Manor and Foreman Rd.will be configured. One may be more kid-friendly while another is designed with benches for sitting.

The former head of the TTC Michael Warren has written another op-ed in the Toronto Star excoriating Mayor Tory for his commitment to the one-stop Scarborough subway. The link was tweeted by Josh Matlow, Ward 22, a determined opponent to this project. Previous link: Matlow declares Tory remarks sad, desperate and shameful 

Time for Mayor John Tory to be ‘honest’ about transit https://t.co/lN4YdFOquZ

— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) June 30, 2016

U.S. President Obama rolled out the flattery for Canada in his remarks to the House of Commons Wednesday. No doubt it got the MPs thoroughly chuffed up, at least on the government side. There was a mild shot about money, specifically how little Canada contributes to NATO. It is a common failing among NATO members. At the Granite Club, Canada would be expelled for being in arrears

The elected governments of member EU states have had to come to grips with the non-democratic decisions of the huge bureaucracy that has been built up over the decades in Brussels. In legal declarations both sweeping and insufferably intrusive, the EU functionaries have regulated everything from the curvature of bananas to be sold in European markets to trade with Canada because of the seal hunt.

A revolutionary six-tonne piece of machinery will be lowered through the roof of Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre and into a specially constructed radiation treatment bunker. It will be a huge undertaking – the equipment is so massive the roof is the only way in. But the effort will be worth it because the new diagnostic device (known as an MR-Linac) will permit the precise targeting of even the most elusive tumours with high-powered radiation. The MR-Linac is manufactured by the Swedish firm Elekta and Phillips. It carries out high-definition imaging of tumours in real-time during radiation therapy. This will allow Odette Cancer Centre specialists to target tumours with extraordinary precision – even as a tumour moves inside the body – and to quickly see the radiation’s effect on the tumour. Sunnybrook Health Matters — edited.