It was a civil and informative second all candidates meeting for the federal riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore held on September 9 at the Daily Bread Food Bank.

The four candidates all seem well-informed in regards to the issues in the riding that has been held since 2015 by Liberal incumbent James Maloney.

He is being challenged by newcomers Conservative Party candidate Indira Bains, NDP’s Sasha Kane and Afam Elue, of the Green Party.

The meeting took place at noon in the Food Bank, on New Toronto Street. It was opened by food bank CEO Neil Hetherington.

Maloney said he was proud of the job his government has done in handling COVID-19.

“Our government has stepped up,” the MP told the virtual meeting. “We were there, we have a plan and were ready to go.”

Maloney said many more small businesses would be shut due to COVID-19 if the Liberals did not introduce CERB and other virus-fighting benefits.

Conservative Bains showed she could hold up her own and knew vital information about the riding and its residents.

“We did not need an election now at this time,”Bains told viewers. “Everything was working fine the way it was before.”

Her party plans to create more new jobs and to ‘get Canada back on track.’
All the candidates were in support of fighting climate change and building more affordable housing; it just mattered on how many units being built.

There was also interest by some candidates in slapping a fine or tax to halt the foreign ownership of homes in Canada, which helps to drive up the costs beyond average citizens.

“We want to pause or stop the foreign ownership of homes,” Bains said. “A lack of home affordability has been worst under the Liberals.”

Kane said more resources has to be placed to improve infrastructure, high speed Internet and fresh, clean water to Indigenous people. Her party is in favour of electrifying the fleet of TTC buses.

Elue said ‘the government has to become serious’ and more has to be done to combat climate change, which he said is on the rise.

Another virtual all candidates meeting takes place on September 16 from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. It is sponsored by the Daily Bread Food Bank,  LAMP and the Lakeshore Community Network.

 

Riders have until all day Thursday to cop their shot at the Islington subway station.

The TTC has partnered with Toronto Health Partners to provide pop-up vaccination clinics conveniently located for our customers in subway stations.

The clinics are open to anyone born in 2009 or earlier for both first and second doses. No appointment is required. Moderna and Pfizer (first and second doses) will be available while supplies last each day.

Riders can now cop their shots from Tuesday to Thursday September 9 at the Islington Station, at 1226 Islington Avenue, Mezzanine Level of the station, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

They are also available at the Warden Station, at 701 Warden Ave., from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

If you are getting your second shot.  Health officials have advised that vaccines can be safely mixed for a first and second dose.
If your first dose was AstraZeneca: you can get Moderna or Pfizer for your second dose when you are eligible, at least eight  weeks after your first dose with informed consent.

Moderna or Pfizer: you can get either Moderna or Pfizer, at least 28 days after your first dose. You can switch between Moderna and Pfizer safely.

For more information about vaccines, please refer to Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Website.
Getting as many people vaccinated as soon as possible is an important piece of putting this pandemic behind us. Everyone who is able to get vaccinated is strongly encouraged to do so.

 

Things are off to a rocky start with less than 12 days to go until the September 20 federal elections.

It was a low-key Etobicoke Lakeshore all candidates meeting on September 7 as one of the main contenders did not show up.

First-time Conservative Party of Canada candidate Indira Bains was noticeably absent from the virtual meeting on Wednesday that was organized by Our Lady of Sorrows Parish.

Fielding an hour’s worth of questions from moderator Brian McIntosh were Liberal incumbent James Maloney, the NDP’s Sasha Kane and Afam Elue, of the Green Party.

The candidates agreed there has to be more affordable housing in the community, more work to be  done to fight climate change and more high speed Internet in remote places of Canada.

“People are getting richer as many people are homeless,” Elue pointed out. “Something has to be done about the homeless situation in this community.”

Kane said the NDP will tackle climate change, carbon emission and work for an all-electric TTC fleet.

Maloney said the Liberals are working to bring about more affordable housing in South Etobicoke.

“Housing affordability is a problem in the South Etobicoke,” the Liberal MP said. “There has to be a two-year ban on foreign buyers who help drive up the prices.”

He and the other candidates stress it is ‘unacceptable’ for protestors to throw sand or rocks at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they recently did at a campaign stop.

According to reports there were two separate incidents in which Trudeau was hit by items on September 6. The first occurred in London, Ont., as stones were thrown over a fence and hit staff at an event attended by the PM. Another incident took place when rocks were thrown at Trudeau as he was approaching and boarding his campaign bus.

“What we saw was unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated,” Maloney said of the incident.

‘This is a democracy and we have a right to put forward our opinion and you have a right to ask us questions,” Maloney said.

He is ‘particularly proud’ of the record of his party and how they handled COVID-19 and climate change.

There is another debate on September 9 at 12 noon that is sponsored by the Daily Bread Food Bank.

 

 

 

Etobicoke residents will be hit hard with travel time and the costs of parking when six Toronto courthouses are merged into a downtown ‘supercourt.’

Toronto lawyers and court workers are warning the Ford government about the dangers of moving all six of Toronto’s criminal courthouses across the city into one building downtown.

The justice service providers say that it’s bad for everyone involved: victims of crime, witnesses, accused people, court workers, and the neighbourhoods where Toronto’s six courthouses are currently located.

Toronto City Council has echoed their concerns, citing impacts on neighbourhood businesses and access to justice for residents of neighbourhoods where courthouses will be closing.

Construction has begun for a massive 63-courtroom building in the heart of downtown Toronto. The courthouse will cost nearly $1 billion to build and will be 17 storeys tall. It will be the new hub for adult and youth criminal operations, merging six Ontario Court of Justice locations in the Toronto area.

The new courthouse will be located at the corner of Dundas Street West and University Avenue, an area that is densely populated with government buildings including the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, which makes it a “potential target for extremist threats and/or events.”

The courthouse will reportedly be  built and operational by 2022.

Etobicoke, Scarborough, and North York residents will face a choice between hours on public transit, or exorbitant parking costs downtown to attend court. The only additional parking being added will be for judges and crown managers. It will make it harder for many people who are racialized or living in poverty to navigate the justice system, the justice workers argue.

Neighbourhood businesses who depend on customer traffic generated by the six courthouses will take a hit to their sales and services when the courthouses close.

Public safety concerns were also raised in an internal report by the Toronto Police Service about rival gang members from different areas of the city being forced to attend one centralized court location at the same time, possibly meeting up on public transit on the way there, increasing the risk of gun violence at the new location and on the TTC.

Justice service providers are also concerned that the new courthouse building itself won’t be able to expand as Toronto’s population expands. It will only have four elevators servicing 63 courtrooms and more than 2,000 people daily. It will be impossible to physically distance during this pandemic or any future public health emergencies, and an outbreak at one central court location would shut down justice for the entire city.

The concerned legal professionals and court workers argue that it would be much better for community access, for public safety and public health to keep local courthouses open in neighbourhoods across the city.

The unions and associations who represent the lawyers and court workers opposing these changes are the Society of United Professionals, the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association, OPSEU/SEFPO and the Toronto Lawyers Association.

 

 

Two people were rushed to a local hospital following a serious crash in Alderwood between a car and transport truck.

Police were called to the Brown’s Line and Horner Ave. area shortly after 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 7.

Toronto paramedics said two people were transported to a trauma centre.

One person injured was a woman in her 20s who suffered serious injuries. The second patient was a man in his 20s but he was taken to hospital in stable condition.

A police Tweet said a woman was taken to hospital in an emergency run.

All lanes near the intersection are closed for the collision. Motorists were being advised to take alternate routes.

The area is busy at that time of the morning with truck traffic making deliveries.

 

Toronto Police are searching for the killer of the son of a prominent Black community leader and activist who was gunned down in a shooting that left two others injured.

Police said officers responded around 10:26 p.m. on August 14 to reports of multiple gunshots near the intersection of Martha Eaton Way and Trethewey Drive.

When they arrived, they found three people with gunshot wounds. Police said two men were taken to hospital and a third pronounced dead.

The deceased man was identified as Jerome Jean-Louis Sylvester, 42, of Toronto, police said.

He is described as a father and family man by his loved ones.

The wounded men are identified as a 29-year-old from Toronto, and a 57-year-old man from Brampton. Kingsley Gilliam, of the Black Action Defence Committee, said Sylvester is the son of Valarie Steele, a long-time Black community leader, advocate and activist.

Gilliam in a statement said Sylvester was ‘dropping off food for his mother at her Martha Eaton Way apartment building when he was killed.’

“A vehicle drove up and sprayed Jerome and the surroundings with bullets,” according to Gilliam. “He died on the spot and two other men some distance apart were wounded.”

He said ‘shots even reached the second floor of the apartment building.’

The shooter sped away. Police have released a photograph of a vehicle used as a getaway car.

Funeral Services for Sylvester took place at New Haven Funeral Centre Inc. in Mississauga on August 31.

Steele in her eulogy called for an end to gun violence which she said ‘has taken far too many lives of our young men.’

She called on the gunmen to ‘put down their guns and come to the community table where they can transition to new lives as contributing members of the community.’

A Go Fund Me page has been created to help the family. So far more than $223,000 has been raised to help with the funeral and other expenses.

Officiating Rev. Ojo  Tewogbade had married Jerome Sylvester and Joy Steele in 2015.

Tewogbade spoke about gun violence in the Black community drawing from his experience as a former 27 year member of the Toronto Police Service and as a pastor and chaplain dealing with the victims of gun violence.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-7400.

 

 

 

Almost $8,000 has been raised to help the grieving family of Adrian Hurley, who is described as the ‘best brother, loving father and beloved son.’

Adrian, 23, who grew up in the area, was remembered as an ‘adoring boyfriend and precious grandson,” in a Go Fund Me post that was created on August 28.

He was found with no vital signs on August 27 in the Thirty Ninth Street and James Street area, of Long Branch. He was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead, according to the post by Chantelle Hurley.

“Anyone who knew him knew he had the best spirit, he was always smiling no matter what was going on,” Chantelle wrote “He was the strongest person we knew.”

She said “Adrian just recently had a son who he adored more than anything I’ve ever seen.”

“He was so excited to become a father and it gave him purpose he didn’t think he had,” she said. “For us saying goodbye to him and having to live on without him is going to be the hardest thing any of us have had to do.”

He would help anyone he could without hesitation because his heart was just that big, Chantelle wrote.

“We are heartbroken that we couldn’t help him when he needed us most,” she said. “We hope to give him the most beautiful ceremony along with a grave for his friends and family to visit.”

The funds raised will go to help pay his funeral expenses and to help his newborn son.

Police in a release said Adrian was the victim of a homicide and a shooter is being sought.

He was well-liked and touched many people in the community, residents said.

“My deepest condolences to you and your family,” wrote Dynonz Hermiz on social media.  “My heart goes out to you. Sending you strength, love and peace during this hard time.”

Krista Langille wrote “rest in paradise Adrian, your smile and spirit will always live on.”

“We are heartbroken to hear of your loss,” wrote Kate and Emma Wallis. “We’re sending so much love and courage to get you through this impossibly difficult time.”

 

 

 

Many area residents have seen the bright, colourful native artwork of well-known New Toronto Indigenous artist Philip Cote in their travels in and around the city.

Cote, who has been living in South Etobicoke for more than 20-years, is an Anishinaabe-Algonquin painter, historian and young spiritual elder, whose works of art are sought after these days.

There has been a resurgence of interest in his work from outraged Canadians after the bodies of native children were found at some residential schools.

The native Sundancer, pipe carrier and sweat ceremony leader, has been working on a traffic signal box in the Kipling Ave. and Lake Shore Blvd. W. area for a week. He expects to finish the painting next week.

This painting tells the story of a gathering of Indigenous leaders in 1813 to discuss ways to block the attacking English at Lake Ontario. The art tells a story of a meeting that occurred about 200 years ago as native leaders planned to stop the advancing troops.

Cote pays meticulous attention to detail and research before getting down to work.  His drawings are based on traditional storytelling, cosmology and oral history.

The artist, who hails from Moose Deer Point First Nation in Ontario, is said “draws upon his traditional storytelling and cosmology to communicate Indigenous history and knowledge independent of colonial narratives.”

He has painted more than 30 large and small images across the city and is proud of his work in taking the message to the next level for indigenous people. He did not have this sort of native art growing up and “wanted Indigenous community members to see reflections of themselves through his works across the city and to know they are home.”

As a graduate of Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) University’s art media and design master’s program, Cote explored Indigenous identity by studying the history of Indigenous leaders and peoples.

Cote has been involved in a number of murals in the Etobicoke area over the years. At Old Mill Road at Humber Park, he transformed the subway bridge into an outdoor gallery with 10 murals that depict different periods of Indigenous history.

In another traffic signal box entitled Etobicoke. “The art work tells the story of the land and it’s history with the Alder trees and the Algonquin peoples,” Cote explains. ”Etobicoke means the “place of the Alders” these trees were the first to bring shelter to the landscape after the Ice age to protect the soil from erosion and give shelter to the flora and fauna.”

Cote’s great-grandfather is the great- grandson of Tecumseh, and he is engaged in exploring the importance of the Shawnee leaders’ life and spirit. His work: Tecumseh, A Portrait, Dismantling the Myth, included a series of posters of Indigenous leaders and heroes spanning 350 years of resistance to colonialism.

Philip has won a number of Toronto Association of Business Improvement Area (TABIA) awards for his public Street Art Murals across the City of Toronto.

 

Police stopped another shipment of drugs destined to our streets.

It was a deadly cat and mouse drama being played out on the high seas as cunning international drug dealers with a heavy load of cocaine on a sailboat tried to outrun Canadian cops.

As Quebec RCMP moved in to intercept the sailboat off the coast of Nova Scotia on September 2, the drug smugglers set the boat on fire in a bid to destroy the evidence and burn the 552 kilograms of cocaine on board, which is worth an estimated $70 million on the streets of Toronto.

The RCMP said they managed to extinguish the blaze and seized the cocaine.

Police said they were searching for a small sailboat suspected of smuggling the cocaine to Canada from the Caribbean island of Antigua. It can take as long as a month by boat to make the 3,550 mile trip between countries.

“Once a sailboat meeting the description was spotted, our officers approached to intercept,” according to a RCMP marine patrol. “As they approached, smoke was observed and a fire rapidly spread throughout the sailboat.”

Officers assigned to control the fire “noticed packages floating in the cabin, with packaging, shape and size similar to cocaine packages seized in the past.”

A 38-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., and a 32-year-old man from Antigua, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to import narcotics and other offences.

Police said the Antiguan man, identified as Karin Marley Simons, escaped from officers while receiving care in hospital and is still at large.

It is believed Simons may be trying to return to his native Antigua.

 

 

 

 

Long Branch area business owners are bracing for another financial hit to their bottom line as a major watermain replacement project along Lake Shore Blvd. W., has been postponed until January.

The watermain replacement was slated to begin this month, but will start in January 2022 and run until the summer, according to a City of Toronto Project Update.

The construction work will run from Twenty Fourth Street to 56-meters west of Thirty Second Street on Lake Shore Blvd. W., and also on Twenty Ninth Street, city officials said.

A notice of the new dates has been sent out to Long Branch businesses, who fear they may lose their street parking and that Lake Shore Blvd. W., will be reduced to one lane due to construction.

Most businessmen have complained that they took a loss during COVID-19 and now they stand to lose more business and customers from the construction and lack of parking.

“Before water main construction begins, the contractor may arrange for minor preparatory works such as utility locates, pre-construction property condition surveys and sewer investigations,” according to the Project Update.

The contractor will be responsible for implementing COVID-19 mitigation practices on the site, residents were assured. And  affected properties will receive a construction notice two weeks before the work begins.

“Word in the boulevard and in front of homes and commercial properties is expected,” according to the City. “This work includes removing and replacing driveways, municipal sidewalks and grass boulevards where necessary.”

The City-hired contractor may need access to the interior and exterior of some homes to compete a pre-construction survey, according to the city.

They city every year replaces about 3,000 substandard water service pipes during planned capital construction projects, such as road, sewer and watermain work. Pipes are considered substandard if they are leaking or broken, deemed smaller than standard size, servicing more than one home

or made of lead or galvanized steel.

The City replaces the City-owned portion of the pipe from the watermain to the property line. Homeowners are responsible for replacing the private portion that runs from the property line into the home.

If you live in a home built before the mid-1950s, it is strongly recommended that you replace the private portion of the pipe to reduce your exposure to lead in drinking water, city officials said.

Anyone with questions is asked to call Field Ambassador Karo Oguma at 647-299-8601 or 311.