The South Etobicoke News

Serving Humber * Mimico * Lakeshore Village * Long Branch * Alderwood

Money advisor de Goey helps others get rich

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Mimico financial advisor, broadcaster and author John de Goey is a passionate advocate for investor rights and putting clients first.

The well-respected full-time portfolio manager with Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc., has released his latest book called STANDUP to the Financial Services Industry, which is on sale at all major stores.

“Canadian investors are at risk and they don’t even know it,” de Goey writes. “Their well-intended advisors often give poor advice based on traditional approaches that are demonstrably wrong.”

He notes the “fundamental problem is advisor bias, and no one talks about it because virtually everyone is oblivious to it, including advisors themselves.”

“STANDUP empowers Canadian investors to demand accountability from an industry that has refused to acknowledge its own shortcomings and helps them invest wisely and successfully,” according to the best-selling author.

De Goey released his first 2003 book, The Professional Financial Advisor, which was later updated and re-released in 2006, 2012 and 2016.

The wealth advisor loves the community and settled here more than 20-years ago after moving from his native Point Pelee, near Leamington.

“I moved to Toronto to find work and I bought my first home here and have stayed since,” he says. “I like the lake and people in the community.”

He has been twice named one of Canada’s Top 50 advisors and in 2017 was presented with the Donald J. Johnston Award from the Financial Planning Standards Council for his lifetime dedication to the advancement of the profession.

De Goey is known for being an authority on professional, transparent and evidence-based financial advice. He frequently appears on TV and has written for Advisor’s Edge Report, Canadian MoneySaver, MoneySense, The Globe and Mail and The National Post.

He will be speaking about his book on October 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Humber Bay Library, at 200 Park Lawn Ave. Please note that those who bring a copy of this story from the South Etobicoke News will receive a free copy of his book, STANDUP to the Financial Services Industry.

He can be reached at  416-369-1502 or by email at  John.DeGoey@wprivate.ca.

 

MPP Braithwaite still loved by the community

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Ontario’s first Black MPP, the late Leonard Braithwaite proudly represented Etobicoke for 12-years and was so well-loved for his unselfish service that he is still talked about by residents today.

Braithwaite, or Lenny as he was affectionately called, represented the riding of Etobicoke while serving as a Liberal member of the Ontario legislature from 1963 to 1975. He was re-elected in 1967 and 1971 and served as a Liberal critic for labour and welfare.

The popular lawyer and Air Force veteran died in his beloved Etobicoke on March 2012. He was 88.

He captured a seat on his first run in 1963 by just 443 votes prompting a headline in the Toronto Daily Star that read: “Wins Etobicoke: Braithwaite Ontario’s First Negro MPP.”

Braithwaite is best known for his 1964 maiden speech to the Legislature in which he spoke passionately about the racial segregation that was taking place in some Ontario schools.

It seems incredible now, but Ontario in 1964 still had a law on its books mandating so-called “black schools,” which segregated students by colour.

Braithwaite would rarely back down in his many fights for the rights of visible minorities and gender equality.

Lenny was a graduate from the University of Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School, graduating in 1952, and graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1958.

He was the first Black lawyer elected as a member of the Governing Council of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

The veteran would never forget about the racism that he faced at the time, during which he was armed with a first-rate education and spotless war record but could not find a job. It was back in the days when your photo had to be attached to a resume.

He was finally given a job working on the night shift at a chocolate factory after the plant’s foremen decided he could not turn away a war veteran.

Through the years he established a small law practice that he operated for many years.

Following his defeat in 1975, he returned to municipal politics, winning a spot on Etobicoke’s Board of Control.

Lenny managed to gain local fame by helping to erect the first sound barriers to absorb traffic noise between homes and highways in the Etobicoke area.

Undertaker A.W.’s zoo was a hit in Mimico

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Our community has always been brimming with colourful residents including millionaire undertaker Arthur William Miles, who operated a full-fledge public zoo on the grounds of his Mimico estate.

Miles, or A.W. as he was called, founded the A.W. Miles Company, Undertakers, in 1900, and earned his fortune after introducing the country’s first motorized hearse and funeral home chapel. He also had the city’s first ambulance.

He was the Undertaker of many of Canada’s top politicians and citizens including Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Sir William Muluck, Sir Joseph Flavelle, Sir Henry Pellatt and Sir William Hearst.

He also arranged the 1914 mass funeral of 109 Torontonians on the Empress of Ireland that sank in the St. Lawrence River, in what is considered Canada’s worst maritime disaster, which took the lives of an entire Salvation Army Band.

A.W., an animal lover, is better known though for his “Miles Park” three-acre summer estate that was home of a busy zoo that took up most of Miles Rd., in Mimico.

He travelled the world collecting animals for his collection that contained a beloved elephant named “Tootsie,” two camels, two giraffes, about 40 donkeys, several monkeys, ostriches, and other exotic birds.

His workers erected a large wooden pier in Lake Ontario which held a number of swans.

The waterfront property also contained a dancing pavilion, picnic area, snack kiosk and baseball diamond, which was opened free to the public and popular with church and other groups.

A.W. also provided free lunches, ice cream, and transportation for Sunday school classes.

By 1930, A.W.’s zoo had become fairly large and widely known with thousands of people travelling to admire the colours of the peacock, ride the pet mules, play on the slides and swings and hold picnics.

Miles Park within years was circled by homes and neighbours began to complain of the foul odour from the zoo that led to Mimico Council passing a by-law prohibiting the keeping of animals in the township.

Despite appeals, A.W. in 1936 reluctantly moved all his animals to a 200-acre farm in Erindale. The Township then named Miles Rd. after him.

The popular undertaker passed away in June 1956 and his son, A.W. Miles Jr., became president of A.W.Miles Funeral Directors, which was purchased in 1981 by Humphrey Funeral Home.

 

 

Lower electricity rates until end of May

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We have until the end of May enjoy lower electricity rates.

The Ontario government is extending emergency electricity rate relief to families, farms and small businesses until May 31, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Customers who pay time-of-use electricity rates will continue to be billed at the lowest price, known as the off-peak price, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the province.

This electricity rate relief, initially provided for a 45-day period starting in March, has been extended under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. The rate relief will be in place until the end of the month.

“Many people are struggling to pay the bills as they do the right thing by staying at home,” Premier Doug Ford said in a press release. “Although we are making progress in our fight against this COVID-19 outbreak, we are not out of the woods yet.”

He says the extension of this electricity rate relief will leave more money in people’s pockets until businesses can start to reopen and people can get back to work.

The province is also extending all emergency orders that were put in place to-date under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act until May 19, when there will be a review.

 

New Toronto Scottish Regiment mural coming to Sixth St.

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A new mural to celebrate the Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Own), will soon be replacing a faded version that has been gracing a wall of a Sixth Street restaurant for seven years.

Lakeshore Village BIA chair Chris Korwin-Kuczynski says funds have been approved by the city for a new mural.

He says details are being worked out and he would like to see a new mural replace the older one by the end of the year.

The Sixth Street mural which celebrates the Toronto Scottish Regiment was installed in the summer of 2013 and was a joint project by the City of Toronto Mural Program, the Lakeshore Village BIA and the Toronto Scottish Regiment.

The design was submitted by a student in an Etobicoke school drawing contest.

The Regiment moved from the Fort York in 2009 to a new armory adjacent to the Toronto Police College on Birmingham St.

The Regiment, which was known as the 75th Battalion, lost more than 1,000 soldiers during its fighting in France from 1916 until armistice in 1918.

Some 242 battalion soldiers received decorations after the war. The regiment received 16 battle honours during WW1.

During WW11, the Toronto Scottish was the first Canadian unit to land in the United Kingdom after the declaration of war. Almost every peacetime soldier volunteered for active duty in the machine-gun unit.

Toronto Scottish was awarded 21 battle honours, 10 of which appear on their regimental colours, including Dieppe, Falaise, St.-Andre-sur-Orne and The Scheldt.

 

Great Mimico mail heist unsolved after 91-years

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The Great Mimico Mail Robbery some 91-years ago was like a scene from an old Al Capone Hollywood movie which still remains unsolved today.

The armed stick-up and police dragnet for three well-dressed, fedora-wearing robbers made major headlines back in March 1929.

It began when a truck rushing mail from the Mimico Post Office to the Canadian National Railways, on Judson St., was heisted by men who pulled a car in front of the truck as it turned left under the bridge from Royal York Rd.

“Come on, stick ’em up!” one bandit is said to have yelled.

The truck was driven by Harold Douglas, 19, whose dad Thomas, had been ferrying mail from Long Branch, New Toronto, Mimico Beach and Mimico to the train station for 17-years. The three men in the truck were ordered to lay on the floor of the car.

The robbers were in search of a mail bag containing gold bullions, which they were told would be in the truck. They opened a number of bags only to find about $5.

The victims had guns pointed at them, their hats drawn over their heads and driven around for several hours before being dropped off at High Park. They hurried to the Cowan Ave. police station to file a report.

Soon a massive manhunt was underway involving Mimico Police, Toronto Police, provincial cops and Post Office investigators.

“I don’t think they were foreigners. They spoke like Canadians or Americans; not like Polacks or Italians. But then you can’t tell,” one of the victims told police, describing the men as seasoned professionals.

It wasn’t long before police arrested John Miller and Fred Haight, both 28, in the U.S.

The career bandits had escaped from Toronto Brick and Tile Company, then the Mimico Reformatory and later Toronto South Detention Centre, on Horner Ave., while serving time for weapons charges and attempted murder of a Windsor cop.

Soon George Brown, 24, was arrested in Orillia, along with George Little, in Detroit.

Police learned the heist was hatched while the men were serving time with a former postal employee who had masterminded several large mail truck robberies.

A trial for the high-profile robbery and kidnapping began in mid-May and in two weeks a jury ruled they were not-guilty due to circumstantial evidence. Charges were dropped against the men and the incident remains unsolved in police blotters today.

 

Mimico lawyer built Canada’s first electric car

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The late Frederick Barnard Fetherstonhaugh was a top lawyer who lived in a huge Mimico waterfront home and is best known for owning the first electric car in Canada.

Known to his friends as ‘Fred’ or ‘FB,” he founded Fetherstonhaugh and Company, an international law firm specializing in patents that had offices in 10 Canadian and U.S. cities including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, New York and Washington.

FB lived large and by 1899, he with wife, Marion Arabella Rutledge, had purchased a large property on the Mimico waterfront and built a huge home, called Lynne Lodge, after his mother’s home in Ireland, which was designed in Queen Anne style, with an mix of towers, windows, dormers and cladding.

The couple on their estate at Royal York Rd., and Lake Shore Blvd., built a stone guest house called “The Tower,” or sometimes dubbed the ‘castle’ by area residents.

Fred is best remembered for his electric vehicle, the first that was built in this country. It was featured at the 1893 CNE and later commemorated in 1993 on a Canadian $100 gold coin.

“The car could go only 14 miles on one charge, with a top speed of 15 mph, and it frequently broke down, but nevertheless, Fred used the car for 15 years,” according to researcher and historian Denise Harris.
Harris wrote that after Fred moved to Mimico, power to recharge the battery was “stepped down” from the line used to power the Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway that ran past his home.

The vehicle came about in the early 1890s after William Still approached Fred to patent a lightweight, high-efficiency storage battery he had invented. A car lover, Fred loved the project and soon became a partner in developing the vehicle.

FB had rich friends and was a member of the Board of Trade, the Manufacturers’ Association, the Canadian Institute, the Masonic Order, St. James Cathedral, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and the Argonaut Rowing Club.

He was presented to King Edward VII at Windsor Castle in 1905 for being a founding member of the Empire Club and represented the club at the coronation of King George V in 1911.

After wife died in 1930, Fred married Audrey Victoria Emaygh, who was 32 years younger who left him and took most of his fortune. He fell into debt and his law firm was seized.  He also lost some of his property and when Fred died in 1945, his estate was valued at only $13,000.

His waterfront property was sold in 1947 for use as a restaurant being shut in 1955. The house was demolished around 1957 and an apartment building erected on its site at 2667 Lake Shore Blvd. W.

Accountant Barker will be missed by residents

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Members of the Long Branch community are stunned by the passing of life-long area resident Phillip Barker, who loved children and spent a small fortune on equipping schools in the Philippines.

Barker, the owner of Lakeshore Accounting, passed away on the evening of May 6. He was 74.

The accountant was a friend and acquaintance of many Long Branch residents having served the community at his 3421 Lakeshore Blvd. W. office for about 45-years. He was also the long-time Treasurer for the Long Branch Business Improvement Association.

Barker was born and raised in Mimico, where, he attended Mimico High School and then Humber College to study accounting.

“His sometimes tough exterior masked a warm, charitable heart who loved helping people,” recalls Wayne Gibson, a friend for more than 30-years. “He helped many people and will be greatly missed by the community.”

Gibson says Barker had many loyal clients from his many years of business and always perked up when it came to helping children in the Philippines develop their potential.

He was a founder and director of the Lakeshore Charitable Foundation, which sponsored two schools in the Philippines. He visited that country about a dozen times and was responsible of collecting and shipping dozens of containers filled with books, clothes, food, computers, printers and other gear to help the children.

The foundation had sponsored the Rizal Public National High School and BayBay Central School for more than 12-years. He was in the process of travelling there for an awards celebration before COVID-19 halted the trip.

He will be sadly missed by hundreds of children at the schools and the families there who loved him.

“The children over there have very little or nothing,” Barker would always say. “They are so appreciative to get a book or other item that we throw out in this country.”

He is survived by brother Bill, four nieces and his daughter Katy; described as the love of his life. He did manage to see his wish of Katy graduating from Ryerson University.

A private funeral service was held for family at Ridley’s Funeral Home.

 

 

 

 

Royal Canadian Legions taking a hit from COVID-19

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It may be a long and dry summer for our veterans.

Members of two Royal Canadian Legions in our community say they are taking a financial beating due to the cancellation of many events booked to take place at their halls this summer.

Members of Long Branch #101 say this is the time of the year that they generate badly-needed funds through community activities and hall rentals.

Members of the Legion’s #101 and #643, on Jutland Rd., say they have had their facilities shut for about a month and are not sure when, like others, they will be able to reopen.

They say they stand to lose their two top days for fundraising, which falls on Canada Day on July 1 and Remembrance Day, on November 11, if COVID-19 drags on.

“The Legions are suffering financially,” says Chris Korwin-Kuczynski, chair of the Lakeshore Village BIA and a legion member. “This is a big time of the year for their fundraising activities.”

He says a major fundraiser for the legions will be planned once the pandemic has disappeared.

Legion officials say they are running low on funds and some programs for vets may be affected.

 

Timothy’s Pub raising funds for Salvation Army food bank

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Alderwood and area residents are being encouraged to take part in a fundraiser by Timothy’s Pub to help the Salvation Army food bank.

Tim Brem, owner of the popular pub at 344 Brown’s Line, says his restaurant and customers have a history of giving back to the community.

He says $1 from the sale of their customer favourite chippers goes directly to the Salvation Army, at 5 Thirtieth Street.

“In these difficult times anything we can do to help one another is so important,” Brem says. “These (chippers) make the perfect snack or add on to any purchase.”

Timothy’s Pub has helped many area non-profit agencies over the years. They have helped raise funds in the past to help the Royal Canadian Legion #101 Long Branch.

Salvation Army Major Sophie Gilbert says their food bank is still open and users will be seen by appointment only. Call 416-255-4381 for an appointment.

Gilbert said Wednesday’s sit down lunch will be served by take-out at the front entrance.

“These are challenging days for all of us and things are changing on a daily basis,” she wrote on their website. “Let me assure you that we will be here for you.”

Timothy’s Pub is open from 4 to 9 p.m. for takeout and delivery. Please call 416-201-9515 for pickup or use @doordash @skipthedishes or @ubereats for delivery. #strongertogether #supportoneanother #inthistogether #community #wecanmakeadifference @salvationarmycanada @myeveningout @mymississauga @spexontoronto @torontolife @dineintoronto