And now a message from the Royal Canadian Air Force.

They RCAF, in a public service announcement, said a  CF-18 military jet will conduct a flyby over BMO Field for the Toronto Argonauts Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation game today, on September 24, at approximately 7:30 pm

The aircraft will fly over at an altitude no lower than 500 feet above the highest point of its route before resuming a higher flying altitude, the RCAF warned.

Flybys are done at the request of event organizers and are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure public safety at all times and are subject to operational considerations and weather.

The Toronto Argonauts will be playing against long-time rival Montreal Alouettes as the jet fly over.

 

 

Someone in our community is rich and don’t know it.

A lottery player who bought a winning Lotto Max ticket worth $10,000 in Toronto last year has two weeks left to claim their prize.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) officials said the winner lives in Etobicoke.

The OLG, in a news release, said the ticket sold in Etobicoke with the numbers 7-1-4-9-2-7-6 won the prize following the Lotto Max draw on October 6, 2020.

The first six of the seven Encore numbers must match in the exact order to win the $10,000 prize.

Players have exactly one year from the draw date to claim their prize, LG said.

“The owner(s) of this ticket should fill in the back portion, sign it and contact the OLG Support Centre,” OLG said.

Check your ticket. You could be a winner.

 

 

Toronto Police have arrested a local man who was sought on a Canada-wide warrant in connection with the death of his sister.

The body of a woman was discovered on September 4 after police attended a medical complaint call at 18 Stanmills Road, in The Queensway and Islington Ave. area.

Police said the body of Rose Di Pinto, 60, was found at the bottom of a set of stairs without vital signs.

“The woman was pronounced deceased,” officers said in a news release.

An autopsy was conducted and the Homicide Unit has taken over the investigation.
A warrant was issued for the suspect, who was arrested on September 22.

John Di Pinto, 55, of Toronto, has been charged with second degree murder.

He appeared at a Finch Avenue West court on September 23.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).

The Ontario government is warning businesses and organizations that its proof of vaccination policy for customers entering their facilities take affect on September 22.

South Etobicoke business owners say they are not looking forward to screening their customers for a proof of vaccination policy or in turning others away from their businesses.

Business owners said they’ve suffered long enough from COVID-19 and cannot afford to turn away business from a customer who may not return.

The province of Ontario has released regulations and guidance for businesses and organizations to support them in implementing proof of vaccination requirements that take effect on  September 22.

The requirements focus on higher-risk indoor public settings where patrons must provide proof of identification and proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Customer have to show their proof of vaccination to attend: restaurant, bars, excluding outdoor patios, nightclubs, meeting and even spaces, sports and recreational fitness activities as gyms, casinos, bingo halls, concert venues, theatres and cinemas.

Also affected are strip clubs, bathhouses, sex clubs and racing venues, as horse racing facilities, according to the province.

The City of Toronto will be working with businesses to educate them on the Province of Ontario’s proof of vaccine requirements under the Reopening Ontario Act. Staff from Toronto Public Health and Municipal Licensing and Standards will continue to conduct inspections to ensure businesses are following the requirements under the Act.

Individuals who cannot receive the vaccine due to medical exemptions will be permitted entry with a doctor’s or registered (extended class) nurses’ note until recognized medical exemptions can be integrated as part of an Ontario digital vaccine certificate.

The Ontario government is developing an enhanced electronic vaccine certificate with a unique QR code and a verification app for businesses, which will be available by October 22.

 

 

A man is being sought by Toronto Police 11 Division officers for allegedly committing an indecent act against a woman in High Park.

Police said they were called on September 15, around 4 p.m. to investigate a complaint for an indecent act in the park.

“It is reported that a 51-year-old woman was hiking on a rail,” according to police. “A man exposed himself to her and committed an indecent act.”

The suspect is described as South Asian, 5’9″, with a thin build, wearing a light coloured baseball cap, blue long sleeve shirt, dark blue pants with two white stripes down the side, and carrying a shoulder bag.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook. Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

All Etobicoke Liberal MPs have been re-elected and stand firm behind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that $600 million spent on a federal election was well worth it.

Many voters across the country are outraged and insist that the millions could have been put to better use to help ailing Canadians.

There was little surprise, drama or major riding flips in Canada’s 44^th national election on September 20; in which the Liberals in a minority government only gained three seats and ended up with 158, the Conservatives with 119 seats, Bloc Quebecois 34, NDP 25 and the Green Party with 2 seats.

“You are sending us back to work with a clear mandate to get Canada through this pandemic and to the brighter days ahead,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a victory speech. “What we’ve seen tonight is that millions of Canadians have chosen a progressive plan.”

All three Etobicoke Liberal candidates handily re-claimed their seats in the election. In Etobicoke-Lakeshore Liberal James Maloney was re-elected, so was Yvan Baker in Etobicoke-Centre and Kirsty Duncan for a fifth-time in Etobicoke North.

Incumbent Maloney received 46.9% of the votes, or about 28,525 total votes, for a third term. He was first elected in 2015 and again in 2019.

Maloney sits on a number of standing committees and is chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Parliamentary Associations and Interparliamentary Groups and the Canada-Ireland Interparliamentary Group.

Maloney earned law degrees from the University of Windsor and the University of Wales and worked as a litigation lawyer. In 2014, he served as interim city councillor for Ward 5 (Etobicoke-Lakeshore) before going into federal politics.

He successfully fended off challenges from first-time Conservative candidate Indira Bains, who had a strong showing; NDP candidate Sasha Kane, a community advocate; and Green party candidate Afam Elue.

Etobicoke-Lakeshore has been a largely Liberal riding since its creation in 1968, save for one NDP and three Conservative terms.

There were more than 60,775 votes cast in the riding that has 259 polls.

Bains obtained 32.2%, or 19,541 total votes. She worked hard and gave Maloney a good challenge.

NDP candidate Sasha Kane scored 13.7% or 8,338 total votes, which was also impressive.

PPC candidate Bill McLachlan received 4.6% or 2,806 total votes.

Afam Elue, of the Green Party, copped 2.2% or 1,311 total votes.

The diverse riding has a population of 129,000, of which 90, 167 are registered to vote.

Almost 6.8 million people voted early, most of them at advance polls or through special ballots cast by mail, according to Elections Canada.

 

Conservative candidate Indira Bains and her team were making a final stomp to reach voters in Tory-rich Alderwood on Sunday.

She has been knocking on doors for hours with the party’s message of more affordable housing, help for businesses and more COVID-19 aid to attract voters in the Etobicoke Lakeshore federal riding.

The other campaigns were similarly out until the last minute trying to capture votes.

You are being urged to get out and vote on Monday, September 20. Each vote counts as leaders of the Liberals and Conservative Party are neck to neck, according to national polls.

Both the Liberals and Conservatives are tied in the polls at around 30% give and take.

Though the Liberals and Conservatives are effectively tied in national support with a small edge given to the Liberals, Justin Trudeau’s party is favoured to win the most seats and has roughly a three-in-five chance of being re-elected with a minority government, according to the CBC.

The Conservatives are holding their support but are trailing in some key battlegrounds. NDP support is also holding and the party could see a big increase in its seat count, said the broadcaster.

The candidates for Etobicoke Lakeshore are: Conservative Indira Bains, Liberal incumbent James Maloney, NDP Sasha Kane, People’s Party of Canada’s Bill McLachlan, Sean Carson of the Rhinoceros Party and Anna Di Carlo of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada.

The candidates for Etobicoke Centre are: Conservative Geoffrey Turner, Liberal incumbent Yvan Baker, NDP Ashley Da Silva and People’s Party of Canada’s Maurice Cormier.

The candidates for Etobicoke North are: Conservative Priti Lamba, Liberal incumbent Kirsty Duncan, NDP Cecil Peter, People’s Party of Canada’s Jim Boutsikakis and Independent Carol Royer.

Your poll number is written on your voter information card that came in the mail. Make sure to bring identification that includes your name and, if possible, the address matching the voter card.

Polls open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 9:30 p.m. To obtain more information on your candidates or polls visit elections.ca

 

A violent attacker is on the run from Toronto Police after stabbing a woman at the Dundas Street West Subway Station.

Police said they responded to a call on September 17, around 10:56 p.m. at the subway station.

Officers from 11 Division said the woman was on the westbound train and had exited at the Dundas Street subway.

“A man, not known to the woman, exited the train and stabbed her multiple times on the westbound platform,” detectives said in a statement. “The man fled the area and was last seen running southbound Dundas Street West towards Bloor Street West.”

The woman was rushed to an area hospital by medics and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Investigators have released security camera images of the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

 

The Toronto Blue Jays are playing hot these days.

And there is sizzling news that a Jays retired play-by-play man is soon having his namesake Jerry Howarth Drive open to traffic in the Six Points Interchange area of Etobicoke.

Howarth, 75, has been living in south Etobicoke for more than 30 years and coached his son’s baseball teams at a number of area high schools.

The long-time resident of Etobicoke has been the radio voice of Blue Jays for 36 years. He retired in 2018. He was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Jerry Howarth Drive is one of three streets constructed in the redevelopment, which after community council approval; were named Adobigok Pathway, Biindagen Trail and Jerry Howarth Drive. Adobigok means where the alders grow and Biindagen means “enter,” “come in,” or “welcome.”

“The City of Toronto’s work to reconstruct the six Points Interchange is almost complete,” Councillor Mark Grimes said in his weekly bulletin.

The work included a realignment of Dundas Street West, extension of Bloor Street West and regrading of Kipling Avenue; new traffic signals, widened sidewalks with trees and plantings and physically separated and painted bike lanes.

A plan to name the road after the famed Blue Jays announcer has been in the works for two years. An attempt to name a street after former Etobicoke Councillor and Mayor Rob Ford was dismissed.

Howarth, who was born in York, Penn., and raised in San Francisco, was an avid sports fan. He graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Santa Clara in 1968, then served two years as an officer in the U.S. Army. He launched his career as a sportscaster in 1974 by calling play-by-play action for AAA baseball’s Tacoma Twins of the Pacific Coast League, as well as basketball and football for the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.

He started a new career in 1981 in Toronto where he worked part of the 1981 Blue Jays season as a commentator. In 1982, he joined Tom Cheek as full-time play-by-play partner. For the next 23 years, “Tom and Jerry” would be the radio voices of the Blue Jays. Their partnership covered the rise of the Blue Jays through the 1980s with back to back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993.

In 2004, Cheek was diagnosed with brain cancer, but continued to call the games with Howarth. Cheek’s health continued to deteriorate eventually forcing him to stop broadcasting. Cheek died in October 2005.

Jerry loved Etobicoke and coached his sons in the Etobicoke Basketball Association from 1989 to 1997. He also served as a volunteer basketball coach at Islington Middle School, Etobicoke Collegiate Institute and Martingrove Collegiate Institute.

He enjoyed working with the Canadian Special Olympics and the 65 Roses Sports Club, which helps raise funds to fight cystic fibrosis.

Jerry and his family became Canadian citizens in 1994.

Jerry recently told the Toronto Star in an interview that he does not miss baseball and has been living a quiet life with Mary, his wife of 50 years. “I’ve been blessed, and that’s the bottom line,” he told the newspaper.

 

 

A virtual public information session is being held on September 23 in regards to a Dwight Avenue sidewalk project in which the removal of 12 trees were threatened.

“After many conversations with residents in the area, I called for a pause on the plans in order to send staff back to the drawing board to see if they are able to rework the designs that incorporates the trees into the plan,” wrote Ward 3 Councillor Mark Grimes.

The plan to remove 12 healthy trees has outraged community residents and activists who argued there is no reason to kill trees to build a sidewalk.

The public information session will be held on Thursday, September 23 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“The City aims to minimize impacts to all existing trees, but when tree removals are necessary all trees that require removal will be replaced,” City officials said in a communique.

The project was put on hold last July to reassess the impact to the trees.