A 29-year-old man is the most recent of four men killed following a collision between a vehicle and a motorcycle in South Etobicoke.

Police were called to Jutland Road and Kipling Avenue just before 3:30 p.m. on July 29 but it was too late.

Paramedics attempted life-saving measures on the young motorcyclist. He was eventually pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene.

It is believed the deceased man worked in the area and had just finished work and was going home.

Kipling Avenue between Jutland Road and Norseman Street was closed in both directions as police investigated.

There has been at least three other fatal motorcycle accidents in the area over the years, police said.

A 61-year-old rider was killed on July 10 following reports of a vehicle hitting a pole and a tree near Lloyd Manor Road and Eglinton Avenue West, west of Kipling Avenue, around 9:45 p.m.

Paramedics said a man was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police said the victim died in hospital the next day.

The cause of the crash is unknown.

Then on June 20, a 35-year-old man was killed following a collision near Lake Shore Boulevard West and Forty Second Street in Long Branch around 10:15 p.m.

Police said the man was driving a 2018 Kawasaki motorcycle, which was travelling east on Lake Shore Boulevard West at a high rate of speed.

The motorcyclist then collided with the driver of the BMW, who was turning to the westbound lanes of Lake Shore Boulevard from Forty Second Street, police said.

The man sustained severe trauma, and despite life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

And last July 2015, another 29-year-old was killed after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a car again on Kipling Avenue at Jutland Road, north of the Queensway, just after midnight.
Police said it’s not clear which directions either vehicle was going but the car turned in front of the bike, causing the motorcyclist to hit the car and burst into flames.
Two people in the car were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Once again Kipling was closed in both directions from North Queen Street to Norseman Street for several hours.

 

Good news for deal-searching shoppers.

Liquidator Closeout King is moving into the former Zeller’s store at the Kipling Queensway Mall.

Workers have been carting in and laying out boxes of goods of items for sale at the 1255 The Queensway  store space, at Kipling Ave.

Lots of boxes in piles, mixed goods similar to Zellers could be seen inside the store, in addition to  furniture and household items, according to area resident Ian Robertson.

The store, which has three locations in the GTA, bills itself as ‘Canada’s largest closeout liquidator.’

The liquidator features many online deals and is getting some good reviews.

“Nice place to shopping for variety of items on wholesale prices,“ according to one reviewer online.

Another wrote “great bargains friendly staff lots of great deals“

“Great stuff,” another person said.

The liquidator fills a huge space that was one of Canada’s first Zeller stores, that was opened for decades.

You can see some of the deals on their website closeoutking.ca.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Etobicoke residents are cheering loud and proud for their young swimmers who are now competing in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Teenager Summer McIntosh, at 14 is the youngest member of the Canadian Olympic team.

The Grade 10 Student at Silverthorn Collegiate finished fourth and set a Canadian record in the women’s 400-metre freestyle in Tokyo last Sunday night.

McIntosh, along with Katrina Bellio and Ruslan Gasviev, are representing the Etobicoke Swim Club at the Olympics.

McIntosh finished the race with a time of 4:02.42, breaking the national record she set in the event on Saturday night, when she finished in 4:02.72. The previous record was held by Brittany MacLean, at 4:03:43, set at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

McIntosh is scheduled to race in the 800 heats on Thursday.

She is the daughter of Jill Horstead, who swam for Canada in the 1984 Olympic Games. McIntosh made a name for herself last June by edging Penny Oleksiak in the 200-metre freestyle final of the Olympic qualifier to earn a spot on the team.

The strong showing was Canada’s second impressive performance in aquatic events on the night, coming just on the heels of Maggie Mac Neil claiming the country’s first gold medal of the Games.

“It’s definitely just the beginning for me,” McIntosh told The Canadian Press in Tokyo. “It’s amazing that I can have this experience under my belt for the coming years.”

She had to deal with the death in June of her long-time coach Kevin Thorburn.

Katrina Bellio was the lone Canadian in the women’s 1,500, which is making its debut at the Olympics. She briefly held the Games record as the winner of Monday’s first heat in 16:24.37 to shatter her personal best by over five seconds.

However, the 16-year-old from Mississauga, didn’t advance to the final as Australia’s Kiah Melverton, the eighth and final qualifier, clocked a faster time.

“It’s a great feeling to be part of history,” Bellio told reporters. “To be swimming at the Olympics at such a young age is incredible.”

Bellio and McIntosh had been teammates for several years at Etobicoke Swim Club, one of the top teams in Canada, before McIntosh made the jump to the Toronto High Performance Centre.

Bellio won the 1,500 freestyle at the Canadian Olympic Trials, with a time of more than two seconds.

Etobicoke’s Ruslan Gasviev, 21, finished third in the 100-metre freestyle in the 2021 Canadian Olympic swimming trials that took him to Tokyo.

Etobicoke has placed 31 swimmers on Canadian Olympic Teams since 1956.

 

 

 

 

Music fans are calling for Yonge-Dundas Square to be renamed the Oscar Peterson Square in honour of the famous Canadian jazz musician.

Peterson, a former Mimico resident and global music icon, is being suggested by his fans to rename the popular downtown Square after Dundas is removed.

City council have said Dundas Street and other references to Dundas will  be removed due to his connections to the slave trade.

Plans are underway by City staff to rename all the references to Dundas, who had no connections to Canada.

Toronto city council voted in favour of renaming Dundas Street in a bid to promote inclusion of marginalized communities. After a lengthy debate on July 14, council voted 17-7 in favour of a motion to change the name of the street, a major artery running east-west through the city.

Council approved the renaming of Dundas Street due to its namesake’s connection to slavery. Council voted in favour of removing Henry Dundas’ name from the street as well as other civic assets such as Yonge-Dundas Square and Dundas subway station.

Councillor Michael Thompson said he will be the first to suggest that the Square be named after the world-famous jazz musician, who made Mississauga his home.

Thompson, in an interview, said the Square should be named after the Montreal-born musician.

The award-winning pianist lived in Amadeo Gardens in Mimico briefly in the 1980s and loved the area parks. He was honoured by the community in a portrait that hangs in a Lake Shore Village Wall of Legends, with others who helped to transform the area.

Peterson, who died in 2007 at the age of  82, was a Canadian jazz pianist, virtuoso and composer. Called the ‘King of inside swing,’ he released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and received numerous other awards and honours.

Born in the Caribbean, he is considered one of history’s great jazz pianists, who played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years.

In 1997 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award. His friend, politician and amateur pianist Bob Rae, said, “a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands.”

Yonge–Dundas Square is a one acre outdoor public and event space at the intersection of Yonge Street and Dundas Street.  The Square draws visitors from across the city and around the world, bringing a vibrant energy to the neighborhood.  The space has been host to thousands of events ranging from community festivals to product launches, international celebrations and more.