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A Pound of Dead Carp, Please

March 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Many of us have walked through gardens or amusement parks at some point and have seen the large ponds of giant, live carp swimming around. But, you may not have seen this in Ontario. This is because the live fish isn’t allowed over the Ontario border, regardless of the fact that several Toronto grocery stores sell it by the pound.

Approximately 6,800 kilograms of dead carp are shipped across the Ontario border every week and much of that is sold in Toronto grocery stores for about $2.79 a pound. This fish is a delicacy that’s enjoyed by much of the Asian population in Toronto; but if anyone’s going to be serving it for dinner, it’s going to be dead. That’s because it’s illegal for live carp to be shipped across the Canadian border because of the ecological risk that they pose.

Live carp might be tasty, but if any of them made their way into the Great Lakes, the results would be disaster. Carp are a very large, hungry bottom-feeder breed of fish that eats about a third of their body weight a day. Not only that, but carp are also extremely fast at reproduction, meaning that should live carp end up in the Great Lakes, they could quickly overpopulate the other types of fish that are in there, and end up annihilating the rest of the fish that are found in the Great Lakes. This could be disaster for the residents of Ontario, as it would essentially be the end of sport fishing in the province.

But is prohibiting live carp from entering the province a bit of an overreaction? Well, not if you look at other livestock that has been shipped across the border and the problems they have caused, not to mention the potential catastrophe that live carp could bring. Toronto has had its fair share of problems of cattle and pigs that have made their ways onto roads and highways after the truck carrying them tipped or became involved in an accident. These instances have often led to several accidents. And a similar situation could happen with carp.

It’s thought that if a truck carrying live carp were to tip over near a river or lake, the carp could easily escape and make their way to water because the fish is so resilient. In fact, carp can breathe for up to 48 hours after they’ve been removed completely from water. It’s also thought that if consumers are allowed to buy live carp from grocery stores, some may try to release them into nearby rivers; and this thought isn’t so far-fetched. In the year 2000, four live carp were found in Lake Erie. These carp had been released by people who had purchased them at grocery stores. That was before the new legislation prohibiting live carp was passed in 2005.

Fines for commercial businesses that accept live stock as well as fines for those who import live carp are no joke. An American company was fined $20,000 for transporting live carp across the border while a Markham importer was also charged $40,000 for bringing it and keeping it in Canada. The Ministry of Natural Resources has officers that regularly inspect ships and their carp stock to make sure that the integrity of our Great Lakes remains intact.

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Pearson Airport Getting Ready for Busy March Break Season

March 11, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

What do people like to do on March Break? Go to Disneyland! Travel across the country to see family! Finally take that family trip to the Grand Canyon! But, if you’re going to be doing any of that out of Canada, you’re going to need to take a plane. And if you’re in the Toronto area, that means a trip to Pearson Airport – one of the busiest places you’ll find during this time of year! Pearson Airport is no stranger to longer lines and busier crowds this time of year; and that’s why this year, they’ve prepared for it in ways that are sure to delight busy travellers.

One of the treats that Pearson Airport has prepared for travellers is that they have partnered with the Juno Awards to bring live music to the airport. Today, Friday, March 11, 2011, past Juno nominees will be playing at Terminal 1 in the afternoon. Those who will be camped out at Terminal 3 waiting for their departure will be treated to a Canadian music trivia game between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. The airport has also recruited several volunteers who are out at the curb and inside the airport, helping people find their way to the proper counter and gates, and to greet them as they arrived.

Most importantly perhaps to travellers, even though there will be long lines and busy crowds, it doesn’t seem that there have been a lot of flight delays so far. There were some minor delays yesterday due to the wet conditions that included some ice in Toronto yesterday but flights today are mostly scheduled to be on time, with the exception of flights heading out to the west coast, Hawaii, Japan and other parts of the world that will be affected by the earthquake in Japan, and resulting tsunami that occurred early this morning.

On Thursday, Pearson Airport saw 101,000 passengers go through its doors. Today, Friday, March 11, 2011, the airport expects an average of 105,000 people going through its doors.

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A Little Technology Could be a Major Step in Fight against Child Pornography

March 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Child pornography is something that no one wants to think about, but that someone has to in order to stop it from happening and to keep our kids safe. One Toronto police officer who works in the child exploitation unit of the OPP had put so much thought into how to do just that, after being frustrated that there was no good technological answer as to how to stop Internet predators looking for child pornography. That officer went straight to technological guru, Bill Gates, and asked him for help with developing technology that could do the job. Gates invested $4.5 million to developing the Microsoft Child Exploitation Tracking System, a program that would do just that and today that program is helping police and investigators track and catch a shocking amount of Internet predators.

Police are not releasing any information regarding the program or how it works so that they don’t give predators ideas on how to get around it. But, the program is definitely effective. On Wednesday morning the police used a one-second snapshot to check out computers in the area. That snapshot showed six computers in Oakville that were being used at that moment to access child pornography, seven computers in Burlington, four computers in Halton Hills, and five in Milton. That’s 22 perpetrators looking for child pornography in just one second, which is a frightening amount and an indication that this kind of technology isn’t only beneficial, it’s essential. In February 2011, police caught 158 computers in Halton alone that were being used to access child pornography.

But not everyone is on board with using this new technology and Richard Rosenberg, president of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association is one of them. He has said that the program has made him ‘suspicious,’ as does any program or policy that gives police authority to do something that they would have needed a warrant for in the past.

But it’s also important to understand that arrests are not made solely because a computer has appeared within the program. That detection just gives police a starting point and a way to see which computers in the area need to have more attention paid to them. Prior to any arrest, a full investigation still needs to be conducted in order to make sure that innocent civilians are not being charged with a heinous crime that they did not commit.

In February 2011, Halton police were able to make four arrests in regards to child pornography possession and distribution. Those arrests came after a two-month investigation revealed that child pornography websites were being accessed widely across Halton. The arrests involved four men: Robert Knight Bowley, 31 and Andrew Rutledge, 18 of Burlington; and Cody Crocker, 20, of Oakville, and Gerald Legere, 62 from Campbellville. The four men did not know each other.

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A Lurking Man Remains in GTA

March 8, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Women who live alone always have reason to worry, and this latest story about a ‘lurker’ is one of the main reasons why. The perpetrator has been seen trying to enter one residence that is occupied by women tenants and another building has had a problem with a man looking into windows; this man fits the same description.

On Saturday, March 5, 2011, at about 10:30 p.m. police were called about a suspicious person at a housing complex in the Bathurst Street and Claxton Avenue area. The man was using a sharp object, possibly a knife, to cut through the screen of one of the ground floor apartments. Sunday, the very next day, a man fitting the same description was reported as being very close to a window, and looking in it intently. This time, it was in the Spadina Road and Delavan Avenue.

Police are still working on the case and they are strongly cautioning everyone who lives in these and surrounding areas to exercise great caution when in their homes. Their suggestions include things like locking the doors very securely, and also making sure that all windows are secured very well. The man is described as being stocky with light colour skin and he is said to be clean-shaven. This past weekend he was seen wearing thin, silver eyeglasses; a puffy winter coat; dark pants, and dark running shoes. It’s estimated that he stands at about 5’4” to 5’7” tall. Anyone with information is asked to call Toronto Police at 416-808-1300, or an anonymous tip can be made to Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477.)

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Human Remains Found Near Humber River

March 4, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

On Thursday, March 3, 2011, an individual out walking in the area of Humber River, near the Humber Wastewater Treatment Plant, found a piece of clothing along with some unidentifiable bones and remains, at about 1:15 p.m. The citizen phoned 911 immediately, which led to police arriving on the scene and the entire area being cordoned off by the police and the forensics department. Remains were indeed found, but they were so badly decomposed that after immediately finding them, authorities could not even confirm that they were in fact human.

Today, a bit more is known about the mysterious remains found in the park, but not much. It has been confirmed by police that the remains are in fact, human, but not much else is known. No identity has been confirmed yet, as police and pathologists still have yet to determine whether the remains are male or female. The police also have no idea how long the remains have been there, but Constable Wendy Drummond, said just hours after the discovery that they could have been left there for several months. It was later confirmed by Sergeant Gary Burke that the remains have probably been there since the end of summer.

At first authorities thought that the remains could be those of Mariam Makhniashvili, who disappeared from her home in early fall of 2009. They have however, disqualified that possibility. Police and investigators still have no further information on the identity of the remains, but they are considering the finding and death of the individual as suspicious.

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Toronto Transit Commission Looking for Ways to Find Cheating Riders

March 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Transit officials in Toronto are now looking for ways to force people to pay the full fare, something that wasn’t often done in 2010. Usually, officials say, the transit loss stands at about 1%, but in 2010 it jumped to 2%, and that’s left city and transit authorities wondering why exactly that is. And when you consider that that 2% equals about $22 million you can quickly see why it’s such a pressing issue.

The authorities that oversee the Toronto Transit Commission noticed the jump in fare evasion last year and were quick to enforce ways to stop the fare-evasive riders from getting on city transit. But the riders are tricky and it seems that they are continually finding new ways to get out of paying their fare. These include practices such as holding their thumb over the date of expired transfers, in order to get a free ride, or passengers who use their Metropass to get on transit and once they’re on, hand their pass out the window to a friend, who then also uses the same pass to take transit. And while authorities are used to seeing the fare evasion spike after there’s been a jump in transit fares, this wasn’t the case last year, leaving authorities dumbfounded as to why the jump in the first place, and how to stop it.

There is little that the bus and other transit drivers can do themselves. This is because they are afraid of being assaulted should they confront someone for not paying full fare, and because they also don’t want to hold up an entire busload of people who are itching to get home. The TTC agrees that it is not completely the driver’s responsibility and of course, they don’t want to put their own employees at risk.

For now, there are a few things that the TTC has done to stop fare cheating riders. Some of those new policies include eliminating adult passes and adding holograms to Metropasses, so that they cannot be duplicated. And although the special constables that once roamed the transit ways looking for cheaters has decreased, the number of regular police officers doing the same patrols has been more than doubly increased, going from 38 to 80 officers patrolling at all times.

The next audit on the TTC will be in May when the focus will be on enforcement statistics and surveillance. In the meantime, Toronto Transit Commission authorities, as well as the city government, say that they will continue to look for ways to stop the number of cheating riders, and to increase the city’s revenue.

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Gifted Students Honoured, Special Need Students Ignored in Halton School Board

March 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

The concern has been going on for years now for parents who have children in the Halton School Board in Toronto. This concern is that special need students wait endlessly, for years on end, to be treated for things such as learning disabilities, while the gifted programs continue to be expanded and receive extra funding. For parents of special needs students in the Halton School Board, the concern is easy to see.

This year alone, 360 senior kindergartners in the Halton Board were tested for being giftedness. While this is definitely a positive thing, there are almost twice as many students that are still waiting for a psychoeducational assessment – an assessment that identifies things such as autism, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities. In fact, the total number of these students that are still waiting to be tested is about 700. And the wait time for these special needs students is very long, anywhere from 15 months to 2 years in the Halton Board.

Parents aren’t only concerned, they’re extremely frustrated as they continue to see things such as the recent expansion of the Grade 1 gifted program, and hearing the board’s trustees themselves admit that this process is going to negatively affect the special needs students and put them at the back of the line. That same board is holding a meeting on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, to discuss possible ways to cut back the wait times and get the special needs students the attention and education that is their right in Canada, not a privilege. The measures that are to be discussed include possibilities such as hiring more psychoeducational consultants to perform testing on special needs students, and putting more money into the special needs programs, which would also allow for things such as expansion and cutting back on wait times.

Whatever decision they come to, parents say they need to come to it quick. One Toronto mother, who has two special needs students at home, says that she doesn’t think it too much for the Halton School Board to work through the March Break and the summer months in order to get the situation rectified and get the special needs students of Halton the education they need. This is the common thought that is heard from parents all throughout the Halton Board.

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Toronto Man Being Held as Prisoner in Afghanistan

March 1, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Be careful where you travel! If there is nothing else to be gained from this story, that is it. As 26-year-old Toronto man, Colin Rutherford just learned, sometimes educating yourself about another country is also putting yourself in danger.

Colin Rutherford is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in 2009. Shortly after his graduation, he decided to visit Pakistan.  Although Rutherford did not know the Urdu language that’s spoken in Pakistan, he fell in love with the country. During his three weeks there he visited historical monuments and forts and videotaped many of the beautiful waterfalls and rocky countryside, which he later posted on YouTube. He later called Islamabad his ‘home away from home.’

Rutherford returned home safely from his travels in Pakistan, but he wasn’t done touring the globe just yet. In October 2010, just six months after he began working for the Canadian Circulations Audit Board in Toronto, Rutherford booked two weeks of vacation so that he could travel to Afghanistan. Although the country is extremely war-torn and still in great uproar, Rutherford wanted to learn Pashto, one of Afghanistan’s official languages. Rutherford announced on the WAYN social networking site that he would be away in Afghanistan from October 23 – November 6. But almost four months later, the young Torontonian still has not returned home.

At first, Rutherford’s employer believed that he had fallen in love with the country of Afghanistan too, and had just decided simply not to come back. In fact, no one really knew what had happened to Colin Rutherford as he hadn’t been heard of since he left Canada. But on Sunday, news came that was far worse – Rutherford has now been captured by the Taliban and is being kept prisoner in the country.

The news came on Sunday from a Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, who told Canadian officials through the Voice of Jihad website that Rutherford had been captured and is currently being held as prisoner. The report from the Taliban also said that Rutherford was captured in Ghazni City, which is between Kabul and Kandahar. The report also suggested that Rutherford was captured because of the Taliban’s belief that he was sent as a secret agent, meant to undercover underground insurgent fighters.

Canadian officials are now working with Afghanistan officials to ensure the quick and safe return of Colin Rutherford. The Canadian government has also issued a strong travel warning against Canadians traveling to Afghanistan. The area is extremely dangerous, and Canadians are simply not safe there. This travel warning has been in place for some time, but with the shocking story of Colin Rutherford, the government is hoping that Canadians will take the warning very seriously, as they are hoping for the happy and safe return of all their citizens.

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Holy Cow, the Leafs Could Make the Playoffs

February 25, 2011 By Jordan Leave a Comment

It’s seems hard to believe considering the sorts of seasons the Toronto Maple Leafs have “enjoyed” as of late, but the team actually finds itself in the playoff race currently.

The Leafs are currently just four little points out of a spot with 21 games left to go. They’ve gone 8-2-2 in their last dozen games and, with Tomas Kaberle and others out of the fold, they seem to be improving.

Imagine that.

Part of the secret to the success of the Leafs these days is the steady play of James Reimer in goal. His presence has given the Leafs some stability between the pipes and a reason to take some extra chances up ice. That’s something they lacked in the first half of the season, that’s for sure.

And then there’s Phil Kessel. He appears to have turned a corner and has some confidence in his stride, showing up on the scoreboard more often than not.

With players like Francois Beauchemin, Kris Versteeg and the aforementioned Kaberle traded away, one might expect the Leafs to do worse. But such is not the case, as the team has rallied around its core group – whoever that is – and has used the adversity as an opportunity. With Joffrey Lupul and Brett Lebda getting more ice time and Dion Phaneuf captaining the ship, the possibilities appear to be literally endless.

The team has also benefited greatly from the schedule. They meet a broken-down Penguins crew on Saturday and take on the Atlanta Thrashers after that on Sunday.

This puts GM Brian Burke in an interesting position as well, as he can make any number of moves or sit tight with the team he has. It’s tempting to try to add a player or two to the mix, as an addition could put the Leafs over the edge and into a playoff spot. On the other hand, does tinkering with the valuable team chemistry upset the apple cart too much?

Obviously the Leafs are in the hunt, that much is clear. What the next move is, however, is a little muddy.

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Ontario Hospitals Coerce Elderly Patients with $1,800 Charges

February 22, 2011 By Jordan Leave a Comment

Anyone who’s been reading through the Toronto Star‘s reporting on the health care system in the province of Ontario, more than a few hair-raising pieces of information have been revealed.

One of the most astounding pieces to hit the series is the revelation of hospitals threatening elderly patients with $1,800 fees. This is designed to coerce the patients into moving on out of a hospital bed and into the next available nursing home bed.

“It is completely inappropriate and unacceptable for any individual in this province in a hospital waiting for long-term care to be charged more than $53.23 per day,” the province’s Health Minister Deb Matthews said in the legislature on Tuesday.

Ontario hospitals are by law allowed to charge the aforementioned $53.23 per day for patients waiting to get into a nursing home, but that’s where the dollars stop. They aren’t allowed to charge more than that, so Matthews and others are obviously greeting the ol’ $1,800 threat with more than a few raised eyebrows.

“I want you to know that my ministry and my officials are working with the LHIN, with the hospitals, to ensure that they understand the proper application of this policy and that other hospitals, in fact, across the province do understand that it is completely unacceptable to charge anything more than $53.23 a day,” Matthews said.

According to Matthews and the Toronto Star, the Health Minister is sending out “reminders” to hospitals about the extra charges.

“Families are desperately trying to access the care they need but they’re finding a system in complete shambles. Instead of helping families, the government slaps them with exorbitant fees. Why are families being punished for this government’s failures?” New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath said during question period.

The Toronto Star reporting has been highlighting many of the lowlights in Ontario’s “Aging At Home” program, a $1.1 billion strategy designed to help deal with the province’s shortage of home care capabilities. Some facilities are apparently turning to coercive measures to clear out hospital beds, with the $1,800 charges coming out into the open.

The strategy is receiving criticism from all sides, with some suggesting that it is “causing a crisis” in emergency wards across the province. This $1,800 tactic isn’t going to improve that sentiment, as seniors continue to get pushed around in Ontario.

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