Yorkville Post April 2020

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SEBASTIAN CLOVIS BARRY COHEN ODEEN ECCLESTON BRIAN GLUCKSTEIN MICHAEL KALLES JENNIFER KEESMAAT BRAD LAMB MICHELE ROMANOW WILLIAM STRANGE BENJAMIN TAL

2020

REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

OUR EXPERTS DISCUSS REAL ESTATE IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES. IS IT TIME TO BUY, SELL OR HOLD?

L-R: SAVE MY RENO’S SEBASTIAN CLOVIS, DESIGN GURU BRIAN GLUCKSTEIN, URBAN PLANNER JENNIFER KEESMAAT & HOST HGTV CANADA SANGITA PATEL

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CITYSCAPE

THE POST INTERVIEW

The ElMo will rise again

NEWS

BY THE NUMBERS

Nothing gets Toronto music fans more excited than the thought of a completely revamped El Mocambo music venue which Michael Wekerle is set to open just when we will need it the most, and that’s something we can all look forward to by Ron Johnson

60 The new grace period, in days, for property tax and other bills due to the City of Toronto.

45 © Jaden D. / 2020

The number, in thousands, of items in the ROM’s collection that can be viewed online.

24 Didn’t this entire El Mocambo project start because you wanted to buy a blinking neon palm tree sign?

Are you going to get the band back together to play your own venue?

Wekerle: It’s true. I was coming back from a trip overseas and heard on one of the radio stations that they were getting rid of it, and I went to buy the sign. I met up with Sam Rocco, and he said, “No, I won’t sell you the sign, but I’ll give it to you if you buy the club.” The purchaser was going to be a computer store. So for a few hundred thousand more, Sam gets a chance to make a little money back after losing money for the last five years there. He’s a great guy, great family guy. And we ended up doing the deal in 24 hours.

Those days are gone, but when I closed the deal, I did have my mom and family there and a few drinks, and everybody showed up. So, me and a couple of friends played the El Mocambo. I fulfilled my bucket list, let’s just say that.

Yeah, when I was younger. I grew up at Yonge and Sheppard, and the El Mo was a hard place to get into. I saw probably a dozen shows there in the ’80s. I was born in 1963, and between maybe ’79 and ’82 I saw some great ones. I didn’t see the Stones or U2, the legendary ones, but I saw Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins there a number of times.

He’s one of my favourites, and we are still friends to this day. I saw April Wine, Goddo, the list goes on. It was a unique place, and it definitely had a vibe. It was the El Mocambo, and there wasn’t a day I wasn’t excited to be there.

I heard you were a bit of a shredder in high school. Is that right?

Well, I was a very mediocre player at best. I mean, I really wanted to play the El Mocambo, and I didn’t get paid much money to play anywhere else, but now I can tell people I finally played there –– I just had to buy the place.

How have COVID-19 measures impacted the opening?

Just delaying until safe to go ahead?

The COVID-19 virus has created a very difficult time for everyone, especially businesses. It is very important for individuals to stay home if they can and do their part to stop the spread of the virus. At the El Mocambo, we have a brand new venue/event space with a capacity of approximately 750 people. This is positive for Toronto and Canada, as it is a space that has not yet been used by the public. We are prepared to open the venue now; however, we thought it was a necessary and prudent decision to delay this for as long as it is necessary to keep the public safe and healthy.

Are there any plans for live streaming events in the meantime?

We have been in contact with three major streaming providers with a history of over 20 years of experience. We believe we will start streaming in the near future and have been contacted by numerous artists and performers, and we expect to start doing this as soon as possible. We will keep the public posted on when we will begin live streaming.

1,000 The much-needed fee, in dollars, that musicians will receive for playing live streams in conjunction with the National Arts Centre and Facebook.

240 The views, in thousands and counting, for Toronto mezzo-soprano and CBC radio host Julie Nesrallah’s balcony opera in downtown Toronto.

SPRING 2020

Did you spend much time in the El Mocambo growing up in Toronto?

What bands are on your bucket list to play?

There’s a lot: of course the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam. I just want to put that out there. Of course, U2, and I am really looking forward to having George Thorogood play. He’s one of my all-time favourites and just a true rock ’n’ roller, as well as a host of other people. Andy [Curran] is going to play. He’s with Coney Hatch, one of the bands I was a roadie for back when I was 16. That’s how long we go back.

He didn’t pay me much, but he paid me in beer. So I was pretty happy.

| POST |

But it turned out to be a bit more than you’d imagined, right?

I bought the building not knowing it would be a much bigger deal than I thought it would be. I thought six months to a year turnaround, and it’s now six-and-a-half years and three times my budget.

But I’m here. The finished product is second to none. It’s really a building within a building, with isolated floors, so you have the true effect of soundproofing. I can have Metallica playing downstairs and Buffy Sainte-Marie on the top floor.

The number of consecutive nights we will all be able to relive the Toronto Raptors championship run, which is being replayed on TSN and Sportsnet.

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NEWS

NEIGHBOURHOOD

West end railpath beginning to take shape Trails system could connect midtown to Queen West

West Toronto Railpath could extend north of St. Clair Avenue

by David Olsen

Recently, residents gathered at the Museum of Contemporary Art to review the final designs of a proposed extension of the West Toronto Railpath.

The 2.1-kilometre trail and linear park will run alongside the GO train Kitchener line from Dundas Street West to Cariboo Avenue, just north of Dupont Street. It opened in 2009 and has become popular with joggers, walkers and cyclists.

The extension of the line would take the railpath from its current southern terminus at Dundas Street West to Abell Street, just south of Queen Street West, and would include a number of pedestrian bridges at Lansdowne Avenue, Brock Avenue, Queen Street West, and one crossing the Barrie rail corridor near Sorauren Avenue Park.

According to Eric Holmes, a spokesperson for the City of Toronto, the Feb. 26 open house was an opportunity to present and review detailed plans and drawings with members of the public.

“Rarely do you see so many people show up for a public meeting: well over 200 people showed up for this meeting. It filled the place to the rafters,” said Scott Dobson, of Friends of the West Toronto Railpath, a community group responsible for creating the railpath and advocating for its extension. Dobson said all the feedback from the crowd was favourable.

“It’s really great because usually only people show up for stuff if they’re mad about something, so it is a real pleasure to be a part of something where the crowd

wants you to get shovels in the ground.”

Holmes said the cost of the detailed design work for the railpath’s extension is $2.3 million and was jointly funded by the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto through the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund. Holmes said city staff is currently working to confirm fair market value for impacted property and obtain authority for the next steps in property acquisition.

“What we are waiting for now is the city and Metrolinx to formalize the agreements and land

“ Rarely do you see so many people show up for a public meeting.” purchases or swaps,” said Dobson, who envisions the path eventually extending south to Liberty Village and north to St. Clair Avenue, connecting with the Lavender Creek Trail.

“If we could do that, the railpath would be one really honking big connection route. It would really be amazing. You’d be able to go from Weston Road to Liberty Village,” said Dobson. “Basically thousands and thousands of people in the west end are waiting for Metrolinx and the city to tie things up, and then we can get going.”

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Local shops & restaurants grappling with LRT delays and COVID-19 The provincial government has pledged $3 million to help businesses negatively impacted by the construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, following news that the project’s completion date has been pushed from September 2021 until sometime in 2022.

In a letter to Mayor John Tory posted on social media, the province’s Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney acknowledged the impact the delay would have on businesses.

“To date, Metrolinx and CTS [Crosslinx Transit Solutions] have provided significant funding [over

Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue. They called on the province to help businesses along the line and called the move a symbolic gesture. “[Provincial assistance] goes toward marketing and it goes toward promotion, and the thing is you can’t promote an area where people cannot park or drive or walk,” said Colle. “I’m going to continue to push to make them understand that we need a sustained compensation package or deferred provincial taxes for the next two or three years. We need something that is dollars and cents, so that [businesses] can

“The thing is you can’t promote an area where people cannot park or drive or walk.” $6.6 million] to BIAs for promotional initiatives, parking discounts, window cleaning and local procurement,” said Mulroney in the letter. “We recognize, in response to the recently announced delay, additional support is needed.”

The letter said that an additional $3 million will be provided to mitigate the impacts of construction beyond the September 2021 deadline and that the support will consist of marketing, promotion and cleanup assistance.

After hearing about the latest delay, city councillors for the area, Mike Colle and Josh Matlow, held a press conference at the corner of

keep the doors open.“ Maureen Sirois, chair of the Eglinton Way BIA, said the funding is basically an extension of the current program.

“We appreciate that you [the provincial government] recognize there is an impact. We’re not ungrateful, but it’s not the same as direct compensation to businesses.” said Sirois.

Upon announcement of the delay in February, the York Eglinton BIA released a statement calling on the province and Metrolinx to provide a financial assistance program for small businesses affected by the delay, as well as ongoing mental health support for affected business

owners and their families.

Following Mulroney’s announcement, the BIA doubled down on its request for direct compensation for businesses, pointing to programs in Montreal and Quebec City where businesses impacted by lengthy construction projects were eligible to claim a maximum $30,000 per year in compensation if they could prove they suffered a significant drop in sales.

“We need political leadership from the government of Ontario to launch a financial compensation program to directly support our small businesses suffering from years of financial hardship,” said Nick Alampi, chair of the York-Eglinton BIA. Mulroney’s letter also noted that Metrolinx will work with the Ministry of Transportation to explore the feasibility of opening portions of the LRT before the entire line is completed, so that businesses and residents can reap the rewards sooner. It’s something Colle had called for in February, mentioning the possibility of opening the line between Cedarvale station (formerly Eglinton West) and Mount Dennis earlier than the rest of the line.

“From the beginning they said they were going to open up the whole thing at once. But at the beginning they thought the whole thing would be built by 2020, then 2021, now 2022, so who knows when,” said Colle. “That’s why I think we have to look at a Plan B here.”

— David Olsen

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THREE GOOD THINGS 1. Toronto musicians are amongst the hardest hit by COVID-19 as entire concert tours, the major source of revenue for many artists, disappeared overnight.

There are many initiatives underway to try to help, and one of the latest and most exciting is URGNT — a live stream concert series where many of the city’s most prominent musicians perform in the city’s most iconic venues, DIY and indie spaces.

The series is led by the always active Mark Marczyk of the Lemon Bucket Orkestra. Confirmed artists include Measha Brueggergosman, Quique Escamilla, Digging Roots, Moscow Apartment, Skratch Bastid, Han Han, Okan, Allison Au Quartet, Gryphon Trio and Lemon Bucket Orkestra performing in venues such as the Great Hall, Lula Lounge, The Dakota Tavern and others. The first show was scheduled for March 20 live from The Great Hall. A live stream link will be available at URGNT.ca, Maclean’s and iHeartRadio.

2. Canadian celebrities such as Bianca Andreescu and Ryan Reynolds

are beginning to step up to do their part to flatten the curve and take care of our most vulnerable people.

Tennis icon and Mississauga native Bianca Andreescu is raising money in her own way to help flatten the curve by donating a signed racket for a giveaway to raise money for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s (CDP) COVID-19 Response Fund.

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively are also doing their part. The celebrity couple recently announced they’ll be donating a million dollars to help with COVID-19 relief.

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According to information provided by Sunnybrook, the team was able to culture the virus from two clinical specimens in a level 3 containment facility.

“We need key tools to develop solutions to this pandemic. While the immediate response is crucial, longer-term solutions come from

essential research into this novel virus,” said Dr. Samira Mubareka, microbiologist and infectious diseases physician at Sunnybrook.

According to the statement, the isolated virus will help researchers in Canada and across the world develop better diagnostic testing, treatments and vaccines and gain a better understanding of SARSCoV-2 biology, evolution and clinical shedding.

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Dr. Arinjay Banerjee, NSERC post-doctoral fellow at McMaster University, said he knows the collaboration won’t stop there.

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to be unsafe and think it’s an invitation for criminal activity.”

Wong-Tam said City of Toronto Municipal Licensing & Standards (MLS) has investigated the properties following complaints. She said the owner applied for a demolition permit for the properties in 2019, but the application was deemed incomplete.

The properties are classified as rental housing, so the owner must specifically apply for a rental demolition permit.

Wong-Tam said the city is ready to expedite the work needed to approve the application once the proper paperwork is received. She said city staff believes there should be at least six rental units in the buildings, and they would have to be replaced.

“What I think the dilemma is here is that they do not want to build the rental replacements, and it can be said that this is not the first time that we’ve seen property owners wanting to demolish rental apartments and then not replace them. This is exactly why the rental replacement program exists,” she added. “If everyone was able to tear down rental apartments simply because they wanted to, then the crisis of the lack of rental housing in the city would be far worse.”

— D.O.

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A group of dilapidated properties in Forest Hill about which residents have long complained could be demolished soon, but the city’s rental replacement program could be at odds with the current owner’s plans.

The properties, located at 3 to 19 Thelma Ave., are currently vacant, and according to a local resident, have fallen into various states of disrepair.

“In the last year and a half, things have started to get really bad there where he has an invasion of foxes, actually, that were coming out of the ravine and going to these properties,” said a resident on the same street, who asked to remain anonymous.

“Raccoons were inhabiting the property –– like, families of raccoons, stray animals, skunks. It’s been quite a mess.”

The properties are located in Ward 12. However, the councillor for the ward, Josh Matlow, has recused himself from the issue, leaving the matter to councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. “The concern of the local residents is that, because the properties are vacant, perhaps they could be breached and vandalism can take place, and so they don’t want to see vacant and abandoned properties on the street,” she said. “They believe it

SPRING 2020

Forest Hill homes could be demolished

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FOCUS

From Hunny Pot to Superette to a slew of little known stores, family-friendly midtown ’hoods bracing for influx by Ron Johnson Recently, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) website featured a ream of new cannabis notices, including 20 in the city of Toronto. Although the majority are in the downtown core, there are a number of businesses in new areas such as the main street strip along Eglinton Avenue near Yonge Street.

The AGCO publishes notices of all new liquor and cannabis retail applications in the province. It allows residents to see if anything is coming to their neighbourhood, and allows them to comment whether or not they want such an establishment.

For instance, the Hunny Pot Cannabis Co. has put in applications to open two retail outlets in north Toronto.

Hunny Pot established the city’s first cannabis store at 202 Queen St. W. on April 1, 2019.

One proposed outlet, at 2591 Yonge St., is a main street space formerly home to upscale women’s clothing store Carbon. The store is

four blocks from North Toronto Collegiate and John Fisher Public School. The second store would be located at 2103 Yonge St. along a strip of two- and three-storey storefronts, a few blocks south of Eglinton near Manor Road.

Hunny Pot announced an expansion effort at the end of February, when the company opened its second store in Burlington, and is now set to move into midtown Toronto.

“As it stands right now, there are no legal retail stores in midtown, yet the demand for a store is great,” said Cameron Brown, spokesperson for the Hunny Pot Cannabis Co. “We wanted to expand north and provide new neighbourhoods access to cannabis. By opening stores in midtown, we’re able to connect with and educate new audiences through in-store interactions.

We’re looking forward to becoming a part of the midtown community and creating meaningful connections in the

neighbourhood.”

There is also an application for the shop Hi Class Dispensary at 527 Eglinton Ave. W. The location will be familiar to some, as it is the former location of illegal dispensary Canna Clinic that ran for a significant period of time prior to legalization, and was raided on multiple occasions by the Toronto Police Service.

Across the street, the Second Cup at the corner of Eglinton and Heddington Avenue will be converted to a cannabis retail outlet as part of the coffee company’s strategy. There has been some concern expressed by local residents via social media and to the business improvement association.

In addition, Maureen Sirois, of the Eglinton Way BIA, said there was another application further west on Eglinton that was refused by the province due to its proximity to a local school.

She said the BIA has been looking to local councillors and the

Here is a snapshot of a few of the new stores heading our way SUPERETTE When Superette opened in Ottawa, the owners chose a location in the trendy Westboro and Hintonburg areas of Ottawa.

And the company’s Summerhill location will offer much of the same vibe. The store is set to open soon in the former home of the Roots flagship store at 1073 Yonge St., south of Macpherson Avenue. Superette is one cannabis retail store that is bucking the trend and offering a bright, fun and vibrant retail space. It was founded by Mimi Lam alongside her partner Drummond Munro, who grew up in Lawrence Park and now lives on Delisle Avenue, a couple of blocks from the location.

INSALATA This cannabis retail outlet is proposed for 1331 St. Clair Ave. W., which is a former location of Don Quixote Restaurant at the corner of St. Clair Avenue West and St. Clarens Avenue.

DOLLY’S CANNABIS This cannabis retail outlet is proposed for 1105 Bathurst St. just north of Dupont Street.

HI CLASS DISPENSARY Proposed for 527 Eglinton Ave. W., this cannabis retailer is setting up shop at the former location of Canna Clinic near Warren Road.

SPRING 2020

Cannabis retailers pushing to expand outside of the downtown core

CANNABIS RETAIL HITS MIDTOWN

| POST |

Clockwise from left: Hunny Pot is opening two stores in midtown, Superette is set to hit Summerhill and Maureen Sirois of the Eglinton Way BIA

province for guidance on the issue, and they have heard from some concerned local residents.

“We don’t have a lot of say, that’s the problem,” Sirois explained. “It’s a tough situation. We are a community that has to live and work together.

Brown, however, said that he has only heard positive feedback from local residents.

“The announcement of our new locations has been met with nothing but enthusiasm from midtown residents. Many are excited to have a local store, and there’s a lot of anticipation around the new stores opening,” he said. “A lot of the discomfort associated with cannabis comes from misinformation and stigma. Our goal at Hunny Pot is to end both.”

The company has also had to adjust its operations to reflect COVID-19 safety measures. But that has not deterred Brown and Hunny Pot from pressing forward in expansion mode.

“As a result of COVID-19, we've grown increasingly proactive in how we approach our day-to-day operations. As the situation continues to evolve, we have been updating our protocols and procedures to ensure our customers and team members remain safe at all times,” he said. “Recently, we introduced a new service, Click and Collect, that allows customers to place orders for their desired products online through our website, and they will be ready for pickup. Because of this new service, we have the ability to reduce the number of people in the store at all times, while still providing our customers with convenient access to products. We have moved to Click and Collect services for the time being.”

Brown said Hunny Pot will also adjust its one-on-one customer experiences to maintain social distance. Hunny Pot has eliminated guided experiences and gone cashless as well.

“As the situation continues to evolve, we will be taking the necessary measures to keep our store a safe place for all. We will be doing our part to ensure we flatten the curve, while still providing for our customers,” he said.

Other proposed cannabis retail outlets include Insalata at 1331 St. Clair Ave. W., and Dolly’s Cannabis at 1105 Bathurst St., just north of Dupont Street. The posted deadline for local residents to submit objections to the new locations in Toronto was between March 19 and 24 depending on the specific address.

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NEIGHBOURHOOD BUSINESS

Music studio celebrates anniversary Plus a much-loved sushi shop relocates Running a small business in Toronto is challenging at the best of times, but the COVID-19 outbreak is making it even more difficult for independent operators to stay afloat.

As you read our business news updates this month, consider that these neighbourhood spots could use our support more than ever during the ongoing public health crisis.

ROLLIAN SUSHI has moved to a new location just

© Renata Kaveh

south of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue.

Fortunately for regulars of the sushi spot, Rollian’s new home at 2584 Yonge St. isn’t far away from its previous location in Sunnybrook Plaza, which is set for demolition. The well-loved Leaside spot is known for its selection of quality sushi and sashimi, as well as other classic Japanese dishes such as chicken karaage, takoyaki and gyoza. During the COVID-19 closures, Rollian is offering delivery through DoorDash and is also providing a 20 per cent discount on takeout orders over $100 before tax.

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Hania Kuzbari’s jewellery will be available online in lieu of her pop-up

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Leaside’s YELLOW DOG MUSIC (416 Moore Ave.) is celebrating 30 years in business this year. First opened in 1990, the long-running studio provides an inventive approach to music learning. Catering to ages ranging from preschoolers to seniors, the school is geared toward students who prefer to shape their own music learning experience rather than follow traditional, conservatory-style lessons. The studio is switching to an online lesson format during the social distancing

period but will continue to offer online lesson options after in-studio classes resume.

FITSQR (215 Davenport Rd.) is now offering semi-

private group fitness classes in Yorkville. With creative circuit training sessions that last just 30 minutes, the gym aims to offer a fast, effective fitness solution for busy lifestyles. Although the new location is temporarily closed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, co-founders Jesse Dunphy and Ivana Krunic are live streaming 30-minute workout sessions beginning at 10 a.m. each morning on Instagram to help members (and potential future members) stay fit.

Although HANIA KUZBARI JEWELRY DESIGNS Yorkville Village pop-up has been put on hold, her handcrafted jewellery is still available online. Helmed by designer Hania Kuzbari, the collections are crafted from salvaged metals, as well as conflict-free diamonds and gemstones. In lieu of the pop-up, Kuzbari is also offering one-on-one video styling sessions.

Halal pizza chain PIZZA SHAB has opened a fourth location at Yonge and Davisville. Their pizza dough is made fresh daily and in addition to standard pies, Pizza Shab also offers special “rolling” pizzas, with toppings nestled inside, similar to a calzone. All four of the locations continue to be open for takeout and delivery during the COVID-19 restaurant shutdowns.

CRIME

NEWS

AREA BREAK-INS FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020 - CENTRAL TORONTO

WHERE

WHEN

TIME OF DAY

AVENUE RD. AND PEARS AVE.

FEB. 29

12 A.M.

KNOLLWOOD ST. AND FIFESHIRE RD.

MARCH 4

8 A.M.

WOBURN AVE. AND LEDBURY ST.

MARCH 4

11 A.M.

CHELMSFORD AVE. AND GREENWIN VILLAGE RD.

MARCH 4

11 P.M.

PRINCESS AVE. AND ESTELLE AVE.

MARCH 5

9 A.M.

HIGHGATE AVE. AND KINGSDALE AVE.

MARCH 5

3 P.M.

MONTRESSOR DR. AND MASTERS RD.

MARCH 5

7 P.M.

FENN AVE. AND GORDON RD.

MARCH 5

8 P.M.

LYTTON BLVD. AND PROUDFOOT AVE.

MARCH 6

4 P.M.

SENLAC RD. AND PARK HOME AVE.

MARCH 6

5 P.M.

OWEN BLVD. AND FENN AVE.

MARCH 8

4 P.M.

SANDRINGHAM DR. AND YONGE BLVD.

MARCH 9

3 A.M.

INVERMAY AVE. AND KING HIGH AVE.

MARCH 10

4 P.M.

BESSBOROUGH DR. AND ROLLAND RD.

MARCH 10

6 P.M.

BAYCREST AVE. AND RAJAH ST.

MARCH 10

10 P.M.

Mall robbers arrested Four people charged including three young offenders The Toronto Police Service (TPS) Hold Up Squad announced that it made five arrests in relation to a retail robbery at Yorkdale Shopping Centre earlier this month.

On March 6, at approximately 4:56 p.m., police officers responded to a call for a robbery at Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

According to police reports, five suspects entered the store while concealing their identities with surgical masks, hoodies and gloves. Four of the suspects were armed with hammers, which they used to break open several glass display cases.

One suspect got into a physical confrontation with the store security officer and assaulted him with a hammer. The suspects fled the scene without taking any property.

Hold Up Squad investigators, with the assistance of the K9 Unit, were able to track the suspects to a nearby location, according to TPS. Clothing and hammers were recovered.

A male accused, 35, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with robbery with offensive weapon, disguise with intent, conspiracy to commit indictable offence, obstruct peace officer, and possession of a schedule I substance.

The suspect appeared in court for a bail hearing on March 7.

Three 17-year-old male accused and one 14year-old male accused, who could not be identified as they are young offenders, were all also charged with a variety of similar offences. They also appeared in court for a bail hearing on March 7.

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male accused from Toronto has been charged with second-degree murder after a stabbing in the Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West area. On March 15, police responded to a medical call after a male suspect allegedly stabbed a male victim inside an apartment. The victim, a 43-year-old form Toronto, was transported to a local trauma centre and was pronounced deceased.

The male accused was arrested near the scene.

A 29-year-old

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male accused from Toronto has been arrested almost one year after a shooting in the area of Randolph Avenue and Perth Avenue. On March 19, police responded to a call of a shooting. Police and paramedics located a male victim with apparent gunshot wounds. He was transported to a hospital with lifethreatening injuries and was later pronounced deceased. Toronto Police Service Homicide Squad made an arrest on March 12. He has been charged with one count of first-degree murder.

A 29-year-old

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Police Service is requesting public assistance identifying a male suspect as part of an assault causing bodily harm investigation following an incident in the area of Bloor Street West and Christie Street. On Oct. 5, 2019, at approximately 2:50 a.m., a 22-year-old male victim was assaulted. He sustained a head injury that required medical attention. A security camera image of the suspect has been released.

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CRIME BRIEFS The Toronto

TIRED of TAKE-OUT?

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13TH ANNUAL REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE SPONSORS

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2020

REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

HOST: Sangita Patel MODERATORS: Nikki Gill, Ron Johnson SEBASTIAN CLOVIS

Host of Save My Reno on HGTV Canada; Principal, Clovis & Co. Contracting BARRY COHEN

T.O.’s #1 agent over all competitors for sales volume $3-20M combined since 2012 ODEEN ECCLESTON

Co-founder (Wiltshire Homes Canada) & Broker of Record (WE Realty Inc.) BRIAN GLUCKSTEIN

Principal of Gluckstein Design MICHAEL KALLES

President, Harvey Kalles JENNIFER KEESMAAT

CEO, The Keesmaat Group BRAD LAMB

Developer, Lamb Development Corp.

MICHELE ROMANOW

Dragon on CBC’s Dragons’ Den; Co-founder & President, Clearbanc WILLIAM STRANGE SmartCentres Professor of Real Estate and Director - Centre for Real Estate and Urban Economics, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto BENJAMIN TAL

Deputy Chief Economist, CIBC Capital Markets

Our 13th Annual Real Estate Roundtable took place in front of a sold out live studio audience at the Rotman School of Management, when the storm clouds of COVID-19 were thought of as a distant problem predominantly impacting China, Iran and northern Italy, and still not affecting Canada the way we now know it has.

We have asked our roundtable participants to revise their predictions for the real estate market in the near future, which can be found at the end of the article.

Toronto. A lot of people can’t afford it. We also know that a lot of people don’t have the basics in terms of shelter and a roof over their heads, so with that in mind, we are donating $2,000 this evening to each of our sponsors’ charities of choice. The Re/Max collection has chosen the Children’s Miracle Network, and Great Gulp has chosen Habitat for Humanity.

On top of that, Post City Magazines and the Rotman School of Management will be donating a further $16,000 raised here SANGITA PATEL: I’m Sangita tonight to four local shelters: Seaton House, Patel. You may know me from Covenant House, Eva’s Phoenix, and the HGTV Canada’s Home to Win. Centre for Women and Trans People.

Welcome to the Post City OK. Let’s introduce the panel.

Magazines and Rotman Real Estate's roundMichael Kalles, Brian Gluckstein, Odeen table. This marks the 13th roundtable and the Eccleston, Brad Lamb, Benjamin Tal, Jennifer second time we’re in front of a live audience Keesmaat, Sebastian Clovis, Michele Rohere at Rotman. In addition to the live event, manow, Barry Cohen and William Strange. the roundtable will also be made into a podThis year's event will be moderated by Post cast, video and web series and will be the City Magazines managing editor, Nikki Gill, cover story of the April edition of Post City and editorial director, Ron Johnson.

Magazines.

This is unscripted, unrehearsed. They don’t For the first time this evening, we’ll be in- even know what the questions are. It could be cluding three video questions from Rotman anything about their dating lives, whatever students and that will happen at the halfway you like. But here we’re going to be talking point. We will discuss investing and buying about the hottest topic that we all want to real estate in Toronto, and I’m really excited know about: the Toronto real estate market. to be here because I’m in the midst of selling my house and hopefully building my dream NIKKI GILL: To begin our 2020 roundtable, home. we’ve asked economist Benjamin Tal to offer We know how difficult it is to buy in his current state of the market. Benjamin?

BENJAMIN TAL: Well, I don’t know.

No, really. I don’t know. Listen, everything was very clear until a few weeks ago, so let me start with the virus because everybody wants to know, and I spent the last few days talking to doctors to figure out what’s happening. The consensus is that you cannot stop it. You cannot stop it the way you cannot stop the wind.

It will get worse before it gets better: that’s the consensus. Now, what we know about it: the mortality rate is much lower than SARS but the infection rate is much, much higher. We also know, from an economic perspective, starting with SARS in 2003, that China was much smaller and not as interconnected with the global economy.

Back then, the stock market was down and looking for a reason to go up. Today the stock market was looking for a reason to go down, and they got the reason, as you know.

Nobody knows, but if we assume that a year from now, maybe we will not be talking about it, we can say a few things about real estate, regardless of the virus. I think what will happen is that the next few months will be dominated by this story, and then people will see that things are stabilizing, and a year from now, we will not be talking about it.

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HOST & PANELLISTS

SPRING 2020

OUR EXPERTS DISCUSS REAL ESTATE IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES. IS IT TIME TO BUY, SELL OR HOLD?

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COVER STORY

2020 REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

Given that real estate is a long-term investment, that’s actually a good thing –– to focus on real estate despite what’s happening. Let’s do that.

Real estate has nine lives. Every time that it’s supposed to slow down, something bad happens that keeps interest rates lower and lower, and that’s exactly what happened with this virus. Interest rates are now going down, not up. A few months ago, nobody was talking about the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates. Now the Bank of Canada is talking about cutting interest rates.

It’s actually very reasonable that the Bank of Canada [interest rate], because of the virus, will be cut twice in the next few months. That’s 50 basis points. The fiveyear rate is going down, the 10-year rate is going down. In the U.S. it is at a record low.

So this kind of uncertainty, in a very weird way, might help real estate vis-à-vis lower interest rates. The economy as a whole was not strong to start with, and now it will get weaker, but clearly — and I said that will be something that people will be looking at as a safe haven — it will be real estate that’s linked to low-interest rates.

Therefore I believe that, if this market is strong enough, it might be even stronger a year from now, enjoying the benefit of lower interest rates.

NIKKI: Barry, you’ve got boots on the ground. Is that what you’re seeing with buyers heading into the spring market?

And also we heard a rumour that Harry and Meghan might be shopping in The Bridle Path –– is that true?

BARRY COHEN: I didn’t start that rumour. If you look back at 2018 as being the corrective year, and then 2019 had a four per cent price increase, we’re now, at this time, same time last year, closer to 14 per cent, 12 to 14 per cent price increase, so that’s a little identification of what’s to come. I believe right now there are about three and a half months of inventory in real estate reported through the Toronto Real Estate Board’s greater market.

But in central Toronto, it’s more like two months. I think, as we head into the spring market, we could be close to one and a half months [of ] a seller’s market.

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WILLIAM STRANGE: Well — and this is

following up Benny’s point — if coronavirus continues to spread as it is (and I am a professor but of economics, not epidemiology; I also can’t make a radio out of a coconut like in Gilligan's Island), what we know about viruses in the past is that they [are] reason for the macroeconomy to contract. As with the stock market looking for a reason to go down, the macroeconomy is in a 10-year boom, and 10-year booms end, usually after nine years.

MICHAEL KALLES: Well, I’d like to start

with a bold statement, and that is that Toronto is a world city. Not going to be, not maybe, it is today. I think we have to put 16

Q&A

ROTMAN MBA STUDENT ANDREW JI: As a new immigrant to Canada, I realized the inflow of immigrants contributed quite a bit to the real estate market, with Canada welcoming almost a quarter million new immigrants per year and a majority of them settling in our major city. I would like to ask the panellists: what are you guys’ takes on the impact of immigration to our real estate market? Is the trend going to continue or go a different direction?

Anything on that?

JENNIFER KEESMAAT: The challenge in our market is a supply one. We have a broad consensus in the Canadian context that immigration is good. We see the value that new immigrants bring to this country, and there’s a whole movement, actually, to significantly increase immigration in our city in order to respond to growing workforce [demand] and to grow the economy.

I think there’s a broad, shared consensus that we have a very serious supply problem magnified by the fact that we’re very popular.

How do we fix that one? That’s a really tricky one: it needs some innovation. The challenge is, if we don’t have the infrastructure and we don’t have supply, then there is going to be pushback around newcomers coming into our country. It leads to social division, which is why this question of unlocking supply is not a frivolous semitone.

into perspective that we have 170,000 people coming to the city of Toronto over the next three years.

To put that in context, a tower went up just south of Bloor and Yonge street, 1,000 suites, and 2,000 people lived in that building. Took eight years from connection to completion, and that handled the immigration for Toronto for 10 days. Eight years for 10 days. It gives you an idea of what’s happening in the city of Toronto.

RON JOHNSON: All right. The next question: the average price of any home in Toronto, from condos to detached homes, is now almost a million dollars. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment hit $2,300 in January. Has affordability become a crisis and what can be done?

JENNIFER KEESMAAT: Well, sure. One of the ways that you measure whether a place is affordable or sustainable over time [is whether] there’s a connection between salaries and the cost of housing. When

those two things detach –– when the amount people earn no longer allows them to live in the city where they are earning the money –– that’s when you see a crisis emerge, because you need money from elsewhere for people to be able to live and work here.

We know that’s happened. We know it’s not possible to be properly housed now or access housing. Forget home ownership if you're making between $60,000 and $100,000 a year.

We have a very strong health-care sector in this city. We have hospitals with nurses and admin staff. Where will those nurses live? Where will teachers live? Where will people in middle management live? Where will people in the tech industry live in this city?

Is that a crisis when the cost of housing is completely detached from the amount of money people who live and work in this city — and who we need to live and work in this city — make? Yeah, I would say that’s a crisis because we don’t want to become San

Francisco, but that’s exactly where we’re going.

MICHELE ROMANOW: Just on the San Francisco point, we are actually in many ways worse off. In San Francisco, in the tech sector where I’m from, there has been very meaningful salary appreciation.

I’m talking about first-year engineers getting paid $190,000 in the Valley –– that would probably be closer to $100,000 here in Canada. As property prices have risen there, so have effective salaries. That actually hasn’t happened in Toronto, exacerbating this gap you’re talking about.

A lot of people call on the tech sector, saying: “You’re the leaders. You’re the ones driving up commercial real estate,” but you know, we’re actually really struggling.

My employees tell me, “My minimum to live in this city is $70K now.” There are lots of people at tech companies who have to start way below that for us to build a business that’s reasonable. I do think we have a huge problem with affordability.

BARRY: If there isn’t a crisis now, it’s just

around the corner. If you look back at what our government did, they messed up where they tried to suppress the demand by introducing policies for a tax and the stress test as opposed to creating more supplies. What our government has done is that they’ve frozen all the land around the GTA so there’s no room for expansion.

BENJAMIN: Yeah. I think that we are in a crisis, and it’s getting worse and worse and worse. We have to wake up. We have to do something, and it’s urgent because young people simply cannot afford housing. I do believe that Toronto, like Vancouver, will never be affordable.

We had a correction in 2017–18, a nice correction, a healthy correction. Is Toronto affordable now? That’s the correction we are going to get driving the cycle. But the trend is very clear. It’s up.

It’s up because of demographics. It’s up because of many other reasons we can talk about.

I was in Ottawa just last week talking to some very important people, and guess what solutions people are talking about?

One of them was mentioning cutting immigration. I’m serious. This is not just a junior person. People are desperate.

Of course, we are not going to do it because it would be madness, I think. But we have to wake up to the reality that we need to do something on the supply side.

BRAD LAMB: All right. So the horse has left the barn. The door’s closed. There’s nothing we can do in a meaningful way to make the city affordable again. It’s going to be unaffordable. The question is, how unaffordable?

Now when … in 2005, I conceived of a building at 9 King, and the highest I could get that building, the largest I could get that building, was 16 floors.

2020 REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

It was a massive fight with the thencouncillor and the planning department.

Today [the building] is surrounded by highrise towers varying from 35 to 45 storeys. Those approvals happened within four or five years of my approval. The problem — and it's not just here, it’s in virtually any city with a [housing] crisis: you read about San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, it’s the same — the [problem is that] planning departments and the local councillors are living in the past. That building I could only get 16 floors for should have been 30 or 35.

Now it’s a wasted opportunity.

It’s a meaningful change, for us. It means that we can possibly bring prices down five or eight per cent. That’s how this problem is going to be solved, in small increments.

We all need to lobby this city, councillors and planners, or clear-cut them because they’re living in the past.

very, very large cash down payments. It’s very difficult for someone today to buy an apartment and rent it, even with 25 per cent down, and come even close to breaking even. And so, you know, we’ve looked at doing apartment buildings across the GTA, and there are only a few areas where they work, but they absolutely will not work downtown. And you’re going to see very, very few of them built going forward.

RON: Benjamin?

BENJAMIN: Two things about it. First,

BRAD: That’s true. Infrastructure is the purview of the city, and it’s absurd to me that the city engineers have been aware of

the fact that on Richmond Street, as well and on King Street, we have a 140-year-old sewer system. That’s just crazy.

We have generated billions of dollars in our industry for exactly that purpose. I am just curious as to why we haven’t actioned that money. But I’ll say this: I built a building right next to this Gehry thing that’s been approved. It’s the most absurd approval I’ve ever heard of in my life. I’m pro density, and this is madness.

So of course, a 90-storey tower is too much. We’re not asking, as developers, to go from 45 to 90. We’re not asking for 20 floors to 40 floors. We’re asking [to go from] six to nine. It makes all the difference in the world. It's the little increases.

BRIAN GLUCKSTEIN: I’ll be quicker. Two things I was thinking of when we talked about affordability. My first house, which was not that long ago, I bought it for $419,000, and that was a lot of money. That was at the high end of the first-time buyer in midtown. That house sold a year ago for $2.8 million –– that is not a first-time homebuyer anymore, so the demographic has changed so much in that neighbourhood. When I moved into that neighbourhood, it was young doctors, professional people, a lot of professors from the university. They are not buying $2.8 million houses as their first.

So much of the city has changed. The other thing is that the number of our projects that we’re building is changing from condos to purpose-built rentals. To me, that is the only secure rental living. You can rent a condo, but six months from now your landlord could sell it and flip it.

If we want real housing for people that can’t afford to buy, we must change some of these buildings and work with the private sector and the government to build affordable housing. But purpose-built rentals are a real change to our business.

ODEEN ECCLESTON: Yes. In talking about solutions to this crisis, to piggyback on what Brad said: I think it’s important to work with the legislators within the 905 to expand. For example, we’re building on 16 acres right now, my company. We wanted to build eight houses on 16 acres, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but because a part of it is in the Greenbelt, they only approved us to do two.

Just in general, there needs to be some sort of alleviation in terms of the Greenbelt as well. I think that could be a solution, and then [also have] … legislators work with builders to encourage purpose-built rentals, because right now obviously it’s a lot more lucrative for us to build a certain type of product.

RON: OK. We got some questions emailed in and I’m going to direct one of those to Brad. A few members commented, saying the rent they collect on a condo is already not covering the cost of carrying that condo. If the supply of rental housing increases, will this put downward pressure on rents, making it more affordable but also making condos a worse investment?

BRAD: So there was a period around 2015,

2016 where purpose-built rentals worked in the core, even south of maybe Lawrence down to waterfront, DVP and Dufferin.

You cannot make the economics work anymore. Land prices are too high. Construction prices are too high. It’s not possible to build any meaningful amount of housing in the core and rent it. So the problem is this individual is going to buy a 500-square-foot apartment for $700,000, so one bedroom.

And it'll rent, you know, when it’s finished in three or four years for $2,500.

Unless the person buys it with 60 per cent or 70 per cent down, they’re going to lose money every month. So the people who are buying these condominiums and floor plans and who are building the city are people who are buying in relative cash, who have

RON: Sebastian, and then we’ll go to Michael.

SEBASTIAN CLOVIS: Yeah. I don’t mean to

SPRING 2020

Host Sangita Patel

those investors in the condo space, you know, they don’t see [this argument] … and we spoke to many of them. I asked them, “Are you crazy? You’re losing money? Why are you doing it?” And they said, “You don’t get it. It’s not a GIC. It’s a long-term play.”

And they’re right. If we are all agreeing that Toronto will never become affordable, this means that, over time, condo prices will be even higher. So this is not speculation, this is smart investing. So if you basically lose some money, you don’t. Somebody else is paying 50 per cent of your mortgage. That’s the way they see it. Therefore, despite the fact that more than 50 per cent of investors are in negative cash flow, they’re not selling the way people expected them to sell. So this is a long-term play, and they know what they’re doing.

Regarding purpose built, I totally agree, that’s the future. And 2019 is a very important year because we have seen a significant jump in purpose built from about 5,000 to about 12,000 with 57,000 in the pipelines.

This is huge. This is very, very important because the new wave of rentals will be families with young kids. They don’t want to deal with a landlord who tomorrow will kick them out. They want to deal with the company. They need stability. The same goes for baby boomers who will be downsizing. They need stability. They want the company.

So if the condo space was the rental space, it’s starting to change. And that’s a very good thing. Now what we need to do is to encourage them [developers] to do it.

So we need HST, we need development charges. We need to do something to make sense out of this investment because, at this point, correct me if I’m wrong, if you don’t own the land, you don’t make money as a builder. We need to change it. And I think that’s the future because I do believe that the future of real estate in Toronto is not owning, it’s actually renting.

change the conversation, but I don’t know anyone who’s buying condos right now. So I have to change it to the residential conversation in terms of what people are doing with their renovations in just their [own] homes. Because I think the way people are buying their homes is changing. And the types of renovations they’re doing is changing as well.

17 | POST |

JENNIFER: I actually don’t disagree with

everything that Brad said, which is a bit refreshing. But I believe that we should be looking very carefully at how we can put as much density as possible in every part, in every corner of the city. But there’s a big, big catch.

When the Mirvish+Gehry proposal came forward, I went down the hall to the head of Toronto Water: three 90-storey towers on a site that we had never conceived of having that much growth. I asked Lou Di Gironimo, the head of Toronto Water at the time, “Lou, will the toilets flush on Super Bowl Sunday?”

I found out that underneath King Street is the original infrastructure from when it was first built in the late 1800s, and the water actually travels through wooden pipes along King Street. Lou looked at me, and he said, “Well, let me go do some work.” He went and did some work. He came back, and he said, “Look, the toilets will flush in the Mirvish+Gehry project, but not if you have another project like this one. They won’t.”

This gets to the point of broader infrastructure. This is why planners get their backs up because planners stand in front of the room at public meetings when people say, “Hey, stop approving new projects because there’s zero capacity on transit [and] the neighbourhood park is overrun with dogs and dog urine, because it’s a tiny little park that was never designed for the amount of density that exists.” My point is we must be thinking about planning to communicate with the infrastructure that you need to ensure those communities, quite frankly, don’t become really unpleasant and undesirable places to live.

If we don’t link the growth to infrastructure, then I think you get the concern that you heard in Ottawa. People start saying stop growth, and that’s desperation. I don’t think that’s a response, that we don’t want new people. It's that we don’t have the infrastructure.

COVER STORY

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MICHAEL: It’s interesting. I was

doing a hard hat tour in Manhattan, and they do things completely differently: a developer can’t sell units until it’s built. I’ll give an example in Toronto: 1 Yorkville came out at $750 a foot. Today it’s worth, we’ll say $1,500. It’s doubled. So that lift belongs to the investor, not the developer. A developer effectively is leaving all of the capital appreciation on the table for the investor. On a purpose built — and I think Brad brings up a great point — there’s return and then there’s capital appreciation. Even with high

WILLIAM STRANGE: Well, one thing we

need to do is we need to stop thinking about the infrastructure problem as a building stuff problem and instead think about it as a pricing problem. For instance, with roads, we can’t build enough roads: more people will just drive on them. What we need to do is charge people for them.

ROTMAN MBA STUDENT SHANNON WOODS: We have seen a housing crash in Toronto before: in 1990, for example. What do you think the biggest risk factors are that could drive another crash?

BENJAMIN TAL: Well, that’s a very good question. And the ’91 crash, of course, was because of higher interest rates. Interest rates back then went up to the sky. In every economic recession, every housing market crash was caused by monetary policy in which central banks raised rates too quickly and too much. That’s exactly what happened in 2008 and clearly in 1991 in Canada.

Now, the question, of course, is where interest rates are going. The risk is that interest rates will be rising. The issue is that going over a decade of this kind of activity with extremely low interest rates can generate a bit of a problem. So we have a debt problem to an extent, I think, that is exaggerated. But clearly, we are much more sensitive to the risk of higher interest rates than we were in any other time in history.

Every basis point counts. This euphoric housing market over the past almost two decades was in part due to extremely low interest rates. So the effectiveness of interest rates is asymmetrical. Lower interest rates cannot lift you, but higher interest rates can kill you. .

rent in Yorkville, you’re going to lose money on a monthly basis. The hope is you’re going to get it on capital appreciation. And if a developer holds on to a purpose built, it becomes effectively an annuity, and that can be sold into the future.

NIKKI: OK. We’re going to move on to the next section now. Mayor John Tory recently said, in an infomercial, that seniors have to open their minds to creating and renting out suites in their homes to make life in Toronto affordable. Brian, is this something that you’re seeing in areas like Rosedale and Lawrence Park?

BRIAN: No, no. There is nothing like that.

That is a market, you know. We talk about affordability. It’s a market that is steamrolling along. I mean, that’s a part of our business, the luxury market.

I'm always astonished at the prices of what’s going on in the city — not only in the city, but in the cottage country. It’s not

unusual for someone to spend more on a cottage than the most expensive house in a city.

We’re not seeing that at all. It [a rental suite] is actually discouraged in those neighbourhoods, but when we come to affordability and talking about a gap, it’s unbelievable the prices. Just from an infrastructure standpoint — you know, I’ve been in this business for a long time — the city has changed so drastically in just this century that you couldn’t even build the infrastructure as fast as we would need it. The whole skyline has changed. People come to the city, friends of mine from New York or Boston, they can’t even believe it’s the same city. You look out and it’s just cranes. I was driving on the Gardiner Expressway: I couldn’t even count the cranes. You couldn’t build transit as fast as we’re building these towers. I don’t know what the solution is.

You can’t say stop building them, but how do you build the infrastructure at the pace we’re building the towers?

BRIAN: We can’t even keep up. Like, we build more houses around the perimeter of the city; we can’t get them in the city. You’re standing on subway platforms when a train comes, and you can’t get on it. So how much more can you build with the few lines we currently have? I mean, my clients don’t take public transit so much. But, you know, they have drivers, but even they get stuck in traffic. I don’t know what to say. I mean, the best thing would be to build condos without parking, so we don’t have parking garages full of cars [and] people think they’re going to go from Eglinton to Wellington in their car. But they don’t want to stand on a subway platform for three trains to go by. I have a client that, literally, his chauffeur drives them to the Bloor Street subway station because the traffic is so bad. It must be quite a sight … And at the end of the day, their chauffeur is sitting there at the subway station to take them because the car can’t even go anywhere if the traffic is so bad. But they can’t take it at St. Clair or at Eglinton because you’re standing on a platform for four trains. It's not working right now.

RON: Jennifer and then Brad.

JENNIFER: So it’s kind of inter-

esting what’s happening in this conversation because, on the one hand, there’s been this narrative, “Build, build, build. We need more supply.” But then, on the other side, what Brian said is actually the opposite: “The whole city is changing right before our very eyes.” And it is. I’ve had the same experience with friends where they’re, like, “I’ve never been here before.” And I was, like, “We had dinner here two years ago.” And they’re looking around. They … [say], “No, I have never been here.” And it’s because the city has completely changed in a three-year period, which is a reflection of the fact that we actually are building very, very quickly. So it’s not like we have a problem in that we’re just not building enough supply given the insatiable amount of demand that exists.

But I’m really glad you told the subway story and the chauffeur story, in particular, not only because it's a great one to repeat, but because it reinforces the point that we only have a little bit of the infrastructure that we need. You can’t do your whole trip on transit. You can only do part of it, which, for most of us, you kind of need to do the whole trip.

I’ve lived at Yonge and Eglinton, and when I moved into my neighbourhood, we moved actually into a smaller home, closer to the subway, so that we could go down to one car [and] live the dream, walking to work, doing all these great things.

SPRING 2020

RON: OK. Michael?

Q&A

COVER STORY

| POST |

And perhaps that’s indicative of the crisis, the affordability, because, you know, the era of buying and flipping homes is long gone.

Nobody’s doing that anymore, right?

Everybody is buying homes now, and they are renovating their homes to stay in their homes. They’re renovating homes for themselves, and they’re renovating with their kids in mind, because there’s a lot of, you know, parents in this city and in this country, I’m sure, living with adult children in the house because … [the children] work in the city, and can’t afford their own homes or are not interested in buying out in the 905 and Pickering and Ajax, and having a two-hour commute. Everyone is trying to buy homes that only have income property potential.

You know, the number of income properties we’re [doing] … we’re trying to squeeze them into every closet. Any way we can get an airbnb, if we could just rent that bedroom out for a weekend, that’s going to help with the mortgage, and that’s what people are really looking at. But as a whole, while people are still spending a lot of money on those renovations, they are custom renovations. It’s very expensive, the cost of renovations has gone up a lot. We got "terrorists" right now who are killing the renovation industry. You know, engineered quartz is so expensive, metal is so expensive, wood is so expensive. Ask any of the roofer guys, they’re having a hard time getting that metal in here to run the eavestroughs and all that stuff. So the cost of renovations is going up.

And at the same time, we're running into a problem — just speaking for the builders in the room, if there are any but we’re running into a problem with skilled workers.

We don’t have young guys [sic] coming into the industry who are interested and putting their heart into building in the same way that the O.G.s were doing it.

But that is a problem because we don’t have the $20 an hour, $25 an hour guys anymore. We’ve got the $45 an hour guy doing all the work. We’re holding down the entire renovation, which is pushing the cost up, which is making it very expensive for anyone to renovate in this city. And so the renovations are smaller in scope, and very focused. I’m building homes right now for people that are planning to pass that along to their kids.

2020 REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

19

COVER STORY

2020 REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

hold on to everything, you’d never make a mistake. Nobody’s ever said, “I’ve made a mistake in buying.” They’ve always said selling was the mistake. I’ve met many people who own the first house they’ve ever had. They just refinance and refinance.

And an amazing thing happened over that first five years that we were living there.

The first year, it was sort of OK to get downtown during rush hour. But by the second and third year, we would stand on the platform and the trains would go by.

Which is why opening the Greenbelt isn’t really the [solution] because there are no jobs out there. And the reason why we can’t get on the platform at Yonge and Eglinton is because the train is completely full already. It’s like 87 per cent full at Finch –– Finch, the beginning.

BRIAN: And I think people are somewhat deluded in thinking, “I’m going to buy at Yonge and Eglinton: I work downtown at Bay Street, and it’s fabulous. I have a great walking area at Yonge and Eglinton. Now, it’s going to happen at Yonge and St. Clair.”

But that’s the situation they’re telling us, even employees of mine saying, “Brian, I walk. I just walk if the weather’s nice. I can’t get on the train.” You can’t add thousands of more units on top of that hub at that corner and expect them to get on the train.

And they’re not driving and they’re not willing to wait for the fifth bus. So what is the solution? We can’t add more and more and more.

BRAD: So there are 125 cranes

in Toronto right now. There are more cranes in Toronto than any other city in the free world.

The top four cities in the United States don’t add up to 125 cranes, including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.

We have a lot of cranes.

JENNIFER: We’re building.

| POST | S P R I N G 2 0 2 0

BRAD: And that’s a good thing. So where

20

do we want to build? So there was an idea that we need to free up the Greenbelt.

That’s a bad idea. There’s not enough infrastructure. Our problem in Canada is we’re a massive country, but we live in a very narrow belt. And that’s why infrastructure is so expensive. So we need to cluster in the cities. We need to make the cities walkable.

People need to walk to work. We need to walk around, even at Yonge and St. Clair, walk to a Bloor Street job. All year long, you can walk. Ride your bike, that’s OK too. But it’s far cheaper to rebuild the infrastructure where the infrastructure is than to build new infrastructure. So we can put our hands up and say, “There’s no f**king solution.

Let’s all give up and leave.” But that’s not the answer. The answer is there’s a solution.

[There are] a lot of smart people in Toronto. The solution is we need to increase the density in the downtown core.

We need to get people off the roads, and we need better infrastructure. Add more cars to the train. I don’t know how long subways [are] … I haven’t ridden it in 20 years, but I got to say, it’s got to be 10 or so cars. You know, add more power, add more trains, make them more frequent, and we have to create more subway lines, maybe more subway lines above the ground and below the

MICHELE: Yeah. I think I am, like, the aver-

From left: Brad Lamb, Odeen Eccleston and Brian Gluckstein

ground. But there is a solution, and the solution is we need to be in cities. We can’t live in the country in Canada. We’re too far apart.

BRIAN: We see that in the area of Dufferin

and Eglinton, which was all warehouses and industrial buildings. And now, it’s become design districts, and it’s advertising agencies, design sources. You know, huge, huge buildings are converted into retail and offices and cool spaces. Now, we need to move some of the housing into those areas also, so it’s not all these low industrial buildings that you can see for days that are the showrooms from Davenport. All the design firms, they’re moving up there. Their employees are complaining. They’re now Ubering their staff up there because they can’t get up there. But maybe we should build housing in some of those areas and rethink this. We did it in the city, the city that everyone worked in and left. And now we’re creating great areas that are vital during the day but everyone leaves. Let’s build some housing in some of those areas.

BRAD: Right. So by the way, I’m not saying that, for me, downtown isn’t, you know, the eight blocks. I consider up where you are talking about the city.

BRIAN: But there’s no housing.

BRAD: Of course there is. There’s housing

going up and down Dufferin. There’s tons of housing there.

JENNIFER: OK, talk to me about it. Duf-

ferin Street is currently being completely redeveloped because we’ve put a plan in place in keeping with our avenue strategy to intensify the corridor. So you can go to Dufferin Street, and you will see there’s a fantastic new development … some of which is in the approvals process, some of which is under construction, and there’s a couple of buildings already built. We’re in the process of doing that, and to your point,

Brad, we have more construction taking place in this city than any other city in North America. So it’s not like we didn’t do something fabulous, because we did, to unlock more supply in the city.

The challenge is we are choking on our own success, and attracting even more people. But if you take away one thing from this tonight, we are doing a phenomenal job at building housing in the city. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be at the top of that list. And we’re at the top: we’re knocking off Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. You’re not going to develop every single parcel at once because you need access to financing.

You need access to labour, which is a really big [concern]. The Board of Trade keeps saying [that’s] what's holding back building in this city: access to labour. So it's quite a complicated ecosystem that results in a building being built. Do not be dissuaded, we are so doing so many things right in the city right now.

BRIAN: Well, a very inspiring development

is at Lawrence and the Allen expressway, which was community housing, a huge, huge community housing. It wasn’t at the degree of Regent Park, but it was not much above that. And now, we’re seeing community housing, really dramatic great community housing, now condominiums going up, maybe eight or 10 storeys, stacked townhouses, freehold townhouses. You know if you work with developers in the government, you can build community housing.

You can build all different price points of housing in a neighborhood that was void of that.

JENNIFER: Thank your city planners.

RON: All right. We're at our last question already, and it’s in two parts. First, we’d like to hear about the biggest mistake that folks on the panel have made in real estate.

BARRY: I think my biggest mistake is in buying real estate and selling it. If you could

age millennial who has moved to a lot of different places. In my career, I’ve already lived in Chicago and San Francisco. And probably, it looks like a mistake to not have bought somewhere, but that afforded me the ability to build companies and move many more times than I would have been able to if I had owned a house. And so, I think we are looking at people working very, very differently.

They are moving jobs very differently than before, and real estate is playing a totally different part in that. So it’s hard to know and say that was a mistake, when I think that led to a lot of what ended up building my career.

RON: OK. Sebastian.

SEBASTIAN: I think my biggest

renovation mistake is the current house that I’m just building. You know, we got the entire house, a single-family home. I split it into a duplex, rewired the whole house. And looking back on it, what I should have done is installed solar panels right away, I think. I should have wired that directly into the home because I’ve done a lot of research on solar in the last couple of months. I’ve installed a few systems, and I know, in the summertime, you can get your energy bills down to almost nothing. You know, we’re talking about infrastructure in the city, but that’s a personal infrastructure that you can do on your home that could really knock your costs down, and it’s a form of an income property. You know, let that sun work for you. We all know how much electricity costs these days.

JENNIFER: So I think my biggest mistake … my daughter’s 19, my son’s 14, and my daughter is, as she said, she’s going to be creating her own household within the next 10 years and trying to figure out what that looks like and freaking out a little bit because she’s been following what’s happening in the housing market. And our first home, we bought a home in Roncesvalles and we rented out the basement. By the way, I think a lot of the creative things that people have done to afford a home, people have always done those creative things. I think we need to get back to doing some of them, [like] sharing homes. But we put in a basement apartment, we rented out the main floor, we lived on the top two floors. And we sold that home and bought the house that we’re in now.

And now I’m looking at my kids and thinking, “Wow, we should’ve kept that as a rental property because, in a couple of years, my daughter’s going to need a house, and she could very easily move into that house, and it’s divided up already into a few different units.”

Q&A

MICHAEL: Well, you know, for the young

people in the room, there’s a great rule. It’s called the seven-year rule. If you buy and hold a home or a condominium any time in the last 45 years, you’ve made money on it, no matter when you bought it. If you held it for seven years, you’ve won in the real estate market. My father is here today, the founder of Harvey Kalles Real Estate, and he’s been in the business for close to 70 years. So most kids on the weekend would, you know, go play sports. From the age of six, my dad and I would drive around, and he’d point out every building and site that he could have bought.

BENJAMIN: Well … mistakes, I didn’t

make any.

REVISED PREDICTIONS Now, given what is happening with COVID-19 in Toronto and around the world, what is your advice for those considering whether to wade into the market in these unprecedented conditions?

ROTMAN MBA STUDENT RINOR SHKODRA: For the past few generations, home ownership has not only been a component of the Canadian dream, it's also been a good financial decision because of the equity that you can build up. What would you recommend for millennials in today’s market? Is home ownership still a goal or should they consider putting their capital in other investments?

MICHELE ROMANOW: I think the answer to the question "is this dream dead?" is that we’re going to have to be way more creative with what the dream looks like.

And we’re starting to see some of that now. We’re starting to see [people] designing houses differently, so parents are living with adult children for longer. We’re starting to see groups of friends buy a house together or siblings move back in together, or co-living situations. There is going to have to be a lot of creativity to solve this if we don’t solve some of these fundamental infrastructure and supplyside equations.

I do not think that limiting demand and limiting the growth of the economy is ever going to be the answer, but if we can’t solve those things for you, as an individual, how creative can you be? I mean, can we create laneway houses? There are so many different things to think about than the conventional "can I buy, a condo or a starter home?"

MICHELE: I would definitely wait and see.

BARRY: Toronto will certainly appear even

We have no playbook for coronavirus and have never seen anything like this before.

It's producing massive swings in the market, and with all the uncertainty I would wait to see what happens.

more attractive to the rest of the world.

Once this passes, there will be a lot of pent up demand as we experienced three or four months of staggering growth in sales and prices before COVID-19 picked up steam.

During this hopefully short period of time, there are some who are seeing this as an opportunity to buy, as rates are the lowest we have ever seen, but some buyers are understandably taking a wait and see approach.

From a seller’s perspective, the market was dramatically undersupplied, and one could argue that now it’s even more so. There are some sellers who believe it could be an opportunity to sell, and buy when the market becomes better supplied. There is also a group sitting on the sidelines. It’s too early

ODEEN: Buyers are exercising increased caution due to the virus, the uncertain state of the world economy and increased desire for social distancing, but with inventory still low, we will see a continued seller's market throughout the spring.With lowered interest rates, time might be on your side. You may be able to score a great deal from a motivated seller and at an incredibly low interest rate.

WILLIAM: We will see low volumes and really constant prices.

Would I recommend buying?

At the right price. I bought the house I currently live in right after 9/11: I am happy I did.

BRAD: The market will slow down over the

next three months. Prices will likely not move up or down. Once we are through this, prices will continue to climb upwards.

Buy if you need a house. Rates are low and the prices will continue to rise in the medium- and long-term.

JENNIFER: It is impossible to know what is

going to happen to the market. There are too many variables at play day to day, let alone making a prediction for more than a month or two out. The only thing we know for sure is that we are going to see bumps and changes that we cannot begin to predict, and trying to do so is futile. This is a moment of unprecedented uncertainty that has been compared to wartime. We must be optimistic about the future. What other choice do we have? But the magnitude of disruption we are facing is not yet fully understood or felt. For this reason, unless you have an enormous financial buffer and an appetite for significant risk, this is a moment for wait and see.

BENJAMIN: The market will be frozen for a while — no buyers and no sellers. That will protect prices from falling. I expect a weak recovery in the third quarter and back to semi-normal in the fourth. I don't see a return to normal until there is a vaccine maybe a year from now. But when we get the all-clear, I see a significant rebound. At this point, low rates will not help as reduced confidence takes over.

OUR THANKS TO THE RE/MAX COLLECTION AND GREAT GULF HOMES, FOR SPONSORING THIS YEAR’S REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE Look for this discussion in podcast form, available for download on iTunes and TRNTO.com on Friday, March 27, 2020.

SPRING 2020

ODEEN: With respect to the mistakes in the past decade, we flipped a lot of houses. I flipped over, I think, 20 houses. And if I had kept even five of them, I would have been much better off. So that’s a testament to the importance of holding when you can.

to tell what the impact will be as we are only going on three or four days of heightened precautions, but my sense on the market as a whole during this time, is that the combination of these incredibly low rates and current demand seems to be overcoming the majority of people’s concerns.

MICHAEL: I remain confident in the city of Toronto from a real estate standpoint. Even though our sales team is working from home, there continue to be multiple offers done with electronic signatures. We added nine listings yesterday, so the real estate market marches on in Toronto. So yes, I am very positive on the real estate market midto long-term. I join the rest of the Real Estate roundtable panel in wishing everyone good health.

BRAD: With respect to real estate mistakes,

I have made so many. I can’t remember them all, but they’re all based on the same thing that Barry talked about. Either when I sold something — because someone offered me a stupid amount of money and, in hindsight, it wasn’t enough — and I wish I’d bought more [or] I wish I never sold anything.

COVER STORY

| POST |

And I think we look at our house that we have now, and we’ve done exactly what you've been talking about. We walked through our house, and we’re, like, “OK, Louis could have the main floor. Alex could have the second floor. We’ll go live in a little apartment down the street.” Or we’ve talked to the kids about “Would you guys ever want to live here with us?” And, of course, they freak out a little bit.

But the idea of thinking about a home and how you live in a space in a different way, I think that’s something that is about to explode, in part because of affordability concerns and because people who were so lucky, like I was, to get into the housing market 20 years ago. And other people are worried about their kids and worried about how we do ensure we’re welcoming people into this city.

2020 REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE

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SPRING'S HOTTEST JACKETS & SHACKETS

FASHION

CURRENTS

Just in time for all those spring walks you’ll be taking, we asked Jeanne Beker to pick her favourite jackets in the season’s hottest trends — from puffers to leather and shackets, the perfect blend of a shirt and a jacket.

TERRIFIC TIE DYE

TNT Woman, Yorkville Village, $1,375, “Whoever would have imagined tie-dyed leather? This moto jacket is a very fine leather.”

BUTTERSCOTCH BIKER

Canopy Blue, 2582 Yonge St., $1,295, “This Smythe jacket has classic biker styling in a very sumptuous leather and fun shoulder pad detailing.”

RAIN RAIN COME TODAY

Hunter, Yorkdale mall, $225, “This is a little rain protection in this wonderful emerald green. It's cropped and has a great rubbery feel to it.”

DENIM MEETS RUFFLES

Rewind, 577 Mt. Pleasant Rd., $195, “I've rarely seen a classic denim jacket with this much style flair: the ruffles, the frayed edges, the peplum waist.”

SPORTY GLAM

Andrews, Bayview Village, $635, “A very modern take on a little puffer jacket, it's so soft: absolute luxury in a sporty piece with a bit of a gleam to it.”

FUN WITH FLORALS

Freda's, 86 Bathurst St., $1,495, “One of my favourite Canadian designers, Marie Saint Pierre.

I love this scuba fabric with these floral inserts.”

CHIC SHACKET

A PERFECT PUFFER

Freda's, 86 Bathurst St., $355, “We love Freda and her knack for fine tailoring: this lovely blazer in this fabulous colour, great militaristic buttons too.”

Sporting Life, 2665 Yonge St., $295, “The fabrication of this Soia & Kyo jacket is divine: very sleek and modern with nice diagonal stitching."

One of Canada’s most trusted authorities on style and fashion, Jeanne has covered the industry for more than 30 years. Now watch her in her current style editor role on TSC’s Style Matters with Jeanne Beker.

| POST |

THE BRIGHTER THE BETTER

JEANNE BEKER

SPRING 2020

Sporting Life, 2665 Yonge St., $29.94, “Corduroy has made such a comeback.

This boxy jacket is almost like a little shirt.”

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BIG READ

CURRENTS

10 incredible T.O. walks From the Beach to the Beltline, you can still get fresh air while social distancing

by Marlene Mendonca

Clockwise from left: The Cherry Blossoms at High Park, the boardwalk in the Beach neighbourhood, and Midtown’s BeltLine trail perfect for cycling or walking

1. Ruins at Guild Park

This historic 88-acre space served as an artist colony in the 1930s and was revitalized just a few years ago in 2017 when the Guild Inn reopened. The public grounds feature some of Toronto’s most remarkable architectural remnants from the 20th century, including columns saved from the demolition of the Bank of Toronto that are used to create a Greek-style stage. When you’re done exploring the ruins, you can head toward the bluffs for sweeping views of Lake Ontario.

2. Hit the Beach Boardwalk

Few walks in Toronto beat a trip to the Beach neighbourhood’s boardwalk, which extends from Ashbridge’s Bay eastward for a couple of kilometres. The boardwalk is lined with benches and Muskoka chairs that offer ideal perches to maintain social distance and take in the gorgeous views. If you making it all the way to the eastern end of the boardwalk, keep going through the dog park and check out the grounds of the architecturally acclaimed R. C. Harris Filtration Plant.

4. Ontario Place Trillium park

What used to be a sprawling parking lot beside Budweiser Stage has been transformed into almost eight acres of green space with paved paths that wind around the western Toronto waterfront. Here you’ll find gardens, rock walls, a beautiful wood-framed pavilion, and some of the best skyline views Toronto has to offer. If your appetite for walking extends beyond the trails on offer here, you can cut east through Coronation Park to the Lakefront Promenade and the Toronto Music Garden.

5. The beautiful BeltLine Trail

This nine-kilometre walking, jogging and cycling trail weaves through multiple midtown neighbourhoods, stretching from the Caledonia and Eglinton area all the way to Rosedale. Although there are many street crossings along the way, there are few walking paths that cover so many different areas. The nicest stretch of the trail is the Moore Park Ravine, which takes walkers almost all the way to the Don Valley Brick

Works, where there are plenty of other routes to explore.

6. Picturesque paths at U of T

Take a stroll through the University of Toronto’s St. George campus, and you’ll be treated to gorgeous architecture, picturesque walking paths and ample green spaces. The cluster of old buildings, from Convocation Hall to University College, make it one of the most beautiful places to explore in Toronto. Be sure to head to Philosopher’s Walk, which straddles the ROM and Koerner Hall on the way to Trinity College.

Although this walk will take you near busier streets, it should be straightforward to keep your distance from fellow explorers.

7. Don Mills Leaside Spur Trail

This short three-kilometre walking trail runs parallel and just east of Leslie Street from under the York Mills Road overpass and stops just short of Lawrence Avenue. It makes for a great little escape from city life.

Formerly a CN Rail line, it’s a flat jaunt that will get your blood flowing without being too taxing. It is located near Sunnybrook Park with even more options for hiking trails should you want to explore beyond the main route. This is one of the most secluded spots to stroll in Toronto.

8. The incomparable High Park

One of the city’s ultimate urban oases, there’s a dazzling array of walking options in this huge green space. From secluded trails to pond-facing promenades, there are few

better places in the city to watch spring unfold. Cherry Blossom season might pose challenges for social distancing, but even if there are crowds this year, you can always avoid them by heading to the park earlier in the season, or by exploring the rest of the park since the blossoms are concentrated in one area.

9. Humber Arboretum gardens

The 250-acre Humber Arboretum, or Arb, consists of public gardens, a conservation area and plenty of secluded walking paths from which to choose. You’ll find ponds, bridges and an extraordinary collection of perennials, including peonies, echinacea, bulbs and magnolia trees. The Arb is a popular stopover for many types of birds, including woodpeckers, owls, waterfowl and hawks.

10. The secluded Alexander Muir Memorial Gardens

This mostly hidden gem in north Toronto has a beautiful ravine that breaks into secluded walking trails that lead you to Sherwood and Sunnydene Parks, but the highlight is the herb and flower gardens.

These quiet areas are perfect for leisurely strolling. The park is named after Alexander Muir who composed the song “The Maple Leaf Forever,” so it’s not a surprise that the symbol of the maple leaf is a defining feature of the park.

SPRING 2020

3. A Crothers Woods retreat

This 52-hectare green space is one of the city’s best natural retreats. Located near Millwood and Laird, you can access the trailhead from the parking lot at the Redway Road Loblaws. There are trails of various difficulty here, so if you’re looking for a light walk, the best bet is to head to the Sun Valley loop, which features a wider and flatter path that heads toward Bayview Avenue before bringing you back.

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A spring walk in Toronto might be one of the few ways to get outside and decompress amidst social distancing measures. As long as you keep a reasonable amount of space between you and your fellow walkers, you should still be able to enjoy the many parks, trails, boardwalks and pretty streets the city has to offer. From tree-lined trails to lakefront strolls, here are some of the best spring walks to take in Toronto.

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DAILY PLANET

© Flickr/Jason Hargrove

CURRENTS

A supporter at a Wet’suwet’en solidarity event at Queen’s Park in February

More than a pipeline The Wet’suwet’en never surrendered their lands

More than anything, Midtown Toronto is a great reflection of who we are.

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Erika 416-452-4967 erika@psrbrokerage.com Mark 416-568-8577 mjobling@psrbrokerage.com

Actions by and in support of the Wet’suwet’en land defenders are as much about government failure to resolve issues around Indigenous rights and title as they are about pipelines and gas.

Some Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their people are defending their rights to traditional practices, clean air and water and a healthy environment.

They say the Coastal GasLink pipeline threatens those rights.

The hereditary chiefs suggested an alternate route, but the pipeline company nixed it as too costly.

The company and government point to support from elected chiefs and councils along the pipeline route, many of whom have signed benefit-sharing agreements as a way to gain much-needed money for their communities.

But, as Judith Sayers (Kekinusuqs), University of Victoria adjunct professor from the Hupačasath First Nation writes in the Tyee, “Neither the elected chief and band councils that support the pipeline, nor the federal or provincial governments, nor Coastal GasLink ever obtained the consent of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their supporters.”

Sayers writes, “The Wet’suwet’en was never defeated in a war, never surrendered their lands and never entered into a treaty.” Hereditary chiefs have jurisdiction over traditional territories, whereas elected chiefs and councils have authority on

reserves. Elected band councils are an outcome of the 1876 Indian Act (and its precursors), enacted in part to destroy traditional governance systems and laws.

Some see the hereditary systems through a colonial lens — as monarchy or divine right — but they’re much more representative and consensus-based than many realize.

Now that actions have spread across the country, including blocking rail lines in the GTA, complaints about inconvenience and disruption are rife. But colonial society has been inconveniencing and disrupting Indigenous lives for hundreds of years. Now the RCMP, acting on behalf of extractive industries and government, are forcing the Wet’suwet’en off their own territory.

Governments must work with Indigenous Peoples to resolve issues around rights and title where treaties haven’t been signed, and honour the treaties that have been. Until then, major resource projects that potentially infringe on these should be put on hold.

DAVID SUZUKI

David Suzuki is the host of the CBC’s The Nature of Things and author of more than 30 books on ecology (with files from Ian Hanington).

DR. JESS

CURRENTS

Identify the issues of contention and write down your concerns and fears

conversation difficult in the past.

If he absolutely refuses to engage, I suggest you see a therapist or counsellor on your own (or together, if he’s up for it).

Don’t let his refusal to seek help be an excuse for your refusal to do the same. That’s on you.

You can’t control the way your partner responds, but you can control the manner in which you respond to his response. If you find yourself blaming him (exclusively), you likely need to step back and consider your role in his response. If you spoke differently, chose different words, approached in another way or waited for a more appropriate time, you might elicit a different — perhaps more favourable — response.

How three T.O. couples turned conflict into growth

Mohammed from Yorkville asks, “How can we cut back on the daily bickering that weighs down our relationship?”

Queenie from the Beach asks, “How do we stop having the same fight over and over again?”

It happens to the best of us.

Oftentimes we fight to relieve tension, jockey for power or prove a point. Rather than trying to win or be right, ask yourself these three questions: What am I hoping to get out of this argument? What am I willing to do to produce the desired outcome? What can my partner do to help?

Focus on the second question before you even consider moving on to the third. If you are seeking a specific resolution, chances are you are the one who can bring it to fruition. We have a tendency to focus on what we want from others rather than ways we can change our own attitudes and behaviours.

Begin the conversation by expressing your desired outcome and your commitment to change, and your partner will be more likely to listen and follow suit. Try writing down your answers in

advance, and you’ll likely see the tension dissipate and the frequency of conflict decline.

Neema from Little Italy asks, “How do I deal with my boyfriend’s inclination to walk away every time I try to discuss contentious or difficult topics?”

If your partner tends to withdraw when difficult topics arise, be sensitive to his history and triggers. Conflict avoidance comes in many forms, and sometimes it is related to past experiences of trauma, abandonment, loss or anxiety.

Others avoid conflict because they don’t have the tools to manage and respond to difficult emotions. Be mindful of the fact that withdrawal is not necessarily an indication of a lack of care or vested interest.

Begin by clarifying why you want to have a specific discussion (e.g., to better understand him or to strengthen your relationship).

Let him know you want to engage and give him the option to do so at another (specific) time and/or location. Consider what you can do to support his physical comfort knowing that his emotional comfort may be strained.

Ask him why he doesn’t want to address a particular topic. Be straightforward and ask what you can do to make the conversation easier.

Acknowledge missteps and apologize if you have made the

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Got questions? Send them to editorial@postcity.com.

SPRING 2020

How you engage in conflict can affect every facet of your relationship, from how you support one another during times of crisis to how you feel when you slide into bed at night. I receive questions about fighting almost daily. Here are a few from your neighbours along with my insights below.

Sometimes smaller fights help stave off larger conflicts, but sometimes, we use them as a distraction to avoid having the tough conversations.

Consider whether there are underlying issues you’ve been avoiding. Have you been sidestepping conversations about finances, in-laws or sex by bickering about smaller issues instead? Identify the issues of contention and write down your concerns and fears before discussing them with your partner.

Alternatively, you might seek the support of a therapist — on your own or together — to help guide you through the difficult conversations.

If you can’t identify any underlying issues of which bickering might be a symptom, I suggest you use the “99 Rule” to stave off daily bickering: Before you engage, ask yourself, “If I’m lucky enough to live to be 99 years old, will this still matter?”

Chances are it won’t, so consider letting it go unless it represents a core value or essential issue.

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DR. JESS

Jess O’Reilly is a sought-after speaker, author and sexologist (www.SexWithDrJess.com).

571 St. Clair Ave. W. • 416 549-6999 NiceDiggzMidtown@gmail.com

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Relationship rules and regulations on how to fight fairly

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CURRENTS

LOCAL GRADUATES

Degrassi star on her new Netflix series Actor and screenwriter Sara Waisglass is excited for her role in Ginny & Georgia

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REPORT CARD STUDENT:

Sara Waisglass GRADUATED:

Earl Haig Secondary BEST SUBJECT:

Creative Writing WORST SUBJECT:

Attendance CURRENT JOB:

Actor & Screenwriter

© Denise Grant

When Sara Waisglass was in Earl Haig Secondary’s Claude Watson film program, she wasn’t just dreaming of an acting career — she already had one.

Now with a handful of TV series already under her belt, she’s jumping into her next role on Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia, playing the character Maxine.

“I rarely receive a script that makes me excited to audition. I get excited about the prospect of landing roles, and where those roles may take me, but I usually dread the audition room. Maxine was different,” Waisglass says.

“She was so playful and so unafraid to take up the room.”

Ginny & Georgia is a young adult drama about a mother, Georgia, and her daughter, Ginny, who have spent years on the run and are now looking to settle down.

Waisglass says Ginny & Georgia has been a special experience because of how many

Waisglass played Frankie Hollingsworth on ‘Degrassi’ for six seasons

women are at the helm. Waisglass says it felt like a different world, one that gave her new female role models.

“It’s safe, it’s creative, it’s collaborative. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more empowered on a set in my life.”

But Waisglass credits her years

on the set of Degrassi for “setting the bar” for what she expected acting to be like. She played the role of Frankie Hollingsworth on the popular TV series for six seasons.

“It changed the way I looked at acting and made me fall in love with it,” she says.

by Julia Mastroianni

Coming from a creative family also gave Waisglass the support she needed to pursue acting. She has a sister who sings, a father who plays the electric guitar and a mother who works with creatives in the film industry.

“Arts were all around me, so when I started acting I was never met with doubt or tension — which is such a gift,” she says.

Apart from her on-screen roles, Waisglass is studying screenwriting at York University, something she became interested in during her time at Earl Haig Secondary School.

“High school is where I decided to professionally pursue writing, so that was the biggest takeaway for sure,” she says.

Studying screenwriting has changed her approach to scripts; Waislgass says she focuses on the whole of it rather than just her character now.

“It gives me a lot more to worry about but also gives me insight

A Simple Space

Iron Peggy Peggy

Sky Dancers: Bridges

Gravity & Other Myths / Australia

Co-produced ed by V Vancouv ancouver International Children’s Festival and Boca del Lupo in association with R Red ed D Diva Projects / British Columbia

A’nó ’nó:wara Dance Theatre / Montreal (Kahnawake)

into theme and what the writer is trying to say, and when I can put that into my acting. I think it gives me a leg up,” she explains.

“I have an undying appreciation for crew and will never yawn in front of them again, because odds are whatever’s making me tired they’ve been doing six hours longer.”

Her new role has also given her the opportunity to face her fear of improv. She recalls a moment on set for Ginny & Georgia, being asked by her director to improvise after a scene’s written end.

“In that moment, the cameras legitimately disappeared and all I saw was Toni [Antonia Gentry who plays Ginny] and the two of us sat on the floor together, creating a scene out of thin air,” says Waisglass.

“When he called cut I knew I had just done the thing that scared me most, and better yet, it worked.”

A Story y of a House That Turned d iinto a Dot Teatret Gruppe 38 / Denmark

Ben and Hilda Katz Charitable Foundation

HOW THEY MET

CURRENTS

The proposal

Actor Michelle Nolden on meeting the man of her dreams and their epic proposal story Michelle Nolden, known for her roles in Republic of Doyle and Saving Hope, is gracing TV screens yet again in The Wedding Planners.

The series follows three siblings who are left to take over their mother’s (Nolden) wedding planning business. With all that wedding talk in the air, we decided to find out the story behind Nolden’s nuptials to husband Chris Szarka.

How they met

Michelle: We met at East Side Mario’s restaurant in Toronto where I was waitressing while studying at Ryerson University.

Chris came in with a basketball teammate and ordered a lot of Italian wedding soup. I remember thinking he was very cute and funny, and I loved that he was so tall.

We met again briefly in an elevator, and he asked if I still worked at East Side’s, I said yes.

Shortly after, I went home to my parent’s house for the summer, and Chris left a note with a fellow waitress asking if I wanted to meet for coffee.

She found the note in her purse

four months later, and when I returned in September, she gave it to me. I was pretty sure it was that cute tall guy, so I called the number on the note, and, luckily, he was still single.

The first date

Michelle: We went to Jurassic Park at the cinemas at Market Square.

We talked through the whole movie. He made me laugh — still does!

Chris: After the film, we went to a cool little bar on Front Street called C’est What and played backgammon.

The courtship

Michelle: We dated for five years before we married, and in that time I travelled the world. Six months into our courtship I got a sixmonth contract entertaining on a cruise ship. We wrote each other letters, and every Friday, when we docked in Miami, Chris would wait by the phone for the one-hour window that I had to call. No one had email then, or cellphones. We had voice recorders that we’d record messages to each other on and then send those in the mail.

The wedding

Michelle: We were married in Brantford at the Hungarian Hall because it was the only place that could hold all of our combined family. We knew we wanted good food, an open bar and lots of people, so in order to afford that, we made concessions on other parts. I wore my mother-in-law’s wedding dress. My veil was huge, but it was perfect, and if I had to do it all again at that time, I’d do it exactly the same way. We went to Barbados on our honeymoon. It was fantastic.

The kids

Chris: Three boys who are our entire world, Alex, 13, Joseph, 10, and Michael, eight.

Shared interests

Michelle: We started a film festival together called Lakeshorts International Film Festival. This year it will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. It’s a passion project for us both. And also our cottage and hobby farm, which we purchased two years ago. We’re pretty handy.

The Wedding Planners airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Citytv starting March 27.

SPRING 2020

From Jurassic Park to wedding vows

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Chris Szarka, Michelle Nolden and their three boys

Chris: First I drove to Brantford to ask Michelle’s parents for their blessing. After bringing my parents into the loop, we invited all the Noldens and my whole family to my parents’ cottage. I planned something so big that it could only go wrong.

The plan was to take Michelle on a midnight paddle boat ride and propose. After she said yes, I was going to flash the shore with a flashlight, and our family members would set off fireworks and blast “Ode to Joy” across the lake. What could go wrong?

It was pitch black on the lake, and while paddling the canoe, a Jet Ski without its lights on was coming directly at us. I had to discreetly flash the Jet Ski with my flashlight and my mother yelled, “That’s the signal. Go!” Fireworks took to the sky and Michelle said, “They have fireworks, and they’re not waiting for us!” I then proposed as dozens of people ran to the floating dock to shoot off champagne and greet us, only to have the dock submerge. It was truly an epic night.

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T.O.’S TOP PROFESSIONALS UPCOMING CHANGES TO THE DIVORCE ACT The Divorce Act is the federal Act that governs divorce in Canada. It first came into effect on June 1, 1986. In 2020 Bill C-17, “An Act to Amend the Divorce Act and Related Legislation” will come into force, bringing significant change to the Divorce Act, and how family law is practiced in Canada.

Cheryl Goldhart – Expert Family Law Lawyer, Mediator and Arbitrator

BIO Cheryl Goldhart is a certified specialist in Family Law with over 30 years of experience practicing exclusively in the field. She specializes in complex, high conflict and high net worth cases. She is an accomplished lawyer, OAFM accredited family law mediator and a certified family law arbitrator by the ADR Institute of Ontario.

The “best interests of the child” is a foundational legal principle within family law – it tells the Court and litigants that it is the best interests of the child, and not the parents, that is of utmost importance.

The new Divorce Act will specifically identify a non-exhaustive list of criteria that Courts may consider when making orders related to children.

These criteria will include (i) the child’s needs, given the child’s age and stage of development, such as the child’s need for stability, (ii) the nature and strength of the child’s relationship with each spouse, each of the child’s siblings and grandparents, and any other person who plays an important role in the child’s life, (iii) each spouse’s willingness to support the development and maintenance of the child’s relationship with the other spouse, (iv) the ability and willingness of each parent to communicate and cooperate, in particular with one another, on matters affecting the child; (iv) any family violence.

The new Divorce Act will also replace terms that are now seen as outdated. “Custody” and “access” will be replaced with “decision-making responsibility” and “parenting time”, respectively. This change will focus these issues on the best interests of the child, rather than a parent’s perceived “success” or “failure” in obtaining a specific outcome.

The new Act also expands the framework for consideration of a parent’s request to relocate a child, a broader consideration of the impact of family violence, and it imposes duties for parties and legal advisors to encourage the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Individuals navigating a separation and/or divorce must familiarize themselves with these changes to the Divorce Act in order to ensure they can achieve the best possible result for themselves and their families.

CONTACT Goldhart & Associates 20 Eglinton Ave. W. Suite 1305

416-967-6111 www.goldhartlaw.com

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FAMILY AND STUDENT ADVOCACY IN EDUCATION

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Dr. Fran Marinic-Jaffer, Hons. B.A., M.A., M.Ed., Ed.D., J.D., Barrister and Solicitor

BIO Dr. Marinic-Jaffer holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education, Adaptive Instruction, a Doctorate in Education and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. Her practice focuses on advocacy for student accommodation and accessibility rights. She has worked in this area for over 30 years and currently provides mobile service throughout Ontario to meet student advocacy needs.

All families have the right to ensure that their children are provided with individual supports that help them to access the same curriculum as their peers. All students have the right to ensure access to programs and services that help them meet their individual disability related needs.

Family and student advocacy are essential elements in assuring that students with disabilities are provided with appropriate accommodations to meet their individual needs in the context of inclusive education. Parent and student voices are often muted in the context of professional discourse to the detriment of family involvement and to the detriment of meeting student needs.

What is an IPRC? The IPRC process (Identification, Placement and Review Committee) provides for the identification of disability and the subsequent placement of students into appropriate class settings, with the regular class as the preferred instructional context. This depends on parental wishes and committee agreement that such placement best meets a particular student’s needs. This often gives rise to conflict as parental choice and administrative advisement can hold opposing views as to which placement is in the best interest of the student. This process can be

particularly overwhelming for parents and students.

The voice of independent advocacy effectively ensures parent and student voices are heard within this process What is an Individual Education Plan?

Subsequent to this procedure, the formation of an Individual Education Plan sets out to determine a student’s learner profile, as well as required programs and services to delivery instruction. It presents an opportunity for parental input, and is a process that is aided by the presence of advocacy, particularly where there is divergence between parental view of required supports and programs and a diverse view held by the administration.

While changes in accommodation needs, programming and service-related needs continue to transform over the course of a student’s academic life, advocacy for families and students is a consistent service that aims at accountability and meeting individual student needs on a daily basis in the educational environment.

CONTACT 300 Supertest Rd. Unit #1 Toronto, Ontario

416-700-0954 franmariniclaw.com

T.O.’S TOP PROFESSIONALS WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE AS AN ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT

Madison Bongard and Jaymie Bongard

BIO Involved in the financial industry since the late 1970s, Jaymie co-founded Independent Financial Concepts Group (IFCG) in 1995 and belongs to Top of the Table, which accepts fewer than 1% of financial planning professionals worldwide. A graduate of Western University, Madison joined IFCG in 2014.

Together, they support clients with tax-advantaged wealth accumulation and preservation strategies.

If only we had a crystal ball. We would know the best time to put money in the stock market, when interest rates will rise, when death or injury would occur; or on a lighter note, pick next week’s winning lottery numbers. Unfortunately, there isn’t such a thing as a crystal ball. However there is the ability to help people look at their finances differently and perhaps look at alternative investment options based on our current economic environment.

Recently there has been an opportunity to make use of life insurance as an alternative asset class.

This is an excellent strategy for business owners who accumulate retained earnings within their corporations. This type of planning is particularly attractive to individuals, who would be characterized as having a low risk tolerance and don’t want to risk their capital; who are interested in increasing the value of their estate that would pass on to their children.

The meaningful benefits of whole life insurance are: • The ability to increase your rate of return significantly on cash, near cash and a portion of your fixed income portfolio over a long period of time; • The ability to access your equity in a tax effective manner if the invested capital is required for other investment opportunities to provide you

with a future income; • Significant downside protection in the event of death with immediate liquidity that can be used to finance estate tax liabilities, provide funds for charitable endeavours or equalize estate assets for your children and grandchildren; • The ability to create a significant capital dividend account, which would enable your heirs to access corporate capital in a tax-free manner in the future.

In conclusion, the strategy of using whole life insurance as an alternative investment involves repositioning a portion of corporate dollars into a permanent life insurance contract. Structured correctly the strategy minimizes the capital gains triggered upon death and takes advantage of the Capital Dividend Account to pay a tax-free dividend to the shareholders/beneficiaries. Funds contributed to the strategy grow free from tax and are accessible during one’s lifetime.

CONTACT Independent Financial Concepts Group www.ifcg.com

416-484-1011 | jbongard@ifcg.com 416-849-1341 | mbongard@ifcg.com

BIO Dr. Lewandowski is a graduate of New York University (NYU) College of Dentistry. He has worked as an instructor at the NYU Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto Faculty of Dentistry as well as in a hospital based dental clinic. Dr. Mostyn obtained her dental degree from The Faculty of Dentistry at James Cook University, Australia.

health are excellent candidates.

• Do you have broken or missing teeth? One Visit Porcelain Crowns may be right for you. A full or partial crown is used to replace or strengthen a broken tooth. When a tooth is filled multiple times throughout a patient’s life, the critical tooth structure necessary for the tooth to be strong and function well may be lost. Many of these teeth break and require restoring. Options usually include very large fillings or crowns. Fillings fit inside the tooth and require original tooth structure to hold it all together.

If part or all of the original tooth has been lost, then a full coverage crown may be a better option. There are many different materials and methods that may be used to make full coverage crowns. With digital technology, we can make a direct 3D image of the broken tooth from the patient’s mouth, design the new tooth (crown) on the computer chairside and have the new tooth made in the office. These crowns are beautiful, strong and functional and are permanently placed in the patient’s mouth in one visit.

Amazing technology!

Thornhill Dental

CONTACT Dr. Edwin Lewandowski and Associates 1200 Centre St., Suite 101 Thornhill, ON

905-762-0122 www.thornhilldental.com

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Dr. Edwin Lewandowski & Dr. Elvira (Ella) Mostyn

• Do you wear dentures? Many people over the age of 65 use some form of removable denture. While the majority of dentures fit well, some always move, lift and cause discomfort. These people may choose not to wear them. This may lead to difficulty chewing and lack of confidence in social interactions. There is also a strong link between overall good health and proper oral care.

• Dental implants can help. Dental implants can restore comfort and confidence and help people love their dentures again. A dental implant has two parts: a metal root that is secured to the jaw bone and an abutment. The abutment is a specifically-made part that will securely anchor your denture in place preventing movement. Implants are so versatile that they can replace a single tooth or a bridge, eliminate the need for a removable partial denture or even secure complete full-mouth dentures. Implants are safe and have a proven track record for long-term success. When using implants to replace a single tooth, neighbouring teeth do not need to be used as anchors for the replacement making it a very conservative choice in many cases.

Dental implants do not require any special care other than routine dental visits. Age is not a factor in the success of dental implants. Most people in good

SPRING 2020

DENTAL IMPLANTS ONE VISIT PORCELAIN CROWNS

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LOCAL SHOPS & SERVICES

Owner: Alison Currie

Centre Director: Emma Bisnaire

Dr Martie Gidon MD FRCPC FAAD

THE CASHMERE SHOP

MATHNASIUM OF LEASIDE

GIDON AESTHETICS & MEDISPA

24 BELLAIR STREET • 416 925 0831 www.thecashmereshop.com

856 MILLWOOD ROAD • 647 924 MATH (6284) www.mathnasium.ca/leaside

1849 YONGE STREET, SUITE 307 • 416 483 4541 www.gidonaesthetics.com

What’s going to be hot this spring? We love Spring at The Cashmere Shop! The return of colour, stripes and florals. We’ve got some absolutely gorgeous stripes in a cashmere/silk blend, fun nautical cashmere that features anchors, tie die cashmere, abstract floral cashmere/ silk wraps and the most perfect bridesmaid gift, our 100% cashmere wraps.

Describe your team: I work with an incredible group of people! Our fantastic team of instructors is undoubtedly the driving force of the centre. Our smaller team enables the instructors to work multiple days a week, so they really get to know all the students personally, ultimately leading to a great working dynamic.

What’s going to be hot this spring? New lines/trends etc.

Body contouring with focused ultrasound will be very popular this spring in preparation for summer. It is a painless, non-surgical reduction of stubborn fat deposits with no downtime. Three treatments, 2 weeks apart are recommended.

How long have you been in business? We’ve been in business for 27 years and are the original specialty shop for cashmere in Canada.

Founder Alaster Currie began our company as a mail order in 1993 and we grew into a retail boutique a couple years later. In 2003 I took over and I’ve run and owned the company ever since. That same year, I introduced our custom design cashmere.

What has been your proudest moment in business?

If I had to choose one, I would say I always feel a deep sense of pride when I hear students begging their parents to stay longer, even though they've just completed a whole hour of math! You really can't believe it until you've seen it.

What makes your business unique? We’re unique in that most of our cashmere is exclusively made for us. We pride ourselves on quality, style and customer service. Our cashmere is classic and timeless with a twist. In 2003, I introduced custom designed cashmere.

This is one of my favourite parts of our business, where you can design your own cashmere sweater, hat, scarf -you name it!

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Describe your business in 5 words: Timeless. Contemporary. Quality.

Consistent. Family.

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24 Bellair Street 416.925.0831 www.THECASHMERESHOP.com

What’s your secret to success?

Our customized learning plans! Mathnasium has developed very detailed and comprehensive assessments, which allow us to get a true sense of a student's retained and working knowledge. Using those results, we are able to create tailored learning plans that build on their individual strengths and develop areas of weakness.

What is the greatest advice you have ever received?

If you think you can’t achieve something, it just means you haven’t figured out a way that works for you yet!

Transform Your Child’s Summer!

Did you know that kids can actually lose math skills while school is out? Studies have shown that students can regress by up to two and a half months over the summer — a phenomenon known as “the summer slide.” At Mathnasium, we prevent the summer slide, give kids an edge for the next school year, and we make it fun! Keep your child from sliding backward this summer.

Changing Lives Through Math

What’s new for your business for 2020? Do you have a new feature/item/service or have you recently renovated?

We are pairing radio frequency microneedling with specialized serums tailored to our clients' concerns. This combination treatment results in smooth, radiant skin with a youthful glow.

What makes your business unique? As a Cosmetic Dermatologist, I have extensive experience with lasers and injectables. I understand all aspects concerning skin and can create individualized treatment programs utilizing scientifically proven effective procedures and products. I strive to give my patients the best possible results in a safe, caring environment.

Why did you choose to go into your industry?

Cosmetic Dermatology allows me to combine my artistic skills and in-depth knowledge of skin to enhance natural beauty, make patients happy and improve their self-confidence.

SPECIALIZES IN AGING & SUN-DAMAGE TIRED OR ANGRY EXPRESSION LOOSE & SAGGY SKIN LINES & WRINKLES BROWN SPOTS & FACIAL VEINS ACNE & ROSACEA STUBBORN FAT DEPOSITS

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Mathnasium of Leaside

647-924-MATH (6284)

www.mathnasium.ca/leaside 856 Millwood Road Toronto, ON M4G 1W6

To book a consultation please call: 416.483.4541 www.GidonAesthetics.com 1849 Yonge St., Suite 307, Toronto

TASTE TEST

FOOD

WHICH CARROT TOPS? If the Easter bunny had a favourite cake, we’d be willing to bet it’s carrot. In honour of the holiday, Mark McEwan puts everyone’s favourite vegetable-based cake to the test.

BAKERBOTS

PHIPPS DESSERTS

BOBBETTE & BELLE

THE ROLLING PIN

GRODZINSKI’S

HARBORD BAKERY

“I could eat the whole thing,” said McEwan, adding that this winning cake scored big in all categories. His firstchoice cake nailed the key elements with its excellent icing, flavourful cake base and lovely, flower-like presentation.

205 Delaware Ave., $32 for six-inch

McEwan felt that this cake was slightly overbaked and tasted a bit dry as a result. He added, however, that the icing and spices were on point for a classic carrot cake, and so he chose it as his runner-up.

1875 Leslie St., Unit 21, $30.95 for eight-inch

McEwan praised the texture, flavour and presentation of this cake.

He mentioned that the icing tasted more like a buttercream than the classic cream cheese, and therefore felt that this cake missed the mark slightly as quintessential carrot cake.

3347 Yonge St., $55 for six-inch

McEwan complimented the beautiful presentation of this cake. He felt it couldn’t win the competition, however, because it didn’t taste like a traditional carrot cake.

“If you were to close your eyes, you wouldn’t detect it to be carrot cake,” said McEwan.

1970 Avenue Rd., $50 for 10-inch

McEwan said that this cake’s actual flavour wasn’t nearly as pronounced as its bold, colourful frosting might suggest. Although he said the taste could use more punch, McEwan noted that its texture was pleasantly moist and tender.

1118 Centre St, Unit 3, $25 for eight-inch

McEwan said this cake had “very good icing,” as well as nice texture and flavour. The cake lost points for presentation, however, with McEwan mentioning that it looked too plain and the frosting wasn’t neatly decorated.

115 Harbord St., $22.80 for seven-inch

SPRING 2020

RUNNER-UP

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WINNER

33

FOOD

PROFILE

P

Cooking up comfort Chef Mary Berg talks about winning MasterChef and the return of her show Mary’s Kitchen Crush

by Jessica Huras

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Berg’s show, Mary’s Kitchen Crush, returned March 22

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If there was ever a time we could all use a cheerful distraction and the chance to hone our homecooking chops, it’s now.

Fortunately, Mary Berg is offering us both with her show Mary’s Kitchen Crush, which returned to CTV on March 22.

The new batch of episodes promises approachable recipe inspiration plus plenty of lighthearted entertainment. We sat down with the MasterChef Canada winner, TV host, and cookbook author to chat about the return of her show and how we can all become better home cooks.

Berg felt drawn to cooking at a young age after witnessing the meaningful influence food can have on people’s lives. When Berg was four years old, her father passed away in a car accident, and she says that food, in a small way, helped her family to heal.

“During that incredibly sad and hard time for my family, I saw how much deliveries of homemade casseroles from friends and family meant to my mom,” says Berg. “I’ve just always loved how much compassion you can convey through food.”

Berg began helping her mother cook meals for the family, and by the time she was in university, she was whipping up pies, pasta, and pastries for her roommates and,

later, her co-workers.

“I have always loved creating and sharing food with those around me,” says Berg.

Berg’s culinary craft remained a hobby, however, until her win on season 3 of MasterChef Canada in 2016.

“It totally had a 180-degree effect on my life,” explains Berg.

“I went from working in an office to getting to wake up every single day just thinking about food and what I was going to get to create that day.”

Following her win, Berg began appearing as a food expert on CTV’s Your Morning and The Marilyn Denis Show. Her own TV show, Mary’s Kitchen Crush, debuted in April 2019, and her first cookbook, Kitchen Party, which was published in September 2019, became a national bestseller.

Berg says the new episodes of Mary’s Kitchen Crush are more personal, introducing viewers to her friends and family.

“The show is just me in the kitchen cooking simple and delicious food for the people in my life who matter most,” says Berg. “In these hard and rather isolated times, I hope that the show will continue to make viewers feel like they’ve been invited into my kitchen just to hang out and enjoy.”

Berg’s goal with Mary’s Kitchen

Crush is to help viewers feel more empowered about cooking at home. “For a lot of people, the idea of failure in the kitchen is such a hindrance to actually trying a recipe,” she says.

Berg believes that a sense of play is the antidote to the anxiety some people feel when attempting a new recipe.

“I think making something in the kitchen should be approached in the same way as a little kid trying to draw a cat for the first time. Grab all of your ingredients and try your best,” says Berg.

“Does it look perfect? Probably not! But that’s OK! You still made something, and it is most likely still going to be edible if not delicious.”

According to Berg, cooking isn’t about getting a recipe exactly right. “My main tip for people starting to learn to cook is to just roll with it,” says Berg. “Yes, follow a recipe, but if, in the end, you find it a little bland, give it a squeeze of lemon or a splash of balsamic vinegar. Does it taste dull? Toss in another pinch of kosher salt. Want the flavours to come together a little more? Add a little extra virgin olive oil or a bit of butter and let that melt in.”

Following each new episode of Mary’s Kitchen Crush, full written and video recipes featured on the show are posted on ctv.ca, making it easier for viewers to replicate

Berg’s kitchen creations at home.

She anticipates that the hearty lasagne featured in this new batch of episodes will be a hit with viewers in need of a little indulgence.

“My friends are all real lasagne heads, so that’s a go-to when we’re all getting together. On an upcoming episode of Mary’s Kitchen Crush, I make a monstrous three-meat, fourcheese lasagne for my friend Rob, and if that’s not comfort food, I don’t know what is!” Berg says with a laugh.

One of the most popular recipes to date from her show is a garlic and herb flatbread made with store-bought pizza dough.

“It tastes like you’re making bread from scratch, but all you really have to do is heat up a pan, melt some butter and grill up some dough,” she says.

The secret to home cooking, says Berg, is to go with the flow.

“Cooking isn’t a rigid thing.

Recipes taste different depending on your ingredients and, at least for me, how I’m feeling on a given day,” she says.

“There’s pretty much always a way to make something taste better to you and it’s usually just as simple as adding some salt, lemon, butter or fresh herbs. And if that fails, I always just reach for my favourite hot sauce!”

TORONTO CHEFS ON TV

Chef Nuit Regular

WALL OF CHEFS See dozens of Toronto chefs, like Victor Barry, Nick Liu and Nuit Regular, on this Food Network Canada show, which airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.

TOP CHEF CANADA Catch Toronto-based chef Adrian Forte competing on the eighth season of Top Chef Canada, which debuts on Food Network Canada on April 13 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

JUNIOR CHEF SHOWDOWN Lynn Crawford is one of the judges on this new young chef competition show, debuting April 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network Canada

RESTORONTO

FOOD

NEW TAKEOUT AND DELIVERY 10 great restos that have started offering takeout and delivery options

ALOETTE Patrick Kriss’s restaurant offers a full menu on Ritual and Uber Eats.

Image: @416foodguru

elm street deli le phenix Call in orders for French-bistro takeout and delivery.

Clockwise from left: Chicken and waffles at the Heartbreak Chef, Spaccio’s retail section, and the Tommy Gunn Sandwich at Elm Street Deli.

coppi

This is a strange and challenging month for restaurant openings. Although we don’t know when dining out will return to our lives, we’re giving love to newly opened restaurants you can still try using takeout or delivery. We’re also sharing restaurants slated to open soon, so you can build your must-try list for when we return to restaurant tables. big opens BLACK TULIP RESTAURANT

(807 St. Clair Ave. W.) is now offering family-style Hungarian cuisine in Wychwood. Expect classic dishes like schnitzel and goulash, along with a handful of crowd-pleasing eats like burgers and pasta. Black Tulip is currently offering pickup and delivery through Uber Eats.

The Cherry Street Bar-B-Que team brings a throwback sandwich shop to Yonge and Dundas with ELM STREET DELI (15 Elm St.). Meats, sauces and footlong-style bread are all made inhouse at this tiny deli. A window-facing ledge is typically

the only dine-in spot at this primarily take-away joint. For now, Elm Street is sticking to exclusively grab-and-go sandwiches.

Terroni has opened a massive commissary in Corktown that serves as a production facility for its mini-empire of restaurants, as well as an eatery and storefront.

SPACCIO (22 Sackville St.) serves ready-made sandwiches, salads, Roman-style pizzas and rotating daily pasta dishes. A retail section sells pantry items like pasta sauce and olive oil. Although the dine-in area is temporarily closed, customers can still stop in for grocery items as well as prepared foods to take home.

Parkdale’s THE HEARTBREAK CHEF (1316 Queen St. W.) has you covered for comfort food.

Chef Jerome Robinson has been bringing stacked sandwiches and other indulgent eats to Toronto for years through catering and food festivals, but we can now tuck into his belly-busting cuisine full-time with the opening of his brick and mortar spot. The brief

menu features loaded sandwiches like fried chicken and mac and cheese, as well as sides like Cajun fries and crispy brussels sprouts.

The Heartbreak Chef usually has a small dine-in area, but for now it’s doing delivery and takeout. coming soon Much-loved Montreal salad chain MANDY’S is coming to Yorkville. The cheery health food restaurants are known for their wide selection of creative salads, which include build-your-own options as well as soups and power bowls. Sisters and co-owners Mandy and Rebecca Wolfe announced their Toronto expansion via Instagram, with the opening date and exact location yet to be revealed.

Cosy Dundas West pub the Commoner is set to open a sister spot called THE COMMONER BAR ROOM (614 College St.) in Little Italy. The new location will focus on casual sharing plates and bar snacks, along with cocktails and wine.

Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality (O&B) will soon open a new downtown restaurant in the old SpeakEasy 21 space at 21 Adelaide St. W. Slated to open this spring or summer, THE RABBIT HOLE PUB & DINING ROOM

promises to be a relaxed gastropub that pairs British cooking with Canadian hospitality.

Ink Entertainment’s latest venture, AMAL (131 Bloor St. W.), will open this spring in Yorkville.

The restaurant's modern Lebanese menu will pay homage to restaurateur Charles Khabouth’s heritage. Executive chef Rony Ghaleb is planning a menu of modern riffs on traditional Lebanese sharing plates.

The new restaurant will take over Ink’s old La Société space, with Studio Munge tapped to redesign the interior.

DZO VIET EATERY will soon open across from the AGO at 308 Dundas St. W. Menu details and an opening date for the contemporary Vietnamese restaurant have yet to be revealed.

lady marmalade The popular brunch restaurant is doing callahead take-away.

oretta Buy one, get one free promo on select items ordered through Uber Eats.

black tulip the heartbreak chef tora Sushi via Ritual and Uber Eats.

R&D Offers a 20 per cent discount on takeout orders that include Peking duck.

SPRING 2020

Plus two new sandwich shops for takeaway and delivery

| POST |

Amazing schnitzel & goulash comes to Wychwood

Taking email orders for its harvest menu.

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LUXURY AND LOCATION IN PERFECT HARMONY

GRAND OPENING APRIL 4 & 5 52’ & 61’ Executive Homes On Mature, Treed Lots In Downtown Aurora Priced From $1.5 Million Register Today. Allegroaurora.com

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36 Klees Crescent, Aurora ON L4G 3W8

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Prices and specifications are subject to change without notice. Brokers protected. E.&O.E. March, 2020.

geranium.com

RESTAURANT REVIEW

FOOD

A love song to T.O.’s restaurants Joanne Kates pens a love letter to the city's restos at this difficult time

Clockwise from top: Dishes from Alo, Flock and Pho Tien Thanh

oh great joy. Low risk there, I’ve never had a bad taco in Toronto.

Or a bad salsa verde.

As a lifelong Sinophile, I’ve never been less than overjoyed by Chinese food in Markham and on the Avenue. My fav Chinese

You’d be hard pressed to find a more fabulous restaurant than Alo — anywhere. And how about Scaramouche, home of ultra-delicious food and de luxe service? And Edulis, a tiny precious jewel of the tasting

“We can visit pretty much every region in the world.” resto is Taste of China on that glorious foodie avenue, Spadina.

I eat their addictive Hong Kong giant crab with deep-fried minced pork and scallions and garlic, salt and pepper egg tofu with oyster mushrooms, and snow pea greens with garlic.

Raise a Tsingtao beer to salute TO restos.

But life is not all beer food. As a certified queenly type, I confess to frequenting snazzier spots when the exchequer permits.

menu yummies. And Shoushin for their superb Japanese omakase tasting menu.

In the middle ground between the two extremes of expense, I favour Zucca for their impeccable Italiana; the Scaramouche Pasta Bar is a helluva consolation prize when the main restaurant feels too costly. I like Flock for their good chicken and healthy tasty salads.

I’m happy eating sushi at Sushi on Bloor and Edo-Ko in Forest

Hill village. I like FK on St. Clair, and I can’t wait till my beloved Cava reopens downtown.

Speaking of the future of restaurants, there won’t be one for lots of them. A small business with low profit margins is not a good thing to own right now unless you sell hand sanitizer. So think about your favourite restaurants. Restaurants are going to need more than my love song right now. Please consider buying gift certificates from your favourite restaurants, to help them survive these hard times.

JOANNE KATES

Joanne Kates trained at the Ecole Cordon Bleu de Cuisine in Paris. She has written articles for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Maclean’s and Chatelaine.

SPRING 2020

well we eat.

I like cheap ’n’ cheerful for weekday drop-ins. My fallback lately has been pho. Top three are Pho Tien Thanh and Golden Turtle on Ossington and Pho Hung on Spadina. At the first two I eat chicken pho. Great chicken stock, fragrant, loaded with Thai basil, lime and sawtooth coriander. Pho Hung has a huge menu, and I favour the vinegary special bamboo shoot soup with vermicelli, toasted peanuts and a side of duck coleslaw to dump in the soup.

On the beloved Asian soup front, I also eat ramen all over town. Both College and Bloor West are rich with ramen. I adore the luscious eggs Benny on St. Clair at Emma’s Country Kitchen. Then there is the recent explosion of taquerias. A Sunday stroll through Kensington Market offers oodles of wonderful tacos. Toronto has excellent taquerias all over town,

| POST |

I am in love with too many Toronto restaurants to list them.

For almost 50 years (!!) I’ve been getting paid to go to restaurants and write about them, and I’ll fight anyone who says they have a better restaurant scene than we do.

Have you eaten Chinese in San Francisco? Ours is more diverse and better. Tried for much other than French in Paris? Other than the fabulous falafel in Le Marais and the occasional pho, one is hardpressed to find the ethnic variety we enjoy. Even in New York, where I love to eat, it’s a little harder to find all the different ethnic eats. They’re there, but you kinda have to know.…

So this is a love song to the Toronto restaurant scene, where we can visit pretty much every region in the world, gastronomically speaking. I consider myself incredibly lucky to be a Torontonian for so many reasons. High on the list is how

37

FOOD

FEATURE

Do try this at home Toronto’s top chefs share their most popular recipes

Clockwise from left: Pizzeria Libretto's Meatballs, Planta’s Mac and Cheese and Suzanne Barr's Cauliflower Soup

With restaurant dine-in areas closed and social distancing in full gear, many of us now find ourselves cooking at home (perhaps much more than we’re accustomed to).

We all deserve to eat well, particularly during times of stress, so we asked some of T.O.’s top chefs to share recipes designed to soothe your soul.

Planta’s Plant-based Mac and Cheese 4 SERVINGS "Mac and cheese is the epitome of comfort food," says Planta’s chef David Lee. "There is nothing like a plantbased spin on a beloved classic."

3 cups 1

⁄4 cup ⁄2 cup

1

1 tbsp ⁄4 cup 2 cups

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1

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plant-based milk of choice olive oil flour plant-based cheese nutritional yeast almond flour pasta shells salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven at 400°.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. When water has boiled, add pasta.

2. Pour plant-based milk into a medium-sized saucepan, bring to a boil.

3. In a small bowl combine olive oil and flour, whisk together.

4. Using a spice grinder or food processor, combine almond flour and nutritional yeast to make plant-based Parmesan cheese.

5. When the plant-based milk has come to a boil, turn down the heat and add the olive oil and flour mixture. Mix together on a gentle heat, making sure the flour doesn’t stick to the bottom

of the pot. Add a couple pinches of salt to taste.

6. When the pasta has cooked, drain the water.

7. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir on medium-high heat.

8. Add the plant-based cheese to the pasta and sauce, mixing in to melt the cheese. Cook the pasta on a gentle heat for 2–3 min.

9. Transfer about two-thirds of the mac and cheese into an oven-safe casserole dish. Add a layer of plant-based cheese, plant-based Parmesan and fresh pepper. Add the remaining mac and cheese for a second layer.

Add another layer of cheese, Parmesan and pepper.

10. Bake in the oven for 15–20 min., at 400°, or until golden brown. Remove the mac and cheese from the oven and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Pizzeria Libretto's Meatballs 4-6 SERVINGS “This meatball recipe is my take on the recipe my mother used to make," says executive chef Rocco Agostino, of Pizzeria Libretto."Enjoying them on their own and using a crostino (grilled bread) to wipe up the sauce on the plate is a great way to enjoy this recipe."

MEATBALLS 3 ⁄4 lbs 1

⁄4 cup 1 1 ⁄2 cup 1 ⁄4 cup 1 ⁄4 cup 1 ⁄2 cup

3

⁄2 cup

1

⁄2 tbsp ⁄2 tbsp

1 1

mix ground beef/pork/pork belly breadcrumbs egg parsley, chopped chives, chopped oregano, chopped roasted red peppers, pureed Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated salt black pepper

TOMATO SAUCE ⁄2 cup 1 ⁄2

1

2 cloves 1 ltr ⁄4 cup ⁄4 cup

1 1

⁄2 tbsp 6

1

2 tbsp 1 ⁄2 cup

olive oil large lonion, finely diced garlic, finely chopped canned San Marzano tomatoes, pureed basil, chopped bomba OR dried chili pepper to taste salt slices of crostini from a baguette, index finger thick olive oil Parmigiano cheese, coarsely grated

MEATBALLS 1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and make sure everything is mixed well.

2. Use a standard ice cream scoop to portion the meatballs.

3. Roll the meatballs in the hand to help even out the circular shape.

4. Place meatballs on a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

5. Bake in the oven at 375° for 15 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and set aside.

TOMATO SAUCE & ASSEMBLY 1. Add 1⁄4 cup of olive oil to a large enough pot that the meatballs will fit.

2. Sauté the onions over medium heat until translucent.

3. Add chopped garlic and sauté for another minute.

4. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer for five minutes.

5. Add the chopped basil, bomba and salt and simmer for another five minutes.

6. Add meatballs and drippings

left in the tray and simmer for another 15 minutes.

7. While meatballs simmer, lightly brush crostini with olive oil and bake in a 375° oven until light golden. Remove from oven and set aside.

8. In a bowl, place three meatballs and pour a spoon of sauce over each meatball.

9. Sprinkle with the grated Parmigiano cheese and serve.

Suzanne Barr's Cauliflower Soup and Parmesan Wafers 6-8 SERVINGS “Cauliflower soup is one of my go-to dishes because truly it is soothing to the soul,” says chef Suzanne Barr of True True Diner. “It can be enjoyed in the midst of a cold winter night and also enjoyed on a hot summer day as a cold soup.

It's so versatile and simple. It really makes you feel like a chef creating something so magical and delicious using only a few ingredients.”

CAULIFLOWER SOUP 1 2 tbsp 1 6 cups ⁄2 - 3⁄4 cup

1

optional

head cauliflower olive oil medium white onion, peeled and sliced vegetable or chicken stock Parmesan cheese, freshly-grated Kosher salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste sesame oil and chives to garnish

PARMESAN WAFERS ⁄2 - 1 cup

1

Parmesan cheese, shredded

SOUP 1. Begin by preparing your cauliflower. Remove and discard the outer leaves and trim off the stem. Quarter the cauliflower by using a knife to slice it down the middle of the stem, separating it into four sections. Separate the core from the florets. Roughly chop the florets, and then thinly slice the core. Set aside.

2. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.

3. Add in the chopped cauliflower and stock. Stir to combine. Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a boil. Then, reduce heat to medium, cover and continue simmering for about 15–20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender.

4. Use an immersion blender or transfer the soup in batches to a traditional blender and purée the soup until smooth.

5. Stir in Parmesan, and season the soup to taste with salt and black pepper.

6. Serve immediately, topped with your desired garnishes. I used toasted sesame oil, Parmesan wafer and chives.

PARMESAN WAFERS 1. Measure out 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese per wafer and place in a cold non-stick skillet.

2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. The cheese will begin to melt and once a light golden colour is achieved, remove the pan from heat and allow to cool.

3. Once the wafers are cool, you can move them to paper towels to soak up the extra oil.

4. Place a wafer on top of hot soup.

Kids SECTION

SINGING SIBLINGS Annie (left) and Celia Siriopoulos are singersongwriters from Markham.

careers begin to flourish, the sisters are still tapped into their local community: Celia, 16, is a student at Holy Trinity School in Richmond Hill and Annie, 14, attends St. Augustine Catholic High School in Markham. They also cofounded an annual youth music festival, Youth Jam TO, and are speakers for anti-bullying organization Kill it with Kindness.

| POST |

The latest singing sensations out of the 905 are sisters Celia and Annie Siriopoulos, who make up the alt-pop duo Caardia. The pair recently released their debut EP, The Deep End, along with its title track, about the dependency people have on cellphones. Their latest single, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Walking Away,â&#x20AC;? was co-written, recorded and produced by Juno Award winner Chris Perry. As their music

SPRING 2020

T.O. sisters release incredible debut EP

39

SENSATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS

Our guide brings together some of the city’s finest camps and programs.

It’s our hope that the guide will help your children achieve their dreams, make new friends and gain an appreciation of nature.

Bayview Glen Camp Since 1962, we have created unforgettable summer memories for thousands of children, as one of Toronto’s longest-running, most comprehensive day camps. Bayview Glen offers enriched, balanced and age-appropriate programs, activity electives for our oldest campers and a comprehensive Leader-In-Training program. The camp also offers a rewarding and integrated program for children with special needs. Centrally located on the secure, leafy and air-conditioned campus of Bayview Glen School, campers enjoy swimming for instructional and recreational swim, 4 sports fields, a theatre, climbing wall, tech labs, art studios, gymnasiums and more…perfect facilities for our specialized programs in robotics, sports, dance and more. Our all-inclusive fees make for unforgettable summer memories not only for our campers, but our parents too! Our door-to-door transportation brings fully-trained bus counsellors on every bus right to your doorstep, and nutritious lunches and snacks are prepared on-site daily.

BEST BEST DDAY AY C CAMP AMP V VOTED OTED B BY YT THE HE R READERS EADERS OF OF CITY CITY PARENT, PA P ARENT T, 2 2019 019

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A AGES GES 4 4-13 -13

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» Li Lifesaving fe s a v i n g S Society ociety S Swim wim IInstruction nst ruc t ion »C Cycle yc l e M Masters asters L Learn e arn tto oB Bike i ke P Program rogram »C Centrally ent rally llocated ocat e d »N Nutritious ut rit ious llunch unch a and nd ssnacks nack s iincluded ncluded » Age-specific Age -spe cif ic programs programs including: including: •B Basketball, asket b all, Volleyball, Volleyb all, Soccer, Soccer, Baseball B aseb all • Coding, Coding , Robotics, Robot ics , Rocketry Rocket r y •P Painting, aint ing , S Sculptures, culpt ures , Pu Puppetry p p et r y •M Musical usical T Theatre, he at re, H Hip ip Hop, Hop, Drumming, D rumming , Guitar G uit ar • Culinary Cu l i n a r y A Arts rts a and nd sso o much much more more Please Please call call the the ca camp mp office office at at 416-449-7746 416-449 -7746 to to learn learn more more about about our our enriched enriched

a award ward w winning inning p programming! rogramming!

b bayviewglencamp.ca ayviewglencamp.ca

CAMP TYPE: Day Camp AGE RANGE: 4-13 TOTAL ENROLMENT: N/A CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 3:1 (average) SESSION LENGTH: 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks SESSION COST: Varies

CAMP DIRECTOR: Dara Kahane

CONTACT: 416-449-7746

www.bayviewglencamp.ca

We We are are p pleased leased tto oo offer ffe ff er d dooroortto-door o-door bus ttransportation ranspor tation iin n tthe he ffo following ollowing a areas: reas:

BEACHES BE ACHES LE LESLIEVILLE SLIEVILLE YORKVILLE YORKVILLE ANNEX A NNE X FOREST HILL VILLAGE F OREST H ILL V ILL AG E NORTH TORONTO N ORTH TO RONTO NORTH YORK NO RTH Y ORK THORNHILL T HORNHILL Door-to-door Door-to-door transportation transpor tation iiss in included cluded in o our ur ‘‘all-inclusive all-inclusive fees' ffe ees' N New ew ffo for or 2 2020: 020: All All buses buses are are equipped equipped with with air air conditioning conditioning

SENSATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS Prestige School Prestige School’s Summer Camp Program is just the fun, activity-filled, yet educational summer that your children are looking for! Our camp, that offers a wide variety of exciting activities that keep all kids engaged, educated, and entertained, starts on June 29th and ends on August 21st, 2020. Our sports program includes Outdoor Games, Basketball, Volleyball, and Soccer. We also offer educational programs such as English and French studies, English as a Second Language, and Logic Boosters. We also provide activities such as Fun Science, Computer Design, Computer Animation and 3D Modelling, Drawing, Painting, Sculpting, and Chess. Campers attend exciting weekly Field Trips throughout the summer and visits to the Swimming Pool twice a week. The camp runs from Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Breakfast and hot lunch are provided daily. Door-to-door transportation is available.

Summer School Credit Courses for grades 9-12 now offered.

Royal City Soccer Club The Royal City Soccer Club is celebrating our 28th annual summer soccer camp. Having hosted over 300,000 campers in over 100 locations, we are the #1 grassroots soccer day camps in Canada. Our program is designed to promote personal development, team building and of course, fun! The camp program is uniquely designed to offer a soccer focus in the morning and a leisure swim with other organized camp activities in the afternoons. All boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 13 are encouraged to register for full day, or morning sessions. Campers receive a personal soccer ball, t-shirt, camp medal and much more. We offer early drop off and pickup times fully supervised at no extra charge. Our camps operate during all weeks in July and August. Check out our website at www.royalsoccer.com for more information or call 1-800-427-0536.

CAMP TYPE: Day Camp AGE RANGE: 3-19 years TOTAL ENROLMENT: 50-70 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: Varies SESSION LENGTH: July & August SESSION COST: $350 per wk

CAMP DIRECTOR: Olga Margold

CONTACT: 416-250-0648

prestigeprivateschool.ca

CAMP TYPE: Day Camp AGE RANGE: 5-13, Co-ed TOTAL ENROLMENT: 25-60 per week CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 10:1 SESSION LENGTH: 1 wk (July & Aug) SESSION COST: $119-$189

CONTACT: 1-800-427-0536 royalsoccer.com

Toronto Campus: 21 Eddfield Avenue (Sheppard & Yonge) Richmond Hill Campus: 11 Headdon Gate (Bathurst & Major Mackenzie)

416-250-0648

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2 Convenient Locations

SPRING 2020

PRESTIGE SCHOOL’S SUMMER CAMP

41

SENSATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS Blyth Academy Blyth Academy is a trusted, established educational organization offering study-abroad programs for high-school students - more than 50,000 have experienced our International Summer and Community Service programs since we opened in 1977. We provide an exceptional summer study-abroad experience, delivered in small classes by skilled and personable faculty, in the most remarkable locations around the world - Europe, Central America, South America, North America, Asia, Australasia and Polynesia. We do this by offering a structured and empathetic environment where young women and men can thrive personally and academically in storied places that offer boundless opportunities for the eager and curious. And they can even earn high school credits or community service hours at the same time! We lead students out of the classroom and into the world.

CAMP TYPE: Specialty School AGE RANGE: 14-18 years TOTAL ENROLMENT: 1000 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 12:1 SESSION LENGTH: 2-4 weeks SESSION COST: From $4,395

FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN: Sam Blyth

CONTACT: 1-866-960-3552 www.blythacademy.ca

St. Michael’s College

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St. Michael's College School Summer Camps offer youth ages 8-14 exceptional academic, athletics, and arts programmes. Sessions are led by certified teachers who are experts in their field of instruction, ensuring that your child is supported and challenged based on their skill-level and experience. Whether your child wants to explore something new or is looking to improve an existing skill set, SMCS Summer Camps are the perfect opportunity for boys and girls to have fun, create memorable experiences, and receive the high quality of instruction that they deserve. All of our programmes (with the exception of Strength & Conditioning) are full-day, running from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with lunch and snacks included. Our 2020 summer camp offerings include: Volleyball, Hockey, Lacrosse, Makers Camp, Robotics, Media Arts, Theatre, Drumline, Math, Literacy, General Learning Skills, and Strength & Conditioning (two-hour commitment per day).

42

WAILUA BAY, KAUAI, HAWAII

THIS COULD BE YOUR

Summer School BLYTHSUMMERS.CA • 416-960-3552

CAMP TYPE: Day Camp AGE RANGE: 8-14+ years TOTAL ENROLMENT PER GROUP: 16 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 7:1 SESSION LENGTH: One week SESSION COST: $380+HST

SMCS CAMPS DIRECTOR:

Stephen Antolin

CONTACT: 416-653-3180 ext. 210 SMCSCAMPS.COM

SENSATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS Bayview Village Junior Tennis Camp

CAMP TYPE: Specialty Camp AGE RANGE: 4-18 TOTAL ENROLMENT: 40 per week CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 6:1 SESSION LENGTH: 1 week SESSION COST: $265-$375

Centrally located at Bayview and Sheppard, the Bayview Village Junior Tennis Camp conducts 11 one-week tennis camp sessions throughout the summer at the Bayview Village Tennis Club. Beginner and intermediate students participate at a 6:1 ratio while advanced and tournament level players practice at a 4:1 ratio. Full and half-day programs are available. Extended hours are available upon request. The camp is in its 34th year of operation under the direction of Peter Nielsen, who has a strong and successful tradition in junior development. Since 1989, Bayview Village Tennis Club has won the Outstanding Achievement Award for Junior Development, presented by the Ontario Tennis Assoc., in 15 of the last 20 years. Peter and the staff approach teaching and training in a progressive, fun-filled manner. Certified professionals implement program content and teaching methods. The development of life skills, friendships, prizes, drills and competitions are all part of a memorable experience at Bayview Village Junior Tennis Camp.

CAMP DIRECTOR: Peter Nielson

CONTACT: 905-889-7293

bayviewvillagetenniscamp.ca

Central Montessori School

CAMP TYPE: Specialty Day Camp AGE RANGE: 3-12 years old TOTAL ENROLMENT: Varies - 100-350 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: Varies per age grouping SESSION LENGTH: 2 weeks SESSION COST: Varies per location

Central Montessori School (CMS) offers dynamic summer programs at 5 convenient locations for children 3 - 12 years of age. Children 6 years & older can choose from our exciting 2-week session SPECIALTY programs which include Art, Coding/Robotics, Drama, Dance, Chess, Taekwondo, STEM, Gymnastics + a variety of team sports (Basketball, Tennis, Badminton, etc.) to name a few. Our VARIETY program for children 3 - 6 years old offers opportunities for children to enjoy a variety of activities such as drama, dance, science, arts & crafts, cooking, yoga, chess (4+ yrs.), outdoor water play & indoor/outdoor sports. These programs are conducted in English. FRENCH VARIETY at our Maplehurst Campus offers the opportunity for children to build & develop basic French communication skills while participating in a variety of activities as offered in our English program. All of our programs offer bi-weekly field trips to exciting + child-friendly destinations. At CMS, fun and learning go hand in hand. It’s the perfect balance of physical, mental + creative challenges!

CAMP DIRECTOR: Roshi Ansari

CONTACT: 416 510 1200 or 416 222 9207 www.cmschool.net

BAYVIEW VILLAGE TENNIS CAMP

Junior Tennis Camp

Building Strong Foundations since 1995.

June 22nd September 4th, 2020

• Centrally located (Bayview & Sheppard) • O.T.A. Award Winning Jr. Program • Ages 4-18 Beginner to Advanced • 11 different one week sessions • Full and Half Day Programs WILLOWDALE CAMPUS

MAPLEHURST CAMPUS

Tel: (416) 222-5940

Tel: (416) 250-1022

Tel: (416) 222-9207

Ages: 3 - 6 yrs.

Summer Programs: Variety

Ages: 3 - 6 yrs.

Summer Programs: Variety

(Sheppard & Yonge)

(Sheppard & Bayview)

THORNHILL CAMPUS YORK MILLS CAMPUS (Yonge & Steeles)

(Leslie & York Mills)

Tel: (905) 889-0012

Tel: (416) 510-1200

Ages: 3 - 9 yrs.

Summer Programs: Variety & Specialty

Ages: 3 - 12 yrs.

Summer Programs: Variety & Specialty

(Sheppard & Yonge)

Ages: 3 - 12 yrs.

Summer Programs: Variety, FRENCH VARIETY & Specialty

www.cmschool.net

SPRING 2020

For further information or camp registration call Peter Nielsen 905-889-7293 • pneilsen889@rogers.com www.bayviewvillagetenniscamp.ca

SHEPPARD CAMPUS

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43

SENSATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS Camp Tanamakoon Since 1925 Tanamakoon girls have returned year after year to develop life time skills and friendships in Ontario's pristine Algonquin Park. Parents can feel secure with the knowledge that we pride ourselves in hiring compassionate, caring and highly skilled staff. Tanamakoon preserves traditional camp values while promoting self esteem in all campers. Developing character, fostering compassion, learning respect for others and the environment and instilling a sense of taking responsibility for themselves are part of everyday life at Tanamakoon. Tanamakoon will provide your daughter with an exceptional experience that will develop skills she can use throughout the rest of her life. Algonquin Park provides the perfect natural environment that gives girls permission to “unplug” and to lead a simpler more gentle life. 3 day Kindercamp, 6 day Minicamp and 2 and 4 week sessions

CAMP TYPE: Residential Camp AGE RANGE: 4-16 yrs TOTAL ENROLMENT: 200 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 3:1 SESSION LENGTH: Varies SESSION COST: Varies

CAMP DIRECTOR: Patti Thom

CONTACT: 905-338-9464 tanamakoon.com

Toronto Mandarin School Toronto Mandarin School, is the leading language school dedicated to Mandarin Chinese language education in the GTA. We offer a wide variety of Mandarin language programs for children, teens, adults & organizations. Founded in 2001 by teaching professionals from mainland China, Toronto Mandarin School is comitted to providing a practical learning experience to anyone who would like to learn Mandarin Chinese, one of the most strategic languages in the near future. Toronto Mandarin School, with multiple locations in the GTA, currently offers Mandarin/English bilingual preschool, weekend & after-school Mandarin programs, Early Years Learning in Mandarin, Parents & Tots, Mandarin for Teens and Mandarin Immersion Summer Camp. Immerse into a full Mandarin environment. Camps offered at 6 locations: North York, Scarborough, Downtown & Midtown Toronto, Richmond Hill, Mississauga.

CAMP TYPE: Day Camp AGE RANGE: 3-14 TOTAL ENROLMENT: 150 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 8:1/15:1/20:1 SESSION LENGTH: July, August SESSION COST: $250-$350 per week

CAMP DIRECTOR: Jennifer Chang

CONTACT: 416-304-0260

www.torontomandarinschool.com

Located in the Heart of Algonquin Park

Enriching Girls Lives Since 1925

“Where Growth and Fun Walk Hand in Hand"

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Girls 4-16 Years

44

Sessions: Kindercamp Girls 4-6 years Mini Camp 6 day sessions Two week and Four week option

www.tanamakoon.com 905-338-9464

SENSATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS WillowWood School Summer Program WillowWood School is celebrating its 40th year offering unique Summer Programming where students practice skills and learn new strategies in an energized, positive atmosphere. Our summer staff are the same experienced, specialized teachers from the academic year and know how to create a safe, student-centred environment. Our programs offer individualized student-centred teaching and mentorship, focus on building creativity and teach social, leadership and teamwork skills in a natural, respectful way.

Discovery programs include swimming, rock-climbing, sports, art, music, yoga, field trips and theme weeks. Leadership programs include language, math, technology and fitness.

Earn a High School credit in 20 days! Summer school courses include Math, Science, English, Social Sciences, Personal Fitness. Plus, options for ESL, OSSLT and more. Ready to learn more? Visit WillowWoodSchool.ca or call 416 444-7644 to speak with one of our Summer Program Directors: Mellissa Grant (1-8) ~ Walid Dowdie (High School).

Brick Works Academy Do you have a child who is constantly exploring and building? Sign your child up to be part of Brick Works Academy summer day camps, where your child can explore robotics construction, Game Design, Animation, Minecraft, Fortnite, 3d Printing/Design or design Pokemon cards. New this summer your children can celebrate their love of Harry Potter in their new fan camp. Student will meet Owls and magical creatures, create their own magical props/crafts and learn some magic. Brick Works Academy serves 4,000 students per summer with 6 locations in the GTA and 14 Ontario locations in total. Visit them this summer to see why families vote them the best day camp in their community year after year.

CAMP TYPE: Specialty School AGE RANGE: 5-17 TOTAL ENROLMENT: 150 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 8:1 SESSION LENGTH: 1,2,3 or 4 weeks SESSION COST: $300-$2,850

PROGRAM DIRECTORS: Walid Dowdie & Mellissa Grant

CONTACT: 416 444-7644

WillowWoodSchool.ca

CAMP TYPE: Day Camp AGE RANGE: 6-13 TOTAL ENROLMENT: 4,000 CAMPER/STAFF RATIO: 10:1 SESSION LENGTH: 1 week SESSION COST: $320

CONTACT: 1-888-BRICK-50

www.brickworksacademy.com

UNIQUE SUMMER PROGRAMS In WillowWood programs, students practice skills and learn new strategies in an energized, positive and fun atmosphere.

Grades 1-6

Grades 7-8

Grades 9-12

Discovery Program

Leadership Program

Earn High School Credits

July 6-31, 2020

July 6-31, 2020

June 29-July 28, 2020

Our Courses • Offer individualized, STEAM student-centred teaching and mentorship

• Teach social, leadership and teamwork skills in a natural, respectful way

• Courses include Math, Science, English, Social Sciences, Healthy Living and Personal Fitness

• Offers Canadian educational experiences and language training

• Focus on building creativity and self-confidence • Half day or full day options for 1, 2, 3, or 4 week programs

416 444-7644

WillowWoodSchool.ca

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yoga, art, swimming to field trips

SPRING 2020

• Include activities from rock-climbing, music,

45

Teachers on Call, personalized tutoring since 1990

The English Painter, advertising since 1990

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD’S TRIED AND TRUSTED

Classifieds To book an ad call 416-250-7979 x270 or email classifieds@postcity.com Grandma’s Garden, beautifying area gardens since 2010

Michael Hennaoui, fixing neighbourhood homes since 2007

Spring Featured Classifieds

TOWNLEY MASONRY Restoration LTD. PROFESSIONAL DUCT CLEANING Toronto's most respected cleaning service!

• CARPETS • DRAPERY • AREA RUGS • FURNITURE

Professional Duct Cleaning since 1966

416- 461-4006 info@reliablecarpet.ca www.reliablecarpet.ca

WWW. POWERVAC . CA

416-245-5120

AARON FELDMAN FULLY INSURED & LICENSED

One O ne Heat Treatment TTrreatment Removes Your Removes Your Bed Bed Bugs Bugs Permanently.

Permanentlyy.

Pesticide 100% P esticide FREE Additional Treatments Required equired No A dditional T Tr reatments R On On Call Call 24/7 Allll O Other insects, pathogens and allergens A ther inse ctss, patho gens a nd aller gens dead

647-928-6655 647-928-665 55 www.bedbugsandbeyond.ca

FIXALL

416-402-4787 www.fixallmechanicalservices.com

RESIDENTAL // COMMERCIAL BLOCK WORK // BRICK WORK TUCK POINTING // PARGING CHIMNEYS // STONE WORK BASEMENT MASONRY

PAVING ASPHALT • INTERLOCK • CONCRETE

416-701-1881

info@epicpaving.ca www.e p i c p a v i n g . c a

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46

Renovations Renovations Additions Additions Project Project Management Masonry Masonry W Work ork New New Home Construction Construction

Design Design & Permit Services Bonded Bonded & Insured WSIB WSIB Registered All

All W Work ork Guaranteed

416.564.0149 pawconstruction.ca Providing Professional & Quality Construction Services for over 20 years

Beta & Associates I nc. " !

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CONTRACTING

Supplies & Installs Vinyl Windows

Build

FOR THE BEST PRICING & A 5 year Guarantee call ALEX.

• Electrical • Drywall Repairs • Plumbing • Garage Door Repairs • Appliance Installation

WINDOWS & DOORS Design

BATHROOM KITCHEN BASEMENT REMODELING

416-882-6673

POWER VAC OFFERS A VARIETY OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY SERVICES

• NADCA Certified Air Systems Cleaning Specialists on staff • Indoor Air Quality Testing by Professional Engineer • Certified Mold Remediators and Ventilation Inspectors • State of the art Air Filtration Systems

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DUNCAN TOWNLEY

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1 COSGROVE PLASTERWORKS Interior Plaster Specialist. We specialize in plastering old walls, ceilings, and new drywall. No sanding required. Repair plaster mouldings done in-situ. Please call Mike at 416-388-1814.

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416-787-8084

showerrestorationtoronto.com info@showerrestorationtoronto.com

RENOVATIONS 35 Years of Experience, Bathroom & Kitchen Renovations, Hardwood Floors, Carpentry, Tiling, Wall Repair & Painting. Free Written Estimates. Please Call Geoffrey Boucher at 647-342-6804 or email scgfacl@gmail.com.

#ALL "RIAN

647-767-0164 PARKER RESTORATIONS &ULLY )NSURED ,IC 4

â&#x20AC;˘ Renovation â&#x20AC;˘ Repair â&#x20AC;˘ Electrical

â&#x20AC;˘ Plumbing

â&#x20AC;˘ Carpentry â&#x20AC;˘ Drywall â&#x20AC;˘ Demolition â&#x20AC;˘ Painting â&#x20AC;˘ Gardening â&#x20AC;˘ Disposal â&#x20AC;˘ Decks and Fences Yonge / Eglinton

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Peter Topp @

416-460-2250 Serving South of Steeles

LOWâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;RATES

416-819-8888

â&#x20AC;˘ NO JOB TOO SMALL â&#x20AC;˘ AFFORDABLE â&#x20AC;˘ FAST â&#x20AC;˘ RELIABLE & PROMPT â&#x20AC;˘ SENIORSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; DISCOUNT â&#x20AC;˘ YOUR SATISFACTION IS GUARANTEED

Service Upgrades Troubleshooting Ceiling Fans Pot Lights Lighting Designs LED Retrofits Nest Thermostats Pools / Hot Tubs Generators

Call For a Free Estimate

416-303-3276 Plumbing

4 JOHN BELL PAINTING

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank you for what most painters promise but few deliver.â&#x20AC;? R.L.

Call Peter:

416-554-3517 ECONOMY FENCE & REPAIR EXPERT â&#x20AC;˘ Chain Link â&#x20AC;˘ Dog Runs â&#x20AC;˘ Gates â&#x20AC;˘ Removal â&#x20AC;˘ Etc. â&#x20AC;˘ No job too small â&#x20AC;˘Top quality workmanship â&#x20AC;˘ Proven unbeatable prices â&#x20AC;˘ Res & Com

416-724-5372

s 0AINTING s 0APERING s $RYWALL s 3TUCCO s &AUX Clean & efficient work done on time.

416-491-1010

A&D ROOFING Fully Insured and licensed WSIB

Service:

Shingles Flat roofing Siding Chimney repair and rebuild Skylights Roofing leak Eavestrough Cleaning

APEX inc inc..

Senior discount available We will beat any price by 10% For free estimate call

WALLPAPER WA ALLPPAPER & PPAINTING AINTING Erik Boczon

IRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HANDYMAN SERVICES â&#x20AC;˘ Picture Hanging

416.833.1662 Painting

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â&#x20AC;˘ Plumbing & Electrical â&#x20AC;˘ Deck & Fence Repair â&#x20AC;˘ Painting â&#x20AC;˘ Furniture Assembly â&#x20AC;˘ Interlock Repair â&#x20AC;˘ Shingle & Flat Roof Repair

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Small Job Specialistâ&#x20AC;?

416-274-6942

Repair & Replacement Faucet Sink Toilet Shower Laundry Main Valve Leaking Pipe Backup Drain FULLY LICENSED & INSURED 24HR. SERVICE MET. LIC. # PH23521

â&#x20AC;˘ Fixture Installations

irathehandyman@hotmail.com

FINLAY TOPP CONTRACTING

Of course we also do General Home Renovations

FREE ESTIMATES

Interiors & Exteriors References Available

Garages rebuilt at substantial savings over replacement (single/double)

3

The Most Professional Paint Job At The Most Affordable Price!

Fully Insured

Ready to fall over?

Electrical

Over 20 Years Experience

&ULLY )NSURED ,IC 4

â&#x20AC;˘ No Permit Required â&#x20AC;˘ No Tax Reassessment â&#x20AC;˘ No Set Back Issues Just a nice garage at a fraction of the cost of replacement

FIXALL â&#x20AC;˘ Electrical â&#x20AC;˘ Drywall Repairs â&#x20AC;˘ Plumbing â&#x20AC;˘ Garage Door Repairs â&#x20AC;˘ Appliance Installation

647-767-0164

MILEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PAINTING

PARKER RESTORATIONS

IS IT LOOSE, WOBBLY, STICKING, CROOKED, LEAKING, CRACKED OR BROKEN? DOES IT NEED REPAIR??

irathehandyman@gmail.com

FULLY INSURED & LICENSED

www.fixallmechanicalservices.com

#ALL "RIAN

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AARON FELDMAN

416-402-4787

s 0ORCH 2EPAIR 2EBUILD s 4UCK 0OINTING s "RICK 2EPLACEMENT s 0ARGING 2EFERRALS !VAILABLE

GARAGE LEANING?

â&#x20AC;˘ Home Repairs â&#x20AC;˘ Painting â&#x20AC;˘ Drywall â&#x20AC;˘ Shelving â&#x20AC;˘ Odd Jobs â&#x20AC;˘ Electrical Fixtures

10% OFF WITH THIS AD

With Dump Truck

â&#x20AC;˘ Residential â&#x20AC;˘ Condos â&#x20AC;˘ Office â&#x20AC;˘ Retail Stores

For Minor Household Repairs

Commercial Industrial Residential FREE ESTIMATE 24 Hour Service aaronfeldman@bell.net

Handy man

High quality home renovations & improvements

CALL DAVE! @ 416â&#x20AC;˘222â&#x20AC;˘7583

ALL MASONRY s 0ORCH 2EPAIR 2EBUILD s 4UCK 0OINTING s "RICK 2EPLACEMENT s 0ARGING 2EFERRALS !VAILABLE

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| POST |

Home 1. Home Improvements

47

Tom Day

SHASTA

GARDEN DESIGN

Plumbing & Drains

Faucets, toilets, sinks, etc. installed. Blocked toilets, backed up drains, basement back ups.

External & internal drain excavating. Complete washroom renovations. "

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We are a full service tree care company that promotes tree preservation with an ethical approach to caring for trees.

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Grandma’s Garden Blueprint Design Decorative Planters Landscape Lighting Seasonal Clean-Ups Garden Makeovers & Maintenance

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SENIORS’ SENIORS’ DISCOUNT DISCOUNT

Tropical Plant Maintenance/Sales Tropical Consultation, Design & Installation Pruning & Synthetic Plants

FREE ESTIMA AT TES ESTIMATES Bus: 416-422-4707 Fax: 416-422-4701

| POST | S P R I N G 2 0 2 0

cti@citytropicals.com 593 Mortimer Ave. Ave. Toronto Toronto M4C 2J6

48

Hendrik Tree Service

STUMP REMOVAL

647-238-2661

905-709-7775 • complete landscape design & build • interlocking driveways/walkways • unique water features • custom landscape lighting • lawn & garden sprinkler systems • complete monthly maintenance packages available

7

CLEANING LADY AVAILABLE Experienced, insured, honest and hard-working. Attention to detail. maidforyoutorontoltd.com.

Call Tanya at 416-897-6782.

DRY TECHNOLOGY

4 416-745-TREE 16-745-TR RE EE ((8733) 8733)

ashleystreecare.ca a shleystreecare.ca

Customizing in Small Projects: Landscape P rojects: P Perennial erennial Gar Gardens dens F Fences ences & Deck Deckss Lawn C Care are & Gar Garden den R Rejuventation ejuventation

SOFAS AND CHAIRS RECOVERED

Ple Please ase Call Call Daron Daron

FOR AN ESTIMATE CALL HENRY CUESTA

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Computer Services

8

Health & Fitness

Since 1975

9

Restoration of antique & modern furniture. In-home touch-ups of dining room sets, bedroom sets & kitchen cupboards.

Gluing & general repairs.

35 years’ experience

416-654-0518

BA BAYVIEW AY YVIEW & STEELES

Smal ividual Smalll class size. Ind Individual at tention. Dayt ime and attention.

Daytime evening classes available.

For mor e details more paula@paulayoga.ca 416-891-2157

www.paulayoga.ca www.paulayoga.ca

Appliances

10 APPLIANCE REPAIRS Professional repairs of all brands of refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, dishwashers, dryers, washers, heating & air conditioning. Warranty.

Credit cards accepted. Seniors’ discount. Call Fred 416-266-6122.

Art & Design

12

Senior Services

11

without the use of water

Harmony Upholstery

Restoration & Repair

YOGA CLASSES

GREEN, CLEAN & DRY

COMPUTER AND IT SUPPORT Set-up, tutoring, troubleshooting, networks, virus removal.

Friendly and patient. House calls, references available. Your questions? My answers! David Block 416-830-6160 or email dblock@sympatico.ca.

MARCANTONIO FURNITURE

OY OYA-R, YA-R, A Y Yoga oga Al Alliance liance R RYT YT

CARPET & UPHOLSTERY CLEANING SINCE 1997

• Modern or Antique • Rebuilding & Repairs • Wide Selection of the Latest Fabrics • In-house Certified Interior Decorator • Free Estimates

905-946-1948

Paula Tor T Torneck orneck Richie

DRY EXTRACTION

416-882-2942

6

W WaterWorksCanada.com aterWorksCanada.com

Living Plants for Public and Private Spaces

Cleaning

Interiors & Upholstery

647.490.9710

CITY TROPICALS INC.

7. Cleaning 8. Computer Services 9. Health & Fitness 10. Appliances 11. Senior Services 12. Art & Deisgn

SHINY CLEAN HOUSE An Experienced European cleaning lady will keep your house clean. Our company is fully Insured & Bonded. Call Inna or Inga, 416-929-5777. www.shinycleanhouse.ca.

What does your garden need this year?

On O n First Job

5

shastagardens@hotmail.com

Welcome Spring!

grandmasgarden.ca

Landscaping

Free Consultations

www.kellytree.com

647-274-2048

$50.00

416-522-7288

416-462-0007

Vision. Design. Build.

Save Save

Design & Installation Planting & Pruning Garden Maintenance Complete Garden Makeovers

SERVICES

Personal Certified Fitness Trainer

Active Aging Certified Trainer In Your Home or Office Fitness Equipment Supplied First Session FREE Workouts include stretching, resistance, core, cardio and balance training.

Exercise keeps you youthful, healthier, stronger longer!

Call Lori 416-616-1797

inhomefitnesstrainertoronto.ca

Select Your Your Caregiver Careeggiiver Up to 24 hour care care Meal Preparation Preparation Errands/Shopping Hygiene Assistance Light Housekeeping Respite Care Care for Families Palliative & Chronic Chronic Care Care Joyful Companionship Alzheimer/Dementia/Parkinson/Diabetes and Cancer Care Care Provider Provider for Veteran Veteran Independent Program Program Weekends/Holidays Weekends/Holidays TTemporary/Long-term eemporary/Long-term Day/Night, Live-in re Live-in,, Live-out Ca Care FREE in-Home Consultation

416-398-4663

MARKETPLACE 13. Items for Sale/Wanted

www.seniorhomecarebyangels.com/toronto1 www.seniorhomecarebyangels.com/toronto1

Items for Sale/Wanted

13 RUMMAGE SALE Eglinton St George’s United Church. 35 Lytton Boulevard, Saturday April 25th, 10am-1pm!

Clothing, shoes, toys. linens, jewellery, sporting goods, books, movies, treasures, artwork.

TOP CASH PAID 6LOYHU *ROG 3RUFHODLQ &RLQV )LJXULQHV 3DLQWLQJV %URQ]H :DWFKHV -HZHOOHU\ &KLQD ,QVWUXPHQWV

Tibor: 647-866-5040

RUMMAGEâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;SALE Eglinton St Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s United Church. 35 Lytton Boulevard, Saturday April 25th, 10am-1pm!

Clothing, shoes, toys. linens, jewellery, sporting goods, books, movies, treasures, artwork.

TOP CASH PAID Â&#x2021; 6LOYHU Â&#x2021; *ROG Â&#x2021; 3RUFHODLQ Â&#x2021; &RLQV Â&#x2021; )LJXULQHV Â&#x2021; 3DLQWLQJV Â&#x2021; %URQ]H Â&#x2021; :DWFKHV Â&#x2021; -HZHOOHU\ Â&#x2021; &KLQD Â&#x2021; ,QVWUXPHQWV

Tibor: 647-866-5040

WANTED! FINE ART &

WANTED

Quality antiques Sterling, Silver Plate Chinese, Japanese,

& Asian wares

Bronze Paintings Old jewellery, watches,

coins & medals Military items Teak Furniture Fancy cups & saucers Professional & Courteous 30 Years Experience Call David

LEARNING

ANTIQUES

14. Tutoring

Chinese Japanese Asian Porcelain Jade Bronze etc.

Canadian art & fine paintings Inuit sculpture M A R C D AV I S Sterling & jewellery & ASSOCIATES China & porcelain Fine Art - Antiques Moorcroft Doulton Estate Sales - Appraisals Art glass Family Division

call Andrew Plum

416-669-1716

416 781 8800

plumsfineart.com

Bechstein

English Gentleman Buyer

416-231-9948

www.marcdavis.ca

Piano

IMPROVE YOUR FRENCH! Join our lively and congenial conversational French classes for adults. All Levels.

daytime

Qualified Experienced Teacher

Tutoring

For more information, please call

14

416-488-4908

MATHEMATICAL TUTORIALS Private tutoring in mathematical subjects from refresher courses to advanced levels for all ages.

Call George Giordano, B.Sc., M.A. bbgeorgebb@gmail.com or 416-545-1937.

Â&#x2021; 2QWDULR &HUWLILHG 7HDFKHUV Â&#x2021; 2QWDULR &HUWLILHG 7HDFKHUV

CODING COLLECTOR LOOKING FOR Old Tube Hi Fi Components and Speakers. 40 Years or Older.

t .BDJOUPTI t .BSBOU[ t 'JTIFS t Tanoy t )BNNPOE 0rgans t 3FDPrE $PMMFDUJPOT

Call: 519-853-2157 1-800-947-0393

Downsizing SSales l Moving M oving Sales Estate Esta te Sales FFree ree Consultations

416-729-7710

castlec castlecontentsales.com ontentsales.c om

Hand crafted in 1900.

A timeless piece of art that still looks and sounds exceptional.

Expertly valued at $27,000.

Will accept reasonable offer and include free delivery in TO

Please Contact Alan

416-200-5587

FOR KIDS Computer Coding Web HTML Python Javascript

Â&#x2021; -. 8QLYHUVLW\ $OO 6XEMHFWV Â&#x2021; -. 8QLYHUVLW\ $OO 6XEMHFWV Â&#x2021; 2UJDQL]DWLRQDO 6WXG\ 6NLOOV Â&#x2021; 2UJDQL]DWLRQDO 6WXG\ 6NLOOV Â&#x2021;Â&#x2021; /' $'+' 6XSSRUW /' $'+' 6XSSRUW Â&#x2021;Â&#x2021; 5HFRPPHQGHG E\ 6FKRROV 5HFRPPHQGHG E\ 6FKRROV

www www.teachersoncall.ca .teachersoncall.ca

Grades 5-12 and University Customized 1-on-1 Tutoring

Learning TreeTutors

416-519-8335 905-881-1931

416.783.5815 www.learningtreetutors.com

2020 CAMP SUMMER JOB DIRECTORY POSITIONS AVAILABLE: â&#x20AC;¢ COUNSELLORS â&#x20AC;¢ SWIM INSTRUCTORS â&#x20AC;¢ ACTIVITY STAFF â&#x20AC;¢ STUDENT NURSES

CONTACT: Benji Roy 416-449-7746 broy@bayviewglen.ca

POSITIONS AVAILABLE: FULL TIME COOK OTHER VARIOUS SUMMER VOLUNTEER POSITIONS ALSO AVAILABLE, FOR DETAILS PLEASE SEE: pioneercampontario.ca/staff-volunteers

PLEASE EMAIL: info@pioneercamp.ca

â&#x20AC;¢ DANCE INSTRUCTORS â&#x20AC;¢ GYMNASTICS INSTRUCTORS â&#x20AC;¢ SPORTS INSTRUCTORS (all require experience with children)

Contact Ms. Roshi Ansari: 416-222-9207

CONTACT: Renzo Muniz 1-800-427-0536

| POST |

POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

â&#x20AC;¢ CAMP COUNSELLOR â&#x20AC;¢ CAMP SUPERVISOR â&#x20AC;¢ REGIONAL COORDINATOR â&#x20AC;¢ C.I.T. COUNSELLOR IN TRAINING

SPRING 2020

POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

49

LOOKING BACK

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS Did you hear about the Toronto Celebrity Roast?

It was cancelled for excessive politeness.

SPENCER (“SPENNY”) RICE, KENNY VS. SPENNY

Toronto real estate is expensive. I live downtown in a 250square-foot apartment.

If you don’t understand what square footage is, my microwave is my bedroom clock. Every night before I go to bed, I just set my alarm for eight hours on “Hi.”

The hipsters keep moving west whenever an area of Toronto gets too gentrified and expensive. Soon we’ll have the coolest, most ironic airport in the world.

LAUGHTER IS OFTEN THE BEST MEDICINE, HERE ARE SOME TORONTO-CENTRIC JOKES FROM OUR WONDERFUL COMEDY EDITION FROM A FEW YEARS AGO.

NAOMI SNIECKUS, CBC’S MR. D

Toronto gets a bad rap.

I like Toronto. I think it’s one of the top 10 cities in Ontario.

BRIAN AYLWARD, COMEDIAN

The only thing that scares me more than the CN Tower EdgeWalk is using the bathroom at the Madison.

GRAHAM KEAY, COMEDIAN

Toronto is the only city in Canada where a typical winter storm is called “Snowmageddon.”

Look, until you see a pack of wolves attack a Bay Street fat cat during evening rush hour... it’s just January!

RON JAMES, THE RON JAMES SHOW

The best thing about Toronto’s public transit is that you always know where you are going to be in five minutes ... right where you are now!

| POST | S P R I N G 2 0 2 0

KEVIN FRANK, THE SECOND CITY TRAINING CENTRE

50

CHRISTINA WALKINSHAW, COMEDIAN

On a recent trip, I learned that people in Vancouver hate Toronto. I asked, “What’s so good about Vancouver?” They replied, “The mountains and ocean.” I said, “None of those things are city things. You just named a bunch of stuff beside your city. That’s like me asking, ‘What’s so good about your girlfriend?’ and you telling me, ‘It’s her brother and sister.’ ” I wouldn’t like Vancouver as a girlfriend anyway, because she would cry for 10 months of the year.

GRAHAM KEAY, COMEDIAN

You know how you get 20 Torontonians out of your swimming pool?

Just ask them — they’re really nice!

I was 45 minutes late for my job interview with the TTC this morning....

I got the job.

JASON PRIESTLEY

DARRYL ORR

I’m writing a book about life in the Toronto suburbs.

It’s called “Is There Life After Finch?”

MARK BRESLIN, YUK YUK’S

Little-known Toronto fact: Old city hall often regales new city hall with “in my day” stories.

MARTHA O’NEILL

Yonge Street is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest street in the world, stretching 1,896 kilometres and including 189,602 Tim Hortons.

NICK CARTER

In 2013, the Argos won the Grey Cup and an Oscar for Best Picture!

MATT BARAM, CTV’S SEED

“Toronto is hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games?

That’s amazing!” said contractors, only contractors.

CARLY HEFFERNAN, THE SECOND CITY

Y-SPRING 2020-IBC_IBC 2020-03-18 1:10 PM Page 1

Y-SPRING 2020-OBC_OBC 2020-03-18 1:10 PM Page 1

2145 Avenue Road Toronto, ON M5M 4B2

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416.441.2888

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harveykalles.com

CONGRATU L ATIONS

TO OUR S ALES STA FF ON A

TERRIFIC YEAR! In h on o u r o f yo u r 201 9 a ch i eve m e nt s , we h ave d o n ate d an a ddi t i on a l

to homeless shelters across the GTA. Kalles Cares. Giving back to the community is a central tenet of our company’s culture.

National and International Exposure for our Client’s Homes