Should we change how we vote? By Anna Killen
Volume 46 No. 15
October 18, 2016
SHOULD VOTING in Canada be mandatory? What other voting systems exist around the world? Which one would be best for Canada? Around 175 East End residents had an opportunity to consider these questions, and more, at a Liberal-led electoral reform town hall last week. The October 12 meeting at St. Brigid’s School was part of a series of Canada-wide information-based community consultations about the country’s voting system, a system that the Liberal government has vowed to reform before the next federal election
in 2019. The first round of community consultations wraps up this week in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Hosted by Beaches-East York Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the panel featured Jane Hilderman, the executive director of Samara Canada, a charity dedicated to citizen engagement, York University electoral reform expert Dennis Pilon, and Ajax MP Mark Holland, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of democratic reform. Many in the audience appeared eager to turf the current “first past the post” system. Continued on Page 3
PHOTO: ANNA KILLEN
“Welcome to the Beach!” Megaphone-wielding historian Gene Domagala was one of many Beachers who lined the streets Sunday, Oct. 16 for the annual Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon, with neighbourhood fundraising for Pegasus Community Project. An enthusiastic crowd cheered on the runners, often by name, and handed out water and power bars.
Carters Landing looks to move past the ‘negative noise’ By Lara O’Keefe
LIKE IT or not, Carters Landing has officially landed in the Beach. And Landing Group CEO Steve Pelton – co-founder of Carters Landing – wants residents to know they’re not the chain restaurant some may think they are. The October 5 Toronto city council meeting shelved at least one of the ongoing Tuggs Inc. debates with a vote in favour of a lease transfer to Cara Operations Ltd., the chain restaurant corporation that owns Carters Landing and other Landing Group restaurants (see story on Page 3). Tuggs Inc. is the company which, in 2007, was given an exclusive 20-year-lease to several city-owned waterfront park
properties and buildings. Carters Landing, which is located on Lakeshore Boulevard in the former Boardwalk Café location, has been under intense scrutiny since it opened in July, around the same time Tuggs requested the lease reassignment from the city, with some residents calling for a ‘boycott’. Now that the assignment is official, Pelton wants to tell his side of the story. “I think people need to know a little bit more about who we are and what we’re trying to do,” he said in a conversation over the phone. “I live in the Beach, so I’m very proud to be a part of the Beach as a resident and I just want everyone to know that it’s not so much a
big conglomerate, but me and my partners that were trying to establish ourselves in the Beach and that area long before Cara bought our little restaurant group.” Pelton said he moved to the Beach in 2008 at the same time he and his partners bought Joy Bistro in Leslieville. He then started The Landing Group in 2010 with three close friends; all four of whom are from Toronto. Their restaurant concept, described on the website as premium casual, performed so well that by 2014, it had caught the attention of Cara Operations Ltd., Canada’s largest full-service restaurant company (Cara owns Milestones, Swiss Chalet, Bier Market, and Casey’s, among others), who then acquired
55 per cent interest. By June 2015, Cara had announced completion of a full acquisition. At the time, the group consisted of three restaurants: Williams Landing in Liberty Village, Hunters Landing in CityPlace, and Harpers Landing in Oakville. Under the Cara umbrella, it has now grown to seven locations across Ontario. Pelton insisted however, that despite the 2015 Cara acquisition, The Landing Group is still run separately. “We do our own thing,” he said. “We were fortunate enough that our restaurants were very successful so they didn’t want to mess with that. They wanted to leave the essence of what the Landings were, which is four Toronto guys running Toronto restaurants, basically.”
The Landing Group designs each restaurant with the community in mind, stressed Pelton, who explained that the group carefully plans everything from the restaurant itself, to the menu, musical offerings, and hours of operation around “what the community really wants.” Pelton said he had his eye on the Boardwalk Café location for some time, scoping it out for years during his runs along the boardwalk. So when Tuggs owner and city leaseholder George Foulidis approached him about putting a Landing Group restaurant in the Lakeshore Boulevard space about a year-and-a-half ago, he was thrilled. Continued on Page 2
Your non-profit community resource since 1972 www.beachmetro.com /BeachMetroNews
@beachmetronews
The Beach | Upper Beach | Beach Hill | Crescent Town | East Danforth | Birch Cliff | Cliffside | Gerrard India Bazaar