Toronto events!!!

Loading...

Toronto Fun Parties

Loading...

Monday, April 1, 2019

Giant plastic cups have popped up in Toronto

Posted by at No comments:

GO Transit fares are about to get cheaper and more expensive

Metrolinx is once again planning some changes to its payment structure that GO Transit customers will either love or hate, depending on their commute.

Starting April 20, short-distance trips on GO trains and buses within the Greater Golden Horseshoe area will cost approximately 21 per cent less than they do now.

The provincial transit agency considers all trips of 10 kilometres or less to be short-distance, and currently charges a minimum of $4.71 via PRESTO for rides between GO stations or stops within 10 kilometres of each other.

That rate will be reduced to $3.70 for PRESTO users later this month, while single-fare paper tickets will go from $5.30 to $4.40.

Longer term trips, on the other hand, will see GO Transit passengers paying more across the board.

metrolinx fare changes

Metrolinx published this chart to illustrate how fares will change for those travelling less than 10 km between stations and stops. Image via Metrolinx.

"In addition to this fare reduction, Metrolinx is also introducing a modest fare increase for longer-distance GO trips on April 20," reads a release issued by the company on Monday.

"PRESTO fares for trips greater than approximately 10 kilometres will increase by up to four per cent," the release explains.

Single-fare paper tickets will go up by about 10 per cent for trips longer than 10 kilometres, affecting frequent commuters from cities such as Barrie or Kitchener.

Metrolinx's Board of Directors is set to vote on these proposed fare changes during a meeting on April 10.


by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
Posted by at No comments:

Here’s a list of all the cannabis stores now open in Ontario

Cannabis stores are officially open all across Ontario. Not all of them, though. Out of the 23 stores that have applied for retail licenses province-wide, less than half are selling weed to customers today.

Sorry Ajax, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Oshawa, and Sudbury—looks like you'll have to wait a bit longer for your re-up. 

Here are the cannabis stores now open in Ontario. 

Toronto
Hunny Pot

People lined up overnight and this morning to get into the first legal pot retailer in Toronto. Located just steps from Osgoode station, this former New Era hat store spans three floors with flowers, oils and accessories. 

Brampton
Ganjika House

Popping the legal weed cherry in what's aptly known as Ontario's 'Flower City', Ganjika takes over what was once a drive-thru Burger King, not far from the Brampton GO. 

London
Central Cannabis

After three months of planning, this pot store opened this morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a line outside the door. Spot it on Wonderland Road from its massive mural or its bright green sweatshirt-wearing staff. 

Ottawa
Fire & Flower York Street Cannabis

The super touristy Byward Market just got a lot more fun. This store offers six different categories of product, like 'Boost', 'Arourt', and 'Mellow', so you can get exactly what kind of vibe you're looking for.

Hobo Recreational Cannabis Store

This brand comes by way of Vancouver's Donnelly Group, the same people behind the Walrus Pub and Death & Taxes. On top of this store on Bank Street, Hobo will have 12 locations across Canada soon. 

Superette

People apparently couldn't wait for this store to open—there was a  "minor" break-in at Superette this weekend, according to the Ottawa Citizen. It seems the store has recovered; they've been selling weed since this morning.

Kingston
SpiritLeaf

Arriving in the 175-year-old Smith Robinson, this Calgary-based brand franchise is selling tons of product, including stuff from Up Cannabis, the company that's partly owned by members of The Tragically Hip.

St. Catharines
The Niagara Herbalist

This store describes itself as a family-owned operation. Selling more than 53 strains of flower, Niagara Herbalist was the first store in the western region of Ontario to apply for a retail license. 

Burlington
RELM Cannabis Co.

Occupying a 4,600 square-foot unit in a plaza on Fairview Street, this might be the biggest legal store in the country right now. People lined up outside all morning to get into RELM, where inside, big golden balloons spelled out what we were all thinking: "FINALLY". 


by Tanya Mok via blogTO
Posted by at No comments:

Passengers upset after Sunwing flight from Toronto to Cancun goes wrong

Over 200 travellers are once again furious with a Canadian airline's lack of communication after being corralled into what one passenger described as a "basement detention centre" mid-flight without being told why or when they would be released.

The 10 a.m. Sunwing flight from Toronto's Pearson Airport to Cancun was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans on Saturday around 1:30 p.m. due to a mechanical issue.

Passengers reportedly waited inside the plane on the tarmac at Louis Armstrong International Airport for four hours before they were forced to disembark for regulatory reasons.

With no room inside the New Orleans airport to accommodate 239 people, however, the Sunwing customers were instead shuffled into what one told CBC was "a closed room that looked like a big hallway or tunnel."

There, they had to wait until Saturday night for a plane to arrive from Miami and complete the journey to Cancun—but passengers didn't know at the time how long they'd be in New Orleans for or even why, specifically, the jet was forced to land.

Some on Twitter described the experience as "terrifying," noting that the airport basement didn't even have chairs.

Others declared their entire vacations ruined, vowed never to fly Sunwing again and reached out to the company publicly after failing to reach the airline's customer service centre by phone.

People were so irritated that some passengers report a fist fight breaking out in the underground holding area.

Eventually, after roughly three hours off the plane, passengers were able to board a different jet and continue on safely to Cancun.

"We didn't have our staff on the ground to support communications," said Sunwing in a statement after the fact. "Because of the unplanned nature of the landing, the airport was very busy and it took many hours to find a secured area for our customers to deplane to."

"We are very apologetic for this unfortunate start to their vacation and have compensated accordingly."

A few weeks ago, on March 12, Sunwing became the first Canadian airline to announce that it would be temporarily suspending all four Boeing 737 Max 8 jets within its fleet.

The move came in response to mounting pressure from travellers to ground the planes after 157 people were killed in an Ethiopian Airlines crash involving the same model.

Canada joined dozens of other countries on March 13 in banning the Boeing plane model from its airspace.

The plane that experienced mechanical issues on Saturday was a Boeing 767-300. It had been leased from Eastern Airlines by Sunwing to supplement its fleet in light of the Max 8 aircraft ban.


by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
Posted by at No comments:

This Week on DineSafe: Vesta Lunch, McDonald's, Allwyn's Bakery, Second Cup, Freshii

This week on DineSafe, a number of popular chain restaurants received conditional passes upon inspection. McDonald's, Second Cup and Freshii all were slapped with yellow cards.

Learn what other Toronto restaurants landed in hot water with health inspectors this week on DineSafe.

Allwyn's Bakery (404 Queen St. West)
  • Inspected on: March 25, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 2, Significant: 2)
  • Crucial infractions include: N/A
McDonald's (109 McCaul St.)
  • Inspected on: March 25, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 2, Significant: 1)
  • Crucial infractions include: N/A
McVeigh's (124 Church St.)
  • Inspected on: March 25, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 2 (Significant: 2)
  • Crucial infractions include: N/A
Second Cup (5095 Yonge St.)
  • Inspected on: March 26, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 2, Significant: 3, Crucial: 1)
  • Crucial infractions include: Failed to protect food from contamination or adulteration.
Alchemy Food & Drink (890 College St.)
  • Inspected on: March 27, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 3 (Significant: 2, Crucial: 1)
  • Crucial infractions include: Failed to protect food from contamination or adulteration.
Bar Hop Brewco (137 Peter St.)
  • Inspected on: March 27, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 1, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
  • Crucial infractions include: Handled ice in unsanitary manner.
Freshii (861 York Mills Rd.)
  • Inspected on: March 27, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 2 (Minor: 1, Crucial: 1)
  • Crucial infractions include: Stored ice in unsanitary manner.
Gino's Pizza (787 Steeles Ave. East)
  • Inspected on: March 27, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 4 (Significant: 4)
  • Crucial infractions include: N/A
Wild Wing (6015 Steeles Ave. East)
  • Inspected on: March 27, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 4 (Significant: 2, Crucial: 2)
  • Crucial infractions include: Failed to ensure storage racks designed to protect against contamination and failed to protect food from contamination or adulteration.
Vesta Lunch (474 Dupont St.)
  • Inspected on: March 28, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 2, Significant: 1, Crucial: 2)
  • Crucial infractions include: Maintained potentially hazardous foods at internal temperature between 4°C and 60°C and failed to protect food from contamination or adulteration.
Booster Juice (2300 Yonge St.)
  • Inspected on: March 29, 2019
  • Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
  • Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 3, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
  • Crucial infractions include: Food premise maintained in manner to permit contamination of single-service articles.

Note: The above businesses each received infractions from DineSafe as originally reported on the DineSafe site. This does not imply that any of these businesses have not subsequently corrected the issue and received a passing grade by DineSafe inspectors. For the latest status for each of the mentioned businesses, including details on any subsequent inspections, please be sure to check the DineSafe site.


by Jaclyn Skrobacky via blogTO
Posted by at No comments:

Toronto upset after Ontario halts funding for safe injection sites

Ontario has left some safe injection sites in limbo this weekend as their funding was cut and they now have to turn to public donation. 

Amid a growing opioid epidemic that killed 1,200 Ontarians in 2017 alone, the Ford government announced it would only fund six injection sites in the city, leaving three currently in operation without approval. 

In response, the federal government stepped in to give a one-month reprieve to two of the sites. However, following the end of that one-month period, they will have to rely on public donation. A third site is without reprieve.

The province approved 15 sites across Ontario, including six in Toronto. This leaves six in the province without funding and facing a forced closure. 

Critics and public health officials have decried the move, outraged that the sites are closing amid a health crisis. 

Many harm reduction workers and healthcare workers have been quick to point out that the opioid epidemic is reaching crisis levels, and the province should be opening new safe injection sites, not closing or capping the existing ones. 

City councillors like Kristyn Wong-Tam called the move "wrong," and former mayor David Miller had a stronger choice of words.

Data and several studies show that safe injection sites work to prevent overdoses, reducing the number of deaths. The most recent reports show the first half of 2018 seeing 600 deaths in Ontario, well on track to match or surpass 2017. 


by Staff via blogTO
Posted by at No comments:

Vegans try to save cows found wandering on Toronto highway

Animal rights activists are furious in the wake of a highway crash that killed 12 cows and saw roughly a dozen more escape their cattle carrier, only to be rounded back up for slaughter.

The incident took place around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night after a transport truck hit a cement barrier on the 401 near Hurontario Street in Mississauga.

Police say the collision split open one side of the truck's trailer, allowing about 12 animals to get loose and block traffic on the busy highway.

The driver, a 36-year-old Mount Forest man who has since been charged with careless driving, sustained only minor injuries in the crash.

His passengers (or cargo, as it were) did not get so lucky.

Ontario Provincial Police and Mississauga firefighters arrived to find a herd of terrified cows running free, some of them injured, and closed down a portion of the 401 in both directions to round them up.

It took crews several hours to corral the cattle back into a crate as onlookers snapped photos.

One onlooker,  Jessii Mascarin, live streamed video footage from the scene on Facebook while trying to help one of the injured cows.

"All right vegans, I need your f**king help," she starts. "I'm on the 401... there's a cow in the middle of the highway... I'm not wearing safety gear, I hope I don't get in trouble."

"It's a baby! It's a baby," says Mascarin as she approaches an injured cow, pleading with police officers to call a vet and get medical attention for the bleeding calf.

Officers escorted the young woman back to her car where she started another live stream.

"These cows were meant to be veal, and chances are, are still going to be veal," said Mascarin in that video. "These cows were in a car accident, there is one up the road who has a broken foot and half of his tongue hanging out. These animals are going to die because of society's choices." 

Prominent animal rights activist Jenny McQueen later actions, noting that the vegan bystander "spoke with the drivers around her" and "distributed vegan literature to the onlookers."

"Many hearts and minds will be changed by her actions," wrote McQueen in a release sent to media.

"This is the brutal reality of Canadian animal agriculture. Slaughter trucks going too fast, being involved in accidents, injured animals being killed or even taken to the slaughterhouse without any concern for their wellbeing."

McQueen and others who support the Save Movement called police, the OSPCA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in an attempt to rescue at least one cow and send it to a sanctuary.

Their efforts, thus far, have been unsuccessful.

One of McQueen's followers said that she did get a reply from the OPP, but that she was told that "the remaining cows are with their owner."

"Animals feel pain, just like us, and deserve better," says McQueen. "[I've] secured a sanctuary space for the injured cow, why wouldn't they let us save one?"

Likely because cows and all other animals are considered property, as opposed to autonomous beings, under the law.


by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)