Five pot shops operating or set to open on Bloor within 450 metres

By Joshua Chong

The Annex is seeing a rapid increase in the number of legal marijuana dispensaries. There are five stores either operating or set to open on a stretch of Bloor Street West between Markham  and Major streets. All are within 450 metres of each other. 

Tokyo Smokes and Fire & Flower are already open, while Value Buds, Cannaverse, and Green Merchant are awaiting authorization from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). 

This surge in cannabis stores across the city in recent months is due in part to the acceleration of the processing of applications by the AGCO. In February, the commission increased the number of authorizations each week from 20 to 30. 

“Increasing the number of Retail Store Authorizations (RSA) is part of that strategy to ensure that stores across Ontario can open and operate with honesty, integrity and in the public interest,” wrote an AGCO spokesperson in a statement to the Gleaner. 

They also noted that this expedition in approvals is in line with the Government of Ontario’s approach of creating an “open market” for cannabis retail, and is meant to combat the illegal market. 

This increase in pot shop authorizations, paired with regulations on where these businesses can open, has led to dense clusters of dispensaries across the city—like what residents are seeing in the Annex. 

Under the Education Act, cannabis retail stores are prohibited from opening within 150 metres of a school. Many pot shops are clustered in the downtown core, along busy throughways such as Bloor, Queen, and Yonge streets. 

In Kensington Market, there will soon be eight dispensaries within 350 metres of each other. Last November, the local BIA, along with Councillor Mike Layton (Ward 11, University-Rosedale) and MPP Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale), sent a letter to the AGCO asking for local residents and businesses to have more say in the licensing process. 

They also requested that the public consultation process be extended to 30 days. Currently, community members have 15 days to submit comments or complaints on a proposed location. According to a spokesperson, the AGCO receives approximately 12 public submissions per store application. Most express concern about the dispensary’s proximity to a residential area, park, or community centre. 

In June 2020, city council adopted a motion tabled by Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 14, Toronto-Danforth) requesting that the AGCO enact additional regulations surrounding cannabis store locations, including rules that prevent the clustering of pot shops. 

Layton, who voted in favour of the motion, wrote in a January 2021 Twitter thread that he supports local cannabis stores, but that there needs to be tighter regulations in place to ensure that pot dispensaries do not push out other local businesses. 

“Make no mistake, cannabis is big business and investors can afford rents that are higher than bakeries and coffee shops can afford,” he wrote. “Ford’s complete deregulation has resulted in landlord speculation which hurts the sustainability of our mainstreets.”

“That isn’t to say we shouldn’t have local cannabis shops. But their [sic] is a saturation point when a diverse offering of businesses would be more sustainable and desirable.”

The Gleaner has contacted Layton and the Mirvish Village BIA for additional comment. They did not respond by press time.

Jeff Pang, CEO of Green Merchant, wrote in an email to the Gleaner that the number of pot shops in the Annex is alarming. “We would be lying if we said we weren’t worried about the intense competition,” he wrote. “For us, we’re betting that providing value through our exceptional service and unique offerings that no other dispensary is offering will allow us to remain successful even in a crowded market.”

Green Merchant is one of several dispensaries awaiting approval to open a store in the neighbourhood. The shop will be located at 461 Bloor St. W., the former home of Frames N’ Graphics Inc. 

“Each of our stores is uniquely built for the community,” he wrote. “We are the friendly neighbourhood dispensary that welcomes you to hang out and treats you with new experiences you can’t get anywhere else. We believe the Annex will appreciate our effort to create something special.”

When Green Merchant opened their first store, they were met with some resistance from local residents. But Pang noted that they have worked hard to become contributing members of the communities they are in by supporting other small businesses. 

“Those that don’t know us yet have been a bit resistant to what they see as yet another dispensary in town,” he wrote. “We hope for the opportunities to have open conversation with those that are worried.”

READ MORE: 

• FOCUS: Another legal weed shop heading to Bloor Street (Apr. 2021)
• FOCUS: Legal weed dispensary opens on Bloor (Mar. 2020)
• CHATTER: Brodie barred from 104 Harbord (Oct. 2019)
• EDITORIAL: How not to manage the retail sale of pot (Sept. 2019)
• FOCUS: Police raid Café weed dispensary on Harbord (August 2019)
• CHATTER: Dispensary search leads to 15 charged (Fall 2017)
• NEWS: Open only a month (January 2017)
• EDITORIAL: Mayo no, marijuana maybe (June 2016)
• CHATTER: Marijuana dispensary opens (December 2016)

Musician Scott Helman’s song Evergreen is basis for images

By Nicole Stoffman

At first glance, the brightly coloured mural in Karma Lane behind Palmerston Avenue appears to be a children’s project.  But a closer look reveals it to be a Gen Z manifesto to eco-anxiety: a skull’s empty eyes gaze in terror as the earth is engulfed in flames, a larger-than-life thermometer glows red, and a plastic cup bobs in the ocean waves. “I’m so scared,” are the only words. 

Yet this new addition to Annex laneway art is not all doom and gloom, as a happy flower springs forth from inside a trendy, lug-soled work boot. The colour palette evokes orange and pistachio sherbet on a summer day. 

“It still offers a message that through change, there’s hope,” said Karma Manager, Talia McGuire.  “I really see this as giving young people a platform to be able to voice those concerns and fears.”

The Scott Helman Evergreen mural was created by artist Kayla Buium over five chilly hours in November, 2019. The occasion was the release of Helman’s single “Evergreen,” about climate change. The song expresses the singer’s anxiety about “rising seas and a world on fire,” but concludes with the hopeful thought, “maybe I can make it if we plant seeds in dirt.”

Helman is a Toronto-born singer-songwriter who grew up in North York and attended Earl Haig. He is represented by Warner Music Canada, and his albums have earned three platinum and two gold certifications. He has been nominated for seven Juno awards. 

The 25-year-old had invited fans to share their feelings about the climate crisis to use in the “Evergreen” video and was astonished when he received hundreds of responses. 

He decided to use his celebrity to amplify these voices with a mural, and has published their testimonials as “The Evergreen Manuscript,” which he is sharing with elected leaders across the globe. He invited fans to attend the live-streamed mural painting, and to sign their names on it. 

Is the Evergreen mural effective activism, experiential marketing, or a bit of both? 

“It was a genuine, heartfelt action on his part,” said McGuire. “We had lots of conversations inside the store about certain things you can do to help reduce waste.” Helman was impressed by Karma Co-op, which is owned by its 600 members. He has called the only food co-op in Toronto a, “dope, anarchist grocery.”

First identified in 2017, eco-anxiety is defined by the Canadian Mental Health Association as “a deep fear of environmental doom and human catastrophe,” for which doom-scrolling youth are the most at risk. The kinds of actions offered on that day by the Evergreen mural project are recommended by the CMHA as a healthy response: joining others in hopeful activism, and sharing your feelings. Other CMHA recommendations include learning social media literacy and striving for a small environmental footprint, something Helman encourages his fans to do. 

The mural painting was supported by the Sierra Club Foundation, Greenpeace Canada, Environmental Defense, We Movement, and The Laneway Project. The Laneway Project is a non-profit social enterprise on a mission to bring Toronto’s 2,400 laneways to life. They connected Helman’s production company with Karma Co-op, whose laneway the Project had helped animate in celebration of Karma’s 45th anniversary in 2017. The Evergreen Mural is the Laneway Project’s third laneway improvement in the Annex, the other’s being Croft Street and Willowvale Lane. 

As the Annex becomes more densely populated, its laneways could offer a network of walkable streets. The Laneway Project has installed road murals, street art, and improved lighting, greening, and traffic calming to turn laneways across the city into high quality mixed-use space. 

“Laneways are officially mixed-mode spaces,” explained Laneway Project Executive Director Michelle Senayah. “Everyone assumes they are car-only spaces but they’re actually not.” When a laneway hosts block parties or pop-up festivals, it is closed to traffic, but a drive-aisle is always kept free for emergency access.

“Especially in the Annex where there are so many different family structures, living in many different sizes of units, I think there is real potential to add depth to the local public realm by activating this other layer to provide human-scaled outdoor space,” said Senayah.  

She adds that laneway housing, especially as it becomes more standardized and therefore affordable, will go a long way to making Annex laneways feel more welcoming. 

The Gleaner was shocked and saddened to hear of Michelle Senayah’s sudden passing from a pre-existing health condition on June 29th. Our condolences to her family and colleagues at The Laneway Project.

READ MORE:

• NEWS: Alleyway on the cutting edge (Feb. 2021)
• LIFE: Paying homage to local characters (Oct. 2020)
• NEWS: U of T’s unique laneway homes (Aug. 2020)
• NEWS: New mural for Major (Dec. 2019)
• ON THE COVER: Laneway lit up (October 2018)
• CHATTER: Live from your laneway (Election Special 2018)
• CHATTER: U of T proposes laneway housing pilot on Huron Street(Spring 2018)
• ON THE COVER (JANUARY 2017): Putting the city’s laneways to work
• NEWS (JANUARY 2017): Laneway living
• NEWS (OCTOBER 2016): Preventing a wall of towers
• CHATTER: Painted streets launch in Kensington (SEPTEMBER 2016)
• ARTS: Façade facelift: Lee’s Palace iconic mural is back (Nov. 2010)

Sustainable and green neighbourhood also on the agenda

By Madeline Smart

After months of lockdowns, revitalization was at the top of the agenda for the Palmerston Area Residents Association’s (PARA) annual general meeting on June 2. 

A sustainable and green neighbourhood was second on the agenda for the Association whose boundaries are Bloor, Bathurst, College and Grace.

At the well-attended virtual meeting, attendees heard presentations from Gord Pridham of the Little Italy Business Improvement Area (BIA) and Jimmy Lu of PARA’s Green Committee. Both spoke of their plans to breathe life back in the neighbourhood.

 “We want College to be as vibrant as it once was but we need the community’s help,” explained Pridham to the meeting attendees, highlighting the lack of foot traffic in the area especially around College and Clinton streets since the pandemic.

Pridham explained how many small businesses in the area were pushed out during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the real estate market and the raising of rental prices, while others were left struggling financially due to extended lockdowns. 

As a result, the main focus of the Little Italy BIA became supporting the small businesses that remained and working on reinvigorating the neighbourhood. 

Some of these initiatives took shape as commissioned murals by local artists, others involved re-allocating money usually spent on outdoor food festivals towards helping restaurants be a part of CaféTO. 

Pridham says they have more things planned for this summer, pop-up shops from local retailers, for example, to make the area a popular destination again. Now with restrictions being lifted Pridham says he is confident that it will have a successful rebound.

The pandemic did not get in the way of green initiatives. 

“It kind of amazed me that so many great programs already existed, and the fact that tons of stuff started during COVID,” said Lu about the sustainability programs that have been cropping up all over the city over the course of the pandemic. 

PARA launched their Green Committee and Green Plan in February 2020, which has since been approved by the Toronto and East York Community Council as an official planning document. Some of the goals they hope to achieve are working with the city to improve the tree canopy, maintaining the gardens at Healey Willan Park and restarting the PollinatorTO project with Harbord Collegiate.

Lu, who works on climate change policy and sustainability is on the Green Committee and has also been named Ward 11’s Climate Action Champion. As part of the city’s TransformTO climate action strategy, a leader from each ward was selected to lead their area in community-focused climate action. 

Lu presented his initiative, Ecobuds, at the AGM. The goal of Ecobuds will be to work to connect residents that are already knowledgeable about sustainability with those who wish to learn more in a mentorship type program matching people based on shared interests. 

Ecobuds will hopefully be up and running later this summer and Lu hopes to partner with local sustainable businesses to provide incentives for participants.

In the meantime, Lu encourages anyone who is interested in sustainability to just simply start getting involved. 

“So much stuff has happened and come to fruition in recent times and I think it’s a great time for people to take advantage of all these new and the expanded initiatives,” he says.

READ MORE:

• NEWS: Food bank to receive funds raised by community mask initiative (May 2020)
• HISTORY: Delivering history in Harbord Village (Spring 2019)
• NEWS: PARA plans for a green future (July 2018)
• NEWS: Palmerston goes green (August 2017)

Over 40 people were in virtual attendance at the Annex Residents’ Association’s (ARA) Annual General Meeting on April 22. Because of the pandemic, it was the first AGM in two years, but participation was up thanks to Zoom. 

Chair Rita Bilerman recapped the ARA’s proudest moments of the year, including defeating the development at 64 Prince Arthur, fighting for a safer Avenue Road, and advocating for more and better bike lanes. 

Guest speaker Tamara Anson-Cartwright from the city planning department announced the launch of the West Annex Heritage Project,  part of a city-wide heritage survey. If your property becomes listed on the heritage register, you cannot demolish it without a heritage impact assessment (HIA). Professional heritage consultants will be hired to help the ARA gather material to determine which parts of the Annex could become heritage districts. The ARA will also be holding a public consultation about the study in September. Look for details in the next issue of the Gleaner. 

The planning and development committee is monitoring 25 projects at various stages of development, according to co-chair Edward Leman. These projects will result in an increase of 2,225 dwellings and 3,300 residents to the Annex. Leman announced the launch of quarterly town halls on development issues. (For more information, contact planninganddevelopment@thearea.org).

Gardener Paul Richard announced that the aboriginal eco-restoration team has secured funding for work on the Paul Martel Park. This will allow them to do spring and fall plantings with native plants they’ve been growing at The Stop Green Barn. The Bloor BIA has applied for a mural for the park, and Richard remains hopeful this will also be approved. He found a clean copy of the original Ecology Park map in the toolshed which will replace the old one.

Designer Johan Harteveld unveiled a new and improved ARA logo and website, to be implemented this summer.

Terri Chu, Chair of the Parks, Trees and Environment Committee announced a plan to hire forestry students to update the ARA’s tree database, completed in 2014. Learn about the 10,000 Annex trees in the inventory at theara.org.

Councillor Mike Layton topped off the evening, urging Annexonians to make more deputations to city council. 

“People have to start holding us to account. Ask your representatives what their strategies are to reach the goals they set, and stay plugged-in with what’s going on in the city,” he said. “The ARA will show you the avenues. I’m on the budget committee. We don’t hear enough from people. It takes sustained efforts from community to make politicians actually invest more. I’m here for you, if you need advice about how to speak to the rest of council, or you can just say it to me, and it will give me a little more spirit.”

—Nicole Stoffman/Gleaner News

READ MORE:

• NEWS: ARA helps thy neighbour (Apr. 2020)
• NEWS: ARA climate plan hits home (Dec. 2019)
• CHATTER: ARA Cornfest Delights (Sept. 2019)
• CHATTER: Meet’n’Eat in the Annex (Spring 2019)
• FOCUS: Annex’s old trees will soon be history (Spring 2019)
• CHATTER: Cash for corn helps displaced residents (Dec. 2018)
• NEWS: ARA holds annual meeting (Election Special 2018)
• FOCUS: Local residents’ associations respond to OMB review (JANUARY 2017)
• CHATTER: Annex Residents’ Association app tracks developments (April 2016)

Doug Ford has become the first Ontario premier to invoke Section 33 of the Constitution, the so-called notwithstanding clause. This allows him to ignore an Ontario court ruling that quashed Ontario’s new law limiting third-party advertising ahead of the provincial election. It is a tantrum by a premier who will do anything to silence his critics including violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In the interest of fairness, limits on election spending are something all parties can agree is necessary in a free and democratic society. According to Elections Ontario third-party advertising made up 14 per cent of all political advertising in 2007. By 2014, it was up to 41 per cent. In 2017, Premier Kathleen Wynne introduced a cap that passed constitutional muster.

Until recently the law on the books limited third-party advertising to $600,000 in the six the months before election day. Left-leaning, union-sponsored third-party advertiser Working Families is a foe to Conservatives and has targeted ads against them in previous elections. Working Families initiated a court action to reduce the six-month limit. Lawyers for the province defended the six month limit describing it as “reasonable.” Those were this government’s own lawyers. Whilst they were in court, the province was crafting amendments to the law further restricting the spending time period cap to twelve months. The election is next June. The net effect is to cut off their critics at the knees. 

The Ford government’s hasty disingenuous move undermined its own case defending the existing legislation. Justice Morgan responded by overturning the new law writing “skepticism of [the] government is not misplaced where new election procedures are concerned.” The new 12-month limit is much longer than in other provinces or at the federal level, it is tailored specifically as part of Doug Ford’s re-election plan.

This was a lower court decision. The province could have appealed it to the Ontario Court of Appeal, sought a stay to the initial ruling, and asked for expeditious consideration. Or, they could have reverted to the six month limit by recalling the legislature. But why do that when you are holding a joker card that trumps the whole game and exempts you from due process? The notwithstanding clause gives Ford a get out of jail free card that he has threatened to use before. In 2018 he slashed the size of Toronto’s city council in the middle of their election. He then threatened to use that card if the courts chose to disagree with him. 

“Political speech is fundamental to an informed political discourse during an election,” said Paul Cavalluzzo, the lawyer for Working Families. “This government is acting like the Republicans in the U.S. by trying to muzzle and suppress the speech of persons they view to be their political enemies.”

Every time a province uses the notwithstanding clause it tramples rights of Canadians afforded by the Charter. It diminishes us as a country and waters down what defines us as a people. In Quebec, it is often used to try and defend a fragile French culture. Doug Ford’s use of it is simply to try and stay in power. Ford’s play is egregious.

READ MORE EDITORIALS:

• EDITORIAL: Ford chooses wrong path, again (May 2021)
• EDITORIAL Ford must resign (Apr. 2021)
• EDITORIAL: Organization, not talk, needed for vaccine roll-out (Mar. 2021)
• EDITORIAL: Legislated dignity for the greater good (Feb. 2021)
• EDITORIAL: Ford’s half measures (Jan. 2021)
• EDITORIAL: Ford attacks watershed protectors (Dec. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ford flailing as COVID numbers spike (Nov. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Confusion reigns in COVID-19 response (Oct. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: When “expert” plans look more like a gamble (Aug. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ford turns on tenants (July 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ontario gets a failing grade (May 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Local heroes (Apr. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Modelling healthy behaviour (Mar. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Fictions, falsehoods and a crisis in leadership (Feb. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Bat crazy (Jan. 2020)
• EDITORIAL: Ford “proud” of cancelling green energy contracts (Dec. 2019)
• EDITORIAL: Don Cherry’s deeply revealing words (Nov. 2019)
• EDITORIAL: The hidden cost of Conservative climate plans (Oct. 2019)
• EDITORIAL: How not to manage the retail sale of pot (Sept. 2019)
• EDITORIAL: Let cabinet do its job (August 2019)
• EDITORIAL: Time for Ford to press “eject” (Summer 2019)
• EDITORIAL: Ford’s angry budget (May 2019)
• EDITORIAL: It’s not your private police force, Mr. Ford (Spring 2019)
• EDITORIAL: It’s hardly ‘for the students’ (Winter 2019)
• EDITORIAL: Blowing smoke on the climate file (Dec. 2018)
• EDITORIAL: This premier is not for the people (City Election 2018)
• EDITORIAL: Eight weeks lost to Ford’s madness (October 2018)
• EDITORIAL: A lost cause worth fighting for (Aug./Sept. 2018)
• EDITORIAL: Reclaiming our city (Summer 2018)
• EDITORIAL: City staff ignore bike lanes (July 2018)
• EDITORIAL: The market has no moral compass (Election Special 2018)
• EDITORIAL: Lessons to be learned from Excessive Force (Spring 2018)
• EDITORIAL: A social contract is a precious thing (March 2018)
• EDITORIAL: Intolerance leading to Quebec’s decline (Dec. 2017)
• EDITORIAL (Nov. 2017): Student safety suffers as trustees cave
• EDITORIAL: Pandering to religious intolerance (October 2017)
• EDITORIAL: Bike lanes, good for business (Fall 2017)
• EDITORIAL: Don’t sacrifice safety for political gain (August 2017)

Action not just “reflection” is needed as more burial sites are found

By Mike Layton

The discovery of several burial sites of Indigenous children killed in residential schools across Canada must move our country and our governments beyond words of condolences and toward actions that advance truth, reconciliation, and justice. As flags are lowered across the country, and vigils and moments of silence are observed, we need to recognize that these symbolic measures are important, but not nearly enough.

Residential schools operating in Canada for more than 160 years, up until the late 1990s, were federally funded and church-run. The last school closed in 1996.

Children stolen. Families are broken. Communities, robbed. This discovery has retraumatized many First Nations, Métis and Inuit across Turtle Island, who have long been dealing with the intergenerational trauma and lasting impacts of being forcibly removed from their families and communities, put into residential and day schools, and forced to abandon their traditions, cultural practices and languages in order to assimilate them.

The discoveries are shocking and disturbing, but all was predicted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TSC) and the Calls for Justice from the MMIWG2S Final Report – Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.  Not enough resources have been committed to continuing their work and taking necessary steps towards reconciliation

We must recommit to advancing these Calls for Action. These actions must be far-reaching and must work to advance access to housing, clean water, prosperity and justice for all Indigenous people, in partnership with Indigenous communities. The dedication to reaching these goals must last longer than a news cycle.

The TRC made recommendations on efforts governments, justice systems, and church officials should take to try to locate, name, and commemorate the children who died. Six of these recommendations specifically list the actions the commission determined should be done to address missing children and burial information, including funding and coordination support to locate and protect school burial sites, both known and unknown.

In council I worked with the mayor to pass the following recommendations to move us toward truth, reconciliation and justice:

First we requested the federal and provincial governments to support Call to Action 82 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. More specifically, we asked for capital funding to the construction of Indian Residential School Survivors (IRSS) Restoration of Identity Project on Nathan Phillips Square – this is a publicly accessible, highly visible, residential schools monument to honour survivors and families. It could be replicated in every provincial capital. It is being completed in partnership with Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre.

In addition, earlier this year, city council allocated $13 million towards the construction of the Spirit Garden to honour residential and day school survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities, and those that are living with the trauma. The Spirit Garden will be a peaceful, contemplative space to help advance truth and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Toronto.  

We also requested the federal and provincial governments to take action now on Calls 71 to 76 of the TRC to address missing children and burial information, including funding and coordinating support to locate and protect school burial sites, both known and unknown. 

Finally, we joined the House of Commons in calling on the federal government to drop the Federal Court appeals related to compensation for First Nations children separated from their families.

On a local level, city council requested the Director, Indigenous Affairs office, in consultation with relevant staff, to report to the Aboriginal Affairs advisory committee and executive committee on what further actions are needed to advance truth, reconciliation and justice, how the city will hold itself accountable to community in advancing these actions, and whether additional resources and funding are required to further the City of Toronto’s work on reconciliation.

I will work to update you on advances to these actions as things progress.

As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with my office with your questions or concerns at Councillor_Layton@toronto.ca.

Mike Layton is the city councillor for Ward 11, University—Rosedale.

READ MORE BY MIKE LAYTON:

• FORUM: Exclusionary planning must stop (May 2021)
• FORUM: A victory for affordable housing in Kensington (Apr. 2021)
• FORUM: CaféTO and ActiveTO city programs coming back (Mar. 2021)
• FORUM: Defund police gains traction (Feb. 2021)
• FORUM: Vigilance is key, though the vaccine is here (Jan. 2021)
• FORUM: Find ways to support local businesses (Dec. 2020)
• FORUM: City budget a real challenge but we can work together (Nov. 2020)
• FORUM: Inclusionary zoning is the answer (Oct. 2020)
• FORUM: Making it green (Aug. 2020)
• FORUM: Finding positive outcomes (July 2020)
• FORUM: We are here to support you (May 2020)
• FORUM: We will get through this together (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: Budget challenges at City Hall (Feb. 2020)
• FORUM: Build a more livable city, together (Jan. 2020)
• FORUM: Layton laments city’s snow job (Spring 2019)
• FORUM: Moving forward in the new reality (Dec. 2018)
• FORUM: Celebrate citizen activists (July 2018)
• FORUM: Provincial government is developer-friendly (Spring 2018)
• FORUM: Establishing a new Indigenous Affairs Office (Nov. 2017)
• FORUM: Building a better Bickford Park (Oct. 2017)
• FORUM: Recognize and reconcile Canada at 150 (July 2017)
• FORUM: San Francisco a model to follow (April 2017)
• FORUM: Tolls, taxes, and Toronto (February 2017)
• FORUM: Seeing our neighbourhood through new eyes (December 2016)
• FORUM: We can do better: Dangerous summer for Toronto pedestrians and cyclists (October 2016)
• FORUM: Curious story of Christie Pits pool liner ends in extended hours at Alex Duff (August 2016)
• FORUM: A tribute to a friend (June 2016)
• FORUM: Large problem, small solution (March 2016)
• FORUM: Happy New Year from a new Dad with a new perspective (January 2016)

Bill 108 cements opposition to inclusionary zoning

By Jessica Bell

Housing affordability crisis requires action

Housing prices are now so high that the National Bank of Canada calculates that only the top five percent of income earning households can afford to buy an average Canadian home. Housing affordability is one of the defining issues of our era, and it threatens the very soul of Toronto.

To build a thriving, green, livable and truly affordable city, we must pass laws to make housing more affordable for all.  Here are some measures the city and province can take to make that a reality.

Build affordable housing

Directing police and security to forcibly move desperate people into temporary shelters and hotels is no solution. 

Governments need to invest, build and buy more community housing, modular housing, and permanently affordable housing, including publicly-owned housing on provincial public land. 

Ontario has ample suitable land, and the programs already exist – they just need funding.

Clamp down on speculation

There was a justifiable outcry when the Globe & Mail reported on developer Core Development Group’s intention to buy $1B of single family homes to rent. 

Core Development is part of a wave of investors, from REITs to Wall Street firms to pension funds, who are investing in the housing sector, driving up prices and forcing first time home buyers to rent the very homes they want to buy.

Homes must be for people first, investors second. 

That’s why I introduced a motion calling for Ontario to bring in a two percent annual speculation tax on homes owned by people who don’t pay the majority of their taxes in Ontario, as well as a GTHA wide two percent annual vacant homes tax to motivate investors to sell or rent empty homes. 

Toronto is also developing its own vacant home tax (the proposed rate is one percent), and the public is able to provide input now.

Better protection for renters

While the pandemic has softened rents, they still remain high. 

Our office regularly hears from renters who are being evicted, facing unfair above-guideline rent increases for superficial renovations, and being subjected to noisy and dirty renovations – 666 Spadina Ave is the notorious example – that is driving them to give up and move out.

Being a renter is precarious and expensive. It should be safe and affordable. 

That’s why I am calling for better government enforcement of illegal evictions, as today there is next to none.  

I am calling for real rent control, including a cap on the amount a landlord can raise the rent if a former tenant leaves. 

Toronto has begun assessing whether an effective renoviction law from New Westminster, B.C. can be applied here. 

The bylaw requires landlords to get a business license, prove proposed renovations require the tenant to leave, and pay the tenant for alternative accommodation until they can return.

Build new housing

The Greater Toronto Housing Authority needs new housing supply. 

The real question is what do we build, and where?

Developers make the most profit by building high rise condos of bachelor and one bedroom units, and single family homes on greenspace – so that’s what they build. 

The Ford government is encouraging urban sprawl by forcing municipalities to expand their boundaries to permit new development on nearby farmland. 

Increasing urban sprawl will destroy our ability to meet current climate goals, as this kind of low-density development locks families into car dependency.

It should be easier to construct missing middle housing, like garden suites (the city is developing guidelines for garden suites right now), and more affordable duplexes, triplexes and townhomes within existing neighbourhoods. 

It is incumbent on governments to expand and improve services to meet any increase in population. Funding for parks, community centres, a healthy tree canopy, transit, and schools ensure liveability needs are met for all.

Allow inclusionary zoning

Toronto is developing an inclusionary zoning policy that would require new residential developments near transit zones to include affordable housing units. 

But will the units be affordable for a few decades or permanently? What percentage of units in a new building will be classified as affordable? And what definition of affordable will the city use? 

Toronto is seeking feedback from you to answer these questions now. Premier Ford put hard limits on inclusionary zoning through Bill 108, which limits inclusionary zoning rules to transit stations. 

Inclusionary zoning should be allowed beyond these transit stations.

Housing can be affordable, and it’s upon us to change the laws to make it so.

Jessica Bell is MPP for University–Rosedale.

READ MORE BY JESSICA BELL:

• FORUM: Premier Ford’s land use planning agenda is a big worry (May 2021)
• FORUM: Mr. Ford cuts into the future of public services (Apr. 2021)
• FORUM: Vaccines, development, judicial reform dominate Queen’s Park(Mar. 2021)
• FORUM: To curb COVID-19, Ontario must protect workers (Feb. 2021)
• FORUM: St. George Community Living was a preventable tragedy (Jan. 2021)
• FORUM: Ford’s fall agenda deeply flawed (Dec. 2020)
• FORUM: How will Doug Ford’s 2020 budget impact us? (Nov. 2020)
• FORUM: Waiting on a second-wave plan from Mr. Ford (Oct. 2020)
• FORUM: What can we do to fight for safe public education? (Aug. 2020)
• FORUM: Ford failing to address homelessness, racism, schooling (July 2020)
• FORUM: COVID-19 has exposed issues in long-term care homes (May 2020)
• FORUM: Pandemic brings out the best in humanity (Apr. 2020)
• FORUM: We need to do our part (Mar. 2020)
• FORUM: Catastrophic climate change is here. How do we respond? (Feb. 2020)
• FORUM: University-Rosedale has a housing affordability crisis (Jan. 2020)
• FORUM: Ford plows ahead with cuts (Dec. 2019)
• FORUM: Ford’s backtracks show our resistance is working (Nov. 2019)
• FORUM: Our streets should be safer (Oct. 2019)
• FORUM: Top takeaways for our community from Ontario’s 2019 budget (Summer 2019)
• FORUM: Taking a stand against Ford’s cuts to education (May 2019)
• FORUM: With people-power there is hope (Winter 2019)
• FORUM: Take back Toronto on the 22nd (City Election 2018)

The perfect medicine to de-stress from the pandemic

By Nabahat Hussain

Yoga in the park was put on hold in April due to a province-wide lockdown, but as of June, it’s in its third summer. 

Teachers Montana Skurka and Michelle Karunaratne have seen their small group classes grow exponentially since leading their first park yoga sessions in 2019.

Karunaratne says that last summer, classes had to be broken up in accordance with city guidelines, as the amount of people wanting to attend exceeded the number of people allowed in a single outdoor gathering. 

Another issue posed by the pandemic was being unable to practice for two months, however online yoga sessions were available and many attended. 

Keeping classes small and keeping distance between yoga mats are some precautions being taken during this time.

Roxanne, an attendee since 2020 says, “If I put on a YouTube video, I’m still having to do more work myself,” says Roxanne, a Yoga in the Park attendee. “With a teacher, I get the chance to let go, and have someone else take care of me for an hour.” Karunaratne sees a whole other appeal to the sessions. “People were missing that communal experience,” she says.Community is something that both instructors stress as a part of their mission. 

“Everyone is included and welcome,” says Skurka, who has a background in education and mental health. 

Both instructors aim to infuse their classes with different benefits. Skurka hopes to “empower people to feel agency over their own bodies and mental health,” while Karunaratne’s practice centres around challenging the body.

Being in the park is also decidedly more enjoyable after a stay-at-home order, as being in a space with several activities going on the background helped people reconnect with one another. 

On one occasion, says Skurka, the group turned around for a certain pose and came upon a double rainbow. 

Sometimes there’s music in the background, and people playing sports, all keeping the environment lively in accordance with the Annex’s character. 

Skurka says mindfulness is integral to eradicating any stress and anxiety brought about during the pandemic. 

In simple terms, it’s about grounding yourself in the present moment, in the same vein as a “taking it one day at a time” view on life. With deep breathing techniques, movement, interactions with others, and a connection to nature, Skurka says doing yoga outdoors works in several ways to make people feel better. 

As intimidating as starting a new sport or hobby may seem, the instructors reassure that yoga is not complex at all — all you need is a mat, and even without one, deep breathing is enough to develop that “mindfulness muscle” as Skurka calls it. 

Currently classes are being held three times a week – Tuesdays at 6pm, Thursdays at 6pm and Sunday at 11am, all at Bickford Park.

Sign up is available at www.montanaskurka.com, or through their Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/parkyogatoronto.

Classes are $15-20 per class, $10 for those with unique financial circumstances.

Christie Pits set to welcome fans back to the old ballgame

By R.S. Konjek

The sights and sounds of live baseball will return to Christie Pits this summer, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are raring to go. 

After the 2020 season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, players are dusting off their spikes and conveying their feelings about playing ball again.

“Ready,” says Garrett Takamatsu.

“Liberated,” says Grant Tamane.

“Super-pumped,” says Johnathan Solazzo.

In June, the Intercounty Baseball League’s proposal to play a shortened 2021 season was approved by the Ontario government, allowing for a July-August regular season and playoffs this September.

Over the next two months, the Leafs will play 15 home games at their traditional 2:00 pm Sunday and 7:30 pm Wednesday start times.

Now that it’s game on, Leafs manager Damon Topolie finds himself doing “a million things” to get his ballclub ready.

In early July he met with City of Toronto officials to confirm that Dominico Field could reopen for baseball, and that fans would be welcomed back to the park.

Although the city did not present any specific rules or requirements for reopening, fans coming to Christie Pits will be encouraged to observe the provincial COVID-19 health and safety guidelines that are still in effect.  Social distancing and facial coverings are two things that fans can continue to do.

As well, the Leafs are looking at restricting the seating behind the team benches to avoid those areas becoming overcrowded.  The hillsides surrounding the field will be wide open to all and admission is free.

Shortly before the season was scheduled to begin, city staff were seen mowing the grass and preparing the field for play.

Topolie has done an impressive job of constructing a team that will don the famous maple leaf logo this summer.

Popular veterans like Takamatsu, Tamane and Solazzo will be joined by two of the league’s top sluggers, Jordan Castaldo and Sean Reilly.  Both are one-time Leafs who spent most of their careers with other teams, but whose return ensures that the home team will have a potent lineup at the plate.

Topolie spent the final days before the season “still working on the pitching part.”

Starters Zach Sloan and Marek Deska are returning, but ongoing cross-border travel restrictions mean that Buffalo, New York native and veteran pitcher Justin Cicatello will be unable to start the season in Toronto.

Also stuck in Buffalo because of travel restrictions are the major league Blue Jays, a predicament that makes Topolie chuckle.

“We’re the only game in town right now,” he says, noting that from their inaugural season in 1969 to 1976, the Maple Leafs had the Toronto baseball scene all to themselves.  Until the Blue Jays are permitted to return to their home stadium, the Leafs will open the summer as the only baseball action available to fans in North America’s fourth largest city.

The Maple Leafs’ complete 2021 season schedule can be found at www.mapleleafsbaseball.com.

READ MORE: 

• SPORTS: Baseball Leafs look back on the season that wasn’t (Oct. 2020)
• SPORTS: Silent Pits hold fond memories for Maple Leafs Pitcher (July 2020)
• SPORTS: Leafs hopeful for baseball this summer (May 2020)

READ MORE:

• CHATTER: REDress Project inspires local solidarity (July 2018)

Closing comes as a surprise after only 3 years in operation

By Nicole Stoffman

Rexall Pharmacy in the former Brunswick House is closing after only three years, on June 11. Employees will be re-assigned by the corporately-owned store, but the future of management is uncertain, according to an employee. 

The move comes as a surprise to Bloor BIA Chair (and publisher of this newspaper), Brian Burchell, especially after Rexall’s extensive restoration of the heritage building. 

Founded in 1874 as The Brunswick Hotel when Bloor Street was just a wagon road, by the 60s the “Brunny” was a legendary beer hall and blues venue. 

Mementos of its storied past now grace the Rexall pharmacy’s interior. 

“That is a real credit to the retailer who was under no obligation to offer that historical glance for their patrons,” said Burchell. “We’re sorry to see them go.” 

Rexall’s American parent company, McKesson Corporation, has been thriving in this pandemic, earning $238.2 billion in revenues in 2020, a 3% increase from the previous year. So, it might be hard to believe Rexall’s official statement that the closure is due to lower sales resulting from pandemic restrictions. 

There may be other reasons why the Brunny Rexall didn’t thrive. There are six pharmacies within walking distance. 

According to Professor David Soberman, Canadian National Chair in Strategic Marketing at Rotman School of Management, the pharmacy needed to draw 50% of its competitors’ business to be viable. 

High rent, financing the renovation, and a storefront that shoppers can’t see into may also have played a role. 

The Gleaner spoke with customers who said  that high prices and the lack of an accessible entrance on Bloor, were reasons they didn’t frequent Rexall too often.

McKesson Canada closed 40 of its 450 stores in 2018, citing falling prices for generic drugs and higher minimum-wages that cut into profits. 

“When you’re a big network like Rexall, you’re going to be opening and closing franchises all the time,” explained Soberman, who added that in order for a large corporation to work, every piece needs to generate profits. He adds that Rexall may have seen the Brunswick House location through “rose-coloured glasses.”

What about the eight billion McKesson Corp. has to pay over the next 18 years to settle opioid litigation in the U.S.? As distributors, they have been accused of fanning the flames of the opioid crisis by not adequately vetting suspicious orders. 

“If you’ve got a location that is generating money independent of what liabilities you have,” responded Soberman, “you’re going to keep it open.”

Soberman speculates that the company plans to sublet its lease to a tenant that could make a profit at the storied location. 

The building is owned by Larry Sdao, a board member for the Bloor Annex BIA.

READ MORE:

• CHATTER: Larry Sdao receives Community Builder Award (July 2017)
• NEWS: Restored Brunswick House reopens (May 2017)
• NEWS: Rexall replaces Brunswick House (April 2016)
• NEWS: Brunswick on the block (Dec. 2015)