(Image: Canadian Food Inspection Agency)
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency sent out an alert this morning warning people not to drink Neilson Trutaste 2% microfiltered partly skimmed milk, specifically the kind sold in four-litre bags with the UPC code 066800 00404 4, best-before date February 12 and best-before code 1590 FE12 H7. Saputo Inc. of Montreal decided to recall the milk, on shelves in Ontario and Quebec, after learning that some of it was contaminated with a cleaning solution. So far, one person has become sick after drinking the milk, but the Star reports that they didn’t require a hospital stay and have since recovered. In a slightly unsettling twist, the solution-laced milk can cause nausea and vomiting, even though it looks and smells normal. So keep your eyes peeled for those bewildering codes. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
ADDRESS: 1 King St. W., Unit 4901
NEIGHBOURHOOD: Bay Street Corridor
AGENT: Nadine Robbins
PRICE: $2,495,000
THE PLACE: A three-level penthouse in the One King West Hotel and Residence, a 51-storey, 29-foot-wide tower that’s been aptly nicknamed the Sliver.
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Happy apocalypse (Image: Lewis Mirrett)
Canadian expat Calla Haynes has become quite the presence in Paris, but she’s in and out of Canada often enough that we get to see some glimpses of what she’s been up to abroad. Last fashion week, she previewed her spring/summer 2012 collection at The Shows at the Ritz Carlton, but now the collection has become the inspiration for Fashion magazine’s first video in a brand new series and we get to see it in a whole new light. Set in a north Toronto mansion that has giant marble walls, an animal rug and, presumably, an endless supply of fruits and vegetables (you’ll see), Eva Michon’s video clearly takes its cue from Melancholia. Check out the haunting video over at Fashion magazine »
Savvy rich guy Prem Watsa doubles his stake in RIM
As the tech and finance pundits sink their teeth into Research in Motion, Fairfax Financial CEO Prem Watsa is sinking his money instead. Watsa and Fairfax have nearly doubled their combined stake in RIM to 5.12 per cent following the game of executive musical chairs that ended Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie’s tenure, installed Thorsten Heins as CEO and minted Watsa as the company’s newest board member. That means the group now owns 26.85 million RIM shares, worth a total of $437 million. Watsa, who was reportedly the major catalyst for the reshuffle, has been called Canada’s Warren Buffet for his ability to spot a shrewd investment—in other words, he’s not somebody who would waste his money on a failing company. Perhaps we shouldn’t count RIM out just yet. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
Still wondering what happened during the G20? Turns out “confusion” is to blame
A new report on the G8 and G20 places the blame for mayhem during the summit squarely on “some confusion.” Apparently, OPP officers were confused about whom, exactly, they were supposed to be assisting: Toronto police or the RCMP. Also, that roughly 650 cops worked 20-hour shifts without a square meal probably didn’t help. The report makes dozens of recommendations on how to avoid repeating similar mistakes in the future, although for our part, we might add the following: don’t hold an international summit like that in downtown Toronto. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
Linda Lundström and other Toronto entrepreneurs will bring art supplies (and a yurt!) to Attawapiskat
Toronto fashion designer Linda Lundström (famous for her LaParka coats in the late ’80s) has been gathering sewing machines, fabric and other supplies to send to artists and designers in troubled northern Ontario reserve Attawapiskat. It’s all part of an effort by a group of entrepreneurs, labour leaders and aboriginal leaders to improve the reserve’s living conditions through community-based projects. The end products will be sold at Toronto’s Design Exchange, and the group (which calls itself Design Points North) is also seeking out additional outlets—word is that Roots has expressed interest in the finished goods. Best of all, the Attawapiskat artists will get to work inside a bit of Toronto history— the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which provided the stylin’ yurts to the Occupy Toronto movement, has donated one of the structures to serve as an art centre, now that the city’s tent camp is but a fond memory. (Well, mostly.) Read the entire story [CBC] »
Every year, some restaurants decide to opt out of the prix fixe madness of Winterlicious and offer their own special menus and bargains outside the strictures of the official program. “We do it to give Winterlicious a bit of competition, to bring people in,” Elle M’a Dit’s Gregory Furstoss told The Dish. “But we don’t have to have the pressure of being under Winterlicious—we don’t have 200 people booked!” Meanwhile, Ross Bonfanti of midtown’s Il Sogno Ristorante launched his winter prix fixe back when it was tough to get into the official festival and now, several years later, feels no need to jump on board. “I have a good thing going,” he told us. After the jump, a roundup of winter prix fixe menus and deals.
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Rob Ford and co. fall back on the same old transit talking points (subways, subways, subways)
In the face of mounting dissent around his transit plan, Rob Ford and his inner circle are dusting off their trusty set of talking points. Doug Ford is quoted in the Toronto Sun saying that he refuses to treat Scarborough residents like “second-class citizens” (because first-class citizens waste billions of dollars on unnecessary subways?), while Rob says Scarborough residents voted him into office with, you guessed it, a mandate to build subways. The mayor also pointed to the province’s support of his current plan—but the Dalton McGuinty government appears to be having second thoughts, given transportation minister Bob Chiarelli’s statement yesterday that the city “doesn’t have its act together.” Heck, even Giorgio Mammoliti is having doubts. Read the entire story [National Post] »
Your favourite competitive cooking show—no, not that one—is back for a second season, according to the folks at Food Network Canada. Recipe to Riches, which pits home cooks against each other for what the press release calls “a once-in-a-lifetime shot at having their recipe developed into a President’s Choice® product,” begins a national casting call today. As regular Dish readers will do doubt remember, recipes featured on the show’s first season included bannock hazelnut pie and pulled pork, with Lunenberg, Nova Scotia’s Glo McNeill taking the win for her lemon pudding cakes. Like last season, the show features $25,000 prizes each episode, as well as a $250,000 grand prize for the overall winner of the season—a much heftier payout than certain other Canadian game shows. While the entire judging roster—Laura Calder, Tony Chapman, Dana McCauley and Galen Weston—will be returning, the fate of former Bachelor Jesse Palmer is still up in the air. A spokesperson for Food Network Canada writes, “as for the host, more details will be confirmed and revealed in the coming months.” Recipes can be submitted in one of the seven categories (they’re a little different from last year) on the show’s website.
While Karen Stintz’s new TTC proposal is gaining support from council’s left, right and centre, Rob Ford’s transit plan is getting support from, well, Rob Ford (also, it can apparently be summed up in just three words: “I’m building subways”). In Stintz’s plan, the Eglinton LRT would be build partially above ground (against the mayor’s wishes), redistributing leftover funds to extend the Sheppard subway and create rapid bus transit on Finch Avenue. In many respects, this looks like as good a compromise as Ford is going to get: it allows him to deliver on his promise of a Sheppard subway extension and serve an underserved area. The Toronto Star’s sources, however, say the mayor doesn’t want to compromise (which, really, isn’t that surprising). Of course, by sticking to his guns, Ford is digging himself into an even deeper hole (transit pun!). Sure, there has been much talk of a new, more conciliatory environment at city hall, but it looks like council might just go in another direction on its own, dragging Ford, kicking and screaming, along for the ride. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost; Yonge-Sheppard subway, gloom)
Doug Holyday may have finally blundered on the PR front (Image: Christopher Drost)
While Doug Holyday has been a key part of the city’s effort to look like the reasonable party in the ongoing labour negotiations (read: public relations battle), he now appears determined to prove himself to be the opposite. Earlier this week, a group of roughly 250 EMS workers rallied outside city hall, demanding to be deemed an essential service. The paramedics are particularly concerned that a work stoppage would make for a smaller workforce and slower response times. (The rally, by the way, comes while an inquest examining the death of a man waiting for an ambulance is underway). But unlike some other executive committee members, Holyday doesn’t think council should grant essential service status in the midst of a labour dispute. Because if CUPE wants to ask for something, says the deputy mayor, “they can do it at the negotiating table.” Read the entire story [CBC] »
Are Jim Balsillie‘s days at RIM numbered? (Image: Nan Palmero)
As if losing his job—and most of RIM’s value—wasn’t bad enough, former Research In Motion CEO Jim Balsillie is now being trash talked by an activist investor. Vic Alboini, a RIM shareholder and the CEO of Canadian merchant bank Jaguar Financial, told the Financial Post that Balsillie will be history at RIM by July. “My intuitive sense is that this whole arrangement is somewhat transitional and that there are further changes ahead,” he offered, pointing out that while Mike Lazaridis has been made vice-chair of the board and chair of an innovation committee, Balsillie has no specific role apart from simply serving on the board. While it’s tempting to write Alboini off as just another angry shareholder, activist investors do have the capacity to wreak major change. It may just be time for Balsillie to focus on those hockey dreams again. Read the entire story [Financial Post] »
Vegemite grilled cheese (no, really), kangaroo with quandong and whisky truffles (Image: Renée Suen)
Today is Australia Day, which celebrates the establishment of the first European colony in New South Wales in 1778 (also: dingoes, babies, Vegemite and Crocodile Dundee). Here in Toronto, three Ontario chefs—Matt Kantor (Secret Pickle Supper Club and Ghost Chef), John Placko (culinary director of Maple Leaf Foods) and Kingston wunderkind Luke Hayes-Alexander (Luke’s Gastronomy)–banded together to host three nights celebrating Australian cuisine, complete with Australian wines, beer and whisky pairings at the Cookbook Store’s kitchen studio, the site of last year’s El Bulli Imitació dinner.
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Vawkkin sketches (Image: Sunny Fong)
Sunny Fong, Project Runway Canada alum and designer of Vawk, is expanding his clothing line with a diffusion label called Vawkkin, proving it has been a big year for the Toronto designer: he just dressed Elisha Cuthbert, star of Happy Endings (though we prefer to remember her as the girl from Popular Mechanics for Kids), for the People’s Choice Awards, on top of showing another successful season at Toronto Fashion Week. Vawkkin will be a cheaper collection than Vawk, geared toward the “young professional fashion-forward female” in a palette of blacks and neutrals. It’s exciting to see a young Canadian designer with so much demand that he has to start a more affordable line, so we look forward to see what Vawkkin will look like. A preview of the fall/winter collection will happen sometime this spring. We’re just going to start an unsubstantiated rumour that Cuthbert will be walking in the show right now (we can’t promise anything).
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