It appears that Toronto’s ad campaign featuring the penny is going to cost the city a lot more than that penny. The ads for the “One Cent of the GST NOW” campaign show the penny on billboards, in bus shelters, the TTC, on bumper stickers, and on buttons. Mayor Miller is using these ads as a part of his campaign to have 1 cent of every 6 cents of GST collected returned to the municipality where it was collected.

However, this campaign was foolishly executed. In order to use the penny in an advertising campaign you must first get permission for the Royal Canadian Mint. The city did not ask for permission and as a result the Royal Canadian Mint is seeking $48,000 in compensation. The City of Toronto and the Royal Canadian Mint are now in negotiations, but the likelihood is that the city will have to pay for the unauthorized use of the image. The amount is yet to be determined and should keep the lawyers busy for some time to come.

David Diamond is the founder of UTours, a web-based company with its headquarters in Toronto. But, David Diamond is not your traditional CEO and UTours is not a travel company. Mr. Diamond, a 24 year old from Toronto, was most recently a film student at
Queen’s University in Kingston. He found that the information available when making a decision on which university to attend was inadequate, particularly when visiting that university is not an option.

Students want more than the university sponsored information. So, David Diamond and a small film crew set off on a journey to visit universities from coast to coast with a video camera. In addition to the university’s programming, faculties, and class sizes they interview students about all sorts of things including budgeting, nightlife, and the weather.

Follow the link below to visit UTours and enjoy a really candid look at some Canadian Universities.

http://www.utours.ca/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

Blood, gore, murder, and mayhem – what fun! The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is THE EVENT of the season for horror film aficionados. From October 19 – 25 horror, science fiction, fantasy, and animation feature films and short films will be premiered.

You must be 18 years of age or older to attend. Advance tickets are now on sale. The main screening venue is the Bloor Cinema located at 506 Bloor Street West and the venue for the horror shorts is the Innis Town Hall Theatre located at 2 Sussex Avenue. Tickets are going fast.

One of the highlights of the festival is the official Toronto Zombie Walk. Dress up like a zombie, walk the walk, have some food and drinks, and then you will have the absolute pleasure of attending the screening of 2 new zombie films. For all the Zombie Walk details follow the link below.

http://www.torontozombiewalk.ca/index.html

For all of the details on the films, parties, and the Zombie Walk follow the link below.

http://www.torontoafterdark.com/

First came the decision to close the community centres on Mondays until January 2008 to save money. Then the mayor changed his mind and decided to open the community centres on Mondays – but only to groups with permits that were paying for the use of the centres. Now the decision to close the community centres fully or partially has been totally reversed and the community centres will be opened on Mondays again starting on October 15^th. But, there will be a decreased amount of programming available. Please make sure that you check with your local community centre to confirm that your programs will be running.

The next time that someone tells you that you can’t fight city hall tell them that they are absolutely wrong. The only reason that the community centres are being reopened is due to the total outrage of the public and the pressure brought to bear on the mayor and city council. Bravo Toronto!

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Hunting for bargains at garage sales is a national pastime. Browsers on Hastings Avenue were in for quite an experience when they looked at the goodies that Randy Gulliver was selling – not out front as you would expect, but in the backyard.

Randy Gulliver is the director and co-producer of “Talk Sex With Sue Johanson” and his garage sale was strictly for adults only. The items for sale were all things that the show is sent every year. Apparently there was a great assortment of sex toys, body crayons, and Kama Sutra postcards. All of the proceeds are going to AIDS research, as they were last year when $400.00 was donated. If you hear of any interesting garage sales, please let us know and we’ll make sure to post the info.

Do you really care who picks up your garbage as long as it’s picked up? It is estimated that privatizing garbage collection in Toronto could save anywhere from 10 – 30 million dollars. In the 6 municipalities surrounding Toronto 100% of garbage collection is contracted out as compared with Toronto that only contracts out 20%. Using city workers for garbage pickup and disposal is costing us a lot more money than it needs to because our garbage collection and disposal workers are public sector, unionized employees. And the cost savings could be massive if the city was to sell off all or part of its fleet of garbage trucks and/or waste collection equipment. The reality is that private sector waste companies are able to deliver the same service for approximately 20% less than the public sector.

Why isn’t Toronto in step with other municipalities when it comes to garbage collection? Why are we constantly looking to cut services and raise taxes instead of cutting costs?  Would you be in favour of contracting out Toronto’s garbage collection and disposal services?

I’d like to tell you about a 7,500 square foot facility that includes a 4,000 square foot play area, athletic equipment, splash pools, non-skid athletic flooring, and soft beds for naps. This centre also has a spa onsite, training centre, boutique, and bakery. If I asked you to guess at what type of facility this is, what would you say? A spa/retreat of some sort? A daycare centre? A boarding school? What would you say if I told you that this is a fitness and spa centre for dogs?

I’m not making a joke. This is none other than the UrbanDog Fitness + Spa located at 37 Parliament Street. The UrbanDog opened in 2003 and their business has grown exponentially from just 2 clients to about 50 dogs every day. And you just can’t bring your pet to the UrbanDog. There is a screening process to access your dog’s suitability that involves a telephone interview and temperament screening. Approximately 20% of applicants are not admitted.

I just can’t get my head wrapped around doggie daycare used 5 days a week as one would use a child daycare facility. Places like the UrbanDog are great for the odd day here and there, but as a regular daycare, I just don’t get it. What do you think? Do you have a pet in 5 days/week daycare?

Follow the link below for all of the information that you and your pampered pooch will need.

http://www.urbandog.ca/index1.htm