It’s official. No one can smoke in a car in Ontario when there are children under the age of 16 present. Anyone that does will be subject to fines of up to $250. Why does the government even have to pass legislation like this? Don’t we as a society have enough brains to know enough not to smoke around children, especially in a confined space like a car. And don’t think for one moment that because you blow your smoke out an open window that it isn’t harmful. A 2007 report from the Ontario Medical Association clearly states that smoke in a car can be up to 27 times more concentrated than in a smoker’s home. No one should subject children to that kind of danger.

The new law called The Smoke-Free Ontario Act applies to anyone smoking in the car - drivers and passengers alike. And it doesn’t matter whether the vehicle is moving or stationary or if doors, windows, or any kind of roof is open. The purpose of the law is to protect children from the harmful effects of second hand smoke which puts them at greater risk of developing bronchitis, colds, ear infections and asthma.

In Canada similar laws already exist in Nova Scotia, Yukon, Surrey, British Columbia, and Okotoks, Alberta. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba are considering similar legislation. Why isn’t this a Canada-wide law? Why wouldn’t any province or territory be moving quickly to get on board? Children are our future. As a society we must collectively do everything possible to protect them.

Ontario’s new “Do What You Can” program http://www.dowhatyoucan.ca/ will hopefully divert more than 32,000 tonnes of household and hazardous waste from Ontario’s landfills over the next five years. It is estimated that the cost of “Do What You Can” will be $28 million in the first year alone. However, you and I will not be paying for it. The manufacturers and/or distributors of the products that are being disposed of will bear the cost of the disposal program. They will pay their fees directly to Stewardship Ontario based on the amount and type of materials they sell in the province. The government will not lay out a penny nor will they make a penny. The first phase of the program deals with:

- Antifreeze (Containers Empty)
- Antifreeze Bulked
- Antifreeze, and the containers
- Fertilizers and their containers
- Lubricating oil containers of 30 litres or less
- Paints and Coatings, and their containers
- Pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and their containers
- Pressurized containers such as propane tanks and cylinders
- Single use dry cell batteries
- Solvent, and their containers
- Used Oil filters

Phase 2 of “Do What You Can” will include aerosol containers, fluorescent light bulbs and tubes, switches that contain mercury, thermostats, thermometers, and barometers. Phase 3 will include contact cement and corrosive cleaners such as ammonia, and pool and photo chemicals.

Home Depot stores will take back spent single-use batteries and old paint. Participating RONA stores will take back unwanted paint. Jiffy Lube and Pro Oil Change will take back used oil filters, empty automotive oil containers and antifreeze. Stewardship Ontario will then pick up the waste and determine what can be reused, recycled, or processed. The rest will be disposed of according to environmental disposal standards.

Use the “Do What You Can” website http://www.dowhatyoucan.ca/Default.aspx to find out where you can take your hazardous waste.

York’s 3,340 teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants are the highest paid in Canada. But they say that it’s not about the money, it’s about job security. The reality is that job security belonged to a time when “Leave it to Beaver” was the top rated program on television. Why should York University teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants have any more job security than the rest of the population who lives in the real world?

How many people do you know who would turn down an offer of a 9.25% wage increase over three years with improved benefits and job security? Most people in the real world are hoping not to get laid off, let alone dreaming of wage increases. York University strikers did turn down the offer in the latest vote which was requested by the university and conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Labour. Quite frankly I was surprised to read that only 69% of the union members turned out to vote. The offer was rejected by 61% of teaching assistants, 59.3% of contract faculty, and 70% of graduate assistants.

The strike has had a serious impact on the number of students applying to York. In fact there is a 15% decrease in applications from high school students making the school their first pick since the last year and a 10% decrease in applications over all. Ryerson and University of Toronto have been the biggest winners in the applications war. Perhaps now that York will have fewer students it will require fewer teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants and instead of increases and better benefits and job security, they will have to accept lay-offs that they brought on themselves. Poetic justice, don’t you think? But, what of the students?

Toronto Hydro customers are clearly at risk from a company without a solid infrastructure. It is not exactly confidence inspiring when a valve opened for no reason at all and couldn’t be shut off which then triggered a sprinkler system meant for fires or overheated electrical equipment which then resulted in over 250,000 left without power and heat. To make a bad situation even worse, all of this happened on one of the coldest days of the year.

This disaster in the Dufferin Street Transformer Station affected a widespread area - from Jane Street to Spadina Avenue and from St. Clair Avenue to Queen Street - for up to 24 hours. The reason that it took so long to restore power is that the water had to be pumped out of the station and then the equipment had to be dried before power could be restored. As of yet, no one at Toronto Hydro has a clue what triggered the opening of the valve and the ensuing calamity.

The entire city of Toronto felt the affect of the loss of power. The Bloor-Danforth subway line was shut down between the Jane and St. George Stations stranding thousands of commuters. Shuttle buses are hardly adequate for the volume and the Arctic-like temperatures did not make walking any length of time a viable alternative. Toronto Taxi drivers however had a banner day. Many schools were closed and driving in the area had to be attempted as a last resort as there were no traffic lights.

The question is what will Toronto Hydro do to ensure that there are system redundancies in place that can divert power from other stations should a similar situation arise? Toronto Hydro must shore up its failing systems. The city of Toronto must be able to rely on its power distribution system.

On July 3rd a car crash and drowning led to the deaths of Tyler Mulcahy, 20, Cory Mintz, 20, and Kourosh Totonchian, 19. According to law enforcement, alcohol and speed were factors in this tragedy. The worst part is that this disaster could have been avoided with education and training. Over a period of 3 hours Tyler, Cory, Kourosh, and a female friend who survived the crash were served 31 drinks at the Lake Joseph Club in the Muskoka’s after which Tyler Mulcahy got behind the wheel of a car and changed the lives of 4 families for ever.

A total of 34 charges have now been laid against Clublink Corporation and its officers for allegedly allowing drunkenness and continuing to serve apparently intoxicated individuals. Only the beverage manager and 2 bar tenders were actually there on the day that the tragedy occurred. In case you think that this can’t happen, there is a law in place that states that an establishment can be held responsible if there are consequences resulting later from over-served alcohol. If Clublink is found guilty, the maximum penalty they could face is $250,000. Individuals found guilty could be fined up to $100,000, and/or be imprisoned for up to one year. The Lake Joseph Club could have its liquor license suspended or revoked, with no option to reapply for two years.

I would like to know if the beverage manager and bar tenders had taken Smart Serve Ontario training http://smartserve.org/about_us.asp. Smart Serve Ontario is a non-profit organization that provides responsible service training programs to anyone who serves alcoholic beverages or works where alcohol is served in Ontario. Were the people who served 4 young people 31 drinks in 3 hours thinking of anything else than setting a new sales record or getting a very big tip from a bunch of rich kids? The law is in place and someone must be responsible. The question now is does the law have teeth?

Do you live in a home that was built prior to 1955? If the old lead pipes have not been replaced, you may be at risk drinking water that contains unsafe levels of lead. As an immediate precaution it is recommended that you run your taps for at least 5 minutes to flush out the lead before you drink any water.

The most recent tests were conducted on 100 homes in Toronto that were built prior to 1955 and more than half of the homes tested had unacceptable levels of lead in their drinking water. The homeowners and the public health officials were notified. The good news is that the problem was discovered. The bad news is that it is very expensive to replace the lead pipes. Although the city of Toronto is picking up the tab for a portion of the replacement cost, each home owner will be responsible for more that $2,000 in charges. Could this have come at a worse time? What do you do when money is tight? Do you allow your family to be at risk? What can you do if the money is just not there? The number of homes that may actually be affected is alarming. There may be as many as 65,000 homes with lead pipes that were installed prior to 1955 that could be affected.

Health Canada warns that exposure to high levels of lead even in the short term can produce symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma, or even death. Long term exposure can damage the brain and nervous system, particularly in pregnant women and children who are at the most risk.

To request free testing for lead in your drinking water call the Water Quality Lab at 416-392-2894 or send an email to waterqualityline@toronto.ca. For more information visit the City of Toronto website http://www.toronto.ca/water/supply/lead_test.htm.

The job of a labour union is to represent its membership. However, given the recent union rhetoric in the auto industry, the TTC, with elementary school teachers, and the staff at York, one has to wonder if the unions have the best interests of its membership at heart? When York put an offer on the table last week and the union refused to put the offer in front of the 3,340 striking teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants, York put an end to any further talks and has used its right to force workers to vote on its latest offer. York’s most recent offer included wage and benefit increases of 10.7% over three years. The union rejected the offer, refused to let the membership vote on the deal, and did not present a counter offer.

As a result York asked the Ontario’s minister of labour to organize a supervised vote on its latest offer. This is a right that employers have and may exercise only once during negotiations. This supervised vote will likely take place in the next week or so. As yet there are no details on where and when the vote will take place and whether or not there would be separate votes for each unit - 950 contract faculty, 1,850 teaching assistants, and 550 graduate assistants.

Of course the union is not amused with this latest development. They are encouraging member to vote no to the deal. It is going to be very interesting to see the result of the vote. If the members vote to accept the deal, what does this say about the union? Instead of going on ill conceived strikes will CUPE members take action against a union that has no interest in its members?

T’is the season to be jolly, but Torontonians were way over the top, particularly when behind the wheel. Drunk driving charges were up by 33% in Toronto and by 47% in Peel region. Everyone is searching for an explanation to this dramatic increase in impaired driving. The scary part is that the statistic only reflects the few that were caught in the act which we all know is the tip of the iceberg. I’ve love to know how these numbers correlate to the general driving population at large.

Sgt. Tim Burrows of the Toronto Police Service offered a possible explanation for the increase. In years passed RIDE patrols were set up on main roads. This year they shifted the focus to secondary roads and side streets in the belief that drunk drivers would choose to stay off main roads in an attempt to avoid detection.

In spite of the growing concerns over impaired driving and the necessity to get drunk drivers off the road lawyers are challenging the new federal legislation that abolished the “two beer defense” to an impaired driving charge. In case you are unfamiliar with this popular defense, people who were accused of drunk driving after a breathalyzer test said that they only had 2 beers but because they just recently finished the second beer, they had more alcohol in their breath than in their blood. However after July 2, 2008 anyone who wants to challenge a breathalyzer result are now required to provide the court with technical evidence proving the equipment was malfunctioning or wasn’t operated properly.

We’ll have to wait and see if the new law will be overturned and the “two beer defense” comes back into play.

PYNK is an innovative new program launched by Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for young women dealing with breast cancer. We don’t often think of breast cancer affecting young woman, but according to Dr. Ellen Warner, a medical oncologist at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, women 40 and under account for about 5% of the roughly 22,000 cases diagnosed each year in Canada. Some of these women are hardly women at all. They are still in their teens and should be preoccupied with university entrance exams and prom dresses, not breast cancer.

The name PYNK was chosen because pink is the colour most closely associated with the efforts to find a cure for breast cancer. The letter i was changed to the letter y for young. PYNK is the first program of its kind in Canada. It is designed to provide young women with the knowledge and resources on how to navigate the medical system in addition to providing psychological and social support. Nurse coordinators in the PYNK centres set up and guide patients through their tests, consultations with specialists and treatment schedule, in addition to supplying referrals for peer support and other psychosocial services.

There is also a strong focus on research because cancer in young women is very different than that in older women. Breast cancer in young women is unfortunately much more deadly and alternative treatments to counteract this disturbing trend must be found. PYNK operates entirely on fundraising and private donations. Between 50 and 100 woman are expected to enroll in the PYNK program this year. Contact the Sunnybrook Foundation to make a donation.

Toronto’s favourite gastronomic celebration is about to begin. Winterlicious, now in its 7th mouth watering year is taking place from January 30th – February 12th.

This spectacular dining event features spectacular 3-course meals at over 150 of Toronto’s best restaurants. They each offer a prix fixe lunch or dinner. This means that the menus are pre-set with first course, main course, and dessert selections. You will have the extreme difficulty of trying to choose only one dish from each course. Prix Fixe lunches are offered at $15, $20, or $30 dollars while dinners are $25, $35, or $45 dollars. These amazing prices are per person. Beverages, taxes and gratuities are extra. It is expected that you will leave a 15 – 20% tip and some restaurants may automatically add a gratuity to your bill, depending on the size of your party.

Reservations are recommended. Participating restaurants will start accepting reservations on January 15th. However if you have an American Express credit card you can make your reservations on January 13th and January 14th. Restaurants including Auberge du Pommier, Courtyard Café, Sassafraz, Canoe, EPIC, and Truffles can be fully reserved in no time flat. Here is the complete list of participating restaurants. The menus are also posted, although they are subject to change.

In addition to this dining extravaganza, Winterlicious is featuring 12 spectacular culinary events – dining experiences, cooking classes, food and wine pairings – led by some of Toronto’s most celebrated chefs and wine experts. Tickets are now on sale. Reserve early as space is limited at each event. Here is the complete list of the 12 events.

Bon Appetit Toronto!