Courtesy of tiff.net

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of most prestigious film festivals in the world. From September 10 – 19 an incredible list of luminaries from the film world – film makers, actors and actresses, and industry professionals – will all be in Toronto to celebrate the art of film making. Stake out a spot on your favourite patio because this is a just partial list of just some of the celebrities that have confirmed to date.

1. Ally Sheedy
2. Amanda Seyfried
3. Atom Egoyan
4. Chris Rock
5. Cillian Murphy
6. Clive Owen
7. Colin Farrell
8. Colin Firth
9. Colm Feore
10. Danny DeVito
11. Danny Glover
12. David Duchovny
13. Demi Moore
14. Drew Barrymore
15. Edward Norton
16. Ellen Page
17. Emily Blunt
18. Ethan Coen
19. Eva Green
20. Ewan McGregor
21. George Clooney
22. Georgina Reilly
23. Gordon Pinsent
24. Guy Maddin
25. Hugh Hefner
26. Ian Fitzgibbon
27. Isabella Rossellini
28. Jack White
29. Jacob Tierney
30. James Purefoy
31. Jane Campion
32. Jason Reitman
33. Jeff Bridges
34. Jennifer Connelly
35. Jennifer Garner
36. Jimmy Smits
37. Joel Coen
38. Johnny Hallyday
39. Jon Amiel
40. Jonathan King
41. Julianne Moore
42. Juliette Lewis
43. Keanu Reeves
44. Keir Gilchrist
45. Keisha Castle-Hughes
46. Kevin McDonald
47. Kevin Spacey
48. Kerry Washington
49. Kristin Scott Thomas
50. Kyle MacLachlan
51. Liam Neeson
52. Lisa Kudrow
53. Marica Gay Harden
54. Mariah Carey
55. Matt Damon
56. Megan Fox
57. Sir Michael Caine
58. Michael Douglas
59. Michael Moore
60. Michael Sheen
61. Miranda Richardson
62. Naomi Watts
63. Natalie Portman
64. Neil Diamond
65. Neil Jordan
66. Nicolas Cage
67. Oliver Parker
68. Oprah Winfrey
69. Patricia Clarkson
70. Paul Bettany
71. Paul Schneider
72. Paula Patton
73. Penélope Cruz
74. Peter Berg
75. Peter Sarsgaard
76. Philip Hoffman
77. Rachel Ward
78. Ricky Gervais
79. Sir Ridley Scott
80. Rob Lowe
81. Robert Duvall
82. Robin Wright Penn
83. Rossif Sutherland
84. S. Epatha Merkerson
85. Samantha Morton
86. Sarah Ferguson
87. Sarah Polley
88. Sheila McCarthy
89. Sissy Spacek
90. Snoop Dogg
91. Steven Soderbergh
92. Tatiana von Furstenberg
93. Ted Kotcheff
94. Terry Gilliam
95. Tilda Swinton
96. Tom Ford
97. Tyler Perry
98. Viggo Mortensen
99. Willem Dafoe
100. Woody Harrelson

The films this year promise to be outstanding and tickets can be purchased online.

Courtesy of landmarkeducationnews.info

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding this issue. Infertile couples believe that it is the responsibility of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to pay for in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments claiming that infertility is a disability. According to the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada there are approximately 8,000 IVF treatments performed annually in Canada, about 5,000 of those performed in Ontario. In Canada the average price for an IVF treatment is $10,000. It is estimated that 28% of women who conceived as a result of IVF have multiple births.

It is currently estimated that one in eight couples in Canada suffer from infertility. According to Dr. Ri-Cheng Chian, scientific director of the McGill Reproductive Centre, the causes of infertility include tube blockage, pollution, stress, low sperm count, and in some cases older age. IVF has approximately a 40% success rate, and it usually takes three treatments before a woman gets pregnant.

What does OHIP currently pay for when it comes to IVF? Since 1994, OHIP contributes to the basic fee for IVF only for women under 40 whose Fallopian tubes are bilaterally blocked. The patient is responsible to pay for drugs and laboratory services which can equal or surpass the cost of the basic fee. If the man is infertile, there is no contribution by OHIP for IVF. However, artificial insemination is fully covered. If OHIP paid fully for IVF, how many treatments should they pay for? At $10,000 each, couples would be more than happy to continue trying when they had no financial burden to bear.

As a society we all want access to high quality health care, but should we be responsible for helping people to conceive children? There are only so many health care dollars to go around. Is funding IVF the best use of the taxpayer’s money? Then there is the reality of life once the baby or babies arrive. Who is going to support them financially? If you can’t afford the treatment to get pregnant how can you afford to raise the child or children? The Vanier Institute of the Family estimates that the current cost of raising a child to age 18 is approximately $164,483 for a boy, $163,464.00 for a girl. The cost of IVF is just the tip of the iceberg.

Courtesy of fightfraud.nv.gov

The next time that the Canada Revenue Agency contacts you, don’t be too quick to give out any information. A good number of people are being scammed by what they believe is the CRA. This is how the scam works. You receive a telephone call, letter, or email from what appears to be the CRA asking for personal information – social insurance number, credit card info, bank info, or passport number. This is a copy of the fraudulent letter being circulated. It all seems to be legitimate and because we trust and or fear the Canada Revenue Agency we are all too quick to provide what ever information they are asking for. The problem is that the CRA hasn’t asked for the info and you’ve just been scammed.

The CRA will never ask for your social insurance number in an insecure way.

The CRA does not have people’s email addresses.

What can you do?

• NEVER provide personal information.
• Unsolicited e-mails claiming to be sent from the CRA should be deleted immediately.
• Do not follow any links listed in the e-mails claiming to be sent from the CRA as these websites contain harmful software.
• If you have an accountant, contact him/her before you take any action.
• Contact Phonebusters immediately.

This is not the first time that scam artists have pretended to be from the CRA. In fact this is the third year in a row where there has been a similar scam. In 2007 there was an email scam where what appeared to be a request from the CRA asked for personal financial information and directed people to phony websites. In 2008 documents were sent out from what appeared to be the CRA saying that there was insufficient information regarding tax returns, with instructions to fill out an enclosed form with personal financial data and return it by mail. Beware of communications from the CRA.

Courtesy of airport.ca

It seems that anything to do with the Toronto Island Airport is contentious, and the proposed pedestrian tunnel is sadly no different. Like it or not the wheels have been set in motion and it looks as though this is one battle that Mayor Miller will lose. Last week the CEO of the port authority requested $19 million from the federal government’s stimulus fund to finance the project. The total amount to build the tunnel is $38 million. The feds have been asked for half. The other half will come from the provincial government - $12 million, and the port authority - $7 million.

The pedestrian tunnel could encourage more traffic, resulting in more daily flights and increased revenues. It would be eight metres wide, four metres high, and have moving sidewalks for passengers. Engineers have estimated that the tunnel would take one year to build. An environmental assessment will probably take about 4 months and it should prove that a tunnel would reduce carbon emissions. Potential contractors will be submitted bids within 3 weeks.

Of course Mayor opposes the tunnel. He opposes anything that makes sense. The good news is that the port authority would not need signoff from the city to build the tunnel because it’s permitted under the existing three-government agreement that governs the airport. In July Pollara Strategic Insights conducted a poll for the port authority. It showed that 62% of respondents supported the construction of an airport island tunnel which I’m sure is much higher than the Mayor’s approval rating – particularly after his bungling of the city workers’ strike.

Courtesy of Facebook

There are currently approximately 12 million Canadian members of Facebook and Canada’s privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, is concerned about the lack of control that users have over their personal information. These are Ms Stoddart’s concerns:

1. There are not enough safeguards in place to prevent 950,000 third-party developers around the world from getting unauthorized access to your personal information.
2. Facebook does not ensure that you give meaningful consent before disclosing your personal information to the developers.
3. Even though you have deactivated your account, Facebook keeps your information indefinitely.
4. The profiles of deceased users remain on Facebook. They say that this is done for memorial purposes, but no where is this made clear.
5. Facebook allows you to provide personal information about non-users without their consent and Facebook keeps the addresses indefinitely.

If Facebook does not comply and take measures to rectify these issues within 45 days the privacy commissioner has the option of pursuing legal action against Facebook. David Fewer, acting director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, first brought the complaint against Facebook in May 2008. Once the Facebook issue is resolved Mr. Fewer will be going after other social networking sites to bring them in line with the changes that Facebook will hopefully be making.

The Internet has grown so quickly that the law hasn’t been able to keep up with it, particularly in areas of privacy and the protection of personal information. Most people who join social networking sites never give the issues of privacy a second thought. Maybe it’s time that we did.

Courtesy of cleanbreak.ca

Surprising and violent, four suspected tornadoes unleashed their wrath upon the unsuspecting communities of southern Ontario on Thursday. I say “suspected tornadoes” because according to Environment Canada data from the storms must first be collected and analyzed before they are officially categorized as tornadoes. There is a remote possibility that they could have been funnel clouds. The cause of the storm activity is most likely the recent hot and humid air in the region.

The tornadoes touched down in Durham and Vaughn. Both of these communities were very hard hit and have declared a state of emergency. In Woodbridge and Maple 120 homes had to be evacuated after sustaining serious damage and there is a possibility that several of these homes will have to be completely demolished. Evacuation centres have been established at two community centres and the Red Cross is on site to provide assistance. From there the storm cells moved eastward placing Toronto, Hamilton, Peterborough, and dozens of other towns and cities under tornado warnings. As the storm approached Kingston, it was downgraded to severe thunderstorm warnings, but the risk of tornadoes no longer existed.

Immediately following the storm there were 69,000 Hydro One customers without power. As work to restore power continues there still remain 20,000 customers without power.

With all of the modern technology available why can’t we forecast tornadoes or funnel clouds? Thursday’s forecast called for thunderstorms in the morning, which never happened and clearing in the afternoon, with a chance of more thunderstorms in the evening. There was no mention of the possibility of severe weather and no warnings or alerts were posted. How does a tornado just appear out of the blue?

Courtesy of schools.tdsb.on.ca

According to the Toronto District School Board last year 92 of 533 public schools in Toronto had an enrollment of less than 60%, and the attrition is continuing. The TDSB loses about 4,000 each year. Add this to the fact that the TDSB is hard up for cash and there seems to be no alternative to closing schools. It is estimated that closing 25 – 30 schools would save between $10 million and $15 million per year.

In order to deal with this issue trustees have voted to close Scarborough’s Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute in September. It is also reported that Grade 9 has been cancelled at West Toronto Collegiate because of too few students. Instead of massive school closures Josh Matlow, trustee for St. Paul’s, will be presenting a motion at the August 26^th school board meeting, requesting that the board consider closing 10 of its undersubscribed schools this year and 10 more the year after.

The quality of education should be of paramount importance. Today’s Parent magazine has compiled a list of the best elementary and middle schools across Canada. The criteria was based on factors including community commitment, serving special needs, quality of teachers, clubs, programs, and the cool factor. Here is the list of the top schools in Ontario. Only one is in Toronto. Let’s hope that it’s not slated for closure.

• Cedarvale Community School (Toronto, 220 students, JK-6)
• St. John Bosco Catholic School (Brockville, 380 students, JK-6)
• Briargreen Public School (Nepean, 330 students, JK-6)
• Pioneer Park Public School (Kitchener, 316 students, JK-6)
• Castlefrank Elementary School (Kanata, 315 students, JK-8)
• Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School (Waterdown, 500 students, JK-8)

Courtesy of bbs.stardestroyer.net

According to Environment Canada lightning kills about seven people and seriously injures 60 to 70 people in Canada each year. The majority of these tragedies happen in the afternoon and early evening during the summer when people are caught outdoors. If you are inadvertently caught outdoors there are ways to protect yourself from lightning strikes.

• You may have a built-in warning system for lightning. If you feel a tingling sensation, your hair stands on end, or you smell sulfur, lightning might be about to strike.
• If possible go into a protected building, a car with a hardtop, a tunnel, subway, cave, or a ditch.
• You should not be higher than your surroundings. Try to go to an area of lower elevation. If you are in an open space crouch down and cover your ears. Don’t lie down or place your hands on the ground because a lightning strike could electrify the ground that you are lying on.
• Stay away from trees.
• Don’t use your umbrella. Put it down and walk away.
• Leave wet areas, pools, lakes, and beaches immediately.
• Avoid metal objects – scooters, bicycles, motorcycles, golf carts, fences, poles, power lines.
• If you are with a group, spread out.

We all feel safe from lightening strikes at home and frequently watch storms from our balconies or windows. But, are we really safe? What should you do if you are indoors during a lightening storm?

• Stay away from doors and windows.
• Don’t use the phone, except during an emergency.
• Don’t use electrical appliances.
• Don’t unplug any electronic equipment or electrical appliances during a storm.
• Refrain from touching sinks, faucets, baths, and showers – any wet places.

Courtesy of repairpal.com

There are vast differences in the outcome of public sector and private sector strikes. The union is omnipotent within the public sector but becoming impotent in the private sector. The tragedy is that unions have not come to grips with this new reality and as a result they irreparably damaging the lives of the rank and file in the private sector. Such is the sad case of the employees at the Lever Brothers soap factory.

In 2002 Unilever sold the Lever Brothers soap factory to Korex Don Valley. With the purchase Korex inherited the best paid workers in the soap manufacturing business at $25/hour with benefits. This is indeed an incredible wage for unskilled labour. The reality was that the company was no longer financially viable. When the contracts were renegotiated the workers agreed to a five-year wage freeze, cuts to disability benefits and the loss of their defined-benefit pensions in exchange for job security. When that contract expired in June 2007 Korex wanted more concessions. In June 2008, 160 workers went on strike to protest a new contract that they said wiped out seniority rights. The factory continued to run at a reduced rate until May 2009. Korex Don Valley has now filed for bankruptcy. The remaining 110 workers who are members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada local 132-0 now have no jobs and very poor prospects.

According to Korex the strike went on far too long and as a result they lost their consumers. The union has only one job – to represent the rank and file. Why would they have encouraged prolonged strike action with a company who was not on solid footing financially? If these unfortunate and ill-advised workers had it all to do over again I’d be willing to bet that they would be happy to accept Korex’s concessions and continue working. Who is going to hold the union responsible for the livelihoods of these 110 people, many of who have worked 30 years or more at this same factory?

Courtesy of earneasily.org

Everything gets recycled these days including scams. An old Internet scam has resurfaced in Toronto. The scam is very simple to perpetrate. A scam artist hacks into a private email account and changes the password rendering the account inaccessible to the owner. Pretending to be the legitimate owner of the email account the scam artist blasts out an email to everyone in the address book of the email account owner saying that they are stranded somewhere overseas and need money to get home. They request that you send the funds via Western Union. About a year ago I received an email from an acquaintance telling me that he was stranded somewhere in the UK and had no money. I immediately deleted it. What amazes me is how many people get taken and actually send money. Does common sense fly out the window when someone sends an email asking for funds?

Think about it, if you had a friend who was traveling overseas and legitimately found themselves stranded without funds, would they send you what amounts to a form email and ask you to send funds via Western Union? No, of course they wouldn’t. In the first place they would call you collect and tell you the story about how they arrived at this most unfortunate situation. If you agreed to send funds they would ask how you were sending them and you would make the arrangements to send the money. Or, you would simply contact who ever needed to be paid – airline, hotel, etc – and arrange to make payment by credit card.

Think before you do something that clearly doesn’t make sense. As long as people continue to use bad judgment, there will be scam artists standing ready to take their money.