News

In local news, May 1st marks the opening of registrations to run for local offices in next fall’s municipal elections. The Good Government Act of 2009 established the fourth Monday in October as the official election day for all municipal or regional elections across the Province. The nomination period for mayor, council and school trustee candidates runs until August 21st.

To be eligible to run, you must be:
•A Canadian citizen and at least 18 years old
•A resident of the municipality, a non-resident owner or tenant of land in the municipality or the spouse of such non-resident owner or tenant
•Not legally prohibited from voting; and not disqualified by any legislation from holding municipal office.

MILITARY

Further to Craig Foster’s report on Canadian Military recruitment, the Liberal government will soon be asked to consider options to drastically increase the size of the Canadian military.

General Jennie Carignan, the Chief of the Defence Staff, reveled that she’s finalizing a series of recommendations aimed at significantly increasing the size of both the reserve and the regular force.

A proposal that could see as many as 300,000 lightly trained citizen soldiers given the opportunity to serve alongside as many as 100,000 primary reservists and 85,500 regular force members has been under discussion for almost a year.

There is increasing pressure on Canada to finalize its expansion plans as a number of key allies such as Germany are already moving ahead with their programs. But the issue is made more urgent by the Carney government’s accelerated plans to buy new equipment including submarines and surveillance planes.

In some cases, the Canadian military doesn’t have enough personnel to keep existing equipment functioning, let alone take on new kit.

SCAMS

Still on the Canadian scene, another fraud scam has literally hit the streets. Peter Leventis of Toronto was in a hurry and needed a Bike Share bike, fast. But the QR code he scanned to unlock the bike wouldn’t work. So he tried scanning a different bike. Then another. That’s when he realized something was off.

He noticed the QR code looked a little different. Leventis was scanning a faux QR sticker, the same size as the real QR code that’s affixed to each rental bike, but slightly different looking. This one had a little speech bubble reading “Scan and Pay.”The QR wouldn’t work in the Bike Share app, but Leventis wanted to see where it went.

The code led to a dodgy site called “Direct To App Now” and a page labelled “ParkPay”, asking for personal information like a license plate and credit card to pay for parking. Leventis found five fake QRs at two different bikes docks around Coxwell and Danforth avenues in Toronto’s east end. He tore them off, reported to Bike Share, then threw them out.

The fake QR code stickers are a known scam tactic. It’s plagued parking lots in Ottawa and Montreal, but this is the first time the scam has hit Bike Share Toronto.

And finally, even stardom can have its limits. Legendary rocker Brian May, became a local hero in the quiet English village where he lives when he donated thousands of daffodil bulbs to brighten up the green outside the church last year. But plans to extend his floral donations to the Village Green for next year have bitten the dust after local authorities intervened and blocked the move.

The Queen guitarist and founding member donated 3,000 daffodil bulbs to the local community. Back in October, he wrote on his blog how school children had turned out to plant the flowers and has kept his followers updated on their progress.

This week May told his 3.6 million followers that he is “reluctantly” cancelling his order for more bulbs, adding that the Parish Council had rejected my plan. Apparently the main objection is that the sight lines on the Green woud affected traffic. He is struggling to imagine how 18 inch stalks could (obstruct) anyone’s view! Especially when the green is normally surrounded by parked vehicles, including a 7 foot high ice cream van!!!”

A spokesperson for Elstead Parish Council confirmed its decision, but said it had offered “alternative equally prominent sites” for further planting.

Sports

NHL

In the NHL playoffs, Montreal is the last Canadian team still with a chance to win Lord Stanley’s Cup. Les Canadiens can take a big step forward tonight as they are at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal holds a 3-2 lead in the series. If they do not prevail, then they still have one more chance on Sunday to move onto the 2nd round.

Also tonight, the Buffalo Sabers can wrap up their series with the Boston Bruins with a win on the road. Likewise the Vegas Golden Knights can advance with a road win over the Utah Mammoth.

F1

After a month long hiatus due to cancelled races, F1 returns this weekend in Miami. It is a sprint weekend, so there is a short 19 lap, 100 km race on Saturday at noon. The full 57 lap, 308 km main race goes at noon on Sunday. If you need an idea of how quick F1 cars are, drivers will cover the sprint race distance to Coborg in 30 minutes. The main race would be like driving to Kitchener in about 90 minutes.

The Autodrome track in Miami runs through the parking lot and cross streets around the Hard Rock Café Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins.

NBA

In the NBA, the Toronto Raptors will be looking to extend their playoff series tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 6 is in Toronto at 7:30, where the Cavs hold a 3-2 lead. If successful Game 7 would be in Cleveland at noon on Sunday,