Tag: Toronto

News

2011 – Year In Review (Part II)

Every year, news editors across Canada vote for the “newsmaker of the year” – the person who dominated the headlines.

For 2011, that person was Jack Layton.

A whopping 90 per cent of editors polled said they thought the NDP leader was the newsmaker of the year.

Layton helped to build his political party up from just 19 seats in 2003 when he took over as leader, to 103 seats last year — enough to make the NDP Canada’s national opposition party for the first time in history.

Layton died from cancer in 2011 and the country mourned for this great “representative of the people.”

Entertainment Kids

Justin Bieber Is Home For The Holidays

Justin Bieber came home for the holidays on Wednesday night – to Canada.

The Stratford, Ont.-born teen idol spread plenty of good cheer while visiting Toronto.

One of the first things he did on arriving in the country was to hold a benefit concert and raise $500,000 for Bieber’s Believe charity, for the Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, Sunnybrook Foundation and Project Medishare.

The concert, held at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall, was taped for a TV special that aired on MuchMusic and CTV last night. It was called Justin Bieber: Home for the Holidays.

News Sports

Maple Leafs, Raptors, and TFC Sold

Some of Toronto’s most popular sports teams including the Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto Football Club have new owners.

They have been bought for more than $1-billion by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada, two Canadian companies that sell phones and TV and internet services. Bell and Rogers also own the country’s two main sports-only channels, TSN and Sportsnet.

Kids Lighter News

Lady Gaga’s Message To One Toronto School

Students at the Etobicoke School of the Arts had a special guest at their anti-bullying assembly last week.

Lady Gaga sent the Toronto school a specially recorded video message.

The student council president, Jacques St. Pierre, is a huge fan of Lady Gaga.

He had sent emails to several celebrities, asking them to help launch the school’s anti-bullying campaign.

He was thrilled when Lady Gaga read his email and responded.

St. Pierre was the only student at the school who knew about the video until the assembly.

News Politics

Occupy Toronto Protesters Peacefully Leave St. James Park

For more than a month, the people of Occupy Toronto staged a peaceful protest on behalf of what they call “the 99 per cent.”

They built a tent village in St. James Park in downntown Toronto and camped there.

They set up a media centre, so TV news stations, newspapers and websites like Teaching Kids News could get information about them and their cause.

They used “social media” tools like Twitter and Facebook to communicate with each other.

This allowed them to talk to each other and let people know what was happening at all times.

Kids News

Toronto School Bans Balls

Students at Earl Beatty Public School in Toronto aren’t allowed to play with balls in their school playground any more.

The school has banned balls – including soccer balls, footballs, baseballs and tennis balls – from its playground.

Kids can only play with soft, foam balls such as Nerf balls.

The ban was put in place after a parent was hit in the head with a soccer ball and suffered a concussion.

The school’s principal, Alicia Fernandez, said kids were often getting hurt by balls in the playground.

She said they were sometimes scared.

She also pointed out that the school has a very small outdoor play area.

Some parents say the ban is an overreaction.

News

Toronto To Get New Streetcars

Toronto is getting 204 new streetcars.

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) says riders wanted better streetcars.

They wanted more seats and better accessibility for people who are physically challenged.

The new streetcars have a floor that is lower, so they are easier to get on and get off, especially for people with physical challenges.

They have more seats, larger windows and wider doors, including a third door for bicycles.

They are about twice the length of the current streetcars, and can handle 251 passengers.

Animals Entertainment Environment

New Toronto Aquarium — 13,500 Creatures, Shark Tunnel

The people who are building a huge new aquarium in downtown Toronto have released some exciting new details about it.

Ripley’s Entertainment Corporation – which publishes Ripley’s Believe It Or Not – plans to open the aquarium in 2013.

It will be one of the largest aquariums in North America.

It will be located near the base of the CN Tower.

More than 13,500 underwater creatures from around the world will be on display at the aquarium.

There will be exhibits on jellyfish, seahorses, stingrays, the Great Lakes, tropical reefs and more.

The aquarium is designed to be fully interactive.

Entertainment Lighter

Toronto’s Mayor Gets A Surprise Visit

Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, was caught off-guard by a comedy team called This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

One of the fictional characters on CBC’s This Hour is Marg Delahunty.

She plays a “warrior princess journalist” who often confronts politicians in a funny way.

She “ambushes” them and talks to them about the issues of the day. It’s meant to be funny but often insightful, too.

Last week she tried to ambush Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in the driveway of his home.

There are two sides to the story of what happened next.

According to Marg Delahunty (comedian Mary Walsh in real life), their camera crew ambushed the mayor at 8:30 a.m., in daylight, and in her typical loud-mouthed way she started offering the mayor some advice.

She was trying to tell him that “we bombastic buffoons should stick together.”

Arts Lighter Sports

Quidditch Tournament In Ottawa This Weekend

The Ryerson University quidditch team is going to a tournament in Ottawa this weekend.

You heard right – the Ryerson quidditch team.

You may remember quidditch as the game Harry Potter and his friends play in the popular series of books by J. K. Rowling.

She invented the game, just as she invented Harry Potter’s world.

Fans of Harry Potter in England, the United States, Canada and other countries have created a “muggle”* version of the game.

One Ryerson player says it’s kind of a mish-mash of rugby, flag football, basketball and hide-and-seek all rolled into one great game.

Players don’t fly, of course, but they do have to run on the field with brooms between their legs. Not only is that difficult, but it can make the game a bit rough.