Hand Sewing 101 - Part 3

Whether it’s your favorite dress, skirt or pair of pants, curtains – you name it- the ability to hem (raiing or lowering the bottom edge of a garment or fabric) allows you to change the tyle and look of your clothes and home furnihingsTool required. Sewing needle,1. Thread your needle, thread2. Turn wrong side garment to wrong side, testing the desired length.3. Pin garment in place.4. Secure hen using running basting stitch, 1/2 inch away from raw edge.5. Sew hem in place using catch titch: tie knot at end of thread to secure stitch.6. Move rigth 1/4 inch and take a stitch in the outside.7. Repeat steps until hem is complete. To finish, make a back stitch or tie knot to secure. Remove basting thread and press lightly with an iron.By: Desmond

Yet Another Consumer RIP OFF

Canadians have a love/hate relationship with health care.  We are proud of our universal health care system; in fact we brag about it when we talk to our American relatives.    It’s the extra little charges that make us angry. We bristle when the doctor charges us $5 to fax a prescription to our pharmacy or when a podiatrist charges a $95 “new patient registration” fee.    But nothing makes us boil more than the creative ways hospitals invent to rip us off.  Almost everyone thinks ill of outrageous hospital parking fees and the myriad of extra charges like telephone rental fees they tag onto your hospital bill. Here is another one that you probably haven’t thought about. I’m an insulin dependent diabetic.  One night before going to bed I took a triple dose of the wrong insulin.  The paramedic sent by 911 suggested he take me to the Humber River Hospital emergency where they could monitor my blood sugar throughout the night. Two weeks later I received a bill from the hospital for $45 for ambulance service.  Now I happen to know that ambulance service is provided free of charge by the City of Toronto to Toronto residents.  The cost comes out of property taxes.  I ignored the bill. A month later I received a second invoice so I wrote to the hospital: The hospital responded by sending me a copy of the original bill with the words “AMBULANCE SERVICE” emphasized. I wrote back to the Patient Accounts department.    Now, as Prime Minister Harper is fond of saying, “let me be clear about this”.   I could pay the bill and my Manulife supplementary Insurance policy would reimburse me the $45.  It’s not so much the money as the principle.   I will not pay it because; having served on the City’s Committee that provides ambulance services I recognize it for the rip-off that it is.  It’s not just the Humber River Hospital; all the Toronto hospitals do it.  The hospitals get away with it because most people pay it.  They don’t recognize it as the boondoggle it is.Does the hospital have the legal authority to levy this charge?Yes they do.There is a little known Ontario regulation that permits them to do it.  But what is worse the Ontario Government is a partner in this deception and the Minister of Health has never been able to explain why.  You see, the hospital keeps about half the money and sends the balance to the province. I’m prepared to go to small claim’s court and defend my position.  The hospital provides no service whatsoever for this fee.  If I had arrived at the emergency department in a taxi or by TTC they would have no excuse to charge it. Is it any wonder that fewer and fewer Canadians are reluctant to make charitable donations to hospitals?  By: Howard Moscoe

Hand Sewing 101 - How to Hem

Whether it’s your favorite dress, skirt or pair of pants, curtains - you name it- the ability to hem (raiing or lowering the bottom edge of a garment or fabric) allows you to change the tyle and look of your clothes and home furnihingsTool required. Sewing needle,1. Thread your needle, thread2. Turn wrong side garment to wrong side, testing the desired length.3. Pin garment in place.4. Secure hen using running basting stitch, 1/2 inch away from raw edge.5. Sew hem in place using catch titch: tie knot at end of thread to secure stitch.6. Move rigth 1/4 inch and take a stitch in the outside.7. Repeat steps until hem is complete. To finish, make a back stitch or tie knot to secure. Remove basting thread and press lightly with an iron.

Change is in the air across Canada

The fall is auguring change for the October 19th election. Two thirds across what will be the longest election in living memory most polls vary in results, with one exception: Canadians in very large majorities want chang and do not agree with the direction of the country. This has been a great handicap for the Conservatives, as they struggled out of the gate early on in the election. They have also been sideswiped by a series of events, some of their making, some not. The list seems to grow weekly, but voters seem adamant to let them take the responsibility for the Duffy trial, the recessionary climate of the economy, low oil prices and the refugee crisis. Their chances of winning a majority, at least currently, are miniscule by all measures. The Conservative record does them no help. We have struggled economically in the east of the country for some time as manufacturing flounders and the nowthe west is hit with low oil prices and higher unemployment. The great calculus of turning Canada into an energy superpower has turned to dust, even as our foreign policy master plan has whittled. At home, controversy over Bill C-51 and nonexisting environmentalpolicy has left the Conservative party on the outs with more Canadians than at any time over the lifespan of this government. Not even conservatives are very enthused about the party as time has proven its leadership and Harper more adept at surviving that at being truly Conservative, a too Liberal quality for most true conservatives. The government of the last 10 years has racked the most debt in history and has failed to please the social conservative base by tackling issues such as abortion or gay marriage. In essence, there is not much to show, except for things such as cuts to the CBC and government science budgets. So change is coming, and we only know that it will be a close election regardless of the outcome. The Liberals, new leader on hand, are buoyed by polls that show them still in contention, but are promising things that most of us have heard from them that they failed to do in the past. For our part at the Downsview Advocate, we feel that real change would come in the form of an NDP government. Thomas Mulcair has shown that he is ready for the job on day one and would tackle economic issues without reducinginvestment in the things that are important to the community, such as employment, pensions for seniors and childcare. After 10 years of Conservative government, we need real change. 

Dufferin Finch BIA – New Growth Is Coming to the Area

 The Dufferin Finch Business Improvement Area represents the area bounded by Sheppard Avenue, Keele Street, Steeles Ave and Dufferin Street. It is a remarkable organization with 2,500 businesses employing over 32,000 people. The BIA has been in operation since May 2014 and is already having a strong positive impact. It is well on the way to improving the lives of those who make a living here as well as the lives of the residential neighbourhoods to its east and west.The importance of this area has not been obvious in the past. Successful businesses worked individually and the advantages of working together were not exploited. This has all changed thanks to the visionary leadership of the local City of Toronto Councillor, Anthony Perruzza and the members of the Dufferin Finch BIA Board of Directors.The Dufferin Finch BIA provides practically everything needed to carry on life. Here you can find ergonomically and attractive workplace furniture at Teknion, a wide array of medical and recreational facilities at the Champagne Centre, nutritious foods through retail outlets and wholesalers such as Fiera Foods, lawyers, building contractors, real estate brokers, packaging companies such as Luv2Pak‎, fuels, cars, clothing and almost anything else you can think of.The Dufferin Finch BIA's importance has always been facilitated by a well-developed and easily accessible system of local roads, arterial roads and highways (Allen Road, Hwy 400, and Hwy 401).All three orders of government have provided basic public transit and soon we will see significant improvements through the Finch West LRT with its Keele Street terminus and the new GO Station close to the Chesswood and Sheppard intersection, provided by Metrolinx. The TTC's University-Spadina Subway Extension to York University will greatly improve speeds and comfort for riders as well. Importantly, these new connections will transform the area into a hub for commuters and will attract new investment into the area.There is much going on within the Dufferin Finch BIA area and its surroundings. It is well worth taking notice and appreciating.For more information: http://dufferinfinchbia.ca/index.htmlEditor: Joe Pantalone

Just how safe are we in our homes?

After listening to a client's experience involving hercondominium management and home monitoring system company, I became acutely aware of a false sense of security that we may develop by simply paying to have our homes and personal belongings protected. For those living in condominiums, it is an accepted and necessary practice for condominium management to hire independent contractors that do on-site repairs and maintenance. It is also expected that, prior to hiring contractors, the management will perform the necessary due diligence required to hire reputable companies as well as advise unit owners of any entry to their home for maintenance/repair purposes. A contractor was hired, by my client's condominium, to complete work in her unit. The contractor gained entry to her unit through her balcony doors while she was out for the afternoon. This method of accessset off her motion sensor triggering an alarm at her monitoring company. As the contractor did not know her code to deactivate the alarm, the monitoring company called the home in an attempt to reach my client. They also called several other names on her contact list but were unable to reach anyone. It was a full 26 minutes from the time the contractor set off the motion sensor until the condominium security guard arrived at my client's home. An exterior patrol was performed and the premises was found secure and intact. As my client's front door was found undisturbed, the monitoring company declared the incident a false alarm. Some wise words were offered from Police Constable Tawton, Duty Operations of the Toronto Police Force, "Realistically, all access points should be checked and ensure they haven't been breached". There are at least two lessons to be learned from this incident.1.Choose your security company wisely by thoroughly researching and asking questions.• Ask about response times to alarm detection and what specific services are offered by the company; i.e.who is called to respond to alarms?• Asks friends for recommendations;• Compare coverage being offered;• Ask about warranties that come with the package;• Question prospective monitoring companies on how they determine if there is in fact a false alarm.Note: The Toronto Police Service Alarm Response Policy outlines general rules for the public on thistopic and describes the circumstances in which the Police will respond to a request from a registered central monitoring system. The Police Department has established a cost recovery program which allows the implementation of a charge of $130.00 for any call responded that has been determined to be a false alarm.Editor: Joy Lewis

UCMAS Mental Math Program offered in Downsview

 Inspired by his niece and nephew in Montreal being taken “to a whole new level” on a visit to Montreal, Thava brought home the Universal Concept in Mental Arithmetic System program  commonly known as UCMAS. In the previous Downsview Advocate edition, we introduced. Mathan Thava, Program Director from Aizen Academy, located at Keele and Finch. The goal of Aizen Academy is to provide children from diverse backgrounds with exposure to an array of tutoring services as well as arts-based and physical activity programs including yoga, karate, hip hop, classical dance, chess and vocals. Thava is proud to announce to the Downsview community, the launch of the UCMAS program at Aizen Academy. “I wouldn’t simply call it a math program,” states Thava, rather it is an “Abacus-based mental math program.” Students use the visual component of their brain, rather than just the logical component, helping them enhance their memory, strengthening the left and right hemispheres of the brain. And after a while, children “can perform these kinds of calculations [higher level addition, subtraction, multiplication, division] without having the physical Abacus in front of them.” With over 5000 accredited UCMAS programs worldwide, Aizen Academy launched program 59 of 60 in Canada, and is currently the only UCMAS program in North York. Thava has seen, beyond children learning how to do the high-level calculations in the head, an increased level of confidence when approaching learning, “and that is the highest value added they can get.” As for parents, Thava states, “parents are blown away that their kids are able to do calculations at age 4-6 faster than they can!” Beyond the initial fascination with children’s ability to grasp this high-level thinking, the long term affects are tremendous – increasing their short and long term memory, enhancing analytical skills, and truly learning how to pay attention, without solely having a teacher or parent over their shoulder reminding them to do so. As a firm believer of providing children these enriching opportunities, Thava offers discounts and reasonable rates to parents and families. Though UCMAS is mainly available to children age 4-13, Aizen Academy is also home to those between ages 3 – 23. Call or email Mathan Thava directly for more information on how to sign your child up in the UCMAS program.For more information on the UCMAS program or Aizen Academy:www.ucmas.cawww.aizenacademy.comaizenacademy@gmail.comMathan Thava, Program Director647-990-0864416-665-4756

Voting Requirements

The federal election is fast approaching and with only three weeks left we urge you to check if you are registered to vote. The Conservative's Voter Suppression Bill will make it hard for Canadians to vote in this election. You can use the Online Voter Registration Service to:·check if you're registeredto vote·update the address onyour voter registration, or·register to voteIn some cases you may be asked to provide a driver's license number or I.D card.Editor: Maria Solis