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Newsstand: November 20, 2014
The Toronto Raptors extended an olive branch to Vince Carter by playing a tribute video honouring the former Raptor at Wednesday night's game. It's nice to see bygones be bygones, isn't it? In the news: Former TCHC houses are earning a lot more than their asking price on the market, a North York condo goes without power for four days, 80 more layoffs at Bell Media, and an imminent price increase at Tim Hortons.
The Toronto Community Housing Corporation is benefiting from the hot real estate market in the city, as the majority of the freehold homes it has listed for sale are earning 15 to 20 per cent more than their sale price. Even though most of the properties are considered fixer-uppers, buyers are being attracted to them as investments in some of Toronto’s most sought-after neighbourhoods. Last month, a TCHC home on MacLean Avenue in the Beach sold for $66,000 over its $715,000 asking price. Currently almost 75 per cent of the homes that were approved for sale by the TCHC have been sold.
A North York condo was without heat and electricity for four days after power went out on Friday evening of last week. Because of a drainage issue where water was leaking into the power room in the basement of the building, Toronto Hydro was forced to cut electricity to the building for safety reasons. Residents complained that, in addition to not having heat or hot water as colder weather arrived, emergency lighting in the building was not working. Power was restored early yesterday morning, after building management resolved water drainage issues that had also caused flooding in the parking garage.
A week after laying off longtime eTalk host Tanya Kim, Bell Media has announced that another 80 full-time positions were eliminated yesterday in areas including local radio and television, marketing and communications, and news. More on-air talent were affected by the cuts, including CTV News anchor Jacqueline Milczarek, CHUM-FM host Amanda Logan, and BNN anchor Chitra Nawbatt. While Bell Media had announced in June that 120 positions within the multimedia corporation would be cut, vice-president of communications Scott Henderson says that the new layoffs were not a part of those previously announced cuts. Henderson cited continued financial pressure and challenging advertising markets for the latest round of job cuts.
Tim Hortons is set to raise prices on coffee and breakfast sandwiches next week. A spokesperson for the chain says that starting next Wednesday, coffee prices will go up by an average of 10 cents, depending on region. The cost of breakfast sandwiches will also increase in all provinces except Ontario. The rep says that higher operating costs are the reason behind the revised price points.