[PHOTO] Hanlan's Point Ferry Dock

Hanlan's Point Ferry Dock
Originally uploaded by rfmcdpei

The above picture was taken on the Toronto Islands' Hanlan's Point ferry dock as people disembarked from the vessel. The Toronto Islands' ferry service (official site, Wikipedia) runs from a single point on the mainland to each of the three major islands, including westernmost Hanlan's Point.

[TOR] "Posh condo set to topple price record"

The title of Lori McLeod's article in The Globe and Mail, "Posh condo set to topple price record", says it all.

Global financial markets are in turmoil and the Canadian economy is slowing, but that hasn't put a damper on the promotional effort touting an as-yet-to-be-built condo unit at Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences as "Canada's most expensive penthouse!"

The posh digs in the Yorkville neighbourhood are expected to list in the $30-million range, but the price won't be revealed until after virtual tours for the media take place Thursday with developer Alan Menkes and designer Brian Gluckstein.

But the 9,000-square-foot penthouse, complete with four fireplaces, staff accommodations and galleria, will be listed for more than the previous record sale price of $25-million, public relations representative Beth Merrick said.

That lofty price was paid last year by a Hong Kong businessman for the penthouse at a condo development at One Bloor St. East, which is being built by Kazakhstan's Bazis International.

It seems a strange time to be promoting what may be the country's priciest-ever condo unit, as turmoil rips through the financial services sector.

A decline in manufacturing output has already sunk Toronto's GDP growth outlook for 2008 to 12th slowest of 13 major cities across Canada, according to a report released this week by the Conference Board of Canada.

The real estate market is also slowing, with resale home prices edging up less than 1 per cent in Toronto last month while unit sales plunged by 22 per cent.

The Crystal Blu tower on the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor is the one being built by Basis International. The neighbourhood of Yorkville, some people may remember, was Toronto's bohemian district attracting the likes of Joni Mitchell and Neil Young until rising real estate prices caused by the opening of the Bloor-Danforth subway literally underneath the neighbourhood ended that chapter in Yorkville's history.

[TOR] "Toronto mayor suggests Greens best bet for cities"

This is interesting.

Toronto Mayor David Miller waded into the federal election campaign on Tuesday.

He spoke about the need for a ban on handguns on a day that saw three homicides in the GTA, as well as the shooting of a 16-year-old in a city high school.

But Miller also pointed out that so far, only the Green party has directly addressed the growing needs of Canadian cities.

Its platform has a national transit strategy and plans to give cities a permanent revenue source to help fix a growing infrastructure backlog.

At a meeting with reporters Miller wore a campaign button prominently declaring his political preference — "Vote Toronto."

Miller said he won't endorse any specific party, but he is urging Torontonians on Oct. 14 to choose the party that will help the city thrive in the next century.

"Well, so far the Green party has addressed city issues and I say, 'Good for them.' I would hope the Liberals and the NDP would do the same thing," said Miller.

[LINK] Two links on Canadian politics

• Over at Spacing, Shawn Micallef links to an article at Slate claiming that much of the nastiness in the current electoral campaign can be traced back to Canada's lack of experience with sustained periods of minority government. Keep in mind that the author at Slate is a former Liberal Party speechwriter.


• At The Globe and Mail, John Duffy argues "The first North American election?" that in both Canada and the United States, traditional electoral structures based on, respectively, race and regionalism are breaking down in favour of urban-rural divides based on cultural identity and economic interest. Since the Canadian political system, at least, discriminates in favour of rural areas--Prince Edward Island has 4 MPs, while a Mississauga with at least four times PEI's population has 6 MPs--this could create some interesting issues insofar as rural depopulation and pressure for a redistribution of electoral seats grows.