[PHOTO] Twilight, looking west on Eglinton at Yonge

[URBAN NOTE] "Syrians and Canadians trade languages at weekly U of T workshop"

CBC News' Laura Howell describes an astoundingly sensible project at the University of Toronto, for Syrian refugees and students of Arabic alike.

On a Saturday afternoon in Toronto, two young people are teaching each other how to say "archeology."

Asmaa Alzoubi pronounces it in English, and helps Callan Furlong say it in Arabic. They laugh as she corrects him: they're not just each other's language teachers, they've also become friends.

At this weekly workshop, Syrians newcomers improve their English — but they're also teaching University of Toronto students how to speak Arabic.

"It's a really helpful workshop because we can learn some English and we can teach others Arabic. It's really fun," said Karam Jamalo, who came to Toronto from Lebanon last April.

"We're making friends every Saturday, new faces every Saturday. They are really funny, really amazing."

For the last eight months, University of Toronto students and young Syrians have been meeting every Saturday.

They teach each other words from English and Arabic, share a meal, then go on trips to different places in the city, like a Blue Jays game or Toronto Island. This Saturday they went to the Royal Ontario Museum.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• The Boston Globe's The Big Picture shares photos of Spain's Pueblos Blancos of Andalusia.


• blogTO reports on Toronto's biggest pumpkin parade.


• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly talks about the immigrant's dilemma on election date.


• Dangerous Minds notes the importance of Beyoncé and Jay-Z's concert for Hillary.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to a report on hot Jupiter Kelt-17b.


• The Dragon's Tales suggests Sputnik Planitia may dominate Pluto.


• Far Outliers talks about Cherokee language revitalization movements.


• Language Log looks at a Korean tradition of satirical poetry in Korea and classical Chinese.


• Marginal Revolution links to a fascinating book about manuscripts.


• The NYRB Daily talks about Trump as a consequence of the Iraq War.


• Personal Reflections' Jim Belshaw notes the recent discovery of evidence for ancient habitation in Australia.


• The Planetary Society Blog notes the advance of plans for a lunar-orbit space station.


• Peter Rukavina shares headlines in the Guardian of a century ago on Romania's entry into the First World War.


• Torontoist annotates the SmartTrack report.


• Towleroad shares Robyn's new track, "Trust Me."


• Understanding Society celebrates its 9th anniversary.


• Window on Eurasia reports on Russia's escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic.

[URBAN NOTE] "That time when Toronto was a car manufacturing town"

In another great photo essay at blogTO, Derek Flack enlightens us about Toronto's industrial history.

Toronto is rarely thought of as a car manufacturing town. While there was plenty of heavy industry here at the turn of the 20th century, nearby cities like Oshawa (General Motors), Hamilton (Studebaker), and later Oakville (Ford) are far more tied to car-making. Beyond that, Windsor was the heart of the Canadian auto industry during its boom time.

Toronto did, however, have a small role to play in the rise of the motor vehicle in this country. Intriguingly, some of the evidence of this contribution survives today in two unlikely spots in the city.

The first of these is at Christie and Dupont. The building on the northwest corner was opened by the Ford Motor Company in 1915 as an assembly plant and showroom for its Model T cars. The five-floor structure, located right next to the CPR tracks, was divided according to the various production and retail needs of the company.

The ground floor, now occupied by Faema's cafe, served as the showroom, the second floor was for deliveries, the third and fourth were for assembly and repair, the fifth was for painting (black, of course), and the roof was used as a test drive area for Ford employees. Each floor was heavily reinforced to sustain the weight of the cars and parts being assembled.

[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto condo buyers may target Donald Trump to recoup losses"

The Toronto Star's Michael Lewis reports on a lawsuit lodged by Trump Tower's investors against Trump. This is good: Anything that will get this fucker's name off the map of my city is a good thing.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could be in the sights of investors who lost money on units in Toronto’s glitzy Trump hotel and condo project, even though the property is a Trump development in name only.

Mitchell Wine, a lawyer representing plaintiffs who bought Trump hotel suites with the hopes of renting them out for profit, said if a receiver sells the complex as expected for less than the amount of the defaulted mortgage — and if funds cannot be recovered from the developers — damages could be sought from individuals connected to the project.

“We’d have to take really hard look at everyone else,” Wine said Friday, after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice earlier in the week approved the appointment of a receiver to oversee the sale of the Trump International Hotel and Tower and Trump Residences.

The receiver said it is prepared to submit an offer if no other party steps up with a bid greater than the $301-million senior indebtedness.

The hotel portion of the project is managed by the Trump Organization, which has licensed its brand but has no equity interest in the property, according to a lawyer for Talon International, the Ontario investment group that developed the project.

[URBAN NOTE] "A 'tale of two cities' as Toronto, Vancouver await fallout from mortgage rules"

CBC News' Andrea Janus reports onon how housing markets in Vancouver and Toronto are at a noteworthy point.

Over the course of two days, real-estate sales figures for the month of October suggested a continuing boom in Toronto with a correction fully underway in Vancouver. Does the West Coast slowdown suggest a coming correction for Canada's largest city?

On Thursday, the Toronto Real Estate Board reported that home sales were up 11.5 per cent in October compared with the same month last year, with the average selling price for all types of homes up 21.1 per cent to $762,975.

In contrast, the day before, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said home sales plummeted by 38.8 per cent last month compared with October 2015. The composite benchmark price for all properties in Metro Vancouver was $919,000, up 24.8 per cent compared with October last year, but a 0.8 per cent drop from September of this year.

Sales in Vancouver have been declining since February, and that market "is in a full-blown correction," says David Madani, senior Canadian economist at Capital Economics.

While the million-dollar question seems to be what effect the new foreign-buyers tax, which only came into effect in August, will have on the Vancouver market, the big test for all markets, according to Madani, will be new mortgage rules brought in last month.

[URBAN NOTE] "Why Lower Don Flood Protection is a Necessary Cost"

Torontoist's Andrew Reeves writes about the protection of the lower Don Lands.

The projected cost to protect the 356-hectare Port Lands rose to $1.25 billion last month, part of the massive Waterfront Toronto-led revitalization of the largely industrial lands east of downtown Toronto.

While developing the city’s lakeshore with a host of recreational, industrial, residential, and retail opportunities has taken centre stage in the agency’s efforts to improve Toronto’s strained relationship with its waterfront, protecting large swaths of land from the devastating impacts of flooding has always been a crucial (if subtle) cornerstone of the plan.

But a due diligence report released on October 20 by Waterfront Toronto suggested that more than 283 hectares in the Port Lands, Riverside, Leslieville, and the Unilever site are at risk of flooding from the nearby Don River. What’s more, the land cannot be developed until proper protections are put in place, they argue.

A previous cost estimate put the protection work at $975 million, an estimate that was “less informed” than the latest projection, Waterfront Toronto writes. Now, the agency says the discovery of “flowing sand” and “compressed peat” in the area will require additional environmental risk measures, enhanced erosion control, and previously unaccounted for groundwater and soil treatment.

[LINK] "Newfoundland premier confirms flooding at Muskrat Falls site has begun"

This Canadian Press report in the Toronto Star is disheartening.

The premier of Newfoundland and Labrador confirms that flooding of a reservoir at the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric site is underway.

Premier Dwight Ball says initial flooding will bring the river to springtime levels, similar to where “Mother Nature” raises waters during the season.

[. . .]

The Nunatsiavut Government, NunatuKavut Community Council, and the Innu Nation agreed that initial flooding is necessary but say it is possible to keep water levels at around 23 metres above sea level.

The aboriginal leaders urged the province to prioritize health concerns related to methylmercury contamination in its management of multibillion-dollar hydro project.

[LINK] Provincial adviser proposes basic income of least $1,320"

The Toronto Star's Laurie Monsebraaten reports on an Ontario initiative I quite approve of.

It has been hailed as the magic bullet to end poverty and denounced as a Trojan Horse to dismantle the social safety net.

But there has been little serious research to prove either position. Until now.

Ontario is poised to become ground zero for what may be the largest pilot project yet to test the notion of a basic income in North America.

In a discussion paper released Thursday, Ontario’s special adviser on basic income suggests topping up incomes of the working poor and replacing the province’s meagre and rule-bound social assistance program with a monthly payment of at least $1,320 for a single person, or about 75 per cent of the poverty line.

Participants with disabilities would get an additional $500 a month, according to the proposal by Hugh Segal, a former Conservative senator and a longtime advocate of basic income, also known as guaranteed annual income or minimum income.