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Morning Brew: McGuinty's car gets crushed, Regent Park's woes, Island Airport tunnel won't harm environment, thief banned from Chinatown, Argos forgotten, skating rink to open

High winds caused part of a construction wall at Queen's Park to collapse on top of Premier Dalton McGuinty's car. McGuinty's press secretary, Jane Almeida, confirmed there were no injuries, adding that McGuinty was in his office at the time and not in the parked car. Afterwards, McGuinty laughed off the accident. Turns out the wall was Rob Ford.

First Lawrence Heights, now Regent Park's revitalization may be in jeopardy. The neighbourhood is still reeling after three shootings in October, with some arguing the fear inspired by the recent violence and uncertainty over how well the renewal will work raises questions about exporting this model to social-housing complexes in the city's most troubled neighbourhoods. However hope is prevalent throughout the discussion with Constable Ed Otten summing it up: "There'll be a new Regent Park. And it's going to rejoin the city."

Walking to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport just got easier. The Toronto Port Authority announced Tuesday that the draft of a federal environmental assessment has found there are no long-term impediments to building the proposed pedestrian tunnel connecting Toronto's Island Airport to the mainland. However, CommunityAIR, a group of residents living on the Toronto Islands and along the waterfront, intends to keep fighting the tunnel. Gosh, I don't know how the islanders find the time to fight; if I lived there, I'd be playing on that log ride all the time.

Looks like Anthony Bennett, the career criminal tied up by Chinese grocers last year, only has a few more nights in jail. It is expected he will be granted bail. But not ordinary bail, a special bail that would ban him from Chinatown and Kensington Market. The grocers' lawyer, Chi kun-Shi explains:"No one wants to go through what David Chen went through." Really? Aren't there, like, t-shirts and parades in his honour now?

The Argos: Toronto's middle child, or maybe just the team Toronto forgot. Maybe they are a team without a leader or at least a superstar that will force us to pay attention, but here's the thing: they're winning. And with the drought of Toronto sports championships, it might be worth checking them out this weekend. I know the Leafs won, but how long can that actually last?

The skating rink at Nathan Phillips Square may currently look like a construction zone with no end in sight, but a city chief corporate officer is confident that the rink will open later this month. The city's most popular skating rink wasn't originally supposed to be part of the $44-million revitalization of the Toronto City Hall square, but new pipes are being installed to prevent soft spots on the ice and there will be new skate rental and changing areas. I guess this means we should be grateful for our "free" skating?

Writing by Brianne Hogan, with contributions from Marisa Iacobucci. Photo by sniderscion in the blogTO Flickr pool.


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