Inside Caledon, Ontario

Garth Turner is going to try and enter Federal politics for a third term in the House of Commons, this time as a MP for the Dufferin-Caledon riding.

The former MP announced this week that he has officially submitted his papers to seek the nomination, and that those papers have been accepted.

Mr. Turner, 60, represented the riding of Halton-Peel from 1988 until 1993, having been elected as part of the second Progressive Conservative majority government of Brian Mulroney. He sought the leadership of the party in ’93 when Mr. Mulroney stepped aside, gaining 76 first-ballot votes before dropping out of the race eventually won by Kim Campbell.

Mr. Turner served as Minister of National Revenue in the short-lived Campbell government before losing his seat in the Tory debacle later that year.

Garth Turner returned to Parliament representing Halton as a Conservative under Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the 2006 election, but soon found himself at odds with his leader and was kicked out from caucus later that year. He eventually joined the Liberals after briefly sitting as an independent, and was defeated in last year’s federal election by Lisa Raitt, now federal Natural Resources Minister.

Riding Association President Jeff May has also announced plans to seek the nomination. No date has been announced for the nomination, but Mr. Turner said he expects that will happen soon. David Tilson of the Conservative Party is the current sitting member in the Dufferin-Caledon riding. Tilson is expected to run again and is widely considered the favorite in the mostly conservative riding.

The famous Eaton family mansion that sits on a 150 acre estate in Caledon which is also now being called Hawkridge Farm on the real estate listing appears to still be for sale after initially being listed for sale back in late 2007. At a price tag of $24 million dollars it easily remains the most expensive piece of real estate in not just Ontario but all of Canada and given the current economic conditions it is not really surprising that it hasn’t sold yet.

There may be other reasons for why it hasn’t sold yet though, there was an on-going lawsuit initiated by the family against the builders of the house alleging building code violations, lack of adequate insulation and structural deficits. Earlier this year however the lawsuit was settled and the case was dismissed, none of the details of the settlement have been made public.

The huge estate covers 150 acres that includes forests, a freshwater stream, cattle pastures, walking trails, gardens and a pond. The 24,000 square foot home includes a large living room, formal dining room, a large kitchen, 11 bedrooms and an indoor pool. The home belongs to George Ross Eaton, a Canadian department store heir. It was designed by Thierry Despont and building of this expansive over 28,000-foot mansion began in the late 1980s but didn’t finish up until 1996 at a reported cost of $20 million Canadian. A few years later facing tax problems, Eaton put the home on the market for that price but didn’t get any takers so he later took the house off the market until 2007 however yet again there appears to be no takers.

If you do happen to have a spare $24 million laying around and interesting in purchasing this property, click here for more info.

A few pictures from the real estate listing:

To see all of the photos, click here.

Or if you are just curious where this monstrous estate is located in Caledon, then click here to see it on Google Maps.

For the last two nights I have been outside in the evening watching the Perseid Meteor shower, no pictures of that unfortunately, they are too fast and hard to get a photo of them. I was however taking some more pictures of the stars in the night time sky trying to perfect the settings with mixed results. What as of interest while shooting some pictures was the amount of light pollution that Bolton, Toronto, etc. throws off, even at midnight you can still really see it on the horizon as depicted in the photo above. You would think that Caledon is far enough north of Toronto and urban areas that it would be darker but the truth is it really isn’t, as urban sprawl heads further north so does the light pollution it gives off at night. The photo above was taken with my 25mm fixed lens, F2.8, IS0400, 20 second exposure in manual mode.

Warm weather has arrived to Ontario the past couple days but with it lots of rain and lightning storms. This is just a quick shot I got of the storm on Sunday lighting up the sky on the Caledon horizon, I wanted to try and get pictures of the lightning bolts but the storm had already passed over and also the randomness of it is hard to predict the right moment to take a picture. As I write this its starting to rain and storm some more… will nice hot summer weather ever come this year?

Was driving up Humber Station Road and was nearly attacked by a Monster from the bushes! It turns out he was harmless though. In all seriousness though I thought this metal contraption was neat thing along side the road. Caledon residents, if you know of something along side the road that may be photo worthy please let me know as I am always looking for new things to photograph, just send me an email.

After buying a new camera this past week (the Olympus E-620) I was motivated to give it a good testing so what better way to get some test photos with a new camera than going to the Orangeville Dodge Rodeo Tour at the Orangevill Fair Grounds. The rodeo show kicked off at 2:00pm and featured Saddle Bronc riding, Steer Wrestling, Break-a-Way Roping, Tie Down Roping, Barrel Racing, Team Roping, Pole Bending and Bull Riding. There is also a beer garden and BBQ going on all day long. Here below are some photos taken with my zoom lens.

For more photos click here to see 42 images in the photo album.

Also attending the Orangeville Dodge Rodeo Tour was a minor celebrity, Terry Grant from the popular OLN show Mantracker. He participated in the Team Roping competition.

Just to update my earlier blog posting.

Jade Scognamillo, only 15, years old becomes the youngest to cross Lake Ontario on a solo swim. Her official time was 19 hours, 59 minutes and 49 seconds.

Scognamillo touched the wall at Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto just before 6 p.m after swimming through choppy water for the final kilometre of the swim.

Spokeswoman Francisca Gambino said she’s tired, but on an emotional high.

The 15-year-old swimmer from Caledon started the journey at Niagara-on-the-Lake around 9:33 p.m. Friday, after waiting for spontaneous thunderstorms to pass by.

Scognamillo realized not only her aquatic goal with the swim, but her fundraising one as well, raising $35,000 for the neo-natal unit at Sick Kids hospital.

“Her theory is that everybody has a connection with Sick Kids, you know someone has been a Sick Kids patient,” said Gambino. “It’s a charity that everybody can connect to personally.”

Mother Nature has been a big obstacle for Scognamillo, delaying her start by a week, said Gambino.

The swimmer was following the swim-strokes of Toronto legend Marilyn Bell, who crossed the Great Lake in 1954.

The marathon swim was continuous, meaning Scognamillo swam straight through the night – stopping her forward movement only for food and water breaks.

To consume the necessary calories, she was passed food from her “flotilla” of five boats, one of which was carrying her father, who was dishing out moral support, and she treaded water to eat and drink, said Gambino.

Her swim coach also accompanied her by kayaking alongside with a representative of Solo Swim Ontario, who was watching Scognamillo to make sure she completes the swim under the organization’s parameters.

The swim has gone well despite strong currents exiting the Humber River, some lake traffic sending waves her way – and her exhaustion.

After being checked out by paramedics and given the all-clear, a triumphant Scognamillo celebrated by enjoying some ice cream among family and friends.

A celebration back in Caledon is in the works.

This fall Scognamillo will return to her school, Country Day School in King Township, north of Toronto, and continue to compete with her Vaughan swim club.

As for her long-term goals?

“Will you see her in the Olympics? I wouldn’t doubt it,” said Gambino.

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For more information about her Lake Ontario Swim you can check our her website by clicking here.

From the CBC.ca:

A 15-year-old from Bolton, Ont., has her sights set on becoming the youngest person ever to swim solo across Lake Ontario.

Jade Scognamillo set two records last year on neighbouring Lake Erie. She’s now both the youngest and the fastest to cross the lake.

This year, she wants to take on the lake and the route that made Marilyn Bell a household name in Canada.

“There’s no point in sitting around saying, ‘Oh I really want to do this’ and not actually doing it. So just pick a goal. Go out and do it. Simple as that,” said Jade.

The 15-year-old’s dip into the water at Niagara-on-the-Lake was supposed to happen on Friday night at 8 p.m. ET, but the start has been pushed back to Monday in the hope the weather will improve.

Her goal is to swim the 52 kilometres and land sometime on Saturday at the park named for Bell, who at age 16 became the first woman to accomplish the 52-kilometre crossing 55 years ago.

Bell made the journey in 1954 when she was just 16 years old and became a national celebrity. Since then, hundreds have tried to make the crossing with varying results.

“It’s not something people do every day,” said Jade as she prepared for the swim. “It’s something that will turn heads and help me raise money for Sick Kids hospital.”

The marathon swimmer says she hopes to raise $70,000 so the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto can buy a new incubator, but she also says it is a challenge that she has bee anticipating for a few years.

“I wanted to swim Lake Ontario since I was 10 or 11,” she said.

Her mother says Jade is “definitely capable of the distance. She’s very strong. She’s trained hard.”

But the reaction was a lot different when Jade first asked for permission to attempt the crossing.

“I probably cried for about a month at night and I didn’t giver her an answer straight away because I didn’t really want her to do it,” she said.

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For more information about her Lake Ontario Swim you can check our her website by clicking here.

As most Caledon residents have already discovered over the past year Highway 427 now ends slightly north at Zenway Boulevard which is just slightly above the old terminus of Highway 7. This tiny 800m expansion however is only an Interim Arterial Extension, a York Region Capital Construction Project and not the actual 427 extension which has been currently studied for the past few years.

Originally the Highway 427 expansion was envisioned to go north to Highway 9 with talk of it going even further north toward Collingwood. Any thought of those plans are long dead, in today’s times with public and government more conscious about the environment it is unlikely that the 427 would ever be expanded beyond Bolton if it even gets that far. Currently the plan is to extend the 427 north to Major Mackenzie Drive as it will service the CP rail yard keeping more trucks off of Hwy 50 and 27 as well this terminus location is in line with other planned municipal road improvements and will have the least environmental impact.

If all goes ahead with current preferred route the Highway 427 will be extended approximately 6.6km from Hwy 7 and will have 3 new interchanges at Langstaff Road, Rutherford Road and Major Mackenzie Drive. The expansion will consist of 6 lanes from Steeles Avenue to Rutherford Road and go down to 4 lanes from Rutherford to Major Mackenzie with possible HOV lanes in each direction. Also to be added would be a new carpool lot at the Rutherford Road interchange.

Interestingly in the key features of the latest 427 Transportation Corridor Environmental Assessment Study report it still makes note that it “will not preclude future extension of Highway 427” still leaving the door open for the future to go beyond Bolton if needed however that may be exceedingly difficult with Green Belt and the Oak Ridges Moraine just above, local opposition to the 427 going north of Bolton would likely be much stronger.

For more information about the 427 Extension you can visit the official study website. All the current public information from the last meeting can be found by clicking here.

Just to quickly describe the above image, at the bottom is Hwy 7 and at the top is Major Mackenzie Drive/CP Rail Yard and in between is the current route it would follow with the new interchanges. Click on the image to open up a high resolution PDF (note: the PDF image will be rotated 90 degrees clockwise).

*** UPDATE – November 2012, click here to see an update on this Highway 427 project. ***
*** UPDATE – August 2014, click here to see an update on this Highway 427 project. ***

Here are a few new photos of some deer I recently took in the Caledon area. Maybe its just me looking a lot closer but it seems like there is more deer around this year compared to last year, well at least in my area. These deer were gracing the field of hay in my backyard, the hay is so tall now that it is often hard at times to see the deer walking through it. I also spotted a young fawn with its mother eating in roughly the same spot but unfornuately was unable to get a good picture. For more info on White-tailed deer, click here. Photos were taken with my Olympus 70-300mm zoom lens.