In The News

Beginning on June 23rd, Virgin America Airlines will add Toronto to its daily flight roster. The Toronto Star recently interviewed Virgin America CEO David Cush about why Toronto was selected as a prime market for the airline's North American expansion. An excerpt from the interview:

"Q: Why Toronto?"

"A: We have a product that's uniquely made for business travelers, and this is a big business centre, certainly in the entertainment field, and tech and finance. This is a market that has no competition in San Francisco and limited competition in Los Angeles. As well, the Virgin brand is well known in Canada and Toronto. (Richard Branson's Virgin Group has a 49 per cent financial interest, and 25 per voting interest, in Virgin America.)"


"Q: Are you looking to grow your service to Toronto?"

"A: We're starting out in this market with two flights a day. My gut feel is over time we'll slowly add, but it won't be a rapid build-up."


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original source the Toronto Star

As reported by Science News, York University researchers have made important inroads into understanding the physiological impact of perfectionism. In a study presented at a May 30 meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, the Toronto scientists found that women with perfectionist standards were more likely to develop postpartum depression.

"Perfectionists often try to impress others by bragging or trying to promote their faultless qualities, avoid situations in which they might show imperfections and refuse to admit failures to others, said Gordon Flett of York University in Toronto. Flett reported his findings on how perfectionistic tendencies contribute to the risk of postpartum depression in new mothers."

"Using questionnaires, Flett queried 100 women during the final month of their pregnancies and one month after giving birth about their perfectionism, personality and mental health."

"Postpartum depression occurred substantially more often among women who had demanded perfection of themselves while pregnant than among those who had cited few or no signs of perfectionism. This association held after accounting for pregnant women's feelings that others demanded perfection of them and for any depression symptoms that had been present during pregnancy."


"This is the first evidence that new mothers who need to seem like a perfect parent are at risk for depression," Flett said.

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original source Science News

Toronto software company Varcient has been named Canada's fastest growing company by the just-released PROFIT 100 list. Two other Toronto companies, Tundra Technical Solutions Inc. and Health Screen Solutions, also made the  top five. The 20th annual PROFIT 100 list, tracks growth in Canadian companies based on percentage revenue growth from 2002-2007.

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original source Canadian Business Online

The National Post recently featured Toronto entrepreneur Dale Sonier owner of iconic Toronto fabric store MacFab. Despite a recent move from Queen West to Leslieville, MacFab continues to attract a loyal customer base for its wide array of unique fabrics. 

"I swore I'd never go east, and now I swear I'll never go back west!" MacFab owner Dale Sonier declares about his new Leslieville neighborhood location (MacFab, at 755 Queen Street East, 416-922-6000). "People say hello to me on the street. It's like Queen West was when I was 15." There's no sign out front at his fabric emporium MacFab, just a flag ("like SoHo in New York"). Inside, a series of crystal chandeliers glint beneath the painted tin ceiling and spools of grosgrain ribbon in shades from cream to chartreuse are piled high on the ledge above the front door.As you come in, several sample styles of MacFab's popular custom headboard service hang on the left wall. Among them are the classic SoHo ($730 for double with 2.5 yards of fabric), the Cosmopolitan, a curved headboard with nailhead trim ($920 for double/queen with 2.5 yards of fabric) and a traditional French tufted version ($1,200 for double/queen)."

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original source the National Post

The Globe & Mail recently featured Young Urban Farmers -- a new Toronto start-up that's bringing urban agriculture to backyards across the city. Co-founded last year by Queen's University commerce graduates, Nancy Huynh, Jing Loh and Chris Wong, the company installs and manages food-producing pre-fabricated garden boxes in clients' backyards.

"Some businesses are born of sheer entrepreneurial grit, determination and competitive drive. Others are driven by innovation, sometimes of the accidental kind. In the case of the Young Urban Farmers, sowing the seeds of success has involved all of those elements � not to mention a healthy collection of actual vegetable seeds as founder Christopher Wong and his two partners seek to change the way urbanites eat, one backyard garden at a time."

"The Toronto-based start-up was founded last year with a mission to not only turn a healthy profit, but to also encourage sustainable practices in households across the city."

"The three of us all had an entrepreneurial passion, we knew we wanted to run our own business and we were brainstorming different ideas," Mr. Wong, 24, recalls."

"We saw there was a real trend towards growing food locally and reducing the local environmental footprint. We thought there was an underserved market in terms of people looking to set up vegetable gardens but not knowing where to start."

"Mr. Wong and his fellow Queen's University commerce graduates, Nancy Huynh and Jing Loh, invested about $5,000 of their own money and launched Young Urban Farmers in early 2009."

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original source the Globe & Mail

Local Kitchen & Wine Bar, the tiny but well-known Roncesvalle bistro, has been a Toronto foodie designation since the day it opened its doors in early 2009. The National Post looks at how Local's owners Michael Sangregorio and Fabio Bondi successfully use email to generate buzz about the restaurant and to keep customers informed.

"Ask Michael Sangregorio how his restaurant ended up on all the top 10 listings that matter and he'll tell you getting the word out has been easy. In fact, it costs him only $20 a month."

"The owner of Local Kitchen & Wine Bar in Toronto says getting on board with a subscription-based email marketing service to manage his mailing lists, distribute his newsletters and crunch some numbers has proven to be a very smart investment."

"We didn't do much besides sending an email newsletter and opening the door. It's been hard for customers to get a seat ever since."


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original source the National Post

Toronto's Symtext Corp. is hoping to change the way students study and teachers teach, through its innovative product, the Liquid Textbook. The Liquid Textbook allows instructors to create customized digital textbooks that can incorporate material from a number of different mediums from articles, to photographs to podcasts. As reported by Toronto Star, the company has sold its "textbook of tomorrow" to nearly 25 professors in Canada and the United States since its launch in July 2008.

"Printed course-packs are so last year. Ian Barker wants you to know about the textbook of tomorrow.Barker, a former CanWest Interactive marketing director, got the idea for the Liquid Textbook from a surprising source."

"The history buff was reading about the Second World War when he came across a paragraph describing a bloody battle between the Russian and German armies outside Berlin. It was this "horrible loss of life and it had major historical importance and [yet] it was only one little paragraph," Barker says."

"He wanted to know more about the battle and wished the author had included related historical documents and analysis. That got him thinking about how digitally weaving together several print and multimedia sources would create an enriched learning experience."

"Unlike a traditional eBook, which digitizes an entire paper book, the Liquid Textbook allows for chunking � picking chapters of books written by different authors and bringing those chapters together in a digital anthology, along with other multimedia content, that suits an instructor's course."

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original source the Toronto Star

Toronto has placed 16th in Mercer Consulting's annual rankings of cities worldwide for quality of living. While Toronto has some catching up to do with Vancouver and Ottawa (which placed 4th and 12th on the list respectively ), it was still ranked the 3rd most livable city in North America.

"The consulting company, a unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos., does the survey to help employers compare countries so they can compensate workers fairly when placing them on international assignments. It measures 39 factors, including political stability, crime, currency exchange, personal freedom and health and sanitation."

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original source Business Week

As reported by the Toronto Star, Toronto's newest office, the $250-million 30-storey Telus House, officially opened last week. Located at the foot of York St., the new tower combines office space with quality of life amenities ranging a gourmet kitchen to rooftop garden patios to a prayer room. The project of developer Peter Menkes and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Menkes Development, Telus house has already leased more than half the building.

"When Peter Menkes purchased a plot of land five years ago on former railroad lands in downtown Toronto, it was a gamble. He envisioned an office development beside Union Station. But the centre of the financial universe remained on Bay Street, in the city's core. Attracting tenants to the waterfront was a risky move."

"It was, he said in an interview, "a leap of faith." The gamble paid off."

"They thought it was a little crazy, because no one was building anything back then," Menkes said in the futuristic open concept lobby of his largest tenant, telecommunications company Telus. The company has leased 460,000 square feet, more than half the building."

"The new building is a "spaceship" compared with the staid bricks and mortar of traditional office buildings in Toronto, said Menkes. As befitting a building housing a telecom company, the building is as sleek as an iPad and bursting with technology."

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original source the Toronto Star

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto has placed 37th on Business Insider's exclusive list of the World's 50 Best Business Schools. The rankings were based on a survey of more than 1,000 Business Insider readers in February and March 2010.

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original source Business Insider

In 2005 the first Freshii (then called Lettuce) opened in Toronto's TD Center with the goal of selling fresh and healthy food to busy office workers. Five years later Freshiis are ubiquitous in Toronto and have expanded across Canada and into the the United States; by the end of this year 60 Freshii restaurants will be open around the world. The Toronto Star features Matthew Corrin, the entrepreneur behind the Freshii franchise. 

"While Corrin had visions of building a fresh-food restaurant empire from the get-go, his business began modestly. In 2005, Corrin used $250,000 from his family to open his first fast fresh-food restaurant in Toronto's TD Centre."

"Then called Lettuce, the restaurant was quickly embraced by those working in nearby office towers who wanted to eat healthy but were pressed for time. It didn't take long for Lettuce to become profitable and Corrin used the profits to open other locations around the city."

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original source the Toronto Star

This year's Mesh event, Canada's annual web conference, saw industry experts from around the world converge at Toronto's MaRS Center for two days of panel discussions and interactive workshops. The sold-out conference, now in its fifth year has become a can't-miss event for the city's online media and tech community. According to Backbone Magazine's Glen Farrelly, this year's conference, which featured speakers from companies ranging from LinkedIn, PayPal, to the the Guardian, made for an enthralling two days.

"After four years attending, I can spot perennial patterns. The location is the same � Mars, a centre for innovation in downtown Toronto. As I hoped, Red Bull is there again providing ample fuel for making it through the hours of listening. Rightsleeve had a new batch of fun and offbeat swag. Many of the attendees' faces are the same � as one of the conference speakers stated Mesh was integral to helping form the digital media and tech community in Toronto and clearly this community is loyal to Mesh. I have, however, also met more people this time from across Canada, which is great. The structure of sessions is the same with internationally-prominent keynote speakers in the mornings and panel discussions or workshops in the afternoon. The speakers represent a good cross-section of local and American or British people working in or studying the area."??

"I keep going to Mesh as it is consistently delivers."

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original source Backbone Magazine

The Canadian Opera Company has become the newest Toronto organization to embrace the urban bee-keeping trend. According to the Globe & Mail the COC has installed two honey bee hives on the roof of its home at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. While urban bee-keeping is by no means unique to Toronto, the city has been quick to pick up on the worldwide the movement. Casa Loma, the Toronto Island, Downsview park, New College at the University of Toronto, and at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel all boast operational bee colonies.

"At their summer peak, the new COC hives are expected to attract some 120,000 bees and to generate about 50 pounds of honey annually. It can't be sold, because it won't be pasteurized. But, quipped Mr. Neef, "we might consider giving it away as a bonus to those who subscribe to the opera early."

"Why the urban buzz? There are several reasons. A principal goal is to help offset the effects of colony collapse disorder, a global epidemic that has caused the annual loss of some 30 per cent to 40 per cent of honey bees in many countries, including Canada. Although no specific cause has been identified, most scientists blame a combination of factors, including Varroa mites, insect diseases, exposure to pesticides and, possibly, cellphone radiation."

"Cities often provide a happier bee-scape for honey bees, because there are fewer pesticides being sprayed and a more diverse range of plants and flowers."

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original source the Globe & Mail

Toronto-Dominion Bank continues its expansion south of the border with the purchase of South-Carolina based South Financial Group Inc. According to Business Week, TD Bank acquired all of South Financial's shares for $191.6 million in cash and stock. Once the deal is officially finalized Toronto Dominion Bank will immediately place among the top financial institutions in the U.S Southeast, acquiring 176 branches in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

"Toronto-Dominion offered $61 million in cash or stock to buy all of South Financial's shares, the bank said today in a statement. The Toronto-based lender also agreed to buy South Financial preferred stock from the U.S. Treasury for $130.6 million in cash."

"The purchase, along with the acquisition of three Florida- based banks last month in a deal assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., gives Toronto-Dominion "significant" market share in the U.S. Southeast, Chief Executive Officer Edmund Clark said."

"You need to have enough presence that people think of you as one of their default choices," Clark said today in a telephone interview. "Between the FDIC deals that we did, plus this -- 170 stores -- we're now in the game."

"The bank will rank fourth by deposits in South Carolina and 21st in North Carolina, according to a presentation made to investors today."

"The lender began its U.S. consumer-banking strategy in 2005 after domestic bank mergers were blocked by the Canadian government. Toronto-Dominion will have about 1,300 branches in the country following the acquisitions announced over the last month, about 30 percent more than in Canada."

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original source Business Week

As reported by the National Post, the Toronto Islands Ferry Docks will soon be updating its notoriously slow ticket-purchasing system. An average of 1.2 million people visit the Islands each year despite the fact that buying tickets is often a lengthy and frustrating process. The ferries are cash only and only a handful of booths serve hundreds of visitors at a time. The city's installation of five self-service machines marks the first attempt to ease the lineup for the popular Toronto destination.

"If I wake up in the morning and decide to go to the island with my children, how can I do that? Can I buy my tickets online?" is the question the city needs to ask, said Brenda Patterson, general manager of the Parks, Forestry and Recreation division."

"Toronto Auditor-General Jeffrey Griffiths issued a report last month that suggested the city look at alternative payment options, such as debit, credit card and online sales. The report also questioned what it called an "outdated" inventory system to monitor revenues that are 90% cash sales."

"An estimated 1.2 million people visit the island each year, bringing in more than $6-million. (As a result of the city workers' strike, revenue was $4.1-million in 2009.) While the 15-minute ferry ride is pleasant, the same cannot often be said of attempts to buy tickets on busy weekends."

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original source the National Post