The Toronto Public Library in collaboration with the Toronto Business Development Centre and the city of Toronto offers the eight-week program called Business Inc. designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs develop their businesses.
Whistles and shouts echo around the cavernous Agincourt Recreation Centre. Florescent lights glare off the ice surface. It even smells like a hockey arena - coffee and hockey equipment. But the game played is different. Eddie Parenteau manages the team on the ice. “You’re not allowed to put (the puck) in the top of the net because you can’t catch what you don’t see,” he said.
“Just by helping people to get informed on things like why you should vote and how policy effects everyday life, it gets people to think in a certain way and gets them more involved beyond voting. We promote voting and we promote things like writing to your MP.”
An empty film club tries to attain an audience at a Scarborough library. The National Film board of Canada (NFB) has partnered with public libraries, including some in Scarborough, to promote Canadian films.
Scarborough-Agincourt has seen its population growth come to a steep decline. According to Statistics Canada, it has the lowest population growth of all the federal electoral ridings located in the Scarborough area. Only 0.2 per cent growth from 2006 to 2011, also calculated as an additional 181 people.
Louie Papathanasakis, 53, has been the principal at Agincourt Collegiate Institute for five years, and oversees 1,500 students and close to 100 teaching staff.
Papathanasakis was recently named one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals for 2012, but ask him about the award and he would rather talk about the students.
Controversy continues to swirl in the Scarborough-Agincourt race in the provincial election campaign. The target is on Liberal candidate Soo Wong. Wong’s decision to run for MPP just a year after being re-elected as a school board trustee has made her the centre of criticism among her opponents – all of whom believe the move to be a potential conflict of interest.
After working 14 years as an accountant in India, Prajesh Bhavsar now works at a gas station in Toronto. It's not his preferred job but Bhavsar, who's lived in Canada for half a year, remains optimistic about his future.
Newly re-elected councillor Mike Del Grande is right on page with Toronto mayor Rob Ford with eliminating wasteful spending of taxpayers' money.
“I want to finally get my hands on the budget,” he said. "I think that the finances should be handled directly by council."