Canlan Ice Sports Corp. plans to acquire the Ice Gardens arena complex at York University, the ice-rink operator says. The conditional agreement announced July 18 is with PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., which is acting as the court-appointed receiver and manager for the Ice Gardens at York University Inc., and as trustee in bankruptcy for 1170843 Ontario Inc., reported the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail July 19. The arena complex, which was built in 1996, is one of the largest in Canada, containing five National Hockey League-size rinks and one Olympic-size rink with seating for 1,500 spectators. The deal is expected to close July 31.
Camp led by York student lets children's creativity flow
They created a bus stop with a cast of characters and a human toaster that popped toast – signified when one of the children in the theatre day camp leapt out of the middle of a human pyramid. Children, the camp leaders say, are brimming with unbridled creativity that has yet to be blocked by parents, teachers and the subtle repressions of society, wrote the Simcoe Reformer July 19. The camp, held at the Norfolk Arts Centre as part of a five-week summer arts program, is there to help them get their talents out. "They're geniuses," declared York student Amanda Lee, 19, of Delhi, Ont., the summer coordinator for the Arts Adventure Day Camp. "Kids by their nature are creative. They always have stories going through their heads."
Would-be City Idol trying for city hall
She lost the City Idol contest, but Toronto Centre-Rosedale candidate Susan Gapka, a York student and senator, hopes to have better luck in this fall's municipal election, reported the Town Crier online July 17. Gapka competed in the Public Space Committee's City Idol contest, which had potential council candidates participate in live debates and face questions from the media. In the end, the committee chose four other candidates (one in each city region) to endorse in the city's Nov. 13 election.
Despite that loss, Gapka has registered as a candidate in Ward 27 and will run against incumbent Councillor Kyle Rae. She lists a number of reasons for running, but she mainly wants to be a voice for marginalized people. They include the poor, the homeless and the high density of LGBT (lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered) people in the ward, said Gapka.
Gapka is finishing up a specialized political science degree in public policy at York University. She's been awarded the school's Ellen Baar Award for Public Policy twice, and the Ross McMillan Award for student leadership three times. "I'd like to be the first one (transgendered) elected, I believe, in North America," she said.