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Jennifer McKelvie takes the scientific approach to municipal politics

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Jennifer McKelvie is a scientist with a PhD, but the new Scarborough councillor thinks it’s her unquantifiable people skills that will help resolve issues like transit that have been frustrating residents in her riding for too long.

“They are tired of the debate and they want to see shovels in the ground and see something getting built,” said the incoming representative for Ward 25 (Scarborough Rouge-Park), one of four new faces on council, which is scheduled to meet for the first time on Tuesday.

McKelvie won her riding by 154 votes over Neethan Shan, making her one of only two councillors who managed to topple an incumbent in the Oct. 22 municipal election. (The other was Mike Colle, a former longtime MPP, who won Ward 8 Eglinton-Lawrence over incumbent Christin Carmichael Greb.)

Born in East York, McKelvie grew up on the border of North York and Scarborough, on the North York side of Victoria Park Ave. and now lives near the eastern extremity of the ward, in the Centennial neighbourhood.

She loves the easy access to nature that Scarborough provides, including the parks and treed streets where kids play road hockey, but feels that Scarborough tends to be forgotten by the city.

“Parts of our community actually used to be Pickering, so some of the manholes in the most eastern edge still say ‘Pickering’ on them,” McKelvie said during an interview in her spacious home on a heavily treed street.

“Because we’re on the eastern edge, we tend to be forgotten. A lot of buses, for example, will turn (around) at the University of Scarborough, but there is still a whole lot of Toronto that is east of that.”

McKelvie, who supports a three-stop Scarborough subway extension, wants to focus on getting action on issues that seem to have been stuck in an endless loop of decision-making at city hall.

“I think even on controversial issues, there is always consensus. And consensus doesn’t mean unanimous and it doesn’t mean everyone is happy, it just means that we have a path forward,” she said.

Growing up, McKelvie wanted to be a lawyer and work in environmental protection, but a single law course convinced her that she was better off in the sciences.

“It seemed it was more about the ‘gotchya’ than it was about being proactive,” she said of the law course.

She was director of research at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, managing international research collaborations on things like quantum computing and personalized medicine.

She also worked at the non-profit, non-governmental Nuclear Waste Management Organization, bringing together academics and industry representatives to design nuclear containment systems, and engaging in community consultation on site assessments.

“I think my niche has always been bringing together people with diverse professional backgrounds and experience to solve complex problems,” said McKelvie.

“So that is what I want to continue doing at city hall, is looking out and saying OK, who are the people we need to bring to the table and how can we help to catalyze those discussions to innovate and modernize the city?”

People who know her say McKelvie is the right person for the job.

“She is data driven, problem-solving, very practical, very interested in reaching out,” said Barbara Sherwood Lollar, a University of Toronto professor who met her 20 years ago when McKelvie was an undergraduate there, and was her MSc and PhD supervisor.

While McKelvie is focused on making good decisions, she’s not about making unilateral decisions, Sherwood Lollar says.

“You can’t impose solutions. They have to be something that people have looked at from various perspectives and the broader group is on board with. She really understands that.”

Gerard Baribeau has known McKelvie since 2014, when a group of Scarborough Rotary clubs formed the Scarborough Community Renewal Organization, aimed at getting city hall to invest in what they believe is a forgotten suburb. McKelvie was elected as the first president.

“When you look at Scarborough, it is the largest land mass in the city of Toronto and the largest population, and it’s been essentially ignored,” said Baribeau, president-elect of the Rotary Club of Scarborough.

“Everything has been focused on downtown.”

While the Rotary Club is non-partisan, he believes McKelvie is suited to her new role.

“She’s a very dynamic person and extremely intelligent and a realist. She is what we would call a pragmatist. She’s smart and thinks of the community.

“I think she will make an excellent councillor and one that looks at the big picture.”

McKelvie says she also wants to work on bringing jobs to Scarborough and finding a solution to the traffic around schools during drop-off and pickup.

“It’s crazytown in the morning in front of all of the schools. The traffic is incredible. It has become very unsafe. We need to get our kids walking again, but we also need to look at how we can improve the flow in front of schools.”

She committed to advancing Vision Zero for school zones by 2022.

She said housing for seniors is another pressing problem in the ward. Homeowners who are downsizing don’t have many options when it comes to options for staying in the community.

She wants to put together a working group of residents, community associations and developers as a first step.

“It’s tangible. I think it’s something that we can set out right away to get started, early in the new year, and get this working group going so that we can find a way to make this happen.”


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Francine Kopun is a Toronto-based reporter covering city politics. Follow her on Twitter: @KopunF

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Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline. 

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors. 

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity. 

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement. 

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level. 

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet. 

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.

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