The 2012 Academy Awards are Sunday night, hosted by Billy Crystal!  Everything you need to know about this year’s show, is here!

For everything Academy Awards, nominees, performers, the Host, go here!

And, check out the promo for this year’s show, which looks like a movie trailer….very well done…!

Will you be watching the show on Sunday?  Any predictions you’d care to share?

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to eat Tour Eiffel brand Parisian cooked ham.

The agency said the meat may be contaminated with dangerous bacteria or parasites.

The product is sold at Sobeys, IGA, IGA Extra and Metro stores in Ontario and Quebec.

Some deli packages may not have brand or date information and consumers should check with their retailer to see if they bought the affected product.

So far, there have been no reports of illness.

Make sure you check your fridge/freezer, when you get a sec!

First, he sang some impromptu Al Green a few weeks ago, now, he was brought up on stage with some of the biggest names in Jazz and Rock!

The video of Obama (reluctantly) belting out a few notes, is here!

I would absolutely buy a CD from Barack!  Could that ever happen, you think?

Environment Canada issues special weather statement for Toronto, snow and rain expected Friday…!

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Toronto and other areas of southern Ontario. There may be both significant snow and rain Friday.

For the full details (so far) go here!

Its been 3 years since he’s performed in Toronto!  Jerry’s back in May!  (yay!)

JS Touring and Just For Laughs are thrilled to announce Jerry Seinfeld’s return to Toronto for the first time in 3 years!  America’s premier comedian has come back to Canada in a return to his first love – stand-up comedy.  Recently hailed as “the master stand-up comic of his generation” and “the best comedian of our time” in a Washington Post article by Tom Shales, Seinfeld has an uncanny ability to joke about the little things in life that relate to audiences everywhere.

JERRY SEINFELD

The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts

Saturday, May 5 at 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM

Tickets go on sale Monday, February 27 at 10:00am

Tickets: $65.50, $85.50 & $99.50

(taxes included + facility & service charges)

At the Sony Centre box office and all Ticketmaster Outlets

charge-by-phone at 1-855-872-SONY (7669)

Buy online at www.sonycentre.ca or www.ticketmaster.ca

I have a feeling these tickets will sell out fast!!  Are you going to try to get some? Me too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyKlJbe1frc&feature=related

Tougher rules are on the way for elderly Ontario drivers, the province’s transportation minister says.

Bob Chiarelli told The Toronto Star that as the population ages, there are more drivers with cognitive impairments on the road.

As such, the province may consider graduated licensing for seniors, similar to the controls placed on new drivers.

Doctors may also be required to notify the province if they have a patient with cognitive impairments.

Under the current system, motorists with a full G license who have not yet reached the age of 80 can drive unchecked as long as they have never had an accident.

After the age of 80, drivers must take a yearly test.

Chiarelli said he expected changes to the current rules will be implemented within the next six months to a year.

Do you think this will make the roads safer? Or are the elderly NOT the problem?

Majority of respondents to Sun Life poll expect to work beyond age 66….!

As Canadian live longer and face tougher financial choices in their golden years, fewer than a third of respondents in a new survey plan to be fully retired by 66.

Sun Life Financial’s annual Unretirement Index poll, released early Wednesday, found that only about three in 10 Canadians surveyed said they plan full retirement at that age.

Nearly five in 10 — about 48 per cent — said they plan to work part-time or freelance while they ease into retirement.

The poll results from Canada’s third-biggest insurance company reflect what other public opinion surveys have shown for a while — that Freedom 55 is a thing of the past.

“Canadian retirement expectations are changing with many planning to work longer and almost half of Canadians looking to phase in their retirement,” said Kevin Dougherty, president of Sun Life Financial Canada.

“These results are not surprising given the current economic volatility, increasing consumer debt loads, rising healthcare costs, longer life expectancy and lack of planning. We’re also finding that some Canadians believe they’ll have to work longer to be able to pay for basic living expenses.”

Around the world, a retirement crisis looms as debt-strapped countries scale back benefits, raise the retirement age or make other moves to deal with rising obligations and weak economies.

In Canada, the federal government wants to scale back the long-term costs of Canada’s Old Age Security program, and has met harsh criticism from critics and the opposition over suggestions Ottawa may raise the OAS retirement age to save money.

On Tuesday, Human Resources Minister Diane Diane Finley told a Canadian Club meeting in Toronto that younger Canadians would face higher taxes, fewer social programs or larger deficits unless major reforms are started right now.

Meanwhile, a recent report to the Ontario government recommended cuts to pensions for teachers, nurses and other public sector workers because they are unaffordable in a slowing provincial economy.

In the Sun Life poll, about 61 per cent of those who said they expect to work past the traditional retirement age of 65 said they would do so because they have to, while 39 per cent said it’s because they want to.

The retirement issue is coming to the fore as the workforce ages and baby boomers are set to retire in the coming years, leaving fewer employees to pay into benefit plans and more drawing from them.

Canadians are also living longer, with average life expectancy now at 85, according to Statistics Canada. Retirees will need to factor that in to savings plans.

Research from Statistics Canada released in the fall found that a 50-year-old worker in 2008 could expect to stay in the labor force another 16 years — 3.5 years longer than would have been the case in the mid-1990s.

Meanwhile, nearly half of respondents — 43 per cent — said they plan to start phasing into retirement  between the ages of 60 and 65, while 21 per cent said they plan to start earlier — between ages 50 and 59 and eight per cent plan to start between 66 and 70.

“Interest in phased retirement has been growing over the past few years,” said Ian Markham, a retirement analyst at the Towers Watson consulting company.

“Baby boomers are looking at it as a way to prolong their careers, pay off some debts and make a smooth transition into retirement. Having additional income during this transition creates an additional financial safety net for Canadians – which we’re seeing as increasingly important in today’s economy.”

Nearly half of respondents to the Sun Life survey said they are worried about having debt in retirement. More than twice as many respondents, 44 per cent, said that that paying down debt was the number one priority, compared to 20 per cent who said they prioritized retirement.

Sun Life’s index was compiled by Ipsos Reid, which surveyed 3,701 working Canadians from age 30 to 65 between Nov. 29 and Dec. 12.

It has a 1.6 percentage point margin of error, 19 times out of 20.

Such surveys are routinely done by banks, insurers or other financial companies to research their customers’  views and promote financial products and services such as mutual funds and wealth management and financial planning advice.

What’s your plan for retirement? (do you have one?)

4,000 teaching assistants at U of T could strike Friday…!

The countdown is on for a strike by teaching assistants at the University of Toronto.

More than 4,000 teaching assistants, graduate student instructors and lab demonstrators have been working without a contract for nearly a year.

Negotiations continue to try and avert a strike after the last offer was turned down.

The union said the key issues are class and lab sizes, research support and money.

A strike could affect 70,000 students at three U of T campuses.

Will you be affected but the strike if it happens?  What’s your ‘worst-case’ scenario?

407 ETR customer service workers on strike…!

TORONTO, Ont. – All lanes of the Highway 407 toll highway are open, but you could run into problems if you need to inquire about your bill.

More than 100 customer service employees at 407 ETR, the company that owns the highway, have gone on strike, Wednesday.

The workers, represented by CAW Local 414, are striking over the issue of not getting more pay for doing more work.

Some staff members will begin picketing at 7 a.m. outside the 407 ETR headquarters in Woodbridge.

The highway stretches from Burlington to Pickering.

Honda recalling 46,000 Odyssey minivans; 2,800 in Canada!

Honda is recalling nearly 46,000 Odyssey minivans, including almost 2,800 in Canada, because the rear doors can fall on people unexpectedly, and have on at least two occasions. The problem affects minivans from the 2008 and 2009 model years that have power lift gates. Honda says affected owners will be notified.