Category Archives: Toronto Bed Bugs

As bed bugs continue their blood-sucking scourge on Toronto currently targeting Ryerson University residences a new U.S. study shows that natural fungus is an effective way of killing the critters.

There are eight confirmed cases of the tiny critters at Ryerson, with most students living at the International Living and Learning Centre (ILLC) and a few in the Pitman Hall residence.

The rooms are being carefully treated by pest control experts right now, said Chad Nuttall, manager of Student Housing Services at the university. They will inspect and re-inspect the rooms until they are bed bug-free.

Affected students have been relocated to a temporary space in the ILLC while their rooms are treated, which usually takes about two weeks but can be longer depending on the severity of the situation.

Our students are our top priority and we are working very hard to resolve this issue for them and have them back into their dorms as soon as possible, said Nuttall.

He said the university provides information to students and parents on bed bug prevention during parent sessions. Also, fact sheets are distributed and students are told which items they can and cannot bring before arriving on campus.

But new research could end the battle against bed bugs. According to a team of entomologists at Penn State University, the parasites have met their match in a fungus called Beauveria bassiana, which grows naturally in soils and causes disease in insects.

As part of the study, published in the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, researchers took paper and cotton jersey, commonly used in bed sheets. On one set they sprayed fungal spores and on the other blank oil. After the surfaces were dry, bed bugs were added for one hour.

All the bugs exposed to the biopesticide died within five days. But more important, the infected bugs carried the fungal spores back to their hiding places, infecting nearly all the other bugs. This is key because they tend to live in hard-to-reach places, such as electrical plates, under loose wallpaper and behind baseboards.

They dont even need to be directly exposed, and thats something chemicals cannot do, said researcher Nina Jenkins in a media statement. If you have bedbugs in your house ... what you really want to know is if theyve all gone at the end of the treatment, and I think thats something that this technology could offer.

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Bed bug battles: Is fungus the next frontier?

All is not necessarily well that ends well life is rough, and sometimes the pieces are not easily picked up but we take what we can get, and so I am happy to tell you that Leo Wilton is on the mend and he has a place of his own.

He was living in a bachelor apartment last year when he got into a dispute with his landlord, the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. A dispute?

His building was unsafe: bullets flying and bedbugs biting. He complained, more than once, and was promised that things would be cleaned up.

They were not.

So Leo, a man after my own heart, went on a rent strike. When his arrears reached $1,500 he was told to pay up or be evicted. He swallowed hard and ponied up an initial payment of $500. TCHC cashed his cheque and kicked him out anyway.

He ended up in a shelter, where a guy he did not know and had never met attacked him, with no warning, for no reason.

I first met Leo at an infirmary on Sherbourne St., and then again at Fudger House, when he was recuperating from injuries that almost killed him: a stab wound to the throat, three broken ribs, a broken nose and a brain hemorrhage.

Hes out of the hospital and in a new place now. I went to see him the other day. The gash has healed; you cant see the scar unless youre looking. His colour is back. His eyes are bright. He looks alive.

The new place? It is a bachelor apartment, freshly painted, with a new countertop and kitchen cabinets, better than his old place. Most of what he had, he left behind, but he does have a tiny table, two chairs, a lamp, a radio, a coffee maker, a bed, a small pot and a frying pan. He has had some help, and will get more, from his brother and sister, who live elsewhere in the GTA.

The apartment comes to him by way of Woodgreen. Leo said, When I first went to the shelter, they set me up with a housing worker. Hed mentioned this place back then. After the attack, he came to see me and he told me again about this place; there are only six vacancies a year.

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Fiorito: Evicted and stabbed at a shelter, Leo Wilton gets a second chance

Bed bug removal Toronto | Toronto bed bug exterminator
Video of a residential address who is infested with bed bugs. Bed bug removal is common in Toronto and the Durham Region. Bed bug exterminator in Toronto is our expertise and we guarantee all our work.From:pestprocanadaViews:46 0ratingsTime:01:08More inHowto Style

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Bed bug removal Toronto | Toronto bed bug exterminator - Video

Chestnut residence bed bugs.m4v
After a string of Chestnut mishandling in a bed bug situation, I was told it was finally okay to collect my belongings (bed bugs were all exterminated). Clearly, when looking at this video, they are still very much present. This is after Chestnut denied this specific room has had multiple bed bug offenses (confirmed by next door neighbor) in the past year and a half, and refuses to take any responsibility. This is also after a few people I know have had cockroaches in their room. This is NOT WORTH paying $14000!!!!! The way this has been handled has been a nightmare from beginning to end.From:dolphin9006Views:279 3ratingsTime:00:20More inTravel Events

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Chestnut residence bed bugs.m4v - Video

Does Rob Ford deserve to stay in office? If not, who decides? Chris Selley, Jonathan Goldsbie and Matt Gurney debate the future of Torontos mayor.

Selley: Rob Ford, the folksy politician who invites anyone and everyone even Toronto Star reporters over for a big barbecue. Rob Ford, the lone wolf mayor who doesnt understand what a conflict of interest is. I suppose this week showed us the best and the worst of the fellow. He really likes people; he wants people to like him; and he wants to help them out when they get in a jam, whether its a TCHC tenant with bed bugs or a football team that needs money for equipment. But anyone who doesnt understand why its problematic to solicit funds on city letterhead well,cripes. Regardless of how easily he could have avoided this situation, I agree that the potential penalty i.e., removal from office outweighs the alleged offence. The voters should decide. The question is, will this incident discredit him among voters who perhaps overestimated his intelligence; or will it just further embolden those who see him as an anti-elite icon?

Goldsbie: In a democracy, the bar for being qualified to hold public office is necessarily very low. To run for councillor or mayor in Toronto, you must be someone who is eligible to vote here (18 years of age, a Canadian citizen, etc.) and pay a filing fee of $100 or $200, depending on the position being sought. This is as it should be. This does not, however, mean that every person is equally deserving of an elected position, nor that every person who obtains one is equally qualified to hold it. There are only a handful of extreme circumstances in which the will of the electorate might fairly be overturned by a judge. And I will put to you that a person who lacks the capacity to understand let alone obey our systems basic safeguards against corruption is someone who is legitimately unfit to hold public office.

Until recently, I shared the popular opinion that the prescribed penalty for Rob Fords apparent infraction was wildly disproportionate. And while I still believe that the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act should be amended to eliminate this mandatory minimum and afford more discretion to judges, my take on this particular set of circumstances has evolved. After reading all 148 pages of the transcript of Fords closed-door cross-examination, and then sitting through both days of his hearing in open court, I firmly believe that Ford may very well have limboed underneath the bona fide requirements that are necessary to hold office. Will this conflict case embolden his supporters? Undoubtedly. As an anti-Ford strategy, it is terrible. But the principle at stake is a key one that is worth defending in its own right: if a person cares to grasp neither the specific contents nor the broad gist of a particular document, then any oath taken to abide by it is therefore meaningless.

Gurney: And Id put to you, J.G., that your thoughts on Fords offence being too small to warrant removal from office hasnt actually evolved at all. Rather, it seems more like that Ford, while testifying regarding said offence, so appalled you through his willful ignorance that you justwant him out of office. The facts of his alleged conflict of interest havent changed. Its just that the mayors attempted explanation of that offence was so disgraceful that its easy to just say, Throw him out. But youve correctly noted that its a terrible anti-Ford strategy. I entirely agree with you that Fords answers on the stand were horrifying, but thats something the voters should remember the next time they go into the ballot box. What youre really saying, J.G., basically boils down to, People who are stupid, apathetic or both should be removed from office if a judge has a possible pretext to do so while pretending its actually about a conflict of interest. Sorry. I cant get behind that. I personally dont see how anyone could vote for Ford after last weeks developments, but democracy is what it is. And as Chris noted, theres plenty of things Ford is good at. I suspect that mobilizing enough voters to get re-elected in 2014 by barbecue and victim-playing may still be one of them. Thats depressing. But I just cant countenance a judge making this problem go away for us.

Selley: Precisely. Jonathan says Ford may have reached the point of justifiable removal by revealing himself as a person who lacks the capacity to understand let alone obey our systems basic safeguards against corruption. But there is no sweeping, qualitative judgment to be rendered here. Its a matter of law. If Ford actually didnt understand those basic safeguards and I believe that he did not, and likely still does not; and if he does he doesnt care then the law provides the judge an out: He broke it inadvertently. Frankly, to believe otherwise is to believe he was willing to run this risk which is crazy, because there is no payoff. Changing letterhead and business cards is a subtle but important difference, but it would not impact Fords fundraising prowess whatsoever. This mortifying, almost literally unbelievable debacle should inform the next election, not overturn the last one.

Goldsbie: No. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking it, and inadvertence in this context refers to whether Fords actions at Februarys Council meeting were deliberate. Ford has stated that they were, and the judge has therefore ruled out the defence of inadvertence. (He may still find that Fords actions were an error in judgment, but that would broadly require the judge to determine that a reasonable person with the same degree of experience as Ford might come to the same incorrect conclusion about the meaning of the law.) And to Matt: what has changed is that it has become clear that Fords misstep was rooted in a misunderstanding of what a conflict is, a misunderstanding so unshakeable that even when the actual definition is read aloud to him, he is unable to process it. The same thing that prevents him from comprehending why it was inappropriate to exercise the influence of his office to convince Council to put money in his pocket, is the same thing that prevents him from comprehending why it is inappropriate to solicit cash favours from lobbyists. If you dont get that, you dont get to be a politician.

Gurney: Says you. And maybe eventually a judge. But if just you sorry. Your say-so doesnt cut it. Im dismayed that someone who feels that way can be elected to office, but I respect the system enough to not think that its invalid should my thoughts evolve to the point where I decide any particular elected official doesnt deserve to be there.

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Posted Toronto Political Panel: Does Rob Ford deserve to stay in office?