The Beauty of Our Province/La Belleza de Nuestra Provincia

Ontario in all its splendour.

Your home’s sale price is private information by Mark Weisleder

An article from the Toronto Star, October 14, 2011, by Mark Weislader.  

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Condos under construction between the Rogers Centre and the Air Canada Centre in downtown Toronto. (Apr. 8, 2009)

Steve Russell/Steve Russell

A few years ago, the federal Privacy Commissioner ruled a home’s sale price is personal information and cannot be advertised or disclosed without the permission of the buyer and the seller.

This is what privacy legislation is all about — protecting your personal information. The lesson is that if you do not want to see your home’s sale price advertised after closing, then don’t agree to it.
In another case decided in 2006, an insurance company arranged for photographs to be taken of an apartment unit, without the tenant’s permission. The purpose was to get examples of the state of repairs of the interior of the apartments to assist in figuring out the building’s value. However, the pictures included some of the apartment’s contents.
The Privacy Commissioner’s office found that while the purpose might have been to show the condition of the unit, it also revealed information about the tenant, including their standard of living, whether they could afford expensive media equipment, whether they loved music or art or cooking. This was found to be personal information and thus permission should have been requested.
What this means is that before a buyer or agent takes photographs of anything inside a seller’s home, even during an open house or home inspection, they should ask for permission.
In another case decided in 2008, a consumer asked their bank for a copy of the appraisal report the bank had done on their home. An appraisal contains information about other comparable property sales in your area that help the appraiser calculate the value of your property. The bank refused, claiming this was confidential commercial information and not personal information.
The Privacy Commissioner’s office decided that, while the consumer was entitled to the appraisal value of their own home, they were not entitled to the name or contact information of the appraiser, or anything related to comparable property sales, as this was the personal information of third parties.
The issue of privacy arises in the ongoing lawsuit between the Competition Bureau and the Toronto Real Estate Board, something I’ve written about in the past few months.
The Competition Commissioner wants Canadians to be able to go online and access the selling price of any home in Canada. The potential abuses are huge, starting with thieves who want to learn about potential victims and their lifestyle. Since buyers and sellers didn’t provide this permission, in my opinion, it violates privacy legislation.
It seems to me the Privacy Commissioner should be involved in these proceedings and I encourage all Canadians to complain to the Privacy Commissioner’s office in Ottawa and to federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis. To register a complaint to the Privacy Commissioner’s office, you can download a form from their website, www.priv.gc.ca, sign it and then send it in. You can email Paradis’ office at minister.industry@icigc.ca.

Feliz Día de la Independencia a Chile

También queremos felicitar nuestros compadres de Chile por su Día de la Independencia del 18 de septiembre.

Feliz Día de la Independencia a Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, y Nicaragua

Aunque un poco retrasado, nunca es tarde para felicitar nuestros compadres de Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, y Nicaragua por su Día de la Independencia del 15 de septiembre.

Nuevo annuncio de Guerrero Law

Utilizamos este anuncio en la material promocional del festival Toni Reyes este verano. 
Fue inspirado por la historia del logotipo. Checan pronto para leer sobre nuestro logotipo.

Photos from the Miss Chiquitita Pageant

Guerrero Law was pleased to donate to the wonderful Miss Chiquitita Pageant for girls ages 4-10 years old hosted by the Barrie Latin Community Centre on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at the Kozlov Centre in Barrie. All the girls did a wonderful job walking the cat walk in their casual wear, dazzling us with their singing and dancing skills and showing us their beautiful formal wear. It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of a crowd, let alone at such a young age!

Here are a few pictures taken by us from the day's events.

 

Artículo sobre Antonio Guerrero en la revista La Guía en Toronto

Antonio Guerrero de Guerrero Law se encuentra otra vez en una de las revistas de Toronto. Esta vez es La Guía que tiene una edición especial sobre México este mes para celebrar la Independencia de México y es ahí donde encontrarán la entrevista con Antonio.

Haz click en cada foto para hacerlo más grande.

Feliz Día de la Independencia México

Guerrero Law supporting the Miss Chiquitita 2011 Pageant

The Barrie Latin Community Centre is hosting its first ever Miss Chiquitita Pageant on Saturday, September 17, 2011, and Guerrero Law is proud to be a sponsor of this community event. 

The Barrie Latin Community Centre says:

"Join us in our first pageant to crown "Miss Chiquitita!" There will be two categories: Junior for girls ages 4-6 and Senior for girls ages 7-10. Girls will be competing in a fun setting in casual wear, formal wear, and talent categories. They will be judged by a panel consisting of entertainment and talent professionals, with lively music and of course fabulous prizes"

If you are from Barrie on are in the area, be sure to stop by the Kozlov Centre, Centre Court, 400 Bayfield Street.

Fun Summer Facts: Mosquitoes

 

We can't stand them, can we?! There is nothing endearing about them. They buzz around your head at night (especially when you're on holiday) they bite, then it itches. Did you know that it's the female that does all that to you? Did you also know that near the Arctic Circle there are few people, but millions and millions of mosquitoes. Never missing an opportunity to educate ourselves, we thought we'd share some information about our dear friend the mosquito.

Mosquitoes have been around since the Jurassic period. That makes them about 210 million years old. 

There are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes.

Only female mosquitoes bite people. Both male and female feed mainly on fruit and plant nectar, but the female also needs the protein in blood to help her eggs develop. Once she's had her fill of blood, she'll rest a couple of days before laying her eggs.

Mosquitoes don't have teeth.  The females “bite” with a long, pointed mouthpart called a proboscis. 

Mosquitoes have 6 legs.

A mosquito can drink up to 3 times its weight in blood, but don't worry since it would take about 1.2 million bites to drain all the blood from your body.

The average mosquito lifespan is less than 2 months.

Males locate the females by the sound of their wings. Females can beat their wings up to 500 times per second, and the males pick out the higher frequency of those beats when seeking a mate.

Mosquitoes can't fly very far or very fast. They often stay within several hundred feet of where they were hatched. 

The top speed for a mosquito is about 1.5 miles/hour or approx. 2.4 km/hour.

The bumps from mosquito bites are caused by saliva. While one tube in the proboscis draws blood, a second pumps in saliva containing a mild painkiller and  an anti-coagulant. Most people have minor allergic reactions to the saliva, causing the area around the bite to swell and itch.  

Choose your wardrobe accordingly! Dark clothing attracts mosquitoes. Remember, they are drawn to heat and darker clothes retain more heat than light-colored clothing.

The 2 main mosquito predators are fish and dragonflies. 

Mosquitoes don't see very well, but they zoom in like a heat-seeking missile

As a result, they can't see you until they are 30 feet (10 meters) away. Even then, they have trouble distinguishing you from any object of similar size and shape: tree stump, 55-gallon drum, etc. When they are 10 feet (3 meters) away they use extremely sensitive thermal receptors on the tip of their antennae to locate blood near the surface of the skin.

Bug zappers are useless against mosquitoes. They are attracted to them, but are rarely killed by them. Studies have shown that less than 1 percent of the insects killed by zappers are mosquitoes or other biting insects. 

DEET is considered the most repellent of repellents.  Endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),  DEET doesn't mask the smell of the host or jam the insect's senses - mosquitoes simply don't like it because it smells bad to them. A product containing 10 percent DEET can protect you for up to 90 minutes. Two other repellents, picaridin and lemon-eucalyptus oil, have also proven effective and are now recommended by the CDC. 

Citronella candles and smoking coils repel mosquitoes, but you have to stay in the smoky plume to be protected!

Mosquitoes are attracted by CO (Carbon dioxide) in our breath. They can detect it from great distances. When the female mosquito gets close, she makes a final choice using skin temperature, odor and other chemical or visual factors. If two people are outside together, one will almost always get most of the bites. --> This is one time you don't want to be the better smelling person!
 

Source 1 

Source 2

Apoyando al Concurso de Español de las Escuelas Secundarias de Ontario

El 5 de mayo, 2011, un grupo increíble de profesores de español muy dedicados han organizado el Cuarto Concurso Annual de Español de las Escuelas Secundarias de Ontario. El concurso tuvo lugar en el Colegio de Glendon, parte de la Universidad de York.

Guerrero Law está orgulloso de anunciar que apoyó mucho al concurso con donativos en efectivo para los ganadores de primer, segundo y tercer lugar en la categoría de Hispanohablantes.

37 escuelas secundarias y 132 estudiantes han participado en un día lleno de actividades culturales y exámenes de Escucha, Oral, Gramática y de Escritura.

Por favor visite el sitio web del Concurso de Español de las Escuelas Secundarias de Ontario para aprender más.

Las ganadores de la categoría Hispanohablante fueron:

1. Alejandra Recio-Greenwell de Country Day School
2. Stephanie Anaya-Arellano de Loretto Abbey C.S.S.
3. Rocío Peña de York Mills C.I.

Guerrero Law espera a poder apoyar el concurso de 2012 y quiere desear buena suerte a los futuros concursantes!

Supporting the Ontario Secondary Schools Spanish Contest

On May 5th, 2011, an amazing group of dedicated Spanish teachers put on the 4th Annual Ontario Secondary Schools Spanish Contest. This year's contest took place at Glendon College, part of York University. 

Guerrero Law is proud to announce that it showed a great amount of support by donating 1st, 2nd and 3rd place cash prizes to the Native Spanish Speaker category.

37 Ontario high schools and 132 students participated in a day full of cultural activities and examinations in Listening, Speaking, Grammar and Writing.

Please visit the Ontario Secondary Schools Spanish Contest's website to find out all about it.

The winners of the Native Speaker category were:

1. Alejandra Recio-Greenwell from Country Day School
2. Stephanie Anaya-Arellano from Loretto Abbey C.S.S.
3. Rocío Peña from York Mills C.I.

Guerrero Law looks forward to supporting the 2012 event and wishes all its participants Good Luck!

 

Antonio Guerrero- Guerrero Law

Julio Muzlera- Royal LePage

Patricio Roman- CENTUM One Financial Group Inc.

Grabación del programa de Entre Amigos en su Casa- 25 de julio, 2011

Hoy, Antonio Guerrero tuvo la oportnidad otra vez de ser parte de una platica an AM1610 Voces Latinas, con los Agentes de Bienes Raíces Julio Muzlera y Wendy Gallegos y el Mortgage Broker Patricio Roman. 

Aquí se encuentrán las 4 partes del programa para que no pierden de lo que han hablado.

Parte 1

Parte 2

Parte 3

Parte 4

AM1610: Entre Amigos en su Casa

Antonio Guerrero de Guerrero Law será en la radio hablando con Julio Muzlera en el programa Entre Amigos en su Casa, lunes el 25 de julio a la una de la tarde.