Comic Conventions This Weekend
There will be two Comicon this weekend in Ontario, one of which will be in Peterborough and the other being in Aurora.
The Peterborough Comicon will occur on Saturday, January 4th 2025 from 10am to 3pm at The Venue.
Admission will be $5 or free for kids 12 and under. And the nearest bus stops to the venue are 1494 and 1537, which are serviced by multiple routes by Peterborough Transit.
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The Aurora Comicon will occur the following day, on Sunday the 5th of January, 2025, also from 10am to 3pm, at Aurora Legion.
Admission will be $5 or free for kids 12 or under. And the nearest bus stops are 1746 and 1758 on York Region Transit.
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Please note that cash is usually preferred at these events.
The Last Events of the Year
There will be two comic book conventions and one record convention this weekend.
The first event will be the Oshawa Comicon on Friday the 27th of December, 2024, from 10am to 3pm at the Harmony Creek Community Center.
Admission will be $5 of free for kids 12 or under. And the nearest bus stops are 1138 and 1148, which are serviced by Route 410 and N1 on Durham Region Transit.
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The second event will be the Toronto Comic Book Show, also on the 27th but at Montecassino Hotel and Event Centre from noon to 5pm.
Admission is free and the venue itself is located within a 10 minute walk from the Downsview Park TTC Subway Station and Downsview Park Go Station. The nearest bus stops to the venue are 3138 and 7271, which are serviced by multiple routes by the TTC.
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The final event of the year will be the Woodstock Record And Music Collectibles Show, on Sunday, the 29th of December, 2024, in the Mutual/Market Buildings on the Woodstock Fairgrounds from 9:30am to 2:30pm.
Admission will be $5 and kids under 12 can get in for free if they’re with an adult. And the venue is serviced by multiple routes on Woodstock Transit.
Please note that the Woodstock Card, Comics, Coins and Pop Culture Collectibles Show may also be occurring at the same time at this venue.
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As usual, cash is preferred at these events, both for admission and for purchases from vendors. And don’t forget to check out the Boxing Week Deals at Amazon Canada and Winter Sale at Amazon.com.
Canada Post – A Search For Relevance
Now that the strike is over letters and parcels are now being sorted; And everyone involved has clearly stated delays are to be expected, especially for rural communities.
Unfortunately, I don’t see how they could possibly get through it all without delivering letters and parcels this weekend, or at least make some of it available for pick-up at the commercial post offices. But the delivery of parcels to homes on the weekend would not likely be a long term solution.
I suspect the preferable response would be like that of the locker system like found at the larger Canadian Tire stores, where one can use a bar code to unlock a locker containing their parcel(s) at their local Post Office. And I guess some of the empty post office boxes could be adapted to provide that service for smaller parcels.
At the moment I can only pick up parcels at my local post office if I rent a post office box or use FlexDelivery, a service also offered by Amazon Canada and Walmart Canada that diverts parcels to my local post office. But I believe most parcels may not be delivered to the commercial post offices on weekends, and rural post offices are usually also closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
The new community hubs also offer limited services on weekends, which is a shame because parcels could also be delivered to those on Saturdays. But the looming deficits are hindering investment in new infrastructure, which may be necessary for the corporation’s survival.
Small businesses in Canada suffer because they lack access to affordable shipping, including most Canadian sellers on eBay, and there can only be so many conventions and pop up shops through-out the year to help them sell their merchandise, so we’re talking about a major crisis.
Last mile postal deliveries are also an issue for postal imports and everyone that has ever imported something using a courier service knows how expensive their brokerage fees can get ; I’ve actually paid fees surpassing the value of the product imported and the $20 postal import exemption is of little value now because of inflation.
I’m surprised the new trade free trade agreement in-between Canada, the United States and Mexico didn’t include a higher exemption rate, which should have been $60 (like the current rate on gift shipments). But that’s a subject for another post…
The ship has sailed when it comes to personal and commercial letter mail, so Canada Post needs to expand to remain relevant. And that can’t be done without major investment from the government.
Satellite internet should be a priority for the more remote rural offices, with long range wi-fi retransmission, as should the expansion of the community hubs. And that wont be cheap…
GST/HST Holiday Now Active
The GST/HST Holiday is now active up to February 15th, 2025 on multiple products, including selected imported items. And although music recordings are not exempt from GST/HST during this period, printed biographies, audio books on compact disc, printed books on music education (music theory/instruction) and printed books on home recording and the music industry are exempt.
For example, “Music Production 2024+ Edition: Everything You Need To Know About Producing, Studio Recording, Mixing, Mastering and Songwriting in 2024 & Beyond” is available on Amazon Canada and Indigo Canada, tax free, as is the “The History of Canadian Rock ‘N’ Roll“, “Is This Live?: Inside the Wild Early Years of MuchMusic: The Nation’s Music Station” and the Martin Short autobiography “I Must Say: My Life As A Humble Comedian“.
Amazon Canada has just created a site on which tax free items are listed, including some children’s toys, video games and video game consoles.
Road trip to Southern Ontario?
There will be two pop up record shows this weekend in the Niagara Peninsula, both of which are free.
The first will be in Ridgeway, Ontario, where the Brimstone Brewery will be hosting a pop up shop on December the 14th, 2024, from 1pm to 7pm.
And the second will be in Virgil, Ontario, at the Silversmith Brewing Co., on Sunday, the 15th, from 11:30am to 6pm.
Both are small town events where public transit isn’t available. And cash is preferred at these events so you might want to pop into the local ATM.
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By the way, the $10 CT Money Offer on $100 Google Play Gift Card purchases being offered by participating Canadian Tire stores that expires on December 12th, 2024 will be replaced by a $10 CT Money Offer on $100 Indigo Gift Card purchases on the 13th and that offer will expire on the 19th of December 2024. Please consult your local flyer for details.
If you are still interested in purchasing Google Gift Cards, you can get a 7500 PC Optimum Point Bonus on $50 Google Gift Cards at participating Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix stores from December 14th until December 19th, 2024. And participating Rexall stores will be providing a $5 Rexall Gift Card to customers purchasing $50 Rakuten Kobo gift cards from the 13th to 24th.
Click here for your local Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix flyer and click here for your local Rexall flyer.
You should also note that Amazon Canada is currently offering a $7.50 credit on $50 Rakuten Kobo Gift Cards as well as other credits on gift cards. Click here for details.
This Weekend’s Events
There will be two record shows and five comics this weekend, most of which will be in Ontario.
The ACGN EXPO Fest, will be an Anime and comic convention that will be held from 1pm to 7pm this Saturday, December 7th 2024, at the Tsawwassen Mills, in Tsawwassen, British Columbia.
Admission is free. And this venue, a major shopping centre, is serviced by Route 609 on Translink via Bus Stops 59511 and 59532.
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The Newmarket Comicon will also be held this Saturday at the Optimist Club of Newmarket from 10am to 3pm.
Admission will be $5 of free for kids 12 and under. And the nearest bus stops to the venue are 9851 and 6985 on York Region Transit.
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Another comic event, CompassCon Etobicoke, will also be occurring that day from 10am to 3pm at the Royal Canadian Legion in Etobicoke, Ontario.
Admission is $5 or free for kids 12 and under and advance tickets are available. The venue is located next to both the Long Branch Go Station and Long Branch loop, the later being serviced regularly by TTC Streetcars. And note that multiple bus routes on Miway also service that station.
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The first record show of this weekend will be on the opposite side of Toronto on Sunday, the 8th of December 2024, which is of course the Toronto East (Scarborough) Vinyl Record & Collectibles Show at the Ellesmere Community Centre from 10am to 3pm.
Admission is $5 and the nearest bus stops to the venue are 7719 and 7720 on the TTC.
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The Bowmanvillle CD and Record Show will again be held at the Bowmanville Memorial Park Clubhouse from 10am to 4pm this Sunday, as well.
This is a free event and the nearest bus stop is an 8 minute walk away at the corner of Liberty Street and. S and Prince St. That stop’s number is 1499 and it is serviced by Route 902 on Durham Region Transit.
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The Port Perry Comicon will also be held this Sunday, but from 10am to 3pm at the Scugog Community Recreation Center.
Admission will be$5 or free for kids 12 and under. And the nearest bus stop to the venue is 2452, which is serviced by Route 905 on Durham Region Transit.
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And finally, this year’s last monthly Capital Trade Show will be held at the Nepean Sportsplex this Sunday, the 8th of December 2024, from 10am to 3pm.
This is a free event and the nearest bus routes to the venue, 1683 and 1652 are serviced by multiple major bus routes on OC Transpo.
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And remember, cash is preferred at these events so don’t forget to look for your bank’s nearest ATM to the venue. Enjoy.