King & Bay, Toronto

Thanks, Annemarie, and a happy Wednesday to you.

Thanks, Ulrich. All the best for Wednesday.

Thanks for noticing him, Keith. Homelessness is especially common in Toronto because other cities deal with their homeless by buying them a bus ticket to Toronto, which offers better benefits to them (London, ON, where I live now, has a similar problem). I intended him as a counterpoint to the Bank of Nova Scotia (it has more assets than NatWest) kittycorner to him. I could have framed it better, though. Anyway, deciding whether to give money to a panhandler is a frequent moral crisis for many Torontonians. I used to have a few regulars I gave money, too, and after that it depended on my mood. Anyway, I think several of those people walking by him are making up their minds, too.

I never give them money. If we're near a cafe or MacDonalds or the like, I'm happy to buy them a sandwich or a coffee. I donate to a local charity that supports the homeless.

A couple of cafés near me operate a "Pay it Forward" scheme, where you can pay for an extra coffee (or leave some cash) and the café then gives a homeless person a coffee or sandwich etc.

There are a lot of scammers about as well........so it's a difficult call :-)