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Advance voting sees 11 per cent increase over last municipal election

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

Voters in the Toronto mayoral byelection came out in droves during advance voting, setting the highest single day of advance voting since amalgamation on Tuesday when 38,621 residents cast their vote.During the six day period just under 130,000 eligible voters marked their ballots for the next mayor of the city. It was an 11.9 per cent increase from the 115,000 voters who voted during the eight day period of advance voting in the October general election.John Tory was re-elected for his third term in October that saw very low voter turnout, with just 40 per cent of eligible voters casting a ballot.Tory stepped down back on Feb. 17 after announcing he had an “inappropriate relationship” with someone who used to work on his staff, triggering the byelection.Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie has assumed his duties on an interim basis and is not among the candidates running to replace him.Most polls suggest Olivia Chow is the clear frontrunner, with just over two weeks left until election d...

Canada will continue to rely on foreign firefighters as wildfires increase: Trudeau

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

SAGUENAY, Que. — Canada will continue to rely on foreign crews to help fight wildfires in the coming years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, as more reinforcements from abroad were expected to join the fight against the country’s worst wildfire season in decades.Trudeau told reporters in Saguenay, Que., that Canada will count on other countries to send help, just as other countries depend on Canadian firefighters.“In terms of international firefighters, it’s something that we count on during our fire seasons, but the same way our international friends and partners count on Canadian firefighters during their fire seasons,” he told reporters after meeting with armed forces members at Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, in Quebec’s Saguenay region. “From Northern Hemisphere to Southern Hemisphere, from one region of the world to another, the fire seasons aren’t always aligned and that allows for a travelling of resources that is part ...

MGM says it did nothing wrong as ‘fraudster’ gambled online

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Gambling giant MGM Resorts International says it did nothing wrong in its dealings with a New York City man who accuses it of preying on his gambling addiction with repeated cash bonuses intended to keep him gambling.In court papers, MGM says Sam Antar, a twice-jailed “fraudster” who repeatedly victimized friends, relatives and strangers, is engaging in “his latest scheme” by falsely accusing MGM of wrongdoing.MGM is asking a federal judge to dismiss Antar’s lawsuit and refer the matter to arbitration, which it says is required by the terms of service to which Antar agreed when he opened an online gambling account with the company.The company also denies it violated any New Jersey laws.“Sam Antar is a convicted felon and repeat fraudster who has pled guilty to defrauding numerous individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in false stock investment schemes,” MGM wrote in its June 9 response to Antar’s litigation, filed in U.S. District ...

CP NewsAlert: Canada halting activity at Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

OTTAWA — Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada will halt all government-led activity at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.This comes after a Canadian citizen resigned from the financial institution, alleging it is dominated by the Chinese Communist Party.More Coming.The Canadian Press

Oxford Properties Group acquires The Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

TORONTO — Oxford Properties Group says it’s acquired the 330-room Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff National Park. The real estate firm says hospitality group Accor has signed with Oxford to operate the hotel, effective immediately. Oxford, the real estate arm of the OMERS pension plan, says it’s making a significant investment to renovate the hotel from top to bottom, though the hotel will continue to operate throughout the renovations. The firm already owns the Fairmont Banff Springs, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and Fairmont Chateau Whistler hotels in Western Canada.Oxford says the Rimrock, which sits four kilometres south of Banff, Alta., is its first hotel acquisition since 2014. Tyler MacDonald, head of hotels and alternatives at Oxford, says in a news release that the acquisition of the Rimrock speaks to the company’s long-term conviction in Canada’s luxury resort hotel market. This report by The Canadian Press was first publish...

Levi’s executive tapped as CEO of NWSL’s San Francisco Bay Area team

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Levi Strauss & Co. executive Brady Stewart has been named chief executive officer of Bay FC, the National Women’s Soccer League team set to launch in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2024.Stewart will work with the owners of the new team, which include investment firm Sixth Street and a group of former U.S. women’s national team players: Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton and Aly Wagner.“Brady is a world-class leader with a proven instinct for innovating and accelerating growth in changing markets, and she’s going to drive our founding vision of building Bay FC into a franchise that represents more than just a soccer team,” Alan Waxman, cofounder and CEO of Sixth Street, said in a statement Wednesday. “She has a deep love and appreciation for both the game and the Bay Area, and she knows how to galvanize passionate people towards a common goal.”The league’s 14th expansion team was announced in April. It will be the third Ca...

Poles hold protests demanding liberalized abortion law after death of pregnant woman

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles demanding a liberalization of the abortion law protested in Warsaw and other Polish cities on Wednesday after a woman who was five months pregnant died of sepsis, the latest such death since a tightening of Poland’s abortion law.The protesters vented their fury against the ruling party, Law and Justice, or PiS, over several deaths in maternity wards in the past couple of years. The cases involved hospitals that refused to terminate pregnancies due to the presence of a fetal heartbeat even when the women were in grave danger.“PiS kills,” said a sign at the protest in Warsaw, where hundreds gathered around a monument to the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. “Mom, I am afraid for my future,” said another.The 33-year-old woman died last month in the John Paul II hospital in Nowy Targ in southern Poland. It is a hospital in a deeply conservative region of the mostly Catholic nation. The hospital contains relics of the late Polish pope and Polis...

Movie review: Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ won’t set the world on fire, but it holds water

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

Pixar’s “Elemental” conjures a diverse metropolis where the elements — fire, water, earth and air — live like ethnicities mostly ghettoized from one other. For fire and water, especially, mingling can be combustible. A bad splash could consume fire; a strong flame could evaporate water. This is the rare kids’ movie where subway rides are actually more fraught with danger than in the real world. “Elemental” is the 27th Pixar feature and the second from longtime studio veteran Peter Sohn (“The Good Dinosaur”). But in many ways, it feels like a spiritual sequel to the Disney Animation release “Zootopia,” a likewise gleaming urban tower of anthropomorphized racial metaphors with occasional interactions with municipal bureaucracy.In “Elemental,” Ember Lumen (voiced by Leah Lewis) is the daughter of immigrants from Fireland: Ernie (Ronnie Del Carmen) and Cinder (Shila Omni), both of whom were handed English names while passing through an Ellis Island-like customs entry.Like countless real...

Poilievre calls for Mendicino to resign over handling of Paul Bernardo transfer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

OTTAWA — Marco Mendicino should resign or be fired over his office’s handling of knowledge that Paul Bernardo was being transferred to a medium-security prison, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday. Poilievre pointed out that when the Correctional Service of Canada’s decision to move the convicted killer and serial rapist from his maximum-security penitentiary became public, the minister of public safety said he was shocked. The Conservative leader now says Mendicino “lied,” given the correctional service informed the minister’s office at least three months before the transfer and again several days before Bernardo was moved. Spokesman Kevin Antonucci said the correctional service has a process to provide the minister’s office advance notice on matters pertaining to high-profile offenders.He said Mendicino’s office was first emailed about Bernardo’s transfer on March 2, but told the final date for the move had not yet been...

Urban Prep Academy loses appeal to stop CPS takeover

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:58:07 GMT

CHICAGO — Urban Prep Academy lost another appeal Wednesday as it tried to keep its charter status and stop a Chicago Public Schools takeover.While siding with the Chicago Board of Education, a judge said Urban Prep didn't meet the necessary threshold for a temporary restraining order but stressed this is not a judgement on the merits of the case overall. CPS moved to strip Urban Prep of its charter status last fall. It said it's planning to keep both campuses open and automatically enroll the students there. It also plans to keep qualified staff on board. Previous Coverage: CPS to take over 2 Urban Prep campuses after charter school’s appeal denied A judge plans to rule on the charter school network's temporary restraining order against CPS.   CPS moved last fall to take control of Urban Prep's schools in Bronzeville and Englewood amid allegations of financial misconduct against the charter's founder.The Illinois Board of Education denied Urban Prep's appeal to renew its char...