Toronto has experienced an unprecedented level of snowfall during this election and, as you know, we are all still digging out.

There are many seniors and people with mobility issues in the community and Elections Ontario officials have been hearing from elderly and other voters who are still trapped indoors due to age or ability level.

Well, now you can request a vote for the February 27 Ontario elections by home visit. Your request has to be made before February 26.

You can request to vote by home visit if you are unable to go to your local election office or voting location or require assistance to vote.

To request a home visit, contact your local election office at 145 Evans Avenue or call 833- 905-3499 or 1-888-668-8683 by 6 p.m. before February 26 to schedule a home visit.  You can also reach them by e-mail at info@elections.on.ca

If your request is approved, two election officials will bring a voting kit to your home to assist you in voting. You will need to show one piece of ID and complete the application form before receiving your ballot.

You will write the first and last name of the candidate of your choice on the write-in ballot. Then, you will fold your ballot and place the ballot in the envelopes as indicated before returning it to the election official.

South Etobicoke residents and home owners are being reminded to clean the snow and ice from their sewers and drains as the next few days will be milder with much melting of ice and flooding.

City officials said it is expected to hit up to five degrees next week and residents should takes steps against possible flooding of basements and structures.

Residents are urged to clean the mountains of snow, ice and slush that can hamper the flow of water from their sewers or drains to curb flooding.

Pet owners are also encouraged to keep a close eye if they are walking their pets near rivers or streams as the animal can jump in the ice and end up in the frigid waters.

There has been a number of reports already of pets falling through thin ice as the temperatures climb.

At this time of the year for outdoor pet walkers or nature lovers the most common concerns are falling through weak ice into extremely cold water and slipping from the banks of moving waterways made unstable by melting ice, snow and rapidly rising water levels.

Police encourage people to be extremely cautious around ice at this time of year, which can be unpredictable.

City officials warn that when temperatures rise quickly after a snowstorm, melting snow can overwhelm drainage systems and cause flooding.

To reduce the risk, you can: remove snow around your foundation, clear snow from sewers, downspouts or use sandbags to block water from entering low-lying areas.

Melting ice and snow can cause flooding, which can damage homes and infrastructure. It is a leading cause of drownings in Canada, especially at the beginning and end of winter. This is due to climate change, which is causing the ice to form less often and be less stable.

A group of South Etobicoke criminals dubbed the sledgehammer gang has been rounded up by Toronto Police 22 Division officers.

Officers of the Major Crime Unit in Project Sledgehammer arrested three suspects, seized $20,000 in Canadian cash and 5.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin with an approximate street value of $140,000.

Police in a release allege group members were investigated for two last December break and enters to homes in the Islington Avenue and Dundas Street W. area in which a sledgehammer and crowbar were used to smash the front doors.

In one of the attempted robberies there were people inside the home and in another police made an arrest at the scene. There were no injuries.

Detectives issued a search warrant last December and seized the haul of drugs, cash and burglary tools.

Charged with a long list of break and enter offences are Alden O’Neil, 45, of Whitby, Inderdip Singh Sahota, 36, of Brampton, and Shivansh Sharma, 34, of Kleinburg, who was arrested in Montreal.

Officers are still trying to identify four suspects wearing hoodies and have released images of the men captured on security cameras.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the investigators at the 22 Division Major Crime Unit at 416-808-2200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

 

An RCMP Cyber Crime unit has arrested two Toronto residents who are accused of scamming more than 500 victims of millions of dollars in a bank teller or police calling schemes.

The Mounties believe the two used technology to hide their phone numbers, deceiving people into thinking they were speaking with their bank, a government employee or police staff.

Cybercrime investigators raided the suspects’ residence, seizing a “trove” of items including “electronic devices,” police said in a press release. The RCMP says they are aware of 570 victims of the phone scams and hope more will come forward now.

Many residents of South Etobicoke have complained about the scam calls, which displays a legitimate official number on caller ID.

The scam involved residents receiving calls from suspects posing as bank, police or Canadian government workers claiming that criminals had accessed their bank accounts and they required money, their passwords or account numbers to catch the thieves.

The information was then used to steal from their accounts.

Police allege the pair used a website that allow “criminals to impersonate corporations by displaying a fake caller identification.”

Chakib Mansouri, 29, and Majdouline Alouah, 31, have been charged with unauthorized use of computer, laundering proceeds of crime, unauthorized possession of credit card data and possessing the proceeds of crime.

Both are in custody and will appear in court on February 21.

According to Statistics Canada, more than 40,000 cybercrimes were reported from January to June 2024, police said.  Fraud accounted for 56 per cent of the violations, child pornography accounted for 16 per cent, and harassing and threatening behaviours accounted for 14 per cent, as reported by the police.

A public meeting is being held in a City study that will increase the density and heights of buildings to 11 stories, upgrade and beautify sections of Lake Shore Blvd. W. corridor.

The Lake Shore Boulevard West Avenue Study community feedback drop-in meeting will be held on February 26 at Lakeshore Collegiate Institute, at 350 Kipling Avenue, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

City officials said recommendations for the area have been developed through community input, technical research, industry feedback and city by-laws.

“The recommendations are to be resilient, forward thinking, and make for a thriving, safe and accessible avenue,” according to a City notice.

The study said the four kilometre corridor in New Toronto and Long Branch is ideal for intensification and mid-rise buildings from Dwight Avenue west to Brown’s Line, with gaps at Humber College.

The corridor contains mostly two or three-storey commercial buildings with angled or parallel on-street parking, with some newer townhouses and some six-to-eight storey residential buildings.

The study proposes mid-rise buildings up to 11 storeys high along Lake Shore Blvd. W., west of Kipling Avenue and up to eight-stories along Lake Shore Blvd. W., east to Dwight Avenue.

The City’s Planning Department Staff also plan to streamline the development application process for proposals to meet new performance standards.

The plan will improve the ‘sub-standard sidewalk widths, lack of street trees, angled, perpendicular or parallel street parking, lack of street furniture as benches, waste bins, bicycle posts and lock up rings.’

“This study seeks to evaluate opportunities to improve the public realm to better support, facilitate, and accommodate the expanding population of south Etobicoke and the local economy,” according to the study.

Staff said the proposal for the area supports public transit, will integrate green infrastructure, make it safer, more attractive and vibrant to support local businesses.

Feedback from the community called for more greenery or tree canopy for the Corridor. Other concerns includes the installation of bike lanes along the boulevard in addition to easy accessibility to the TTC. The study is not looking at the installation of bike lanes at this point.

Long-time community social agency Haven on the Queensway which has helped thousands of needy area residents is moving and seeking donations to help restore a donated building nearby.

The charity that helps about 3,000 people weekly is trying to raise $250,000 by May when they have to move into a spacious office next door to their current 1533 The Queensway building.

Aretha Khaloo, Haven’s Director of Operations, said the building, which was donated by a developer, requires renovation work, including to the roof and sections of the inside, which the agency is responsible for.

“We have been working hard to find a larger facility that can meet the growing needs of our community while remaining accessible to our clients,”Khaloo explained.  “Our agency has grown and we will have move space to help our clients.”

The agency has launched a fundraising drive for the renovation and a planned new mixed-use building complex at 1543 – 1551 The Queensway they will occupy with other charities as Habitat for Humanity, Community Affordable Housing Solutions and St. Clare’s Multi-Faith Housing Society.

The complex will be made up of four towers ranging from 30 to 45 storeys constructed on a site that contains light industrial properties to be demolished.

A development application involving Hariri Pontarini Architects is going through the hearings process and will take some time. When completed the complex will have 342 affordable units out of 1,819 homes.

Haven on the Queensway would operate an over 3,750 square-metre facility across three levels of the podium. It will maintain its core housing services like a food bank, seasonal clothing donation centre, support services for senior citizens and its mobile street help services.

Other services planned include a daycare and playground, a drop-in space capable of hosting a wide range of meetings and events, and an educational centre teaching ESL programs and helping equip people with the tools and resources to find employment.

Meanwhile, Haven’s Coldest Night of the Year fundraising walk takes place for the 12^th year on February 22 at Sherway Gardens Mall. Supporters will be walking laps around the large mall.

Donations can be made on their website havenontheq.com

These Pearson Airport passengers are lucky to be alive and to see their loved ones this Family Day.

One child and two adults were critically injured after a plane with 80 passengers crashed and rolled over on its roof at Pearson International Airport on February 17 around 2:45 p.m. on Runway 23.

There was a crew of four on board the two-hour flight. It is not known if any was injured.

Some 15 passengers on the 16-year-old Canadian made CRJ 900 aircraft suffered injuries and were rushed to local hospitals for treatment, including the Hospital for Sick Kids. Fortunately, no one was killed.

Air Ornge officials said one man in his 60s and a woman in her 60s sustained critical injuries and were taken to two separate hospitals.

The incident involved Delta Airlines Flight 4819 which was arriving from Minneapolis – Saint Paul International Airport. The sky was clear and it was windy, but not snowing at the time of the incident.

Pearson emergency fire and ambulance crews rushed to the jet, which was on its roof on the runway. Flights were rerouted to other airports, including those in Hamilton and Montreal.

Images showed passengers and crews hurrying out of the outside down aircraft heading for the warmth and safety of a Pearson terminal.

“Emergency teams are responding. All passengers and crew are accounted for,” according to a post from Pearson Airport.

The suspended flights left many incoming and outgoing travellers in uncertainty of their travel plans. There were a number of flights delayed. Many passengers at Pearson were already facing weekend delays due to the snowy weather.

Peel police were on the scene investigating with paramedics and formed a staging area off the runway.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says provincial officials are in contact with Toronto Person to offer assistance following today’s plane crash.

“I’m relieved there are no casualties after the incident at Toronto Pearson,” Ford said in a post on X. “Provincial officials are in contact with the airport and local authorities and will provide any help that’s needed.”

The Bombardier CRJ-900 is a narrow-body, fixed-wing jet aircraft that seats 76 to 90 passengers. It’s a regional jet airliner that’s used by many airlines, including Air Canada, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada and other officials are investigating the incident.

Royal York Road is a two-lane roadway that is slated to undergo world-class traffic congestion if four proposed mega condo projects are built along a two kilometre stretch.

A proposal has been filed to build a 12 storey rental apartment on Royal York Road just feet away from the Gardiner Expressway.

The apartment at 464 Royal York Road is just north of Evans Avenue and south of the Expressway. It will contain 112 units, according to documents filed.

The proposal will be considered by Etobicoke York Community Council on February 19 and by City Council on March 26.

City staff are opposing the plan before the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) since an application for by-law amendments have outstanding issues to be resolved.

The application was submitted in February last year to permit a rental residential building which will include 48 one-bedroom apartments, 53 two-bedrooms and 11 three-bedroom units.

There are 61 parking spaces proposed for vehicles and 85 spots for bicycles.

The site is now occupied by a one-storey brick industrial building, which will be demolished.

Also in the works, is a proposal to build three mixed-use towers ranging from 17 to 35 stories at the intersection of Royal York Road and Queen Elizabeth Drive, which is also before the OLT.

The plan will mean the demolition of some homes and buildings at 506, 514, 516, 520 and 522 Royal York Road and 3, 5 and 15 Sinclair Street and 2, 7 and 10 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard.

A zoning by-law amendment application has also been filed to redevelop 351 through 365 Royal York Road into a 10-storey mixed use condo across from San Remo Bakery that will lead to the removal of eight homes.

Developers are seeking to build a mixed-use 37 storey and 23 storey towers at 266 and 268 Royal York Road, along with an eight-storey storage warehouse on the site.

The site is located on the west side of Royal York Road at its intersection with Stanley Avenue, near Cavell Avenue.

The buildings will contain 824 residential units, consisting of 613 studio and one-bedroom units, 167 two-bedroom units and 44 three-bedroom units. There will also be an eight-storey attachment.

Residents claim Royal York Road is already congested with traffic and will get worst as hundreds of new condo-buyers move in.

The City says tougher security measures are required as more online confidential Council, committee and board meetings are being conducted since the pandemic.

Auditor General Tara Anderson in a January 28 report called for online security guidelines to be beefed up with cybersecurity controls for conducting confidential meetings for City Council, its committees, boards, agencies and corporations.

It is possible for some bad actors to access some of the meetings to obtain confidential City information from staff online. There has already been major cybersecurity breaches at the Toronto Zoo, Toronto Public Library, some hospitals and the Cities of Hamilton and Huntsville.

Anderson wrote that over the last five years the City like other organizations accelerated the use of online collaboration and meetings through technology due to the COVID pandemic.

“Hybrid meetings, a combination of in-person and online video conferencing, have become common, including for conducting legislative meetings,” Anderson noted. “While these meetings have benefits in terms of ease and efficiency, they also introduce cybersecurity and confidentiality risks.”

She called for a security review to further strengthen the practices and controls used in initiating and conducting online meetings, particularly for confidential (in-camera) meetings.

The report said new guidelines for online confidential meetings should be drawn up and disseminated to City divisions, boards, committees, agencies and corporations. The guidelines can also be used for staff cybersecurity training.

The guidelines will be used ‘to proactively prevent unauthorized access to confidential information discussed in these meetings.’

She said the City Clerk has developed processes and staff training to secure the electronic portion of closed meetings of City Council and its bodies.

The report cited online security breaches can occur if an unauthorized staff member remained in a confidential meeting, staff can log into a meeting with reused credentials or login credentials being communicated in a public session.

It called for access to confidential meeting to be controlled though codes or passwords, which should not be reused, enable ‘waiting room’ features to validate attendees and lock online meetings.