Toronto Police Looking For Black Honda Civic in Yonge-Eglinton Shooting of Sukh Deo, 34

Toronto police are looking for a black vehicle last spotted fleeing from the scene of a fatal daylight shooting on Tuesday.

At a Thursday afternoon press conference, Det.-Sgt. Joyce Schertzer told the media police are looking for a 2000-2005 black Honda Civic with “distinctive rims.” She said the rims do not commonly appear on cars today, as they are a more dated model.

The victim, Sukh Deo, was the subject of a targeted hit, she said.

Schertzer also read a statement from Deo’s family who said he left behind a wife and two children. “The family wants whoever is responsible for this to be brought to justice,” the statement said.

The 34-year-old was shot repeatedly in an alley on Tuesday, with 18 bullets ripping through the window of his parked Range Rover.

He was shot just before 3 p.m. on Cowbell Lane, an alleyway behind the Minto Towers south of Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave.

Court records show that Deo was charged with cocaine trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime in October 2013, and he was seven months away from a trial in Ontario Superior Court.

No suspects have been arrested, but two men were seen fleeing the scene in a black car. One was wearing an orange construction vest, the other a green vest.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
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Witness Sought to Fatal Stabbing at Gucci's Bar and Grill in North York

TORONTO - Toronto Police want to speak with a witness to the fatal stabbing of 20-year-old Kiowa Wind McComb earlier this year.

McComb was killed on Feb, 9, around 2 a.m. at Gucci’s Bar and Grill near Jane St. and Lawerence Ave. W. His 23-year-old brother suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the attack.

The brothers got into an altercation at the bar, homicide Det. Shawn Mahoney said Thursday.

“Toward the end of the evening, the brothers became involved in a verbal confrontation with another patron that spilled out to the front of the bar,” Mahoney said, adding the argument turned into a physical fight where both victims got stabbed.

Mahoney released security footage of a witness that he said can provide “background information,” and is urging him to come forward.

“We need to speak to this witness for the completeness of this investigation,” he said. “The actual offence itself was not captured on surveillance video, that’s why we’re relying on the witnesses to assist us.”

Mahoney added they’re not looking for a second suspect, and that they’re just looking for more information.

“Given the proximity to where the offence occurred, he may be able to provide some narrative as to what occurred out front,” he said.

After the stabbing, police said two suspects got away in a cab. One suspect was arrested when the cab was stopped and the other got away.

Andre Appleton, 35, of Toronto, is charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder.

McComb, the city’s 13th homicide of the year, was an indigenous youth intern in the Royal Ontario Museum’s learning department.

The ROM created the Kiowa Wind McComb Internship in memory of the victim.
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Toronto Police Look For Vehicle Involved In Shooting Of 10 Year Old on 70 Blake Street

Toronto Police are looking for a vehicle involved in a shooting investigation where a 10 year old boy was shot in the shoulder.

Last Friday just before midnight, two unidentified parties were dropped off in a what police believe to be a two-door 2007-2010 green Hyundai Accent.

The 2 men fired several shots into the rear of unit 111 of 70 Blake Street striking a 10-year-old boy who was sleeping inside in the shoulder.

The two parties then fled the complex in the Pape and Danforth area in the same vehicle.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5500, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.222tips.com.
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Maple Leaf Gardens Predator Gordon Stuckless Gets 6 Years In Prison

A Toronto courtroom erupted in shouts of anger Thursday when a man who has pleaded guilty to 100 charges for the crimes he committed against 18 young boys decades ago was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

Gordon Stuckless, who has also been convicted of two additional charges of gross indecency linked to two of the 18 victims, was given credit of six months for time served under house arrest, which means his sentence is reduced to six years.

Some victims and their supporters shouted profanities at Stuckless after Justice Mara Greene read the decision, while one victim walked out of the courtroom in protest.

“I've had (expletive) nightmares longer than six years,” one man yelled at Stuckless as he was led away in handcuffs.

His lawyer, Ari Goldkind, had argued Stuckless should face a five-year sentence, with two years of credit for time spent on house arrest and steps taken to prevent recidivism — namely the fact that he has voluntarily undergone chemical castration for more than a decade.

Goldkind said Thursday he was pleased with the sentence.

“He turned his life around. He made a vow never to harm another hair on a child's head. While many people do not accept that...those are the facts,” he said outside court.

The Crown had called for a 12-year sentence, saying Stuckless has not shown genuine remorse for his actions and cannot be legally compelled to continue taking anti-libido medication.

Stuckless apologized in court earlier this year, saying he betrayed his young victims' trust and he alone should bear that shame.

“I befriended you, rewarded you, manipulated you. I take full responsibility for my actions in the past,” he said at the time.

“I know that I have caused a lot of harm, pain and shame to all of you. Again, I want to say I am ashamed and sorry for all that I have done in the past abusing you.”

Some of his victims and their relatives have said the trauma they endured left them with permanent emotional scars and, in many cases, pushed them to substance abuse.

They argue Stuckless should be locked up for life for preying on vulnerable children over several decades.

Prosecutors decided earlier this year not to seek to have Stuckless designated a dangerous or long-term offender, based in part on a court-ordered psychiatric assessment that found he doesn’t meet the criteria.

But the Crown had said his history of sexual abuse should be considered “extremely aggravating.”

Stuckless previously pleaded guilty in 1997 for sex assaults on 24 boys while he worked as an equipment manager at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens between 1969 and 1988.

He was sentenced to two years less a day in that case, but that was increased to five years on appeal. He was paroled in 2001 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Court heard during sentencing arguments that Stuckless was convicted on two other occasions of sex offences against underage boys.
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Surge in Gun Violence in Toronto

We’ve been down this road before, staring down the barrel of the gun.

The nightmare recurs, and we wring our hands, blame the victims, damn the perpetrators, demand the black community stand up and take responsibility, wonder why the cops aren’t miracle workers who arrest the brazen bad guys immediately and fret about our safety when the bullets penetrate our public gathering places.

It’s so predictable. Anticipation breeds expectancy, grows into normality. And, finally, routine.

Mayor John Tory gamely refused on Wednesday to “stand here and accept” the argument that the current outbreak of gun violence is a byproduct of big-city life. But, displaying maturity often missing in such circumstances, Tory didn’t fall back on “let’s throw more cops at the problem.” Instead, he admitted to the city that solutions will be long in coming, that he’s willing to try everything, and “there is no magic wand on this.”

Tory was flanked by Councillors Giorgio Mammoliti and Vincent Crisanti and Josh Colle. The Rexdale corner of Crisanti’s ward has been deluged by hits recently. Mammoliti always manages to wallow in this bloody mess.

In 2003, he proposed a gun amnesty. He wants another one, with a twist. This time Mammo wants businesses to offer “coupons for guns.” You turn in your gun, and you get food coupons.

Mothers and sisters and girlfriends know where the guns are and will take them from under the pillow and under the mattress — if offered food, Mammo told reporters.

One would laugh, except, what’s your solution?

Most of us go about our business, avoiding gazes, tightening the collar around our necks, fearful of being afraid, defiant, in denial — flummoxed really, by the blood on our streets.

As long as they are just killing each other.

It’s been 10 years and counting since the so-called summer of the gun. You’d be hard-pressed to find something to say now that wasn’t said then. The tragedy. The pain. The lost lives barely memorialized and rarely remembered.

Back then, like today, young men were executed in broad daylight. Bullets were sprayed in public places — sometimes hitting bystanders. Young women died in cars shot up by gangsters settling a score with a passenger or the driver. And victims driving expensive cars were taken out by professional hit men — much like what appears to have happened near the Minto towers at Eglinton and Yonge on Tuesday.

Amon Beckles, 18, was killed on the steps of my church — ambushed by three other men attending the funeral of Jamal Hemmings, 17, shot 10 days earlier.

Then, there was the Eaton Centre chaos. And Danzig.

And children got shot and killed by bullets meant for someone else — bullets invading children’s bedrooms.

So, there was the mayor on Wednesday, speaking at a news conference because that’s what he’s paid to do — keep the faith, tell citizens that all is well in Hogtown. Well, as “well” as it could be.

The federal government has to help with stemming the flow of illegal guns across the border, Tory said.

School boards and municipalities must combine efforts so schools don’t sit empty in summer while kids while away the summer days on the street.

Police have to keep kicking in the doors of the bad guys.

And social programs need a boost. “We have to get to the alienated and marginalized young people” before they turn to crime, Tory said.

And beyond government and the police and social programs, “we are asking for help from the people of Toronto to gather up their courage” to tell police what they know about the shootings and get the gunmen off the streets.

“The violence is complex, the problem is complex, and it’s not going to be easily isolated or fixed. You don’t notice me or my colleagues standing here and saying we have an easy answer; there is not an easy answer, but we know we have to do more,” Tory said.

Gun violence is still front-page news in Toronto. That’s good. It means we care. At least, nominally so.

After the shooting at the Rexdale church in November 2005, the provincial attorney general called it “an exceptionally abhorrent act... an assault on a civil society.” The shooters “belong in jail right now,” said then mayor David Miller. Then councillor Karen Stintz said the news “makes me want to cry.” The issue is so pressing “there is no other city priority than this,” she said.

Police have made no arrests in the murder of Beckles and Hemmings.
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Owning Your Dream Home In Toronto. A Dream?

Lyndall Schumann and her husband have been living frugally and saving since finishing their undergraduate degrees.

But even with a hefty downpayment, buying their three-bedroom semi-detached house in Toronto earlier this year required a bit of good fortune.

"We got lucky because it was an estate sale and it was a family that had been here for 50 years, and they kind of wanted it to go to another family," Schumann said in an interview.

Unlike many house sales in Toronto, she added, her house "didn't go for a crazy amount over the asking price." The home was listed for $800,000, but Schumann declined to say how much more they paid.

Until the graduate student completes her training to become a psychologist in two years, Schumann acknowledges the family budget will be strained.

"Especially with daycare, it is a stretch," Schumann said, noting that her one-year-old son will start in the fall when she begins a residency program.

Soaring home prices in Toronto and Vancouver are testing levels of affordability not seen since the early 1990s, when the country was in a recession and mortgage rates were north of 10%.

"In Toronto, we're not as bad as 1990, but we're not that far from it either," said Robert Hogue, senior economist at the Royal Bank.

In Toronto, home ownership costs -- including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes -- for a single detached home were 71.4% of the median household income. The average for the city since 1985 is 55.5%, according to Royal Bank.

Hogue notes that home ownership in Vancouver has always been an expensive proposition, but prices in recent months go "well beyond" what can be explained by a relatively robust local economy.

"Vancouver, I think I would say, is in a different league," he said. "It is probably among a select group of global cities where home prices are not connected to the local economic fundamentals."

RBC's measure of affordability put the cost of a single detached house in Vancouver at 109% of the median income in the fourth quarter of last year, meaning the costs are more than a typical household's pre-tax income. Essentially, that means owning a detached home in the city is all but impossible for most people.

In markets outside Vancouver and Toronto, home ownership remains within reach for the average household. Low interest rates have helped offset the rise in home prices in smaller cities across the country and kept monthly mortgage payments in check.

Outside of the two hottest markets, RBC's affordability measure is generally close to the historical average, and recent trends have been either stable or improving slightly.

In Ottawa, home ownership costs for a single-family detached home in the fourth quarter took up 36.5% of a typical household's pre-tax income. In Calgary, it was 38.3%; in Montreal, it was 42.8%.

But Hogue notes that climbing house prices, even in markets outside Vancouver and Toronto, have outpaced gains in income in recent decades, making it more difficult for first-time buyers to come up with a downpayment.

Schumann knows she and her husband got lucky in Toronto. Similar houses just down the street have sold for more than $1 million.

"Even though it was in a good area, there were just certain things about it that made it ... not as tempting for other buyers," she said of her house. "We're living with things we can live with, and anything that absolutely needs to be fixed, we're doing as it needs to be done."
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Bank of Canada Warns Toronto Real Estate Boom Not Sustainable

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada says surging prices in real estate markets like Vancouver and Toronto are not sustainable at their current pace.

In its latest assessment of Canada’s financial health, the central bank took aim at the housing sector, saying vulnerabilities due to the continued rise of household debt and greater imbalances in regional housing markets are higher than they were six months ago.

The severity of the risks associated with a sharp correction in real estate prices in Vancouver and Toronto as well as from household financial stress has risen, said the bank’s semi-annual financial system review released Thursday.

“In this risk scenario, a severe recession in Canada generates a sharp increase in unemployment across the country that places many highly indebted households under financial stress and causes a broad-based correction in house prices,” the bank said.

“This chain of events would strain the financial system and the real economy. Such a scenario might unfold if a large negative demand shock hit the Canadian economy, but the probability of this risk occurring remains low.”

The bank warned that soaring prices in Vancouver and Toronto, as well as some of their adjacent areas, may also be supported by “self-reinforcing price expectations.” It added that it’s unlikely economic fundamentals will justify continued strong price increases.

“This suggests that prospective homebuyers and their lenders should not extrapolate recent real estate performance into the future when contemplating a transaction,” Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said in a statement that accompanied the review.

The caution came as the federal government faces pressure from researchers, bankers and other housing sector observers to address expanding household indebtedness and rising house prices, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Ottawa was conducting an in-depth examination of the country’s real estate markets to determine what measures might be necessary to ensure Canadians can still afford to buy homes.

Morneau did not specify what sort of changes the government was considering or how soon it may introduce them.

Over the winter, he increased the minimum down payment for homes over $500,000 to 10 per cent from five per cent, a measure aimed specifically at cooling off the Toronto and Vancouver markets.

Ottawa is also examining whether there is any evidence to support the notion held by some that foreign buyers are driving up home prices, Morneau added.

The Bank of Canada’s report said foreign demand has contributed to price growth in Vancouver and Toronto, which boosts overall household indebtedness. But it added that it’s currently difficult to measure the impact of foreign investment.

The document said year-over-year house price growth in the greater Vancouver area hit 30 per cent last month, up from 15 per cent in December. In Toronto, prices increased by 15 per cent, compared to 10 per cent six months ago.

The report, which examines vulnerabilities and risks to the financial system, also highlighted other persistent concerns.

It pointed to the continued presence of fragile fixed-income market liquidity as a key vulnerability in the overall financial system, while it repeats the risks of a sharp increase in long-term interest rates, stress from emerging markets like China and prolonged weakness in commodity prices.

“The overall level of risk to Canada’s financial system is largely unchanged from six months ago,” the bank said.

“While household vulnerabilities have moved higher, the ongoing economic recovery in Canada means that the overall risk remains the same. The Canadian financial system is resilient and functioning effectively.”
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Sukhvir Singh Deo, 34 Former Vancouver Gangster Gunned Down in Toronto Had Been Involved in B.C.’s Wolf Pack Gang Alliance

A former Vancouver gangster who was gunned down in Toronto had been involved in the Wolf Pack gang alliance, sources said Wednesday.

Sukhvir Singh Deo, 34, was shot to death just before 3 p.m. near the busy intersection of Yonge and Eglinton.

Toronto police still have not released his name, but the Sun confirmed his identity with his family and with police in B.C.

When Deo lived in Metro Vancouver, he was aligned with the Independent Soldiers gang, Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of B.C.’s anti-gang agency said on Wednesday.

“His historical gang association or connection is to the Independent Soldiers and to certain people involved with the Independent Soldiers,” said Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.

But Deo has been better known as a Wolf Pack member since moving to Ontario in 2013.

Some members of the IS, along with some in the Hells Angels and some Red Scorpion gangsters are using the Wolf Pack identity, Houghton said.

“Certain people and part of the IS and their alignments would consider themselves under the Wolf Pack umbrella,” he said. “You have to look at it like cells.”

Houghton said the Wolf Pack has both national and international connections despite its B.C. origins.

Deo was close to two original Wolf Pack members — Hells Angel Larry Amero and James Riach of the IS.

The Sun obtained a photo taken several years ago in which Deo is posing with Amero and with Independent Soldier Don Lyons.

Amero and Riach were targeted along with Red Scorpion leader Jon Bacon in a 2011 shooting in Kelowna. Bacon was killed, Amero was wounded and Riach was grazed.

Amero was later arrested in Montreal and implicated in an international drug ring. He remains in jail there awaiting trial.

Riach was picked up in the Philippines and charged with drug trafficking, but the case later fell apart. His current whereabouts are unknown.

After the 2011 shooting, Wolf Pack members were warring on the streets of Metro Vancouver with rivals from the so-called Dhak-Duhre group.

Deo’s name had surfaced in connection with the May 2012 murder in Port Moody of Duhre associate Gurbinder (Bin) Toor. Toor’s 40th birthday would have been Monday.

No charges have been laid in the murder. Port Moody Police Const. Angela Fisher said Wednesday that there’s no update on the Toor murder investigation.

Deo’s uncle Sohan told The Sun his nephew had a big trucking company in Ontario.
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Toronto City Council Approves Next Step Towards Landlord Licensing

In what’s being hailed a major win for tenants, city council has approved the next step towards licensing landlords. It’s a move advocates say will lead to better adherence to building standards and improve the quality of life of the half of Toronto’s residents who live in apartments.

Despite earlier pushback to the idea said to be emanating from the mayor’s office, a large majority of councillors agreed to go ahead with public consultations, as staff had recommended.

The vote was 33-6, with Councillors John Campbell, Christin Carmichael Greb, Stephen Holyday, Giorgio Mammoliti, Denzil Minnan-Wong and James Pasternak voting against.

“It’s a big relief that we’re in a position to continue working on this,” said Natalie Hundt, a spokesperson for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). “Right now I’m just really grateful that we have the opportunity, after 12 long years of work, to move forward on this, finally.”

City staff have proposed that licensing would apply to 3,300 apartment buildings that are three storeys or higher, with 10 units or more. Information would be made available to prospective and existing tenants as part of a proactive approach to ensuring that building standards are maintained, including requiring landlords to develop maintenance plans.

Hundt said there is still much more work to do. She hopes staff will bring forward a report recommending licensing that is efficient and has enough “teeth” to force compliance.

The vote came after an earlier fight at the licensing committee, where Mayor John Tory’s office was accused of trying to sideline the item.

Tory has said he’s not convinced licensing is the only way to deal with problem landlords, echoing arguments from the landlord lobby that the city should focus on improving its current enforcement. But on Wednesday, Tory and most of his executive voted to move ahead with consultations.

Representatives of the city’s landlords stepped up their lobbying efforts against the licensing measure in the past week, with lobbyists from StrategyCorp — a company founded by Tory’s campaign strategist, John Duffy — targeting the mayor and his supporters.

The Greater Toronto Apartment Association also launched a campaign, warning tenants they would be burdened with rent increases if council ultimately backed landlord licensing. The group referred to it as an “apartment tax.”

But on Wednesday, Tracey Cook, executive director of municipal licensing and standards, told council that assertion was “wholly false.” She said that while landlords could choose to apply to the Landlord and Tenant Board for above-guideline increases in rent to cover the cost, under current rules it would be difficult to get such an increase approved.

The provincial housing minister’s office earlier confirmed that, while landlords could apply for a rent increase, its expectation is “that licensing fees would not be passed on to tenants.”

Councillor Josh Matlow, who chairs the tenant issues committee and has pushed for licensing, said council’s vote sent a “strong message” that council plans to support tenants. “Today demonstrated that the landlord lobby’s efforts to misinform the public and try to manipulate tenants into advocating against their own interests failed,” he said.

GTAA president and CEO Daryl Chong said he was “disappointed” with the vote and insisted licensing would inevitably raise rents.

“It is a pass-through,” he said. “If the city imposes these fees, landlords will apply and it will be up to the Landlord (and) Tenant Board to approve or not. But we feel from the way the (regulation) is written that we can.”
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Sukh Deo 34, Former Vancouver Gangster Murdered Near Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto

Toronto Police Supt. Reuben Stroble told reporters at the scene that the fatal shooting “is a big surprise for this area, especially at this time of day.”

The luxury vehicle on Cowbell Lane, just steps from the busy Yonge-Eglinton intersection had at least 14 bullet holes visible on the driver’s side window.

Sukh’s uncle in Vancouver, Sohan Deo, confirmed it was his nephew who was killed.

The dead man’s father Parminder got a call from someone in Ontario, Sohan Deo said, and headed to Vancouver airport to get a flight to Toronto.

Parminder called his brother before he left.

“The family is very upset,” Sohan Deo said. “It is terrible.”

He said his nephew, who was married with young children, had moved to Toronto a few years ago and was running a trucking company with a friend.

“I went there in May and I stayed with him a few days. He took me to where those trucking businesses are,” Deo said.

He said he has no idea why his nephew would have been targeted.

“I really can’t say anything. It’s hard for me to say anything because he was over there,” he said.

Sukh Deo was well-known to police in British Columbia's Lower Mainland and was a suspect in at least one continuing investigation here at the time of his murder.

His brother Harjit was convicted in a 2005 gangland kidnapping along with others in the Independent Soldiers gang. The kidnap victim had been held in the garage of the Deo family home in New Westminster, B.C. where police later arrested several suspects.

Sukh’s father Parminder is wanted on an Interpol warrant on drug smuggling charges laid in India. He earlier told the Vancouver Sun he was innocent and had hired a lawyer in the Punjab to fight the case.

Sukh Deo was an avid fan of the Toronto Raptors, his uncle said. Just last month he was ejected from his courtside seat at Game 4 of the Raptors’ playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers after heckling the referees.

“All our kids, they watched him on that day,” Deo said. “He was a really big fan of that team. He always goes to watch the games.”

Two men are wanted in Deo’s murder., police said. They were seen fleeing the area in a black car. Both were wearing construction vests — one green and one orange.

In B.C., Sukh Deo had convictions for resisting a police officer, driving while suspended and assault.
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Lenny Lombardi Explains CHIN Bikini Contest Decision For 2016 in Toronto

CHIN president Lenny Lombardi said there will not be a bikini contest this year.
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Toronto has no choice but to pony up and raise taxes

Toronto needs more money. We want trains, tunnels, social housing that’s not disgraceful and a shiny happy waterfront, and we can’t pay for them. Everyone on City Council knows this, so periodically they convene a sacred ritual: the Airing of Preferences. Tuesday’s City Council meeting was the latest, and it went largely according to script.

All agreed that provincial and federal governments should cut bigger cheques. But beyond that, it was polite war. We should raise money by hiking property taxes, which are very low by GTA standards — maybe by five per cent. No, the $258 per year that represents on a $750,000 home would turn senior citizens into the streets. Significant efficiencies still await discovery in the city budget. No, that’s an ideological fantasy.

In between these occasional ceremonies, council has kept on approving capital projects and letting problems fester, balancing each year’s budget by hook or by crook. And Tuesday was in many ways pro forma. But we are perhaps closer than ever to escaping this pit of shame.
Wallace on who should pay

At the May 24 meeting of Toronto’s executive committee, Coun. David Shiner asked city manager Peter Wallace if he thought Toronto taxpayers could reasonably shoulder the burden of multibillion-dollar transit and public housing projects, as opposed to the province. Wallace’s response was as follows:

It is not my argument that they should be municipal responsibilities. That isn’t my argument. It is my argument that the kid who was born when those responsibilities were downloaded (from the province) is now in university. We have argued constantly, (under) two different regimes to the province, that it should be fixed. It has not been fixed.

We can make the argument and council can make the argument: no, we don’t want to invest in transit because the government of Ontario and Canada should invest in transit; no we do not want to invest in social housing because the government of Ontario and Canada should make that investment. That has been (city council’s) argument to date. My submission to you is that is no longer a responsible argument given the absolute fiduciary responsibility that we have on the basis of the taxpayers and ratepayers of this city. And I feel that very strongly. It is not a question of what should be. It is a question of what is.

New city manager Peter Wallace’s report to council nicely laid out the state of play. Not only are property taxpayers not overburdened relative to those in neighbour municipalities; adjusted for inflation, their collective contribution to city coffers has fallen five per cent since 2010. And while efficiencies remain to be realized at City Hall — no one who interacts regularly with it can possibly claim otherwise — spending is well under control. In real dollars, per capita gross expenditures today are roughly four per cent lower than in 2010.

But the sponge has been wrung dry, Wallace argues. The city is spending 19 per cent less this year on social services than it did in 2010. There are no more savings to be had there, especially if the city is serious about fixing public housing. If the real estate market ever pauses for oxygen, land transfer tax revenues will cease providing their annual budgetary bonuses.

And if city council actually wants the multibillion-dollar things it keeps saying it wants, it simply needs to hike taxes or introduce new ones. “The practice of deferring necessary expense is most evident in the increased number of unfunded capital projects and priorities, now estimated at up to $29 billion over 15 years,” the staff report observes.

From an economic and logical perspective, many taxes and fees Toronto can currently implement or raise, or might be allowed to — on gas, parking, sales, vehicle registrations, billboards, whatever — have things going for them. From a political perspective, they all have drawbacks. And there are those who feel it’s unthinkable to consider any while the city “wastes” so much of its existing budget — for example, spending $1.5 billion extra for a Scarborough subway purely for political reasons.

Coun. Josh Matlow, one of just three councillors who on Tuesday voted against asking Wallace to report back in the fall on a revamped framework “for the city’s multi-year financial and budget process,” argued he can’t ask his constituents to pay more until council gets its “act together.” He quite rightly noted city council’s limited oversight of the police and community housing budgets.

But how do councillors expunge the rankest politics from something like the location of new public transit?

“By doing the right thing,” said Matlow. And he is absolutely right.

But human life is finite, and I am inclined to support any reasonable tax, fee, levy or temporary refund adjustment that can start closing the gap between what Toronto has and what it needs. That discussion should happen, finally, when Wallace reports back in autumn. And if Mayor John Tory’s transit agenda is to be realized, it will have to happen.
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At executive committee last month, a somewhat aghast Coun. David Shiner wondered if Wallace was seriously suggesting Toronto taxpayers might shoulder the burden of capital costs for housing, transit and other big-ticket items. In Shiner’s view, these are clearly senior governments’ responsibilities.

“It is not my argument that they should be municipal responsibilities,” Wallace responded, rather splendidly. “It is my argument that the kid who was born when those responsibilities were downloaded (from the province) is now in university.”

“It is not a question of what should be,” he said. “It is a question of what is.”

Precisely. And this is under a left-leaning Liberal government that says it’s against austerity and committed to cities and social justice. It might not be there forever. The only real choice before this city, if it really wants the things it says it wants, is to pony up or shut up. I like ponies.
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SUV Bullet Riddled as Man Gunned Down at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto

TORONTO - Gunfire erupted in broad daylight in a bustling midtown neighbourhood Tuesday leaving a man dead inside a bullet-riddled SUV.

The shooting — the latest blood spilled in a year plagued by gun violence — unfolded around 2:50 p.m. on Cowbell Lane, a well-travelled alley just steps from Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave.

Many area residents heard the gunshots ring out and were shocked by the violence in their normally peaceful neighbourhood.

“It was like a quick, loud bang, bang, bang, bang,” Irtz Shah, 22, said shortly afterward, explaining he heard at least six shots in quick succession from his home on nearby Holly St.

“I never thought this could happen (here),” he added.

Toronto Police received numerous 911 calls about a vehicle being shot up. Officers raced to the scene and found a white Range Rover parked in the laneway, about 100 metres north of Soudan Ave.

Inside the high-end SUV, they found the lifeless body of a man behind the wheel, slumped over onto the passenger’s side.

The driver’s side window was riddled with at least 14 bullet holes and the alley was littered with empty shell casings.

Police say two men wearing construction vests, one orange and one green, were seen fleeing in a black car.

Insp. Reuben Stroble, of nearby 53 Division, said the neighbourhood is not considered one of the city’s crime “hot spots.”

“So for us this is a big surprise for this area, especially at this time of day,” he said at the scene. “We’re all shocked by this.”

Stroble stressed “Toronto is a safe city” compared to other urban centres with comparable populations.

Nick Giordano was across the street in a home his family has owned for 70 years when the bullets began to fly.

“It’s just unimaginable,” the 59-year-old said.

Hayley Morrison, who lives in nearby condo, called the murder “really scary.”

“I’m wishing it wasn’t in our area,” she said. “I wish it wasn’t anywhere, but especially not in our area.”

The slain man, whose name and age were not immediately available, is the city’s 33rd murder victim of the year — not including the three-week-old baby of recent shooting victim Candice Rochelle Bobb, who died Sunday.

And 21 of this year’s killings have been by gunfire, more than double the nine gun deaths at this time in 2015.

The murder also comes on the heels of a violent weekend that saw four victims shot, including a 10-year-old boy, and five stabbed.
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Akeil Purcell 27, and Shanika Spaulding 24 of Toronto Charged With Forcing Teen Into Prostitution, Black Lives Matter

Two people, a man and a woman, are facing charges after they allegedly forced a teen into prostitution.

According to Toronto police, a 16 year old girl met a man at a party in August of 2015.

He told her that he would take care of her and that she could come live with him and his female roommate.

The suspect then took photographs of the girl in various stages of undress and uploaded them to a website advertising sexual services.

It’s further alleged that he then took her to and from various hotels in the GTA and forced her to hand over all her earnings to him.

Investigators say she was forced to work almost every night and that the money she earned was used by the suspects to pay for their car insurance, rent and food for their family.

It’s said that he became physically abusive towards the victim and threatened that he would kill her if she ever left him.

Police were contacted on May 29th when the teen ended up in hospital following an assault carried out by both the male and female suspect.

Both were arrested on Wednesday and are now facing 13 charges between them.

27 year old Akeil Purcell is facing a number of trafficking, child pornography and assault charges, while 24 year old Shanika Spaulding is charged with assault and material benefit from sexual services (under 18).

Police are concerned that there may be other victims and are encouraging all affected individuals to come forward and report Human Trafficking occurrences to police.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
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Toronto's CHIN Bikini Contest Falls Victim to P.C. Police

A male feminist once derided me for using the term “tits” in an article. Apparently, these days, a woman isn’t even allowed to refer to her own body parts.

And God forbid you mention a powerful woman’s fashion choices in print. In our quest to excise the world of sexism, we’ve become overbearingly, tediously and outrageously politically correct.

Rather than risk offending anyone, we instead choose to cloak ourselves in bubble wrap and stick our heads in the sand like nervous ostriches. Just about everything now comes with a “trigger warning” — a term so overused it’s now essentially meaningless. Censorship is the new norm.

This is all a bit ironic in our quest for sexual, gender and racial freedom, no?

While political correctness rears its eye-roll-worthy head everywhere, it’s particularly bad in Canada.

It’s our nation’s nature to apologize even when there’s nothing to apologize for. We decided collectively long ago that the right to free speech should take a backseat to the possibility of hurting someone’s feelings. Yes, you can actually go to jail for saying something offensive enough in public.

But forget the absurdity of our hate speech laws: Now we’ve moved on to banning bikini contests. The CHIN picnic’s beloved annual bikini contest — a 40-year-old tradition — was cancelled this year.

In an emailed statement, president Lenny Lombardi chalked the cancellation up to putting the focus on diversity: “CHIN Radio’s mandate has always been to promote multiculturalism in Canada, and after 49 years of hosting the bikini contest, they have decided to say goodbye and focus on their roots.”

While that may be partly true, a not-so-small part of me suspects CHIN is actually scared of the PC police. They folded in the face of potential controversy.

The thing is CHIN’s bikini contest isn’t sexist: It contains both male and female categories and isn’t overly sexualized. While there’s some bare skin involved, it’s all in good fun and acts as a draw for a festival that some might not otherwise think to attend.

If you don’t like bikinis or find them weirdly offensive, guess what? You don’t have to watch or participate. The entire event doesn’t have to be shut down to appease a few naysayers.

The men and women who participate in these contests always seem to have a blast. Who are we to tell them what they can and can’t do with their bodies or judge their reasons for competing?

We have much larger things to worry about than guys and girls strutting around in themed swimwear. Let’s stop wasting our energy fighting nonsensical small battles and focus on what really matters.
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North York Bank Bandit Now Has Partner

TORONTO - A bandit who robbed three North York banks last year surfaced again recently, but this time with a partner.

And Toronto Police are anxious to nab the pair before they strike again.

“These two guys appear to be young,” Staff-Insp. Mike Earl, who heads up the Holdup Squad, said Tuesday. “They may even be high school students.”

He said the series of heists began in 2015 with one man holding up three banks in a narrow stretch of North York — from Keele St. to Bathurst St. between Sheppard Ave. W. and Steeles Ave W. on March 26, Aug. 10 and Sept. 5.

The bandit entered the branches by himself with his face partially masked wearing a baseball cap and hoodie.

“He presented a hand-written holdup note demanding a specific amount of money and stated he had a gun,” Earl said, adding the teller handed over an undisclosed amount of cash and the crook fled.

Earl said the bandit was off the radar for more than seven months before he struck again near Bathurst St. and Steeles Ave. on April 25.

“We believe the same guy was behind this bank job, but he had an accomplice with him this time,” Earl said.

Investigators have released video showing two menacing-looking suspects entering a Royal Bank branch wearing baseball hats with hoodies pulled up to partially cover their faces.

One of the bandits handed a note to a teller indicating he was armed and demanding money, Earl said. The pair fled with an undisclosed quantity of cash.

The main bandit is described as white, possibly Spanish, 18 to 20 years old, 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-8 and about 160 pounds.

His accomplice is thought to be 18 to 20 years old, possibly with an olive complexion, about 5-foot-3 with a slim build.

Anyone with information regarding the identity of this pair should call the Holdup Squad at 416-808-7350.
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Project Sizzle netted kin of tyrant who terrified prostitutes, Jahmal “Bambino” Richardson, 31, of Oakville, and his half-brother Kyle Sparks MacKinnon, 25. Black Lives Matter

TORONTO - Two alleged murderers arrested in last week’s massive Project Sizzle street gang sweep by Toronto Police are nephews of Morris “Moy” Glasgow, a criminal tyrant who ruled a countrywide network of terrified hookers two decades ago.

Alleged HOK gang leader Jahmal “Bambino” Richardson, 31, of Oakville, and his half-brother Kyle Sparks MacKinnon, 25, are facing first-degree murder charges in the shooting last Halloween of Charles Shillingford, 25.

Richardson was already in custody — after being charged last month with the murder — at the time of the raid. Police arrested 43 people, including 21 who were already in custody, in the sweep and charged them with numerous offences.

Glasgow, now 50, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1993 in Toronto for orchestrating a prostitution network — known for its brutality — starting in his hometown of North Preston, outside of Halifax.

Glasgow, his uncle Conrad Glasgow, and three others formed a “family network” of North Preston pimps. Police allege they ran girls from Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls in the early 1990s.

Twenty women were abducted and moved from city to city. They were terrorized, zapped with stun guns, threatened with firearms, and whipped.

The victims worked for the Glasgows for years, earning up to $2,300 a night — yet walked away penniless.

Police alleged that the East Coast crime family members moved to Toronto and adopted a new gang name, “Heart of a King (HOK).”

The gang specializes in human trafficking, gun and drug trafficking, and credit card fraud, according to police.

Alleged human trafficking suspect Easton Leduc, 26, of Oakville — Morris Glasgow’s son, who’s nicknamed “Baby Glasgow” — was also caught in last week’s sweep.
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TCHC urged to provide security in wake of boy's shooting in Toronto

TORONTO - Residents of an east-end social housing complex are certain outsiders came into their community and shot a 10-year-old boy as he slept inside his family’s townhouse.

Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher relayed that message, following a community-only meeting Tuesday night at the Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre, just steps away from 70 Blake St. — in the Danforth-Pape Aves. area — where shots were fired at one of the complex’s units Friday night.

TCHC tenants and other members of the immediate community voted to bar the media from the meeting.

“They don’t believe this was the responsibility of anyone in this community, they believe somebody came from another area (into) this community,” said Fletcher, adding that residents called for improved lighting, better fencing and more community meetings.

But Fletcher also said residents are calling for the TCHC to put back in place its own permanent, on-site security.

“I’m not sure we’ll get that. I am going to bring their concerns back to the city, back to the mayor, back to the TCHC,” Fletcher said.

Resident Susan Godin insisted if the TCHC reinstated its own security personnel, there wouldn’t be so many problems at the site.

“We used to have on-site security and they used to patrol the complex,” she added. “Well, now we don’t have on-site security ... It is on-call. By the time you phone them and they come, everything is over and done with.”

The wounded boy is expected to fully recover. He was rushed to hospital after a bullet hit his shoulder.

TCHC spokesman Lisa Murray said Tuesday the shooting prompted the social housing landlord to call a community meeting — a routine move following an incident such as Friday’s shooting.

Murray said security cameras at the complex were recently upgraded and that they’ll play a role in the police investigation.

“We have dozens of cameras in this community,” said Murray. “You can’t get in or out of this community without (being caught on camera).”
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Toronto Star Reporter Raveena Aulakh, 42 Takes Her Own Life, Union Wants Investigation

TORONTO - The union that represents employees of the Toronto Star is calling on the newspaper’s management to organize an independent, third-party investigation into the death of one of its reporters and the “events surrounding the tragedy."

According to a memo obtained by the National Post, Unifor Local 87-M made the request to company officials Tuesday, after the death of global environment reporter Raveena Aulakh, 42, on the weekend of May 28.

Sources confirmed to the Post that Aulakh took her own life. She left a note in the newsroom, which was discovered by colleagues.

Aulakh requested that no obituary be published in the paper, and sources confirmed to the Post that the Star and its staff are honouring her request.

According to sources, Toronto Star publisher John Honderich has been conducting in-house investigations into the matter since last week.

The editor of the Star's tablet app, Star Touch, Jon Filson, is no longer employed by the company. No reason was given for his departure. Filson could not be reached for comment.

Sources confirmed to the National Post that Filson had previously been in a personal relationship with Aulakh.

On Monday, Toronto Star editor-in-chief Michael Cooke announced that “at her request,” managing editor Jane Davenport would move to a new role “outside the newsroom and within Torstar, effective immediately.” Davenport did not reply to a request for comment.

Aulakh’s former colleagues abroad and her co-workers at the Star remember her fondly. As an editor, they say, she made her colleagues better writers. As a reporter, they say, she made the world a better place.

"She hated injustice and unfairness, a trait one of her relatives commented about," said Donovan Vincent, a feature writer at the Star. "That side of her personality was apparent from her teenage and young adult years back in India."

She was born near Chandigarh, the joint capital of India's Punjab and Haryana states at the foot of the outer Himalayas.

Aulakh studied Mass Communication at Panjab University. She began her career in journalism as an editor and writer, first for The Indian Express and then for HT City, the lifestyle supplement of the Hindustan Times' Chandigarh edition.

"She took a huge gamble in moving to Canada," said former Hamilton Spectator managing editor and former Star staffer Roger Gillespie in a Facebook post. "She left everything behind."

Aulakh became a full-time member of staff, and in 2010, a feature on the emigration of young men from Punjab villages to Canada earned her a National Newspaper Award nomination. She won an NNA and global acclaim when in 2013 she worked undercover at a Bangladesh clothing factory. Please share this

Toronto City Council OKs looking at new "Revenue Tools" i.e. TAXES and FEES

TORONTO - City council marked Tax Freedom Day by directing Toronto finance officials to examine ways to create new taxes and tolls.

After a day-long debate over Toronto’s long-term financial plan, councillors voted 40-3 on Tuesday to give city manager Peter Wallace the go-ahead to investigate new “revenue tools.”

The report, which will come back to council this fall, will lay out a wide range of possible taxes, tolls, asset sales, and the possible contracting out of services in a bid to address the city’s financial needs, including $29 billion in unfunded capital projects.

Tuesday marked Tax Freedom Day, the day when people have earned enough to pay all their taxes for 2016 in a lump sum, according to the Fraser Institute.

Mayor John Tory stressed there should be no “sacred cows” as several councillors tried to delay the debate on new taxes or put some asset sales aside. Council has to take this discussion seriously and have it soon, he said.

“I just believe the great thing about this report is it is honest,” Tory said. “A number of people have used that word today. It’s honest and it puts on the table a real conundrum for us because we want to build a great city ... (but) we don’t have, at the present time, the financial framework that allows us to do that.”

Wallace said last month that in order to keep transit and housing investment promises, council must consider creating new revenue.

Councillor Josh Matlow urged council to put off making decision on revenue tools before examining its priorities and existing revenues.

“I’m not against revenue tools, but I believe that council needs to demonstrate to Toronto that it’s going to be honest and efficient and responsible with the tax dollars that it’s already entrusted with before it knocks at people’s doors for more money,” he said.

Councillor Paula Fletcher said that council has to address pressures from three agencies that soak up the majority of the city budget: Police, housing, and the TTC.
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Four Seasons Toronto for sale by Saudi Prince

TORONTO - Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud is seeking to sell Toronto's landmark Four Seasons hotel for almost C$1 million a room in what would be the highest price for a hotel in Canada, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kingdom Holding Co., the investment firm owned by the Saudi prince that holds the Toronto property, put it on the market this year, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

The building is operated by Four Seasons, the closely held operator owned by Kingdom, Four Seasons chairman Isadore Sharp, and Cascade Investment, a vehicle controlled by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Gates. The seller is targeting as much as C$250 million, the people said.

Representative for Kingdom Holding and Cascade didn't immediately respond to requests seeking comment. A Four Seasons spokeswoman referred questions to Kingdom Holding.

"At Four Seasons Hotel Toronto we continue to welcome guests and patrons with the legendary service and attention to detail for which Four Seasons is known worldwide," Four Seasons spokeswoman Sorya Gaulin said in an e-mailed statement.

Kingdom Holding, Cascade, and Sharp, the hotelier's chief executive officer at the time, purchased Four Seasons Holdings Inc. for $3.8 billion including debt in 2007, taking the company private. The hotel chain has been growing since then, and is nearing completion on its 99th property, Sharp said at an event in Toronto last week. The Toronto property is managed by Four Seasons, but owned by Kingdom Holding, according to Sarmad Zok, chief executive officer of Kingdom Hotel Investments.

The Four Seasons Toronto property in Yorkville, near high-end shops on Bloor St. W., is comprised of two buildings that are a mix of hotel and luxury condo units that opened in 2012. The offer is only for the hotel portion, with about 250 rooms, the people said.

The Four Seasons asking price per room would exceed others in the country, including the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, which fetched C$290 million or about C$567,500 per room last year, according to Colliers International Group Inc. Also last year, KingSett Capital Inc. and InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust purchased majority stakes in Toronto's historic Fairmont Royal York hotel for C$187 million from Ivanhoe Cambridge, the brokerage said in its 2016 Canadian hotel investing report.
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Two Toronto Taxi Drivers Muhammad Tariq, 26, left, and Ahmed Dogar, 25 Accused of Swapping Passengers' Bank Cards

TORONTO - Two taxi drivers are accused of switching customers’ bank cards and withdrawing money from their accounts.

Toronto Police officers from the financial crimes unit began their investigation in fall 2015 after taxi customers reported their cards were replaced with similar-looking cards.

Police allege the suspects took out money and bought retail items with the customers’ bank cards.

Ahmed Dogar, 25, of Toronto, is charged with theft of credit card, three counts of forgery, six counts of fraud, and six counts of possession of a credit card obtained by crime.

Muhammad Tariq, 26, of Toronto, is charged with forgery as well as three counts of fraud and possession of a credit card obtained by crime.

Investigators are concerned there may be additional victims. Police are also reminding cab passengers to hold on to their cards and request a receipt.
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No More CHIN Bikini Pageants

TORONTO - Say goodbye to Mr. and Miss CHIN Bikini.

The organization has decided to do away with one of its main events at the 50th annual CHIN Picnic.

The reason? CHIN wants to fall back on its origins.

“CHIN Radio’s mandate has always been to promote multiculturalism in Canada, and after 49 years of hosting the bikini contest, they have decided to say goodbye and focus on their roots,” president Lenny Lombardi said in a statement to the Toronto Sun.

The free event began in 1966, but the bikini contest wasn’t added until 1978. The popular attraction started as a separate event in 1976 and 1977 and was held on the now-defunct Captain John’s Harbour Boat Restaurant.

The picnic later added the annual Mr. CHIN bikini contest in response to allegations of sexism. But now, Lombardi does not want the spectacle getting in the way of the event’s main message.

“The picnic represents the work we do each and every day on radio. The picnic is a snapshot of our efforts to spread the importance of multiculturalism and all its benefits, and in our 50th year it is important to us that this message is clear,” he said.

“Our true message is that of celebrating our cultural diversity and that point is best enhanced by focusing on what we do best: Celebrating cultural diversity through information, music and entertainment, and not distract from that message with a bikini pageant.”

In the past, the bikini contest has seen contestants from various diversities, but Lombardi says it’s time to move forward.

“Times have changed and as much fun as we had, and support we received producing it each year, we believe that our focus today should be clearly directed to the reality of our mandate of multiculturalism and cultural diversity,” he said.

The CHIN Picnic runs June 17-19 with a main stage in the heart of Little Italy at College and Markham Sts.
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Your Ward News and Canada Post Censorship

Canadians who value free speech – and let’s hope that is all of us – should be deeply troubled by Ottawa’s decision to tell Canada Post to stop carrying a fringe Toronto newspaper. Public Services Minister Judy Foote ordered the postal service to cease delivering Your Ward News, which has been accused of being anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi. Her “interim prohibitory order” gives its editor 10 days to appeal.

Those who have campaigned against the free paper are “ecstatic.” But consider the awful precedent this act of postal censorship sets.

If people who are offended by something that appears in their mailbox can complain and get it banned from the post, where does it stop? Can a pro-choice feminist block the graphic pro-life pamphlet that comes in the mail? Can a fierce pro-lifer ban a flier from an abortion clinic? Or consider the feelings of the victim of East European communism who gets a Marxist tract in the mail? Why should an agency of the government that her taxes support be allowed to introduce that propaganda into her home?

This is the trouble with just about all limits on free speech. Who says what is beyond the pale? Deciding to block child pornography or open incitement to violence is easy enough, because of the direct physical harm they can be shown to cause. After that, it gets tricky.

Someone must have the power to determine what is dangerous or odious speech and what is merely passionate expression. It is always a matter of opinion. The line is impossible to draw, the scope for abuse endless.

Even in democratic countries, authorities have often succumbed to the impulse to black out what they don’t like. Communist propaganda was blocked on the grounds that it threatened national security, erotica on the grounds that it undermined public morals. The postal system was once one of the main agents of censorship. A century ago, postal censors blocked mailed instalments of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Your Ward News is not Ulysses. Its editor, James Sears, who has been known to style himself as Dimitri the Lover, told City News that Hitler is his second-biggest idol, after Jesus. He ends his e-mails “Expel the Parasite!” – all in capital letters, of course. The group that has been fighting him calls his publication a “neo-Nazi-rag” that “has been permitted to disseminate racism, homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism to as many as 300,000 homes in Toronto.”

If so, there are a couple of ways to fight back short of censorship. One is simply to toss Your Ward News where it belongs: in the recycling bin. Nobody is forced to read it when it comes in the mail. People like Mr. Sears thrive on the oxygen of attention. Ignoring him is the best revenge.

Another is to argue back. If his opponents feel his maunderings are too despicable to pass over, they can always denounce or refute him. It is always better to fight speech with speech than to gag the speaker.

It is a good time to remember these old lessons about how to handle troublesome speech. Free expression is always under attack to some degree, and the danger seems especially acute today. The little tussle over Your Ward News is part of a wider struggle.

Overseas, authoritarian governments from Moscow to Beijing to Cairo are cracking down on the right to speak openly without fear. Canadians got a small glimpse of their attitude when China’s foreign minister dressed down a reporter in Ottawa for daring to ask a question about human rights. At home, on university campuses and beyond, the tendency to take offence is stifling healthy debate and silencing dissenting voices.

Sometimes those voices can be obnoxious, but it won’t do to try to snuff them out. Ottawa has no business telling the postal service to censor the mail just because some people don’t like what comes through the slot.
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Beady-eyed man sought in violent sexual attack in North York

 TORONTO - Toronto Police are seeking help from the public to identify a man wanted in a violent sexual assault in North York earlier this year.

A 50-year-old woman was attacked while walking through Roding Park, near Keele St. and Wilson Ave., around noon on March 8, investigators said Tuesday.

The woman was grabbed from behind, forced to the ground, beaten, and sexually assaulted, police said. She also suffered broken bones in her face during the attack.

“The level of violence used by the suspect is a concern to us and public safety in general,“ Det. Raj Patel said.

The attacker is described as Asian with a grey complexion, 18 to 25 years old, 5-foot-5 to 5-foot-8 with a thin build, flat nose, skin irritation on the bottom of his face, thin lips, and small, beady eyes.

He was last seen wearing a grey, long-sleeved top and baggy pants, along with a white hat, which was left at the scene.

Anyone with information is being asked to call the sex crimes unit at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477.
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Christopher McLean, 25, of Brampton, Killed in a shooting in Toronto on Friday, June 3, 2016 Was Targeted, Black Lives Matter

TORONTO - A 25-year-old Brampton man was shot to death during a violence-filled weekend in Toronto that saw seven other victims wounded by guns and knives.

Toronto Police say Christopher McLean was gunned down in a parking lot near Weston Rd. and Imogene Ave. around 6:30 p.m. Friday.

“The shooting is believed to be targeted,” Const. Craig Brister said Monday.

He said McLean suffered “multiple gunshot wounds” and died at the scene.

Investigators are looking for two men who may have fled in a black sedan.

McLean is the city’s 32nd murder victim of the year, a sharp increase over the 20 slayings in Toronto at this time last year. And so far in 2016, 20 killings have come by way of guns.

McLean’s murder came the same night a 10-year-old boy was wounded by gunfire inside his family’s Pape-Danforth Aves. home.

The sleeping child was hit in the shoulder by one of the dozen or so bullets that riddled the townhouse at a TCHC complex on Blake St.

“(The boy’s family) say he’s doing OK,” one neighbour, who asked not to be identified, said at the complex Monday.

“My heart goes out to them,” she said, adding the shooting is especially troubling because it involves an innocent child.

A man in his 20s also suffered life-threatening injuries when he was shot in the west end over the weekend.

Five others suffered stab wounds in altercations around town, including a 23-year-old man who was critically injured near Spadina Ave. and College St.

Const. David Hopkinson said the man was with friends when another group of men robbed them of their phones and jewelry around 3:20 a.m. Sunday.

“A struggle ensued,” he said, explaining one of the robbers pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim in his chest.

Mayor John Tory called the recent violence “heartbreaking” but insisted the city is “very safe.”

TORONTO'S CHILDREN UNDER FIRE

A 10-year-old who was shot in the shoulder inside his family’s townhouse near Danforth and Pape Aves. and an infant who died three weeks after he was delivered via C-section from his dying mom, Candice Rochelle Bob, are just the latest innocent children hurt or killed by gunfire in the city.

    June 13, 1999: Breanna Davy, 3, was in the front seat of a car when a gunman shot her and her father, Warren Blackstock, 27, at a TCHC housing complex on Driftwood Ave., near Jane St. and Finch Ave. W. The toddler was killed and her father paralyzed.

    Aug. 3, 2005: Shaquan Cadougan, 4, was out front of his TCHC townhome on Driftwood Ave., near Jane St. and Finch Ave. W., when more than a dozen gunshots were fired from a passing car. The toddler survived but was left with life-long injuries.

    Dec. 26, 2005: Jane Creba, 15, was shopping with her family on Yonge St., near Gerrard St., when she was caught in the crossfire of a gangland shootout. Seven others wounded in the Boxing Day bloodbath.

    May 23, 2007: Jordan Manners, 15, became the first victim murdered in a Toronto school when he was gunned down at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate, near Keele St. and Finch Ave. W.

    July 22, 2007: Ephraim Brown, 11, was outside enjoying a relative’s birthday party at a TCHC housing complex, near Keele St. and Sheppard Ave. W., when he was caught in the crossfire of a shootout — allegedly involving rival gang members — and killed.

    July 16, 2012: Shyanne Charles, 14, was one of two killed when a gun-battle broke out during a barbecue at a TCHC housing complex on Danzig St., near Morningside Ave. and Lawrence Ave. W. Another 22 were injured, including a 22-month-old boy, in the city’s worst ever mass shooting.

    July 9, 2015: Lecent Ross, 12, was visiting a friend’s home at a TCHC townhouse on Jamestown Cr., in Rexdale, when she was shot and killed.
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Murder Victim Candice Rochelle Bobb, 35, premature baby dies

After three weeks of fighting to survive, the baby boy who was removed prematurely from his dying mother’s womb after she was shot in a drive-by in Rexdale has died.

Toronto Police revealed the tragic news late Sunday at the request of murder victim Candice Rochelle Bobb’s family.

The Malton woman, 35, was about six months pregnant when she was fatally shot as she sat in a car with friends near Jamestown Cres. and John Garland Blvd. around 11 p.m. on May 15.

The group had attended a basketball game together and stopped by Jamestown afterward to drop one of the friends off, detectives have said.

The four friends, none of whom were known to police, were still inside the car when it was riddled with bullets.

Bobb, a mother of two older kids who was awaiting the arrival of her third child, was the only one hit in the shooting.

The child was removed from his mom’s stomach during an emergency c-section at Sunnybrook Hospital, but Bobb died before seeing her son.

Chief Mark Saunders recently provided an update saying the baby remained in stable condition and was growing stronger every day.

It was the one happy note in an otherwise horrific story.

But sadly, Bobb’s family says the boy’s brief life ended at 7:10 p.m. Sunday.

It was not immediately known if the infant’s death would be deemed a homicide.

“We will be speaking to the Crown’s office,” spokesman Mark Pugash said Sunday.

No arrests have been made in the drive-by shooting.
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