Yonis Mohamed,33 of Toronto dies after shooting at 1809 Martin Grove MTCH housing complex

A 33-year-old man is dead after a shooting outside a Rexdale housing complex early Saturday morning.

Officers were called to the Toronto Community Housing complex at 1809 Martin Grove Road at around 12:30 a.m.

Insp. Norm Proctor tells CP24 that the victim was then located in a courtyard behind the complex with “numerous gunshot wounds.”

He was rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition but on Saturday morning police confirmed that he has since succumbed to his injuries.

He has been identified as Toronto resident Yonis Mohamed.

Proctor said that there were reports of a grey vehicle seen fleeing the scene, though no suspect descriptions have been released at this time.

Homicide detectives are investigating.

“We would like anybody who saw anything or has anything to tell us to come forward and contact us so that we can solve this,” Proctor said. “We can’t do it on our own and we need the help of the community.”

Proctor said that there were surveillance cameras in the area and that officers will be reviewing that footage.

He said that they will also conducting a canvas in the neighbourhood in the hopes of locating additional witnesses and video footage.

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Eleijah Robinson, 17 Toronto teen suspect in shooting of Houdini

Police have obtained judicial authorization to release the name of a 17-year-old suspect who is being sought in connection with a shootout in the city’s Entertainment District earlier this week.

The suspect was one of two individuals who were seen in surveillance camera footage returning fire after a lone gunman exited a vehicle near King and Peter Streets on Tuesday afternoon and started shooting at 21-year-old Dimarjio Jenkins.

A total of 23 rounds were fired during the exchange of gunfire, which resulted in the death of Jenkins.

One of the individuals seen returning fire, a 15-year-old boy, was also injured in the shooting as was a 27-year-old woman who police say was an innocent bystander.

In a news release issued on Saturday morning, police said that they have now issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant for 17-year-old Eleijah Robinson, who is believed to be the second associate of Jenkins who returned fire.

Police say that they believe Robinson was the individual seen in surveillance footage shooting a weapon with a high-capacity magazine. He is wanted for seven charges, including discharging a firearm with intent to wound.

“Eleijah Robinson is believed to be armed and dangerous. Do not approach,” police warned in the release.

Police have yet to identify any suspects in connection with the murder of Jenkins, who was a well-known rapper who also went by the name Houdini.

Speaking at a news conference earlier this week, Police Chief Mark Saunders called the shooting “beyond comprehension.”

“These individuals should not be on the street," he said.

Police have said that they believe believes Jenkins, who was staying at an Airbnb not far from the crime scene, was the intended target of the shooting.
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Toronto Police release video of Houdini shooting

Police have released shocking video footage caught by surveillance cameras in downtown Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, when a gun fight broke out in broad daylight and injured three people — one of them fatally.

The city's 30th homicide of the year has been generating much buzz in recent days due to the brazen circumstances under which it occured and on account of the high-profile murder victim: 21-year-old Dimarjio Jenkins, better known as the Toronto rapper Houdini.

Tragic as the entire situation may have been, police say it could have been even worse had one bullet gotten just a bit closer to a terrified 6-year-old boy who nearly got caught in the crossfire.


"When individuals decide to come downtown to the largest city in the country during rush hour and have no care in the world in killing anyone in their way is behind comprehension," said Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders during a news conference at TPS headquarters Thursday afternoon.

"These individuals should not be on the street. The public, especially torontonians, deserve better," he continued.

"I am appealing that we as a collective group once againn not let these individuals get away with what they have done... or what they almost did."

Footage from security cameras outside the Bisha Hotel looking south onto Blue Jays Way, where the city’s latest homicide took place, illustrates what Saunders meant by "almost" — and it's absolutely chilling.


Detective Sergeant Andy Singh presented two videos during today's case update, explaining that Jenkins could be seen in the first one walking north on Blue Jays Way with "two associates" and a 15-year-old male.

A blue SUV could be seen "lying in wait" to the north from another angle, but came forward to perform a U-turn when the group went to cross the street.

One "lone shooter" then emerged from the blue vehicle, according to the detective, and opened fire on Jenkins and his associates. Singh said that the suspect exchanged gunfire with two of Jenkins' associates, who fired their own handguns back at the shooter.

Meanwhile, a family could be seen standing beside a vehicle parked in front of the Bisha Hotel with two doors open.

"We had an active gunfight happening on the sidewalk of Blue Jays Way," said Singh, noting that one gunman could be seen running while shooting "a handgun with a capacity magazine" behind him.


"As this unfolds, I want you to pay attention to the little boy who ducks into the vestibule," Singh asked reporters during the press conference.

The 6-year-old child was "exactly in the line of gunfire when it first started," according to the detective, who said that bullets landed "inches from his feet."

"The family were on the receiving end on the volley of shots that skip off the ground, inches from the mother who is standing at the vehicle waiting to put the young man in," said Singh. "If the round had been slightly higher, it most likely could have injured the mother."

The 15-year-old boy who police say was with Jenkins at the time of his shooting did sustain gunshot wounds during the incident, as did a 27-year-old female bystander, but both expected to make full recoveries.

Police are appealing to the public for any information that may help them locate a suspect, and shared images of both "the lone gunman" and one of Jenkins' alleged associates as captured by security cameras at the nearby Wahlburgers restaurant later that day.

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SIU investigate death of Regis Korchinski 29, at 100 High Park in Toronto

The province’s Special Investigations Unit have been asked to look into the death of a 29-year-old woman in the High Park neighbourhood.

According to the SIU, police were called to an apartment building on High Park Avenue just after 5:15 p.m. following reports of a domestic dispute.

“While officers were inside an apartment unit on the 24th floor, they observed a woman on the balcony,” read a statement released by the SIU.

The SIU statement does not say if there was any of interaction with police except that, “a short time later, the woman fell from the balcony to the ground below.”

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Family members of the victim say that police played a role in her death. However, these allegations have not been substantiated.

The SIU says a post-mortem will be conducted Thursday afternoon.

The unit added in an updated release they were aware of the allegations made by certain family members of the deceased and are looking to speak to anyone with information about these allegations.

SIU adds it would inappropriate for them to make any further comment as the investigation is still in the early stages.

The SIU is an arm’s length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

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Did the Toronto Star just sell its soul for survival?

The proposed sale of the Toronto Star to two Bay Street deal makers should have Joseph Atkinson rolling in his grave. The newspaper’s legendary editor and long-time controlling shareholder did everything within his power to ensure that the Star continued to reflect its social-justice and welfare-state ethos beyond his death in 1948. And the “Atkinson principles” have remained at the core of the Toronto broadsheet’s journalistic mission ever since.

It is a sign, however, of the desperate times in which the newspaper industry finds itself that Canada’s once dominant metropolitan daily is about to be sold for a relative song to two businessmen, one of whom has specialized in rescuing fallen corporate giants. There were few options left for the Star’s parent company, Torstar Corp., which was already bleeding red ink even before the novel coronavirus pandemic sapped what was left of its advertising revenue base.

What the proposed sale of Torstar for just more than $51-million to an entity called NordStar Capital, controlled by Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett, really means will depend on whether the two men are serious about ensuring the paper continues to adhere to the Atkinson principles. Those principles would seem to be out of sync with the deal-making, cost-cutting, property-flipping capitalist ethos that Mr. Bitove and Mr. Rivett have embodied in business. Both men are known to support Conservative causes and politicians, not the small- and capital-L ones with which the Star has always been associated. They are free-marketeers; the Star, not so much.

Both men referred to the Star’s “brand” as the paper’s best asset. Yet, I can’t think of anything more insulting to Mr. Atkinson’s legacy, or to the journalists who seek to uphold it, than to refer to the Star as a brand, like Tide or Nike or Apple. The Star’s progressive values are not a marketing tactic to attract left-leaning readers. They’re bred in the bone.

I experienced those values firsthand when I was hired as a Star summer intern in 1988, as the country debated then-Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney’s free-trade deal with the United States. At the height of the era of deregulation and the downsizing of the welfare state, the Star stuck religiously to its Canadian nationalist and progressive principles and fought the trade deal with everything it could throw at it.

“This deal strikes at the heart of our sovereignty, radically diminishing in energy, investment, agriculture, the environment and culture our ability to function as an independent country. In short, it strikes at our very capacity to maintain our distinctiveness,” a Star editorial proclaimed on the eve of that year’s historic federal election that returned Mr. Mulroney to power.

The Star lost the free-trade battle – the Tories even swept 18 of Metro Toronto’s 33 ridings that year – but it never lost its soul. You could agree or disagree with what the paper stood for, but you could never deny the authenticity of its values or its commitment to upholding them.

I returned to the Star as a full-time reporter in 1990 and spent four years writing for its business and national sections. By far the country’s largest circulation newspaper, the Star was everything you would have expected a big North American metropolitan daily to be back then.

The paper’s massive fifth-floor newsroom at One Yonge Street buzzed constantly as we raced to produce morning and afternoon editions of the paper, taking delight in beating The Globe and Mail to print with the day’s news. Neither The Globe nor the Toronto Sun could match the depth and breadth of the Star’s coverage of the city it served. Today, its pages reflect the multicultural miracle that Canada has become.

Back in my day, the mood in the Star’s newsroom was unfailingly joyful and optimistic, just like its then-editor-in-chief John Honderich. But optimism only goes so far in an economic environment that has made big-city newspapers such as the Star an endangered species.

As a member of one of the five families who control Torstar’s voting shares, it must be excruciating for Mr. Honderich to preside over the paper’s sale to, well, a couple of unapologetic capitalists. He must know that, if the sale goes through, it will mark the end of the Star as he knows it. Mr. Bitove and Mr. Rivett can argue otherwise all they want. But buying a newspaper is not the same thing as buying into a newspaper’s ideals.

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Bitove and Rivett acquiring Torstar eye growth while vowing to keep progressive values

The soon-to-be new owners of Torstar Corp., the largest and oldest newspaper chain in Canada, say that they have “no plans” to cut costs and instead will focus on “growth” and “marketing the incredible brand of the Star” — a sharp departure from the declining trajectory the media company has been following in recent years amid an industry-wide loss of advertising revenue.

“Traditional media is under siege. But we believe people will pay for good content,” said Paul Rivett, one of two Toronto businessmen behind the purchase. “What Torstar has, and has had for over 100 years is fantastic content. What they don’t have is the platform to deliver it.”

On Tuesday, Torstar, just weeks after reporting yet another deep decline in quarterly revenue announced that it was being acquired by NordStar Capital LP, a company owned by Rivett and Jordan Bitove.

The $52-million transaction, which was priced at a 67 per cent premium to the 20-day weighted average stock price, will involve taking the company private and the liquidation of all Class A and Class B shares owned by the founding families and other independent shareholders.

“What COVID-19 did to Paul and I was it made our resolve stronger that what the world needs and what Toronto needs and what Canada needs is fact-based journalism, and stories based only on truth. We want to inspire the journalists and editorial group to continue doing good work, without the distraction of having to meet certain quarterly targets,” Bitove said.

Bitove is the son of John Bitove Sr., a Canadian-Macedonian businessman and philanthropist who owned Bitove Corp., one of Canada’s largest food-service companies. Besides being a serial entrepreneur and on the board of the SickKids Foundation, he was involved in founding the Toronto Raptors, along with his brother John Bitove Jr.

Rivett, is a former president of Fairfax Financial, the insurance and investment giant led by Prem Watsa.

On Wednesday, he told the Post that Fairfax, which is Torstar’s largest independent shareholder with roughly 40 per cent of the company’s non-voting shares, would have no role whatsoever in the company going forward.

Torstar’s stock price shot up 50 per cent on Wednesday to 60 cents per share, after the privatization deal was announced.

“For a business that is burning cash and has been burning cash for years now, and in the context of this market with the uncertainties of COVID affecting the topline, we think this is a very full and fair premium,” Rivett said. “For shareholders like Fairfax, they are taking the cash and it makes sense given the premium that we stretched ourselves to pay here.”

Torstar had a cash balance of $70 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020, and no bank debt, a balance sheet that short seller Jerome Hass of Lightwater Capital Partners called “sweet” in light of the $52 million that Rivett and Bitove paid for the company. “You are effectively paying the buyer $18 million to take this company off your hands,” he told the Post. Hass said he had been shorting Torstar stock for a decade until late last year, after the company suspended its dividend.

Although Torstar has spent the last year and a half embarking upon a “digital transformation” aimed at boosting its digital subscriber base, results have been mediocre, at best. Print and digital subscriber revenue grew by just 0.31 per cent in the last quarter of 2019, compared to a year prior. Then the pandemic hit, accelerating the decline in both print and digital ad revenue.

Rivett and Bitove, however, appear unfazed by the state of the media landscape in Canada and the way in which tech giants such as Facebook and Google continue to eat into advertising revenue, emphasizing that good content will ultimately prevail and grow Torstar’s subscription base.

“What this company really needs is a lot of love, a more patient approach, and a longer timeline of someone that can look after it for maybe three to five years,” said Bitove.

Hours after the deal was announced, questions swirled on social media about the founders’ commitment to the company’s progressive Atkinson’s Principles, given that both Bitove and Rivett have for years donated to the Conservative Party at both the provincial and federal levels, according to publicly available data.

“We wouldn’t be buying the paper if it wasn’t progressive, let’s put it that way,” Rivett said. “Jordan and I are both first-generation immigrants and believe in equality and social justice … but the most important thing is that the largest circulation of news in this country comes from progressive journalism.”

Bitove added that they would do nothing to “interfere” in the editorial independence of the newspaper. “Investigative journalism and the progressive philosophy of Torstar has brought it to where it is,” he said.

John Boynton, Torstar’s publisher and CEO said that Bitove and Rivett had been very vocal about preserving the Atkinson principles and “gone out of their way to publicly state as such.”

The acquisition will also involve the appointment of former Ontario Liberal premier, David Peterson as Vice-Chair of the company, as a custodian of sorts of the Atkinson values. “We don’t want to be a soft, right-wing brand. I have total faith in Jordan’s and Paul’s judgement and commitment to this venture,” Peterson said.

John Bitove Jr., a Canadian businessman whose ventures have extended into the food, sports, radio, real estate, and wireless sectors, says his younger brother, 55, has “been involved” in many of his businesses over the years.

“(With the) Raptors, Air Canada Centre, Olympic bids, he has been a great wingman and now he gets to lead this important asset,” Bitove, who is four years older than his brother, told the Post.

“I actually gave my Toronto Star paper route to him when I ‘retired’ delivering newspapers (at the old age of 14).”

He described the Torstar takeover and privatization as “a very complicated deal with lots of work to do,” adding that Phil Evershed, his partner at alternative asset manager PointNorth Capital, advised his brother and Rivett on the deal.

“Paul and and Jordan have known each other over 10 years and have been searching for something to buy together,” said Bitove.

“And now they will be fixing an important Canadian asset.”
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Torstar’s family trust sells the Toronto Star near market bottom

It seems hard to imagine in this digital age, but Torstar Corp. was once a multibillion-dollar media platform, coveted by rivals, and its five controlling families boasted wealth comparable to that of many modern tech entrepreneurs.

Now those five families – descendants of former Toronto Star publisher Joseph E. Atkinson, who died in 1948, and four former senior executives – are selling voting control in the 128-year-old company for $6-million. They spurned overtures from Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. four years ago at far richer levels. Less than two decades back, their stake was worth nearly $300-million. And in a pre-internet era, Torstar fought on equal terms with rivals such as Rogers Communications Inc. for control of cable networks, and the controlling shareholders turned down lucrative takeover offers.

For the second, third and fourth generations of the families, the decision to throw in the towel was driven by the company’s 2019 decision to suspend common share dividends. “That was the final straw,” said entrepreneur Jordan Bitove, who is teaming up with former Fairfax president Paul Rivett to buy Torstar for just more than $51-million. “The numbers were challenging, a significant investment was needed to complete the digital transformation of the business, and then came the dividend cut.”

Torstar was born out of a newspaper first published in 1892. What was then called the Evening Star hit the streets of Toronto after two-dozen printers were locked out at a rival paper and launched a four-page daily. It was the seventh newspaper competing for readers in Toronto, at a time when the city had a population of 180,000. In 1899, Atkinson took the reins, running the paper for 50 years and building the largest readership in the country by taking a progressive social position while also playing a leading role in the Liberal party.

When he died, Atkinson left control of the company in a charity. In 1958, after the Ontario government ruled charities could not own businesses, Atkinson’s heirs and four senior executives set up a voting trust and bought control of the flagship Toronto Star for $25.6-million. For a time, tight family control made Torstar a cash-generating machine that built a regional media empire and moved into books by acquiring Harlequin, the romance publisher the company eventually sold to News Corp. for $455-million in 2014.

Then came the internet, and the rise of Facebook and Google as the first option for both readers and advertisers. In 2018, the Torstar board chair John Honderich, the second generation of one of those five families, said in a Globe and Mail interview he was looking for a buyer for the company.

“Quite frankly, I’d be derelict if I hadn’t been trying to find, is there a Jeff Bezos around who wanted to come in,” Mr. Honderich said, referring to the Amazon.com Inc. founder’s purchase of The Washington Post. “There are certain people who can afford to do that and feel it’s important. There aren’t many of those around. And Canada’s a small place.”

Torstar has 9.8 million class A voting shares, almost all of which are owned by the five families, and non-voting class B shares. As recently as 2004, those shares were worth $30 each. Now NordStar Capital, a company controlled by Mr. Bitove and Mr. Rivett, is buying Torstar for 63 cents a share.

Mr. Honderich’s total stake in Torstar is worth $3.2-million, according to a regulatory filing. The Honderich family and two others in the shareholder group hold stakes of the voting A shares that are worth a total of just over $900,000.

Another family, the Hindmarsh clan, own 1.9 million Torstar class A shares, worth $1.2-million under the terms of NordStar’s offer. The regulatory filing lists 31 different Hindmarsh family members and trusts. If they all receive an equal stake, each Hindmarsh heir would receive $39,000 after controlling what was a leading Canadian media company for six decades.
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Toronto rapper Houdini shot dead in triple shooting in Entertainment District

A 21-year-old man is dead and two others — a 15-year-old boy and a woman — were injured in a brazen daylight shooting in Toronto’s Entertainment District on Tuesday afternoon.

Toronto Police were called after 4 p.m. to King and Peter Sts. where the the man and the teen had been shot in what appears to be a targeted shooting.

The woman, 27, was an innocent bystander, according to police.

“We don’t know where the victims were coming from. There were walking in two groups of two,” Saunders told a news conference Tuesday on the street near the shooting scene.

“As they crossed on to the west side of the curb, that is when the suspect vehicle made a U-turn and engaged in firing.”

Sanders described the shooting as “brazen,” and insisted it “is a very solvable crime.”

He said police have recovered one firearm and were searching for suspects in a blue vehicle.

Details on the identities of the shooting victims and the medical condition of the two people who were wounded were not released. But reports on social media identified the dead man as a local rapper named Houdini.

“By all indications it looks like the female who was shot has absolutely nothing to do with this, absolutely nothing,” he said.

“Just standing there and because of the suspect just shooting randomly an innocent person was caught in that crossfire.”

Saunders noted investigators will have access to images from video cameras in the area.

Toronto Councillor Joe Cressy, who represents the area where the shooting took place, expressed his disappointment on Twitter.

“A 16-year-old is dead and our vibrant downtown community shaken,” Cressy wrote. “While Toronto Police Services investigates and our city’s crisis response team mobilizes to support those affected, collectively as a city we we must all loudly reject this violence and work to stop it.”

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Toronto Star owner Torstar to be sold, taken private in $52- million deal

TORONTO — Five families that built and grew media conglomerate Torstar Corp. have agreed to hand the newspapers they presided over for roughly 70 years to a Canadian investment firm that plans to take the company private.

The owner of the Toronto Star and other community newspapers revealed Tuesday evening that it reached a $52-million acquisition deal with NordStar Capital LP, a firm run by businessmen Paul Rivett and Jordan Bitove.

Bitove said he had been watching Torstar for some time before getting Rivett involved and approaching the company and its board chair John Honderich with a deal.

"I think what he saw in Paul and I were two young guys who were prepared to roll up their sleeves and put their shoulder to the wheel," Bitove, who delivered newspapers as a child, said in an interview after the deal was announced.

The pair said they have no current plans to shutter papers or lay off staff and that they are committed to upholding the Atkinson principles, a set of ethics Torstar has long used to guide its coverage. Torstar owns the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, Waterloo Region Record, St. Catharines Standard, three other dailies and some 70 weeklies.

The NordStar offer is 63 cents per share for all of Torstar's outstanding Class A shares and Class B non-voting shares.

Torstar's shares closed at 40 cents at the end of trading Tuesday, but the company says the 63 cents per share it agreed to represents a nearly 67 per cent premium on the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price of the Class B non-voting shares.

The deal takes control of the company away from five families — the Atkinsons, Hindmarshs, Campbells, Thalls and Honderichs.

The five stepped in to run the Star after founder Joseph Atkinson died in 1948, leaving the paper to a charitable foundation to be run by trustees.

The Star's website says a retroactive change in Ontario law barred such a foundation from owning more than ten per cent of any profit-making business, so the trustees were given court permission to buy the paper in 1958, after promising to uphold its long-standing traditions.

The site says the deal was worth $25,555,000 — the highest price paid to that date for a newspaper property.

John Honderich, a former publisher of the paper, said in a letter posted Tuesday that it was a difficult decision, but the families have "come to realize that for Torstar to succeed now, it requires new ownership with both resources and determination" because the business model for newspapers has come under "immense pressure."

"In this new digital era, with Facebook and Google taking the lion’s share of all digital advertising, media outlets have been going under across North America. The COVID-19 crisis has made the situation even worse," he said.

"Torstar is far from immune from these pressures. We have tried to innovate and adopt new strategies to succeed in this new world. But quite frankly, it has been an uphill struggle."

Three weeks ago, the company reported a $23.5-million loss for the first three months of 2020 as revenue dropped 20 per cent from the same time last year — with advertising further declining and the distribution of paper flyers drying up due to physical distancing precautions.

Torstar chief executive John Boynton told shareholders on May 6 that public interest in the COVID-19 health crisis and the concurrent economic slowdown resulted in "a significant increase in digital traffic to our sites, beginning in March and continuing into the second quarter.''

Unfortunately for Torstar, he said, the increased traffic has not driven digital advertising revenues because some marketers blocked the placement of ads on any sites that mentioned COVID-19, due to brand image concerns.

Rivett and Bitove know they are in for a challenge.

"Everybody knows that traditional media is struggling. We see lots of opportunities...to get involved in assisting the current management to make things better," said Rivett, who recently retired from Torstar's largest independent shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Bitove was part of the group that founded the Toronto Raptors basketball team.

Going private, Rivett added, will offer better conditions for the days ahead.

"It's tough when you're trying to fix a business, but doing it in a public spotlight with quarter-to-quarter reporting and quarter-to quarter-expectations ... it's just tough to do that in the public realm, so to take it private takes a lot of that pressure off management."

Torstar's share price has suffered from the company's inability to generate enough revenue or cost savings to pay quarterly dividends, which were suspended last year. The suspension pushed the publicly traded B shares to what was then the lowest level since at least the late 1990s — 53 cents.

The company has faced several rounds of layoffs, most recently 85 lost jobs announced in April, and has closed many community papers over the last few years as it has tried to transition to digital products.

It launched a $20-million tablet-based news product called Star Touch in 2015, but low readership saw the project later scrapped.

Torstar holds an investment in The Canadian Press as part of a joint agreement with subsidiaries of the Globe and Mail and Montreal's La Presse.

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Shots fired in Toronto’s east end after reported dispute between cyclist, 3 suspects in car

Toronto police say gunshots were fired after a reported dispute between three male suspects in a vehicle and a cyclist on Sunday.

Emergency crews were called to the Greenwood and Danforth avenues area shortly before midnight for reports of multiple gunshots heard in a laneway.

Police said officers found shell casings at the scene and also located the cyclist, who was not injured.

Investigators said a reported dispute ensued between the cyclist and three suspects. According to police, the suspects were all described as male and wearing masks, and they allegedly had a chrome pistol.

The suspects fled the scene in a black Honda sedan heading eastbound, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-2222.

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Huge drug, gun trafficking ring busted in Vaughan

A massive drugs and guns ring has been smashed by cops after an investigation was triggered by a Vaughan home invasion probe — and a unique crowbar.

York Regional Police say 17 people were arrested and charged and they seized a veritable arsenal of guns and ammunition in the probe.

And some have quite a history.

One of the those arrested and charged was a man convicted of gun trafficking who took his case to the Supreme Court of Canada and won after the majority ruled messages he received on his mobile phone were considered private.

“We’ve known a number of the individuals and a number of them were bound by weapons prohibition orders … one was on three separate firearms prohibition orders and breach of recognizance,” Insp. Ryan Hogan said in a YouTube statement.

Police released a video of the Oct. 17, 2019 home invasion last March showing three armed men ascending a staircase and beating a 26-year-old victim.

But the crowbar in the video was unique and sold at just one retailer, which led to suspects being identified.

“It was a violent home invasion … all the adults in the house were tied up, zip-tied, and forced down on the floor and demands were made for money and other personal belongings,” Det. Ryan Boulay said.

The unusual Stanley pry bar led detectives to Home Depot where investigators obtained video evidence.

The operation — dubbed Project Stanley — stretched from the GTA to Sudbury.

A multi-jurisdictional police task force raided a number of homes over the last six weeks seizing guns, cocaine, fentanyl and cash.

Participating in the probe were cops from York, Sudbury, Durham, Toronto, Peel, Hamilton, Halton and the OPP.

“In addition to the armed robbery investigation other serious crime was detected,” Hogan said. “This was a very complex investigation and often times investigators were forced with making split decisions, in one instance preventing an armed robbery before it happened.”

The suspects face a wide array of charges including conspiracy to commit robbery, firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, numerous breeches

Anyone with information is asked to contact the York Regional Police Hold-Up Unit at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 6631, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, leave an anonymous tip online at http://www.1800222tips.com

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Two teens charged with murder of Toronto tow truck driver Hashim Kinani, 23

Two teenagers wanted in the murder of a tow truck driver earlier this month have surrendered to Toronto Police.

The suspects, aged 15 and 17, have been charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with a May 14 shooting.

Hashim Kinani, 23, was found in a tow truck outside an apartment building at Panorama Court and Kipling Ave., north of Finch Ave., suffering from gunshot wounds and died at the scene.

A second man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The two accused are due to appear in court Friday. Because of their age, their identities are not being released.

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Garage fire spreads to homes in Corso Italia neighbourhood of Toronto

A garage fire in a west end neighbourhood spread to homes before being doused Saturday morning.

Toronto firefighters responded to a home on Westmount Ave. — near Dufferin St. and St. Clair Ave. W. — around 2:20 a.m.

“The fire started in a garage and spread to the back of the home and then to two other homes,” Toronto Fire Services spokesman Stephan Powell.

There were no injuries and the cause remains under investigated.
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Two Thorncliffe Park teens hospitalized in daylight shooting

A daylight shooting in Thorncliffe Park has left two teenagers hospitalized.

Emergency crews were called to a park near Thorncliffe Park Dr. and Overlea Blvd. following a report of shots fired at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Toronto Police Duty Insp. Stacey Davis said officers located two male victims, who are in their mid to late teens. The victims were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Davis said one person was taken into custody in relation to the firearm recovered at the scene. She said it is not known if it’s related to the shooting.

Investigators believe there are two shooters.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

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Trinity Bellwoods in Toronto jam-packed despite rules

The covidiots were out in full force Saturday at Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park. The hipster favourite at the west end of Queen Street West was filled with people who apparently have never heard of physical or social distancing in the coronavirus era.

As photos and video of people sitting side by side, having large group picnics and ignoring public health advice were shared widely on social media, city councillor and board of health chair Joe Cressy reacted with disappointment on Twitter.

“Toronto, this will not end well if we don’t all do our part and respect physical distancing,” Cressy said.
“Going outside is good for physical and mental health, but at a distance. We’re by no means out of the woods yet. Anything but. Please, we are all in this together.”

Park dwellers appeared to mostly be in their 20s or 30s, and many were not wearing masks and not keeping two metres apart. The scene was variously described as a nightclub, a cocktail party and disappointing.

Toronto reopened 850 park amenities Saturday after more than two months of closure due to COVID-19.

Health officials on Saturday reported 220 new COVID-19 cases in Toronto, while Ontario reported 412 new cases, along with 27 new deaths related to the virus. The rise in cases in Ontario represents a 1.7% increase over the previous day’s total.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy told CTV that he was missing out on Eid celebrations with his family to treat COVID-19 patients while people in the park ignored all the rules. He called the images sad.

“I wonder if these people know the sacrifices myself and my colleagues in the emergency room and ICU are making,” Dr. Sharkawy said. “I don’t want my ER and my ICU filled up with sick people in another few weeks.”

Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said in a tweet she was disappointed by the photos of people in the park.

“I understand that the photos of people in Trinity Bellwoods were disappointing today. It was a beautiful day & we all want to enjoy our city together, but this could be selfish and dangerous behavior that could set us back,” the tweet said.

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Hundreds of drivers in Mississauga stopped in suspected street racing

Peel Regional Police stopped hundreds of cars in a Mississauga shopping mall parking lot and issued dozens of tickets Friday night as part of a crackdown on large gatherings believed to be tied to street racing.

Peel Regional Police say the blitz was conducted in the area of the Heartland Town Centre at Mavis and Britannia Rds.

Officers stopped 370 vehicles, issued 112 bylaw tickets and 67 Highway Traffic Act tickets, and laid two criminal charges.

“This came from our Road Safety Services,” Const. Danny Marttini said Saturday. “They had a complaint on this (gathering) and would have attended.”

“These gatherings meet and then they go race, which is incredibly dangerous,” she added.
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Toronto Life June 2020

Toronto Life June 2020

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Toronto Life May 2020

Toronto Life May 2020

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Remains of 12-year-old Aran Hamid found at scene of Markham house fire

A body has been recovered from a Markham house fire and the remains are believed to be those of 12-year-old Aran Hamid.

The boy was at the home — in the area of Bur Oak Ave. and Kennedy Rd. — on Sunday when there was a loud explosion and fire.

His mother, Chia, and two other children Ahmed, 14, and Zheer, 6 were also in the house and are now in serious condition in hospital.

The father, Tahir Hamid, wasn’t home at the time.

Investigators with the York Regional Police Criminal Investigations Bureau, along with the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal, continue to investigate.

On Sunday, shortly after 10 a.m., police, York Region Paramedic Services and Markham Fire and Emergency Services were called to the home and when officers arrived, they found three people with injuries who were transported to hospital.

“Officers determined that a family of five resided at the location. A six-year-old boy, a 14-year-old boy, and their mother, a 41-year-old woman, are all in hospital in critical condition,” police said in a release.

“Sadly, a body believed to be that of the fifth family member, a 12-year-old boy who was unaccounted for, was located inside the residence on Tuesday.”

The fire is not considered to be suspicious at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7541, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).


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Gun violence 'deeply concerning,' Toronto mayor says, day after 2 teen boys wounded

A day after two 15-year-old boys were seriously wounded in a shooting, Mayor John Tory says the gun violence that is continuing to grip Toronto is of major concern — and at least one youth worker is warning the pandemic could fuel more bloodshed.

"I am deeply concerned about the continuing prevalence of gun violence in the city and those who have been victimized by it," Tory told reporters at a city hall news conference on Wednesday.

Tory said he met with Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders on Tuesday to discuss the problem. Both officials talked about measures in place to prevent further shooting deaths and injuries. He said they discussed what can be done.

"I will be working with him to make sure that we have the resources that we need to have plans in place, as I believe we do now, but to enhance those plans to make sure we can fight this violence as best we can, regardless of the weather and regardless of what's going on with the pandemic," Tory said.

"The violence is a problem in and of itself."

The city is working on new community programs to minimize gun violence, the mayor added.

Tory said gun violence is a serious problem in part because of the "upset" it brings to neighbourhoods.

The meeting between Tory and Saunders came before three shootings in the city before midnight on Tuesday night.

Toronto police said the shooting that left the boys wounded may have been a drive-by. It happened close to the intersection of Grandravine Drive and Driftwood Avenue, near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West, at about 10:45 p.m.

Const. Laura Brabant, spokesperson for the Toronto police, said on Wednesday that both boys suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

When police arrived, they found the first 15-year-old boy suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was taken to hospital. Police continued to investigate and found the second teen also suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was taken to hospital as well.

On Tuesday night, Insp. Paul Rinkoff police said the shooters may have been in a vehicle and the shooting was outside in an open area in front of a home.

Police have not released a description of the shooters and have not determined a motive. Officers canvassed the area for witnesses and surveillance camera video.

Shell casings could be seen strewn throughout the street for nearly a block.

'A perfect storm for a spike in violence'

Sean Mauricette, a youth worker, said he believes the gun violence could be connected to people losing their jobs, families stuck at home due to COVID-19 and domestic abuse.

He said the city could see a rise in violence this summer because community centres are closed and youth programs are cancelled due to COVID-19.

"It's the perfect storm for a spike in violence," Mauricette told CBC Toronto.

Mauricette said there is already an increase in substance abuse and domestic abuse in Toronto with everyone at home due to the pandemic.

"If there's a spike in domestic abuse, there's going to be children witnessing that. When they leave the home, they're taking these behaviours with them, potentially. So everything is interrelated and we have to be mindful of that," he said.

The pandemic has also left families financially strapped and that means youth workers cannot reach their clients on the phone, he said.

"Even just trying to reach them on the phone, you can't reach them on the phone because phone bills are being cut because parents can't afford to pay for the phone when they need to put food on the table," he said.

Mauricette said the city needs to understand that poverty is a factor in the violence. He added that new ways are needed to reach young people to protect their physical and mental health as the pandemic continues.

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Mountain bike rider sought in Bathurst and Wilson Ave area of Toronto sex assaults

Toronto Police are looking for the same man in two alleged sexual assaults that took place in the city’s north end Wednesday evening.

At around 6:10 p.m., the man approached a woman at Bathurst St. and Wilson Ave., sexually assaulted her and then fled on a bicycle. About 20 minutes later, he did the same to another woman at Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave., police say.

The suspect is described as 25 to 35 years old and 5-foot-5 with a thin build.

He was wearing a black windbreaker with white or silver piping, black pants with white stripes, light-coloured shoes and a black hat, and was riding a black mountain bike.

Police are asking anyone with information to call them at 416-808-3200 or Crime Stoppers.

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Saaid Mohiadin, 29 and Jordan Thompson, 18 of Toronto charged in killing Antonio Fiorda

A 29-year-old already charged in a murder is now accused in the brazen takeout last November of reputed Mob enforcer Antonio “Scratch” Fiorda at an Etobicoke strip mall.

Toronto Police announced Tuesday night that Saaid “Postman” Mohiadin has been charged with first-degree murder, while Jordan Thompson, 18, is charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Fiorda, 50, was shot Nov. 4, 2019 around 1 p.m. at a plaza near The Queensway and N. Queen St.

The burly Fiorda was rushed to hospital, but later died.

Witnesses in a restaurant nearby said they heard the gunfire and saw the suspected triggerman flee in a getaway vehicle. The vehicle was later found but had been set on fire.

At the time, detectives said Fiorda had been targeted for death.

As for Mohiadin, he has another murder beef on his jacket.

In March, he was charged with first-degree murder in the March 19, 2019 slaying of Jerome Belle, 22, in the Junction Triangle.

Belle had been shot to death.

“He’s a great person,” Belle’s sister Chanelle Kent said at the time. “Everybody loved him. Very humble.”

Cops believe that slaying was also targeted.

In 2015, The Postman was ringing more than a few bells in Alberta.

He was arrested on a slew of charges in connection to two shootings in Fort McMurray. He was also charged with three counts of failure to comply with conditions of a recognizance.

And in 2013 outside the Loki Lounge on King St. W., Anthony Smith was shot in the head following an alleged dust-up with Mohiadin and a pal. No one was charged after Smith’s pal refused to point fingers in the murder.

That same year, cops were looking for Mohiadin for a bank robbery at a Bank of Montreal branch in Mississauga.

In that instance, after the robber demanded cash, the gutsy teller hit the panic button and the suspect fled empty-handed.

In the past three years, southern Ontario has seen an alarming uptick in Mob violence with an ever-mounting body count.

Traditional organized crime has recently begun to outsource murder to street gangs in exchange for drugs, guns or cash.

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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North York distraction theft targeting 94-year-old man caught on camera

TORONTO -- Police are looking for suspects after security cameras captured distraction thefts in North York and Vaughan, including one that targeted a 94-year-old man.

On Saturday after noon, the elderly man answered a knock at the front door of his home near Keele Street West and Highway 401.

His son, who only wants to be identified as Rocco, told CTV News a woman was standing on the front porch.

"She told my dad that her father wanted my dad to have this jewelry," Rocco said. "She lured him out of the front door of the house, and proceeded to put this jewelry on him, this necklace, and obviously took his real gold and abruptly left."

Security video shows the entire interaction lasts about 30 seconds before the woman gets into the passenger side of a white SUV and the vehicle takes off.

Rocco said the necklace that was stolen had pendants that were given to his father by his mother, who passed away in September.

"There was a cross, an emblem, faith and hope and charity," Rocco said. He said his father has been heartbroken since.

"He didn't sleep for the first two days. We just tried to settle him down and told that we'll deal with this."

They family posted the video on social media and another victim in Vaughan reached out with a similar experience from that same day.

The victim, who wanted to be identified as Kula, said he was in the front yard of his home near Teston Road and Jane Street at around 12:30 p.m. on May 16 when a white SUV pulled up. The driver asked for directions and got out of the vehicle.

"He just all of a sudden hug me. I didn't expect anything, maybe okay their tradition is like," Kula told CTV News Toronto. "Then he said I have a small gift for you. Before I said 'yes or no', he put it on my neck."

Kula said when he reached to check if his own gold chain was still around his neck, a woman asked him another question and he got distracted. He only realized after the suspects had taken off that his necklace was gone.

"I've been wearing it for last 22 years, since 1998," Kula said. "I never took it [off]. My wife bought me it once [we got] married."

The victims’ families are also concerned that they came into close contact with strangers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I see this woman getting very close to my dad, no protective equipment or face mask on," Rocco said. "Here's this lady getting close to him and violating like that. I was just outraged."

Reports have been filed with Toronto Police and York Regional Police.

Constable Laura Nicolle with York Regional Police confirmed they are investigating the incident in Vaughan. The suspect vehicle is described as a white, newer model Volkswagen Touareg and there was a male driver and two female passengers.

York Regional Police is reminding citizens to be cautious and protect themselves by following these safety tips:

 In this current climate responding to COVID-19, maintain the recommended 2 meters of physical distance between yourself and others who do not reside in your household.
 Be cautious engaging in conversation with strangers that approach you
 If you witness any suspicious people or activity, contact police immediately. We will respond to these calls
 Conceal your valuable jewelry if it must be worn while out in public
 Consider hiding your jewelry while walking in public then putting it on once you have reached your destination

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RCMP and MSM blame Massage parlour stabbing on ‘incel’ terrorism

TORONTO -- Graphic content warning: This story contains details that may disturb readers.

A 17-year-old boy accused of stabbing a woman to death inside a Downsview massage parlour in February has now been charged with terrorism, and police allege he carried out the assault in the name of the “incel” movement.

On February 24, police were called to Crown Spa, near Dufferin Street and Wilson Avenue for reports of a stabbing.

When officers arrived, a teenage boy and a woman were found outside the building suffering from “laceration-type” injuries.

The lifeless body of a woman was found inside the massage parlour and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

She has been identified by police as 24-year-old Ashley Noelle Arzaga.

Arzaga was a mother of a little girl and friends described her as a doting parent.

A woman who said she owned the parlour told reporters at the time that she lost a finger in a struggle with the accused, and that she was able to grab the machete from the suspect and stab him before police arrived.

Officers later charged the boy with murder and attempted murder.

Det. Paul Worden of the Toronto police homicide squad told CTV News Toronto that evidence found at the scene led them to believe the boy was part of the “incel” online extremist movement.

Incels or “involuntary celibates” are males who group together online to blame women for their failures to develop romantic or sexual relationships.

They often encourage misogyny and vicious violent attacks against the female gender as a whole, as a form of “retribution” for their perceived involuntary exclusion from sexual activity.

Worden said Toronto police contacted the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team and they began a joint investigation.

“After they analyzed the info we collected they felt the grounds existed to lay terrorist activity charges against the young person,” Worden told CTV News Toronto.

The RCMP said Tuesday that they “determined that this crime was in fact one in which the accused was inspired by the Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist (IMVE) movement commonly known as INCEL.”

He was charged additionally with one count of murder – terrorist activity and one count of attempted murder – terrorist activity.

The boy cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He appeared in court via video link at 2201 Finch Avenue West on Tuesday where the new charges were read.

Worden told CTV News Toronto it’s the first instance he’s aware of where an alleged incel follower has been charged with terrorism in Ontario.

Both the Federal Public Prosecution Service and the Provincial Attorney General were made aware of and approved of the new charges.

The incel strain of violent extremism is also tied to Alek Minassian, who stands accused of killing ten people and wounding sixteen others in the North York Van Attack in 2018.
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Three overnight shootings in Toronto, including one that injured two youths

TORONTO -- There were at least three shootings over the course of an hour late Tuesday night, including one that sent two 15-year-old youths to hospital.

The first shooting happened at around 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday outside a housing complex on Grandravine Drive.

Police says that officers who arrived on scene located the two boys with non-life threatening injuries in the parking lot behind the complex.

Multiple shell casings were also found on the roadway.

“Detectives are conducting their investigation in conjunction with the forensic identification unit and we are appealing to any witnesses who may have been in the area at around 10:44 p.m.,” Insp. Paul Rinkoff told the media at the scene. “If you saw or heard anything please contact 31 Division investigators or if you prefer to remain anonymous please contact CrimeStoppers.”

About 30 minutes after the first shooting police received another shots fired call, this time in the Don Valley Parkway and Eglinton Avenue area.

Police say that they located two vehicles and a residence with bullet holes at the scene, though no injured parties were found.

At around 11:30 p.m., police were then called to the Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue for the third shooting of the night.

Police say that a male victim was located at that scene with a gunshot wound and taken to hospital in non-life threatening condition. The victim is not cooperating with the investigation, police say.

Meanwhile, at around midnight an individual walked into Sunnybrook Hospital with a non-life threatening gunshot wound.

“Investigators are in the process of determining whether that individual is related to this shooting or another shooting during the course of the night,” Rinkoff told CP24 at the Grandravine Drive scene.

No arrests have been made in connection with any of the shootings at this point.
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Shawn Williams, 34, and a 29-year-old man, were shot near Victoria Park and Sheppard Toronto

Toronto police have identified the victim in a fatal shooting in Scarborough on Sunday evening.

Shawn Williams, 34, along with a 29-year-old man, were shot on the ninth floor of an apartment building in the area of Victoria Park and Sheppard avenues just before 6:30 p.m., said Toronto police in a news release on Monday.

Both men were taken to hospital, where Williams later died.

The second victim suffered non-life threatening injuries.

A 30-year-old man was charged with second-degree murder in relation to the incident.

Police say both victims lived in the same building, but won't confirm the relationship between them, or their connection to the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers.

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Tents housing the homeless are popping up around Toronto

The Church of the Holy Trinity is surrounded by camping tents, each one big enough for two or three of Toronto’s homeless residents.

Amanda Stroud moved into the encampment four weeks ago after struggling to find space in the city’s overwhelmed shelter system.

“There’s nowhere else for me to stay,” she said, standing outside a small canvas tent Friday morning. “The shelters are full, I don’t have any housing opportunities. This is home.”

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has seen a dramatic increase in homeless encampments across the city as inhabitants find themselves without shelter space and apprehensive of facilities that have become vectors for the deadly virus.

Early in March, the city imposed a moratorium on clearing homeless encampments, given the challenges of ensuring physical distancing in shelters. But the city has since resumed the removals of the encampments as they implement new, temporary housing measures for the homeless.

On Friday, standoffs unfolded between Toronto’s homeless and city officials at several downtown encampments as police officers and city workers cleared tents.

The city said it was clearing tents that were abandoned after moving people into housing last week, but Jason Phillips, who lives in a tent underneath the Gardiner Expressway, told the Canadian Press he received an eviction notice despite refusing an offer for a shelter placement.

He said he feels safer outside than in a shelter during the pandemic. Stroud agrees.

“At least, here, you can pick up your tent and move somewhere else if you don’t like the spot,” Stroud said. “I’ve stayed in a shelter where someone stole the shoes off my feet while I was sleeping. It’s not much better.”

Some of the encampments, like the one outside the Sanctuary Charity on Charles Street, have outhouses and are staffed with harm-reduction workers.

The encampments often congregate in the city’s ravines and underpasses — beside the Gardiner Expressway and along the Don Valley Parkway — though street nurse and housing advocate Cathy Crowe says recent areas include stretches of University Avenue and in Parkdale.

“People in these encampments have less access to basic hygiene, washrooms and food services,” Crowe said. “They have some outreach coming to them from charitable organizations, but not as much they should.”

Mary-Anne Bédard, general manager of Toronto’s Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, said that the city will always offer indoor spaces for inhabitants before removing their tent encampments.

“When we make an offer to someone for an inside space, we work with them to ensure they’re in a position to accept that. But if they decline that offer, we will continue to clear the site,” she said.

Toronto Fire Services Chief Matthew Pegg said Friday that city staff withdrew from the encampment sites after they were approached by protesters.

Since the pandemic began, the city says it has moved 97 inhabitants of tent encampments to indoor spaces.

“By moving inside, you’re moving to a location that’s being cleaned to high standards, you have access to three meals a day, you have access to running water and sanitation, and you have access to space that has met physical distancing requirements,” Bédard said. “Encampments have none of those things. Our staff are trying to help people understand that.”

But Crowe says the shelters pose risks to their inhabitants as well.

Two people have died and more than 329 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the shelter system since the pandemic began, according to the city. The city has also reported outbreaks in nine facilities where roughly 70-80 individuals are hosted on a nightly basis.

In March, the city added nine new shelters for homeless people with over 350 spaces to help improve social distancing. The shelters are spread out across the city, in recreation centres and motels that the city has adopted.

Despite the city’s efforts, advocates of health-care providers say “widespread outbreaks” in Toronto’s shelter system are inevitable due to limited space and overcrowding.

Crowe says that some of the difficulties concerning the shelters were further exacerbated by the closure of Toronto’s central intake centre for homeless shelter services in March.

The centre, which connects the homeless with shelter beds, shut down its in-person services due to COVID-19 concerns, leaving individuals to contact the centre via phone or by relying on shelter staff and outreach workers to help them find locations with available space.

Many of the individuals Crowe works with have had trouble getting through to central intake by phone, she said.

Mayor John Tory said that city staff are helping people in the encampments move into two midtown buildings with 125 fully furnished units. The units come with laundry, Wi-Fi, cable television and on-site support staff to help residents.

Bédard says that 87 individuals in tent encampments have received interim housing. She says the city anticipates it can provide space for another 60-80 people in the coming weeks.

According to the city’s most recent report, more than 500 Torontonians inhabit tent encampments across the city.

Bedard notes that the figure has likely changed amidst the pandemic, as other institutions, like prisons, have discharged people into homelessness in order to meet their own physical distancing and site security measures.

“Unfortunately, the homeless sector is not necessarily in a position to respond to that right now,” Bédard said.
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Toronto is in big financial trouble and there isn’t a plan to fix it

Have you ever felt that sinking feeling when you face a huge unexpected expense, your wages have been cut suddenly and there’s not much left in your bank account?

Now imagine that your household is actually three million strong and those people who rely on you for shelter, day care, transit and more need you to come up with $1.5 billion to break even.

That’s the situation the city of Toronto finds itself in becaue of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has called on the federal government for emergency operating funding of $10-15 billion over the next six months. But there has yet to be any bailout plan announced, with the country’s largest city expecting to run out of cash as early as June.

What has COVID-19 cost Toronto?

Last month, the city’s senior staff reported that in the “best-case scenario,” there would be a $1.5-billion shortfall by the end of the year: $938 million estimated for impacts directly related to a three-month lockdown and $590 million during a six-month recovery phase as restrictions ease.

That shortfall can be grouped into two distinct categories: Lost revenues — money the city was expecting to make through means like TTC fares, which have now plummeted due to social distancing — and additional costs, like opening additional shelter space to spread out those experiencing homelessness and reduce risk of infection spread and staff overtime.

But even those might be conservative estimates. For example, city staff say the TTC was expected to lose $337.8 million between March 15 and June 30 and another $134 million during the rest of the year. But the TTC has since said the transit agency is expected to lose $520 million by Labour Day — the single biggest driver of the city’s shortfall.

The $1.5-billion shortfall is more than all of the money the city planned to spend on children’s services and day care in 2020 ($635 million), the entire parks, forestry and recreation budget ($456 million) and the senior services and long-term-care budget ($271 million) combined.

Can’t the city borrow to get by?

Currently, no. The city can’t go into deficit to pay for operating expenses, as dictated by provincial law. The provincial government could change those rules in light of the pandemic — as B.C. has done. But even if Ontario followed suit, Mayor John Tory has said it’s not something he’d want the city to do, because it would still have to find a way to pay back those funds with limited resources.

Enid Slack, director of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, said borrowing could be a short-term solution, but creates more problems in the long run.

“When you borrow money, you have to pay it back — and you’re going to have to pay it back in 2021, 2022,” said Slack. “People have had their taxes deferred, so they’re going to have to pay their regular taxes plus the amount they deferred. Businesses — some of them we know are not going to come back, so that part of the municipal tax base is going to shrink.

“Is that a time to say to people, ‘Well, we’re going to have to raise your taxes now and we’re going to have to cut services to make up for what we did in 2020?’”

Can the city raise taxes?

Technically, yes. But the amount required to raise enough to cover the gap even in the best-case scenario would be a burden on municipal taxpayers never experienced before.

According to the city, in order to raise $1.5 billion, taxes would have to jump by 47 per cent — or an additional $1,418 for the average homeowner in 2020.

The alternative is cutting city services. But making up the difference through savings alone would likely lead to a dramatic decrease in city programs that people rely on and risks disproportionately impacting already marginalized groups.

Does the city have savings?

Yes, but not enough. The city is required to have a balanced budget, but also puts money in the bank for a rainy day every year, depending on the circumstances. For example, if there is a real estate boom, the city could collect more revenue through the municipal land transfer tax than predicted. That might lead to a budget surplus, which can be put into reserve funds to use another year.

Those reserve funds are used for things like replacing aging city vehicles or to make up for tax revenue if it’s lower than expected, because of, for example, an economic downturn.

Early in the pandemic, the strategy to cover the $65 million a week that the emergency was costing the city included dipping into the city’s surplus funds. But that strategy, city manager Chris Murray said earlier, will dry up by June — at which point some other intervention is needed.

“In the short run they’re kind of making due, but it can’t last,” Slack said.

What about Ontario or Ottawa?

As of April 15, confirmed contributions from the federal and provincial governments only totalled $61.4 million, city staff reported to council this week. That was already factored in to the city staff’s accounting that it will be $1.5-billion short by the end of the year.

Don’t they already help Toronto?

The other governments contribute to the capital costs of major infrastructure projects like new transit lines. Slack said those infrastructure funds allow the city to spend its funds elsewhere.

However, after decades of downloading services onto the municipal tax bases, renewed contributions have been slow to materialize — like the federal promise last year to spend $1.3 billion to repair Toronto Community Housing after hundreds of units had already been shuttered.

Other essential services, like the TTC, receive little direct operating support from the other levels of government and the ones that did were earlier targeted for budget cuts by Premier Doug Ford.

In 2020, TTC fares from riders were to cover 59 per cent of the agency’s operating budget, while city taxpayers funded 33 per cent. The provincial government provided funding through the gas tax, which was to offset just four per cent of the TTC’s operating costs. While fares have increased and city taxes have contributed a greater amount for the past seven years, according to city staff, provincial funding has not increased.

Is $1.5 billion all the city needs?

Shirley Hoy, who was Toronto’s city manager from 2001 to 2008, said there’s no guarantee the city will bounce back to its former state by this time next year. She pointed to depressed TTC ridership and questioned whether it would simply return to pre-COVID-19 levels.

“In this particular situation, just giving short-term financial relief will not help,” Hoy said.

The other governments must recognize the need to restructure service delivery over a longer period that takes public health requirements into account, she said.

“It would be much more helpful if it could be a transition plan of two years.” 
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Hashim Kinani 23 of Toronto is the city's 27th homicide of 2020

Toronto police have identified a man found fatally shot inside a tow truck Thursday evening at as 23-year-old Hashim Kinani.

Police were called to the area of Panorama Court and Kipling Avenue in Etobicoke at about 7:40 p.m. after reports of gunfire.

They arrived to find Kinani suffering multiple gunshot wounds.

Paramedics said Thursday that the victim was taken to hospital, but police said Friday he was in fact pronounced dead at the scene.

Three males were seen fleeing the area on foot, police said Thursday.

Kinani's death marks the city's 27th homicide of 2020.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 416-222-8477.
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Peter Elie, 52 Toronto, body found near Yonge and Davisville, Police seek person of interest

Toronto homicide officers are investigating after a man’s body was discovered in an apartment building near Yonge and Davisville early Thursday morning.

Police said they received reports just after 2 a.m. about a fire in the laundry room of a building on Balliol Street, south of Davisville Avenue.

Fire crews put out the fire and a man’s body was found in the laundry room, Toronto police said. He had obvious signs of trauma, but police didn’t reveal a cause of death.

By late afternoon on Thursday, police identified the victim as 52-year-old Peter Elie of Toronto.

Homicide investigators are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying a “person of interest” and have released his photo. He was last seen wearing a dark jacket with red-and-black checkered pajamas. If they see him seen, the public should call 911.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

Elie is the Toronto’s 26th homicide victim of 2020.

Including him, 21 men and five women have been killed in Toronto so far this year. They are:

Ahmed Yakot, 21, was shot near River and Oak streets in Regent Park at 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 1. He died the next day in hospital.

Paul Anthony DeSouza, 25, was shot in a residence at 367 Military Trail in Scarborough around 2 a.m. on Jan. 11 and pronounced dead at hospital.

Maryna Kudzianiuk, 49, was found seriously injured in an apartment building at 25 Bay Mills Boulevard, near Sheppard Avenue East and Warden Avenue, after a fire at 3 a.m. on Jan. 13. She was pronounced dead at hospital. On Jan. 18, police charged 37-year-old Ricardo Mirabelles of Toronto with first-degree murder. He was shot dead by police near Scarborough Town Centre on that day.

Safiullah Khosrawi, a 15-year-old Woburn C.I. student, was shot at Markham and Ellesmere Roads on Jan. 20. He died in hospital. Police said he “was completely innocent.” Another 15-year-old Woburn student has been charged with second-degree murder.

Giulia Matthews, 54, was found dead inside a home in the St. Clair Avenue West and Atlas Avenue area on Jan. 20. Police found Matthews after they were called to conduct a wellness check. A boy has been charged with second degree murder. His identity cannot be released under the Youth and Criminal Justice Act.

Stephon Kelly, 28, was shot near Markham and Kingston roads at around 9 p.m. on Jan. 25. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A man in his 50s and a woman in her 40s were also shot, and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Jalen Colley, 21, of Brampton, and Tyronne Noseworthy, 19, of Toronto, and Joshua Gibson-Skeir, 20, of Brampton were shot in an Airbnb at 85 Queens Wharf Road, just south of Fort York Boulevard, at around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 31. Police say the shooting took place within a condo unit, and the adjacent hallway on the 32nd floor. Police say evidence suggests this was a murder-suicide. They have not clarified who the two homicide victims were.

Thomas Michael Alcott, 29, was found unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the area of Danforth Avenue and Greenwood Avenue at around 3 a.m. on Feb. 5. he was pronounced dead in hospital.

Deandre Campbell-Kelly, 29, was found suffering from gun shot wounds after a shooting in front of 546 The West Mall, near Rathburn Road and The East Mall on Feb. 7. He was pronounced dead in hospital. Police arrested Alyshia Smith, 19, and Anthony Johnson, 23, both of Toronto, on Feb. 10 and charged each with first-degree murder.

Hang-Kam (Annie) Chiu, 64, was pronounced dead after a man attacked her with a hammer in the area of Sheppard Avenue East near Markham Road on Feb. 21. Saad Akhtar, 30, turned himself in on the same day and charged with first-degree murder. The charge was later upgraded to murder — terrorist activity.

Ashley Noell Arzaga, 24, of Toronto, was pronounced dead after a stabbing at a massage parlour on Dufferin Street, south of Wilson Avenue, on Feb. 24. Two others were found with stab wounds outside. A 17-year-old boy has been charged with first degree murder and and attempted murder. She’s remembered as a “loving mother, daughter, sister, cousin and friend” whose smile and laugh was “contagious to everyone around” her.

Theepa Seevaratnam, 38, of Toronto was shot to death on March 14. The victim and another woman were found suffering from gunshot wounds in the area of Brimley Road and Pitfield Road. Steadley Kerr, 28, was arrested March 30 faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Birchfield Matthews, 43, died in hospital after he was stabbing in an apartment March 15, in the area of Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West. Kenroy Samuel, 29, of Toronto, was arrested near the scene and charged with second degree murder.

Dobroslav “Bobby” Manchev, 51, shot and killed in front of 51 Comstock Rd., near Eglinton Town Centre in the evening of March 18. He was a former organized crime figure who was convicted in 2001 of impersonating a police officer in drug ripoffs. Joseph Paquet, 48, of Toronto was arrested March 29 and charged with first-degree murder.

Mamadou Drame, 25, of Toronto, died in hospital after he was shot near Ryerson campus in the evening of March 21. Police say there was an altercation between the victim and a suspect they’re looking for.

The body of Ayoub Mohamed, 25, of Toronto, was found found along the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Burlington on March 24. He had been reported missing by his family on March 13. He was last seen at 8 p.m. on March 11, in the Eglinton Avenue West and Weston Road area.

Kamalakannan Arasaratnam, 58, of Toronto, was beaten to death shortly after 3 p.m. on April 5 after an argument at a restaurant near Finch Avenue East and Bridletowne Circle, west of Warden Avenue.
Nazirullah Abdul-Rashid, 16, of Toronto, was shot and killed inside a car at 5 Leaside Ave., near Millwood Road and Overlea Boulevard on April 5 at about 10:40 p.m.

Farook Alibhai, 65, of Toronto, was assaulted at a residential building near Progress Road and Markham Avenue on March 29. He died April 5 from a head injury. Nathaniel Ottley, 36, of Toronto has been charged with manslaughter.

Lindsay John Templeton, 37, of Toronto, was shot and killed on April 8 at St. Clair Avenue West and Winona Rd. He was found at the back of the building with “multiple gun shots wounds.”

Paul Morgan, 79, of Toronto, was found inside his home at 42 Howard Ave. on April 14 with “obvious signs of trauma.” He used his earnings as a top Toronto oral surgeon to support the less fortunate, says a friend. He opened up his North York home to a diverse group of youths, many of them Indigenous artists and musicians, including some who had been in trouble with the law. Makoons Meawasige-Moore faces a charge of second-degree murder.

Djuro Orlovic, 72, of Toronto, was pronounced dead on scene at 340 Royal York Rd., near the Gardiner Expressway, around 6:20 p.m. on April 21. He had obvious signs of trauma. Janusz Rusin, 73, of Toronto, was charged with second degree murder. The incident occurred at the Edwards Manor for adults living with the effects of a brain injury.

Jeremiah Ranger, 15, was shot and killed on April 26 after he and another boy got into the back seat of a white SUV in North York. Police released video of the pair scrambling out of the vehicle after the shooting. Police said Jeremiah died about 20 metres from the vehicle. Three people have been charged with second-degree murder. Tyler Young, 22, of Cambridge, was arrested with the assistance of Waterloo Region police on May 1. Hannah Gaudet, 20, surrendered along with her boyfriend, 23-year-old Seymour Young — Tyler Young’s older brother on May 4.

Daniel Boima, 23, of Toronto, was shot and killed on May 2 at about 10:45 p.m., in the Lawrence Avenue East and Warden Avenue area. Police found Boima with a gunshot wound in front of a house and rushed to hospital where he died.

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