CTV says Monday night that it has learned that the PC government at Queen’s Park is pondering the end of license stickers as the 2022 provincial election approaches. It will cost the government money but presumably, there will also be a saving. CTV says a refund scheme is being considered for those who have recently renewed stickers. The news raises the question of just what purpose the stickers were serving except as a source of income. Nor does the CTV story mention just how visual dating will be done without stickers. In the 1970s, yearly plates all carried the year of issue but longer do so.
Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly has addressed a public appeal to all levels of government for more officers and jurisdictional powers to end the sprawling trucker demonstration that has occupied the capital for more than a week. Sloly, a former deputy chief of the Toronto Police, said many additional police have been placed under his authority from the OPP and RCMP but it is not enough. He said that most of his men have been at work for days without going home.
Sloly says he needs 1,800 more cops and civilians to handle the ongoing convoy protests, representing a massive increase in his police workforce. Sloly said his force can’t handle the demonstrators alone. “They need more help and they need it now,” Sloly told city council during a special meeting Monday. The entire Ottawa Police Service is about 2,100 staff, of which 1,200 are officers. In letters to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Doug Ford and their ministers, Mayor Jim Watson and Coun. Diane Deans, the chair of the police services board, say Ottawa police need 1,000 regular officers, 600 public order officers, 100 investigators and 100 civilian staff to “quell the insurrection that the Ottawa Police Service is not able to contain.” Ottawa Citizen
Judge grants injunction to stop honking horns
An Ottawa judge has granted an interim injunction seeking to silence the honking horns that have plagued residents of downtown Ottawa for the past 11 days. The request for an injunction came out of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Friday by lawyer Paul Champ on behalf of his client, Zexi Li.
Canada’s women’s hockey team has defeated Russia 6-1 Monday at the Beijing Olympics. The Canuck ladies seem unstoppable but they must still defeat the US women who are also flying high. That game is Tuesday.
Canada wins gold medal in men’s snowboard
Max Parrot of Bromont, Quebec, claimed Olympic gold for Team Canada in the men’s snowboard slopestyle, after winning silver in the same event in 2018.
Women’s singles battle underway
Alumni of Leaside High School are remembering music teacher Albert Green on the news that he died January 30 at the age of 89. A service will be held at the Salvation Army Yorkminster Citadel, 1 Lord Seaton Rd on Saturday, February 12 at 11 a.m. Obituary
Pierre Poilievre, the CPC member for Carleton in the Ottawa area, has announced he wishes to be the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Poiliervre has been urged to run previously but has declined. He was born in 1979 in Calgary and adopted at birth by two schoolteachers. His mother was English-speaking and his father was French-speaking. He grew up and went to university in Calgary. Poilievre’s biological maternal grandfather, whom he first met as an adult, was Irish Canadian.
Court reporter Michele Mandel writes in fascinating detail about two 2019 jewellery store robberies in the GTA. Both the violent robberies were preceded by distraction shootings a few blocks away from the primary scenes. Stolen tow trucks were used to smash the front of the jewellery stores as seen in video above.
Friday’s $30 million Lotto Max jackpot was won by a ticket holder somewhere in Ontario. The jackpot for the next draw on Feb. 8 will be an estimated $10 million
Toronto Police will use buses to block the truck convey from invading Queen’s Park, Chief Ramer said Friday. A multi-vehicle invasion of big trucks is heading for the City and organizers of the convoy say they will demonstrate at the Legislature. At a news conference Friday (seen below) Ramer said the police have many tactics in mind that he would not discuss. He conceded that dealing with the convoy and demonstrators may require quick responses. And he said more than once that the public safety of all citizens is the primary goal of the TPS. He also repeated a number of times a vow to deal with lawbreakers with firm “enforcement.” Ramer added that peaceful demonstrators would be free to use the parkland outside the Legislature. The news conference was also attended by Mayor Tory and Staff Superintendent Lauren Pogue.
Milk prices in Toronto have been recorded at nearly 15 percent higher at some stores after an increase of half that size was approved for February 1. Ouch.
Enbridge admits bill for $43,624 is (um) wrong
An Orillia couple was stunned — to say the least — when they got a natural gas bill from Enbridge for more than $43,000. Happily, the gas supplier has admitted its billing system got confused and the bill is quite wrong.
Drivers running out of gas rather than fill up
Call it wishful thinking but apparently many Canadian drivers are simply running out of gasoline rather than buying it at $1.60 a litre, or so says the CAA.
The City will again review traffic in Leaside with attention to pedestrian safety, speeding and what it calls “cut-through traffic”. There seems little doubt that it will be the last of these topics that gets the most attention from residents. A combination of diversionary tactics by drivers trying to avoid LRT construction and long-standing environmental prohibitions (no extension of Redway Rd) will be discussed.
