The importance of taking into consideration skin tone and complexion when treating injuries was highlighted during a Black History Month exhibit at London's University Hospital. 

Niagara voters are calling for health-care support this election, including investing in workers and reversing a planned urgent care centre closure.

COVID-19 is still affecting Toronto small businesses today. Many of them are still working to pay back their Canada Emergency Business Account loans, which places an additional financial burden on trying to bounce back from the pandemic.

Toronto, Montreal and even many smaller cities across Canada are serving less beef and more plant-based options through events such as festivals and services such as shelters and rec centres. It's part of an effort to fight climate change.

Canada's game against the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off started with plenty of fireworks Saturday.

Another heavy winter storm is battering the National Capital Region this weekend. Experts say to stay home and wait it out.

The Town of Kingsville has declared a Significant Weather Event concerning existing or potential hazardous weather conditions until further notice. This means:

• Drivers and pedestrians should use an appropriate level of caution when traveling during this event and avoid unnecessary travel if possible.
• Crews continue to work diligently to ensure public safety, but maintaining roadways and sidewalks may take longer than normal.
• The Town will provide updates as changes occur and when the Significant Weather Event has ended.

Street Parking ban

We are also declaring an on-street parking ban for the purpose of snow removal operations. On-street parking is now prohibited until further notice. Parking on residential streets during a ban carries a $35.00 fine (By-Law 63-2022). You can find alternate parking at one of our free municipal parking lots.

Please also remove portable items (such as basketball nets and signs) from roadways and sidewalks to prevent damage. Thank you for helping keep our roads clear and safe for travel.

Learn how prioritize snow removal. Visit our Snow removal page.

The post February 15, 2025 — Declaration of Significant Weather Event appeared first on Kingsville Times.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to make Canada a 51st state, along with his threats of tariffs, have fueled a surge in patriotism — just in time for National Flag of Canada Day. Across Ottawa, demand for Canadian flags is skyrocketing, with stores struggling to keep up.

After some delays, and one near-death experience, Hamilton’s Vacant Unit bylaw in now in effect.   Every Hamilton homeowner, whether they own rental properties or not, will be required to participate in the City’s Vacant Unit Tax process starting now with an April 30^th deadline. If they fail to fill in a form declaring that they do not own a vacant unit they will pay a $250 late fee and if they still don’t file the declaration they will be taxed in June at a rate of 1 percent of the assessed value of their property. For an average property with an assessed value of $385,000 that works out to a bill of $3,850. The tax applies to any residential unit that is vacant for more than 183 days in a year. Any revenue generated from this tax after the cost of the program which includes hiring 16 new employees, will be reinvested into City programs to strengthen housing initiatives.

The declaration form can be submitted online, but a printable form will also be available upon request. Options to fill the declaration over the phone and in person will also be available.

To make a declaration residents can visit the city’s Vacant Unit Tax Page. Make sure you have a tax bill on hand before logging on, because you first have to register, which involves getting a code emailed back to you and then you will be asked to supply your tax roll number and an Access code, both of which are on any tax bill. If all else fails there is a phone number where assistance is available. 905-546-2573.

The frequently asked questions page describing the VUT says it is not a form of negative option billing, because it is allowed under the Municipal Act. But in every other way it is a negative option—if a person fails to declare they get billed. Staff estimate roughly 1,100 properties will end up paying the tax.

An annual declaration will be required each year to ensure that the VUT is applied accurately and reflects any changes in how the property was used. The City does not have any reliable method to ensure all property occupancy changes are captured.

Ward Three Councillor Nrinder Nann has been pushing for a Vacant Unit Tax since 2019. It was finally green lit in 2024, but not before it was later defeated on a 6-6 tie owing to some key absences by councillors. The bill was finally returned to council in January where it was passed. Councillors Craig Cassar, John-Paul Danko, Tammy Hwang, Kroetsch, McMeekin, Mark Tadeson, Alex Wilson and Maureen Wilson sided with Nann. Jeff Beattie, Brad Clark, Matt Francis, Tom Jackson, Esther Pauls and Mike Spadafora voted no.

A fire in a Toronto high-rise apartment building has sent four people to hospital Saturday morning, including one person in critical condition.

As a result of significant snow accumulation expected from Saturday morning continuing until Monday morning, Both Hamilton and Burlington have declared a Significant Weather Event effective 12:00 p.m. today.

Specific areas across the area could expect accumulations up to 40 centimetres of snowfall with ice pellets possible Saturday overnight and into Monday.

Residents are reminded that when a Significant Weather Event is declared, it does not automatically mean all City facilities are closed or that programs are cancelled. The City will share regular updates about snow clearing progress, changes to service levels, transit delays, program cancellations, etc. via the Inclement Weather Alert webpage on hamilton.ca/WeatherImpacts and on the City of Hamilton’s social media platforms. Burlington residents are reminded that any weather-related facility closures will be posted at burlington.ca/facilityclosures.

As per the Ontario Municipal Act, Ont. Reg. 239/02, a municipality may declare a Significant Weather Event when a weather hazard, either forecasted or occurring, has the potential to pose significant impacts to road users on roads maintained by the City of Hamilton.

I received a notice from Netflix the other day to the effect that my monthly bill was going up a couple of dollars to $23.99. I think it was $9 dollars when we first signed on. I also receive almost daily phishing messages from somebody purporting to be Netflix asking me to confirm my payment information. That won’t be happening.

Back to Netflix, when I got the notice of the price hike, it prompted me to take a  closer look at exactly what I am getting from them for $23.99 per month. I conducted a little content survey which is summarized hereafter.

I selected the week ending February 10. During that 7-day period there were approximately 40 new items added to the Netflix menu. Although the service is called Netflix Canada, there was no Canadian material posted. The US content consisted of:

• 2 US multi-Part TV series
• 5 WWE wrestling shows
• 9 US Movies—three of which were the animated Minion series and three more from the also animated Despicable Me franchise. There was also Amy Schumer’s new fake pregnancy movie. The only movie with any kind of a pedigree was the 55-year-old Sergio Leone classic “Once Upon a Time in the West,” of which critic Roger Ebert wrote, “There is also, unfortunately, Leone’s inability to call it quits. The movie stretches on for nearly three hours, with intermission, and provides two false alarms before it finally ends. In between, we’re given a plot complex enough for Antonioni, involving killers, land rights, railroads, long-delayed revenge, mistaken identity, love triangles, double-crosses and shoot-outs. We’re well into the second hour of the movie before the plot becomes quite clear.” Rounding out the US material was a Super Mario flick. That’s it for English language material other than a British series titled “Celebrity Bear Hunt.”
• With the 16 English-Language offerings out of the way the remainder of Netflix’s offerings that week were foreign language TV shows and films. Leading the way in that category were 7 Japanese TV series and two Japanese movies. Three movies were in Hindi. There were three movies from Spain and one from Mexico. Also represented were Australia, Germany, Thailand, Brazil, Denmark and Indonesia. Out of the 40 new postings, only 16 were in English.

If a theme of anti foreign-language film bias appears to be emerging; let me hastily add that our generation had no shortage of exposure to foreign language film at a time when Canadian move houses were much more eclectic than now. We watched movies like the Swedish “I am Curious Yellow,” considered then an erotic masterpiece, although the contrarian critic Ebert wrote, in giving the movie one star, ““I Am Curious (Yellow)” is not merely not erotic. It is anti-erotic. Two hours of this movie will drive thoughts of sex out of your mind for weeks. See the picture and buy twin beds.” There was also the Czechoslovakian Oscar Winning, “Closely Watched Trains,” where a young train dispatcher works out some sexual hangups on the job. I remember seeing, what I believe was an Ingemar Bergman movie where I recall two very self-absorbed women were walking on a beach apparently oblivious to a giant statue of a human head that was there. It was a time when ordinary Canadians were exposed to art-house films. It didn’t last long.

So it’s not an inherent anti foreign film bias– we enjoyed, for instance, along with many others, the Oscar-winning Parasites” (Korea), “Roma” (Mexico) and “The Artist” (France)– It’s just that the proportion of foreign language to English on Netflix CANADA, 60-40, is a bit much—actually way too much. Also it has to be said that just because a film or TV show is rendered in another language, it does not automatically qualify as good cinema or as even watchable as once was firmly believed by film snobs.

There are no easy answers to the economic and creative challenges faced by the film and TV industry these days, and so far, Netflix continues to grow audience with 90 million North American subscriptions. But without providing better value and more accessible content for the money paid, Netflix and other steaming services could face the same cord-cutting that cable and conventional television have experienced after too many years of resting on their laurels.

An encampment of tiny homes in Toronto’s St. James Park has been granted a reprieve after the man who supplied the homes was originally hit with an eviction order. The Bay Observer spoke with Ryan Donais, a construction worker and founder of Tiny Tiny Homes, who first got the idea of building shelters last spring. Donais admitted he did not get advance permission to locate the shelters in the park, but felt the urgency of the homeless situation justified his move. Initially it looked like the city was going to move on removing the shelters right away. The city councillor for the area Chris Moise, was trying to find a location for the shelters but told CBC he’s concerned that Tiny Tiny Homes has been arbitrarily placing the shelters without going through proper channels. He said he’s received complaints from area residents about the shelters, particularly because they’re heated using diesel gas. “I just find that, you know, it’s well-intentioned, but that’s not the way we function in the city,” Moise said. Yesterday, however, the city announced it was prepared to hold off on enforcing the eviction for the time being.

Each tiny home is made of fibreglass, and has a bed and a small kitchen, a solar panel on the roof to power lights and a fan, and a diesel-fueled heating system. The structures are on wheels and can be towed easily. Asked if he sourced the materials in China, Donais said, “not at all…I purchased most of the materials from a Toronto area trailer manufacturer. He estimates the units, including the value of his volunteer labour at union rates cost about $15,000 each. “I could get the cost lower if we could scale this operation up,” Donais told the Bay Observer.

Tiny Tiny Shelters is entirely volunteer run and relies on donations to operate. Its website says the tiny shelter concept saves municipalities money because providing stable shelter for homeless individuals reduces the demands on policing and social services.

Donais is familiar with the Hamilton tiny shelter installation at Barton-Tiffany, which according to the city website, is still not occupied, and which cost $35,000 for a double unit. He thinks the city paid too much for the units and should have vetted the supplier, Microshelters Inc., who only incorporated three weeks after Mayor Horwath announced the city was going to purchase tiny shelters. City staff are supposed to provide a report to council on the purchasing process that was followed.

Two Thorold men have been arrested in a drug investigation that began last December. At that time, a local business in Niagara Falls contacted the Niagara Regional Police to report the discovery of drugs in the ceiling tiles of their bathroom. When police got there they discovered over 1,300 grams of Fentanyl valued at over $100,000 and some hydromorphone pills.

Niagara Police continued the investigation and this week were able to identify the owner of the controlled substance.

Thursday police caught up with a suspect who was attempting to flee, and after a search police found more fentanyl along with cocaine, crystal meth and hydromorphone valued at over $21,000.

Obeida Samara (22 years old) of Thorold was arrested and charged with drug trafficking as was 64-year-old Hiyam Samara also of Thorold.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the investigating officers by calling 905-688-4111, option 3, extension 1009667.

Members of the public who wish to provide information anonymously can contact Crime Stoppers of Niagara online or by calling 1-800-222-8477. 

We've made it past the halfway point of our first winter election season in 142 years (no really, you can look it up). It was a busy week on the campaign trail, so here's a look back on a few of the biggest story lines. 

The report, which went to the city's audit committee this week, is part two on an extensive audit of the municipal park's branch. Part one, released in the fall, looked at the efficiency of daily park maintenance and found significant issues, including GPS data showing workers spending less time actually working than they said they were. 

Former Toronto Blue Jay outfielder Paul Hodgson has a couple of reasons to celebrate Family Day — and Black History Month.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is hosting a "Canada First" rally in Ottawa today as U.S. President Donald Trump's threats fuel a surge in patriotism and shift the political landscape north of the border.

Dozens gathered in front of Gilmour Hall at McMaster University in Hamilton this week to protest recent changes to its Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO).

A new report on homelessness across Ontario says the problem is getting worse while spending to address it has “stagnated," as the province’s political parties offer differing solutions on the campaign trail.

Canadian-made video games are a $5.1-billion industry. Few gamers realize it when they’re playing them — and the creator of the Canadian Game Awards wants to change that.

President Donald Trump’s assertion this week that he doesn’t want Canadian cars in the U.S. market doesn’t reflect how the North American automotive industry actually works, experts say.

Former prime ministers are encouraging Canadians to fly the flag Saturday as a visible retort against Trump's tariff threats. To some Ottawa residents, it's a chance to "reclaim" an inspirational symbol whose meaning was "twisted" during what they see as a dark part of the city's history.

The city says a total of 2,950 tickets were issued on Thursday, with tickets costing up to $125.

London, Ont., veteran Bruce Stock was on duty on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 15, 1965, when the Maple Leaf flag was raised for the first time. To commemorate its 60th anniversary today, Stock wrote the flag a heartfelt letter.