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The Ontario Provincial Police will review how the Toronto force handled the case of Umar Zameer, who was acquitted of first-degree murder in the death of an officer after a jury trial in which the judge questioned the accuracy of police testimony.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw requested the OPP review and acknowledged criticism of his comments over the weekend, when he said he and his officers “were hoping for a different outcome” in the case. Zameer ran over an officer after he and his family were approached in their car by plainclothes officers in an underground garage.
Criminal-defence lawyers said yesterday the prosecution of Zameer never should have made it to trial, and an independent prosecutor should have been asked to oversee the prosecution instead of local prosecutors overseen by the Ontario government.
Umar Zameer and his lawyers walk away from the courthouse following his not guilty verdict, in Toronto, Sunday, April 21, 2024.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
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Ottawa, Ontario reach deal on multibillion-dollar Honda EV plants
The federal government and Ontario are set to announce this week a multibillion-dollar deal with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. that will see the company build a comprehensive electric-vehicle chain in the province.
The deal with Honda includes a stand-alone battery-manufacturing plant, a retooled car-assembly plant, as well as other facilities, according to three sources familiar with the project.
The financial specifics of the deal have not yet been confirmed, but Ontario Premier Doug Ford said yesterday the size of the investment will surpass other electric-vehicle deals in the province, by a big margin.
New condo market in Toronto hits 15-year low
New condo sales in the Toronto region dropped to their lowest level since the 2009 financial crisis, with investors backing away because of lofty purchase prices and higher borrowing costs.
The fall in sales has slowed down the construction of homes at a time when governments are trying to spur more building to battle the housing affordability problem.
The cost of housing is out of reach for many Canadian residents, with the average monthly rent around $2,000 and the typical home selling for more than $700,000. The pace of home building needs to accelerate to meet the demand of a growing population. But the staggering drop in new condo sales will lead to less investment in housing.
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Also on our radar
Israel marks fraught Passover Seder as hostages remain in Gaza: As Israelis sat down to a fraught Passover Seder, many uncomfortable at the thought of celebrating while hostages remain in Gaza, Palestinians began to uproot again, this time to leave the Gaza city where, it is believed, Hamas is hiding some of those it has kept captive.
- Israel military strikes northern Gaza in heaviest shelling in weeks
- Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at Yale, Columbia cancels in-person classes
U.K. approves plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has finally managed to win parliamentary approval for his controversial plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda. The vote came the same day five people, including a child, died in an attempt to cross the English Channel.
Dissident shareholders reject Gildan plan: Browning West, the most vocal dissident investor in Gildan Activewear Inc., rejected the clothing manufacturer’s plan to refresh its board of directors and claimed the move reflected a failed sales process at one of the country’s largest consumer product companies.
Indigenous group wants dissolution of Thunder Bay police force: Indigenous leaders in Northern Ontario say the Thunder Bay police force is beyond repair and are calling on the province’s policing watchdog to use his new powers to disband it.
Calgary judge permits residential school class-action lawsuit: A Calgary judge struck down a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit against a Catholic priest who is accused of making defamatory statements about residential-school survivors in 2021 and causing harm to their reputations by denying reports of unmarked graves.
Trump case an election fraud conspiracy, prosecutors say: The prosecution in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial said the former president committed election fraud ahead of the vote that put him in the White House in opening statements yesterday, portraying his efforts to suppress a porn star’s tale of extramarital sex as a bid to corrupt democracy.
Morning markets
Global shares are on the rise, driven by a recovery on Wall Street, where investor focus is pinned on earnings reports from the U.S. megacaps, while the yen hit a new 34-year low against the U.S. dollar.
The MSCI All-World index was up 0.2 per cent, lifted by gains in Europe, while the STOXX 600 traded at one-week highs thanks to the technology sector. In early trading, Britain’s FTSE was up 0.26 per cent, Germany’s DAX index advanced 0.61 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.35 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.3 per cent higher while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.92 per cent.
The dollar traded at 72.92 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Campbell Clark: “Mr. Blanchet seems to think a secular state must be a secularizing state. A secular state is neutral as to what faith, if any, its citizens practise. A secularizing state tries to impede citizens from practising a faith. Broadening access to halal mortgages doesn’t require adopting sharia law or any religious element into Canadian law.”
Editorial: “Ottawa’s plan to invest in clean power makes sense. Adding unnecessary conditions – seemingly aimed at provinces where money is most needed to cut fossil fuels from the grid – is a mistake.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
It’s possible to rely on plant proteins without sacrificing training gains, new studies say
While there have been plenty of changes in sports nutrition over the years, the belief that meat and dairy are the best fuel for building muscle persists. These days, though, a growing number of athletes are interested in reducing or eliminating their reliance on animal proteins, for environmental, ethical or health reasons. A pair of new studies bolsters the case that it’s possible to rely on plant proteins without sacrificing training gains, as long as you pick your proteins carefully.
Moment in time: April 23, 2005
“Meet Me At the Zoo”, by Jawed Karim, the 25-year-old co-founder of a video-streaming website called YouTube.YouTube
First video uploaded to YouTube
The mottled, grainy clip, titled “Me at the zoo,” looks like it could have been plucked from any home video from the camcorder era: a young person in San Diego, talking about the elephants behind him for 19 ungainly seconds. But by awkwardly telling the world about a “cool thing” – that the animals had “really, really, really long, um, trunks” – Jawed Karim, the 25-year-old co-founder of a video-streaming website called YouTube, established a language and aesthetic that would be imitated for years to come. Video no longer had to have high production values or important subject matter to be as widely broadcast as anything on TV or the big screen. But the first upload could have looked very different if the original idea, a video-based dating website, had panned out. When no one submitted anything – even after offering women $20 to do so – Mr. Karim’s clipped clip became YouTube’s first video, complete with a fumbling end: “And that’s pretty much all there is to say.” With more than 500 hours of new videos now uploaded every minute, and more than 316 million views of “Me at the zoo” alone, that line may make it YouTube’s wrongest video, too. Adrian Lee
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