Peel Regional Police say nearly 200 charges have been laid following an investigation into a series of commercial break-and-enters in Mississauga.

In a statement, police said the searches resulted in the arrest of two young offenders and the recovery of more than $50,000 worth of stolen property.

More than 35 incidents were reported between November 2025 and January 2026, with businesses across the city targeted.

Investigators allege multiple vehicles were used during the offences, including a silver 2007 Acura RDX and a 2009 Hyundai Elantra.

Officers executed four search warrants on Feb. 10 at three Mississauga homes and one vehicle.

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Items seized included jackets, shoes, perfumes and cosmetic products.

“Break and enters have a real and lasting impact on residents and local businesses, and no one should feel unsafe in their own community,” said Deputy Chief Marc Andrews in a statement.

2:48
Arrested Western University students were making bombs, firearms, police allege

The first accused faces 83 charges, including break-and-enter offences, disguise with intent, possession of break-and-enter tools and mischief over $5,000. The second accused faces 71 similar charges.

Police say both young offenders were held for bail hearings.

A third young offender has been identified and is wanted in connection with the investigation. They are facing 36 charges.

In total, the three accused face 190 charges.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the identities of the young persons cannot be released.

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When Wayne Jones saw how much it was going to cost to operate his year-round patio, he was hit with sticker shock. 

“We can’t afford that, we’re still 30 per cent down from where we were pre-COVID,” said Jones, owner of Rocky Mountain Icehouse located downtown on Jasper Avenue. 

New fees for city patio licences are coming into effect April 1, following years of restaurants not having to pay anything. Emails obtained by CBC News sent by the city’s patio team say that the new fees are meant to address budget shortfalls.

A spokesperson from the city said the program previously was delivered with no costs to businesses, but that is no longer sustainable.

“With reduced funding as a result of the 2024 Fall Supplemental Operating Budget Adjustment, the city is shifting to a shared-investment model.” 

Starting in April, fees to operate a large year-round patio on a public space will set a business back $6,900 for the year. The fee for large seasonal patios is $3,700.

There is still no fee for small sidewalk patios — ones without railings and where chairs and tables are taken down each day.

Businesses bear the costs for boardwalks and patio structures.

John Williams, with the Sabor and Bodega Restaurant Group, said it’s one more hit on already thin profits for the industry. 

“You have to rely on such perfect conditions in our short patio season to really make enough sales to recoup staffing costs, increased food costs, increased liquor costs, taxes, all those things,” he said.

Williams said his company is big enough to absorb the costs, but he worries about smaller establishments.

The Rocky Mountain Icehouse was one of the first winter patios as part of a city pilot project in 2019. Now, Jones said he’s uncertain about its future — and he wouldn’t be surprised if Edmontonians see fewer patios overall as a result of this change. 

“I think it defeats some of the city’s goals of trying to create a vibrant downtown and a vibrant patio culture, year-round,” Jones said.

The fees are set up so the business and the city share the costs of maintaining patios, according to December emails from the city’s patio team. 

The emails said the fees will only cover a portion of the cost to maintain patios. Costs for seasonal patios are shared equally between the city and the business, while the city takes on 70 per cent of costs for year-round patios. 

The city estimates the full cost of maintaining a year-round patio to be upward of $20,000, including labour and material costs to install concrete barriers, flexposts and signs.

Both Williams and Jones feel those estimates don’t add up.

“I’m just not sure where these numbers are coming from. So I’d like to see the math on that,” Williams said.

“It’s obscene the amount of money they were asking for,” Jones added. 

Jones said his staff set up the patio, shovel it and tear it down for annual street cleaning. He said he’s not really sure what services the fee is paying for.

Williams said the City of Calgary waived patio permit fees for 2026, so they can operate the patio for their Calgary location without charge. 

In Niagara Falls, Ont., one benefit of this colder-than-normal winter has been the stunning ice formations formed as parts of the falls have frozen. 

The Niagara Parks Commission’s Instagram account is full of pictures and videos submitted by members of the public showcasing the icy scene. Now, thanks to a contest by Niagara Parks, Niagara Falls Tourism and the City of Niagara Falls, a fantastic frozen falls photo or video could net you $5,000. 

“Everyone is talking about the frozen Niagara Falls,” Mayor Jim Diodati said in a video Niagara Parks posted Friday morning. 

From Feb. 20 to 25, contestants can submit entries to Niagara Parks, the organization said on its website. Winners will be announced in March, with cash prizes of $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second and $1,000 for third. There are separate prizes for photos and videos. 

Niagara Falls doesn’t actually freeze

On Friday morning, Niagara Parks CEO David Adames spoke with host Anis Heydari on CBC’s Metro Morning. 

“I always say everyone should see Niagara Falls at different seasons,” Adames said. “What we’re seeing right now is Mother Nature at her best with over three weeks of sub-zero temperatures.”

Technically, Niagara Parks says on its website, Niagara Falls does not freeze.

“During particularly cold temperatures, the mist and spray begin to form a crust of ice over top of the rushing water, making it appear as though the Falls have in fact stopped. However, the water continues to flow underneath the sheets of ice.”

There was a period of 30 hours in March 1848 in which ice dammed the river and stopped its flow for about 30 hours, the parks commission said. Since 1964, an “ice boom” made of steel pontoons has stopped that from happening by holding ice back between Fort Erie, Ont., and Buffalo, N.Y. 

Another interesting winter phenomenon is the ice bridge, which forms as ice freezes into a mass below the falls, growing up to 10 storeys tall, Niagara Parks said. In the 1880s, people started gathering on the ice, but that stopped after three people died in 1912. 

Niagara Parks also notes that during the winter, 75 per cent of the water flowing from Lake Erie along the Niagara River is diverted for hydroelectricity before it reaches the falls. 

For tourists and aspiring contest winners, Adames recommends viewing Niagara Falls from the pathway between Table Rock Centre and Clifton Hill and the Journey Behind the Falls or ziplining attractions.

The viewing platform at the Power Station tunnel is closed due to high water, he said, but Niagara Parks hopes to reopen it soon. 

A new driver who killed two people in a crash less than a month after passing her test has been jailed for six years.

Liberty Mitchell had not long turned 18 when she caused the deaths of taxi driver Octavian Codreanu and his passenger Moyra Whelan in December 2022.

Mitchell, of Chipping Norton, was travelling at 96mph in a 60mph zone seconds before she hit Mr Codreanu’s taxi on the B4425 near Aldsworth in Gloucestershire.

Now 21, she sobbed openly in the dock at Gloucester Crown Court as she was sent to prison.

Mitchell was working as a cleaner at the time and had been travelling between holiday cottages in the area in order to clean them.

She had swung her Mini Cooper out to try and overtake three other vehicles at once, before aborting the manoeuvre and hitting the taxi.

Mr Codreanu and his passenger, school teacher Moyra Whelan, who was on her way to a wedding, died in the collision.

Mitchell was charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and two counts of causing death by driving whilst uninsured, due to her car insurance not including use of the vehicle for work purposes.

She pleaded guilty to all charges.

The court heard injuries suffered by those in the crash included a fractured hip, broken ribs, severe abdominal wounds and shattered bones protruding through the skin.

Nicola Cooper, one of the passengers in the taxi, said: ‘The crash itself was traumatic, the impact felt endless.

‘I live with survivor’s guilt and the trauma of losing one of my closest friends, Moyra, who was sitting just inches from me.

‘I lie awake at night thinking about the “what ifs”.’

Katy-Louise Whelan, Moyra Whelan’s younger sister, said: ‘She had so much left that she wanted to experience… but the opportunity was stolen from her and we are devastated.

‘I’m still absolutely incredulous that she is not with us any more.

‘It’s like the light of the world is dimmed and we will never be able to turn it back on again.

‘One aspect that haunts me is that my sister died violently… I’m truly devastated that my beautiful, innocent sister was subjected to that.’

Simon Stirling, defending, suggested Mitchell’s actions were a result of ‘inexperience rather than irresponsibility’.

He said Mitchell had only recently passed her driving test and would not have understood the risk of the manoeuvre she was attempting.

Judge Lowe said: ‘At the time of this collision, you had held a full driving licence for less than three weeks.

‘You were, at the time, a reckless and immature young driver suffering from the, frankly common, teenage delusion that you were invulnerable and free to do as you wished.

‘The lives of all the victims and their families have been irrevocably changed.’

Mitchell was sentenced to six years and eight months in jail and must serve half of this term in custody before being eligible for release on licence.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., is claiming that under Republican-led voter integrity legislation, married women would find themselves unable to vote unless they changed their birth certificate to match other government-issued ID.

“Nearly 70 million married women in this country have changed their last name, but their birth certificates don’t reflect that,” Scholten said at a press event, explaining her opposition to the SAVE America Act.

“In Michigan’s third district alone, 167,000 women could find themselves unable to register simply because when they got married, they didn’t change both their ID and their birth certificate.”

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Hillary Scholten, left, pictured alongside an “Only Citizens Vote” sign, right. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images; Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

However, under Michigan law, marriage isn’t listed as one of the reasons to correct a birth certificate.

According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, citizens may only change their birth certificate to correct a birth record, change a sex designation, correct a place of birth, or amend a parental record.

Scholten, like many Democrats, has voiced opposition to the SAVE America Act — a bill that would require federal voter registrants to present government-issued photo ID to verify their citizenship.

The bill would also require a photo ID to vote.

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A Florida voter registration application is shown, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. (Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)

In their view, the bill creates too many obstacles for voters to participate in federal elections.

“Republicans are trying to sell the SAVE Act as a way to stop non-citizens from voting, but we know that’s already illegal. What this bill really does is make it harder for citizens to vote, especially women,” Scholten said when the House considered an earlier version of the legislation last year.

Although the bill lists a birth certificate as one way voters can confirm their identity, it does not specify a last-name match requirement in the manner Scholten described.

Instead, voters can use “a certified birth certificate issued by a state in which the applicant was born … [that] includes the full name, date of birth, and place of birth of the applicant” to supplement other forms of identification.

A senior GOP staffer confirmed that the SAVE Act does not come with the requirements Scholten described.

“That is not right at all and simply another Democrat propaganda talking point,” the staffer said. “Every married woman should have their marriage license.”

The office of Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, one of the many who has helped champion the SAVE Act, pointed to an analysis of the bill laid out by the Federalist Society, a conservative-leaning legal group.

Attendees listen at an “Only Citizens Vote” bus tour rally advocating passage of the SAVE Act at Upper Senate Park outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Sept. 10, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“The SAVE Act itself contemplates these name changes and provides protections so that Americans who have changed their names — because of marriage or otherwise — are not prevented from voting,” the group’s page reads.

“The bipartisan federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is commanded by the SAVE Act to establish guidelines for states to accept supplementary documents — for instance, a marriage license — to prove citizenship when a voter’s birth certificate and current name do not match. Those on the Left who claim that the SAVE Act will disenfranchise millions of married women are simply wrong; they ought to read the bill’s text and see that it provides mechanisms to ensure that this does not happen.”

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Among other forms of valid paperwork, voters can also display a passport, a REAL ID, or a military identification card to prove their citizenship.

Scholten’s office did not respond to a request for clarification on her statement.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is backing down from his threat to remove Crown Royal from the shelves of the LCBO after the government said it reached a $23-million agreement with the company that includes new investment but won’t replace the jobs lost.

Months after Ford poured out a bottle of Crown Royal in protest of the company’s decision to shut down a bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ont., impacting roughly 200 jobs, the government said the two sides came to an agreement to avoid the upcoming escalation.

Ford said the $23 million, including everything from ingredient purchases to local economic development investments and advertising, is made up of new investments that “Ontario would not otherwise have seen” if it had not threatened the prohibition.

“By standing firm in our plan to protect Ontario workers, we’ve secured nearly $23 million in investments,” Ford said in a statement. “These investments will help keep Ontario workers on the job, strengthen provincial supply chains and support the local community in Amherstburg and the surrounding area.”

The agreement, however, made no mention of the workers at the Amherstburg facility who are set to leave the facility when it shuts its doors at the end of February. While Ford had expressed hope that Diageo would replace the positions there, neither the government nor the company offered employment-related details.

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Through the fall months, Ford’s threat against Diageo intensified. At one point, he suggested he would ban other products made by the international drinks company, like Smirnoff vodka.

But pressure from across Canada began to mount at the end of the year, as political leaders in Quebec and Manitoba worried about what a ban on Crown Royal would do to the Diageo operations still employing people in their provinces.

Quebec’s finance minister said Ford’s plan to ban the whisky was misguided, while Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew mounted a campaign to get Ontario to back down. He visited a Crown Royal facility in his province and posted a video to social media, encouraging Ford to reconsider.

Ontario’s tone gradually softened and Ford began referencing an “olive branch” he said he was offering to Diageo. He moved from talking exclusively about the plant that was set to close to suggesting the jobs could be replaced in other ways.

“If Diageo comes and says, I’m going to replace these 200 workers by manufacturing bottles, doing their cartons, doing other things, more advertising, so on, so forth, and they can show me on paper. Then, we’ll sit down, and I’ll be open,” he said in January. “I’m pretty easygoing.”

The agreement the government eventually reached with Diageo will see various spending commitments across the province. The plan includes money for a spirit maker and read-to-drink beverage makers.

Just over 20 per cent of the commitment is for “Ontario-based marketing and promotion.”

A spokesperson for Diageo would not confirm what its advertising budget was in Ontario before the agreement, but thanked the government for backing down on its proposed ban.

“We thank Premier Ford and his team for their exceptional leadership and collaboration in reaching this resolution,” they wrote in a statement.

“Diageo is pleased that Crown Royal, an iconic Canadian Whisky, will remain on the shelves of the LCBO, and we remain committed to Ontario through our significant investment in the province.”

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.