Two officers who let an impaired driver go before he caused a fatal crash won’t face charges, Ontario’s police watchdog has ruled.

Special Investigations Unit (SIU) director Joseph Martino said Monday there are no reasonable grounds to believe that either Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the March 30, 2024, collision.

The SIU, a civilian agency that investigates the conduct of officials that may have resulted in death, serious injury, sexual assault and/or the discharge of a firearm at a person, said it was notified of the incident on July 22 of that year.

Around 1:30 a.m. on March 30, police were called to the parking lot of a McDonald’s in Milton for reports of an impaired driver — later identified as an 18-year-old man —behind the wheel of a black Infiniti. A 16-year-old girl was a passenger in the car.

Two officers responded to the call, one of whom was designated as a subject officer by the SIU. That officer spoke to the driver “at length” and found no grounds existed for an impaired driving charge. They did not conduct an examination or use a breathalyzer to determine sobriety, Martino’s report reads. The driver was allowed to drive away from the scene.

Video footage was later obtained from the McDonald’s that “potentially revealed” the driver as stumbling and/or under the influence of alcohol/drugs, the report indicated.

At 2:23 a.m., two other officers, one of whom was deemed the second subject officer, pulled over the driver near the intersection of Derry Road and Holly Avenue in Milton. The report indicates the Infiniti was weaving in and out of lanes on Derry Road.

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The traffic stop was captured on the officers’ in-car camera (ICC) recording, which showed the subject officer speaking with the driver, who was seated in the driver’s seat. A short time later, the officer asked his passenger to step out and spoke to her briefly before deactivating his ICC microphone. The reason for this is unknown, the report indicates.

The officer charged the driver with two offences under the Highway Traffic Act — careless driving and no front licence plate — but allowed the driver to leave the scene at 2:50 a.m. There was no examination, nor was a device used to determine sobriety.

“At 3:19 a.m., HRPS received several 911 calls from the intersection of Derry Road and Sixth Line in Milton, reporting that two vehicles had been involved in a motor vehicle collision and both vehicles were on fire,” the report reads.

HRPS officers arrived at the scene at 3:24 and found two cars: one being the Infiniti and the other a 2014 Honda CRV driven by a 26-year-old man. The Infiniti had crashed into the rear of the CRV, which was stopped at a red light on Derry Road, at a speed of 140 to 154 kilometres per hour.

Both vehicles were engulfed in flames, and all three occupants died at the scene.

The 18-year-old’s blood sample was eventually sent for analysis and was determined to be three times over the legal limit.

Martino said the offence he considered was criminal negligence causing death — a test that had a high bar to meet.

“The impugned conduct must reflect a wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons. Mere errors of judgment or mistakes are insufficient to make out liability,” he said.

“In the final analysis, when the officers’ indiscretions regarding the second stop are weighed in the balance with the extenuating considerations referenced above, the evidence falls short of reasonably establishing that their conduct amounted to a marked and substantial departure from a reasonable level of care in the circumstances.”

Neither subject officer participated in the investigation or provided their notes, as is their legal right.

As this incident was reported to the SIU about four months after it occurred, no physical evidence was collected, the report indicates.

Martino said it appears the incident may be a contravention of the SIU Act and Police Code of Conduct, and there is evidence the two officers committed “possible misconduct” in how they investigated the matter related to the code of conduct.

He is referring those issues to HRPS’ chief for review and will be notifying the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, which handles public complaints about police conduct in the matter.

Eddie Amminson, the father of the 16-year-old passenger — Emma Amminson — told Global News he’s both “disappointed and confused” about what happened that night.

Amminson said he believed charges were possible, and was surprised none were laid.

“It was dumbfounding that he was so impaired but not given a roadside test,” he said.

— With files from Catherine McDonald

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Tacked on the plywood fence keeping intruders away from the long-closed St-Eusèbe-de-Verceil church in Montreal, next to “Free Gaza” and anti-police graffiti, is a poem.

“This church is no more,” begins the unnamed poet. A few lines later, the handwritten verse concludes: “Why is the building moulding too?”

Officials at the once-stately Montreal Catholic church are asking the same question.

After years of neglect, a fire, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the city and repeated break-ins from urban explorers and teens seeking TikTok fame, the church has taken the unusual step of taking the City of Montreal to court to have the building demolished.

With the number of parishioners dwindling and as provincial funding to restore religious buildings dries up, underused churches across Quebec are in a race to transform into something more relevant to the times before they slowly fall into pieces like St-Eusèbe-de-Verceil.

Keeping intruders out has become a huge effort for the parish fabrique — the legal entity that owns the church — and for 77-year-old priest Roger Dufresne.

“They use all kinds of tools to break the windows, break the doors, get inside,” he said. “For young people, it’s mostly to make videos, TikTok challenges.”

Inside the church, the floor of the cavernous sanctuary is covered with debris, bird droppings, beer cans and the mangled remnants of the church’s organ, which Dufresne said intruders ripped from the walls. They’ve also broken heads off statues and repeatedly climbed to the roof, trying to ring the church bell.

The paint is gone from the walls, thanks to a 2019 fire, and has been replaced by graffiti, including a message that reads, “the devil was here.” The sound of cooing pigeons and the flapping of wings echoes through the space, which once accommodated some 1,000 worshippers.

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Dufresne and the Montreal Catholic archdiocese believe there is nothing left to save, but they say they are having a difficult time getting a demolition permit from the city. In a court application filed Jan. 7, the St-Eusèbe-de-Verceil parish asked a judge to grant a demolition permit, citing health and security reasons as well as financial limitations.

The court document says the church’s main sanctuary hasn’t been used since 2009. Since then, church officials have tried several times to partner with companies to redevelop the site, but they say the initiatives fell through because of costs or constraints imposed by the city.

The church says it has spent more than $100,000 trying to secure the site since 2017, including by hiring security guards. Despite those efforts, the document states the church has incurred more than $219,000 in fines related to the structural integrity of the building. The City of Montreal declined to comment on the case, and the lawyer representing the parish said no court date had been set as of Thursday.

After the 2019 fire, an engineering firm had estimated the cost of repairing and restoring the church at more than $50 million, the document says. That firm, CIMA+, “concludes that a total demolition of the building is the preferred solution from every point of view, in terms of economic viability … but also in terms of safety,” it reads.

Stefano Marrone, who oversees the Montreal Catholic archdiocese’s real estate arm, says safety is the main reason the church needs to be demolished. Police and fire officials, he said, have expressed reticence to enter the building, which is a problem given frequent intrusions by young people, including some who climb on the roof.

However, he’s also hoping the permit will help move the development project forward. Normally, he said, a demolition request would be presented to the city as part of broader redevelopment plan, but in this case it’s hard to get a developer on board with such a big question mark hanging over the building.

“It’s difficult to get collaborators to come in when there’s uncertainty of what will need to be conserved, what will need to demolished, how that transformation process begins,” he said in a phone interview.

He says the church officials would like to find a partner to redevelop the site as a mixed-use project that would include housing and “community aspects.” He said the church would like to stay involved, including potentially retaining and renovating the presbytery to continue to host services.

“I know that there’s a lot of emotions around churches, regardless of someone’s faith,” he said. “If it’s been in their community for a long time, (citizens) feel a connection to it and we’re very sensitive to that.”

He said any money earned from the sale will be used to renovate other churches — something that’s become more necessary as the province has suspended a key program that granted funding for church renovations.

Solange Lefebvre, who holds the chair of cultural and religious diversity at Université de Montréal’s religious studies department, says Quebec has historically been successful at selling or repurposing churches before demolition is needed.

However, she said costs to renovate have skyrocketed, meaning repurposing has become impractical for some churches, and especially large ones.

“We have too many places of worship in Quebec, so eliminating some of them is a good idea,” she said. “For example, given that land is so valuable, why not build social housing or even completely private housing instead?”

Dufresne, for his part, would also like to see the site become housing. He said fewer than a dozen people regularly attend weekly services, which are held in a corridor attached to the presbytery.

“We have to be realistic these days about the needs we have and the current situation … with a chapel of 100, 200 places, we could easily meet our needs,” he said. After decades as a priest, he’s philosophical about seeing churches close.

“We can’t have ideas of grandeur,” he said.

One of Saskatoon’s most dangerous intersections is 51st and Millar, with 161 collisions in the last five years. As such, the city has proposed changes to its design, including blocking left-turning lanes into the McDonald’s and Wendy’s as well as adding sidewalks along Millar Avenue.

However, there are concerns about how the new features on Millar would affect surrounding businesses.

“They had concerns around access to their property, truck-turning radiuses for deliveries and things like that because it’s a larger infrastructure — that’s the transportation vehicles that are going into these businesses to help stock their equipment and so on,” said Keith Moen, executive director of NSBA, speaking on what businesses in the area had to say.

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Moen adds that while the intersection is dangerous, he wants more thought gone into how traffic concerns will be handled.

“We think it’s a bigger project than what is currently required,” Moen said. “The fact is that they’re looking at two pathways, one along each side (of Millar Avenue), and we’re not even sure how much they’re going to be used, and that’s a lot of money to be putting towards it, so we think that there’s a better way to look at spending the money.”

But not everyone is opposed to the changes. Saskatoon Cycles agrees the intersection is hazardous and says it could be more accessible to all modes of transportation.

“This intersection is extremely inhospitable to anybody who’s not driving a car or a truck. It’s as if there’s a sign saying, ‘You are not welcome here,’” said Jason Hanson, communications manager for Saskatoon Cycles.

“I don’t think the city wants that, we don’t want that, and I don’t think most of the businesses in this area want that, either. We want to have a city that’s just inclusive for everybody, regardless of what kind of mode of transportation you have.”

The decision on the intersection improvement plan has been deferred to allow city administration to engage with businesses that would be affected. Talks are expected to begin again in the next few months.

Watch above for more on the mixed reactions about the proposed intersection changes.

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A proposed uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan has the support of several Indigenous communities as it enters the final stage of seeking federal approval.

Canadian mining company NexGen Energy Ltd. presented its Rook I development project and heard from several key Indigenous stakeholders in Saskatoon on Monday, the first day of the second part of its hearing before the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).

The proposed mine is located in the southwestern Athabasca Basin, around 150 km north of La Loche, Sask.

NexGen has identified four Indigenous nations in and around the proposed mine area that have signed impact benefit agreements with the company and offered their support for the project. These nations are the Clearwater River Dene Nation, a regional division of Métis Nation Saskatchewan, Birch Narrows Dene Nation and Buffalo River Dene Nation.

Dene Nation elder Jimmy Montgrand was in attendance at the hearings on Monday and says the mining projects are more than just extracting materials from the ground, but for “the future generation of Indigenous kids in that region.”

Montgrand supports the project, adding that ongoing collaboration between the company and the local Indigenous nations is crucial to success, especially given that the proposed mining site is home to historical sites.

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“We’re trying to maintain, according to the elders, what is beneficial for both the Indigenous groups of that region, as well as the corporations that are working with in that area,” said Montgrand.

Components of the mine include underground and surface facilities, along with an onsite mill that is expected to process an average of 1,400 tonnes of ore per day.

The project, which has been in the works for over a decade, is also expected to generate 1,400 local jobs, according to Leigh Curyer, NexGen’s chief executive officer.

“We share with the communities financially as well, and the agreements that we have show that the communities and the company are totally aligned with respect to the sharing of those financial benefits,” said Curyer.

Marlene Hansen, secretary for Métis Nation Saskatchewan, was a part of the consultation process for the past four years and praised the company for meeting the needs of the community.

“We talked about how they’re going to come back and make sure that everything is done and that we could go on the land, and it’s going to be protected. So we know it before it starts, and that’s a good thing,” said Hansen.

“Everybody’s just really excited to get it moving and looking forward to all of the jobs and all of the excitement to come with this project.”

Following the conclusion of the proceedings, the CNSC will consider community, safety and environmental impacts before deciding to grant the project a licence, which could take up to four months. A licence from the CNSC is required before the project can begin.

The proceedings before the CNSC are expected to continue in Saskatoon until its conclusion on Thursday.

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Kelowna, B.C.’s top RCMP officer says he’s hearing growing frustration from local business owners as crime and social disorder continue to impact the city.

Supt. Chris Goebel addressed city council on Monday, acknowledging the day-to-day realities many businesses are facing, including people sleeping in doorways, open drug use, warming fires and damage to private property.

“They are the ones experiencing it,” Goebel told council. “And I hear you.”

The comments come as ongoing break-ins and visible social disorder leave many business owners questioning when enough is enough.

Lori Sellen, owner of Hitz Boutique, says the damage downtown is becoming a daily sight.

“Every day there’s another window boarded up here,” Sellen said. “There’s evidence of fires, we see it all the time down here.”

According to Kelowna RCMP data, reports of social disorder are up 15 per cent in 2025. At the same time, break-and-enters are down 8.1 per cent, a statistic that has come as a surprise to many downtown businesses.

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Nyssa Morgan, studio manager at Sweat Studios, says those numbers don’t always reflect the reality on the ground.

“It might not necessarily be what the reality is for downtown businesses,” Morgan said. “Sometimes the response to break-ins is they show up half an hour, an hour after it happens.”

While business owners credit RCMP and bylaw officers for stepping up patrols in recent weeks, there are concerns the increased presence may not last.

“Are they going to keep it up?” Sellen asked. “That’s what we need, desperately.”

Last week, Kelowna’s mayor told officials in Ottawa that the RCMP does not have the tools and support needed to keep the community safe.

“No one wants to hear that,” Sellen said. “Obviously, we need more help.”

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BC Conservatives in Kelowna to talk crime

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Goebel pointed to a provincial pilot program targeting chronic property crime and public disorder as one approach showing promise. According to police, all five identified repeat offenders through the program are currently in custody.

“Looking at the 2025 police data, there would have been 646 individuals we would have submitted for consideration for this program,” Goebel said.

In recent weeks, hundreds of business owners packed two separate forums focused on crime and public disorder, one hosted by the City of Kelowna and another organized by local Conservative MLAs. While there is some optimism, many say municipal action alone isn’t enough.

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U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he will block the opening of a new bridge and trade route connecting Ontario and Michigan until the United States is “compensated for everything we have given” Canada.

In a lengthy post on his Truth Social website, Trump called for immediate negotiations over the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., that he said would seek U.S. ownership of “at least one half of this asset.”

He cited Ottawa’s recent trade agreement with China, Canadian tariff quotas for American dairy products, and Ontario’s ban on U.S. alcohol among his irritants with Canada, and that the bridge is the latest example of Canada treating the U.S. “very unfairly for decades.”

“Canada is building a massive bridge between Ontario and Michigan. They own both the Canada and the United States side and, of course, built it with virtually no U.S. content,” Trump wrote. “President Barack Hussein Obama stupidly gave them a waiver so they could get around the BUY AMERICAN Act, and not use any American products, including our Steel.

“Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just ‘take advantage of America!’ What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING!”

He later continued: “I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.

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“We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY. With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset. The revenues generated because of the U.S. Market will be astronomical.”

The Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority, the Canadian Crown corporation responsible for overseeing the bridge’s construction, said Friday that “major construction” is complete and testing work is underway leading up to this year’s opening.

5:23
Canada’s newest border crossing links Windsor and Detroit

The bridge will serve as a new crossing within the busy Ontario-Michigan trade corridor and aims to ease traffic on the nearby Ambassador Bridge.

The Canadian government says it is funding the entire project, which will be publicly owned by both Canada and Michigan.

About a third of all trade between the U.S. and Canada occurs between Detroit and Windsor.

Trump’s post is the latest sign of souring relations with Canada since Prime Minister Mark Carney’s widely viewed and praised speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Carney in that speech warned of a “rupture” to the U.S.-led international rules-based order and urged countries to band together to withstand pressure from great powers, a reference to Trump’s global trade wars and attacks on allies.

In response, Trump told the same gathering of political and business leaders that “Canada lives because of the United States” and warned Carney to “remember that.”

Trump has since criticized Canada for reaching a deal with China that eases tariffs on each country’s goods and will allow a certain amount of Chinese EVs to be sold into Canada.

His post Monday repeated his claim that China will “eat Canada alive,” adding the U.S. will “just get the leftovers.”

“The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate The Stanley Cup,” Trump added.

Carney has repeatedly said his government is not pursuing free trade with China as Trump has claimed, but rather seeking a “strategic partnership” that allows for limited economic cooperation.

The strained relationship comes ahead of this summer’s scheduled review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on free trade.

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A Halifax man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for the 2022 shooting death of a 25-year-old man outside a Gottingen Street nightclub.

Makayle Skinner was initially charged with first-degree murder in the death of Trayvhon Bradshaw, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter last fall.

Bradshaw was gunned down outside The Den nightclub on March 18, 2022, after getting into an altercation with Skinner.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the fight escalated when Bradshaw left the club to retrieve something from his car.

“And then he came back across the street in a crouched manner holding something to his right side, and so when Mr. Skinner was able to get into a position where he saw the handgun, that’s when he fired on him,” said Skinner’s lawyer, Nathan Gorham.

“What he did was in response to a threat, but there would have been other ways to get out of the situation, so he didn’t have a lawful claim of self-defence that would exonerate him.”

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Bradshaw later died in hospital.

Skinner was arrested in June 2022 and charged with first-degree murder, but he eventually pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was released on bail.

Skinner walked into the Nova Scotia courtroom on his own Monday, when he was sentenced.

“He was on house arrest with an ankle bracelet as well, so his whereabouts were known at all times,” said Eric Taylor, Crown lawyer.

Five victim impact statements were read aloud by Bradshaw’s family in court, recalling the trauma of losing him and the years of heartache.

The court heard from two of Bradshaw’s sisters, his mother, stepfather, and partner — who was also the mother of his young son.

Bradshaw’s mother described the pain of knowing her grandson will grow up without his father.

“It showed how much of an effect this loss has had on the family, especially his young son, who was just under three years old when his father was killed,” said Taylor.

Both counsels recommended 10 years in custody less about two-and-a-half years in remand credit, which totals seven years and 147 days.

Judge Joshua Arnold accepted the recommendation, citing Skinner’s acceptance of responsibility and the fact that he had been a victim of gun violence himself in the past.

Skinner apologized to Bradshaw’s family before he was led away by sheriffs.

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Critics are questioning the Ford government’s decision to pour more public money into an advertising blitz after the province debuted its latest commercial during the Super Bowl.

The new one-minute Protect Ontario ad for the provincial government was first aired on Canadian television Sunday night as part of a push to promote the government’s vision.

“We build, that’s what we do in Ontario,” the voiceover begins. “As Canada stares down economic uncertainty, we’re ready with a plan to protect Ontario. Today and for generations.”

The commercial — produced by an Ontario-based animator — moves through images of home, highway and pipeline construction, featuring images of ships, cars and remote parts of Ontario.

“The government’s latest advertising campaign … highlights some of the ways we are building a more competitive, resilient, and self-reliant economy,” the premier’s office said.

Critics, however, argue the government is wasting public money on a campaign designed to boost its poll ratings rather than educate the public.

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“I don’t even want to think about how much this ad will cost taxpayers. But we do know it will add to this government’s historic, unprecedented spending on self-promotional advertising — all on the public dime,” Ontario Liberal MPP Stephanie Bowman said in a statement.

“What does this ad do to help Ontario? Why is this government focused on spending millions of dollars on self-promotion when they could be spending millions to help get young people jobs, to help break up criminal networks, and to help connect people to a family doctor?”

Bowman suggested the commercial’s claims were misleading. “We’re not building,” she said, pointing to the fact that Ontario had the worst housing construction rate in the country last year.

The Ontario NDP took a similarly dim view of the advertising blitz.

“These ads paint a pretty misleading picture about life in Doug Ford’s Ontario,” the party wrote in a statement. “They had to rely on special effects because the reality is that this government isn’t building any homes, they’re not fixing our roads, and they’re not creating or protecting good jobs.”

The premier’s office declined to tell Global News how much the commercial would cost, saying only the figures would eventually be released through public accounts data.

In recent years, the Progressive Conservatives have steadily ramped up the amount of public money being spent on government advertising. It reached a record of $111.9 million in the run-up to last year’s snap election.

The auditor general has complained that many of the campaigns the government is pushing don’t appear to have a purpose — beyond improving perceptions of the Progressive Conservative administration.

One previous campaign, “It’s Happening Here,” was flagged by the auditor as being run without a clear purpose beyond improving the public’s view of the government.

“The advertisements were aimed at a general audience,” Auditor General Shelley Spence wrote in her report for 2025.

“They did not include information about services and programs, but rather appeared designed to improve Ontarians’ impression of the current state of Ontario, the subtext of which promotes the governing party.”

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The housing market in Canada isn’t just good for buyers. Renters are also finding lower prices as average asking rents hit a 31-month low in January.

The numbers come from Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s latest national rent report, which showed the average rent for all residential properties dropped two per cent year-over-year to $2,057 last month.

“If you’re looking to get into the rental market, this is the best time we’ve seen in years,” said Giacomo Ladas, associate communications director at Rentals.ca. “It really has gone back to the renter, which is a good thing.”

Rents declined for the 16th consecutive month, with the two organizations noting asking rents have declined by 6.3 per cent over the past two years.

Part of the reason for the decline is the size of the units also declining.

The report found the average size of rental listings was 857 square feet in January, compared to 885 in January 2025 and 943 two years ago.

Purpose-built rentals saw a one per cent annual decline to $2,049, while condo apartments dropped 5.7 per cent to an average of $2,093.

Ladas told Global News that some of these smaller units are actually condos that were built to sell, but due to the housing market change has had an impact.

“A lot of them were shoebox condos that, frankly, nobody wanted to buy so now they have come flooding into the rental market,” he said.

2:18
Kelowna vacancy rate now highest in Canada

When it came to the number of bedrooms, it was one-bedroom units that saw rent drop 3.4 per cent to $1,792 on average. Yet at the same time, larger properties like three-bedroom apartments of all types rose 1.1 per cent to $2,506.

“What I think that reflects is that Canadians want larger rental units because they plan on staying in these apartments for longer because buying a house seems so far out of reach still,” Ladas noted.

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Looking from coast to coast, some of the biggest falls in rent prices were seen in some of Canada’s biggest markets.

In Toronto, rent dropped 4.6 per cent to a 44-month low of $2,495. Vancouver saw an even sharper drop of 9.2 per cent, hitting $2,630 — the lowest rent has been in that city since February 2022.

Other big cities also saw declines, including Montreal with a 3.7 per cent drop to $1,913 and Edmonton by 2.6 per cent to $1,488.

Rent declines filtered up to across entire provinces, too, with Ontario posting a 3.3 per cent drop, Alberta declining by 4.3 per cent and British Columbia by 4.7 per cent compared to a year prior.

Rentals.ca and Urbanation found not all parts of the country dropped, with Saskatchewan and Manitoba seeing increases of 4.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent year-over-year.

2:08
Surge in purpose-built rental units

Ladas said while rental prices are somewhat increasing in Saskatchewan, with it comes the quality of rentals as newer stock is made available.

“A lot of that has to do with the makeup of the new rental stock,” he said. “That is because so much of our rental stock was so old that now purpose-built rentals offer a lot of really nice amenities that wasn’t the case anymore.”

He added as prices in the two provinces were already relatively low, even a slight increase isn’t breaking the bank. For example, Regina has average apartment rents of $1,374.

As more rentals come to the market, Ladas said the rental decrease is likely to continue and pointed to a mix of federal actions on population growth as a partial cause.

“It is a reflection on the low demand of negative population growth paired with tens of thousands of rental units that are still under construction that are coming to the market,” he said.

“So we wanted a course correction, we’re getting a course correction no matter the bedroom type.”

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