Ontario’s attorney general will neither condemn nor support Premier Doug Ford’s suggestion that a provincial judge should apologize for her instructions to the jury in the trial of Umar Zameer.

The high-profile case saw Zameer acquitted of first-degree murder in the death of Det. Const. Jeffrey Northrup, a plainclothes officer who was fatally run over in downtown Toronto in the summer of 2021.

During the case, the judge called into question the testimony of three central witnesses — all Toronto police detectives — in the Crown’s argument, suggesting they lied and colluded.

Then, last month, an Ontario Provincial Police investigation into the allegation cleared the Toronto officers. It was a conclusion Zameer’s lawyer vehemently contested.

After the investigation was published, both the Toronto police union president and Premier Ford said the judge should apologize for suggesting the officers had lied.

Ford, specifically, said the veteran judge “should apologize for accusing (the officers) of everything under the sun.”

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The comments came before MPPs returned to the legislature. Now, roughly two weeks later, Attorney General Doug Downey, who serves in Ford’s cabinet and oversees the judicial system, refused to be drawn on the issue.

Asked if the premier should have weighed into the issue, Downey said he was “not commenting on that.”

The province’s top lawyer also declined to say if the judge should apologize or if he had received complaints from legal groups.

“It sounds like a line of questioning that I’m not commenting on,” Downey responded when asked if the premier’s comments had made his job harder.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the premier was putting his attorney general in a difficult position by weighing in on judicial decisions and process.

“It means the attorney general is stuck, once again, picking up the pieces for a premier who’s out of control,” she said. “And that’s what this government is always doing, right? Protect the king at all costs.”

The calls for the judge to apologize elicited a rare rebuke from Ontario’s chief justice, who said an independent judiciary is a “cornerstone of our constitutional democracy” in a statement.

“It would be inappropriate and unethical for judges to succumb to outside pressure to modify or qualify their decisions or reasons,” the chief justice wrote in a March 19 statement.

The Federation of Ontario Law Associations was among the legal organizations to issue a similar statement, pointing directly to Ford and the police union president’s calls for an apology.

“These statements are appalling and an inappropriate attack on judicial independence. These statements are an unconcealed attempt to subvert the justice system,” the group said.

Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said the premier’s demand was wrong, and that the attorney general didn’t defend it because he may also be uncomfortable with the intervention.

“He’s the top lawmaker in Ontario; he knows it’s wrong. He knows it’s wrong,” he said. “His boss shouldn’t have said that… It was wrong. The attorney general knows that.”

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After the Ford government declared supervised consumption sites (SCS) were causing more harm than good, researchers and community workers say the province’s new model for treating addiction isn’t offering a clear path for people to actually get help, with advocates urging changes to the abstinence-based plan.

Responding to community backlash, the province introduced legislation banning the operation of supervised consumption sites near schools and playgrounds, while cutting funding to others. Many locations forced to closed shifted their operations to the province’s Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs.

However, many community workers said a year after those locations opened their doors, there isn’t a clear indication of what has changed other than outlawing drug use within the areas and ending harm reduction programs like needle exchanges.

“They don’t even seem to be providing what they’re supposed to be providing, which is recovery,” said community worker Diana Chan McNally, noting the HART Hubs aren’t expediting people into recovery programming. She said many people finishing detox programs are being set up for failure after being told they need to remain drug-free while waiting months on wait-lists for recovery beds.

The Ministry of Health said since opening, HART Hubs have delivered over 100,000 client interactions and provided hundreds of people with supportive housing and addiction recovery beds. Chan McNally disputes this, saying most of the hubs operating in the city are only offering drop-in programs where people can seek counselling, do laundry, and get food.

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A ministry spokesperson told Global News that the province is adding close to 900 supportive housing units and nearly 350 addiction and recovery treatment beds through the HART Hub model. But they couldn’t clarify how many of those treatment beds are being put into service in Toronto, since each location determines what services it will have based on local need.

Public health researcher Gillian Kolla, from Memorial University, said outreach interviews were done in each of the communities where supervised consumption sites were closed in favour of HART Hubs. Those interviews, Kolla said, saw many respondents unclear about what services were available.

“Overwhelmingly we’re hearing about no improvements to detoxification or drug treatment programs, people are still being put on wait-lists as they were before,” said Kolla.

“They’re also not reporting any increases to housing availability.”

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Help on Wheels: New HART Hub outreach program brings mental health care to rural communities

There is also continuing concern over the lack of drug testing once available at supervised consumption sites, a service outlawed at HART Hubs. It’s a major gap that coincides with a toxic drug supply where Toronto’s top doctor said people are often unaware what they’re actually ingesting.

“Through our drug checking, we see that almost 80 per cent of substances that people thought was fentanyl actually contains other things like medetomidine, an animal tranquilizer that’s not approved for humans and is also not responsive to things like naloxone,” said Toronto Medical Officer of Health Dr. Michelle Murti.

Murti added that overdoses may have been on the decline in 2025, but since late last year they’ve been steadily rising month-over-month.

While many say HART Hubs aren’t doing enough, they aren’t writing them off altogether. In fact, many in the harm reduction field said they had been pushing for their introduction to help treat addiction in concert with supervised consumption sites.

Bill Sinclair heads up the Neighbourhood Group, which successfully got a court injunction to continue running its supervised consumption site near Kensington Market. He said since the Ford government closed other sites, his location, the only remaining supervised consumption site west of Yonge Street, has seen twice as many clients.

Sinclair is adamant addiction treatment doesn’t need to be an either/or choice between a supervised consumption site and a HART Hub.

“HART Hubs are meant to support people while they go through this waiting and that’s important, but it doesn’t reverse overdoses,” he said, “and today, people need to live to be on a waiting list.”

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A Brampton, Ont., city councillor said the Ford government’s controversial ban on automated speed cameras resulted in speeding nearly doubling and an urgent need for a solution, which may be coming in the form of an illuminating method used in other municipalities —which they expect the province to pay for.

Coun. Rowena Santos said her city’s community safety zones are more vulnerable than ever, after Premier Doug Ford’s change of heart saw speed cameras torn out late last year. She’s looking to an option which has seen positive results in other cities, including Montreal suburb Candiac: LED lights which are embedded in the asphalt to warn drivers they’re going too fast.

Last year, Toronto-based DNG Group visited Brampton, making its pitch for the installations. Technical lead Nick Tharrenos said the lights only take about three days to install, so they wouldn’t interrupt traffic for too long if the work occurs over a weekend.

He also told Global News that the company had installed the lighting on crosswalks in Scandinavian countries, so they’ve proven they can last a tough winter complete with snow plows.

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More importantly, Tharrenos pointed to the success the LED lighting has had in slowing drivers down. DNG Group’s lights also come with sensors that can detect motorist speeds within the grid they’ve been installed. Tharrenos said other illuminated crosswalks where they operate have shown drivers dropping their speeds 60-70 per cent.

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Replacing Toronto’s speed cameras with other measures expected to take over a decade

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If installed around a Brampton school zone, he told Global News that drivers would be given visual cues via green lights if they are travelling the correct speed.

“If the car speed exceeds a certain limit that’s programmed, they would flash amber to let them know that some action needs to be taken,” he said.

But there is a matter of cost and Brampton has 185 community safety zones to consider. At this week’s city council meeting, Public Works and Engineering Commissioner Peter Pilateris told councillors the rough estimate for installations could range from $60,000 to $160,000 at any particular location.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said if the city proceeds with the pilot, it’s likely the province’s fund set up to compensate municipalities for their speed cameras could likely foot the bill.

Santos agrees and said she expects Premier Doug Ford to make good on his promise to make cities whole for road safety measures he insists will be more effective than speed cameras.

“If you don’t want to use speed cameras and we’re going to be implementing other traffic-calming measures, we might as well be up to date and catch up to other municipalities are doing around the world are doing to keep their residents safe,” Santos said.

Council is currently waiting for a staff report due in a couple of months. If council proceeds with the pilot, Santos said she wants to see a school zone lit up in time for this fall’s return to school.

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A Hamilton, Ont., man is facing charges in relation to a threat made against Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the second such incident in less than a week.

Ontario Provincial Police’s protective services section (PSS) said they began an investigation on Feb. 22 into a threat made against Ford.

They said as a result of the investigation, 25-year-old Lucas Bauer was arrested and charged with one count of uttering threats to cause bodily harm or death.

According to OPP, the man was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in a Toronto courtroom on April 13.

“Threats are criminal in nature and will not be tolerated. The OPP takes every incident seriously and is committed to investigating these matters, regardless of who is impacted,” said Insp. Anton Jelich in a statement.

The case is the second to be announced by the OPP in the past week, with a separate arrest of an Allison, Ont., man being reported last Thursday.

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In that case, OPP said the alleged threats dated back to Feb. 13, when members of the PPS began an investigation.

Police said 20-year-old Ramy Jamil Hanna was arrested and charged with one count of uttering threats to cause harm.

Hanna was also released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court on April 9.

Last week, the RCMP also announced charges against a Winnipeg man after he was accused of “targeting” Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Jewish and Muslim communities in posts on X.

The RCMP revealed the charges on March 2, but the investigation began on Jan. 16. They said in a news release that a user on the platform X had posted threats targeting Carney and inciting hatred towards the Jewish and Muslim communities.

The RCMP did not specify what was said, but added that it’s mandated to investigate criminal offences arising from terrorism, espionage, cyberattacks, nuclear security risks and foreign-influenced activities, among others.

Anyone with information regarding the Hamilton case is being asked to contact OPP or Crime Stoppers if they wish to stay anonymous.

— With files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea

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After unveiling the latest renderings for Ontario Place and blasting the Metro Toronto Convention Centre as “one of the worst” in the world, Premier Doug Ford appears to be turning his efforts to the city’s downtown airport.

Speaking at an event with the Toronto Region Board of Trade on Thursday evening, Ford said he’d seen polling to support expanding the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to include a bigger runway for larger jet engines.

“They’re incredible people,” the premier said of airport leaders. “But I got to tell you one thing, we got to extend that runway. We have to bring jets in, smaller jets, whatever, until people can hop on there.”

The island airport doesn’t fall directly under the premier’s jurisdiction and is governed by a tripartite deal between the City of Toronto, PortsToronto and the federal government. It was recently extended from 2033 to 2045.

The lease was extended at the end of 2024 by city council in a 17-8 vote following a motion from Mayor Olivia Chow. She put forward the proposal despite a staff report that advised against drawing out the agreement before more public consultation.

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Ford addressed his comments to Chow on Thursday night, telling her strong public support would allow her to expand the downtown airport.

“So, mayor, we did a poll, and our poll is pretty, pretty accurate,” he said. “It is telling us that 70 per cent of the people — now this just totally flipped, especially for people living downtown and that want to get somewhere real quick.”

Billy Bishop is located on Toronto Island across the water from Bathurst Street.

It operates Air Canada and Porter Airlines flights to domestic Canadian destinations and some cities in the United States, like New York and Chicago. It competes with Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga and, to an extent, the Hamilton or Kitchener airports.

Ford said he wanted to see the airport expanded because it’s a “gold mine” to have air travel so conveniently accessible in the downtown.

“It’s a gold mine, having an airport downtown. That’s what the polls are saying. That’s what the people are saying,” Ford said.

“They want another option to get this done. So, with the mayor’s support, we’re going to put out some proposals to get things moving.”

A spokesperson for the Toronto Ports Authority declined an interview request.

“At a time when the provincial and federal governments are looking to build resiliency and a future-focused economy, now is the right time to look at how this airport can be more and do more,” they said in a statement.

“We welcome the comments made by the Premier at the Toronto Region Board of Trade Annual Dinner which speak to the need to build resiliency, prepare for the future, and unlock the tremendous economic potential of the airport.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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