News
Copy by Craig Foster
Advance voting in the Ontario election opens at 10 a.m. on Thursday morning. Elections Ontario says advance polls will be open until Saturday and those who haven’t received their voter cards in the mail can still cast a ballot if they bring a piece of identification that shows their name and home address. Advanced voting locations are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. until Sat. Feb. 22.
Canada’s ambassador to the United States hinted the country might avoid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs by continuing to tackle illegal migration and fentanyl trafficking Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said advisers to the president are “pleased” with Canada’s progress. She added that “everybody that we’re talking to” in Washington suggests Trump’s March 4 deadline to impose 25 per cent tariffs on almost all imports from Canada is tied to the country’s efforts to fight the scourge of fentanyl and protect the border. Canada has taken a series of measures in response to the president’s concerns, including forging ahead with a $1.3-billion plan to secure the Canada-U.S. border and appointing former senior Mountie Kevin Brosseau as fentanyl czar.
A new, high-speed rail network between Toronto and Quebec City will be a “game changer” for Canadian commuters, cutting travel times from Ontario’s largest city to Montreal to three hours, the prime minister says. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the project in Montreal this morning, saying it will span approximately 1,000 kilometres. The trains – which will be fully electric and travel over 300 km/h – will stop in Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City. The Prime Minister’s Office estimated Canada will provide $3.9 billion over six years to finance co-development. That’s on top of the $371.8 million that was allocated in the government’s 2024 budget. Once that’s completed, the parties can move on to construction.
Hamas handed over the bodies on Thursday of Israeli infant Kfir Bibas and his four-year-old brother Ariel, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack and among the most potent symbols of the trauma inflicted that day. Hamas handed over the bodies of the two boys and their mother Shiri Bibas, along with that of a fourth hostage, Oded Lifschitz, under the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached last month with the backing of the United States and the mediation of Qatar and Egypt. Red Cross vehicles drove away from the handover site in the Gaza Strip with four black coffins that had been placed on a stage. Each of the caskets had a small picture of the hostages.
More Canadians have expressed an interest in joining the military since U.S. President Donald Trump took office but the Canadian Armed Forces isn’t attributing that spike to Trump and his talk of annexing Canada. The Canadian Armed Forces received roughly 1,000 more applications over the last month than it did in the same month in 2024. Military officials say they won’t have data explaining why the numbers are up for some time. The military has been working to change its recruitment practices and get applicants into uniform faster. It’s been dealing with a severe personnel shortage for more than two years and is now short around 13,500 troops. But Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff, says the numbers have stabilized and the military is on track to meet its recruitment goal for this year.
Sports
The United states have been given permission to put Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson and New Jersey Devils defenceman Brett Pesce on standby in case of injuries or illness prior to the tournament’s finale against Canada. Thompson can only enter the lineup if the team drops below 12 forwards and Pesce can only come in if the team has less than six defencemen available.
With wins on Wednesday night to move to 5-2 with one game to go in pool play, both Kayla Skrlik of Alberta faand B.C.’s Corryn Brown, 29, have qualified for the Scotties playoffs, with only their placings within their pool (second or third) to be determined Thursday after each team’s round robin finale.
Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange, whose imaginative goal calls made his raspy voice immediately recognizable to Pittsburgh Penguin fans for decades, has died. He was 76.
