🏛️ Government & Politics
- Top Labour aide leaves after minister shuffled amid $2.5B skills-fund probe. David Piccini was moved to Infrastructure days earlier; the aide’s exit follows an auditor-general finding that the skills-development fund’s awarding was “not fair, transparent or accountable.” The fund controversy involves questions about low-scoring applicants being prioritized and ties to PC-connected lobbyists, and Premier Doug Ford reassigned Piccini to oversee a $236-billion capital plan.
- Ford government delays Queen’s Park return, pushing legislature back to Oct. 27. The legislature was meant to resume Sept. 14 but the government extended the summer break until Oct. 27 to avoid interfering with municipal elections, removing five weeks from the session and leaving just 23 sitting days to pass new bills, Opposition critics say.
- Second wave of Ontario rental-rule changes takes effect Sept. 21. Amendments from Bill 60 and Bill 97 shorten the late-rent cure period: landlords can now issue an N4 with a seven-day deadline (down from 14 days) and file an L1 eviction if unpaid; “persistent” late rent defined as three seven-day late payments within six months.
🚨 Crime & Public Safety
- Toronto police identify 17-year-old Cashie Auguste as Monday’s homicide victim. Officers found the shooting victim near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West around 3:30 p.m.; Auguste was transported to hospital and later pronounced dead, Toronto’s 24th homicide of the year.
- Coroner’s inquest into Regis Korchinski-Paquet death set for Oct. 13 for 14 days. The inquest will be presided over by Dr. David Cameron beginning Oct. 13 and is expected to last 14 days; Korchinski-Paquet died May 27, 2020 after police attended a family-dispute call.
- Eighth-floor Toronto apartment fire sends man in his 40s to burn centre. Firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze at Lansdowne Avenue and Dupont Street around 2 a.m.; medics transported a man with life-threatening injuries to a local burn centre and police say the fire is not suspicious.
💼 Economy & Business
- Gordie Howe bridge logged more than 270,000 crossings in August. Statistics Canada reported 270,000+ crossings in the bridge’s first full month, including 134,900 Canadian-resident return trips and 34,800 commercial trucks; the bridge opened July 27 and cost Canada $6.4 billion to build.
- Metrolinx handed out roughly 1,000 Lake Ontario–themed PRESTO cards at Union Station. The limited-edition cards read “Lake Ontario, Now and Always” and were distributed near the UP Express as a customer-engagement giveaway tied to provincial pride messaging.
🏈 Sports
- Kawhi Leonard’s return to Toronto traced through a detailed timeline. The timeline notes Leonard’s July 18, 2018 trade to Toronto, his June 13, 2019 NBA title and Finals MVP, and his July 6, 2019 departure to the LA Clippers before his recent return to the Raptors.
- NHL drops mandatory fitness testing and shortens exhibition schedule under new CBA. The 2026–27 camp format removes league-wide testing and limits exhibition games to four per club, a change players like Sidney Crosby and Jake Sanderson discussed at the NHL/NHLPA media tour.
📰 Also Today
- Helen Mirren plays Patricia Highsmith in TIFF film.
- Second Harvest opens Etobicoke food-processing facility for school programs.
- Ontario still hasn’t hit $10‑a‑day child-care goal; Toronto waitlists growing.
- Toronto Centre shaping up as a key election battleground.
- Wheelchair-accessible taxi passenger dies after two-vehicle crash in Ajax.
- Police identify a 17-year-old victim in a fatal Jane and Finch shooting.
- Blue Jays face a two-week stretch for a playoff push.
- Mark Carney discusses tax incentives and sovereign internet plan at summit.
- Oshawa funeral home fire declared arson by police.
- Raptors confirm Kawhi Leonard is returning to Toronto.
- Mayoral candidates spar over transit and public safety at first debate.
- Toronto police open a community safety hub in Dufferin Mall.
- Sports groups criticise Toronto and York boards for hiking gym rental fees.
- Teen found dead after a North York shooting, police say.
- Quebec is sole province to ban all-day student cell-phone use.
- (Also listed above) Second rental-rule changes take effect Sept. 21.
