Toronto News Daily

An intense ice storm that has heavily impacted parts of Ontario continues to wreak havoc as it moves eastward. Freezing rain coated large areas of the region, creating a thick layer of ice that brought down tree branches and power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity.

By Sunday afternoon, over 350,000 customers were reported to be affected by the outages, according to Hydro One, the provincial utility for Ontario. Many residents are bracing for prolonged power disruptions, with some expressing doubts about the lights coming back on anytime soon.

Janelle Baker, a resident just outside Bracebridge, Ont., shared her unsettling experience. “At the very end of our driveway, we had a hydro pole completely ripped in half because trees went down and took the wires with them,” she said, describing the damage she encountered after losing power early Saturday morning. “Our driveway and road are completely impassable at this point.”

The sounds of destruction continued through the night as trees fell, an eerie and unsettling backdrop to the storm’s chaos. “It’s just this intense creaking, and then falling,” Baker explained. “It’s very eerie, almost. You can hear it more clearly because we’re out by the water, too, so the trees falling near the water were particularly loud.”

When Baker ventured outside on Sunday morning, she described the scene as “carnage.” “It looked like a tornado had blown through,” she said, capturing the sheer scale of destruction caused by the storm. With trees and debris scattered across the landscape, the path to recovery will undoubtedly be a long one for those affected.

Ontario’s health-care system is facing a new and critical challenge—nurse practitioner burnout. A growing number of nurse practitioners (NPs) across the province are reporting extreme levels of stress, citing low pay, burnout, and overwhelming job demands. If urgent action isn’t taken, experts warn that the system could be on the verge of collapse.

Aliya Hajee, a nurse practitioner and the founder of NP Circle, an organization supporting nurse practitioners in Canada, described the current situation as more than just frustration—it’s a full-blown crisis. “Nurse practitioners have been stepping in to fill these gaps over the past several years, but we’re doing much more with less,” said Hajee. “We’re managing increasing volumes of patient care without the necessary support to sustain it.”

A recent national survey by NP Circle paints a troubling picture. Only one in eight Ontario nurse practitioners reported being “very satisfied” with their jobs. Nearly one in five expressed dissatisfaction or strong dissatisfaction, and a staggering 78 percent pointed to inadequate compensation as their primary concern.

The findings highlight a larger issue: nurse practitioners are struggling in a system that often leaves them isolated. “The whole reason I created NP Circle and started this survey was because there was no space for nurse practitioners to connect and feel supported in a system that often feels isolating,” said Hajee. “And the data directly reflects that this is truly concerning.”

As burnout continues to rise, it’s clear that without meaningful reforms, Ontario’s health-care system may face an even greater crisis—one that threatens the well-being of both health-care providers and the patients they serve.

Elon Musk announced on Friday that he has sold the social media platform X to his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, in an all-stock deal valued at $33 billion.

In a statement posted on X, Musk explained that the sale is a strategic move to merge the strengths of both companies. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” Musk wrote. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution, and talent.”

He went on to explain that the merger would unlock significant potential by combining xAI’s cutting-edge AI technology with X’s vast user base. “This combination will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge,” Musk added.

Musk emphasized that the merger would create a platform designed not just to reflect the world, but to actively propel human progress.

Both X and xAI are privately held companies, so they are not required to disclose detailed financials. However, Musk stated that the deal values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.

It remains unclear whether this sale will have any immediate effects on X users. xAI already leverages data from X posts to train its AI models, and paying X users have access to the AI chatbot Grok.

Canada’s most wanted fugitive, Dave “Pik” Turmel, has been arrested in Rome, Italy, after more than a year on the run. Turmel, believed to be the leader of the Blood Family Mafia, a notorious street gang in Quebec, was apprehended Thursday following a tip-off that led Italian authorities to his hideout.

The arrest took place in a vacation home, where the 29-year-old fugitive, aware that police were closing in, surrendered without resistance. During his capture, he handed over a fake passport in an attempt to evade identification.

Turmel’s capture marks a significant victory for international law enforcement efforts. The Bolo program, a collaboration between a Canadian charity and Canadian police forces, had listed Turmel as its most wanted criminal due to his alleged involvement in major drug trafficking operations in Quebec City.

Quebec City police are expected to provide further details about Turmel’s arrest during a press conference scheduled for Friday afternoon.

A judge has granted an injunction allowing ten supervised consumption sites in Ontario, which were facing closure, to remain open temporarily. The sites, located within 200 meters of schools or daycare centres, had been scheduled to shut down by March 31, following legislation introduced by the Ford government late last year.

The Neighbourhood Group, which operates a supervised consumption site in downtown Toronto, filed a lawsuit in December to challenge the new law and secure the right to keep its site open. The lawsuit argued that the legislation violated the rights to life, liberty, and security of individuals, particularly those using the sites to safely consume substances.

Lawyers representing the Neighbourhood Group argued that shutting down these sites would force individuals to use unregulated drugs in unsafe environments, leading to an increase in overdoses and fatalities. In contrast, the provincial government maintained that the sites could relocate in accordance with the law. However, Health Minister Sylvia Jones has firmly stated that the government would not allow these sites to relocate. The government also argued that closing the sites near schools and daycare centres was necessary to protect children from potential risks such as disorder and violence.

Despite these opposing views, the court ruled in favor of delaying the closure. On Friday, Superior Court Justice John Callaghan granted the injunction, allowing the ten sites to remain open beyond the initial March 31 deadline. The injunction will remain in place until the court delivers a final decision, with the sites allowed to operate for an additional 30 days after that ruling.

Bill Sinclair, who leads the Neighbourhood Group, expressed relief following the court’s decision. “It’s a great first step,” he told Global News. “We asked for the injunction so we could stay open, and we’re thrilled that we can continue operating on Tuesday. People who rely on our services can keep coming to us.”

While the ruling secures the future of the downtown Toronto site temporarily, it does not extend to all ten sites. Nine other sites slated for closure will transition into intensive addiction recovery centers under government funding. This funding, however, is contingent on the cessation of supervised drug consumption services at those sites.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health confirmed that the transition to Homelessness, Addiction, and Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs will proceed as planned on April 1. These HART Hubs will provide services related to addiction recovery, but they will not allow supervised consumption services.

Sinclair expressed his support for the government’s HART Hub initiative, even as he advocates for the continued operation of his own site. “HART Hubs are important too,” he said. “They provide more medical care, more treatment, and more housing, all of which we support. We’ve asked for these services, and we want them to continue.”

The court’s injunction offers a temporary reprieve, but the future of Ontario’s supervised consumption sites remains uncertain as the legal battle continues.