In the news today: Conservatives win Ontario byelection, measles cases in Montreal

By The Canadian Press on March 5, 2024.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…

Conservatives clinch Ontario riding

Conservative candidate Jamil Jivani celebrated his victory in the Ontario riding of Durham by thanking his allies and pouncing on his “Liberal elite” rivals, who he says are making life harder and more expensive for the working class.

Preliminary results from Elections Canada showed Jivani is poised for a seat in the House of Commons following Monday’s byelection.

Jivani, a lawyer and commentator, had secured over 55 per cent of the votes with nearly all polls reporting as of late Monday evening.

Four provinces confirm measles cases with Montreal deemed Canada’s epicentre

Seventeen cases of measles have been confirmed in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia _ more than half of those in the Montreal area, while one Ontario case has been linked to a high school.

Quebec public health director Dr. Luc Boileau confirmed 10 cases on Monday, almost all of them involving children and making Montreal the country’s epicentre. He said only three of the cases were linked to travel outside of the country, indicating community spread in and around the city.

Public Health Ontario confirmed five cases of measles and said all but one involved travel.

The latest case, announced last week, was in a man in his 30s in the York Region north of Toronto and was “likely” related to community transmission, the region’s medical health officer said.

Here’s what else we’re watching …

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators say they feel vilified after protest cancels PM event

Organizers of a pro-Palestinian protest that disrupted a weekend reception featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say they’re being unfairly vilified.

The event, which was to include Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, was abruptly called off as demonstrators blocked entrances to the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Toronto police said there were no injuries arising from the protest of about 400 demonstrators, and no arrests were made, but investigations are ongoing.

Dalia Awwad, an organizer with the group known as Palestinian Youth Movement, accused elected officials of intentionally vilifying protesters in an effort to avoid talking about Canada’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.

Rate of missed mortgage payments up in B.C., Ont.

Equifax Canada says consumers in Ontario and British Columbia increasingly missed payments on mortgages and credit cards in the fourth quarter of 2023.

In Ontario, the mortgage delinquency rate was up 135.2 per cent compared with a year earlier, while B.C.’s rate rose by 62.2 per cent.

The agency says financially stressed homeowners in those provinces are also increasingly missing credit card payments, a trend primarily driven by homeowners who are 36 and younger.

Outside of B.C. and Ontario, where mortgage amounts tend to be lower, Equifax Canada says mortgage delinquency rates are rising at a slower pace and are still much lower than before the pandemic.

Why are B.C. securities fines worth $430M unpaid?

The BC Securities Commission says it’s owed nearly four hundred and thirty million dollars in unpaid sanctions, more than a quarter of which it’s unlikely to ever see.

The regulator says about a hundred and thirty million dollars of the total amount likely can’t be recovered since some of the sanctioned individuals are in jail or are bankrupt, while many companies facing penalties have been dissolved.

Dozens of sanctioned individuals have dodged their debts to the commission by declaring bankruptcy over the years, but a ruling later this year from the Supreme Court of Canada could change that.

The country’s high court is set to decide whether or not bankruptcy wipes out debts for those penalized by securities regulators.

Quebec director René-Lortie gearing up for Oscars

Before receiving an Oscar nod for his debut narrative short film, Vincent René-Lortie was ready to quit filmmaking.

“It was a hard time for me. We just got out of the pandemic, and I wasn’t making any money,” says the Montreal-born director on a video call from Los Angeles.

“I was really having some serious conversations about changing my whole career and becoming a nurse.”

Fortunately, the 30-year-old’s career path became much clearer when his film “Invincible” was nominated for an Oscar in the live-action short film category, set to be awarded at the star-studded ceremony in L.A. on Sunday.

A video posted on social media shows René-Lortie and his team screaming and jumping for joy in reaction to the nomination announcement in January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 5, 2024.

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