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TTC says no fare increase in $2.6B budget for 2024

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

The TTC has approved a $2.6 billion budget for 2024 that includes increased service levels but no fare increases.After raising the cost of Presto and cash fares by 10 cents a year ago, the transit agency says it is freezing fares in 2024 “in recognition of the impact current economic conditions have on its customers.”The 2024 budget represents a 7.5 per cent increase over 2023.The TTC says it expects to increase Wheel-Trans service hours to meet increasing demand while at the same time, it expects to see service levels increase to 97 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels by next September due to “increasing demand growth and increasing congestion on mixed-trafficcorridors.”“TTC customers are coming back quicker than we expected, and this budget allows us to meet their needs for the next year,” said TTC CEO Rick Leary. “This budget balances our need to deliver safe and reliable service while addressing the increased operating costs associated w...

BlackBerry reports loss in Q3, revenue up as it begins work to split business

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

BlackBerry Ltd. lost US$21 million in its third quarter, which it spent working to split up its business.The Waterloo, Ont.-based software company, which reports its earnings in U.S. dollars, says the loss for the period ended Nov. 30 compared with a net loss of US$4 million a year earlier.The loss amounted to five cents per diluted share compared with a loss of nine cents per basic share a year prior.Financial markets data firm Refinitiv says analysts had expected the company to post a loss of five cents per basic share.BlackBerry says its revenue for the third quarter was US$175 million, compared to US$169 million a year earlier. Earlier this month, BlackBerry called off plans for an initial public offering of its Internet of Things business, but said it still plans to split that segment of the company from its cybersecurity division.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:BB)The Canadian Press

Toyota recalling nearly 100,000 vehicles in Canada due to airbag safety issue

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

Toyota is conducting a safety recall involving certain 2020 and 2022 model-year Toyota and Lexus vehicles, affecting nearly 100,000 cars in Canada. The vehicles being recalled have what Toyota referred to as Occupant Classification System (OCS) sensors in the passenger seat that could have been improperly manufactured, causing a short circuit and impacting the airbag function.Toyota says the airbag may not deploy as designed in certain crashes, increasing the risk of injury.The models slated to be recalled include the Toyota Avalon and Avalon Hybrid (2020 and 2021), Camry and Camry Hybrid (2020-2022), Corolla (2020 and 2021), Highland and Highlander Hybrid (2020 and 2021), RAV 4 and RAV 4 Hybrid (2020 and 2021), and the Sienna Hybrid (2021).The Lexus models include the ES250 (2021), ES300H (2020-2022), ES350 (2020 and 2021), RX350 (2020 and 2021), and the RX450H (2020 and 2021). Toyota and Lexus dealers will inspect the OCS sensors and, if necessary, replace them at no cost to owner...

Linamar to buy agriculture equipment manufacturer Bourgault Industries in $640M deal

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

GUELPH, Ont. — Linamar Corp. says it’s reached an agreement to acquire Bourgault Industries Ltd. in a deal worth $640 million. The Guelph-based company says Bourgault is a world-class agriculture equipment manufacturer. Linamar says Bourgault will become part of its new agriculture division within its wider industrial segment. Linamar CEO and executive chair Linda Hasenfratz says the acquisition offers “tremendous opportunity” for her company to diversify and grow its agriculture platform. COO and president Jim Jarrell says Bourgault is Linamar’s third strategic acquisition of 2023 and will help it better serve the core Western Canadian and U.S. Midwest farm base. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:LNR)The Canadian Press

Movie Review: Ghosts and longing and love in ‘All of Us Strangers’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

Andrew Scott plays a writer trying to write something about his dead parents in Andrew Haigh’s transcendent drama “All of Us Strangers.” His parents’ death is not recent – they died when he was 12. Not that one ever really gets over that kind of loss. But we meet Adam at a moment where he is not just thinking about them but visiting them in his childhood home, where they are preparing for Christmas. Just in case it wasn’t sad enough already.“All of Us Strangers” will probably make you cry. Maybe even weep. And while there are some twists along the way, it never feels emotionally manipulative or unearned. In fact, it’s a rather authentic and cathartic experience — a deeply felt journey of acceptance, love and forgiveness.The most calculated flex of the movie is actually just in casting Scott, also known as “the hot priest” from “Fleabag,” opposite Paul Mescal, “the hot guy from ‘Normal People’” (and the sad, but still hot, dad from “Aftersun”). It’s the kind of pairing that seems des...

Tennessee judge pushes off issuing ruling in Ja Morant lawsuit

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Wednesday said she won’t immediately hand down a ruling on whether Ja Morant’s legal team successfully argued that the NBA star is immune from being sued by a teenager he punched during a pickup game in 2022.According to The Commercial Appeal, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Carol Chumney said she needs more time due to the lack of case precedent surrounding the lawsuit.“Everybody was hoping for a big decision, or finality, or something like that,” Chumney said. “These are important legal issues.”Wednesday’s court session was a continuation of a hearing that began Dec. 11. The hearing centered on Morant’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit under Tennessee’s so-called ground law. The NBA player’s lawyers argue Morant is immune from liability under the law, which allows people who feel threatened at their homes to act with force in certain situations. The law is used in criminal cases, but Chumney’s ruling last mont...

Regulator denied Trans Mountain variance request due to pipeline safety concerns

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

CALGARY — The Canada Energy Regulator has released its reasons for refusing a request by Trans Mountain Corp. for a pipeline variance.The Crown corporation had applied in October for permission to use a different diameter, wall thickness and coating for a 2.3-kilometre stretch of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project currently under construction in B.C.The company said at the time it had run into challenges drilling through hard rock in the area, and warned of a possible 60-day delay in the completion of the project if it isn’t granted a variance.But the regulator denied that request earlier this month.On Thursday, it provided its reasons for doing so, saying it has serious concerns about material quality and pipeline integrity if Trans Mountain goes ahead with a variance.Last week, Trans Mountain asked the regulator to reconsider, saying the company now believes its construction challenges are more significant than first indicated and that denying the variance could r...

NYC Council approves bill banning solitary confinement in city jails

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Over the objections of Mayor Eric Adams, New York City lawmakers passed legislation Wednesday meant to ban solitary confinement in the city’s jails.The bill that was overwhelmingly approved allows jails to isolate inmates who pose an immediate risk of violence to others or themselves in “de-escalation” units for a maximum of four hours. Those placed in longer-term restrictive housing would need to be allowed out of their cells for 14 hours each day and get access to the same programming available to those in the general population.New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who introduced the legislation, said Wednesday ahead of the vote that solitary confinement amounts to torture for those subjected to lengthy hours in isolation in small jail cells. He and other supporters, including prominent members of New York’s congressional delegation, have pointed to research showing solitary confinement, even only for a few days, increases the likelihood an inmate ...

Toronto churches housing refugees on verge of financial collapse

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

As the city pleads for more funding from the federal government for its struggling shelter system, Black-led faith groups that have kept countless refugees off Toronto’s streets are also squeezed, leaving new claimants and those already in their care at risk of spending the coldest season on the sidewalks. Since the summer, dozens of recent arrivals to Canada have called Etobicoke’s Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles home. Currently, 68 refugees — and counting — are living in the strip mall on Albion Road where the church is located.Martin Griellmore, an organizer with the church, says they have spent approximately $20,000 per week out of pocket to provide refugees with three meals a day and a safe place to lay their head at night. Now $300,000 in debt, Griellmore told CityNews they are on the verge of shutting down next Thursday because of a lack of funding.“When we do shut down, they will have nowhere to go,” said Griellmore.Dominion Church International in...

Mexican business group says closure of US rail border crossings costing $100 million per day

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 14:40:09 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A leading Mexican business group said Wednesday the U.S. decision to temporarily close two railway border crossings into Texas is costing $100 million per day in delayed shipments. The Mexican Employers’ Association called on the U.S. to end the closure of rail crossings into Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, which started Monday.The business group called the closures a sign “of the failure of migration policy.” Illegal crossings at the U.S. southwestern border topped 10,000 some days across the border in December, an abnormally high level.“We energetically but respectfully call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to address the migration crisis which is affecting the flow of goods, given that this measure only damages the economies of both nations,” the association wrote in a statement.U.S. Customs and Border protection said Sunday the decision was made “in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody....