Stay in-the-know on all things Toronto with these highlights from the TorontoToday reporting team this week.
Most Presto child pass users are adults: TTC
Adults use of TTC child passes is rampant, but it appears that changing the sound a child Presto card makes when tapped has significantly tamped down on the fraudulent behaviour. TorontoToday reporter Patrick Cain did an analysis of about eight million lines of data released by Metrolinx to discover that the change resulted in a significant drop in child pass use — though most child pass users are still adults.
Toronto ‘unfairly’ turned refugee claimants away from shelters, watchdog finds
TorontoToday's Aidan Chamandy reports on findings from Ombudsman Kwame Addo that have prompted a rare disagreement between his office and city manager Paul Johnson. Addo wrote that Toronto’s move to exclude some refugee claimants from the city shelter system in late 2022 “amounted to Anti-Black racism,” while Johnson told reporters that he disagreed with some of the findings.
Torontonians urged to skate elsewhere as Lake Ontario ice expected to be ‘below normal’
Do you have plans to skate on Lake Ontario this winter? Don't do it! TorontoToday reporter Alex Flood spoke to a meteorologist who said that lake ice is expected to be below normal due to higher than average temperatures, making the ice unsafe to skate on. Resist the temptation for an Insta-worthy skating shot, and avoid frozen lakes and rivers this season.
Alleged trafficking of endangered monkeys to Canada slammed by Toronto experts, MPPs
While the U.S. stopped allowing Cambodian monkeys into the country following a smuggling investigation, TorontoToday reporter Kathryn Mannie asks, why hasn’t Canada done the same? She spoke to one of dozens of Canadian academics calling on the federal government to follow the United States’ lead and halt imports of long-tailed macaques, suspected of being endangered, from Cambodia.
Federal NDP intervenes in Davenport nomination race, postponing vote over membership list ‘concerns’
Local NDP members are reeling after the federal party intervened in the Davenport riding’s candidate election, cancelling the scheduled vote. TorontoToday reporter Gabe Oatley spoke to local party members, candidates and federal NDP staff about the decision to postpone, which the federal party says was due to issues with membership lists.
