Closer Look

A new report confirms what many of us already see with our own eyes: the homelessness crisis in Ontario is getting even worse. According to updated numbers from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), nearly 85,000 people across the province were known to be homeless in 2025 — a jump of almost 8 per cent from the previous year, and nearly 50 per cent since 2021. The problem is especial...

At some point soon, the Ford government will reveal its plan for school trustees across the province. Education Minister Paul Calandra has made no secret of the fact that he’s considering eliminating school trustees altogether — and he’s promised to reveal his decision early this year. No news yet. In the meantime, the ministry is now in control of six school boards in Ontario, using words like “i...

January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, which is why you might be noticing a lot of discussion lately about education, reducing stigma and supporting loved ones affected by dementia . According to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, there are close to 800,000 people in the country right now living with some form of dementia — a number that’s expected to hit 1 million by 2030. There is, however, ano...

The pandemic is long over, but the negative effects still linger. A new survey reveals that five years after COVID-19 thrust our lives into disarray, people in Ontario are struggling more than ever when it comes to harmful drinking habits and declining mental health. Released this week by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Monitor Report is an ongoing survey that’s been conduct...

Even in death, some people still worry about their carbon footprint. Which explains the growing popularity of “green burials” — an environmentally friendlier way to inter the dead that involves no embalming chemicals, headstones or traditional caskets. There’s even a company that offers coffins and urns made of fully biodegradable mushrooms . But what about human composting ? Is that green option...

If you’re going to drink and drive in Ontario, be prepared to face some harsher penalties . New provincial rules that took effect Jan. 1 include lifetime licence suspensions for anyone convicted of impaired driving causing death, and mandatory remedial education for first-time offenders caught behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Time will tell if the stricter regulations make...

As of today, the Ford government has taken control of six school boards across the province — using words like “incompetence,” “mess” and “off the rails” to describe how things were going before the province seized the wheel. The passage of Bill 33, which came into force in November , made it even easier for Ontario to intervene. The Near North District School Board learned that lesson the hard wa...

Even now, months later, Liam Mooney has a hard time believing just how fast everything came together . One day, he and his wife, Emma Cochrane, were watching Premier Doug Ford on television, talking about Donald Trump’s 51st state rhetoric and how Canada would never be for sale. A few days later, the Ottawa-based couple had stitched together a hat bearing Ford’s patriotic message — a hat that Ford...

Years in the making, Canada’s new “grocery code of conduct” is finally in place. The enforcement powers officially kicked in on Jan. 1. Supported by the country’s five largest grocery chains — Empire, Loblaw, Metro, Walmart and Costco — the code of conduct is designed to promote fair dealing between grocers and their many suppliers. What does that actually mean? What will change? Who will benefit?...

Have you seen this missing sweater? The family that’s desperately trying to find it has done everything possible to track it down — tracing the cherished heirloom from Oregon to Ontario to a pop-up market in the small community of Meaford. From there, the trail has gone cold . Crafted in the 1950s, the letterman sweater belonged to an American high school teacher named Walter Skowhede, who passed...

In cities and towns across Ontario (and at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill ) our journalists work for you. Their mission is to dig for answers and tell you what they find. This daily podcast — Closer Look — is all about the stories we tell. Launched in September, our mission is to go beyond the headlines with in-depth, eye-opening conversations featuring Village Media reporters and editors, leadi...

Australia has become the first country in the world to ban social media for kids under 16 — a move welcomed by plenty of parents and child advocates. As of last week, popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat were ordered to block all Australian kids from using their sites or face hefty fines. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it "a proud day" for the country, saying the...

For decades, a serial killer in Ontario went completely unnoticed. No one had any idea he even existed. His victims — Christine Prince, Claire Samson and Gracelyn Greenidge — were sexually assaulted and brutally murdered in Toronto between 1982 and 1997. But for years, not a single piece of evidence led police to suspect their killings were connected. That all changed last week. Using an emerging...

The Ontario Legislature has adjourned for the Christmas break — until March 23. (Yes, you read that right.) But don’t expect our team of political journalists at The Trillium to slow down as a result. Their work never really stops . Throughout the fall sitting, The Trillium’s exclusive reporting on the Ford government’s $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund (SDF) led the conversation at Queen’s Par...

Buying some gift cards for Christmas? Don’t get scammed. Like so much else these days, gift cards have become a prime target for fraudsters, costing Canadian shoppers millions of dollars a year. (The Retail Council of Canada reported $5.7 million lost to gift card scams in 2024 — up from $3.8 million 2021.) Last week alone, police in both Hamilton and Waterloo Region announced major busts involvin...

How widespread is human trafficking in Canada? Two new reports offer the clearest evidence yet. According to Statistics Canada , more than 5,000 incidents of human trafficking were reported to police between 2014 and 2024, for a national average of 1.2 per 100,000 people. Among the provinces and territories, Ontario recorded the second-highest rate. The StatsCan analysis comes on the heels of anot...

Imagine looking at a billboard — then realizing it’s watching you back. That’s exactly what’s happening near Union Station in Toronto, where certain signs are outfitted with small cameras that record every person walking by. Known as anonymous video analytics (AVA), the technology generates stats about people’s estimated age and gender, then uses that information to determine which kind of ads to...

Cheers to charity? That’s what the Ford government is being urged to do. For months, the LCBO has been sitting on an $80-million stockpile of U.S. booze — all of it yanked off store shelves back in March as retaliation for Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The Ontario Liberals are now calling on the province to sell all that bourbon, wine and spritzers and donate the money to charitable causes — fo...

For more than four decades, Joe Bowen’s unmistakable voice has been the soundtrack of Leafs Nation. But this season will be the last of his legendary career behind the mic. Bowen — the pride of Sudbury — is retiring from the broadcast booth after more than 3,800 NHL games and countless magical calls. And next Tuesday night, the Maple Leafs have a special on-ice tribute planned during their game ag...

This lottery winner will need to spend a portion of his prize on a defence lawyer. A 70-year-old Toronto man is facing theft and fraud charges after allegedly claiming a $1-million Lotto Max prize that was actually intended to be split among three people. Ontario Provincial Police say they launched an investigation in September and confirmed that the winning ticket was part of a group play arrange...

Earlier this year, the Retail Council of Canada released an alarming report about a "national crisis" facing its members: skyrocketing rates of theft , violence and organized criminal activity. This week, police in Halton Region added to the long list of examples . Three people were arrested for their role in what the cops described as a “large-scale liquor trafficking operation” that mo...

Don’t expect the new year to ring in lower grocery bills. The latest edition of Canada’s Food Price Report , produced annually by several universities, projects that an average family of four will pay close to $1,000 more for food in 2026 than this year — for a total bill of $17,571.79 . The report pegs the rate of food inflation at somewhere between four and six per cent, with items such as meat,...

Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers. Fresh episodes drop every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. right in your local news feed — and on the show’s...

Raccoons as pets? Don’t laugh. A new study has found that urban raccoons have shorter snouts compared to their rural counterparts — a sign they're heading down the same path of evolutionary domestication that dogs and cats did tens of thousands of years ago. TorontoToday reporter Emma Johnston-Wheeler dug a little deeper into the research, seeking out reaction in a city where the raccoon has...

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed a harsh truth about Ontario’s long-term care homes: many were woefully understaffed, a factor that helped fuel the rapid spread of the deadly virus. Doug Ford’s government promised a major overhaul, including this key goal: by the end of 2024-25, LTC homes would have enough staff that each resident would receive an average of at least four hours a day of direct “hands...