Maple Express | October 21, 2026 | Man pulled from Richmond Hill house fire without vital signs

1. Man pulled from Richmond Hill house fire without vital signs

Source: CP24

A man was rushed to hospital without vital signs after an overnight house fire in Richmond Hill. Police confirmed that two homes on Crosby Avenue, near Bayview Avenue, were damaged by the fire and both were evacuated. One man was taken out of the home without vital signs.

His current condition is not known. Crosby Avenue is closed between Newkirk Road and Bayview Avenue.

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2. Ontario drug funding change leaves cancer patients with few options

Source: CP24

Sabrina Apitz-Grossman was told 13 months ago that she had about 12 to 18 months to live. A rare form of cancer in the 31-year-old's knee had metastasized to her lungs, and although she has undergone radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgeries, the synovial sarcoma could not be fully removed. Her doctors recommend a treatment approved in the United States but unavailable in Ontario, but the Ontario Health Insurance Plan turned her down for out-of-country coverage. An appeal failed, as did an application under the Case-by-Case Review Program to receive the treatment at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. "I so desperately would love to turn 32," she said.

Patients in similar situations were buoyed last month when 37-year-old Alex Shved won a court challenge against his OHIP out-of-country denial. But Health Minister Sylvia Jones responded to the ruling by changing the rules: drug treatments will now only be funded out of country if they are already funded within the province but access is temporarily unavailable or delayed. The government said it clarified in regulation what was already long-standing policy. Jones said the change protects Ontario patients and taxpayers from price gouging and will help avoid up to $5.2 billion in additional costs to Ontario's health-care system every year.

The treatment Apitz-Grossman is seeking, Tecelra, is a personalized therapy made from a patient's own T-cells and costs US$727,000. Her oncologist says nearly half of patients in her situation respond to the treatment, and among those who respond there is a 90 per cent chance of survival after a year and 70 per cent after two years.

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3. Monthly food bank visits hit record high in Canada

Source: CP24

Food bank visits across Canada have soared to 2.35 million per month in 2026, up nearly nine per cent from last year and 117 per cent higher than in 2019, according to Food Banks Canada's annual HungerCount report. "(This) is the story of what happens when millions of people are out of options," said CEO Kirstin Beardsley. "In the past, most people in Canada could absorb a small financial setback... those days are over."

Visits are up in every province and territory except Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ontario recorded 846,724 visits, a nearly 11 per cent increase, followed by Quebec with 785,889 visits, up 5 per cent, and British Columbia with 250,505 visits, a 14 per cent increase. Northern increases were steeper: 24 per cent in Yukon and 29 per cent in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

The report found the cost of basic necessities has soared since 2021, with food prices up nearly 30 per cent, housing up 28 per cent and transportation up nearly 24 per cent. Nearly one in five clients is employed, up from one in 10 in 2019. Among its recommendations, the report calls for changes to employment insurance to include non-traditional occupations such as gig work, doubling the Canada Workers Benefit, enhancing the Disability Tax Credit, reviewing federal social assistance and investing in affordable housing.

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4. Toronto mayor's race enters final week as Bradford closes in on Chow

Source: CP24

With the Oct. 26 election less than a week away, CP24 is profiling Toronto's leading mayoral candidates, beginning with Brad Bradford. Exclusive polling suggests Olivia Chow's once 10-point lead has shrunk to three points. A second story taking a closer look at Chow will be published Thursday.

Bradford was raised in Hamilton by a single mother. He recalls taking the GO train into the city as a 13-year-old more than 25 years ago and stepping off the platform at Union Station, saying he "just fell in love with the place" and asking his mother whether he might live there someday. The married father of two earned an undergraduate degree in environment studies, urban and regional environment at York University and a master's degree in urban planning at the University of Waterloo. He worked in the private sector on transportation and housing projects, went to Boston to work in renewable energy policy, and later landed in the City of Toronto's chief planner's office.

Bradford said he came to realize that if he wanted to create change, particularly on the housing file, it would not be done through the bureaucracy but through elected office. In the 2018 municipal election, then 32, he ran in Beaches-East York against a field that included former NDP MP Matthew Kellway, in one of two wards where an incumbent was not seeking re-election.

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5. Two suspects arrested after downtown Toronto shooting

Source: CP24

Toronto police have arrested two suspects in connection with a downtown shooting that left a man seriously injured early Tuesday morning. It happened near Sherbourne and Wellesley streets shortly before 1 a.m.

Police said the suspects knocked on the victim's door after arriving at his home, produced a firearm and discharged it. The victim, a man in his 50s, was struck in the stomach and rushed to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The suspects fled but were later arrested, and two loaded firearms were recovered at the scene. Jah Thomas Williams, 22, and Lashano Mackey, 20, have been charged with aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent and several other firearm-related offences. Mackey also faces charges of failure to comply with a release order and breach of probation.

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6. Police seek suspect after indecent act aboard GO train

Source: CP24

Toronto police are asking for the public's help in an investigation after a suspect allegedly committed an indecent act aboard a GO train at Union Station earlier this month. According to police, a victim boarded a GO train shortly before 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, and was seated on the upper level next to the staircase.

The victim then observed the suspect, who was seated at the bottom of the staircase. Police allege the suspect committed an indecent act while staring at the victim. The suspect is described as having a black and grey beard and was last seen wearing a black baseball cap with an "LA" logo, a brown jacket, a grey plaid button-up shirt, black jeans and grey sneakers. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators or Crime Stoppers anonymously.

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7. Ontario OSAP pause at private colleges to last until the new year

Source: CP24

A pause on student financial assistance payments across all private post-secondary institutions in Ontario will stay in effect until at least the new year, Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced Tuesday. Quinn said the government intends to strengthen the approval process for career colleges and other private institutions under the Ontario Student Assistance Program, but that work is not yet done.

Proposed measures include caps on OSAP-funded enrolment, the exclusion of predominantly online-only programs, and strengthened student identification and verification controls. A new validation system is expected to be implemented in the new year, and OSAP payments will not resume until then. The government is also still working on securing third-party loans for students through banks. Quinn tasked KPMG with an audit of the sector in August and said earlier this month that preliminary findings raised serious enough concerns that he referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police. Ministry investigators launched in-person inspections last week at eight career colleges, on top of six institutions cut off from OSAP eligibility earlier this year.

Angele Proulx, a student at Trillium College in St. Catharines, called Quinn's statement outrageous. Her community development support worker program is due to graduate Feb. 4, 2027. "If they don't do something about it from now until then, we will not graduate, but they will expect full payment," she said.

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8. P.E.I. justice minister orders review of unsolved murder investigation

Source: CP24

P.E.I.'s justice minister has ordered a review of the investigation into a decades-old unsolved murder case after charges were withdrawn last week. Crown prosecutors withdrew charges against Todd Joseph Gallant after Charlottetown police lost crucial evidence, including a knife that would have been used as an exhibit in court. Police charged Gallant in 2024 with first-degree murder and interfering with human remains following an investigation into the 1988 killing of teacher Byron Carr. The allegations were not tested in court.

Darren MacDougall, Charlottetown's interim chief of police, blamed a lack of consistent "property management systems" for the missing evidence. Carr was 36 when he was strangled and stabbed in his Charlottetown home by someone who left a handwritten note on a wall that read, "I will kill again." Justice Minister Bloyce Thompson has directed the Office of the Police Commissioner to appoint a third party to conduct the review, saying the community deserves answers and public confidence in the justice system must be ensured.

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9. U.S. food importer sues Trump over Canada tariffs

Source: CP24

An American food importer has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over Washington's latest tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, claiming U.S. President Donald Trump has overstepped the power of his office. Gellert Global Group is a third-generation family business based in New Jersey that has imported Canadian cheese for around 100 years. The company said Trump's use of a depression-era trade law to impose tariffs on Canadian dairy will cost it US$40 million a year.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of the company in a New York-based court. The centre's CEO, Sara Albrecht, told CTV News she has played "a game of whack-a-mole" with Trump's tariffs. After trade talks between Canada and the U.S. broke down in August, Trump used the little-known Tariff Act of 1930 to impose further measures on Canadian imports including dairy, alcohol, furniture and hockey sticks. Albrecht said Section 338 has never before been used to implement tariffs on American importers.

Thomas Gellert, co-CEO of Gellert Global Group, said the tariffs "disrupt those relationships overnight and create costs and uncertainty that ripple through the entire supply chain." The lawsuit asks the court to declare the tariffs unlawful and order a refund with interest. A Trump administration official told The Canadian Press on background that the president's actions will be vigorously defended in court.

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10. Family of soldier badly burned in CFB Wainwright fire holds onto hope

Source: CP24

Cpl. Sean Hiatt, a 24-year-old Canadian soldier, suffered second-degree burns to approximately half his body in Saturday's deadly fire at CFB Wainwright and is being treated at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, which has a specialized burn unit. The fire killed four soldiers and injured 39 others. Hiatt grew up near Edson, Alta., west of Edmonton.

His older sister Teresa Hiatt and Sara Dizon, his girlfriend of four years, said they are determined to remain positive. "We have each other," Teresa said. "And we know that Sean would want us to be strong too." Her coffee shop in Edson is temporarily closed as she focuses on supporting her brother. Military officials say a nearby grass fire, initially considered under control, was driven by a sudden shift in powerful winds and rapidly overtook soldiers during live-fire training Saturday afternoon. The cause remains under investigation. Doctors are focused on stabilizing Hiatt's condition and assessing the extent of his injuries, including possible damage from smoke inhalation; he may require surgeries and skin grafts.

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