Maple Express | October 17, 2026 — U.S. Tax Break Drains Canadian Racehorses as Industry Warns of a 'Vicious Cycle'

Source: CP24

1. U.S. Tax Break Drains Canadian Racehorses as Industry Warns of a 'Vicious Cycle'

The number of empty stalls at Toronto's historic Woodbine Racetrack keeps growing. Three years ago the track was home to roughly 1,900 horses; that number is now 1,600 and dropping fast, as Canadian breeders, thoroughbreds and buyers head south, lured by a U.S. tax break. CP24 reported the exodus on Saturday.

The break was tucked inside U.S. President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," allowing buyers in the U.S. to deduct the full purchase price of a racehorse. In Canada, section 31 of the Income Tax Act caps the losses a racehorse owner can write off at C$17,500. Canadian thoroughbred breeder Glenn Sikura put it plainly: a U.S. buyer who pays US$300,000 for a broodmare can write off 100 per cent, while a Canadian buyer gets C$17,500. Sikura is headed to Kentucky this weekend to sell three Canadian thoroughbreds. "I'd love to sell my horses here at home in Canada, but I can't afford to right now," he said.

Trainer Josie Carroll has 65 horses in training and employs 41 people; nearly every horse that leaves for the U.S. means another worker is let go. "I'm afraid racing can't last at this level in Canada," she said. Mark Halloran, managing director of the Canuck Racing Club, said his group is weeks away from opening a leg of its business in the U.S. Bill Ford, Woodbine's executive vice-president of racing, said the fix is simple: address section 31. The federal finance ministry said the government recognizes the industry's contribution to communities and the economy, but that "it would be inappropriate to speculate on any potential or prospective changes."

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2. Lotto Max Jackpot Reaches Record $90 Million

Friday night's Lotto Max jackpot hit $90 million, the largest single lottery prize ever offered in Canada, after no winning ticket was sold for Tuesday's $85-million draw. At Smokers Corner, a convenience store in Pickering, Ont., the line for tickets has been long at times.

Owner Issa Kakisa said customers are spending a little more than normal, and one dropped $2,000 on this draw alone; his store sold a $1-million winning ticket two years ago. Taylor Locke said she would buy a mansion and fill it with cats, plus a house for her mom, a boat and a cottage. Cindy O'Neill would pay off her mortgage and buy her brother a house, while her husband had his eye on a Land Rover. Retired Javad Gezelbash, who bought two tickets on top of three in a group purchase, plans to donate to a hospital and travel the world.

The odds of winning the jackpot are roughly one in 33 million — about the same as flipping heads 25 times in a row. Wolfgang Klein, a Toronto-based portfolio manager with Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management who has worked with lottery winners, said the psychological impact is something winners are "really, really, probably not prepared for," and that people you haven't heard from in decades suddenly become friends again. He advises cashing the ticket quickly; even a conservative portfolio of government bonds and GICs at two per cent would produce $1.8 million a year. The report also noted a $70-million Lotto Max ticket sold in Scarborough in 2022 went unclaimed and returned to the pool after a year.

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3. Calgary Police Identify All Three Victims of Fatal Eight-Vehicle Bus Crash

Calgary police said Friday they have identified all three people killed in an eight-vehicle collision in the northeast of the city and have notified all next of kin. The Thursday afternoon crash left three dead and 16 injured. Around 1:10 p.m., police said, a transit bus travelling north in the 800 block of Saddletown Circle N.E. entered the intersection of 80 Avenue N.E. and collided with a truck driving in the same direction.

The truck was knocked into an adjacent lane, where it sideswiped an SUV and then hit a cube truck. The bus drove into the back of a sedan, knocking it through the intersection into a truck, then hit the back of a second city transit bus. The natural gas tanks on the second bus caught fire as it rolled forward and hit another sedan; the fire detonated into an explosion that caused a fire inside the bus, killing three passengers. The driver of the second bus escaped; the driver of the first was taken to hospital with life-altering injuries. Mayor Jeromy Farkas has said an officer ran onto the burning bus to save a child.

Mike Mahar, head of Calgary's transit union, said both drivers are "very seasoned operators" and that the injured driver was in the ICU after major surgery. Police have not determined whether impairment, speed or distraction contributed. The crash has raised questions about the safety of compressed natural gas buses used in Hamilton, Metro Vancouver and Victoria. Gordon McTaggart-Cowan, a professor at Simon Fraser University's School of Sustainable Energy Engineering, said the tragedy alone is not a reason to reconsider CNG fleets, noting the cylinders undergo drop and puncture testing and are fitted with pressure-release valves.

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4. Man Injured in Early-Morning Shooting in North York

A man has been taken to hospital after an early-morning shooting in North York, Toronto police say. In a social media post, officials said emergency crews responded to the area of Milvan and Millwick Drive just after 4:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Officers located an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound; he was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police have not released a suspect description, and road closures are in effect in the area as the investigation continues.

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5. Backstreet Boys Expand Rogers Centre Run to 12 Shows as Toronto's Residency Streak Grows

The Backstreet Boys are making Toronto their home base this winter. What started as a four-show stint at Rogers Centre has swelled to 12 concerts over four weekends in February and March — twice as many shows as Taylor Swift played at the stadium two years ago for the Eras Tour. Nicholas Jennings, a music historian and founding director of Toronto Music Experience, noted the band has credited Canada with propelling them to stardom after their 1995 debut single "We've Got It Goin' On" broke here before it did in the U.S.

Kelly Jackson, vice-president of destination development at Destination Toronto, noted the Backstreet Boys announced Toronto as their only North American stadium stop in 2027. According to the city, it cost more than $3.6 million to host Swift's tour, but it injected $282 million into Toronto's economy, with $141 million coming from direct spending by out-of-town visitors, while short-term rental demand rose 163 per cent compared with the same time in 2023.

Catherine Moore, an adjunct professor of music at the University of Toronto, said renting Rogers Centre is not cheap, but the venue is available while baseball is out of season, and it is the only one in the city that can handle shows at that scale — Rogers Stadium holds a similar capacity but is seasonally run and currently undergoing repairs, while Scotiabank Arena is far smaller. Jennings also traced the city's residency tradition back decades, from Ella Fitzgerald's weeks-long runs at the Fairmont Royal York to Nat King Cole at the Imperial Room and the Rolling Stones, who treated Toronto like a second home.

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6. Man Convicted in CBC Journalist's Death Wanted in Break-and-Enter Probe

Toronto police have identified 47-year-old Robert Robin Cropearedwolf as a suspect wanted in an alleged break and enter early last month in the area of Dundas Street West and McCaul Street. Police allege he entered a private property, broke into a locker secured with a combination lock and stole personal property including bank cards, which he then used to make several purchases.

Toronto police confirmed to CTV News that the suspect was charged in the 2023 death of Douglas Michael Finlay. In 2024, Cropearedwolf pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of the 73-year-old former CBC Radio producer, who was walking along Danforth Avenue near Jones Avenue on Jan. 24, 2023, when he was shoved to the ground and seriously injured in what police described as a "random attack." Finlay died of his injuries on Jan. 31.

Cropearedwolf later turned himself in. On Sept. 27, 2024, he was sentenced to three years in prison, reduced to 20 months with time served, along with three years of probation.

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7. Two Arrested, Three Wanted in Toronto Retail Theft Spree Totalling $35,000

A man and a woman have been arrested and three other suspects are wanted in connection with a series of retail thefts across Toronto that police say totalled more than $35,000. Police say the group was responsible for multiple thefts between Jan. 14 and Oct. 11, 2026, with goods valued at an estimated combined total of $35,606.80.

On Oct. 11, police arrested Jacob Doucette, 35, and Camille Dobson-Boire, 31. Doucette faces 12 counts of theft under $5,000, five counts of disguise with intent and seven counts of failing to comply with probation. Dobson-Boire is charged with nine counts of theft under $5,000, four counts of disguise with intent and 10 counts of disobeying a court order.

Police are still searching for Charles Clarke, 42; Evan Douglas-Fish, 28; and Richard Hoskin, 45. They are wanted on several charges, including theft under $5,000, disguise with intent and failure to comply with a release order. The allegations have not been proven in court.

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8. Psychotherapist Urges OHIP Coverage for Mental Health Services

Marinela Trickett, a psychotherapist in Guelph, Ont., is calling on the Ontario government to expand public health insurance coverage for mental health services, saying too many people are going without care because they cannot afford it. She started a petition urging the province to fund psychotherapy through OHIP, saying her clinic regularly hears from people who need support but cannot pay.

Kari Parkhouse, 57, is one of them. She attempted suicide at 19 and was left in a psychotic state after taking medication, and she has dealt with anxiety and depression for much of her life. Self-employed for more than a decade, she said she has no savings and no RRSPs. Trickett said OHIP covers only a very small part of psychotherapy — only that delivered by a medical doctor — and very few doctors practise psychotherapy.

Green Party MPP Mike Schreiner has agreed to present the petition when the legislature resumes, saying the current government treats mental healthcare as a luxury. The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario said the province has a growing number of qualified registered psychotherapists who could help address mental health needs. The health minister's office said the province is making record investments in community-based mental health, including the free Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program for those 18 and older and $3.8 billion over 10 years through the Roadmap to Wellness. Still, some applicants in the West Region can wait six to eight weeks before even being contacted, and Trickett said waitlists at some centres run over two years.

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9. First-Degree Murder Charge Laid in Death of Montreal Woman Killed During Virtual Meeting

Youcef Moussaoui, 33, appeared by video conference at the Montreal courthouse on Friday, charged with first-degree murder in the death of 45-year-old Leila Ben Salem, who was killed last month while in a virtual meeting with a co-worker from her Montreal apartment. Defence lawyer Maria Vivas told reporters outside the courtroom that she does not know the relationship between the victim and the accused and needs to look at the proof; the accused has no criminal record in Quebec. His next court appearance is set for Dec. 21.

On Sept. 22, police were called at 3:25 p.m. to conduct a wellness check at an apartment on René-Lévesque Boulevard near Saint-Christophe Street in the Ville-Marie borough, where Ben Salem was pronounced dead. Police said Thursday her killing was not in the context of domestic violence and was Montreal's 19th homicide this year. Moussaoui was taken into custody Thursday afternoon after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Ben Salem worked for the Canada Revenue Agency. Several members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, offered their condolences, as did the CRA and the Union of Taxation Employees. Carney described her as "a valued member of the Canada Revenue Agency, dedicated to serving Canadians, which she was doing at the time of her assault."

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10. P.E.I. Cold Case Collapses After Police Lose Most Key Evidence

One of Prince Edward Island's most high-profile murder cases has been upended after prosecutors withdrew all charges this week, saying police lost the overwhelming majority of critical physical evidence. The decision halted the planned trial of Todd Joseph Gallant, also known as Todd Joseph Irving, in the 1988 killing of teacher Byron Carr. Gallant had pleaded not guilty. The Crown also pointed to gaps in how evidence was identified and tracked, calling it a "deeply disappointing outcome."

Carr was found dead in the bedroom of his Charlottetown home, stabbed and strangled with a towel, after what police have described as a consensual sexual encounter with another man. A threat was scribbled on the wall: "I will kill again." The case went cold until advances in genetic genealogy brought a break in 2024, when police arrested Gallant and said his DNA was found on a pair of underwear left at the scene.

Charlottetown's interim police chief, Darren MacDougall, said Wednesday that investigators spoke to the people responsible in 1988 and "they didn't have answers for us" — some are no longer employed by the service and others have died. Some items sent to a forensic lab could not be found when new investigators took over the file in 2007, despite lab reports showing they had been processed and returned in 1989. The towel believed to have been used to strangle Carr and a knife are among the items police cannot account for. Biological material extracted from the items was preserved at the lab, allowing investigators to produce a DNA profile. Police say they are looking inward and considering a third-party review.

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