Maple Express | October 31, 2026 — Toronto police identify suspect in Bridle Path home invasion

1. Toronto police identify suspect in violent Bridle Path home invasion

Source: CP24

Toronto police on Saturday morning identified one of three suspects wanted in a violent home invasion in the Bridle Path neighbourhood, and revealed that the man was shot by one of his own accomplices during the attack. Insp. Kristy Smith named the suspect as 23-year-old Daijohn Richards of Toronto, who investigators believe was struck in the right shoulder.

Smith said Richards later went to St. Joseph's Health Centre for treatment, prompting hospital staff to notify police under Ontario's mandatory gunshot-wound reporting protocol. He was discharged early Friday afternoon and remains at large. Police did not arrest him while he was being treated because they had not yet established reasonable grounds linking him to the home invasion; the connection came later that evening through forensic work and neighbourhood canvassing. "We don't just go off of suspicion," Smith said.

The attack happened at about 3:45 a.m. Thursday, when three masked suspects armed with handguns and a hammer broke into a home on Hyde Park Circle, near Bayview and Lawrence avenues, and confronted a husband, his wife and their two adult daughters. Three victims — a 75-year-old man and two women aged 26 and 28 — were shot, while the man and a 64-year-old woman were also struck with a hammer. "This was a family asleep in their own home," Smith said, describing "an appalling level of violence, all for the purpose of acquiring property." The case is the 119th home invasion reported to Toronto police this year, up 32.2 per cent from the same period in 2025.

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2. Cervical cancer rates rising among Canadian women aged 35 to 54

Source: CP24

Cervical cancer rates are climbing in Canada despite advances in screening and HPV vaccination, with a notable increase among women aged 35 to 54. The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 1,700 women will be diagnosed this year and 450 will die from the disease.

Dr. Julie Anne Francis, a gynecologic oncologist and surgeon at Ontario's Lakeridge Health, said screening has evolved from the traditional Pap smear to HPV testing alongside checks for abnormal cells. But she points to follow-up care as one of the biggest gaps. "Part of the problem we have is losing people once they have an abnormal test," she said.

Francis said women miss follow-up for many reasons: some do not realize a result was abnormal, some fear further testing, and others assume an abnormal result means cancer. She stressed that an abnormal test does not mean cancer and often presents a chance to prevent it. Experts also cite slowing uptake of the HPV vaccine and the fact that many Canadians lack a primary care physician, who often administers Pap tests. Shannon Pethick, diagnosed in 2010 at age 32, hopes her story pushes other women to keep up with screening.

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3. Toronto's municipal election turnout hit 46 per cent, above the provincial average

Source: CP24

Nearly one million people cast a ballot in Toronto's municipal election this week. Unofficial figures collected by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario show about 46 per cent of eligible voters turned out — the city's highest turnout in more than a decade — compared with a provincial average of roughly 36 per cent.

Cristine de Clercy, a political scientist at Trent University, said the apparent neck-and-neck race for mayor was the main driver. The contest between Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford tightened as the campaign wore on, and one poll days before the vote put Bradford ahead, convincing voters and volunteers that their efforts could make a difference.

Myer Siemiatycki, a professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University, said a competitive race alone cannot explain why Toronto beat other municipalities. Mississauga recorded 34 per cent, London 31 per cent, Kitchener just 22 per cent, and Chatham-Kent and Greater Sudbury 41 per cent. He credited Toronto's stronger culture of participation, robust media coverage, issues such as bike lanes, school nutrition programs and gridlock, and Chow's large volunteer corps. Chow won with 532,201 certified votes to Bradford's 404,013.

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4. Driver arrested for impaired driving after three-vehicle crash in Scarborough

Source: CP24

A three-vehicle crash in Toronto's east end early Saturday sent two people to hospital and led to an impaired driving arrest. Police said officers responded to the collision near Warden Avenue and St. Clair Avenue East at about 5:30 a.m.

All three drivers remained at the scene, according to a police post on social media. Two people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and one person was taken into custody for impaired driving. Southbound Warden Avenue was closed at Fairfax Crescent and eastbound St. Clair Avenue East was closed at Morneau Trail. Drivers were told to expect delays in the area.

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5. Clocks fall back this weekend in Ontario — except in the northwest

Source: CP24

Clocks across most of Ontario will fall back one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, returning the province to standard time. Kenora and northwestern Ontario are the exception: daylight time is now permanent there.

The region is aligning with Manitoba, which announced in September that it would stop moving back to standard time. The province said it consulted Indigenous leaders and communities across northwestern Ontario. A City of Kenora survey drew 5,261 responses, with more than 93 per cent supporting permanent daylight time. Attorney General Doug Downey called the approach "practical" and "common-sense," saying it avoids unnecessary disruptions and ensures economic stability for communities in Ontario's central time zone. Communities west of the 90th meridian will no longer change their clocks; those east of it will keep switching twice a year.

Patricia Lakin-Thomas, a biology professor at York University, warned that permanent daylight time takes an hour of morning light and moves it to the afternoon. "They're going to be getting the kids ready for school in the total darkness," she said, predicting that jurisdictions on year-round daylight time will not stick with it because prolonged physiological stress may bring higher rates of chronic disease and lower income. Ontario says it will only make daylight time permanent provincewide if New York and Quebec do the same. Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said this week that this will likely be the last time his province turns the clocks back.

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6. Canada keeps restrictions on Russian athletes after sports court overturns ban

Source: CP24

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Friday that Russia must be allowed back into international hockey, overturning a suspension the International Ice Hockey Federation imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The federal government responded by saying it will maintain restrictions on Russian athletes at federally funded events in Canada, leaving open the question of whether Russia could play at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton and Red Deer in December.

In a statement to CTV News, Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden, secretary of state for sport, said Canada's position has not changed since 2022: Russia should not be represented in international competition while its "illegal and unjustifiable full-scale invasion against Ukraine continues." He said Canada will explore further options to hold the Russian government accountable.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress called the ruling "disgraceful" and urged Ottawa to refuse entry visas to Russian hockey teams. Lydia Migus, president of the UCC's Alberta provincial council, said the prospect of Russian athletes competing in Alberta is especially painful for Ukrainians who fled the war and settled there, calling it a way of "normalizing the war." Hockey Canada said the implications of the decision "are not immediately clear" and that it is in contact with the IIHF. The federation said it will comply but warned that reinstating Russian teams poses logistical and security challenges for tournaments already in advanced preparation.

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7. k-os is back with a new album — bankrolled by a big bet from Drake

Source: CP24

Canadian alt-rap trailblazer k-os has released "BLackneck," his first studio album in 11 years, with Drake pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the project. The 54-year-old told The Canadian Press at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern that he does not see the money as simple generosity. "Sometimes when you lend somebody money, you don't always do it in a charitable way. Sometimes you just wanna see what they're gonna do," he said. "Because he's kind of a gambler, I think he's kinda like, 'Let's see what this guy does.' It's an experiment."

The title plays on "redneck" and reflects his upbringing in Whitby, Ont. "Not trying to change yourself is basically what it means," he said. Much of the record was made at his parents' farm near Whitby, including sessions inside a 1984 camper van. The opener "Still Number One" features a string section and a children's choir, while the guitar-driven "i would never." was produced by Canadian rock heavyweight Bob Rock, whose credits include Metallica and Mötley Crüe. Drake is listed as an executive producer.

The two met in 2009, when Drake was starting out and k-os offered advice on navigating the Canadian music business. They reconnected by chance at a Toronto bar during the pandemic, exchanged numbers and later resumed contact by text. After hearing new material, Drake encouraged him to make a quintessential k-os record and offered to fund it. k-os said major labels no longer spend that kind of money on music. "The thing that makes good music is time," he said.

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8. Barnes scores career-high 41, but Raptors fall to Magic

Source: CP24

Scottie Barnes scored a career-high 41 points with five rebounds and five assists, but the Toronto Raptors lost 121-114 to the Orlando Magic on Friday in their first NBA Cup game of the season. Barnes said he did not much care about the milestone in the immediate aftermath. "Right now, no. I think I've got to let some time go by," he said.

Part of his frustration was at the free-throw line: he attempted 34 field goals, many on drives to the rim, but shot just three free throws, while Orlando was awarded 29 and Toronto 15. "I think being that aggressive, only shooting three free throws is kind of crazy," Barnes said. Asked whether he thought it was harder for the Raptors to draw fouls, he paused, chuckled and said he was "trying to have good P.R. today" before admitting, "I'm raging on the inside right now."

Head coach Darko Rajakovic was more direct. "For me, a player that gets three foul shots in a game, who scores 41 points and goes to the free-throw line three times, that's kind of B.S.," he said, adding that the criteria should be the same on both ends. It was the 16th game of Barnes's career with at least 30 points, five rebounds and five assists, tying DeMar DeRozan for fourth most in Raptors history. Centre Jakob Poeltl had 12 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in his best game of the season.

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9. G20 foreign ministers wrap up Atlanta talks without consensus

Source: CP24

Top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest economies ended two days of talks in Atlanta on Saturday without consensus on several critical global security issues, with divisions over Russia's war with Ukraine overshadowing the meeting. The group will not issue a joint communique, relying instead on a chairman's statement that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will release at the conclusion.

Rubio called the first day "very productive" and met Saturday with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan before leading the final G20 event on supply chains, which examined freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red, Black and South China seas. Rubio had opened the talks with an appeal for unity but then cancelled the traditional group photo after European diplomats objected to the presence of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and threatened to boycott or walk out.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, attending his first G20 meeting as a guest, said he was not surprised by the failure to reach consensus. "We have wars going on, and we have participants in those wars around the table, so it's very difficult to agree on a common line," he said. Diplomats said participants agreed to work toward a successful leaders' summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida next month, despite differences that also include the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. tariffs, Chinese moves in the South China Sea and the decision not to invite G20 member South Africa.

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10. Poland's president accuses PM of forced takeover of top court

Source: CP24

Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Saturday accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of staging a forced takeover of the country's top court after the tribunal said its longest-serving judge, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska, had suspended its president, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and taken charge. Swieczkowski was appointed by Tusk's hard-right predecessor.

"Tonight, there was a breach of public order in the Republic of Poland and a forcible takeover of a constitutional body," Nawrocki said in a statement read by an aide outside the court early Saturday, after he turned back mid-flight from a trip to Africa. He headed straight to the court, where riot police were out in force as several hundred protesters demanded Swieczkowski's reinstatement, and called for urgent political consultations.

Tusk wrote on X that his government is seeking to restore the rule of law, which the European Union accused his Law and Justice predecessors of subverting. "This process is difficult, at times even painful, and requires decisive action. There is no other way," he said. The long-running dispute has effectively paralysed the Constitutional Tribunal, with the pro-European government and the nationalist president refusing to recognize each other's appointees. It dates back to 2015, when Law and Justice sought to appoint judges to seats already filled by the previous government; its nominees gained a majority on the court, and critics at home and abroad said it no longer met the standards of an independent and impartial tribunal.

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