Maple Express | November 12, 2026 — Toronto police arrest 59-year-old man accused of luring minors online

Source: CP24

1. Toronto police arrest 59-year-old man accused of using 'TorDude' alias to lure minors

Toronto police said this morning that a 59-year-old Toronto man who went by the online alias "TorDude" has been arrested and faces more than a dozen charges. Police allege he communicated with people under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose.

The child luring and online child exploitation investigation was launched in September 2026 by Toronto police together with the Ontario Provincial Police, police said. Besides "TorDude," investigators allege the man also used the alias "G.P.G" while communicating with people he believed were minors. It remains unclear what the acronym stands for.

On Wednesday, officers executed a search warrant in the area of Victoria Park Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East and arrested 59-year-old Aslam Butt of Toronto. He is charged with five counts of luring a person under 16, five counts of making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16, one count of luring a person under 18, two counts of failing to comply with a prohibition regarding children and one count of failing to comply with a probation order. Police said he was scheduled to appear at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre the same day, and asked anyone with more information to come forward.

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2. Pearson bag-tag switching victims launch claims against the system

A report published today by CTV's W5 says 11 Canadians accused of international drug smuggling are turning to a personal injury lawyer, claiming they were victims of a bag tag switching scheme at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Some say the airlines offered them little after they were detained abroad.

W5 has now identified more than two dozen cases of travellers being detained after their airline luggage tag was swapped from their bag onto another bag containing drugs, allegedly by corrupt workers at Pearson. When the scheme goes as planned, an accomplice picks up the drug bag at the destination airport. If the drugs are detected, the pickup is aborted and the innocent passenger is left explaining why their tag is on a bag of drugs.

Toronto lawyer Paul Miller is representing the 11 people. Miller, who has practised personal injury law for 25 years, said he had never heard anything like their stories, describing them as "right out of a James Bond type of movie." He said his clients were "basically told to go away" by the airlines, and are now seeking $100,000 to $1 million in each case. He expects to sue several organizations at once, including the airline, Transport Canada and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

Leila Drakes, a 77-year-old wheelchair user, was approached by drug squad officers in Barbados after her bag tag turned up on a suitcase full of cannabis; she was never charged and said WestJet offered her a $300 flight credit. Grace Merano spent 24 nights behind bars in the Philippines after being accused of importing 24 kilograms of methamphetamine, and said Cathay Pacific offered her about $22,000. A Nanos Research poll done for W5 in September found two-thirds of Canadians are concerned about tag switching, and 48 per cent said they were less confident in checked luggage systems than a year earlier.

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3. Carney defends Stellantis remarks, stands by 'betrayal' charge

Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking in Dublin at the European Political Community summit today, defended his government's rhetoric around the sale of the Stellantis plant in Brampton, Ont., after CTV News confirmed through multiple sources that Ottawa was aware of the deal.

Carney stood by his assertion that Stellantis had "betrayed" Canadian autoworkers. "The betrayal is not fulfilling all the obligations for all the workers. That's their responsibility," he said. Asked whether his government was aware of the Roshel deal to buy the plant, Carney did not answer directly. "Being informed or being aware of some aspects is not the same as Stellantis providing a global solution for those workers at the plant, which is their obligation," he said.

Industry Minister Melanie Joly's office said she acted only as a mediator between the company and the union and was never involved in approving the sale to Roshel, a Canadian armoured-vehicle manufacturer. But lobby registry records show both Stellantis and Roshel held high-level meetings with government officials in recent months, including with senior staff in Joly's office. The plant has been idle since 2023, with more than 2,200 workers on lay-off pay. Ottawa committed up to $529 million in 2022 to retool the Brampton and Windsor plants, and records show $222 million had been paid out as of March 2025. Joly is expected to meet with Unifor, Stellantis and Ontario government representatives in Toronto today.

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4. Suspect wanted in Mississauga double shooting arrested

Peel Regional Police said today that a man wanted in connection with a double shooting in Mississauga earlier this year has been arrested. Gunshots rang out at a plaza near Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue East around 9 p.m. on Feb. 21, leaving two men, aged 19 and 21, with serious injuries.

Investigators later identified the suspect as 22-year-old Carlos Rodriguez-Rodriguez of Mississauga and issued a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest in May. Police later determined he had left the country after the shooting.

Rodriguez-Rodriguez returned to Canada on Nov. 9 and turned himself in, police said. Among the charges he faces are attempted murder, unauthorized possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon. The charges have not been tested in court. He has been held in custody for a bail hearing, and police said the investigation is ongoing.

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5. Fire at unoccupied Ajax home deemed suspicious

A fire broke out early today at an unoccupied home in Ajax, and the Office of the Fire Marshal will investigate. Police said the blaze started around 1:40 a.m. in the area of Concession Road 5 and Salem Road.

Officers found the unoccupied home engulfed in flames, and nearby residents were evacuated as a precaution. "Officers remained at the scene to assist with traffic control as Fire Services worked to extinguish the fire," police said in an email to CP24.

"The fire appears suspicious at this time, and the OFM will be contacted," police said. No further details were released.

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6. $38M Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball ticket sold in Mississauga

A ticket worth $38 million was sold in Mississauga for Wednesday night's Lotto 6/49 Gold Ball draw, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation said today. The winning ticket was purchased in Mississauga for the Nov. 11 draw.

Outside of the jackpot, OLG said a ticket worth $211,077.30 for the Lotto 6/49 second prize was sold in Toronto. A $1-million ENCORE-winning ticket was purchased in the Leeds and Grenville region of Ontario.

None of the winners have been identified. OLG is encouraging players to check their tickets through its app or at a lottery retailer.

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7. Hamilton grandmother wins $1M Lotto Max: 'I scanned my ticket at least five times'

OLG identified a Hamilton grandmother today as the winner of a $1-million Maxmillions prize in the Sept. 25 Lotto Max draw. She was announced as Jacqueline S. and bought her ticket at a Metro grocery store on King Street East in Hamilton.

She discovered the win on a Friday morning while checking her ticket through the OLG app. "I scanned my ticket at least five times!" she said while collecting her winnings at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. She said her son initially thought she was being scammed, but believed her after seeing the ticket.

Jacqueline, a mother and grandmother, described the win as her first big lottery prize. She plans to take care of her family, buy a new car for herself and another for her son, watch a Toronto Blue Jays game from a skybox and take a dream trip to Germany. Lotto Max players in Ontario have won over $10 billion since 2009, including 125 jackpot wins and 1,020 Maxmillions prizes, OLG said.

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8. Ontario proposes OSAP changes after 'systematic and widespread' problems at private colleges

The Doug Ford government unveiled details today of legislative changes it says will strengthen oversight and accountability for OSAP student loans at private postsecondary institutions, after an ongoing audit raised concerns about possible fraud.

Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security Nolan Quinn said preliminary findings identify "serious systematic concerns about the integrity of OSAP within this sector." He cited allegations of third parties completing coursework for students, including entire courses finished in a single day and final exams completed in as little as six minutes, thousands of OSAP applications submitted from the same IP addresses, and students who could not identify their school, their program or the courses they were supposed to be taking.

The proposed changes would cap OSAP-funded enrolment growth at private institutions, make mainly-online programs ineligible for OSAP, require career colleges to maintain a physical campus and restrict their relationships with third parties such as immigration and recruitment firms. The legislation would also make institutions liable for their students' loans so the province can recover payments, and establish new fines under the Ontario Career Colleges Act. Quinn stopped OSAP payments to all private postsecondary institutions in October and referred the KPMG audit findings to the Auditor General and the OPP. The legislation is to be tabled Nov. 16, but it is not yet clear when payments will resume.

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9. His wife died by suicide. He wants Parliament to reconsider its MAID bill

Diane McDowell, the wife of Toronto man David Slater, died by suicide on Oct. 25 at the age of 71. Slater spoke about her illness in a report published today, and wants members of Parliament to consider the consequences of a MAID bill introduced by Justice Minister Sean Fraser in late October.

McDowell was a founding partner at a litigation firm where she worked for more than 30 years before retiring in 2012. She had lived with depression since her early thirties and managed it with medication and therapy. Slater said that several years into retirement she asked to taper off her medication, and her condition deteriorated sharply. Treatments including transcranial magnetic stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy and ketamine did not help, he said, and she spent time in the psychiatric ward at Toronto General Hospital and about nine weeks at Homewood Health Centre in Guelph.

Slater said his wife wanted a medically assisted death but was not eligible. He recalls her saying, "I don't want to die, but I don't want to live like this," and described it as "MAID in a nutshell." Fraser's bill would ban people with mental illness as a sole underlying condition from accessing MAID. Fraser said he had to decide in the absence of consensus from the medical community and erred on the side of caution because the decision to end one's life is permanent.

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10. Pemberton residents told to shelter in place as flooding blocks roads

Residents in and around the Village of Pemberton, B.C., were asked to shelter in place this morning as "numerous weather-related emergencies" made travel dangerous, officials said.

The Squamish Lillooet Regional District said several roads in the Pemberton Valley have become impassable due to flooding, including parts of Pemberton Meadows Road and Highway 99. It said it is also aware of a landslide on the In-Shuck-ch Forest Service Road and flooded roads in the Paradise and Squamish valleys. Residents should stay where they are if they can do so safely and keep essential supplies and grab-and-go bags ready.

An evacuation order for properties on Airport Road in Pemberton remains in effect, as does an evacuation alert for the entire village. Southern B.C. has seen multiple deluges of rain over the past several days, with totals surpassing 100 millimetres in some areas. Some rainfall warnings lifted by this morning but remained for parts of Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast. Wednesday was the warmest Nov. 11 on record in more than two dozen B.C. communities, with temperatures above 20 C in parts of the Interior and Fraser Valley.

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