Connect with us

Uncategorized

‘It’s never quite worked properly’: Toronto’s fading Luminous Veil in need of repairs – Toronto

Published

on


Aside from the CN Tower, the Luminous Veil, which spans the Bloor Viaduct, is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Toronto’s nighttime skyline, but the public art display isn’t functioning the way it was intended to and the lack of dazzling lights on the horizon is prompting many to call for improvements.

Unveiled in time for the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, the Luminous Veil added hundreds of LED lights that react to changes in wind direction and temperature shifts. On top of the shimmering light displays, the installation adds a public art element to the safety barriers that were installed years prior.

But the lights haven’t been functioning as intended and a jaunt across the bridge connecting Bloor Street to Danforth Avenue at night reveals several portions sitting in darkness while others twinkle around them.

“It’s never quite worked properly because there’s always sections of the lights that are out,” said Coun. Paula Fletcher, who has been hearing complaints about the issues for quite some time.

Story continues below advertisement

This week, Fletcher put forward a motion at the city’s Economic and Social Development Committee asking city staff to come up with a solution.

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Fletcher also points out that when the lights were originally installed, there wasn’t a mechanism included to report malfunctions. Due to this oversight, the city often doesn’t know there are issues unless residents phone 311.

“Let’s get this back up and running a hundred per cent and not rely on the public to phone in and say it’s not working,” Fletcher said.


A Toronto spokesperson told Global News that in 2021, the city entered into a two-year service agreement with a company tasked with maintaining the Luminous Veil. But even with coordinated monitoring, the system continued to experience malfunctions.

At the end of the $36,200 contract, the city was told the custom lighting elements were reaching the end of their life cycle and would need to be replaced.

“For years now … panels fade constantly to the point now they’re more black panels than illuminated panels,” said Albert Stortchak outside his antique lighting shop on Broadview Avenue.

Stortchak, chair of the Broadview Danforth BIA, said its members called in a lot of favours and raised $25,000 to help get the display up and running. He said the city tends to initiate projects with lofty goals and objectives, only to let them decay over time, disappointing those who advocated for them.

Story continues below advertisement

“In this case, the luminous part of the veil was a metaphoric and literal light to be shed on the issue of mental illness and suicide prevention, and what message are we sending when we let the lights go out?” he said.

Fletcher’s motion at committee will now have staff reporting back in September with potential solutions. The Toronto-Danforth councillor said she wants the display back up and running in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Stortchak and his BIA membership want the city to ensure that when sports fans vacate the city this time, the Luminous Veil is properly maintained.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.





Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Uncategorized

Oilers try to join rare Cup comeback club

Published

on

By


Eight teams in NHL history have won Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final to force a seventh game and gone on to win the championship.

The Edmonton Oilers are aiming to become the ninth after falling behind 3-2 to the Florida Panthers. Game 6 is Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla.

Here’s a look at the teams that have completed the comeback:

1942 – Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs trailed the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 before winning four straight to claim the Cup. They remain the only team in NHL history to erase a three-game deficit in the final. Toronto took Game 6 by a score of 3-0 and won Game 7 at Maple Leaf Gardens, 3-1.

Related Videos

Story continues below advertisement

1950 – Detroit Red Wings

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

The Red Wings stayed alive with a 5-4 win over the New York Rangers in Game 6, then captured the Cup with a 4-3 double-overtime victory in Game 7. Pete Babando scored the winner.

1964 – Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto stayed alive with a 4-3 overtime win over Detroit in Game 6, then secured a third straight championship with a 4-0 win in Game 7 on the road.


1971 – Montreal Canadiens

The Canadiens forced Game 7 with a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, then captured the Cup with a 3-2 win at Chicago Stadium. Rookie goaltender Ken Dryden was named playoff MVP.

2001 – Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche responded to a Game 5 loss by shutting out the New Jersey Devils 4-0 in Game 6. They clinched the title with a 3-1 win in Game 7 in Denver.

2004 – Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay kept its season alive with a 3-2 double-overtime win over the Calgary Flames in Game 6, with Martin St. Louis scoring the winner. The Lightning went on to win their first Cup with a 2-1 victory in Game 7.

Story continues below advertisement

2009 – Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Game 6, then won the Cup with another 2-1 victory in Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena. Max Talbot scored both goals in the deciding game.

2011 – Boston Bruins

The Bruins forced Game 7 with a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks, then clinched the series with a 4-0 shutout at Rogers Arena. Boston goaltender Tim Thomas made 37 saves in the deciding game.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.

&copy 2025 The Canadian Press





Source link

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

‘Dozens of staged accidents’: Crime group linked to tow truck industry, extortions charged

Published

on

By


Peel Regional Police say key members of a Brampton-based criminal organization allegedly responsible several extortion incidents and staged car accidents are facing charges.

In a press conference on Monday, police revealed details of an investigation called Project Outsource which was launched in July 2024 after officers saw a sharp trend in violent extortion attempts and other criminal activity in the region.

Police allege Project Outsource found that the criminal network, which is allegedly tied to the tow truck industry, was operating with “two distinct but interconnected components: one dedicated to extortion and violence, and the other rooted in the towing industry.”

The force said several suspects were found to be associated with towing companies operating under the names “Certified Roadside” and “Humble Roadside.”

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“We have substantial evidence linking the group to dozens of staged accidents and potentially costing insurance companies between 80 and $100,000 for each staged accident,” said Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich with Peel Regional Police.

Story continues below advertisement

“In total, those fraudulent claims exceed $1 million for this particular investigation,” Milinovich continued. “To put that in perspective, fraudulent claims to the industry of insurance represent an equal amount to stolen cars, a cost which is then passed on to our community.”

On June 10, police said a woman from King City along with 17 men from Brampton were arrested following several coordinated search warrants in Peel and York regions, as well as in Toronto, involving more than 200 officers.

All 18 people face almost 100 charges including conspiracy, extortion, fraud, firearm-related offences, participating and instructing in a criminal organization and staging collision offences.


Police noted that almost half of the accused were on some form of a judicial release at the time of their arrest. Several of them were known to police.

Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said the two people who are believed to be responsible for leading the criminal organization are part of the arrests.

Over the course of Project Outsource, police said 18 tow trucks were seized with a total value of $2.8 million, five stolen vehicles were recovered worth more than $500,000, four personal high-end vehicles worth $840,000, six firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, as well as other various weapons such as crossbows, stun guns and baseball bats.

Project Outsource was created as a focused sub-investigation under the Extortion Investigative Task Force — created in 2023 in response to recent, sharp rise in violent extortion attempts targeting South Asian business owners, including demands for large sums of money, threats for non-payment, and acts of violence, including drive-by shootings.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.





Source link

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

NDP calls for RCMP to include ‘permanently deleted’ emails in Greenbelt probe

Published

on

By


The Ontario NDP is calling on the RCMP to widen the scope of its criminal investigation into the Ford government’s Greenbelt dealings after a provincial watchdog determined that relevant documents were allegedly “permanently deleted” contrary to provincial law.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles is also acknowledging that the opposition parties at Queen’s Park may have “run out” of options to use official legislative channels to hold the government to account, even as more questions arise.

After a months-long battle with the Ford government over Greenbelt-related records, Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) determined the Progressive Conservative party violated “legal record-keeping obligations” by using “opaque codewords” to discuss the controversial policy.

Patricia Kosseim also said her office was concerned enough about government documents that the IPC was forced to issue an order to retain them in full. Despite that, some records remain unaccounted for.

Story continues below advertisement

“We were pre-emptorily ordering the government to preserve all records and to recover emails that had been deleted, which they were able to and did and have since preserved all the records, except — as I said — those that were permanently deleted,” Kosseim told Global News.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

“We have no way of knowing the circumstances around that.”

It’s unclear, however, what, if any, consequences could arise from the permanent deletion of records.


While the RCMP has remained tight-lipped on its years-long investigation into the government’s decision-making, there have been few public signs of progress.

Meanwhile, the independent investigative bodies at Queens Park — the Integrity Commissioner, the Auditor General, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner — have all completed their Greenbelt investigations with varied impact.

“We’ve had a scathing report from the Auditor General. We’ve had a scathing report from the Integrity Commissioner. Now we have this report and these findings from the Information and Privacy Commissioner,” Stiles said.

“So to some extent, the tools here … we’ve run out.”

Stiles said the opposition is now looking to the RCMP’s Sensitive and International Investigations unit — which typically investigates allegations of financial crimes like fraud, corruption and procurement as well as complaints related to illegal lobbying activities and elected officials — to look deeper into the IPC’s findings.

Story continues below advertisement

“The commissioner is very clear, laws were broken here,” Stiles said. “The last time a government was found to be permanently deleting emails like this around an issue that is contentious … somebody went to jail.”

In 2018, the former chief of staff to then-Premier Dalton McGuinty was sentenced to four months in jail after an Ontario judge found he directed the indiscriminate wiping of hard drives in the premier’s office in a deliberate effort to protect the office after the Liberal government decided to scrap two gas plants ahead of the 2011 provincial election.

Stiles is also calling for a public inquiry into the scandal.

“I certainly think that a matter like this, just like with the gas plant scandal, would merit a public inquiry,” Stiles said, but acknowledged that the chances of a majority government calling an inquiry into its own actions is unlikely.

&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.





Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025 | Port Credit Today