‘He’s not Batman’: Stiles says Ford shoplifter story shows wrong priorities
NDP and Opposition leader Marit Stiles says Ontario Premier Doug Ford is “not Batman” and should focus on the province’s unemployment, after he told a story about threatening to give an alleged shoplifter “a beating.”
On Tuesday, Ford recounted the tale of how he chased after someone at a Home Depot earlier in the summer, told them to empty their bag and threatened to beat them up if they didn’t return the items they had allegedly stolen.
“I said, ‘Buddy, I’m going to kick your ass all over the parking lot, show me what’s in your bag,’” Ford told a packed room. “I did, I couldn’t help myself.”
He then added, “I went on to tell him if I ever see him in the parking lot, he’s going to get a beating like he’s never got before. That’s what you have to do.”
Stiles said she thought the story may be a “tall tale,” which showed the premier’s focus was elsewhere at a time when unemployment is rising in the province and tariffs from the United States are beginning to seriously bite.
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.
“He is not Batman, he is not Captain Canada — when is he going to start being premier?” she said.
“We have 7.9 per cent unemployment across Ontario right now, 800,000 Ontarians without a job. Is it going to take one million? At what point does the premier of this province decide to play premier and not Batman?”
Unemployment has been rising in Ontario. In Ontario it rose by 0.2 per cent in September to reach 7.9 per cent, higher than Quebec’s 5.7 per cent and British Columbia’s 6.4.
The month before, Ontario’s unemployment rate stood at 7.7 per cent while the youth unemployment rate, which includes people between the ages of 15 and 24, hovered at 16.5 per cent.
Ontario’s youth unemployment rate has gradually increased from 10 per cent in March 2023, hitting a peak of 18 per cent in December 2024.
“He should be doing his job. He should be chasing down jobs in Ontario, not chasing people across a Home Depot parking lot,” Stiles added.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
SEATTLE – Kevin Gausman will get the start for the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
He’s 1-1 in the playoffs this year with a 2.38 earned-run average.
Related Videos
The Seattle Mariners will counter with Bryce Miller on Friday afternoon.
Blue Jays slugger Anthony Santander is not in the starting lineup for tonight’s Game 4 due to back stiffness.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Manager John Schneider says Addison Barger will move to right field, Ernie Clement will play third base and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will start at second base.
The Blue Jays can even the best-of-seven series at two games apiece with a second straight victory at T-Mobile Park.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
A British Columbia First Nation is getting some land back in an agreement with the federal government as part of a claim settlement that dates back almost two centuries.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty and Snuneymuxw First Nation Chief Mike Wyse say in a joint announcement that the three parcels of land in Nanaimo, B.C., total about 80 hectares and were Defence Department lands.
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 announcement comes months after an agreement between the two parties to settle a claim over the federal government failing to set aside village land previously promised in an 1854 treaty.
The federal government has also agreed to provide $42 million in compensation to the First Nation in the agreement.
The nation says its vision for the land involves a mixed-use development that include housing, commercial space, community infrastructure and economic opportunities.
The federal government says the Snuneymuxw has the lowest reserve land base per capita among B.C. First Nations, and the addition will increase its role in the Nanaimo region.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The parents of an infant who was killed, along with his grandparents, in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby, Ont., in April 2024 are suing Durham police.
The statement of claim from Gokulnath Manivannan and Ashwitha Jawahar, and two other family members, was filed this month against two Durham Regional Police officers, the Durham Regional Police Services Board, the estate of the driver who struck them and U-Haul.
Lawyers Brad Moscato and Adam Wagman of Howie, Sacks & Henry LLP sent a statement to Global News calling the loss to their clients “unimaginable” and indicating that their focus right now is on “grieving and supporting one another through this devastating time.”
Wagman told Global News in an interview they want to ensure there is a “system that prevents the public being put at risk.”
“Obviously, the police are there to fight crime once it happens. But primarily, the police are here to protect the public. In this particular instance, the system failed,” he said.
“I don’t even suggest that it’s the individual police officers. The system failed this family, the system failed every single person who was on the 401 that day and this could have happened to any of them.”
On the night of April 29, 2024, the SIU said Durham Regional Police officers were notified by an off-duty officer of a robbery at an LCBO near Green Road and Highway 2 in Clarington, Ont.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
The SIU said officers found a vehicle of interest — a U-Haul cargo van — and followed the van through numerous streets in Durham Region “as the vehicle drove erratically” and then got on Highway 401 at Stevenson Road in Oshawa in the wrong direction and was travelling westbound in the eastbound lanes.
Shortly after, there was a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 401, just east of Highway 412, in Whitby, resulting in the death of the child, aged three months, his grandmother, 55, and his grandfather, 60.
The baby’s parents, both from Ajax, were also in the car and were injured in the collision.
The driver of the U-Haul, Gagandeep Singh, 21, was killed in the crash.
The statement of claim alleges Sgt. Richard Flynn and Const. Brandon Hamilton “exercised negligent and reckless judgment” when they “drove on to Highway 401, in the wrong direction, and pursued the Suspect Motor Vehicle westbound in the eastbound lanes.”
It adds the two officers “failed to consider available alternatives to pursuing the Suspect Motor Vehicle” and “failed to consider public safety in their pursuit of the Suspect Motor Vehicle.”
Statements of defence have not yet been filed. Durham Regional Police told Global News while its aware of the lawsuit, it will not comment as it is part of an ongoing investigation and legal process.
Flynn and Hamilton were both charged with three counts each of criminal negligence causing death and two counts each of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The plaintiffs, which include the baby’s remaining grandmother in India and his aunt, are claiming damages in the amount of $25 million for personal injuries and corresponding damages.
“We know that a lawsuit and money can’t bring back what these people have lost. We hope that there is a measure of comfort that compensation can bring and that they can use that money to honor their loved ones, but we’re a long way away from that,” Wagman said.
“Really, we want to start by getting answers and we want to make sure our community is safe, and that’s what the police want to do, too. So we want to make sure that we have a system going forward to prevent this from happening to anybody else in the future.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
-
Uncategorized4 months agoShop Proud, Eat Proud, Be Proud — Ottawa Canada Day Market This June 28th
-
4 months agoRing of Fire road to bring prosperity to First Nation, problems for caribou: report
-
4 months agoMeasles circulating in northeastern B.C. community, health officials warn
-
4 months agoCanada’s world junior trial saw juries tossed, intense testimony. Here’s a recap
-
4 months agoFormer major leaguer, Jays doctor Ron Taylor dies
-
4 months agoJagmeet Singh apologizes for attending Kendrick Lamar concert after Drake calls him out
-
4 months agoAnishinabek Nation chief says he briefed Ontario police on protests against Bill 5
-
4 months ago161 bricks of suspected cocaine found on truck trying to cross Canada-U.S. border