The mayor of an Ontario town at the centre of Premier Doug Ford’s spat with alcohol maker Diageo says there is “very real hope” jobs in his community can be saved.

Michael Prue, mayor of Amherstburg, south of Windsor, told councillors Tuesday that Ford has said there are three companies interested in taking over Diageo’s operation in the town.

The British company, which produces Crown Royal, announced in August that it was shuttering its bottling facility in Amherstburg; bottling at the factory intended for the U.S. market would be shifting stateside, while bottling for Canadian consumers would move to its Valleyfield, Que., location.

The plant is scheduled to close in February 2026, affecting 168 unionized employees and potentially impacting the local economy.

“The premier has announced there are three interested parties to take over the Diageo plant. We have been working, in this town, primarily with one of them,” Prue said in a council meeting.

“I’m not at liberty to tell you who they are or where they’re from, but they have made some offers for the Diageo plant, and would be desirous of taking over that plant, along with its employees.”

Prue added that the plan has “run into some roadblocks,” but conversations with several government officials have been ongoing.

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“The discussions are going very well and we’re hoping that the proponent who wishes to buy this plant is able to do so. They are also looking at an alternative structure in Amherstburg should Diageo not wish to sell the plant,” he said.

“If the plant is sold, the plan is to keep all 168 unionized employees employed.”

4:37
‘Dumb as a bag of hammers’: Doug Ford dumps out bottle of Crown Royal in protest of plant closure

A week after Diageo announced the closure, Ford – in a viral moment of protest – poured out an entire bottle of Crown Royal at a news conference to signal his displeasure and bashed the company’s move as ill-conceived.

Earlier this month, Ford escalated his fight with Diageo, threatening to “leverage” the purchasing power of the LCBO and pull Crown Royal and Smirnoff vodka – another Diageo product – off store shelves.

“It’s not going to cost jobs and revenue (for the LCBO),” Ford said on Oct. 6.

“The only people that cost jobs and revenues is Diageo.”

0:54
‘Smirnoff’s next’: Doug Ford says he’ll pull Crown Royal from shelves over plant closure

Ford pointed to the $765 million the LCBO spends on Diageo’s products and complained that the company executives behind the decision who decided to target their “largest customer in North America” have “half a brain.”

Diegeo has said the decision to close its Ontario facility has nothing to do with tariffs from United States President Donald Trump, adding it made similar decisions in the United States, Italy and Scotland.

“We’re working very hard on this. All we can do is wait and see what happens. The big hammer, of course, is held by the premier,” Prue said Tuesday.

“There is some very real hope that this can all be brought forward and accomplished before anyone is let go.”

— with files from Isaac Callan, Gabby Rodrigues and Colin D’Mello

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A forensic psychologist who assessed a Toronto man who has admitted to killing two strangers in April 2022 says Richard Edwin was not faking his illness during their meeting.

Dr. Stephanie Penney testimony Wednesday offered the first glimpse into the life of Edwin, a 43-year-old high school graduate whom she found demonstrated ongoing symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as positive symptoms of psychosis. Penney also concluded Edwin demonstrated low nonverbal skills which could indicate a cognitive loss secondary to the onset of his ongoing mental illness.

Edwin has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.

His lawyers argue he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder, specifically schizophrenia, that rendered him incapable of understanding his actions were wrong.

Edwin has admitted that on April 7, 2022, he took the TTC to Sherbourne Station and shot 21-year-old Kartik Vasudev multiple times as they crossed paths.

Vasudev, an international student from Seneca College, had no prior interaction with Edwin.

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Edwin fled the scene, taking a bus and subway back to his bachelor apartment on Spadina Road, north of Bloor Street.

Two days later, on April 9, Edwin also admitted to taking the subway to Queen Station, then walking to Sherbourne and Dundas streets, where he shot 35-year-old Elijah Mahepath from behind multiple times before fleeing.

Surveillance video confirmed the two had not interacted prior to the shooting. Mahepath, like Vasudev, was a stranger to Edwin.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Edwin, a registered gun owner, was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2010 at age 28.

Following his arrest on April 10, 2022, police found five firearms in his residence during a search.

Dr. Penney said she interviewed Edwin and administered three standardized tests for malingering on March 13, 2025.

The assessment was done at the request of forensic psychiatrist Dr. Lisa Ramshaw, retained by the defence. Penney concluded there were no consistent evidence to suggest Edwin was making deliberate attempts to feign or exaggerate symptoms of mental illness.

Edwin told her he had not taken medication in years and was not experiencing any symptoms of schizophrenia. Penney noted that such a report was atypical and that people with schizophrenia rarely stop experiencing symptoms without treatment.

During cross-examination, assistant Crown attorney Sandra Duffey questioned Penney about a section of her report suggesting Edwin may also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Penney agreed Edwin had told her he experienced a past traumatic event that caused ongoing anxiety.

Penney clarified that her malingering assessment applied only to the time of her March 2025 evaluation. She did not ask Edwin about his mental state in April 2022, when the shootings occurred.

Edwin’s mother is expected to testify Thursday.

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Two men on trial for the fatal shooting of a stranger sitting in his parked car outside his Scarbrough home four years ago have been found guilty of first-degree murder.

Leighton Hopkinson and Jordan Mendez were charged with the June 2021 first-degree murder of Keron Brathwaite and the attempted murder of Brathwaite’s friends, Derka Ali-Best and Leonardo Miller, who were also passengers in Brathwaite’s Mercedes.

Brathwaite suffered 19 gunshot wounds and five graze gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Ali-Best, who was in the front passenger seat, suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder but survived. Miller was not struck.

The jury took just over a day to reach their verdict. First-degree murder is an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The decision came down Tuesday night following a five-week trial.

As Mendez was being led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, Mendez said to Hopkinson with a smirk on his face, “I’ve been in this situation before.”

Assistant Crown prosecutors argued at trial that that the killing of Brathwaite was planned and deliberate.

The Crown told the jury in its closing address that while we don’t know why the killing happened, motive is not something the Crown must prove. “Was it a case of mistaken identity? Was it a message sent to the neighbourhood? I wish I had an answer to that question,” Hickey said.

Hickey said the evidence reveals that Mendez and Hopkinson drove into the area of Scarborough Golf Club Road and Lawrence Avenue in the early morning hours of June 11, 2021, and killed Brathwaite in a hail of bullets.

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Both men were shooting at the time and admitted to being the occupants of the Jeep on the witness stand.

The shooters were inside a rented silver Jeep Cherokee with stolen plates. Both Hopkinson and Mendez admitted on the stand to being in the vehicle at the time of the shooting. Both were armed.

Hopkinson testified in his defence that, in a fit of rage, he opened fire after seeing a Mercedes-Benz that he believed belonged to someone else.

Just hours before the shooting, he claimed, the mother of his child told him that her ex-boyfriend, who also drove a Mercedes, had assaulted her.

Hopkinson told the jury he was furious and, upon seeing what he thought was that man’s car, began shooting.

Hopkinson claimed he believed the vehicle was unoccupied. He admitted to firing two separate handguns.

“It was unplanned and unexpected,” said Hopkinson’s lawyer, Craig Zeeh, in closing arguments.

Mendez, meanwhile, testified that he was merely a passenger in the Jeep and denied taking part in the shooting. He admitted he was carrying a Glock 17 at the time but claimed he never fired it.

Mendez’s lawyer, Saman Wickramasinghe, argued there was an “evidentiary deficit” in the case, pointing to a lack of forensic or eyewitness evidence tying Mendez to the actual shooting.

“There is no proof that Mr. Mendez fired a gun, or that he assisted Mr. Hopkinson,” he said.

The jury was not told about Mendez’s previous conviction in a separate homicide.

In 2013, he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Joel Waldon. That conviction was later overturned by the Court of Appeal, and at his 2019 retrial, Mendez admitted to firing the fatal shots but claimed self-defence.

He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years, with 12 years and 7.5 months credited for pretrial custody, leaving just over two years to serve.

The jury was also not made aware that both men are still facing charges in another homicide: the killing of 29-year-old Trurell Brown, who was shot multiple times and found dead in Ajax on June 2, 2021, just nine days before Brathwaite’s murder.

That trial ended in a mistrial last December, and the charges remain outstanding.

A new trial has been scheduled for Hopkinson and Mendez in March.

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