A 4am traffic stop at a Burlington Petro Canada station yielded guns, ammo and drugs. The arrest took place last Wednesday a 4 in the morning when a Halton Police officer spotted a masked man behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Police conducted  a traffic stop and discovered the suspect appeared to be impaired

The vehicle was searched and police recovered

• Glock 9MM handgun (magazine with 9 rounds loaded into firearm)

• Glock 40 caliber handgun (loaded with 14 additional rounds in the magazine)

• Glock 9MM magazine with 8 rounds of ammunition

• Approximately 150 Oxycodone pills

• Approximately 150 Xanax pills

• Approximately 40 Hydromorphone pills

• Approximately 50 grams of crack cocaine

Leslie Prince (46) of Etobicoke faces drug and weapons charges. At the time of his arrest Prince was under a weapons prohibition. Cannabis was also seen in the vehicle.

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Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact the 3 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4777 ext. 2316.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers. at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.

The post Mask was a dead giveaway. Halton Police arrest man on impaired, weapons and drug charges appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

On Sunday, at approximately 8:42 p.m., Hamilton Police and Hamilton Paramedic Service responded to a collision involving a motorcycle near Industrial Drive and Ottawa Street North.

A 2015 Kawasaki Ninja was travelling westbound on Nikola Tesla Boulevard, approaching a curve in the road near Industrial Drive and Ottawa Street North, when the rider was unable to navigate the curve. The motorcycle left the roadway and struck a guardrail.

The 19-year-old male rider was transported to hospital with life-altering injuries.

The Hamilton Police Collision Reconstruction Unit continues to investigate and is asking anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or who was travelling in the area at the time, to come forward. Investigators are also asking motorists to review dash camera footage and nearby residents or businesses to check surveillance video for anything that may assist the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Collision Reconstruction Unit at 905-546-4753 or by email at reconunit@hamiltonpolice.ca. For those who wish to provide information anonymously, they can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit  anonymous tips online at Crime Stoppers Hamilton’s Website. https://crimestoppershamilton.com/

The post Police seeking witness in motorcycle crash that left 19-year-old with life-altering injuries appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

Last Wednesday, investigators were notified of a suspicious fire at a commercial property in Stoney Creek. As part of the ongoing investigation, police have obtained a suspect photo and are seeking to identify the individual pictured.

The suspect is described as having dark, curly hair and was seen wearing a dark long-sleeve top, dark pants and light-coloured shoes. The individual was also seen carrying a case of beverages.

Anyone who recognizes this individual, or who has information that may assist investigators, is asked to contact Detective Constable Chad Doan at 905-540-3819 or cdoan@hamiltonpolice.ca, or Detective Greg Blunsdon at 905-540-5085 or gblunsdon@hamiltonpolice.ca. For those who wish to provide information anonymously, they can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit anonymous tips online at Crime Stoppers Hamilton’s Website.

The post Arson suspect sought in Stoney Creek suspicious fire appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

 Said Kimberly Capretta, District Manager for the Hamilton Region, Shoppers Drug Mart. “Women comprise a large portion of the Shoppers Drug Mart workforce. They’re our loyal shoppers, too. Women are our mothers and daughters, our sisters and our friends. They’re strong and smart. But they’re also more susceptible to anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

 St. Joe’s is the second largest provider of mental health and addictions services in all of Ontario, and the only one attached to an acute care hospital. Each year, St. Joe’s will see more than 200,000 outpatient  visits to their mental health and addictions clinics and care for over 30,000 new patients. While government funding is critical for our services, the funds raised from events like Run for Women help fill the gaps as the demand for mental health and addictions  care continues to rise in our region.

The post Shoppers run for women raises $190,000 for St Joes mental health appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

Ford first became Premier in 2018 on the strength of a province that had grown tired of 15 years of Liberal rule under Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. Then he won re-election in 2022 largely due to his reassuring performance during COVID, coupled with continued weakness by the Liberal Party, still looking to find a way back after losing party status. In 2025 it was his spirited response to the Trump tariff threats that made him the only logical choice. External events have been one factor in Ford’s success but that is not to diminish his folksy political style and his knack for appearing to be a man of the people, showing himself to be easily accessible by gestures like giving out his private phone number.

Starting in his second term, though, the cuddly, folksy Ford began to show an authoritarian streak, with his attempt to dismantle greenbelt legislation that was only thwarted by revelations of possible insider dealings with developers close to Ford. We haven’t heard much about the Greenbelt scandal lately but presumably it is still an open file with the RCMP who started investigating in 2023.

2023 was also the year that Ford instituted Strong Mayor Powers, touted as a means of stimulating housing starts in the province. The measure was premised on the questionable theory that the lack of housing starts was more or less entirely due to municipal red tape. Initially, it was only Mayors who agreed to aggressive housing targets who were given the powers, but later Ford ended up extending the powers to virtually every municipality in the province. As it has turned out, it is high prices, not municipal red tape that has killed the housing market. Strong mayor powers have accomplished nothing except to grant extraordinary powers to mayors, some of whom have shown their lack of fitness to exercise them wisely, especially when it comes to budgets. Worse, the move has disenfranchised municipal voters, who may not turn out in great numbers at election time but who still deeply care about the level of government closest to them. Dating from his time on Toronto city Council, Ford has viewed municipal governance as a nuisance.

More recently we see the Ford attack on what are frankly, already toothless Freedom of Information regulations that exist in Ontario. The bill, dumped in with the budget, is widely seen as a purely personal attempt to shield his telephone usage from public scrutiny. It is not a good look. His numbers took a real nosedive after the scuttled plan to purchase a private jet, although they have rebounded slightly as that controversy fades.

At the end of the current term, Ford will have been Ontario Premier for 10 or 11 years. That is approaching the timeline that Premiers Frost, Robarts and Davis saw as their cue to move on. The Abacus numbers appear to show a willingness by Ontario voters to do some window-shopping for new leadership, depending on who ends up heading the Ontario Liberal Party. The NDP recently lost an MPP to the Carney Liberals and in the last provincial contest dropped a seat in Hamilton, one of its most reliable strongholds. It’s hard to see how they would be able to pick up the dozens of seats they would need to form even a minority government in the next four years. With Ford, the Conservatives might very well eke out a win again, (assuming he even wants one) but might better be re-invigorated with a new leader as the federal Liberals did, who could take the party and the province forward with some fresh ideas, and maybe restore some of the trust that has been lost, especially since 2023.

The post Abacus poll suggests Ontario Voters are open to change appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

Produced by Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith, Carrie Underwood) and Evan Frederiksen, this project reimagines classic Canadian songs through the lens of soul music. Where Northern roots meet southern soul, Line 49 breathes new life into some of Canada’s most beloved songs – stretching across decades of iconic songwriting and reshaping them with upbeat modern arrangements, laced with pop and reggae elements. 

The album also features the long-awaited original song “Soul Life,” which McNeil co-wrote with Marty Casey (Lovehammers) and Ty Taylor (Vintage Trouble) during her time on Rock Star: INXS, with Marti Frederiksen later added to the songwriting credits. Initially performed as her featured original song on the series, McNeil recorded it for Line 49 to celebrate the show’s 20th anniversary and fulfill a longtime fan request.

Line 49 is a deeply personal project for McNeil, inspired by a promise to her late father, and is delivered with McNeil’s unmistakable vocal prowess. 

Tthe live album release show at The Westdale is taking place on June 26.

Suzie McNeil has built a career spanning television, stage, touring, and recording. She first broke through as the last woman standing on CBS’s Rockstar: INXS and has since shared stages with international artists including P!nk, Aerosmith, Alan Frew and more. 

Line 49 Track List:

Someday (Originally by Glass Tiger)

Blinding Lights (Originally by the Weeknd)

Building A Mystery (Originally by Sarah McLachlan)

White Hot (Originally by Red Rider)

Soul Life (Original by Suzie McNeil)

Both Sides Now (Originally by Joni Mitchell)

Bobcaygeon (Originally by The Tragically Hip)

Never Surrender (Originally by Corey Hart)

You Could Have Been A Lady (Originally by April Wine)

Hand In My Pocket (Originally by Alanis Morissette)

Suzie McNeil: Line 49 Album Release

Friday, June 26 at 8:00 pm

The Westdale, 1014 King St W. Hamilton

Tickets are $47.75, or $45.75 for Members of The Westdale

Available at thewestdale.ca or https://www.thewestdale.ca/event/suzie-mcneil-line-49-album-release/

The post Suzie McNeil to unveil new album with performance at Westdale June 26 appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

Two years ago, the Hamilton Police Service decided to tackle the issue by forming The  Race and Identity-Based Data (RIBD) Community Advisory Panel (CAP) and asking it to come up with a plan to improve transparency, accountability, and equity in policing practices in Hamilton. The committee handed down its report two weeks ago after two years of work which involved more than 50 meetings. The 10-person panel was made up largely of persons of colour most of whom had strong academic credentials. Some of the areas of expertise of the members include, community law, health research, social work, public policy, criminal justice, data research, indigenous studies, health in racialized communities and public opinion research.

The panel released  its report, which can be accessed here.

A recurring theme throughout the report was the need to dig more deeply behind the raw data on race in interactions with Police. The first of the 12 recommendations tackled the current method of reporting on use-of-force incidents between police and racialized groups.

Under the current approach, (and the one used by Damptey in his research) disproportionality is assessed by comparing:

● the share of use-of-force incidents involving a given group (e.g., Black residents), to

● that group’s share of the overall population in Hamilton.

For example, if 10% of Hamilton residents identify as Black but 25% of recorded use-of-force incidents involve Black subjects, the ratio of 25% to 10% (2.5) is interpreted as evidence of disproportionality.

The report said the current methodology is insufficient in getting to the bottom of the police-race issue. “Whether certain groups appear more frequently in police data is, in itself, an empirical question. A responsible race and identity-based data strategy must endeavour to explain why these differences arise—scrutinizing how structural factors may contribute to observed disparities—rather than treating those disparities as evidence of inherent group tendencies. “

The panel recommended a different way of analyzing use-of-force, a primary benchmark that compares:

. the share of use-of-force incidents involving a given group, to

. that group’s share of all police interactions (e.g., calls for service, stops, arrests, or other defined contact types).

Explaining, the report noted, “this benchmark estimates the probability of use of force given contact with police, by race or identity group. It therefore speaks more directly to potential bias in police decision-making during encounters, rather than to disparities in exposure to policing that may be driven by wider social conditions.”

Hamilton Police are in the process of setting up a new Community Advisory Panel to build on the work of the inaugural panel whose work was competed with the issuing of their report. Applications for the new panel close June 21. Those interested can contact amohamed@hamiltonpolice.ca

The post Better data analysis needed in police use-of-force incidents with racialized individuals appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

Firefighters were able to contain the spread of fire at 86 Grant Blvd to the exterior of the home only. A third adjacent home at 27 McMaster Blvd., sustained exposure damage to its exterior siding and outdoor patio furniture. A small garden

Damages to 84 Grant Blvd. are estimated to be approximately $500,000.00. Damages to 86 Grant Blvd., are estimated to be approximately $75,000.00 and damages to 27 McMaster Blvd., are estimated to  be approximately $25,000.00. The suspected cause is a BBQ that was in use at the time of the fire.  Three residents living at 84 Grant Blvd., were displaced and found their own accommodations. Residents of the other two impacted homes were able to return once the situation was stable.

The post Dundas house fire caused $600,000 in damages to 3 houses appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

In a statement, Don Kottick, president of Remax Canada, told Real Estate Magazine Canada, “We’re deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Conrad Zurini. Conrad was a member of the Remax community for nearly 30 years and was always a strong supporter of Remax in Canada. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and agents during this difficult time.”

Remax Hallmark Realty of Toronto,  paid tribute on Facebook, calling Zurini “a passionate, caring, and inspirational leader within the Remax family and the real estate industry.

“His unwavering commitment to sharing his knowledge, wisdom, and experience touched countless lives and helped shape the success of so many around him,” the post read. “More than a respected leader, Conrad was a true friend. We will forever cherish his energy, passion, humour, and the positive impact he made on everyone he met.”

Kingsley Ma, area vice president for Remax Canada remembered him as “the definition of a true entrepreneur — fast-paced, incredibly knowledgeable, and always looking for ways to do better. “More than just an incredible broker-owner, he was a generous person,” Ma wrote on Facebook. “If there’s a Hall of Fame in the real estate industry, he has earned his permanent place there.”

Funeral details were unavailable as of Saturday.

The post Tributes pour in at news of death of Conrad Zurini, leading Hamilton realtor appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.

Project Joker  began in April 2026 following the theft of a Lexus SUV from the Bronte GO Station parking lot. Investigators from the 2 District Criminal Investigations Bureau identified two suspects believed to be members of an organized crime group operating out of Quebec.

Investigators subsequently identified a rental vehicle associated with the suspects and conducted surveillance. During the investigation, the suspects were observed stealing and attempting to steal vehicles in Oakville and Mississauga (see attached video).

On May 22, 2026, HRPS officers safely arrested Dany Hamel-Poirier (27) of Montreal and Damian Daneau (20) of Montreal.

At the time of his arrest, Dany Hamel-Poirier was wanted by multiple police services in Ontario and Quebec, including Peel Regional Police, Toronto Police Service, York Regional Police, and the Sûreté du Québec, in connection with approximately 40 criminal charges (including auto theft related charges). Hamel-Poirier is also on probation for auto theft convictions, and has multiple release orders in Quebec for auto theft related charges. In addition to auto theft charges Hamel-

Investigators expect additional charges to be laid and believe the accused are responsible for more than 100 vehicle thefts throughout the GTHA.

HRPS investigators recovered three stolen vehicles during this investigation.

Project Disconnect

On May 27, 2026, investigators responded to two suspects attempting to steal a vehicle from an Oakville hotel parking lot. Officers quickly moved in and, despite attempts to flee, safely arrested two suspects. Police also seized a stolen Dodge Durango the suspects arrived in.

Jobanpreet Singh (21) of Brampton has been charged with numerous offenses including obstructing a peace officer. At the time of his arrest, Singh was wanted on a Canada Border Services Agency warrant and was in Canada who faces the additional charge of assaulting an officer.

Both accused were held in custody pending a bail hearing in Milton.

Police seized the stolen Dodge Durango and also recovered an onboard diagnostics (OBD) reader commonly used to reprogram vehicles, blank keys, and break-and-enter tools.

 Investigators believe the accused to be responsible for several additional auto thefts throughout the region.

Police released a video showing auto thefts in progress.

Anyone with information regarding either investigation is asked to contact the 2 District Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4777 ext. 2216.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers. at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a tip online at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.

The post Halton Police arrest four in major auto theft ring involving over 100 vehicles appeared first on bayobserver.ca Hamilton, Burlington and GTA.