File: MOCKUPTT11222012_1 --- [Music] Good afternoon and welcome to Toronto Today. I'm Erin Salley and I'm Lauren Foghatsi It's a warm 14 degrees with sun here in Toronto and we've got your top stories. Erin - Thanks Lauren. Grey Cup festivities were spread from the Royal York hotel to Dundas square today and history is repeating itself. The last time Calgary in Toronto met at the Grey Cup was 21 years ago in Winnipeg. They're at it again this weekend. Aartie Panday tells us more about the Stampeders tradition taking place in the downtown core. [Music] The Grey Cup marks its 100th anniversary this weekend and fans lined the red carpet outside the Royal York hotel to take in the tradition. "I'm very excited it's my first Grey Cup I've been a season ticket holder with the stampeders for quite a few years". The stampeders introduced their horse Quick six to Toronto in style as supporters cheered him on. Yeah he's 15 years old he's been around a long time. Fans formed the horse as he arrived outside the hotel. Quick Six devoured some delicious treats prepared by Royal York chef Colin Thornton. " well it's just a fantastic weekend the Grey Cup. The 100th anniversary. Obviously we're very, very excited to be a part of the tradition. It's been a whole lot of fun." "Well we wanted to make sure that the horse was nourished so we brought him some Ontario grown apples and carrots and he had." "Group shot!" The cheerleaders arrived in toronto last night and were excited to introduce their hometown friend. "We love quick Six. Quick Six is definitely a part of Calgary and who we are and the football team so yeah we're we're excited. We're excited that we're here with the horse." "so yeah". With Calgarians flooding Toronto for the 100th Grey Cup Argos fans will have a lot of competition for the loudest cheer. Although Quick Six wasn't able to gallop on into the Royal York hotel today he will still be in attendance at this Sunday's game. For Toronto today I'm Aartie Panday. For the second time in the last month big city mayors resign. Two mayors in Quebec left their positions due to corruption allegations even our very own mayor Rob Ford still awaits a ruling in a conflict of interest case. In breaking news London Ontario mayor Joe Fontana resigns. He is facing criminal charges in a fraud investigation. The charges were laid yesterday for fraud under five thousand dollars, breech of trust by public official and uttering forged documents. The RCMP says when Fontana was a federal liberal cabinet minister in 2005 he used government money to pay for his son's wedding reception. Every work day one and a half million Torontonians ride the TTC. They expect to ride the system safely however over a three week period a man allegedly committed a number of sexual assaults on the same victim. Here's Jasmine Pizano with the story. On October 30 a teenage girl waited on a subway platform on the Bloor line. she was allegedly sexually assaulted by fifty-year-old Victor Torian Huiman at seven am. He assaulted the victim two more times in the weeks following. Hoeven was arrested yesterday by Toronto police. The accused will appear in court today here at old city hall. This case raises the question how safe are Toronto subways. A TTC supervisor says the platforms have cameras that the ticket booth workers watch. The new trains on the Yonge line are equipped with security cameras. "There aren't any TTC officers standing on the platforms. The really, really long ones now there's there aren't any more doors they're like big long caterpillars and there aren't people there to really keep an eye on anything. There weren't any civilians that stepped in to do anything because if I was on the subway I would have stepped in and for someone to just sit there and watch that happen or watch this girl running away from someone that's clearly in distress that's an issue to me. It's easier to just turn your head and hope someone else addresses the problem. So I mean authority would be great and there's only so much you can ask police to do, or only so much you can ask TTC to do. The TTC supervisor expects cameras to be installed in the Bloor trains in the coming years but for now riders need to protect themselves. For Toronto Today I'm Jasmine Pizano. In international news a ceasefire has raised hopes for a new relationship between Israel and Hamas. After an eight-day cross-border battle peace is celebrated by thousands of Palestinian supporters. Frenzied street celebrations began after the announcement of the truce. The Egyptian brokered truce will initiate peace talks to start after a 24-hour period of cease-fire. Although Palestine lost more lives, Hamas declared victory over Israel saying Israel's decision to deny ground troops is a sign of hamas power. Negotiations are hoped to end Gaza rocket fire and open blockaded Palestinian borders. Last month a Taliban gunman shot a 15-year-old girl Malala Yusevi for speaking out against a bar that banned girls from school. Others were also shot outside the kashal school for girls that day. One of them Shazia Razzamin has returned home after a month in the hospital. An armed policeman will be escorting Shazia to school this week. Malala is still recovering in the hospital from the shot that almost killed her. Newly revealed military emails show that few US sailors were informed of Osama bin Laden's burial. No navy seals were actually present at the burial which followed traditional Islamic procedures. The body was washed wrapped in a white sheet and later slid into the sea. The al-Qaeda leader was killed in may last year. Former president Nicholas Sarkozy may join the list of French leaders who have crossed the legal line. He was voted out of office in May and is now accused of taking advantage of France's richest woman. Sarkozy may be charged with illegal accepting donations from l'Oreal cosmetics heiress Lillian Bettencourt for his 2007 campaign. Fighting is escalating in the central African country of Congo. Tensions are escalating between a rebel group and the country's president. The group called m-23 have vowed to push forward. Two days ago they took control of the eastern city of Goma. Experts are now worried the conflict could turn into a full-blown civil war. The group are trying to overthrow President Joseph Kabila. They say he hasn't held up his end of a peace deal put together in 2009. Fighting reignited in April this year and has so far forced 500 000 people from their homes. In breaking local news Toronto police have just announced new charges in the Danforth shooting case which left two dead and 33 injured back in July. The homicide squad called a press conference and will be releasing new details about the city's worst mass shooting. Police announced that they have charged Naham Sagab with two counts of second-degree murder. He had previously only been charged with recklessly discharging a firearm. The police source has said that at least one new count of first degree murder will be laid. Stay tuned for more. Toronto police are looking for a suspect after a man and woman were attacked with a large knife early this morning. The victims were walking along Eglinton near Dufferin street at about 3 a.m. During a confrontation the man was struck in the head with a weapon. Police say ems arrived after the suspect ran off. Anyone with information can please call crime stoppers. Five students have been suspended from a Brampton high school for writing offensive tweets about their teachers. The school board has described the tweets as violent and sexually explicit. The incidents have led to a police investigation. Two students have been suspended seven days while the others only suffered two days suspensions. Blocking a Twitter account doesn't stop a person from tagging you in their tweets. Stephanie Guthrie learned the hard way. For six months the political activist has been receiving harassing tweets. She went to the police. Gregory Allen Elliott is facing criminal harassment charges and charges for breaking a peace bond. He appeared in court yesterday. I'll bet Torontonians would like to suspend TTC officials. Last year was a dime, this year a nickel. The TTC just announced that they will increase fares yet again in 2013, but is all this nickel and diming justified. Sarah Weavers has got the story. Toronto transit riders should expect to cough up some more change because the ttc is hiking fares. A 5 cent fare increase has been approved for January 2013. Over five million people will ride the TTC this year. Some riders don't mind pitching in an extra nickel. "Toronto is a world class city so if they didn't have to I don't think that they would but you know sometimes it is disconcerting that it seems to be hiked every year." TTC representatives say yearly hikes are necessary to keep up with service demands. "we are expecting ridership to increase next year - another record year and to meet that demand we'll have to increase service levels and then that for that reason it of course you need more operators more vehicles." and more fuel and all those things increase operating costs so it is necessary to balance our budget. Small annual increases do add up and some riders feel the TTC has become too costly. I think TTC is supposed to be an affordable way of transportation and if it goes up every single year and more than once a year then it no longer becomes that. It becomes something that only a few can afford and many used to be able to afford it and now can't. The 5 cent increase is expected to generate 18 million dollars annually. TTC riders can expect to see another fair increase in 2014. For Toronto Today I'm Sarah Weaver. Stephen Harper is being criticized today for passing up the chance to cooperate on a national economic strategy. Dalton McGinty and other territorial leaders are meeting in Halifax on Friday. They are discussing the deteriorating business conditions in Europe and potential U.S economic meltdown. Harper declined an invitation to the meeting saying he regularly meets with the provincial leaders individually. Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter who is hosting the meeting, understands that Harper may be avoiding the group discussion because he could be cast as the bad guy. European leaders are meeting in Brussels today to discuss their seven year budget. The EU commission has recommended a spending increase of nearly 5 percent but British Prime Minister David Cameron says harsher measures must be introduced to cut spending. Some Eastern European countries want the current spending level maintained or even raised. German Chancellor Angela Merkle says another summit may be necessary next year if no deal can be reached for more than three weeks. Quebec factory workers have been on strike. This is the first strike in over 30 years at Bombardier Inc. a plant that makes subways and commuter rail cars. Today the workers rejected a contract offered from the company. They are demanding many changes such as new pensions. Toronto has been very lucky with the weather. Knock on wood. Over in BC along the Coquihalla highway other conditions have been poor due to snow. Late last night in the midst of a snowstorm a multi-vehicle collision sent more than 20 people to the hospital. RCMP says the accident involved two semi trucks, a tour bus carrying 35 seniors and three other vehicles. As many as six people have suffered serious injuries. A man who slaughtered 56 sled dogs in Whistler B.C is being sentenced today. Back in 2010 Robert Fawcett killed the dogs and buried them in a mass grave following the winter Olympics. He pleads guilty to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to the animals with a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison and up to 75 thousand dollars in fines. Thirty-four-year-old Tanya Brancalian has been denied ongoing survivors pension. After her son was killed in a murder-suicide canada requires that the recipient is 35 at the time of the death or that they have a dependent child. The widow's six-year-old son noah was killed by his father who then took his own life in their Milton home back in September. When Bran Calian appealed the decision she was denied yet again.The salvation Army confirmed yesterday that over two million dollars worth of toys and donations have been stolen. "What we found to say the least was troubling." In a sophisticated fraud scheme the theft took place over the course of two years from the charities Toronto warehouse. Earlier this week John Murray, a Salvation Army spokesperson said that 240 thousand dollars went missing from charity counts in Ottawa. Executive directors of Sally An locations in both Toronto and Ottawa have been fired but no criminal charges have been laid. In the past two years hundreds of law school graduates in Ontario are struggling to complete a required 10-month articling position. The shortage has sparked the law society of Upper Canada to propose a new way to pass the bar. If approved graduates in 2014 will pay for in-class training and an unpaid co-op placement. The traditional articling option will still be available. Investors launched a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Donald Trump and talent international incorporated on Wednesday. They suggested Trump misled buyers about the money-making potential of Trump's international hotel and tower in Toronto. The lawsuit is seeking to have four plaintiffs deals retracted and deposits of almost two hundred thousand dollars returned. College Park is finally getting a facelift. The city will spend three million dollars to spruce up the 30-something-year-old park. The skating rink is planned to stay and city staff will present preliminary designs at a public meeting tonight at the Delta Chelsea on Gerard. Ontario's 25 000 doctors prescribed Dalton Mcguinty with some time. Doctors agreed to the pay freeze however the Ontario medical association is not keen on settling for less. The OMA announced that negotiations about their four-year contract will begin mid-January. They argue they have already saved the government nearly 240 million dollars in health care efficiencies. The problem is health care costs are rising faster than revenue because of our aging population and expensive advances in medical care. Health minister Deb Matthews says Ontario is difficult and is in difficult economic times recently. There has been a housing drop in Vancouver. That drop is now moving to Toronto. A study shows this is the first monthly drop since the end of last year. The lower prices could mark the start of a national price correction. The prices in Toronto dipped six percent last month from September. According to a new study mammograms aren't as effective as we thought. The study states they detect tumors that won't develop in the cancer and have little impact on breast cancer death rates. More than 1 million US women in the past 30 years have been over diagnosed. When we think of heroes we think Superman or Batman but today there's a new kind of hero. A program that is changing kids lives through the power of sport. We head to the hockey rink to find out more. Sports can change your life in a good way because it's a healthy way to distract all the negative things coming into your life. Sports teach you a lot of life lessons like when you're playing forget about all the bad things and just focus on the game. [Applause] Meet Johnny Trump a 15 year old high school student who started playing hockey four years ago. It was the hockey education reach out society. A program also known as heroes that first got him on the ice. Was for heros could have been distracted with the bad things around me and i live in a pretty bad neighborhood but with heroes I can just ignore that stuff. Heroes helps kids from the troubled inner city play hockey. They provide free equipment, coaching and ice time. The program receives support from a number of organizations including the NHL. Principal Mark Babby has been with heroes for the last four years. "In a community like this we have a lot of poverty a lot of crime. I mean ice time is expensive. Equipment's expensive and I think that you know an opportunity like this levels the playing field for these kids. [Music] Johnny now gives back to the program by volunteering his time. as a coach. "He used to be just one of the kids that was in the program that would skate around shoot pucks cause trouble and just look at going on the ice as an outlet for having fun. But now he's become a kid that actually I still call him a kid but he's become a kid that other kids are looking up to as a role model. When I play goalie he like pressures me a lot takes hard shots on me. If I'm doing something wrong he's like helps me because he's a great role model for all of us in this program. I see people around the neighborhood with no jobs and all they do is walk around neighborhood and do nothing and do drugs and smoke. It makes me mad because they do nothing with their lives and they don't have a future. When we're at heroes they encourage kids to do the positive things instead of the bad things. Not only is he a leader on the ice but off the ice he makes a difference. "I like being a leader because I like to lead people to do the right thing even though the right thing is one of the hardest things to do. "He has lots of respect for me because in grade 6 I used to get bullied a lot because of my like skin color and my race. So then he used to like cheer me up when I was down and it made my self-esteem go up when he used to talk to me and he said "don't listen to other people" just listen to what's inside of you. He was like the only white person in our school and everyone would make fun of him. I would tell people to stop. I hate kids getting bullied because I have a heart." Hero says school first then hockey. It also offers post-secondary scholarships. These opportunities help kids like Johnny look forward to the future. "He's just come a long way like he's got a job now. at the rink that he got through us he's just talked about a lot of things for a kid his age to try to accomplish and I think that shows a lot about the type of individual he is. My goal is just to be successful in life and I would like to play hockey all my life. If I made the NHL I would come back to the heroes program and help out and thank them for teaching me the lessons they taught me and how to play hockey. You know ice hockey is a I think a great metaphor for life. I mean I think that you know probably more than anything you're going to fall down. You're going to have to get back up and you constantly keep falling and having to get back up and so I think in terms of a metaphor for life there's isn't a better one for it. It is important to get back up when you fall down because there's a lot of distractions in life and people will put you down. Just stick to your goal and you'll succeed. I tell everyone I'm gonna make it There's lots of Toronto sports news today but we're hoping for some good news on the NHL lockout. Have anything for us Amanda? I wish I could say that I did Lauren but I can tell you that there is yet another proposal from the National Hockey League Players Association. The good news is that NHL took longer than 10 minutes to reject the player's latest offer. It would have left the two sides with 182 million dollars over the course of five years but that was still not good enough for commissioner Gary Bettman. The league is now losing 18 to 20 million dollars a day. The players are losing between eight and ten million dollars a day. And now to baseball. Mark Burley is speaking out against his former team the Miami Marlins. Burley says he was repeatedly lied to by the team. The 33 year old left-hander is now part of the Toronto blue jays after a 12-player trade last week. The move came just a year after he signed a four-year deal with 58 million dollars with the Marlins however the Marlins endured a disastrous season and finished last in the east division of the National League. Owner Jeffrey Lauria ordered to take money from players payroll and put it towards rebuilding the team. This is where Burley and his family feel betrayed as they were repeatedly assured about their long-term commitment. Despite all of this Mark says he's excited to be coming to Toronto. And why wouldn't he be? A heartbreaking loss for our Raptors last night as the Charlotte Bobcats take the victory with a score of 98 to 97. As they've done all season Bobcats won with defense. Ramen Sessions hit a 16-footer with 28 seconds left and the Bobcats made a late defensive stand to win the fifth time in a total of six games. Toronto had four shots to win it in their final possession but the two shots were blocked. One by Jeffrey Taylor and the other by Bismarck Biyombo and Andrea Bergnani's baseline jumper fell short as time expired. Some sad news today for boxer fans. Former NBA super middleweight champion Hector Camacho was pronounced brain dead by doctors earlier this morning. After being shot in the face Camacho was shot in his hometown San Juan Puerto Rico on Tuesday night. Police said two people fled in an SUV but no arrests have been made and no motive has been disclosed. Now Camacho's family face an even bigger struggle of whether or not to keep him on life support. We may have some competition with Calgary fans but Toronto definitely knows how to celebrate in light of Sunday's championship game. Today at Dundas square Nissan hosts a family zone event from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. There's everything from live performers to fun football activities that all ages can enjoy. There will be events all over Toronto for the remainder of the week until the Grey Cup final on Sunday. For a full listing check out the 100th Grey cup official website. Sunday's halftime show will feature Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen and the list doesn't end there. Singer songwriter Gordon Lightfoot and pop rock group Mariana's Trench will also take the stage at the Rogers Center. Country artist Johnny Reed and rocker Burton Cummings will take part in a special kickoff show before the game. And that's all I got for you for sports back to you Erin. Thanks for the update Amanda. Starships can be meant to fly but entry tour album release party Nicki Minaj was denied. Menage arrived late to the party with an entourage of over 25 people ready to celebrate with fans. Unfortunately the Greenhouse club in New York denied her entry. The downtown venue was said to be full by the time Minaj arrived. Minaj's latest album the re-up hits stores on November 19th. And it looks like Chevy Chase is dropping out of community college. While Chase's departure from the show is sudden, the split is said to be mutual. There has been a rocky history for Chase and the sitcom including a feed between Chase and the show's executive producer. Chase will be in most of the new season but the last episode or two will be missing his comedic presence. Community's fourth season will premiere on February 7th at 8pm eastern. Celeb sighting in Toronto Chas Bono drops by the set of Degrassi to ironically offer some words of wisdom to a troubled transgendered teen. Child of legendary pop stars Cher and Sunny Bono is a controversial transgendered advocate. He jumped at the chance to appear on the series when he learned of its emmy-nominated plot surrounding Adam, a female-to-male transgender student. Bono says he wishes there would be TV representations of transgender life when he was growing up so that others wouldn't have to spend years in pain and confusion. Celebrities are giving back today on American thanksgiving at the annual Los Angeles. 95 year old Kirk Douglas hosts the event every year giving celebrities a chance to volunteer and feed the homeless. He was joined by Neil Patrick Harris, Blair Underwood and Malin Ackerman. The mission prepared 3 000 pounds of turkey and 400 pumpkin pies for the event. And the thanksgiving celebrations continue today at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. Despite the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, more than 3 million people attended the parade in New York City. The holidays are just around the corner and so is the annual holiday ride program. The campaign will kick off at Humber College as officers perform roadside spot checks and distribute ride check reward booklets. They launch a campaign this weekend and will be on the road well into the new year. According to the OPP 61 people have died in alcohol-related car accidents so far this year. An increase of 17 percent from last year. Police urge people to think ahead when attending holiday parties or events by assigning a designated driver taking a taxi or making plans to stay overnight. And we have some breaking news in our top story the Royal York hotel has decided to allow the Calgary Stampeders horse Marty into the hotel lobby at this hour. The horse was originally denied entry this morning due to health and safety reasons. The tradition dates back to 1948 when the Stampeders first took the horse through the Royal York hotel to celebrate their participation. And tomorrow shoppers can go to malls as early as 6 a.m. It's black Friday. A huge shopping day in the US and Canadian competitors are joining in too. The mall deals and extended hours will be keeping our shoppers in Canadian malls rather than have them head south of the border. Tomorrow Fairview mall, Sherway Gardens and shops at Don Mills will open their doors at 7 00 am. For early risers the Eaton Center will be open at 6. I don't know if i'll be up quite that early me neither but i definitely won't be missing those sales. And that's all for Toronto Today. I'm Erin Sally and I'm Lauren Fogatzi thanks for watching and happy shopping. [Music]