Firms preparing for customers to use AI agents for investing, shopping: BMO exec
BMO Financial Group’s chief artificial intelligence and quantum officer is preparing for a world in which individuals turn control of their shopping and investing over to technology.
Kristin Milchanowski says six months from now, people will be using AI-based agents for both tasks.
Agents are autonomous software that can carry out duties on behalf of a user.
They are increasingly being adopted across tech-savvy organizations and populations because they can help reduce the time spent on tedious tasks.
Because of their increased adoption, Milchanowski says consumer-facing
Mom and child on bicycle struck by car in Richmond Hill, serious injuries: YRP
York Regional Police (YRP) say a mom and her child were both taken to hospital with serious but non life-threatening injuries after the bicycle they were riding was struck by a vehicle in Richmond Hill on Thursday night.
Emergency crews were called to Elgin Mills and Redstone Road at around 7:50 p.m. for reports of a cyclist struck.
Police did not reveal the child’s age or gender.
It’s not clear how the collision happened or if any charges could be pending. The
Toronto subway station barriers aren’t enough to keep riders safe: transit group
A transit advocacy group says the plan to install steel barriers along the subway platform at one downtown Toronto station is a step in the right direction but doesn’t go far enough to keep transit riders truly safe.
Mayor Olivia Chow announced the pilot project on Wednesday, saying the new measures aim to prevent people from falling or jumping onto the tracks.
She says the barriers will be installed this year at TMU station, near busy Sankofa Square, and four more stations could get the same next year.
August Puranauth of advocacy
‘Leave the damn building alone’: Community urges City Hall to choose Sneaky Dee’s over condos
A decision on a proposed development threatening the future of an iconic downtown restaurant and dive bar has been put off until later this summer.
Music and nacho lovers packed into City Hall on Thursday to show their support for Sneaky Dee’s, the beloved dive that’s called Bathurst and College streets home since 1990, with passionate deputations from resident after resident urging council to block the 16-storey development.
“I’ve been coming to Sneaky Dee’s for over 15 years; it
Tesla threatens legal action over Manitoba’s end to EV rebate for company vehicles
WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government said Thursday it is facing potential legal action over its decision to remove auto manufacturer Tesla from its rebate program for electric vehicles.
Premier Wab Kinew’s office released a letter the government received last week from lawyers for Tesla Motors Canada. The two-page document says the company intends to ask a judge to set aside Tesla’s exclusion from the rebate program as “procedurally unfair and undertaken for an improper purpose.”
“While the government has never formally identified any reason for Tesla Canada’
‘Steady intent to destroy’: Genocide expert speaks at missing Indigenous children tribunal in Montreal
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Missing Indigenous Children and Unmarked graves in Montreal entered its fourth day on Thursday.
The tribunal heard from international law expert and human rights lawyer Fannie Lafontaine, who spoke about the legal definition of genocide and its connection to Canada’s involvement in residential schools, forced and coerced sterilization and other government policies.
Lafontaine stressed that genocide is based on the intent to destroy a group and that repeated patterns of government policies over time can demonstrate this intent.
“It’s a slow moving, slow
Alberta Premier Smith’s government formalizes Oct. 19 separation question
EDMONTON — Alberta’s upcoming referendum question on separation was made official Thursday, and it mirrors what Premier Danielle Smith announced last week.
Smith and her cabinet issued an order in council confirming the date and format of the Oct. 19 referendum, along with the question.
It will ask voters to pick one of two options.
Option one reads: “Alberta should remain a province of Canada.”
Option two reads: “The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a
Liberals say they can’t overturn decision tripling streamers’ Cancon contributions
OTTAWA — The Conservatives called on the Liberals Thursday to “reject” the CRTC’s recent decision tripling streamers’ financial contributions, but the government says it doesn’t have that power.
The broadcast regulator said last week large online streaming services must contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content.
Conservative MP Rachael Thomas put forward a motion in the House of Commons calling on cabinet to use its powers under the Broadcasting Act to reject that increase.
The motion says the cost will “be passed on
MLB owners propose a salary cap for the first time since baseball’s 1994-95 strike
Major League Baseball owners made their long-expected salary cap proposal to the on Thursday, a system the union has vowed setting the sides on course for a confrontation that threatens the 2027 season and perhaps beyond.
owners hadn’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.
MLB’s proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $2
Ford government to designate Toronto island airport special economic zone after land takeover
TORONTO — Ontario’s transportation minister says the province plans to soon designate Toronto’s island airport a so-called special economic zone to expand it faster now that it has taken over the land.
The province passed into law Thursday a bill that allows it to take over all the land on the Toronto Islands where Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is located.
It also allows the province to take Toronto’s spot in a tripartite agreement that governs the land, an accord that is currently between the city, the federal