Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow leading trade mission to the U.K., Ireland
TORONTO — Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow will be leading a trade mission to the United Kingdom and Ireland, which she says will focus on supporting economic opportunities for Toronto businesses and workers.
The trip was set to begin Sunday and Chow says she will be accompanied by leaders from Toronto's film industry.
The mayor is scheduled to meet with production companies and broadcasters to encourage Canadian content production through agreements with Ireland and the U.K.
Chow says at a time of 'historic uncertainty,' reliable trade partners have never been more important, adding the trip is part of the city's economic action plan to respond to U.S. tariffs.
The mayor has meetings scheduled with the Ireland-Canada Business Association, Enterprise Ireland executives and the UK-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
She is also scheduled to participate in bilateral meetings with Dublin Lord Mayor Ray McAdam and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2025.
The Canadian Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Canadian ride-hail service stops in Vancouver amid world record attempt
Ride-hailing company HOVR is attempting to break a Guinness World Record for longest rideshare journey ever taken. A Canadian ride-hail company is hoping to launch its business with a bang with an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest rideshare trip ever taken. Launched in Toronto last year, HOVR is a ridesharing service that says it separates itself from already existing companies by offering a membership model, instead of a commission-based model, where drivers retain 100 per cent of their fares. 'It is about time that we had a national platform,' said the company's CEO Harrison Amit during the trip's stop in Vancouver on Friday, day five of the cross-country journey. The trip, dubbed Connecting Canada, will span 28 days and will see Amit join HOVR's CMO Christian Alicpala in checking off various points across the country as it travels from the east coast to the west and then back again. After getting underway in Toronto July 13 and checking off Vancouver over the course of the weekend, the journey will continue onwards to St John's before finishing up in Toronto by August 9. The drive will be tracked in real time on the HOVR platform and via an independent GPS for Guinness verification, Amit said. The record for the longest continuous rideshare journey is believed to be held by Mr. Beast, a YouTube celebrity who travelled 2,256 miles (3,630 kilometres) from North Carolina to California in 2017. Alongside smashing a world record, Amit says the 16,200-kilometre journey will provide an opportunity to meet the drivers, potential riders, stakeholders, and city officials in each city the company is looking to operate in, so they can get 'HOVR operations up and rolling as soon as possible.' Amit said the initiative has had a 'ton of great support' in every province they've passed through so far. 'Everybody becomes a HOVR lover, it's amazing. The drivers love us. The riders love us,' he said. 'We were just speaking to a few people here in Stanley Park and they mentioned that they can't wait for HOVR to begin their operations here.'
Globe and Mail
9 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Toronto developers cancelling preconstruction projects and the Home of the Week: Canadian real estate news for the week of July 18
This week, we're looking at the cancellation of condo developers' preconstruction projects due to low demand in some Canadian markets. Plus, the Canadians waiting until their 40s to buy their first home, and one property worth a look. Take The Globe's business and investing news quiz Sales in Toronto's preconstruction market slid to their lowest level in three decades this quarter, and the lack of buyers is leading some developers to delay or cancel new planned projects. As Rachelle Younglai writes, there were 502 sales of new condos in the Toronto and Hamilton area in the quarter that ended June 30, according to a report released Tuesday by industry research firm Urbanation Inc. That was down 10 per cent from the first quarter of this year and marked the lowest activity since 1993. 'The market has gone from bad to terrible,' Urbanation president Shaun Hildebrand said. 'If you have the resources, it is a good time to buy resale (homes that have already been built) because there is very little competition in today's depressed market,' Younglai said. But added that preconstruction could still be a good option if you're able to wait a few years to move in. Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver is feeling the same sting, as buyers walk away from presale purchases, lenders increasingly foreclose on a wider variety of properties, and inventory of unsold units continues to rise. As Kerry Gold writes, struggling developers are doing their best to keep their names out of the headlines, which means they are reluctant to sue when a presale buyer of a luxury condo walks away from their deposit. Canadians in their 20s and early 30s are shunning traditional paths to adulthood, instead focusing on travel, education and career growth – and saving buying a home for later in their lives. Hindered by expensive housing, a growing number of Canadians are buying their first home later in life – into their 40s and beyond, a time traditionally used to save for retirement. As Zahra Khozema writes, a big part of what's driving this trend is the relentless rise in home prices. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average home now costs under $700,000 – nearly quadruple what Statistics Canada listed in 2000. Meanwhile, in the same time period, annual individual income saw a relatively modest increase of $10,000, up to $59,400. Even with a recent dip, home prices remain far above historical levels, having peaked at more than $800,000 in 2022. Read some of these new homebuyers' stories here. Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, July 17. On June 25, Toronto city council voted to modify its planning bylaws to allow multiplex buildings with five or six units in parts of downtown and one ward in Scarborough, while stopping short of allowing them in the whole city. But, as Shane Dingman writes, the updated bylaw also established a new formula for the number of bedrooms allowed in any 'plex' application – with the exception of the duplex, all other sizes can only have a maximum of three times the number of units in the building. Toronto Councillor Shelley Carroll was a key proponent of the bedroom cap during the city hall debate, saying on the council floor that a 2023 citywide rollout of fourplexes 'had not gone well.' She cited an application in her ward where she asserted a builder had attempted to build '30 bedrooms on one single family dwelling lot.' The city's planning department had flagged five projects as possibly being 'multi-tenant houses,' also known as rooming houses, which are regulated differently in the city. The city later told The Globe that Councillor Carroll had misspoken – the application she meant was a lot split with laneway suites that added up to 24 bedrooms. 'The implication of the cap is there is rampant explosive bedroom growth in Toronto that must be contained, while their own data shows barely two per cent went 'above' the cap they defined after the fact,' Dingman told me. 'The second presumption is more bedrooms is a problem but what are we talking about? More places to live? Does anyone think we have too many places to rent in this city?' 12 Tetbury Cres., Toronto – Full gallery here The owners of this four-bedroom Toronto home knew that it would be a labour of love. When Mimi Fortin and her husband decided to custom-build their new house, they decided to design it entirely to their taste, without worrying about resale. Designed by architect David Small Designs, the home features an enormous, two-storey main living space. The tall ceilings of the family room drop down to the kitchen to better separate the two spaces. The kitchen's central island bar seating appears to sit under a floating slab of the white Caesarstone, with storage underneath made of blonde wood millwork inside a box of stone slabs. The basement is an open level of polished concrete with potential to be a dream space for the enterprising host, with a full bar area and a glassed-in gym-studio.
Globe and Mail
21 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
A party to celebrate a mistake
This week a breathless announcement arrived in my inbox. 'Toronto is set to celebrate a historic cultural milestone,' it said. On Aug. 23, the city would hold its very first official 'Sankofa Day.' What's that, you say? You may well ask. Sankofa Square is the obscure new name for Yonge-Dundas Square, the one-acre public space at the corner of Yonge and Dundas streets, right across from the Eaton Centre. Sankofa Day, its organizers tell us, is another name for the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. In 2021, the city government decided to erase the name Dundas from the square bearing his name. It was a time when statues were being toppled and historical figures cancelled in the name of social justice. Henry Dundas was a leading British statesman of the Georgian era. His critics say he was responsible for delaying the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. His defenders say he was a sincere opponent of slavery who orchestrated a tactical delay in parliament to pave the way for eventual abolition. City councillors brushed aside these complexities and voted to rename the square, though not the street (which would be too expensive). Various new names were kicked around. One suggestion was Lightfoot Square, after the iconic singer who played many times at Massey Hall around the corner. But, no, that would have been too easy. Instead, the city struck a committee: the Recognition Review Community Advisory Committee, in fact. After what the group that runs the square calls 'two years of careful work,' it announced its choice. Yonge-Dundas Square would become Sankofa Square. Toronto's shameful renaming debacles Torontonians were understandably bewildered. They still are. What or who is Sankofa? The square's website explains that 'Sankofa (SAHN-koh-fah) is a Twi word from the Akan Tribe of Ghana that loosely translates to, 'go back and get it.'' The phrase 'encourages learning from the past to inform the future.' A-ha. Not surprisingly, the name has failed to catch on. Does anybody ever say, 'Meet you at Sankofa Square?' The name has no connection to Toronto or its history. Worse, after the name came out, critics pointed out that the Akan people themselves once kept and traded slaves. Awkward. Unembarrassed and undeterred, the folks who run the square are throwing a big party to get Torontonians onside. If you don't like (or for that matter even know) the name, well, they are going to make you like it. The website invites visitors to come 'experience Canada's first major public Sankofa Day celebration!' – a free, all-day event featuring Caribbean film screenings, music performances, public-art installations, Indigenous and African ancestral ceremonies, DJ sets and a community run. The event will also include a 'brand reveal' of the square's new visual identity. If all this is a bit too much for you, sorry, there is more. Toronto is not finished with its renaming follies. Dundas subway station, just below the square, is to be renamed TMU station. Nearby Toronto Metropolitan University is paying the Toronto Transit Commission for the rights, shelling out a reported $1.6-million. So now the downtown stations on the Yonge Street line will be called Bloor, Wellesley, College, TMU, Queen and King – all but one named after the corresponding cross street. What is 'downtown,' anyway TMU itself has been part of the rename game. It used to be Ryerson University, after the 19th-century Methodist minister who helped establish a system of free, mandatory schooling in what is now the province of Ontario. It dropped his name after campaigners claimed his writings helped pave the way for the establishment of the residential schools where many Indigenous children suffered and died. But there is another side of his story, as there was with that of Henry Dundas. Ryerson's defenders say he was a liberal educator who lived among the Ojibwa people and learned to speak their language. None of that counted for much in the feverish atmosphere of recent times. Ryerson's statue was decapitated and his name expunged. TMU, at least, has the merit of being a logical name. It is, in fact, a Toronto metropolitan university, with its campus in the heart of downtown. Sankofa? Well, that is something else. Inviting the whole city to a party won't persuade anyone this was a good idea.
