World Headlines: Budget ✅. Resignation ✅. What's next for Tory and Toronto?

First Up

By Manuela Vega

Good morning. The NDP is accusing the Ford government of “squirrelling away massive amounts of money” as its projected deficit drops.

Here’s the latest on John Tory’s resignation, surveillance from the sky and the struggle to gauge the real estate market.

DON’T MISS

Richard Lautens/The Star

city hall

Mayor John Tory steered the budget through council and announced he’ll step down Friday

With a few tweaks, councillors passed the first budget Tory brought under his new strong mayor powers Thursday. Instead of vetoing changes, which would have prolonged the process, Tory deemed the spending plan adopted immediately. Then, with a five-paragraph letter, he made his resignation official. The missive caps six chaotic days in which the Star revealed Tory had a relationship with a junior staffer, the mayor announced he would resign and his allies begged him to stay. David Rider, Ben Spurr and Alyshah Hasham report on Tory’s legacy and his final budget.

By the numbers: The budget allocates about $7 million in new-found savings to give inflationary increases to community non-profit grants, open youth hubs in certain neighbourhoods, deploy mental health outreach workers on the TTC, expand property tax relief programs and keep one warming centre open around the clock until April 15.
Go deeper: A motion from Coun. Alejandra Bravo to divert $900,000 from the $1.1-billion police budget to fund homeless respite centres was defeated 17 to 8.
Another angle: Chrystia Freeland said Tory’s resignation is “necessary.”
Edward Keenan’s take: There was no excitement or intrigue in the budget meeting, just grinding democracy.

Toronto Star File Photo

look up

A guide to everything that’s watching you from the sky

Over the last two weeks, the U.S. military has shot down a Chinese balloon and three other unidentified objects over North American airspace. While there are still many unanswered questions about what they were and why they were there, what we do know is that at any given time, there are thousands of balloons in the sky being used by scientists, hobbyists, commercial ventures, government agencies and intelligence services, Steve McKinley reports. Here’s what we know about satellites, spy planes, balloons and drones.

Context: China claimed the flying object as a wayward weather observation balloon. The U.S. previously said, however, that it was being used for intelligence-gathering purposes.
The view from space: The Union of Concerned Scientists keeps a database of 5,465 satellites orbiting the earth. It puts the number of U.S. satellites at 3,433, those from China at 541 and Russian satellites at 172. Experts say it’s safe to assume there are multiple spy satellites from all military nations that are not listed in that database.

Lance McMillan/The Star

real estate

Home buyers are buzzing again. But where are the sales?

Realtors say they’re receiving plenty of client calls as social media paints a picture of bidding wars and over-asking sales. But home sales across the GTA are actually off to a slow start this year, with buyers worried about rising mortgage rates and a lack of listings. So what’s behind this apparent buying buzz? Tess Kalinowski had the experts weigh in on the ways demand, expectations and timing all play a role.

By the numbers: The national average in home sales hit a 14-year low in January. Meanwhile, the average selling price of Canadian homes dropped 18.3 per cent year over year to $612,204 — a 3 per cent decline from December.
More: One expert says the market should be less competitive in the spring when new listings are expected to increase, but real estate recovery could take longer if inflation and unemployment rise.

WHAT ELSE

The signs are there; Pierre Poilievre would let provinces pass discriminatory laws using the notwithstanding clause, Althia Raj writes.

Star journalists are being honoured for “courageous” reporting and calling out online abuse — here’s why it garners some mixed feelings.

John Tory’s family has long been part of Toronto high society — is it time for the city’s old guard to move aside?

Halton parents are voicing their frustrations as the school board grapples with a teacher dress code.

All three victims who died in Monday’s fiery crash in Etobicoke were international students from Bangladesh.

Hundreds are calling out the New York Times for “biased coverage” of trans people in an open letter.

Citing misinformation, a GTA judge has sided with an anti-vaccine father on COVID-19 shots.

More people are abandoning their pets in the wild around the GTA. Is the pandemic to blame?

Less skating, but maybe more algae? Here are four downsides of our weirdly warm winter.

Is Toronto’s beloved Lakeview Restaurant closing? Not exactly.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is reaching new heights in an impressive return to Carnegie Hall — the “Everest of classical music.”

Breakfast Television co-host Dina Pugliese says she’s leaving the show after 16 years due to burnout.

POV

Canadian Press/Arlyn McAdorey

Doug Ford should demand Caroline Mulroney’s resignation, Martin Regg Cohn writes.

YOU'RE UP

Richard Gold/Supplied Photo

BRITISH COLUMBIA: First Up reader Richard Gold sent us his view of the sunrise on Jan. 6, which he captured from his balcony. It overlooks the Saanich Inlet and Victoria Airport. Thank you, Richard, and everyone who has sent us a look at their morning.

If you haven’t yet, take a photo of the sunrise from your view — whether it’s at home or on a morning walk — and send it to us at firstup@thestar.ca. We may feature it in an upcoming edition.

Thank you for reading. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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