First new wave of refugees arrive in Canada: Top Stories
Here are some of the top stories from Hamilton and beyond
The first of Canada's new refugees are arriving, the bill for the Trudeau kid's nannies is footed by taxpayers and local condo conversions are still coming despite a critically low vacancy rate. These are a few of our top stories worth your time this morning.
Local
Amid tight rental market, 29 downtown apartments to be converted to condos
Despite a tight rental market, Hamilton city planners recommend approving the proposed conversion of 29 apartments in the core to condos Tuesday. That conversion, at the corner of King Street West and Hess Street in downtown Hamilton, won't be subject to the city's moratorium on condo conversions.
The moratorium came into effect earlier this year in response to a critically low vacancy rate for apartments in the city.
Illegal dumping crackdown should be permanent, city staffers say
City staff are recommending spending $240,000 annually to make an illegal dumping enforcement crackdown permanent. "In staff's opinion, it has been concluded that pro-active enforcement is continuing to have a positive effect on the problem of illegal dumping across the city," a city report reads. "Continued effort is required to sustain the current level of success."
15-year-old girl robbed by 5 men
Hamilton police are searching for multiple suspects after five men robbed a 15-year-old girl downtown on Saturday night.
The victim told police that she was walking in the area of Caroline Street North and Market Street when five men approached her and demanded she turned over her valuables.
Elsewhere
First 'new wave' of Syrian refugees arrive in Canada from Lebanon
Ibrahim Tonbari struggled off Air Canada Flight 8867 in Windsor Monday with his wife, Zaineb, and four children under the age of seven.
"My sister told me Windsor is a beautiful place," he told CBC News a few days earlier, staring out over the Lebanese valley only 11 kilometres from the Syrian border. "She said life is beautiful there, you feel that you are a human, and that you are alive."
He added that "she told me about the cold."
Trudeau children's nannies being paid for by taxpayers
Canadian taxpayers are paying the wages of two nannies hired to care for the children of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, according to cabinet orders posted online.
The hirings were approved late last week, with cabinet authorizing the appointment of the two women under the Official Residences Act as "special assistants at the prime minister's residence."
They will be paid between $15 and $20 an hour during the day and 11 to $13 an hour for night shifts effective Nov. 4 — the day Trudeau and his cabinet were sworn in.