Ontario News

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index eked out a gain Friday as a rise in tech stocks helped outweigh losses in energy, while U.S. markets were mixed after employment reports on both sides of the border. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 11.

TORONTO — Artificial intelligence firm Cohere will receive up to $240 million from the federal government to boost its computing capacity.

TORONTO — Charges against four of the five people arrested for protesting at last year's Giller Prize have been withdrawn, antiwar organizers announced Friday as they pledged to keep fighting for an end to Israel's attacks on Gaza.

HALIFAX — Women’s advocates say provincial and federal governments need to step up efforts to create housing for people escaping gender-based violence because too many women are forced to remain in unsafe situations after being abused.

TORONTO — The Ontario Labour Relations Board says the government is not unlawfully locking out provincial engineers who are taking part in rotating strikes.

Police were justified in using a drug dealer's phone to orchestrate the arrest of a suspect in a drug trafficking operation without first getting a warrant due to the urgency of the situation, Canada's top court ruled Friday in dismissing an Ontario

OTTAWA — Canada’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.8 per cent last month as more people looked for work in a weak job market, shifting expectations toward a jumbo interest rate cut next week.

HAMILTON — Hamilton police say they’ve shut down an alleged ”open air" drug market after a five-week project that led to the arrests of 57 people and more than 100 charges.

TORONTO — Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., says it has finished a review of strategic alternatives for its financial services business and decided it will keep 100 per cent ownership of the bank.

OTTAWA — The national unemployment rate was 6.8 per cent in November. Statistics Canada also released seasonally adjusted, three-month moving average unemployment rates for major cities.