News

The blast of cold air that swept through the County yesterday will continue into today before we warm up for the rest of the week. I’ll have more following sports.

For the first time, Picton joined hundreds of municipalities across Canada by participating in the Coldest Night of the Year Walk . Our Brenda Little has more.

US President Donald Trump said yesterday that he is prepared to talk to what’s left of the Iranian leadership. These comments coming in the wake of the killing of the country’s supreme leader by joint US-Israeli air strikes aimed at overthrowing the regime. Trump spoke as a second day of intense bombing of Iranian cities and Tehran’s missile counter-attacks sent tremors across the region. And, in early trading, oil prices jumped after attacks on two ships largely choked off tanker traffic through the strait of Hormuz out of the Gulf. Some 150 tankers were reported to have dropped anchor rather than use the waterway, a route for about 20 percent of the world’s traded oil.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is sitting down with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today in an effort to rebuild Canada’s relationship with the world’s most populous democracy. Canada and India are emerging from a two-way diplomatic freeze of more than two years triggered when former prime minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of a role in the 2023 murder of a Canadian Sikh activist. In 2024, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats including its top envoy in Ottawa, blaming them for being part of a campaign of violence against Canadians. Now Carney is taking a more pragmatic approach, overlooking India’s relationship with Russia and crackdowns on religious minorities, in hopes of landing a major trade deal by the end of the year.

And, this week many high school and university students across Ontario will take action by marching, walking out or rallying in protest of the Ford government’s recently-announced reductions to the Ontario Student Assistance Program. The changes limit the maximum amount of funding in the form of grants at 25 per cent, down from the current 85 per cent maximum. Meaning eligible students will have to take on more debt to pay for their schooling. On Wednesday the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario is organizing a rally to be held outside Queen’s Park at 12:30 p.m.

Sports

The Wellington Dukes welcomed the Lindsay Muskies to the Duke Dome last night, hoping to stop a two-game losing streak. And, it was just what the doctor ordered, as the Dukes took a 5-1 win on the back of two goals by Sacha Trudel and Ethan Fredricks first for the team.

The Picton Pirates travelled to Amherstview last night to take on the Jets at the Henderson Recreation Centre. Two goals from Ben Smith and singles from Keenan Wiles and Isaiah More and the Pirates took a 4-nothing win.

In professional hockey action, the Toronto Sceptres travelled to Vancouver yesterday and beat the Goldeneyes 2-1 in front of just over 13,000 at Pacific Coliseum. Lauren Messier scored her first goal for Toronto in that contest.

In pre-season baseball, Jonatan Clase went three for three at the plate and drove in two runs as the Toronto Blue Jays tied the Detroit Tigers 4 apiece in Florida. Regular season begins for the Jays at home on March 27th.

And Tyler Reddick became the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win the first three races of the season with a victory Sunday at the Circuit of Americas in Texas. Driving a Toyota co-owned by NBA-legend Michael Jordan, Reddick won the season-opening Daytona 500 and a week later at Atlanta, then won from pole yesterday in the first road course race of the year.