Alberta’s independence movement up close

Plus, how the Toronto Tempo built an identity  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

First Up By Sima Shakeri Good morning.  This weekend's forecast looks mixed, with a potentially wet Saturday ahead of a sunny Mother’s Day Sunday — but no matter the weather, Torontonians are going to be hitting the streets. With plenty going on, including the Sporting Life 10K, there are road closures and transit service tweaks to look out for when planning your commute. Oh, and a stretch of the Don Valley Parkway is also closed for repairs. Here’s what you need to know.  Now, more of today’s top stories.  DON'T MISS James Maclennan for the Toronto Star OPINION Seeing Alberta’s independence movement up close left this journalist scared for Canada Richard Warnica spent a week in Alberta recently, following Mitch Sylvestre, the architect of the province’s independence movement, around and speaking to separatist supporters, opposition leaders, economists, pollsters and more. He wanted to understand how a movement long relegated to the kookiest fringes of the far right had become so real so fast. What he found stunned him. Those involved are serious and also dangerously detached from reality.  More: Warnica fact checked the leader of the Alberta independence movement.   And: More babies, more guns, lower taxes, fewer immigrants: What Alberta separatists are promising and what they can actually deliver.  Star staff and supplied photos IMMIGRATION Thousands of temporary migrants are on borrowed time  After pumping up immigration as a key “economic engine” for post-COVID-19 recovery and future growth, the federal government has reversed course, vowing to “take back control of the immigration system.” Not only has the country let in significantly fewer international students and foreign workers since 2024, it’s also pulled the rug out from under hundreds of thousands of temporary residents already in Canada. Here’s what we could lose as a result.  Ethan Cairns for the Toronto Star RETAIL As other department stores fall, Simons is booming. Here’s how they did it For Bernard Leblanc, slow and steady is winning Canada’s big box retail race. Since joining the Quebec City-based retailer in 1994, the CEO has watched competitors fall. Simons, meanwhile, just unveiled plans for its 20th location and last year hit a record-breaking $830 million in sales. After 186 years, Canada’s oldest privately held company must be doing something right.  Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press file photo POLITICS Ford government’s internal surveys expose failures in the disability job training program A Ministry of Labour presentation from 2025 details how the province’s Employment Ontario model has led to people with disabilities being rushed into jobs before they are ready, while organizations report diminished capacity to provide specialized supports. Despite the findings, the province has not changed the system.   More: After 40 years providing employment services training to people with developmental disabilities, Community Living Mississauga says it will no longer work under Ontario’s job training program.  Steve Russell/Toronto Star SPORTS How the Toronto Tempo built an identity from scratch New pro sports franchises look and act like behemoths, generating their own gravity by virtue of their earning potential. By contrast, the Tempo put community at the heart of its operation from the get-go to draw from a deep well of institutional knowledge. Here’s a look inside the Tempo’s early propagation in the Toronto community.   Game one: The Tempo played their home opener against the Washington Mystics on Friday. They nearly came back from a shaky start, but still fell 68-65. Here’s what happened.  A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR WHAT ELSE Mark Carney received near-daily threats in his first 100 days in office, according to newly released documents.  A 17-year-old was charged with murder after a mother and her daughters were found dead inside an Ontario home.  An 18-year-old was charged after two suspected hate-motivated assaults against the North York Jewish community.  BMO Field will host its biggest crowd ever as Messi plays  Toronto today. Here’s what you should know. POV Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Althia Raj | Mark Carney runs roughshod over the environment: ‘It’s worse than what Harper did’  UP CLOSE Gurpreet Virdi-Bains Gurpreet Virdi-Bains remembers the first time she had what people call a “mom brain” moment. She walked into a room and completely forgot why she was there. Having recently had a baby, she laughed and blamed it on mom brain. Motherhood has come to be seen as making women absent-minded and scattered. “Mom brain” implies women are distracted or diminished after becoming mothers, a narrative that follows them into the workplace. But the longer Virdi-Bains has been a mother, the more that story feels incomplete.  COOK THIS Sophie Bouquillon/ Toronto Star A Mother’s Day brunch at the Toronto home of “Top Chef Canada” host Eden Grinshpan takes the form of an elevated buffet: salads, seasonal vegetables and tons of tasty dips and sauces. The pièce de resistance: An impressive but easy to assemble egg frittata. “We eat with our eyes first, so a bountiful, colourful table is always the goal,” said Grinshpan. Read the story, and get the recipe.   Before you go, friends and fans have lavished praise on David Attenborough in honour of the broadcaster’s 100th birthday. The BBC hosted a party at London’s Royal Albert Hall, while cinemas played his nature films. The world’s most famous conservationist was likely uncomfortable with the attention. That’s one reason why he is so loved.  Thank you for reading today’s First Up. The Star’s Paige Oldfield and Nikhil Kanekal contributed to Saturday’s newsletter.  📩 We’ll be making changes to First Up over the next little while. Tell us what you think. Email firstup@thestar.ca. I will be back in your inbox tomorrow.    If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below.   Unsubscribe From This Newsletter Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts View in Browser Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. 416-367-2000 PRIVACY POLICY