Toronto DispatchLoblaw starts notifying two million customers of March breach
BNN Bloomberg carried a Canadian Press report that Loblaw, which calls itself Canada’s food and pharmacy leader, said on October 23 it is starting to notify about two million Canadians affected by its March data breach.
Its own release of March 10, datelined Brampton, Ontario, said a criminal third party accessed some basic customer information such as names, phone numbers and email addresses. Loblaw said then that passwords, health information and credit card data were not compromised. BNN Bloomberg reported that Loblaw did not say in March how many customers were affected.
The list is now longer. BNN Bloomberg reported that the information that may have leaked includes names, email and home addresses, dates of birth, loyalty card numbers, some purchase order details and partial payment card information. Loblaw says the extent differs by customer, and not every type of information was involved for every customer.
BNN Bloomberg reported that Loblaw is offering affected customers free credit monitoring and identity restoration services through TransUnion.
For context, in its 2025-2026 reporting year the federal privacy commissioner’s office received almost 700 breach reports from businesses, affecting more than 20 million Canadians. Federal government institutions filed about 450 reports, affecting more than 48,000 Canadians.
PIPEDA, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, is Canada’s federal law on how private-sector organizations handle personal information. According to the office, complaints under PIPEDA reached 3,044 in 2025-2026, up 109% from the year before. The office said the doubling is likely due to several factors, including greater awareness and easier access to its complaint process.
Sources: BNN Bloomberg · Loblaw Companies Limited · Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Orion seeks 37-storey condo tower on Red Lobster site
UrbanToronto reported that Orion Real Estate Group wants to replace a Red Lobster restaurant at 3252 Sheppard Avenue East, in Scarborough, with a 37-storey condo tower. UrbanToronto said the 641-suite tower would be the tallest proposal in the Bridlewood area.
The site is 2.7km east of Don Mills station, where Sheppard Line 4 ends. UrbanToronto noted that a Metrolinx study of extending the line could bring rapid transit to this stretch of Sheppard in the future.
CP24 reported that Shaun Hildebrand, president of Urbanation, said the pre-construction market is dormant and construction starts are at historic lows. He said the supply pipeline is drying up, and a shortage is likely by the end of the decade. Whether the City will approve Orion’s request is not yet known.
Sources: UrbanToronto · CP24
Toronto’s approvals of new homes fell in 2025, to near their lowest level since 2018
New homes approved by building permits in Toronto, homes a year
Source: Statistics Canada, building permits, table 34-10-0292-01 (Toronto census metropolitan area)
Owners' broken sleep disturbs dogs more than the reverse
CP24 reported that University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) researchers found that people’s interrupted sleep disturbed their dogs more than the reverse. The paper, by anthropology students Ming Fei Li and Lavania Nagendran, appeared in PLOS One, a scientific journal. Ming Fei Li said that just having dogs on the bed did not affect sleep at all.
Participants and their dogs wore actigraphy sensors, research-grade health monitors similar to a fitbit. The study lasted one month, and the humans then completed a questionnaire. It covered 25 people and 38 dogs, as some people had more than one.
Only owners of huskies or malamutes, breeds closely related to wolves, took part. The researchers say results could differ with other breeds. The data did not examine what disrupted sleep; Lavania Nagendran said that could be a follow-up study.
Sources: CP24
Loblaw starts notifying two million customers of March data breach
Loblaw, which calls itself Canada’s largest retailer, is telling about two million customers that a March data breach exposed their information. The Canadian Press reported on October 23 that Loblaw is starting to notify them.
Loblaw said it became aware of unauthorized activity in its systems on or around March 5. On March 10, it said a criminal third party had accessed basic customer information such as names, phone numbers and email addresses. It did not say how many customers were affected. On October 2, it said it would notify those affected in the coming weeks.
The fuller list now includes home addresses, dates of birth, loyalty card numbers, some purchase order details and partial payment card information. Loblaw said the extent differs by customer.
It offers free credit monitoring and identity restoration through TransUnion. It asks customers to be wary of unexpected emails, calls or texts.
Sources: Loblaw Companies Limited · The Canadian Press
Ontario plans optional digital ID, starting with Photo Card
Ontario plans to let residents keep official ID on their phones, though only if they choose. Digital credentials let people store official credentials on mobile devices and use them online or in person, Ontario said.
Consultations begin in late 2026, and a digital Ontario Photo Card would come first. The card proves identity for everyday needs such as opening a bank account. Optional digital driver’s licences and health cards would follow at a later date.
The province intends to introduce legislation in late 2027 protecting the right to use only physical identification. Minister Stephen Crawford said digital credentials will provide a “trusted and seamless way to present identification”.
For comparison, British Columbia said more than 4.8 million residents hold a BC Services Card, available as a physical card and on mobile. Ontario said more information is due in the 2026 Fall Economic Statement on October 29, 2026.
Sources: Government of Ontario · Government of British Columbia, Digital Government
Toronto condo starts more than halve to 9,885 homes a year, far below the 2022 peak
New condo apartments started in Toronto, homes a year
- Thu Oct 29: Ontario releases its Fall Economic Statement, with more on digital ID plans.
- Weather: Sunny. Fog patches dissipating in the morning. High 18°C. Overnight low 10°C.
- Daylight: Sunrise 07:43, sunset 18:18; 10 h 35 min, 3 min less than yesterday
- TSX: 35,788.18 at the close, down 185.27 points (The Canadian Press)
(as of Oct 23) - Dollar: 71.46 US cents, up 0.14
(as of Oct 23) - 5-year bond: 3.50% (it steers fixed mortgage rates)
(as of Oct 22) - Gas: 176.7 cents a litre for regular, down 4.8 on the week
(as of Oct 19) - Subway: Line 2 Bloor-Danforth: no service Kipling to Keele, all day.
- Civic: Municipal election tomorrow (Monday, October 26)
Small charts show the last seven readings: trading days for the TSX, the dollar and the bond; weeks for gas.
B | Brandon Donnelly @donnelly_b | 𝕏 |
All the long day the vapours played
At blindfold in the city streets,
Their elfin fingers caught and stayed
The sunbeams, as they wound their sheets
E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake), The Lifting of the Mist, in Flint and Feather (1912). Mohawk poet and performer (1861-1913), whose career on stage began at a recital in Toronto in 1892.
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