Quite the scare for a Brampton neighbourhood on the long weekend, with the discovery of an unwanted guest in one backyard.

No, it wasn't Uncle Phil who drinks too much and hits on your wife, but a 3 foot long alligator.

The reptile was found Sunday, sunning itself on a stone patio in the backyard of a home on Elliot Street.

Peel Police were called and they called in Animal Control, who managed to wrangle the 'gator.

Nobody was hurt, and so far, no one has come forward to claim the animal.

They thing it could have been a pet, that just got too big.

The premier is headed to Woodbridge on Thursday, all set to announce who will be doing the work on the 407 extension and how much it will cost.

However, SNC Lavalin beat him to it, revealing they and Cintra have been awarded the contract, worth around $1 billion.

This is for phase one of the 407 extension that will run 22 km EAST from Brock Road in Pickering to Harmony Road in Oshawa.  There will also be a 10-km north-south highway east of Lake Ridge Road connecting the 407 to the 401.

SNC estimates designing and building the highways will take about 3 and a half years.

A 16-year-old boy has been stabbed in the chest near Spadina Ave and College St.

Police were called to Augusta Ave at about 3:15 p.m.

Const Wendy Drummond says a suspect took off on foot eastbound on Oxford St.

Paramedics say the boy has been rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition.

A 35-year-old man who pleaded guilty to assaulting a TTC streetcar operator has begun serving his jail sentence.

Greg McElree boarded a Westbound streetcar at Queen and Jarvis May 16th, and demanded he ride for free.  The driver refused, and in turn the man spat on the drivers face.

McElree was arrested a short time later, and entered a guilty plea the following day. 

He'll spend 21 days in jail plus one year probation.

Durham police have arrested one of their own on theft charges.

29-year-old Constable Lee Douglas is accused of keeping a weapon turned over by a citizen.

He's been suspended pending the outcome of the case.

Douglas is facing charges of Theft and Breach of Trust.

The family of a teen killed when he was hit by a bus near Woodbine Beach two years ago is suing police and the TTC for $2-million.

Alex Gillespie died when police had dispersed a crowd attending a music event. Gillespie ran across Lake Shore Blvd and was hit by a TTC bus.

The family says that documents they obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show the driver was going 57 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

"If I was driving down there, if any person was driving down there into that situation where kids are running across the road, standing on the road, I would slow down," Alex's dad, Bill Gillespie, says. "I would be going 10, 20 [km/h]."

Bill says the accident could have been prevented if police had done their job properly.

"They didn't provide any traffic police on Lake Shore to make sure these kids ...

Authorities have identified a Canadian mother and daughter as the victims in Monday's fatal stabbings in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The Atlantic County prosecutor's office says 80-year-old Po Lin Wan and 47-year-old Alice Mei See Leung were killed. The women were from the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.

Antoinette Pelzer is charged with murder and is being held on $1.5 million bail. Her aunt says Pelzer has been homeless and mentally ill for years.

An autopsy showed the older woman died from being stabbed in the heart, while her daughter bled to death.

The attacks took place a half a block away from a hospital trauma centre.

The following video shows the suspect's first court appearance

(Associated Press)

Toronto police say another person has come forward and accused a 40-year-old man of aggravated sex assault.

Police say Dwane Robert Koltchigen is accused of having unprotected sex with at least two women without disclosing to them that he was HIV positive.

Koltchigen is also known as Tre, Tre Cold, Devin and Black Russian.

He's now facing two counts of aggravated sexual assault.

Police believe there may be more victims out there.  If you have information about the case, police are asking you to contact them at 416-808-5500.

A group of investors have launched a class action lawsuit against Facebook and several banks including Morgan Stanley.

The suit filed in a Manhattan Court on Wednesday morning say they've lost $2.5-billion since the social network's initial public offering last week.

They allege that several underwriters, namely Morgan Stanley shared a negative assessment with some of their clients ahead of the $16-billion IPO, but not the general public.

The defendants, who also include Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, were accused of hiding from investors during the IPO marketing process “a severe and pronounced reduction” in revenue growth forecasts, resulting from increased use of its app or website through mobile devices.

The lawsuit comes a day after a similar lawsuit was filed by a different investor in a California state court.

Facebook shares fell 18.4 per cent from their $38 IPO price in the first three days of trading, reducing ...

Accusations of which opposition party is causing delay tactics at Queen's Park are flying as the minority Liberal government tries to make sure the next step in the budget process passes, preventing the province from being thrust into an election.

Despite the Progressive Conservatives being behind the ringing the of bells to stall debate in the legislature, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan is lumping both opposition parties together. He says debate may have to go into the summer or the evening hours.

He says NDP budget amendments like the new high income tax bracket may not be implemented on time if this doesn't get passed soon.

Duncan says the Liberals reached a deal with the NDP to pass the budget through every stage and doesn't know what the hold up is.

However, NDP house leader Gilles Bisson says he "takes exception" to the accusations and maintains his party has been the ...

Federal Labour Minister Labour Lisa Raitt says Ottawa is prepared to table back-to-work legislation to end the strike at Canadian Pacific Rail but is urging both sides to keep talking to reach a deal.
    
Raitt wouldn't give a timeline for when the legislation could be tabled, only saying they're ready to act "if necessary."
    
Canadian Pacific has suspended rail freight service across the country but commuter trains in several large cities that use CP track continue to operate amid a strike by some  4,500 engineers, conductors and others.
    
The workers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, walked off the job just after midnight after the two sides were unable to reach an agreement despite talks that continued until the deadline.
    
Raitt says a prolonged strike would costs the Canadian economy $540 million a week.
    
The minister says she wants ...

Six townhomes have been destroyed or heavily damaged after an early morning fire in Bolton.

The Ontario Provincial Police say crews were called to Alderbrook Place near Highway 50 shortly after 3:30 a.m., Wednesday, where the fire was noticed at the back of one of the units.

The fire quickly spread to nearby units forcing crews that were on the scene to call for more in order to get the fire under control.

Police say no injuries were reported and all occupants of the affected homes were accounted for.

The Fire Marshal's Office is investigating. No word on what caused the blaze or the total cost of the damage.

(Updated by S. Francis)

The Western Conference Finals ended in quite the controversy on Tuesday night, as the Los Angeles Kings eliminated the Phoenix Coyotes in five games after an overtime goal by Dustin Penner.

Penner’s goal came moments after Kings captain Dustin Brown had injured Coyotes defenceman Michal Rozsival with a questionable hit that appeared to be knee-on-knee. The hit also came after the whistle on what was an offside rush led by Rozsival.

The hit resulted in three Coyotes charging towards Brown, as Rozsival lay on the ice injured. He was eventually helped off the ice.

Once things settled down and play resumed, no penalties were handed out and Penner ended up scoring the winning goal.

The Coyotes are calling for Brown to be suspended.

The Kings now wait to play the winner of the New Jersey Devils - New York Rangers series. It's their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals ...

Private sector unions in Canada are searching for ways to be relevant to all working Canadians. Two unions in particular are mulling a plan.

They are the Canadian Auto Workers Union and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union which have been in merger talks since late last year. The talks continue steadily but the latest big news is what could come out of them.

The merged union could act as a sort of consulting agency for those not represented by organized labour. As they struggle to stay relevant in tough economic times, some are looking at this plan as the next step in the evolution of private sector unions.

The way it would reportedly work is that the union would charge regular dues, just like it would for members, allowing unrepresented workers access to everything from advice on their labour rights, and possibly joining union health benefit programs which would ...

Imagine, if you will, needing cataract surgery because you're losing your vision and not being able to get the surgery or being forced to wait a lot longer than expected.

Those scenarios are no longer unheard of because of the McGuinty Government's decision to cut more than $380-million a year out of the fees being paid to doctors.

One of the fees being slashed is for anaesthesiologists doing conscious sedation. That's  when an ophthalmologist does cataract surgery while you're still awake. The fee to the anaesthesiologist has been cut from $120 to $60 and the doctors say it may no longer be financially feasible for them to carry out that service.

In turn this has prompted some ophthalmologists to stop performing the surgery because they want an anaesthesiologist with them. The Star quotes Doctor Ike Ahmen, an ophthalmologist at Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga as saying "I am being forced ...

Teamsters Canada says a strike against Canadian Pacific is now under way and CP has suspended its freight service across the country.

The union, which represents about 5,000 CP workers, says the two sides were unable to reach an agreement despite talks that continued until the deadline. Both the union and CP spokesman Ed Greenberg says the negotiations will continue on Wednesday.

``We have made every reasonable effort to get a settlement, said Teamsters vice-president Doug Finnson in a statement posted on the union website. ``Every union member knows how important the outstanding issues are. We will not walk away from the negotiation table,'' he said.

The two sides had met with federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt on Tuesday morning and continued negotiations throughout the day. Finnson said major points of contention are pensions, some work rules and fatigue management.

The strike is expected to halt shipments of grain, fertilizer, ...

For the third time in a month concrete has come crashing down from the Gardiner Expressway.

This time, it hit the sidewalk on Lower Simcoe Road near Lakeshore Blvd.

No lanes of traffic were affected.

No pedestrians were injured after the incident Tuesday afternoon.