Canada's response to Trump deportation plan a key focus of revived cabinet committee
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's promise to launch a mass deportation of millions of undocumented people has the Canadian government looking at its own border.
For generations of vacationers heading to Ocean City, the towering "Giant Wheel" was the first thing they saw from miles away.
The sight of the 140-foot-tall (42-metre) ride let them know they were getting close to the Jersey Shore town that calls itself "America's Greatest Family Resort," with its promise of kid-friendly beaches, seagulls and sea shells, and a bustling boardwalk full of pizza, ice cream and cotton candy.
And in the heart of it was Gillian's Wonderland Pier, an amusement park that was the latest in nearly a century-long line of family-friendly amusement attractions operated by the family of Ocean City's mayor.
But the rides were to fall silent and still Sunday night as the park, run by Ocean City's mayor and nurtured by generations of his ancestors, closed down, the victim of financial woes made worse by the lingering aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Superstorm Sandy.
Gillian and his family have operated amusement rides and attractions on the Ocean City Boardwalk for 94 years. The latest iteration of the park, Wonderland, opened in 1965.
"I tried my best to sustain Wonderland for as long as possible, through increasingly difficult challenges each year," Mayor Jay Gillian wrote in August when he announced the park would close. "It's been my life, my legacy and my family. But it's no longer a viable business."
Gillian did not respond to numerous requests for comment over the past week.
Sheryl Gross was at the park for its final day with her two children and five grandchildren, enjoying it one last time.
"I've been coming here forever," she said. "My daughter is 43 and I've been coming here since she was two years old in a stroller. Now I'm here with my grandchildren."
She remembers decades of bringing her family from Gloucester Township in the southern New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia to create happy family memories at Wonderland.
"Just the excitement on their faces when they get on the rides," she said. "It really made it feel family-friendly. A lot of that is going to be lost now."
There were long lines Sunday for the Giant Wheel, the log flume and other popular rides as people used the last of ride tickets many had bought earlier in the year, thinking Wonderland would go on forever.
A local non-profit group, Friends of OCNJ History and Culture, is raising money to try and save the amusement park, possibly under a new owner who might be more amenable to buying it with some financial assistance. Bill Merritt, one of the non-profit's leaders, said the group has raised over US$1 million to help meet what could be a $20-million price tag for the property.
"Ocean City will be fundamentally different without this attraction," he said. "This town relies on being family-friendly. The park has rides targeted at kids; it's called 'Wonderland' for a reason."
The property's current owner, Icona Resorts, previously proposed a US$150-million, 325-room luxury hotel elsewhere on Ocean City's boardwalk, but the city rejected those plans.
The company's CEO, Eustace Mita, said earlier this year he would take at least until the end of the year to propose a use for the amusement park property.
He bought it in 2021 after Gillian's family was in danger of defaulting on bank loans for the property.
At a community meeting last month, Gillian said Wonderland could not bounce back from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the pandemic in 2020 and an increase in New Jersey's minimum wage that doubled his payroll costs, leaving him US$4 million in debt.
Mita put up funds to stave off a sheriff's sale of the property, and gave the mayor three years to turn the business around. That deadline expired this year.
Mita did not respond to requests for comment.
Merritt said he and others can't imagine Ocean City without Wonderland.
"You look at it with your heart, and you say 'You're losing all the cherished memories and all the history; how can you let that go?"' he said. "And then you look at it with your head and you say, 'They are the reason this town is profitable; how can you let that go?"'
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's promise to launch a mass deportation of millions of undocumented people has the Canadian government looking at its own border.
As questions loom over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, a new Nanos Research poll commissioned for CTV News says a quarter of Canadians say none of the potential candidates appeal to them.
In 1916, Harold Wrong plucked a flower from the fields of Somme, France and tucked it into a letter he mailed home to Toronto. For decades, the type of flower sent remained a mystery.
Though two states have yet to be officially called, the U.S. election map has mostly been settled. How does it compare with the previous two elections?
Average asking rents declined nationally on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than three years in October, said a report out Thursday.
An elementary school in the Halifax area has backed away from a request that service members not wear uniforms to the school's Remembrance Day ceremony.
While banks and post offices will be closed nationwide on Remembrance Day, shops and businesses could be open depending on where you live in Canada.
The B.C. New Democrats have a majority government of 47 seats after a judicial recount in the riding of Surrey-Guildford gave the party's candidate 22 more votes than the provincial Conservatives.
Health Canada has announced a recall for electric space heaters over potential fire and burn risks, a notice published Thursday reads.
A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.
As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.
A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts – not for themselves, but for those in need.
A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.
Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.
A Windsor teen’s social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.
A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company’s strangest discoveries.