Ontario gave parents more than $1B in cash over 2 years. Here's where the money went
During the pandemic, the Ontario government started to hand out cash to parents to help offset the cost of at-home learning while schools were shuttered.
Rafael Nadal tore his headband off, thrust his arms in the air, and soaked up the cheers. It was only a second-round win, but coming from where Nadal had been just a few weeks ago when he couldn't even get on the court, he could have been savoring a trophy.
He had just beaten Alex de Minaur 7-6 (6), 6-3 at the Madrid Open on Saturday, avenging a straight-set loss to the Australian less than two weeks ago.
Nadal is no longer aiming to add to his 92 titles after being decimated by injuries in recent years. The 37-year-old just wants to play like Rafael Nadal, or as close to that as he can. So he is going forward game by game, measuring his efforts to avoid an injury that would likely force his definitive retirement, with the ultimate goal of being competitive one more time at next month's French Open.
I have been through some very difficult months when there were moments when I didn't see the reason to continue, but I had the dream of experiencing feelings like this again and above all at home," Nadal said. "It was incredible."
The 22-time Grand Slam champion was cheered on by Spanish King Felipe VI, soccer great Zinedine Zidane and a raucous crowd that packed the Caja Magica to see what will most likely be the tennis great's last tournament in Spain.
Nadal was playing just his fourth competitive match since his latest injury layoff in his farewell season.
The 11th-ranked De Minaur beat Nadal just 11 days before in Barcelona, where the Spaniard returned to the courts for the first time in more than three months. Nadal looked much better this time around.
Before starting the tournament, Nadal said this week he was not 100% and, "If it wasn't Madrid, maybe I wouldn't play." He added he would have to feel even better to play at Roland Garros.
Nadal got a straight-set win over American teenager Darwin Blanch on Thursday, but De Minaur was much stiffer competition and the tension in the stands of Manolo Santana Stadium was palpable.
The first set saw both players break serve twice. De Minaur then saved four set points before Nadal finished him off in the tiebreak to take the lead. Nadal pressed his advantage, broke De Minaur's first service game of the second set and closed out the victory.
Nothing less than sports royalty in his Spain, Nadal grunted out his first "Vamos!" (Let's go!), more to himself than his staff or fans, after winning his first point. He pumped his fists after landing his hammer of a left-hand drive; he argued heatedly with the chair judge over whether or not he challenged a line call on time; he shook his head when he hit long, chiding himself for not adjusting to Madrid's high altitude.
And the crowd ate it up, shouting "Viva Rafa!" between points and "Ole! Ole! Ole!" after his backhand winner set up match point. De Minaur double-faulted to do himself in.
Nadal has won a record five times in Madrid, the last time in 2017.
Next up will he face Pedro Cachin in the third round after the Argentine beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4.
Top-seeded Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek brushed aside their first opponents.
Sinner downed fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-0, 6-3 in the second round to improve to 5-0 against his countryman. The Australian Open champion had a first-round bye.
Sinner will next face Jordan Thompson or Pavel Kotov. He is chasing his fourth title of the season after winning at Melbourne Park and in Rotterdam and Miami -- all hard-court events. Just one of his 13 career titles has come on clay, in 2022 at the Croatia Open.
Swiatek, likewise, made quick work of Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 to reach the women's last 16.
The top-ranked Swiatek, who lost last year's final to Aryna Sabalenka, improved her record this season to 26-4. She will next face Sara Sorribes Tormo on Monday after the Spaniard ousted Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (0), 6-3.
Swiatek is preparing to make a run for a third consecutive title at the French Open next month. She is a three-time champion at Roland Garros (2020, `22, '23). The Madrid Open is the only major European clay tournament the Pole has yet to win.
Fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari ended Sloane Stephens' seven-match winning run by 6-1, 6-3.
Ninth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko beat Argentine qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle 6-3, 6-3.
On the men's side, Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro upset Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4.
The seventh-ranked Tsitsipas fell to Monteiro, ranked 118th, after having run up a 10-1 record on clay going into the match. Tsitsipas won Monte Carlo this month before reaching the final of Barcelona last week.
Sebastian Korda and Jiri Lehecka also advanced.
During the pandemic, the Ontario government started to hand out cash to parents to help offset the cost of at-home learning while schools were shuttered.
A shooting on a street in Akron, Ohio, killed one man and wounded 26 other people early Sunday morning, according to reports by local news outlets.
Research shows that art experiences, whether as a maker or a beholder, transform our biology by rewiring our brains and triggering the release of neurochemicals, hormones and endorphins.
Canada's ambassador to Russia says while Ottawa has 'grave concerns' about the Kremlin's 'longer-term trends,' the war in Ukraine is 'a primary barrier to a change in the relationship.'
A brief break during Wednesday's city council meeting in Saskatoon nearly cost the city dearly.
Parachutists jumping from Second World War-era planes hurled themselves Sunday into now peaceful Normandy skies where war once raged, heralding a week of ceremonies for the fast-disappearing generation of Allied troops who fought from D-Day beaches 80 years ago.
The Stanley Cup was passing through town Friday, and Lanny Legend took it upon himself to take it for a surprise visit.
South Korea said Sunday it’ll soon take retaliatory steps against North Korea over its launch of trash-carrying balloons across the border and other provocations.
Jurors resumed deliberations Saturday on whether a man should be sentenced to death after being convicted days earlier of the murders of his wife and his girlfriend’s two youngest children in Idaho.
Car 14 is a luxury passenger car that once made regular runs from London to Port Stanley starting in 1917.
A hefty donation by a renowned local activist to the University of Winnipeg has created what is believed to be the most comprehensive two-spirit archives in all of Canada.
Leanne Van Bergen discovered a skulk of 10 baby foxes, and two mothers, had made themselves at home on her property in Beausejour.
An 81-year-old Waterloo, Ont. woman thought she’d never ride a horse again after a brain bleed led to severe physical complications.
A CP24 camera caught the moment a driver frantically got out of her car as it was being dragged by a truck on Avenue Road Wednesday afternoon.
Prince Edward Island is celebrating its first-ever International Day of Potato on Thursday.
The president of Covered Bridge Chips in New Brunswick is hoping to have his factory rebuilt for late 2025 following a devastating fire last year.
Students and staff at Winnipeg’s Westwood Collegiate had a unique problem to solve this month; how do you lead ducks to water from the school’s courtyard when 12 of them can’t fly yet?
Debby Lorinczy remembers her father as an amazing person and as a man who also made an amazing discovery.