Christmas markets in Ontario are aplenty this time of year. With November quickly approaching, and December right around the corner, the time is now for planning all merry excursions.

While we have the Distillery Winter Village to look forward to in Toronto, there are many holiday markets nearby in Ontario that will help you get into the festive spirit.

Here's a round-up of Crhistmas markets you should know about in Ontario.

Uxbridge Christmas Market

If you're gift shopping for someone who loves herbal teas or 'artisan' soaps, or maybe you are that friend, then a visit to Uxbridge should be in your plans soon. The Uxbridge Christmas Market specializes in all things 'hand-crafted' and local, so you should definitely be expecting to see some quality one-of-a-kind items.

Admission is free for the market held in the Uxbridge Arena Hall, and it will run every Sunday from Nov. 3 until Dec. 8.

Home for the Holidays

Christmas time in Markham wouldn't be complete without the "Home for the Holidays" market, a mainstay for the community for 37 years. With an abundance of local vendors selling everything from handmade wool sweaters to specialty hot sauces, this is the place for you to find a gift for that one friend with acquired tastes.

The annual market will run from Nov. 15 to 17 and will be located at the Markham Fairgrounds.

Niemi’s Christmas Market & Farm

If you're looking for a spot with a European theme, Niemi’s Christmas Market is going to give you the true Scandinavian Christmas fantasy.

You're definitely going to want to check out the bakery with it being a Scandinavian market, and make time to see the adorable animals in the farm. It would be a genuine disservice to yourself and the friends you dragged out to Mount Albert if you didn’t see a single animal.

This holiday event will take place every Friday and Saturday from Nov. 15 to Dec. 21, and it is free to check out.

Dufferin Christmas Market

If you're looking for an all-day trip out of the city, then perhaps the 150 local Canadian artisans can keep you busy at the Dufferin County’s largest Christmas market. The one day festive space in Mono will have locally sourced beer and wine, along with food trucks to enjoy.

The market’s efforts are also admirable, working alongside the Orangeville Food Bank to give back to those in need in the local community.

You can check out this market on Nov. 23 and it will be at the OAS Event Centre, with adult tickets costing $3.

Gilford Wintermarkt

Looking for more European market options to give you the holiday feels? The Gilford Wintermarkt, hosted by Beach Road Market, in Innisfil might do the trick.

The lakeside market will include a full-on Viking battle, and over 50 vendors, along with a "Bavarian infused hot menu," says an organizer, and it will feel "like a Hallmark movie."

Situated by the marina in the Gilford region, the market will open for one day only on Nov. 23 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Merry Market

Returning for its fifth year in a row at the old Kellogg factory in London, festival organizers promise this year will be "bigger and better than ever."

The size of the festival has grown over the years, becoming a main meeting point for locals getting into the Christmas feel.

This year, the 'Merry Food + Wine Show' will have live charcuterie board demos and, of course, lots and lots of food & wine tastings.

Admission for the festival is free and will run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, then will resume from Dec. 5 to 8. Another run will take place from Dec. 12 to 15.

Aurora Christmas Market

The town of Aurora truly comes alive for the Chritmas season with their version of a holiday market. Full-on fire breathers will be in attendance for a full show, along with an abundace of community vendors for the mandated seasonal treat.

Located in Aurora's Town Square, admission is free and it will run from Nov. 29 to Dec.1 before taking a brief hiatus. The market is set to return from Dec. 6 to 8.

Pingle's Farm Christmas Fest

If you're looking for more of the 'Christmas on the farm' moments, then definitely head on over to town of Hampton this season.

The giant farm will host wagon rides, photo ops with Santa, live music, and an expansive market with a Christmas tree lot.

Admission for the market is free, however a ticket will need to be purchased for access to various activities. The festivities will run from Dec. 2 to 17.

Christkindl Market

You can’t forget German Christmas if you really want to get your drink on while eating some festive foods. Kitchener's Christkindl Market, a place modeled after "medieval German markets," provides that holiday setting to drink some mulled wine and demolish a giant, salty soft pretzel.

Blacksmith demonstrations and folklore characters placed around the festival will definitely make it feel like a Skyrim-themed Christmas.

Located at 200 King Street West, the market opens on Dec. 5 and will end on Dec. 8.

Lead photo by

100 Kellogg Lane

Many Ontario communities experienced record setting warmth for Halloween.

And although the temperatures are dropping back to seasonal for the weekend the warmth is forecast to return next week. And like October and September, November is also forecast to trend above normal for temperatures.

If you live in one of these communities, Environment Canada said its preliminary data shows your all-time heat record for the hottest Halloween was broken: Algonquin Park, Bancroft, Cobourg, Kemptville, Kingston, Muskoka, Oshawa, Ottawa, Parry Sound, Pembroke, Petawawa, St. Catharines, Tillsonburg, Trenton, Vineland.

Pearson airport in Mississauga had to settle for a tie.

(The new and old records are listed at the bottom of this article).

The hot spot in Ontario, said Steven Flisfeder, Environment Canada meteorologist, was Moose Creek, about 65 kilometres east of Ottawa, at 24.5 C.

Many high temperatures were also broken on Wednesday, according to Environment Canada, related in a story yesterday, including Pearson, Algonquin Park, Brockville, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo.

It closed off another warm month for much of the province.

At Pearson airport in Mississauga, for instance, the warm spell leading up to Halloween pushed the average daily high temperature for the month to 17.3 C, said Flisfeder, adding it was preliminary data. The average high, he said, is 14.6 C.

For Pearson, he said, that makes it the 9th warmest October on record.

October was drier than normal. Pearson airport, for instance, recorded 29.5 mm of rain, including the 0.5 mm that fell on Halloween (again preliminary figures, he stressed), putting it well below the average for October at 67.2 mm.

That trend was true for a wide area of the province, he said.

“All of southern Ontario and pretty much the entirety of northwestern Ontario was drier than normal,” he said.

The only part of the province that received "near normal precipitation", he described as follows: “So if you draw a line from the very eastern edge of Lake Superior straight north to Hudson Bay, that area east is what saw normal precipitation. Everywhere else in the province was drier.”

Which brings us back to the weekend forecast.

In the mid-morning Friday interview, he said, “We’re on a downward trend (temperature-wise) through the day today (Friday). We had a max (high temperature) early in the day and it’s going to be dropping as that cold air is making its way across, so daytime highs over the weekend, including Friday, are going to be near normal."

For Pearson, for instance, he said that's about 10 C for this time of the year.

But another warm spell is in the forecast, though not for as long, nor as warm.

“Around the Tuesday/Wednesday time frame, we’re going to have another system, very similar trajectory as the one that just came through, so that’s going to be once again bringing in a warm air mass to southern Ontario.

Here’s the Environment Forecast for Pearson airport (and you can easily find the forecast for another community by taking the link and just subbing it in).

Looking ahead to the new month, both October and September were above normal temperature-wise for much of Ontario, and he said, “we’re expecting that trend to continue."

Southern and northeastern Ontario, he added, “are the most likely to be warmer than normal for November with the caveat that that doesn’t mean that every day is going to be warmer than normal.”

“But generally speaking we are expecting that warmer trend to continue through November.”

HOT HALLOWEEN: HERE'S THE RECORDS

Meanwhile, Environment Canada’s weather summary issued on Nov. 1 advised that, “a warm air mass brought record high maximum temperatures into southern Ontario again on October 31.”

It listed these following areas that set or tied a daily maximum temperature record on Oct. 31, 2024 (temperature values given in degrees Celsius):

ALGONQUIN PARK

BANCROFT AREA

COBOURG AREA

KEMPTVILLE AREA

KINGSTON AREA

MUSKOKA AREA

OSHAWA AREA

OTTAWA (KANATA — ORLEANS)

OTTAWA (RICHMOND — METCALFE)

PARRY SOUND AREA

PEMBROKE/PETAWAWA AREA

ST. CATHARINES AREA

TILLSONBURG AREA

TORONTO AREA

TRENTON AREA

VINELAND AREA

The summary explained that “the temperature records reported here have been derived from a selection of historical stations in each geographic area that were active during the period of record.”

It also advised that the summary “may contain preliminary or unofficial information and does not constitute a complete or final report.”

Ontarians will see their clocks turn back by an hour this Sunday, as they switch back to standard time until the spring — a change that seems to spark the same debate every November.

The annual time switch has been questioned for years now, with many wanting to stick with daylight or standard time year-round to spare themselves the disruption.

Ontario passed legislation back in 2020 to make daylight time the standard all year — with a catch: it will only take effect if New York and Quebec also make the switch.

Quebec is in the midst of public consultations about the idea, while New York is grappling with various bills that would ultimately still require federal legislation before coming into effect.

Making the change without either place would "be disruptive for trade, stock markets and broadcasting," said Jack Fazzari, an Ontario Attorney General spokesperson, in a statement.

WATCH | Quebec seeks input on time switch:

12 days ago

Duration 2:06

The Quebec government is launching an online questionnaire to learn whether Quebecers want to get rid of daylight saving time. Saskatchewan, Yukon and some parts of B.C. have already ditched it.

New York state legislators had informal conversations with the province about changing the clock last year, but nothing concrete yet, according to New York Senator Joseph Griffo, who is helping to lead the charge on the state's legislation. He says support to permanently switch to daylight time is widespread across the state.

"They don't like falling back and springing forward, changing the clock twice a year. There's almost unanimity to say what can we do to stop that," he said.

Why some want to switch to standard time instead

Critics of Ontario and New York's focus on switching to daylight time, say they're going about the time change the wrong way and should switch to standard time instead.

The standard time Ontario uses in the winter, where the sun rises and sets an hour early, is more consistent with the body's biological clock, according to York University biology professor Patricia Lakin-Thomas, who studies biological time in organisms.

She says sunlight resets our biological clock, signaling to our bodies that it's time to get our systems into gear. Steering away from that biological clock could lead to physiological stress and health issues down the line, she said.

The U.S. experimented with making daylight time a year-round reality in the 70s, an initiative that Lakin-Thomas says lost a third of the public's support after about two years and was eventually dropped.

"The public is hugely in favour when they bring in year-round daylight saving time," she said.

"After a couple of years of getting up on dark cold winter mornings, which is when it really hits you, they ditch it."

WATCH | When will Ontario's time change end?

3 days ago

Duration 2:28

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, but some provinces are considering eliminating the practice. In Ottawa, the opinions about it are mixed.

In Ontario, an online petition started back in 2019 is still adding to its over 87,000 signatures, of people opposing a change to daylight time instead of standard time.

"We need to be on a time that's natural to our bodies and not some artificial sort of government mandated time," said Irene Shone, who started the petition.

Ontario's transportation minister says bike lanes on three major Toronto streets could be removed entirely, not just in sections, under a proposed regulation.

The Progressive Conservative government tabled a bill last week that would require municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a lane of vehicle traffic. The government has said these bike lanes are contributing to gridlock, a claim critics have disputed.

The province also announced it was moving faster to review and remove bike lanes on sections of Bloor Street, Yonge Street and University Avenue through a proposed new rule.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said if the regulation goes through, the province could go much further.

"[All] sections are up for removal," Sarkaria said, adding that the province will have to review where sections would be replaced with lanes for motor vehicles.

"But the entire street, whether it be Yonge Street, whether it be Bloor, whether it be University, can be removed."

He said the province has heard complaints of bike lanes on these three streets contributing to traffic problems for motor vehicles and hurting businesses.

Many local businesses along these streets have voiced support for the bike lanes. The Bloor-Annex Business Improvement Area, for instance, put out a release last week saying monthly customer spending had increased since lanes were installed along Bloor Street, and removing them would be "disastrous for the area."

"Are we building highways or are we building main streets?" BIA general manager Brian Burchell said in the release. "Because highways don't encourage main street economic activity."

If the regulation goes forward, Sarkaria said the province would choose which lanes to remove from the three streets following a review.

The proposed regulation is posted for public comment until Nov. 20.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has said the city opposes the province's plan to remove bike lanes.

Speaking to reporters Friday, she said that "the province's plan is arbitrary and not based on any evidence" that bike lanes add to congestion.

Chow said the installation of these bike lanes was preceded by years of study and consultation before going through city council votes. Ripping them up would be costly and do nothing to help with the city's traffic issues, she said.

Chow said the city is happy to share its data and research with the province.

"The city's preference is always to work collaboratively, and based on data and evidence," Chow said. "But the way they're rushing it through, it's making it quite difficult."

WATCH | CBC's Lorenda Reddekopp reports on the province's plans to rip up bike lanes:

13 hours ago

Duration 2:39

Ontario's transportation minister says bike lanes on three major Toronto streets could be removed entirely under a proposed regulation. The city’s mayor says decisions on bike lanes were made following years of study and consultation. CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp has more.

Sarkaria said Friday that only 1.2 per cent of people use those bike lanes to commute to work, compared with 70 per cent who drive, and the lanes are taking away nearly half of the infrastructure on those roads, making commutes longer for drivers. He said the province hears daily complaints about the lanes, and that is why the government is moving "as quickly as possible" to review those lanes specifically.

The city says data suggests use of bike lanes on Yonge, Bloor and University have increased in both the winter and summer since they were installed. Research also suggests dedicated bike lanes ease congestion, reduce emissions and increase business for street-level shops. Construction on these streets is the main contributor to congestion issues on those streets, the city says.

Last week, hundreds of cyclists, joined by a few politicians, rallied outside Queen's Park to oppose the province's plans to increase its power to remove bike lanes in municipalities.

Global News at 6 Toronto

Ontario plans public safety legislation targeting stolen vehicle registration schemes

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Global News at 6 Toronto: Nov. 3, 2024

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Dozens of people have been arrested and more arrests are expected in an ongoing investigation into auto theft and fraudulent vehicle identification numbers in Toronto, police said Friday.

The investigation, dubbed Project Thoroughbred, began in July and focused on auto theft rings involved in VIN fraud as well as so-called “chop shops,” where stolen vehicles are taken apart and prepared for shipment overseas, police said.

More than 300 charges — including several counts of using forged documents and possession of stolen property — have been laid against 59 suspects, and more than 360 stolen vehicles have been recovered to date, they said.

Warrants have also been issued for the arrests of more than a dozen others, police said.

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Supt. Ron Taverner said the investigation uncovered an alleged scheme involving the registration of fake VINs by employees at a ServiceOntario location.

He said employees are alleged to have knowingly used fake documents provided by the suspects to make it look like the VINs were legitimate, and then registered Ontario licence plates to the fraudulent VINs.

4:13

The stolen vehicles were then sold to unsuspecting buyers at a discount, he told a news conference.

None of the ServiceOntario employees alleged to be involved have been arrested at this time, but Taverner said “they will be.”

Police said they also found chop shops across the city where stolen cars are dismantled over a short time to make them harder to trace.

The results of the investigation were announced on the same day the Ontario government said it would create a new provincial offence for fraudulent vehicle registrations as part of broader efforts to combat auto theft.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Friday that proposed legislation would create a new Highway Traffic Act offence of knowingly providing a false vehicle identification number when applying for a vehicle permit.