Now that the snow has arrived, police are warning residents of getting snowed--by shoveling fraudsters. Hint: If the snowplow guy demanding money up front shows up with no shovel, think twice before paying, suggests Det. Constable Chris Devereux of the Toronto Police Service. He was referring to a criminal investigation into a company that promised snow removal across Mississauga, Toronto, Vaughan and Richmond Hill, but never showed up. They charged GTA residents upwards of $7,400 for snow removal that was never done. Yet it's not common for snow removal companies to collect all the money at the start of the season to cover their expenses, said Mikhail Evgrafov, owner of Monster Plowing Co., who expected his five trucks will be on the streets by sunrise Wednesday. "Your best protection is to ask for several references and call them before you pay anything or sign a contract," advised Evgrafov,

This will make you feel all warm and cozy inside: Justin Bieber's in town! The Bieber was here to promote his upcoming movie (with an inspiring title): Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. Biebs says the movie is for all the "haters" who believe he's just a flash in the pan. "A lot of people think that I'm just some machine and people put me together as a product, but I worked really hard to get here and there's so many people that helped me," Bieber said.

He may have lost the mayoral election, but Rocco Rossi is still ready to run--for the province that is. Rossi made the announcement that he would seek the Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party nomination in the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, held by longtime Liberal MPP Mike Colle, on Tuesday morning at a press conference at Queen's Park. If you recall, Rossi was once the Liberal Party of Canada's director. But when it came time to choose between offers to run from both the Progressive Conservatives and the provincial Liberals, Mr. Rossi says he was guided by what he believes is a general dissatisfaction on the part of Ontarians with the current government's direction and by his own "fiscally conservative, socially progressive" values.

A contentious bonus program for city managers has been sent for review. Council's employee and labour relations committee has voted to scrap bonuses for the third year in a row and launch a formal review of a policy that doles out an extra 3 per cent to every manager who earns top pay and a "satisfactory" job rating. Councillor Doug Ford mocked the bonus as "ridiculous" and said, ""In the real world, if you're satisfactory, your bonus is you keep your job." Apparently these bonuses have been a "bee in the bonnet" of some councillors for years and some are not surprised they've been placed under review.

IN BRIEF:

• Cellphone ban results in 46,000 tickets in Ontario
• Leafs win--if it matters
• Junos announced

Photo by picturenarrative in the blogTO Flickr pool.