Bonnie Crombie won. Who is she?

Plus, cracking COVID-19’s true origins, Canada’s role on the global stage, and “Orange Peel Theory” [The Star] First Up [By Andrew Joe Potter] By Andrew Joe Potter Good morning. If you’re tracking the kangaroo that bounced loose in Oshawa this week, you better hop to it; [here’s the current status of Ontario’s most-famous marsupial mastermind](. And here’s the latest on everything else. MUST READS Steve Russell/Toronto Star POLITICS [Bonnie Crombie is the new leader of the Ontario Liberal Party — who is she?]( Three-term Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has officially won the vote to become the Ontario Liberals’ next leader. The 63-year-old’s career has spanned politics and business, from being an Air Canada flight attendant to working for Disney in Los Angeles, Rob Ferguson reports. Now, the defining challenge of Crombie’s career will be [lifting the moribund Liberals to a big comeback starting in 2026](. Ramon Ferreira/Toronto Star illustration Pandemic [Four years later, science is getting closer to cracking COVID-19’s origin story]( A French researcher stumbled across the trove of data in March: more than 1,000 environmental and 400 animal samples that Chinese scientists, hot on the trail of a strange “pneumonia of unknown origins,” collected at a seafood market in Wuhan in early 2020. The info is a key puzzle piece in the ongoing (and possibly never-ending) search for answers about how COVID-19 started, Kenyon Wallace reports. [Here’s what we do know about how the pandemic began, including the role raccoon dogs might have played](. Sean Kilpatrick/AP global relations [All the world’s a stage; India’s alleged assassination plots show Canada’s just a bit player]( Two months ago, Justin Trudeau’s accusation that the Indian government was involved in the killing of a Sikh Separatist leader on Canadian soil was met with bemusement in New Delhi; no one’s laughing after a nearly identical plot appears to have been thwarted in New York City, Allan Woods writes. The difference in how India has responded raises difficult questions about [how the rest of the world views nice-guy Canada](. Kaitlyn Chow/Unsplash relationships [What peeling an orange says about the state of your relationship]( Has a special someone recently asked you to peel an orange? You may have been subjected to a TikTok test dubbed “Orange Peel Theory.” It’s a simple concept, Sarah Laing writes: how you respond to being asked to do a small task speaks volumes about how much you care about your partner. In many ways, [peeling fruit, literally or metaphorically, is really just an extension of some familiar relationship concepts](. Dreamstime investing [How to make Canada’s juicy dividend-paying stocks work for you]( With so much focus on high-interest fixed income securities like bonds and GICs, it’s easy to overlook the blue-chip Canadian stocks still paying out great dividends, David Aston writes. Reliable sectors like banking, telecoms and utilities have seen stock prices battered of late, which can mean a solid yield in the interim and longer term dividend growth potential. [Here’s how to introduce dividend stocks into your current investment approach](. [Cookies] Need a new favourite holiday cookie? Every day till Christmas, Star journalists are taking turns baking recipes from our extensive archives for our new Cookie Calendar newsletter, [brought to you by SickKids Get Better Gifts](. Follow our holiday baking adventures — and get some inspiration for your own — by [signing up for free here](. UP CLOSE Handout Even in the days right before she succumbed to ALS late last month at age 84, former Star columnist Susan Kastner stayed true to herself. Janet Hurley looks back at the [eclectic and fearless life of a multi-hyphenate creative talent](. PERUSe THIS Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star Where a bustling row of street vendors once stood along Queen Street West, only Sheryl Genser’s jewellery stand remains. Briony Smith paid a visit to one of the last vestiges of the strip’s once-bustling bohemian scene to learn [how Toronto’s shopping culture has changed](. Thanks for reading. Please dispose of your fruit rinds in the compost bin and send all questions and comments to the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_204807). We will see you back here Monday. If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [View in Browser]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. 416-367-2000 [PRIVACY POLICY](