I've been very hard of CFTO in the past few weeks, primarily on their baffling choice of lead stories. But on Wednesday, it was Global that left me watching with open incredulity. 

They led their noon newscast with breaking ground for the Ontario transit line. An OK story on most days, but not when the city and areas around it are getting absolutely clobbered by a winter storm that is leaving much of the GTA paralyzed. On the menu in this storm: flooding rain, freezing rain, ice pellets, and a ton of heavy wet snow, coming down at a fast rate in huge flakes. The aftermath of this event will be with us for weeks. 

How in the world is that not the most important story of the day for viewers? Everyone, except maybe shut-ins, is affected by this and are talking about this and it's going to go on for hours and hours. And as anyone who has tried to shovel their driveway has discovered, it's going to take forever to get rid of this heart-attack inducing wet snow. 

Why would you put the one story that's front and centre for the entire population of several cities on the back burner? (Their follow-up second story was about a transit project in Durham or Peel - I've already forgotten because it was irrelevant compared to the only lead they ignored.) They finally got to the weather three minutes in. 

CFTO, for its part, not only had the storm as its lead, but did several reports on different angles of its effects, a far better use of its airtime.

Even if the story wasn't ready on Global, throw to meteorologist Anthony Farnell for an update and promise more to come. Barring anything outrageous like a cop shooting, it will be their lead on the 6. Why not the noon? (The only explanation I can think of is that this show also airs in Montreal, where the weather is pretty good. So it wasn't important to them. But then do they really care about the Ontario Line in La Belle Province? History would say the French answer is "non.") 

Again, a real no-brainer for any producer. I just wish I could ask whoever lined up the show: what in the world were you thinking?  Because it seems to me they weren't.