There’s an election coming. The writs must be drawn up in the next 48 hours, but in that time it looks like there’s going to be a lot of announcements from all parties about wonderful new spending initiatives. Guelph General Hospital was the recipients of one of those cool funding announcements today, but this one comes with the seal of approval from the Minister of Health herself. Continue reading “Ontario Government Approves $15 Million for Hospital ER Expansion”
We’re 37 days away from the Provincial Election that’s not yet been officially called, but there doesn’t mean that campaigning is not hitting a fevered pitch. All the main opposition parties had major announcements on Monday morning, but only the Ontario New Democrats released a whole platform, and the focus was on two planks: expanding healthcare and increasing affordability. Continue reading “Healthcare Improvements Are the Priority in NDP Platform”
Remember mask mandates? We had them just a few weeks ago, and mysteriously, once they were removed by the Government of Ontario as of March 21, COVID-19 cases started going up again. Using this advanced scientific reasoning, Ontario’s three main opposition party leaders spend their Thursday calling on the provincial government to bring back mask mandates in some form. Continue reading “Opposition Parties Unite… To Call For Mask Mandates”
Nurses. We say they’re our heroes, but is that how we treat them? Through the course of the pandemic, many politicians, activists, and nursing representatives have said we don’t treat them like heroes, and that responsibility has been thrown at the feet of the Ontario government. So on Monday, the health minister literally raised the ante by $5,000, which will be made available to Ontario’s nurses if they stay in the nursing business. Continue reading “ONgov Offers Nurses $5,000 to Stick Around, Many Unimpressed”
In one of those announcements that’s perhaps shocking but not surprising, Health Minister Christine Elliott has announced that she will not seek re-election in this spring’s provincial election. Elliott, who was twice considered the presumptive next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, joins a growing list of MPPs from all parties that will not stand for re-election on June 2. Continue reading “Health Minister Elliott Announces She Won’t See Re-Election”
Nearly two weeks after the original Freedom Convoy pulled into downtown Ottawa, all levels of government are still trying to cope with the disruption, and now there’s a growing blockade on the Ambassador Bridge to worry about. Ontario’s opposition parties are now united in one point of view on these protests: the Ontario government is missing in action, and they’re each making some demands of the Premier and his ministers. Continue reading “Opposition Leaders Push Ontario Government to Act on Convoy Distruptions”
Starting Wednesday, getting a rapid test in Ontario will be (theoretically) as easy as visiting your local grocery store or pharmacy. At a Kitchener Walmart this morning, Health Minister Christine Elliott announced that the Province will be making five million free rapid tests available each week for the next eight weeks at over 2,300 participating outlets including 30 right here in Guelph. Continue reading “Elliott: Rapid Tests Coming Soon to a Grocery Store Near You”
On Thursday, members of the Ontario Nurses Association met with Premier Doug Ford in-person to discuss the help that their 60,000 members need right now to hire, retain, and assist nurses through to the end of the pandemic and beyond. “We just need someone to respect us,” ONA First Vice-President Angela Preocanin said in an interview with Guelph Politico after their meeting with Premier, which she says was actually hopeful. Continue reading ““We Just Need Someone to Respect Us.” Nurses Hopeful After Meet with Premier”
After being teased through several media sources of Wednesday night, Premier Doug Ford announced (on time) on Thursday morning that the re-emergence from lockdown will begin on January 31. The phased approach will see three-weeks between the initiation of each part of the plan, which Ford and company believes will give Ontario the best strategy to manage both the virus and the economy. Continue reading “New Framework Alert: Ontario Starts Re-Opening on January 31”
Will Ontario businesses be allowed to open again exactly one week from now? That was not a question firmly answered by the Minister of Health and the Chief Medical Officer of Health on Wednesday at a media conference. One day after Premier Doug Ford told an Ottawa radio station that there will be good news about the lockdown conditions later this week, Christine Elliott and Dr. Kieran Moore seemed to signal that’s still TBD. Continue reading “Elliott and Moore Say There’s Reason for Hope (Not a Guarantee)”
Guelph Politico 