It’s 2019 all over again! That’s how Guelph MPP and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner described the situation at Queen’s Park during his most recent appearance on Open Sources Guelph. It’s been a very busy first few months for the new Ontario Legislature, and as we close 2022, Schreiner has notes about Bill 23, Doug Ford’s leadership style, and whether or not he’s going to change team colours. Continue reading “On OSG, Schreiner Calls Out Ford Policies as “Dangerous” and “Unnecessary””
Doug Ford’s promise to not touch the Greenbelt was turned into a hip-hop beat, and it led a couple of hundred people milling about in the Boathouse parking lot over the covered bridge York Road Park. And they kept coming. Guelph joined the province-wide series of protests happening around Ontario this weekend, another loud choir of voices who are against recent changes the Ontario government’s made to planning rules. Continue reading “Guelphites Join Province-Wide Protest of Planning Changes”
Monday dawned with another day of job action by education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), but now it will be the last day too. In a sudden press conference at Queen’s Park this morning, Premier Doug Ford said that his government will move to revoke the highly controversial Bill 28 that imposed a new contract on CUPE using the notwithstanding clause if the school workers promise to return to work. Continue reading “Ford Blinks! CUPE Agrees to End Strike After Gov Promises to Revoke Bill 28”
Today marks the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. For years before that though it was known as Orange Shirt Day, a chance to stop, think, and remember all the Indigenous children stolen from their homes, and then taken before their time through an apparatus of abuse and colonization known as the residential school system. Here are some of the thoughts of provincial and national leaders on this day. Continue reading “Statements on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation”
Her coronation was one of the first mass-broadcast events after TV started to become something more and more people owned, and at the end of her reign, Queen Elizabeth II was doing stuff on Zoom like the rest of us. She also had a YouTube page. All of this is to say that there was a lot of change in the 70 years that Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor sat on the throne of the United Kingdom. She passed away today at 96. Continue reading “Remembrances from Local and Upper Levels of Gov’t for Queen Elizabeth II”
They tell you to open with a joke, and that’s what Premier Doug Ford did as one of the first speakers at this year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa on Monday. Ford made light of his viral encounter with a bee at a media availability on Friday, and then dug into substance by assuring Ontario’s municipal leaders that the challenges they’re facing are manageable. Continue reading “Upbeat Ford Addresses AMO and Ontario Mayors at Annual Conference”
After white-knuckling through a long weekend where at least 14 Ontario hospitals experienced closures or capacity issues, all eyes have turned to the Provincial government as demands get louder for immediate action. Even after a series of media interviews by the new health minister, plus a rare mid-summer appearance of the premier at an event this morning, there’s still no sign that the government is getting in a crisis mode. Continue reading “Pressure Increases on Provincial Government to Act on Healthcare Issues”
A coalition of 230 social services and community groups have called on the Provincial government and Premier Doug Ford to double Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates. In an open letter, the group says that current crises around poverty, homelessness and mental health can all be tied to years of under-funding in social services, and doubling the rates would be a good start to begin a redress. Continue reading “Over 200 Advocacy Groups Demand Immediate Increase to Social Assistance”
Under appropriately bright blue skies, the new cabinet for the newly re-election Ontario government under Doug Ford was sworn in outside Queen’s Park on Friday. The new 30-member cabinet does contain a few newly elected faces, but it’s mostly made up of tried and true politicians who are returning to the roles and the parts they played at the end of the last session. Continue reading “Ford Unveils New, Mostly Old, Cabinet”
The election campaign is over, but even the candidates that won are still looking to make good on election promises. In the midst of the 2022 provincial election campaign that returned Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives to office nearly two weeks ago, newly elected Guelph MPP made a promise to double the rates people receiving ODSP. Now Schreiner is insistently asking Ford to keep his promise. Continue reading “Schreiner Asks Ford to Double ODSP Rates Now!”
Guelph Politico 