Christmas came early for the Ministry of Education as they’ve achieved another deal with a group of education workers. The rare Sunday news comes from the Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW), a collection of unions representing thousands of education workers in schools around the province, who have now reached a tentative agreement with the Ontario government after a days-long stretch of bargaining. Continue reading “ON Gov Achieves New Deal with Another Group of Education Workers”
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”
It might be the last debate of the campaign, but it was going to be a good one because the questions came from a long line of eager College Heights Secondary School students that attended Thursday morning’s match up in their own school’s cafeteria. Four of the more left-wing candidates, and, for once, a representative from the right flank talked about the issues that matter to Guelph’s young people. See video and live tweets below. Continue reading “RECAP: College Heights Students Had Probing Questions For Candidates”
Riding high after a strong showing at the leaders’ debate on Monday night, Guelph MPP and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner received a key endorsement on Wednesday from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). The provincial OSSTF also endorsed Parry Sound-Muskoka Green candidate Matt Richter, who Schreiner has been boosting the last few days as the best chance to double his caucus at Queen’s Park. Continue reading “OSSTF Endorses Mike Schreiner, While Schreiner Boosts Parry Sound-Muskoka Green Candidate”
In the fourth local debate of this election, five of the seven Guelph candidates faced off to discuss matters of economic equality, environmental protection, and the improvement of healthcare and education. Hosted by the Guelph Coalition for Social Justice, and its member groups and agencies, it was a blockbuster 120 minutes of ideas and discussion, but don’t call it a debate. Check out the Twitter recap and the video below. Continue reading “RECAP: #ONelxn Candidates Face Off in Virtual Discussion on Social Justice”
If we talked about Ontario public schools last week, then it should follow that we talk about Ontario post-secondary issues this week. The pandemic generation, if we can coin such a phrase, are coming of age, and they’re bringing with them the scars and accomplishments of surviving the experience, but are they feeling seen in this provincial election? We’re going to ask one of their representatives. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #323 – Students Want to Be Seen This Election”
Wellington-Halton Hills is a big riding, extending from Puslinch to Centre Wellington and out east all the way to Erin and Halton Hills, so experience counts, and it’s hard to get more experience than Ted Arnott who’s represented the area since 1990. Can anyone challenge 32 years of longevity in what’s a fairly safe Conservative riding? Diane Ballantyne would like to volunteer. Continue reading “WELLINGTON-HALTON HILLS POLITICAST 2022 – Diane Ballantyne, NDP Candidate”
On the second full day of the 2022 Ontario provincial election, some of the candidates vying to be the next Member of Provincial Parliament for Guelph met for a live and in-person debate at Bishop Macdonell High School. Candidates took turns answer the issues important to young people like mental health, housing affordability, climate change and more. You watch the debate on YouTube, or follow the live tweets below. Continue reading “RECAP: Guelph Provincial Election Candidates Face Off in First Debate”
Covering education issues has been weird the last couple of years during the pandemic; while keeping schools open for in-person learning was a priority, teachers felt that their concerns weren’t being heard. Now, education is struggling to be made an election priority, and education workers have been trying to put their concerns back on the frontburner since March 2020, so this seems like an interesting place to begin a provincial campaign. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #322 – Education is an Issue”
Just in time for the Thanksgiving long weekend, there are now no capacity limits at movie theatres or concert venues! If you spend the holiday packing the house for a movie or your favourite band, then this going to be very good news. Also this week, our local public health unit has said that they’re joining the province’s plan to distribute rapid COVID-19 antigen tests. Continue reading “Capacity Limits Lift Slightly, as Public Health Will Participate in Testing”
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