It’s a cold late Friday afternoon in January, so naturally it’s the perfect time to resign from a high-level provincial cabinet position with a minimum of attention from the media. This must have been the thinking for Rod Phillips, Ontario’s Long Term Care Minister, who posted to social media on Friday that he’s resigning from the Ontario Legislature, and is not running for re-eletion this June. Continue reading “Long-Term Care Minister Phillips Resigns, Won’t Seek Re-Election”
During his usual Thursday press briefing, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore tried to offer assurances about the re-opening of schools next week and the potential re-opening of the provincial economy the week after. Meanwhile, teachers and public health units still have concerns about what’s coming, and whether teachers and parents have everything they need when the bell rings on Monday morning. Continue reading “Moore Gets Questioned About the Future As Schools Have Concerns”
On Tuesday, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott announced some new measures to buttress the province’s healthcare workforce as the ravages of Omicron continue to pile up. Alternatively though, the story of the day was not about hospitals, it was about schools. The official announcement about the return to in-person learning in Ontario schools is tomorrow, but today the news about about more nurses got drowned out. Continue reading “Elliott Announces More Hospital Help as Everyone Worries About Schools”
On day two of the new light lockdown for many businesses in Ontario, Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner appeared on a virtual press conference with Guelph entrepeneur Court Desautels, the CEO of The Neighbourhood Group. The point of the conference was to call on the Ontario government to do more for small businesses, even after an announcement from Queen’s Park to that effect, both Schreiner and Desautels say it’s not enough. Continue reading “Schreiner and Desautels Call on Ontario Government to Do More for Restaurants”
Yesterday’s announcement from the Government of Ontario about the latest COVID-19 prevention measures was not the news that anyone wanted to hear. The reaction from Ontario’s opposition parties and various advocacy groups were as unimpressed with the news about a new (semi)lockdown as almost everyone was given the near universally agreement that Premier Doug Ford made a bad call, or at least a late one, on Monday. Continue reading “Near Unanimous Derision for Latest COVID Response From ON Gov”
Remember the Province’s second step in their Roadmap to Reopen? The last time we were down to step two was last July, but Omicron has forced another step backward in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Premier Doug Ford announced on Monday that Ontario will be returning to step two as a “time-limited measure needed to preserve capacity,” and that includes no in-person school for until at least the middle of the month. Continue reading “Ontario Kicks Off 2022 With “Time-Limited” Measures to Stop Omicron”
On the same day that new restrictions went into effect for long-term care homes, the Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario unloaded a bunch of new information for the rest of the province to absorb. In brief, kids are going back to in-person school next Wednesday, not everyone will be able to be tested now, capacity limits at large indoor settings will be reduced further, and fourth doses are coming to long-term care residents Continue reading “Moore Announces Return to School Delay, New Testing Measures, and New Capacity Limits”
It made sense given the recent trend of new COVID-19 cases, not to mention the fact that there aren’t any rapid tests to be had and we’re now less than a week away from schools re-opening, but Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health was supposed to give a press conference today. Despite the growing cases, and the growing questions, the presser was delayed as Ontarians waits at least another day for pandemic insights. Continue reading “Moore COVID Update Postponed as COVID Cases Go Higher”
Its Christmas Day, and here is a present you definitely wanted: A holiday message from your Member of Provincial Parliament! Because you demanded it, here’s a holiday/end-of-year message from Guelph MPP and Green Party of Ontario leader presented here in both video and textual formats. Continue reading “A Holiday Message from Guelph’s MPP”
For the first time since May, there’s a COVID-19 outbreak at Guelph General Hospital. The news comes just a day after the hospital announced that they’re limiting visitors for patients starting Thursday, and more than seven months after the last outbreak. At the same time, there was some good news on Wednesday as the Government of Ontario announced that there’s help for small businesses fighting to stay open in the wake of Omicron. Continue reading “COVID-19: Outbreak at Guelph General While Ontario Announces Help for Businesses”
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