The next session of the Ontario Legislature begins promptly at 9 am on Monday morning with the Speech from the Throne. The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, will read a missive outlining the Government of Ontario’s priorities for the rest of their mandate, but the opposition leaders have some priorities of the their own, and they recently shared them with the media. Continue reading “Ontario Opposition Parties Have “To Do” Ahead of Throne Speech”
On Monday, the Ontario Legislature will get back to work after an extended summer break thanks to the fact that Premier Doug Ford prorogued the session just as the Federal Election got underway. When Members of Provincial Parliament return to Queen’s Park there will be a lot of business for them to tackle, and one of the issues that Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner wants to make a priority is nursing. Continue reading “Schreiner Wants Some Action on Ontario’s Nursing Shortage”
This time next week will be the last day you can go inside many places without being asked for proof of vaccination. The Government of Ontario’s vaccine certification effort goes into effect a week from Wednesday, and, just in time, we now have the regulations and guidance that will guide the program. The ball is now in the court of local businesses and organizations, not to mention all of us, to make it work. Continue reading “One Week Before Policy Starts, Ontario Government Announces Guidelines for Vax Certificates”
It was just a few weeks ago that the Joint Waterloo-Guelph Human Trafficking team, which is staffed by members of both police services, arrested a Guelph man for both both trafficking the victim, and assaulting them himself. It’s a good reminder that human trafficking happens in our backyard, and it’s not what pop culture and conspiracy theories make you think it is. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #288 – Human Trafficking: The Real Story”
Apparently it just occurred to the Government of Ontario that there’s a Federal Election, and apparently that means they can’t do anything until more than two weeks after it’s over. The Ontario government announced today that they will not be coming back until October, and that means invoking that funny-sounding parliamentary procedure that sounds like a delicious dumpling dish from Eastern Europe. Continue reading “As the Federal Election Heats Up, Queen’s Park Moves to Prorogue Itself”
Tuesday marked exactly one week before the beginning of the school year. It’s a time when students, teachers, parents and school workers get themselves ready to start the next 10 months of learning on the right foot, but there’s presently a concern that the coming school year will actually be starting off on the wrong foot. The Green Party of Ontario’s leader is among them. Continue reading “Schreiner Wants Ford to Steal His Plans Again, This Time for Back to School”
After weeks of excuses – from saying that they didn’t want to create a two-tiered system, to saying that a piece of paper easily copied in Microsoft Word was fine as proof – there’s news Friday night that the Government of Ontario might be changing their minds on vaccine certificates. Sources are telling multiple media outlets that so-called vaccine passports are on the cabinet agenda next week, and not a moment too soon. Continue reading “Sources Say a Change is Coming on Vaccine Certificates”
As of Tuesday, a little over two-thirds of all Ontarians (meaning not just Ontarians eligible for a vaccine) have been fully vaccinated, which is not too shabby. Still, about 17 per cent of people in Ontario have yet to receive even one COVID-19 shot, and while there are numerous reasons for that, the Government of Ontario wants to help those people get their shots with a “last mile strategy.” Continue reading “Ontario Government Announces Measures to Go the “Last Mile” on Vaccines”
The Government of Ontario is making some changes in regards to vaccinations, and not just about who can get a vaccine, but who must now get a vaccine. Although still apparently shirking vaccine mandates for the whole province, the government now wants employees in high risk settings to be vaccinated, but it seems that Ontario’s schools do not count as “high-risk” where rapid testing and contact tracing will remain the first line of defense. Continue reading “Ontario Gov Announces Vaccine Mandates for Some, Rapid Tests for Others”
This week is the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference, which typically takes place live and in-person in Ottawa, but for the second year in a row the whole thing is being held virtually. As usual, the Premier of Ontario kicked things off with a speech, and Doug Ford began AMO 2021 on a positive note touting Ontario’s success overcoming COVID-19 thanks to strong provincial/municipal relations. Continue reading “Ford Kicks Off AMO Touting Ontario as COVID Success Story”
Guelph Politico 