It’s the news everyone wanted to hear! (Sort of.) On the same day that most of Ontario’s school students returned to in-person learning, the Government of Ontario announced their intention to end the state of emergency and start the gradual re-opening of the province this week. Don’t celebrate yet though because all of this is still kind of tepid. Continue reading “Back to the Colour Code: Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph to Reopen February 16”
Once she was the highly respected Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, an independent officer meant to review and critique the Provincial government’s work on all matters concerning energy, the environment, and climate change. Less than a year into their mandate, the Ford government got rid of Dianne Saxe and her former position, but now as the Deputy Leader of the Green Party Saxe is ready put climate action front and centre. Continue reading “Saxe Says We Don’t Have to Choose Between COVID and Climate”
If you thought we had finally smoked out all the high-profile people that broke quarantine and went abroad over the holidays. think again, and this time, there’s a Guelph connection. Linda Hasenfratz, the CEO of Guelph-based auto parts manufacturer Linamar, announced her resignation from Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force after a media report revealed that she enjoyed a nice, warm, and sunny vacation outside of Canada. Continue reading “Hasenfratz Out of COVID Vaccine Task Force After [Gasp] Foreign Holiday Travel”
The controversial Emma-Earl pedestrian bridge has hit an unexpected delay after a citizens’ group wrote to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks with concerns about the City of Guelph’s environmental assessment process. The Ministry has concurred with the group that there have been “deficiencies” with the City’s environmental review, and the project could now be delayed by a year. Continue reading “Province Says City’s Environmental Review of Emma-Earl Bridge Doesn’t Go Far Enough”
Premier Doug Ford has raised the alarm in the last few days that the new modelling of COVID-19 cases was going to make people “fall out of their chair” when they saw it. Tuesday was the day that Ford not only released the new modelling, but the new provincial restrictions based on that modelling, and the Premier said that there are “unthinkable consequences” coming if we don’t change course. Continue reading “Ford Warns of “Unthinkable Consequences” as Ontario Declares New State of Emergency”
We’ve finished one week of the new lockdown measures here in Ontario, but we have not yet detected any benefit in terms of decreased daily new cases or the rapid rollout of the two approved COVID-19 vaccines. Official Opposition leader Andra Horwath is demanding answers, and she’s demanding to get them in-person from Premier Doug Ford and his ministers, and our own local MPP agrees. Continue reading “Schreiner Joins Horwath Call to Re-open Legislature”
In what is perhaps the best bit of good news we might receive in these waning days of 2020, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has announced that they will be getting their first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer next week. The vaccine will arrive on Monday January 4, and be ready for distribution the same day with a full rollout scheduled for Tuesday. Continue reading “Pfizer Vaccine Arrives in Guelph Next Week”
On the same day that Ontario officially enters a new 28-day period of lockdown, the Provincial government announced that the mutated strain of COVID-19 that has been ravaging the United Kingdom was detected here in our fair province. Two cases of the new COVID have been detected, and there’s no immediate indication how this new strain has appeared in Canada. Continue reading “First Cases of New COVID Variant Found in Ontario on First Day of Lockdown”
When you woke up this morning, it was two days till Christmas and three days till the start of a province-wide lockdown, and on this morning there was some good news and some concerning news. While the Government of Canada has approved the second vaccine for widespread distribution, there’s still no news about when our region might start getting the vaccine, but Public Health says they’re prepared when it happens. Continue reading “Countdown to Lockdown: The State of COVID in Guelph on December 23”
After weeks of speculation, the Government of Ontario formally announced on Monday that the province will be going back into lockdown on Boxing Day this Saturday. The province-wide increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases has prompted the Provincial government to give the gift of staying at home the day after Christmas even as new areas in the GTA entered grey-level lockdowns on Monday. Continue reading “Ontario Locking Down on Boxing Day, City of Guelph Responding with New Measures”
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