#ontario-government

#ontario-government

The Ontario government says it's one step closer to extending GO train service further into Durham Region.On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford announced his government has given an early stage planning contract to Bowmanville Construction Partners to extend the Lakeshore East Line almost 20 kilometres east into the town of Bowmanville in Clarington, Ont.

An emergency department in Minden, Ont., is slated to close in one week but residents say they will keep up the pressure on the province to make sure the closure is not permanent."We are not statistics," Richard Bradley, a resident, told CBC Toronto on Thursday."We are determined.The only statistic we want to be is the town that saves its ER.

Advocacy groups, teachers' unions and food banks are calling on the Ontario government to provide a free breakfast and lunch program in schools across the province.In a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce and Children Minister Michael Parsa today, the collection of organizations say many children in Ontario are facing food insecurity that forces them to rely on food banks for their nutritional needs.

Toronto city council has decided it will ask the Ontario government to reimburse the TTC for $2.9 million that the transit agency will spend to complete design work for a dedicated busway on the Scarborough Rapid Transit route.Council voted to make the request during its meeting on Thursday.City staff told council that about 30 per cent of the design work on the busway has been completed and the $2.9 million is needed to complete it.

The Ontario government is set to make an announcement on the future of Peel Region as early as this week, sources say, after Premier Doug Ford again voiced support for Mississauga becoming an independent municipality.Sources with knowledge of the decision told CBC Toronto the announcement concerns the separation of the region but offered no further details.

Ontario is set to end a program that gave workers access to three paid sick days, and lift some COVID-19 measures in long-term care homes.In an emailed statement to CBC Toronto on Wednesday, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development confirmed reporting by The Canadian Press that the temporary paid sick days program will wrap up by the end of this month.

An Ontario cabinet minister called Russia a "terrorist state" this week, saying more than 39,000 Ukrainians displaced by the Russian war with Ukraine have come to Ontario to settle.Monte McNaughton, Ontario's minister responsible for Ukraine, made the comment in an email to CBC Toronto on Monday that outlined the support that the provincial government is providing to Ukrainians in Ontario who have fled the conflict.

Fifteen Toronto city councillors asked the Ontario government on Tuesday to scrap a bill that gives new powers to the mayor.In a letter addressed to Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs Minister Steve Clark, the councillors call on the province to reconsider Bill 39, the Better Municipal Governance Act, 2022.

Former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders says he has decided to run for mayor of Toronto because the city needs a leader who will make the city safe again.In an opinion piece, Saunders said Toronto is at a "tipping point' and he has never seen "this level of fear" in the city.He said he is the person for the top job because he can set priorities, get the city working again, fight crime and its roots causes, restore public trust and bring back community safety.

A public library north of Toronto is refusing to display an exhibition by a local artist unless it excludes pictures and statements protesting elected officials Doug Ford and Donald Trump.Photographer and poet Yafang Shi is the creator of Fire II, an exhibition of photographs documenting women's rights marches over several years, set to be displayed on a gallery wall at the Aurora Public Library from March 6 to April 15.

Several well-established developers are among the owners of the 15 parcels of land the Ford government is proposing to open up for housing in the protected Greenbelt in the Greater Toronto Area, a CBC Toronto analysis of dozens of land registry and corporate records has found.The Ontario government announced a 30-day consultation last week on removing 2,832 hectares across 10 municipalities from the Greenbelt, which was created in 2005 to permanently protect agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area from development.

It was a housing project with promise: a subdivision of unique homes in picturesque Meaford, Ont., advertised as "Mike Holmes Approved."Mike Holmes is a contractor and television personality known for rescuing homeowners from botched construction jobs.In 2016, Myles Johnson and Andrea Hart of Toronto, who were looking for a place to retire, bought in.

Toronto singer The Weeknd now has the second-most Juno awards of all time, after winning album of the year during Monday night's ceremony hosted by Shang Chi actor Simu Liu.The Canadian music awards show handed out five prizes throughout the evening: the TikTok Juno fan choice award, album of the year, breakthrough artist of the year, rap album/EP of the year and contemporary R&B recording of the year.

The Ontario government says Kiska, the last captive killer whale in Canada, has died.A spokesperson for the solicitor general says Marineland the Niagara Falls, Ont., theme park where Kiska lived told the province she died on Thursday.Brent Ross says the province's Animal Welfare Services officers were on-site as Marineland performed a necropsy.

The Ontario government is banning TikTok from all provincial government-issued devices, the treasury board president said on Thursday.( CBC News) The Ontario government is banning TikTok from all provincial government-issued devices effective immediately, the treasury board president said on Thursday.

A young Pickering man who has amassed a big social media following for his advocacy for blind people is set to receive a sight-saving gene therapy the first time the expensive procedure will be covered by OHIP.Adam Brown was born with a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa that significantly hinders his vision and could eventually leave him fully blind.

Recent news stories have highlighted the dangers of real-estate title fraud, which take place when fraudsters or scam artists steal ownership of a home in order to benefit from its value.Yesterday, CBC News reported on a Toronto family that was able to thwart an attempted scam where someone used fake identification to pose as the 95-year-old homeowner and convinced real estate agents to list the home for sale without the family's knowledge or permission.

CBC Toronto's 2022 news quiz gives you the chance to test what you remember about Ontario and local politics this year.(Yan Theoret/CBC/Radio-Canada) Another pandemic year is coming to a close, filled with political promises and multiple elections keeping politicians on their toes.But how much of the last 12 months' worth of news do you remember?

Toronto resident Zlata Pavlova says she has mixed feelings being in Canada for the holidays while Russia's war on her home country continues to rage on.On one hand, she's happy she gets to safely celebrate with her boyfriend and cousin, the latter of which helped relocate her to Toronto in April.But on the other, it's hard to muster up feelings of joy and cheer when she knows many back home don't have the same luxury.

The Ontario government has failed to meet its target of providing funding for 8,000 children to receive core autism therapies by the end of the fall, though it won't say by how much.While a spokesperson for the minister of children, community and social services said the province's target has actually been met, it's a different target than what the government has been publicly working toward all along.

The soaring cost of housing in Ontario was a major issue of concern for voters in the 2022 provincial election.(Evan Mitsui/CBC) Toronto's recently approved housing plan is a good step forward but more efforts are needed to address the city's affordability crisis, urban planners and experts say.Toronto city councillors voted on Wednesday in favour of Mayor John Tory's proposals to allow multiplexes to be built in neighbourhoods currently restricted to single-family homes and to legalize rooming houses across the city.

Now that Ontario education workers have voted in favour of a new contract with the Ontario government, the focus shifts to the province's other major education unions.Contracts expired at the end of the summer for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA), and the French-language union Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO).

In a statement on Thursday, the education workers' central bargaining committee for Canadian Union of Public Employees and Ontario School Board Council of Unions laid out timetable for negotiations, saying it will be known by Sunday at 5 p.m. whether the workers will strike on Monday.(Carlos Osorio/The Canadian Press) Students, parents and staff will know by Sunday at 5 p.m. whether or not Ontario education workers will strike on Monday, the union says.

The Ontario government has withdrawn its application to have a walkout by some 55,000 education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees illegal, the province's labour relations board says.(Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press) Ontario's labour relations board says the provincial government has withdrawn its application to have a walkout by 55,000 education workers declared illegal.

Leaders of the province's education and teachers' unions are expressing serious concern over the law that imposed a contract on 55,000 CUPE education workers and banned them from striking  and they're worried it could have an impact on their own contract negotiations.Bill 28 uses the notwithstanding clause to protect against constitutional challenges  a legal mechanism that has been used only twice in Ontario's history, both times by the governments of Premier Doug Ford.

CUPE members walked off the job in November during tense contract negotiations with the province.(Carlos Osorio/CBC) The union representing roughly 55,000 Ontario education workers will announce today the results of a ratification vote on a tentative deal it struck with the province.The Canadian Union of Public Employees is expected to unveil the vote results during a news conference scheduled for 10 a.m.

Mike Delisle Jr. is the former grand chief, and a current council chief at the Mohawk Council of Kahnawa:ke.(Ka'nhehsi:io Deer/CBC) The Mohawk Council of Kahnawa:ke (MCK) is taking iGaming Ontario and the Attorney General of Ontario to court over changes to how the province manages online gaming.A notice of application was filed in the Ontario Superior Court on Monday, arguing that the changes are "illegal and unconstitutional."

Like so many people contemplating long-term care, Louis Capozzi said he was nervous about what he would find when he started looking at homes."I heard so many awful things about, you know, people getting not well taken care of, laying in bed, needing to be changed and people hitting them or whatever.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto's medical officer of health, speaks at Union Station in downtown Toronto on April 4, 2022.(Oliver Walters/CBC) Toronto's medical officer of health has been asked to explore "urgently" the idea of bringing back mask mandates, beginning in schools, as local hospitals deal with rising numbers of children suffering from respiratory illness.

About 55,000 education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) will walk off the job Friday to protest against controversial anti-strike legislation from the Ontario government.The province is set to pass legislation Thursday that would impose a contract on education workers and ban them from striking by using what's called the notwithstanding clause, which allows the legislature to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

Almost 200 people gathered on Saturday in front of the Toronto Congress Centre in support of education workers and their contract negotiations with the Ontario government.The Ontario government has introduced legislation to impose a contract on the education workers and ban them from striking upon threat of steep fines.

The Ontario government is using the notwithstanding clause to impose a new contract on education workers from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives tabled a bill Monday that invokes the clause to block employees from striking or negotiating wages any further, binding 50,000 education workers  including librarians, custodians and early childhood educators  to a four-year contract.

The Ontario government has tabled legislation to prevent a strike by education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce is set to speak with reporters on Monday, hours after announcing the government is bringing in legislation to block education workers from striking if a deal isn't reached by the end of this week.

CBC Toronto has obtained a copy of an internal memo from chief operating officer Martin Gallagher sent to employees, stating that The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1587 is presenting a new offer to its members.(Evan Mitsui/CBC) Metrolinx management says it has averted the chance of an Oct. 31 strike that would have affected train and bus service by presenting a tentative deal to GO Transit's unionized workforce.

More providers are opting into the $10-a-day child-care program following a series of tweaks and a deadline extension from the Ontario government  but others are still holding out, saying the program doesn't make sense for their businesses.With the new Nov. 1 deadline to opt in a week away, the majority of licensed child-care providers in Toronto have signed up for the program, representing a notable spike in interest from the summer.

Multiple crises have enveloped Ontario as the legislature is set to resume Tuesday after a six-week hiatus.Overwhelmed emergency departments, ambulance scarcity, sky-high grocery bills, unrelenting inflation, a housing crunch and a possible educator strike all hang over lawmakers as they return to Queen's Park.

The Ontario government announced a third round of funding set aside for the provincial Skills and Development Fund (SDF) Monday in an effort to alleviate the provincial labour shortage.This round will prioritize people with prior involvement in the criminal justice system, at-risk youth, those with disabilities, Indigenous people, Ukrainian newcomers, and others facing barriers to employment.