READ MORE ON COVID-19
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
New projections warn that the new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus could result in Ontario seeing 40,000 new infections per day in February. Meanwhile, the province has announced a state of emergency allowing the government, with the support of cabinet, to introduce new public health orders more quickly. This could be a good thing, depending on how the powers are used. It’s hard to be hopeful, though, when the province is led by a premier who seems so determined to deliver mixed messages and sweeping regulations riddled with enormous loopholes.
As the federal government adopts a bold plan to surpass its 2030 climate plan targets by dramatically hiking carbon taxes, spending billions to help Canadians retrofit homes, and provide massive incentives to carbon heavy industries to change their ways, the Ontario premier appears to be headed in the opposite direction. According to the auditor general’s recent update, this province is not even going to meet its miserly 2030 goal of reducing carbon emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
READ MORE BY BRETT LAMB:
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
Ontario’s Auditor General (AG) Bonnie Lysyk recently released a report sharply criticizing the province’s COVID-19 response. The report details a litany of failures by the government and its approach to dealing with the crisis. While some see her timing as unhelpful, to be critical as the proverbial ship is sinking, others see an opportunity to right the boat.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
As the pandemic continues and enters its second wave, the people of Ontario, and especially Toronto, Ottawa, and Peel region can count on one thing: chaos in the rules and guidelines that allegedly exist to protect us. While confusion reigns it is clear that we need a leader who knows how to lead, and if that’s too much to ask, that leader needs better people to be following himself.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
READ MORE BY BRETT LAMB:
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
It’s a plan created by experts, and teachers need to step-up. That’s what Premier Ford and his ministers are saying about their back-to-school plan for Ontario students. The plan, which deserves some praise for permitting some two dozen school boards across the province to have their high school students take half their courses online, effectively reduces class sizes. The elementary school strategy, however, has garnered a less than enthusiastic response from school boards, teachers, parents, and – experts. Five hundred new nurses, and thirteen hundred additional custodians are being hired, but this will do nothing to reduce direct transmission between students or between students and staff. Let’s take a closer look.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
READ MORE BY BRETT LAMB:
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
One of the strangest things to happen over the course of this very strange spring was the apparent transformation of Premier Doug Ford into to a caring, compassionate leader. This illusion is fading quickly, as his government rams Bill 184 through the Ontario legislature. The new law will almost surely result in mass residential evictions of tenants who were unable to pay full rent during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
Long-term care homes in the Annex, public, not-for-profit, and profit alike, have fared relatively well in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, the same cannot be said for similar facilities across the province. Before government starts pointing fingers for the tragedy that has unfolded among our most vulnerable seniors, it would do well to acknowledge its own role in the problem.
Tags: Annex · Editorial · Opinion
“Canadians are kind and generous.” The Prime Minsister tells us this in his daily briefings on the COVID-19 crisis. In reality, this statement is part truth and part aspirational. Fortunately in the Annex, and in a great many other parts of our city, this is proving to be true. Many residents are acting as model citizens: staying home, sharing positive messages, and helping each other out.
READ MORE BY BRETT LAMB: