<p>One of the first four locations selected to become an Ontario Cannabis Store is in the middle of a cluster of schools and Premier <strong>Kathleen Wynne </strong>said<b> </b>Thursday she wants answers on how that happened.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, the OCS released the locations of four proposed stores. One is in a plaza at Victoria Park Ave. and Gerrard St. E. in Toronto, just 450 metres away from an elementary school and just one kilometre away from a high school.</p>
<p>“I’m actually going to be asking my staff about this, exactly how this decision was made and if the school board was consulted,” said Wynne.</p>
<p>Finance Minister <strong>Charles Sousa</strong> stressed that there are a lot of schools in Toronto, which makes them hard to avoid when planning pot store locations. He added that there have been consultations with municipalities over the locations of the stores.</p>
<p>"It's important for us to have those discussions with our communities," he said.</p>
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<p>A proposal for a leaders' debate is set. A broadcast consortium consisting of CBC, CHCH, CPAC, CTV, Global News, and TVO will produce a debate at CBC headquarters on Sunday, May 27. The event will be open to "all party leaders running candidates in all Ontario ridings that currently have an elected MPP sitting in the provincial legislature."</p>
<div>That would exclude the Green Party and the Trillium Party from the festivities, as the Greens don't currently have an MPP and the Trillium Party won't run candidates in all ridings.</div>
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<div>That's despite Premier <b>Kathleen Wynne</b> saying today that "I encourage the participation of all major Party leaders at all debates, including Green Party leader <b>Mike Schreiner</b>."</div>
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<div>Wynne's inclusive nod to the Greens came in an email where the Liberals slammed the PCs for declining to participate in another debate, this one organized by TVO. "Just like a bully, Doug Ford likes to talk tough but when challenged to back up his words he’s quick to turn tail," the statement read. On Wednesday, Ford took up Wynne's challenge to participate in three televised debates.</div>
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<p>NDP Leader <strong>Andrea Horwath</strong> pitched the Toronto Region Board of Trade Thursday with a suite of political promises including more affordable housing.</p>
<p>"As Toronto grows, it needs a reliable and progressive premier who will listen – and will work to make this great city more liveable and more affordable. Look no further than the crisis of housing and home ownership. The Board of Trade’s own research shows that an astounding 42 per cent of young professionals say they are likely to leave this region because of the high cost of housing. I won’t settle for that. You shouldn’t have to settle for that. I will work with you to improve access to affordable housing."</p>
<p>Horwath promised to work with the city to fix the social housing stock and build a new supply of affordable housing.</p>
<p>On transit, she promised an NDP government would provide the TTC with $330 million in additional operating funding and enhanced GO service to Kitchener-Waterloo.</p>
<p>Horwath also pitched her party's plans for a pharmacare and dental care program called "Ontario Benefits" and to reduce electricity rates without relying on the Liberal government's borrowing through the Fair Hydro Plan.</p>
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<p>Lone Trillium lawmaker <strong>Jack MacLaren</strong> has taken up a cause almost as obscure to provincial politics as his party: removing the terrorist designation attached to the Tamil Tigers.</p>
<p>"It is like a black cloud hanging over the heads of Tamils in Canada," MacLaren's office said in a release Thursday. "It stigmatizes them. It prevents them from publicly mourning and remembering their fallen people at their remembrance services each year.</p>
<p>"In the interest of restoring respect and dignity to the Tamils in Canada, MPP Jack MacLaren asked the Government of Canada to remove the 'terrorist designation' from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam."</p>
<p>MacLaren tabled a motion in the legislature Thursday afternoon to that end.</p>
<p>MacLaren, who joined the fringe Trillium party after <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2017/12/08/notes-trillium-party-underground/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parting ways</a> with the PCs last May following several controversies — whether he was booted or left of his own accord depends on who you ask — plans to run in the riding of Kanata—Carleton in the June 7 election. Kanata boasts a population of 510 native Tamil speakers, while Carleton is home to five, according to the 2016 census. About 118,000 people across Canada count Tamil as their mother tongue.</p>
<p>The Tamil Tigers were a rebel group that fought for decades for an independent state in Sri Lanka. The organization was added to Canada's official list of terrorist organizations in 2006. It was largely defeated and disbanded by 2009.</p>


In brief: A school-adjacent pot store, TV debate, Horwath pitches Toronto, Jack and the Tamil Tigers

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