* The Ontario government is banking on one of Canada’s top bankers to help get the economy on track. Gord Nixon, president and chief executive of the Royal Bank of Canada, has been appointed as Chair of the government’s new Jobs and Prosperity Council.

Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid, who made the announcement Friday, said the council will help find ways for Ontario to compete globally and advise the government on how to make the most of its business support programs.

“It’s a great opportunity for Gord Nixon to use the skills that he has that are international in scope,” said Duguid. “He is seen around the world as one of the leading CEOs globally. We’re fortunate to have him here in Ontario.”

The council, first announced in the spring budget, will largely focus on recommending ways to improve Ontario’s productivity and competitiveness. It will be made up of business and labour leaders, academics and others from government and non-governmental organizations. Further appointments will be announced soon.

* Hamilton’s McMaster University is ripping a page from the University of Waterloo’s play book. McMaster wants to set up private companies that turn medical discoveries into profit, emulating what the University of Waterloo has done in the world of computers.

Dr. Mick Bhatia, director and senior scientist at the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute, is expected to make the first announcement next week of a private company that will find commercial applications for his research.
The move is expected to benefit patients but also help to boost Hamilton’s economy.

* The Ontario GSA Coalition expects hundreds of LGBT youth and allies to show their support for gay-straight alliances at a Queen's Park rally on Saturday afternoon. The group is urging the government to merge bills 13 and 14, two competing anti-bullying efforts, and pass them before the Legislature lets out for the summer so they may be implemented before the start of the new school year.

A number of organizations are members of the Coalition: Egale Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers, CUPE Ontario, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Ontario Federation of Labour, The Centre for Inquiry, the Canadian AIDS Society, PFLAG, the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, OPSEU's Rainbow Alliance, Catholics for Choice and the Canadian Secular Alliance.

* The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario will show its support for gay-straight alliances this weekend. Grade 7 and 8 teachers will hold their inaugural Gay-Straight Alliance symposium at the Hilton Airport Hotel in Mississauga on Sunday and Monday.

The symposium aims to support teachers who want to set up a GSA or have already established one. Advertisements for the event also imply the teachers' support of the government's Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, which would make it easier to establish GSAs at all publicly-funded schools.

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