. . . at Queen's Park, across Ontario and elsewhere.

* The Liberals announced on Friday that they will select their candidate for the Kitchener-Waterloo byelection at a nomination meeting to be held on Aug. 9.

The three declared candidates are Eric Davis, a lawyer with Miller-Thomson LLP; Karen Scian, the current Ward 2 Waterloo city councillor; and Raj Sharma, a staff sergeant and 30-year veteran of the Waterloo Region police force. All are long-term residents of the Kitchener-Waterloo region.

The riding was vacated by former Tory MPP Elizabeth Witmer who resigned her seat on April 27 to become chair of the Workplace Safety Insurance Board.

* A former top aide to Premier Dalton McGuinty is the new head of Infrastructure Ontario. Bert Clark has been appointed CEO of the crown corporation.

Clark was a senior policy advisor to McGuinty from 2003 to 2005, when he helped with the establishment of a long-term infrastructure plan for Ontario.

Clark is currently the managing director of Scotia Capital's Global Infrastructure Finance Group. He was previously a senior vice-president of special projects with Infrastructure Ontario. He holds a law degree from Duke University and prior to 2003, he spent five years with the Toronto law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“For me, ORNGE was never about personal enrichment or personal gain. It was about the vital and urgent necessity to transform an antiquated and dysfunctional air ambulance system that everyone knew did not serve the interest of Ontario residents,” Dr. Chris Mazza, ORNGE founder, testifying before the standing committee on public accounts.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

@JackMaclaren1: Just heard the opening statement from the ex-ORNGE CEO Chris Mazza. He was almost in tears, very upset he got caught. — Tory Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP Jack MacLaren tweeting about Mazza’s appearance before committee.

* Tory Green Energy Critic Lisa Thompson on Friday added her voice to the chorus of PC caucus members calling for a moratorium on wind farms in Ontario.

Thompson wants the Liberal government to hold off on any new turbine development until a Health Canada study investigating the health effects for people living nearby is completed, likely in 2014.

Thompson said that residents of her Huron-Bruce riding are experiencing health effects that range from insomnia to depression as a result of living too close to the turbines.

She was joined by pharmacist Carmen Krogh, who has published peer-reviewed articles on the subject. This week Germany announced it’s moving entirely to wind and solar energy — but Krogh said their turbines are two to three times smaller than Ontario’s.

* Ontario's teachers are making at $115 million pitch for soccer. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan hopes to acquire the UK-based Goal Soccer Centres for £73.1 million or about $115.6 million Canadian. The plan’s private equity wing, Teachers Private Capital, announced the bid on Friday.

* A report from the Conference Board of Canada released Thursday says mental illness costs the Canadian economy $20.7 billion annually through reductions to the workforce, a rate that is growing by 1.9 per cent each year. By 2030, the Conference Board anticipates the cost will be closer to $29.1 billion per year. Almost 452,000 working-age Canadians were absent from the workforce in 2012 alone because of problems with mental illness.

The report examined six of the most common mental health conditions afflicting Canadians: depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, social phobia, panic disorder, and agoraphobia, all of which range in severity from "mild and sporadic to completely debilitating."

"When workers have poor mental health, they have a lessened capacity to perform to their utmost. Sometimes workers with mental illnesses drop out of the workforce completely," said Diana MacKay of the Conference Board.

"With this loss to the labour supply now exceeding $20 billion a year, employers and governments clearly need to become more aware of mental health issues among Canadian workers and committed to addressing them," she said.

Next week's events

MONDAY, JULY 23

8 a.m. and 1 p.m. — The standing committee on estimates will meet to review the 2012-2013 estimates of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Room 151.

3 p.m. — The standing committee on estimates will meet to review the 2012-2013 estimates of the Office of Francophone Affairs. Room 151.

5 p.m. — Ontario's Lieutenant Governor David C. Onley will be joined by Spencer West for a flag-raising ceremony on the northwest lawn of Queen's Park. West, who lost his legs at age five, recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro on his hands and in his wheelchair to raise money for Free the Children. The flag raised at Queen's Park will be the flag West flew at Kilimanjaro's summit.

TUESDAY, JULY 24

8 a.m. and 1 p.m. — The standing committee on estimates will meet to review the 2012-2013 estimates of the Office of Francophone Affairs. Room 151.

9 a.m. and 1 p.m. — The standing committee on the legislative assembly will meet to review the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Room 228.

2 p.m. — The standing committee on estimates will meet to review the 2012-2013 estimates of the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. Room 151.

Seen, heard, happening . . .

Read this for free.