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

* Glass used on apartment balconies must be heat treated and laminated so that it can’t come crashing to the street, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne announced Thursday.

But Tory Finance Critic Peter Shurman criticized the move as evidence of “mixed up priorities” and said it should have been implemented without an announcement by the minister.

“How dumb is that?” said Shurman. “That’s the first announcement we get out of the McGuinty government after a budget that is basically a failure?”

* The Tories have chosen Tracey Weiler, a Wilfrid Laurier University professor, as their candidate in the Kitchener-Waterloo byelection to fill former MPP Elizabeth Witmer’s seat.

Weiler was previously one of Waterloo Region’s Top 40 Under 40 and is an executive member and communications chair of the electoral district association for Kitchener-Waterloo MP Peter Braid.

Neither the NDP nor the Liberals have set a date for their nomination meetings but Liberal Eric Davis, who ran unsuccessfully against Witmer in October, has said he will run again. McGuinty has until Oct. 27 to call the election.

* The Quebec Jockey Club is warning the Ontario government that the devastation to the Quebec horse racing industry will spread to this province if plans go ahead to cancel the Slots at Racetrack Program.

Standardbred Breeders of Ontario Association President Anna Meyers said Thursday that 80 per cent of jobs in the Quebec industry have been lost since 2010. That would be the equivalent of Ontario saying goodbye to 27,000 jobs, a heavy blow to an industry that supplies $4.5 billion to the province's GDP.

Woodbine Entertainment president Nick Eaves also said Thursday that the 153rd running of the Queen's Plate this year may be its last given the provincial decision to cancel the slots program. He says it would reduce Woodbine's revenue by 50 per cent, putting the track in an "impossible position."

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