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

* One is a conservative politician in his 40s who released a plan called “Path to Prosperity”. The other is a conservative politician in his 40s who has released a similarly-titled plan called “Paths to Prosperity”.

But as much as Paul Ryan and Tim Hudak have in common, there are differences.

Ryan, 42, who issued a budget plan called Path to Prosperity, is a congressman who hopes to become Vice-President of the United States.

Hudak, 44, who on Monday released the latest in a series of policy white papers called Paths to Prosperity, is the Leader of the Official Opposition and hopes to be the next Premier of Ontario.

And the similarities and differences keep on coming.

If Ryan is successful he will have helped defeat a tall skinny guy who now occupies the White House.

If Hudak is successful he will have defeated a tall skinny guy who now controls the Pink Palace.

* The process for implementing Metrolinx’s "The Big Move," a long-term transit vision for the GTA and Hamilton, will be unveiled Tuesday at a board of directors meeting.

An early glimpse at CEO Bruce McCuaig’s presentation slides about the plan outlines targets for the provincial transit corporation:

Reduce the region’s average daily commute to 77 minutes from the current 82 minutes;
Increase trips to work by transit to 33 per cent from 17 per cent;
Grow the transit system to 1,725 kilometres from 500 kilometres; and
Drop per person greenhouse gas emissions in the area to 1.7 tonnes per year from 2.4 tonnes.

McCuaig will discuss several project, including the Eglinton LRT, the VIVA expansion along Hwy. 7 in Markham, and upgrades to Bloor and Weston GO stations to accommodate the air rail link to Pearson Airport.

The board will also hear updates on GO Transit’s customer outreach, mobile accessibility plan and ridership numbers. Rail ridership is up about five per cent on weekdays and bus ridership is up two per cent.

* Bondfield Construction Company Limited has won the contract to build and finance three venues for the 2015 Pan Am Games, Infrastructure Ontario officials said Monday. The three are:

Construction of the Markham Pan Am Centre, including a new, 50-metre Olympic-sized pool. The centre will host water polo, table tennis and badminton competitions. Work will begin later this month;
Construction of the two-field Pan American Field Hockey Centre located on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto. Work will begin in 2013; and
Renovations and improvements to the Etobicoke Olympium facility, the training site for swimming, water polo, diving and synchronized swimming. Work will begin in 2013.

* Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital says it has been dealing with an "unusually high" number of patients both in wards and in the emergency department. There is no apparent reason for the sudden influx, hospital officials said.

* Ontario’s “rank and file education workers” were to convene on the front lawn of Queen’s Park on Monday evening to hold a funeral for collective bargaining rights in the province under the banner “First We Mourn, Then We Fight.”

“We need to come together to mourn yet another loss for workers,” elementary teacher Pamela Dogra said. “But this is only the beginning of a long-term struggle to regain and extend labour rights in this province, and to restore respect for the labour of education workers.

* Steve Mahoney has been appointed president and CEO of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada. Mahoney was chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for six years before he was replaced by former Tory MPP Elizabeth Witmer in late April.

* More than 900 support staff at Edmonton Catholic schools went on strike Monday after last-minute negotiations failed. The union representing the teachers and the school board have agreed on a 4.54 per cent pay hike in the first year of the contract but differences remain over job security and money in year two.

*It was 25 years ago today, on Sept. 10, 1987 that David Peterson was elected with a majority government, winning 95 seats in the 130-seat legislature.

Quote of the Day

"Well, Speaker, it’s great to have a new health critic. I’m not quite sure what happened to the old one, but it’s great to have a new one."

- Health Minister Deb Matthews responding to a question from the Tories’ deputy health critic Bill Walker, who took the leader on his party’s latest white paper instead of the party’s official critic Christine Elliot.

Tweets of the Day

@Dooreyworklaw: Meanwhile, in Chicago, #teachers are still allowed to strike, and have done so.

- York University labour law professor David Doorey pointing to a Chicago Sun-Times story in light of the provincial government’s effort to legislate a wage deal for Ontario’s teachers.

@spaikin: I'm being a stickler here. govts release "white papers". Others release discussion papers called "green papers."

- TVO's The Agenda host Steve Paikin tweeting from Tim Hudak's press conference announcing the latest Tory white paper.

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