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

* A sign of the times: Grades 7 and 8 students from three elementary schools will move to Parry Sound High School in September 2013. “We have empty schools and we have to start consolidating them, so this is part of that consolidation process,” Near North District School Board Chair Kathey Hewitt told cottagecountrynow.ca

* Southern Ontario motorists might be grumbling after gas prices went up by more than three cents to about $1.30 Thursday at midnight but spare a thought for drivers in Montreal where the price spiked to $1.499 a litre on Friday morning.

* Finance Minister Dwight Duncan can add the Ontario Nurses' Association to the list of broader public sector unions upset over the draft legislation he announced Wednesday.

"The government's voluntary compensation restraint measures have impacted the major collective agreements that ONA negotiated over the past two years," said ONA Presdeint Linda Haslam-Stroud.

"Deficit concerns are not going to be solved on the backs of the nursing profession or by the dismantling of collective bargaining in our province," she said.

* It's not quite Hallowe'en, but a spooky infestation has shuttered a Chatham community centre. Roosting bats have closed the city's WISH Centre, which houses a public gymnasium, the local black historical society and public health clinics. The city told CBC news the closure is a precaution as crews work to remove the bats.

*Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj tells concerned citizens to call him if they're concerned about the way he's running things — or about his comparatively low (for a hospital head) $265,000 salary.

* Private and public sector deals often end up with similar results, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions argues in a blog entry. It's in response to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's claim that his proposed wage freeze is "tame stuff" compared to drops in private sector pay.

* The Ontario College of Trades has completed its review of apprenticeship ratios for several trades. The results can be found on their website.

* The Region of Peel is the latest municipality to ban teens under 18 from tanning beds. The move follows Oakville city council's decision.

The province is also seeking a ban. Premier Dalton McGuinty recently pledged to support NDP health critic France Gelinas's private member's bill to do just that.

Tweet of the Day

@oliviachow: For the cost of the gas plant scandal, the Lib gov could have run the Northlander train for 18 yrs.

Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow on the final run Friday of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission’s Northlander rail service from Union Station.

Quotes of the Day

“I don’t think Ontarians or anybody for that matter should lecture Albertans on how sustainable they’re doing it (developing the oilsands). We have to trust the people who are stewards of that resource. You have great debates among your people, within your business community, how to do that."

“Given the dynamic in the federation now, I think what I would call an Ontario-Alberta axis makes infinite sense."

- Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told the Calgary Herald during his trip to Alberta this week, back-pedaling from Premier McGuinty's earlier suggestion that the "petrodollar" has damaged the Ontario economy.

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