The Ontario Medical Association said the suggestions on how to re-organize the health-care system included in the report on patient care groups released publicly yesterday could take 'years' and 'much needed funds.' ...
Author Archives: Natalie Paddon
Report recommends province add a new layer of administration to primary care
Ministry of Health says it will take report – written by a group it convened in 2013 – as one piece of advice as it looks at how to strengthen primary care in Ontario ...
Premier: Frustration behind school boards’ move to reveal bargaining details with ETFO
Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario calls OPSBA’s releasing sick leave and benefits as two issues left to be dealt with 'bad faith bargaining and a 'hostile move' ...
School boards say sick leave, benefits only remaining issues
In contract talks, Ontario Public School Boards' Association says other issues including class size and teacher supervision time have been tentatively agreed on with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario and the ...
Per-person spending on drugs in Ontario among highest in world
The yearly report released from Health Quality Ontario also shows the province is the only jurisdiction other than the United States where private spending on prescription drugs is higher than public spending. ...
Premier ‘encouraged’ by progress in contract talks with ETFO
While Kathleen Wynne and Education Minister Liz Sandals have said they're waiting for ETFO to come back to the table after it consults internally, union president Sam Hammond has said ETFO is waiting for the the governme ...
OPSEU deal contains ‘anti-privatization’ language, union says
In a summary posted on its website, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says the three-year tentative agreement includes language that would require the government to work with the union before it outsources publi ...
Tory backbencher’s motion on agri-food education supported by all parties
PC MPP Lisa Thompson's motion aims to help reach 120,000-job target in Ontario's agri-food industry by 2020 ...
Wynne talks climate change with Jiangsu province party secretary
Premier Kathleen Wynne signed a memorandum of understanding that touched on culture, technology and business co-operation with Luo Zhijun Wednesday. ...
Education minister says Ontario’s private school growth slow compared with rest of Canada
A Fraser Institute report released Tuesday shows Ontario's independent school population increased 9.4 per cent between 2000-01 and 2012-13. ...
Education minister to look into whether unlocked doors in Halton poses safety concern
OSSTF support staff members started job action in several school boards across the province today, while the province got back to the bargaining table with elementary teachers. ...
Report on new university funding model expected by November
Former deputy minister Sue Herbert says there are five areas in which students, employers, post-secondary institutions were aligned on how system should be reformed ...
Province capping age limit at 42 for women accessing expanded in vitro fertilization services
Province announces it will spend extra $50 million a year to fund one in vitro fertilization cycle for eligible patients ...
Health and safety in elementary schools is main focus of education minister
Liz Sandals told reporters Wednesday she "would look at ways of taking action" in the legislature if health and safety concerns stemming from job action get out of hand. ...
Province to hire ‘recruiters’ to help more children get adopted
The government announced Tuesday it will also help find more 'culturally appropriate' adoption placements for First Nations children and youth as well as extend funding for adoptive parents of 18 to 21 year olds who are ...
Giving lip service to gender-neutral language, MPP charges
Cheri DiNovo, the New Democrats' LGBTQ critic - while supportive of Liberal MPP Glenn Thibeault's private member's bid to make government forms more inclusive - believes the motion doesn't go far enough. ...
Job action planned over local contracts for high school teachers
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation has secured a central deal, but is still waiting on local deals, including in Halton and Greater Essex ...
Auditor general report shows 61 per cent of CCAC spending goes to patient treatment
Bonnie Lysyk's special report looking at Community Care Access Centres released Wednesday includes 16 recommendations - all of which the province says it agrees with. ...
Patients, families to learn cause of critical medical errors under proposed regulatory changes
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is proposing regulatory changes under the Quality of Care Information Protection Act that would make it mandatory for hospitals to disclose the cause of critical incidents to pat ...
OSSTF head hopes local contracts covering teachers reached by end of November
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation head Paul Elliott says the union is also focused on getting a deal for support staff as they head to the negotiating table this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. ...
Patient safety No. 1 for premier when considering expanding role of firefighters
Proposal could see firefighters trained to respond to emergency medical calls, starting with administering symptom-relief drugs, but no decisions have been made yet ...
Catholic teachers ratify central contract
Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association president Ann Hawkins says the three-year deal includes wage increases that are offset in two or three places such as through changes to the retirement gratuity. ...
Government gets tentative deal with francophone teachers’ union
That leaves one tentative agreement at the central bargaining table left to be reached, and it's with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario ...
Protecting patient privacy legislation tabled today
The Health Information Protection Act, introduced by Health and Long-Term Care Minister Eric Hoskins, comes after a health record privacy bill died on the order paper before the June, 2014, election. ...
Francophone teachers won’t do extracurriculars if no deal by Friday
AEFO president Carol Jolin says the main sticking points in negotiations are administration of benefits, teacher autonomy and workload. ...
ETFO threatens to ramp up work-to-rule if government’s position doesn’t change
Education Minister Liz Sandals says proposal for ETFO is same framework as contracts for other teachers' unions but takes into account conditions for elementary teachers ...
Horwath plans to keep up the pressure against Hydro One sale this fall
But with the initial public offering expected before the end of this fiscal year, there's no indication the Liberal government intends to back down on the partial sell-off ...
More details revealed on calorie labelling law
The province has released the proposed regulation dictating how calorie counts are shown on menus, which is scheduled to come into effect in 2017. ...
ONA: ‘Vaccinate or mask’ policy flattened by arbitration award
Policy requires nurses and other health-care workers to wear a surgical mask during flu season if they haven't been vaccinated ...
Bruce Power CEO sees a win-win in P3s
Duncan Hawthorne says the government is going to have to rely on public-private partnerships in some form as it works to address its infrastructure needs with its current deficit of $8.5 billion. ...
Province attempting to dispell misunderstandings about sex-ed
Some people 'clearly don’t understand what’s actually in the curriculum,' Education Minister Liz Sandals says; close to half of the students at a school in Premier Kathleen Wynne's riding were pulled out in protest. ...
Province gives $300,000 to help bring Syrian refugees to GTA
Health and Long-Term Care Minister Eric Hoskins also challenged the federal government to commit to bringing 5,000 Syria refugees to Canada by the end of the year. ...
MaRS Phase 2 tower now 70 per cent occupied
It's expected the Phase 2 office tower will reach 100 per cent occupancy by spring 2016, according to Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid ...
‘Bundled care’ initiative to expand to six communities
The province says this model of care helps patients transition from the hospital back home by having one team looking after them the whole time. ...
OSAP changes mean students can take grants without loans
Other changes for the 2015-16 school year include students not having to report vehicles when they apply for financial aid and exempting the first $3,000 of students' assets from their financial assessment. ...
Union president to press health minister on resolving home-care strike
Smokey Thomas wants Eric Hoskins to intervene in the months-long strike of CarePartners’ nurses in Niagara Region and Norfolk County, where nurses are seeking hourly pay. ...
Lead by example – hire people with disabilities, province told
Partnership Council on Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities recommends a cabinet minister be appointed to develop a pan-ministry strategy to bring more people with disabilities on board. ...
Grassy Narrows councillor hopes accord triggers province’s help with mercury contamination
Grassy Narrows First Nation declared a state of emergency over unsafe drinking water Thursday. ...
More support needed to help improve students’ literacy skills
According to the latest provincial testing scores, 48 per cent of students who don't meet the reading standard in Grade 6 pass the literacy test in Grade 10. ...
Canadian Medical Association gives support to Ontario doctors
At the annual general meeting in Halifax, three motions put forward by the Ontario Medical Association were backed by the CMA, including a call for a binding dispute resolution mechanism. ...
Hoskins wants federal commitment for health care spending
Federal funding for programs to vaccinate Ontarians against HPV and to reduce wait times in the province have been eliminated, a spokesperson for the health minister said. ...
Tentative deal reached with Catholic teachers’ union
Two down, three to go - agreement is second in less than a week in province's education sector; Catholic teachers' work-to-rule campaign suspended during ratification period. ...
First Nations and province sign political framework accord
Premier says self-government responsibility for First Nations will have to be defined separately when talking about such issues as education, social services or resource revenue sharing. ...
Province invests in sexual violence treatment centres
Premier Kathleen Wynne announces $1.1 million a year for the next three years toward treatment centres - one of the commitments set out in It's Never Okay: An Action Plan to Stop Sexual Violence. ...
AMO president optimistic about province’s openness to new proposals on joint-and-several liability
Gary McNamara says there's light at the end of the tunnel coming out of three-day conference in Niagara Falls ...
Deal reached for Ontario high school teachers
Premier Kathleen Wynne says each contract is negotiated separately, but getting the first tentative agreement at the central table is a 'very good thing' ...
Murray seeks to assuage municipalities about cap-and-trade
The Environment Minister told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference that industries won't be packing up and leaving when the plan is rolled out because they've helped design it. ...
Premier touts provincial-municipal relations as example for feds
Premier tells the AMO conference that the province is making progress in its relationship with municipalities through tough conversations and compromises, but the same can't be said between Ontario and Ottawa. ...
More municipalities considering utility mergers
Toronto lawyer Mark Rodger who specializes in the electricity sector says he anticipates the close to 70 local utilities currently in the province could be down to 35 over the next five years. ...
Opposition parties call on the government to address municipal funding gaps
PC Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath say the government's move to sell off part of Hydro One is not in the best interest of municipalities. ...
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