Category: News

* Ontario Bar Association President Paul Sweeney, a Hamilton lawyer, officially launched a new design and a new name for the association's magazine during a party Wednesday at Trump International Hotel in Toronto. The m ...

* Tory Leader Tim Hudak was in Alberta Wednesday touring the oil sands. His official itinerary was marked “private” but his whereabouts were disclosed by his own comments on Twitter. “About to fly from Calgary to Fort Mc ...

* The Insurance Bureau of Canada said Tuesday an NDP private member's bill would lead to Northern Ontario drivers subsidizing the insurance of southern drivers. An actuarial study commissioned by the insurance bureau has ...

Just eight sitting days remain in the session before the House is set to rise on June 7 and few bills moved through the legislature this week. None passed third reading. The Standing Committee on Regulations and Private ...

Inside Ontario is a weekly roundup of issues prepared by Contributing Editor Kenyon Wallace. The Ontario Public Transit Association is urging the province to reconsider a bill that would ban all hand-held communication ...

* Health Minister Deb Matthews announced Friday that the government will convene a panel of experts to help reduce childhood obesity by 20 per cent over the next five years. The Healthy Kids Panel will be co-chaired by A ...

* The Ontario government has quietly repealed a regulation that required a municipal referendum before a municipality could become host to a new casino, replacing it with a less onerous requirement “to seek public input. ...

. . . at Queen's Park, across Ontario and elsewhere. * On Tuesday it was an 'orange' alert and threats that doctors would leave the province for greener pastures courtesy of the Coalition of Family Physicians and Specia ...

* What a difference a couple of hours make. Xtra, a newspaper which serves the gay and lesbian community, posted a story on its website last Wednesday reporting on the position of Lisa MacLeod, the Tory MPP who is spons ...

Inside Ontario is a weekly roundup of issues prepared by Contributing Editor Kenyon Wallace. The Municipal Elections Act should be reformed to clarify the roles and responsibilities of city clerks during elections, impr ...

Bill 2, Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit Act, 2012 was the subject of third-reading debate. The bill has been through committee and should continue in third reading next week. Bill 11, Attracting Investment and Creat ...

* The Ontario government is banking on one of Canada’s top bankers to help get the economy on track. Gord Nixon, president and chief executive of the Royal Bank of Canada, has been appointed as Chair of the government’s ...

ORNGE, the province’s troubled air ambulance service, has again been thrust into the spotlight following a serious highway accident near Stouffville on Wednesday. Emergency workers requested an ORNGE helicopter to airlif ...

By Andrew Reeve A coalition of more than 50 organizations called on Premier Dalton McGuinty Thursday to drop parts of the government's budget bill that they say will undermine key pieces of environmental legislation. T ...

* The Ontario Medical Association upped the ante Thursday in its ongoing compensation negotiations with the province. The OMA put brain drain on the table, saying a doctor shortage in the U.S. could lure some doctors sou ...

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By Kenyon Wallace A northern First Nation community says it has been stonewalled by the province in its efforts to learn details of the Cliffs chromite mining project in Ontario’s Far North. Sonny Gagnon, chief of the ...

. . . at Queen's Park, across Ontario and elsewhere. * The Aggregate Resources Act review is hitting the road. After much fuss over Tory members' allegations that the Liberals and the NDP were avoiding travel for the lo ...

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* Former Tory premier Ernie Eves was hung at Queen’s Park on Tuesday evening ― his portrait that is. Eves was Ontario’s 23rd premier, serving from 2002 to 2003, when Premier Dalton McGuinty took office. * It may not be ...

By Andrew Reeves The Standing Committee on Social Policy met on Tuesday afternoon. On the Agenda: Public deputations continued on Bill 13 and Bill 14 with two more hours of discussion. Presenters from Network of Famili ...

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* NDP leader Andrea Horwath asked Premier Dalton McGuinty on Monday about rumours that the Liberals are attempting to lure individual MPPs away from opposition seats with high-profile appointments. The Premier replied d ...

Bill 8, Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, 2012 was approved by the Committee on General Government and will now be reported to the House for Third Reading. Bill 11, Attracting Investment and Cr ...

Inside Ontario is a weekly roundup of issues prepared by Contributing Editor Kenyon Wallace. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is raising alarm bells over a clause in the proposed Canada-European Union Comprehen ...

* The one constant at Queen's Park over the past little while has been the incessant ringing of the Sessions Bells as part of a de facto filibuster by the Tories over the government's refusal to set up a separate committ ...

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* Premier Dalton McGuinty said in Waterloo on Thursday that he is no hurry to call a by-election to replace Elizabeth Witner but that he won't necessarily wait until the opposition parties have nominated their candidates ...

By Andrew Reeve On the Agenda: A clause-by-clause consideration of Bill 2 that would provide a tax credit to seniors doing home renovations (up to $10,000) to allow them to stay longer in their homes as they age. Proce ...

* Ontario's midwives were at Queen's Park on Wednesday to press their case for more access to Ontario hospitals and better pay. Negotiations between the province and the Association of Ontario Midwives have been stalled ...

By Richard J. Brennan A group dedicated to higher speed limits staged a so-called civil disobedience drive Tuesday from Kitchener to Oakville doing exactly 100 kmh. Robby Smink and his brother Tom drove two cars, one i ...

* Speaker Dave Levac ruled Tuesday against a complaint made by Tory MPP Jane McKenna that her privileges as a member of the Legislature were violated when constituents in her Burlington riding received robo-calls directi ...

Queen's Park Briefing spoke recently with Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce President Harold Wilson on the Far North Act, legislation PC MPP Norm Miller and the PC caucus have recently attempted to repeal. Queen's Park Br ...

. . . at Queen’s Park, across Ontario and elsewhere: * Tributes were given in the legislature Monday by the three party leaders lauding the public service of Elizabeth Witmer, who resigned Friday as the Tory MPP for Kit ...

Norfolk County has filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board claiming that the Ontario Nurses Association has engaged in bad faith bargaining with respect to the county's 32 public health nurses "It b ...

Bill 2, Healthy Homes Renovation Tax Credit Act, 2012, remained in the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. This marks the fourth week in a row that the bill has been under consideration in committee. Bil ...

Inside Ontario is a weekly roundup of issues  prepared by Contributing Editor Kenyon Wallace. The organization representing Ontario’s private motor coach companies says the contracting out of GO Transit bus services cou ...

* A young skin cancer survivor spoke Thursday about her experiences with tanning beds. Kate Neale joined the Canadian Cancer Society ― and 80 volunteers and staff ― at Queen’s Park to lobby for a new private member’s bi ...

. . . at Queen's Park, across Ontario and elsewhere: * Every member of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills received his or her very own copy of Cottage Dog on Wednesday — not because the publication ...

* The Standing Committee on Social Policy wasn't able to meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss PC MPP Elizabeth Witmer's Bill 14 because debate had resumed on Education Minister Laurel Broten's Bill 13. Parliamentary protoco ...

* The City of Guelph is to go on trial in August over Ministry of Labour charges that were laid after a 14-year-old girl was killed by a collapsing cinder block wall. * A judge has ruled that a Belleville doctor must pa ...