Stop punishing PWD and seniors for the mess you made

 Last week, I talked about Doug Ford wanting to force PWD and seniors into long-term care (LTC) homes. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a few days following the announcement, he said that those who refused to be transferred to a LTC would be forced to pay the costs of

How are we supposed to feel safe when our healthcare system is on life support?

 We’re living in scary and dangerous times. We’ve been bombarded with news about our broken healthcare system for far too long. Topics range from level zero paramedic service, long wait times in the ER, temporary closures of ERs and ICU in smaller hospitals, and severe nursing shortages, just to name

A PWD’s thought on the results of the 2022 provincial election

 The past few days have been rough on my mental health, and I know I’m not alone. Since last Thursday’s provincial election, I’ve felt a mixed bag of emotions. Anger, frustration, sadness, and even fear have seemingly taken over my thoughts. Well, more so than usual. To be honest, I

Del Duca and Horwath box for second place as Ford heads towards victory.

 It is uncertain if Ottawa residents will give Doug Ford another chance. It seems likely that some ridings snatched up by the PC party in 2018 could flip to the NDP. However, residents in some Ottawa ridings appear to be caught in an existential crisis between a kind of liking

Welcome to 2022. It’s time to review, and begin anew.

 Right off the bat, or in my case, the wheel, I want to say Happy 2022 to everyone. I hope that this year brings you happiness, good health, kindness, and an end to the pandemic once and for all. Since this is the first full week of January, the holidays

Time to rotate some federal cabinet tires

 PICTUTED ABOVE: Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and Harjit Sajjan, Minister of National Defence. So last week I was critical of Doug Ford in terms of his competence to govern – imagine the shock from voting for someone who’s biggest policy issue was the price of beer not being ready

The real cost of cheap beer

 Right now Ontario is paying a huge price for cheap beer. Look, governing is complicated and should only be undertaken by serious people. But the thing about democracy – and we can debate if its a bug or a feature – is that we get the government we deserve based

Reopening Ontario — is it too soon?

 With the stay at home order set to expire on February 9th, discussion began as to what Doug Ford’s next step will be. Much of the talk seems to center with Ford taking a regional approach to reopening businesses. Areas of Ontario where Covid-19 case numbers are decreasing would slowly

Jason Kenney is worse than Doug Ford. No, really.

 Above: Ontario's Rod Philips and Alberta's Tracy Allard both travelled outside the country for Christmas and pre-taped videos for social media that gave the impression they were celebrating the holidays at home. If you believe Rod Philips resigned you likely think Julius Caesar died of natural causes. But regardless of the

Stupid is, as stupid does—Meet Ontario Finance Minister Rod Philips

 Alright, the Christmas spirit is officially done. Let’s get back to bitching. December 29th brought Ontarians two extreme examples on the leadership scale spectrum. Both should be given serious scrutiny by Ontarians – especially those who played by the rules and missed out on spending the holidays with their families.

The Prairie Premiers and their wrongness

 ABOVE: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Manitoba Premier Brain Pallister, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. Look, I get I’m beating this drum pretty hard. But the data just keeps piling up. To wit: in the last couple days, two polls have come out ranking voter satisfaction with the various provincial governments across the

Ottawa Life Magazine’s COVID-19 coverage

 Love and hope in a time of COVID By Marc Kealey Help each other in adversity to build a community of common health for mankind By Cong Peiwu, Chinese Ambassador to Canada Handbook of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment By OLM Staff What I learned from the COVID-19 response in Sweden

Premier Doug Ford declares state of emergency in Ontario

 Ontario Premier Doug Ford has declared a state of emergency in Ontario as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Premier and Health Minister Christine Elliott made the announcement at a press conference this morning. Ontario’s Emergency?Management and Civil Protection?Act grants the government broad powers in an emergency, including the

Democracy Watch challenges Ontario Integrity Commissioner over Premier Ford’s violation of ethics rules

 OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released the application it has filed in Ontario Divisional Court challenging Ontario Integrity Commissioner David Wake’s refusal to issue a public ruling on Premier Ford’s Chief of Staff Dean French (and possibly other Ford staff) providing preferential treatment to Ford’s friend Ron Taverner, and also to Mario

The Log Jam – Thoughts about online learning in Ontario education

 Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash Lumberjacks in Canada had an extraordinarily gruelling and hazardous job historically, and exhibited toughness and courage in their role in building our country. Their task was to fell and transport trees for processing into forest products. Legendary ones like Joe Mufferaw executed impressive achievements of strength and skill

Making the cuts, making the grades

 It was all very predictable. Last year’s PC election victory was a juggernaut with or without Doug Ford. The PCs could have run Daffy Duck as a leader and clobbered Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals. The provincial deficit was a big, easy target for a tax-and-spend hating Ford, so when the first

Does size really matter, Teach?

 An inquisitive adolescent boy posed this complex question to his Sex Education teacher, “Does size really matter, Teach!” The somewhat embarrassed young educator swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and thoughtfully postulated, “Well, that depends on a few salient factors! And those factors include who are the participants, what their skill

Uproar over Ford’s tuition framework: Is it warranted?

 Many of Ontario’s college and university students are in uproar after the provincial government announced its 10 percent decrease of tuition, as well as the drastic reduction of non-repayable grants through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).  It’s clear that Doug Ford’s new tuition framework will have a huge impact

“How do they do it, Teach ?” Some thoughts about sex education in Ontario schools

 “How do they do it, Mom, boys who like boys, and girls who like girls?” If the answer to this question posed by a third grader to her mother, who is very liberal, sexually open and a highly progressive supporter of sex education in schools, does not exactly just roll

Why a Canadian Basic Income is inevitable

 By: Evelyn L. Forget In Canadian policy circles, Basic Income has come to mean a stipend paid to families or individuals without the many conditions and rules that govern existing income assistance programs. The amount received is gradually reduced as income from other sources increases. However, Basic Income is not

Turning the sex ed clock back to 1998 puts our youth at risk

 By: Dionne Gesink It’s now widely known that the Ontario Ministry of Education will be reverting to the 2010 sex education curriculum to teach our youth – despite widespread criticism. What’s worse is youth in grades 7 and 8 will actually be taught the 1998 sex ed curriculum.  1998 was the

Voters disliked Ford a little less than Wynne

 By: David Pfrimmer June 2018 was an election for change in Ontario and Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives emerged the victors. Unfortunately, many voters believe their vote didn’t count.  Thanks to our “first past the post” (FPTP) electoral system, they’re right. Once again, Canada has an overwhelming majority provincial government elected

The backfire from Doug Ford’s new sex-ed curriculum

 Premier Doug Ford has gone forward with a change in the sex-ed curriculum, as promised in his election platform following this year’s provincial election. These changes have caused a lot of backfire for the Progressive Conservatives attempting to bring back old curriculums. Although high school students will continue the 2015

Canada should not stray from climate commitments in face of criticism

 Things look bleak these days for the Trudeau government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on climate change (PCF). The framework represents Canada’s primary compliance path with the Paris Climate Accord, requiring provinces to establish a price on carbon or have one imposed by Ottawa. Opposition Conservatives have railed against the plan in the

Uncertainty for Ontario

 Ontario now has a majority government that believes in neither climate change nor abortion rights, has no fiscal policy, but is committed to $1 beer. Doug Ford, the new premier of the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) has laid out a platform that is vague and opaque. Many people are therefore