On Monday, Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer, said the “high transmission” of COVID-19 in the four Ontario regions now under modified Stage 2 restrictions had prompted him to recommend against traditional Halloween night trick-or-treating. Ontario Premier Doug Ford strongly endorsed Dr. Williams' position. In Dr. Williams' view, the current Covid situation has made it too dangerous for door-to-door trick or treating in Toronto, Peel, York and Ottawa. The ban on trick and...
Read moreThe pandemic has thrust governments into a more proactive role than anyone would have imagined just a few months ago. As Canada moves beyond the immediate COVID-19 health crisis, policymakers must seize the opportunity to implement bold, forward-looking reforms. These include redesigning income support programs for the unemployed, regulating the labour market in a way that encourages full-time, high wage jobs, and improving the distribution of risk and return between the public, the state, and...
Read moreAfter a solitary Easter Sunday, Canadians entered another week in social isolation confronted by two contradictory facts. The lockdowns that have transformed daily life across the country are working, slowing the spread of the virus and saving lives. The western provinces are seeing a significant decline in new cases from their peak, while the number of new cases has flattened in Ontario and Quebec. But the lockdowns have brought commerce to a shuddering halt, forcing...
Read moreSince the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario has trailed the rest of the country when it comes to testing people for the virus. It’s been a fatal gap in the province’s pandemic response, since a key method of stopping the outbreak involves figuring out who has the virus, and then isolating them and their contacts. Doing public health without adequate testing is like telling the fire department to rush to a nine-alarm blaze, and...
Read moreIn neither the US nor Canada is there any evidence that we are "flattening the curve" in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. This is a very dangerous situation that risks overhwelming health facilities in the hardest hit regions in both countries. In the US, there were more than 31,000 new cases reported Friday. In Canada, roughly 1,140 new cases were reported. The US numbers are the highest one-day totals since the pandemic started and...
Read moreAs public demands escalate for governments to do more to combat the ever-worsening novel coronavirus pandemic, two distinct camps seem to be forming: one essentially calling for a lockdown of the country, the other demanding a massive expansion of testing, isolation and monitoring. In other words, some are urging a "close everything down - everyone stay at home" approach with all the economic and social fallout that portends, while others are urging an aggressive effort...
Read moreIt is now becoming apparent that governments around the world have long had considerable knowledge about the risks of a coronavirus type pandemic and have had studies that accurately predicted the shortcomings in their health care systems that would hamper their ability to fight such a pandemic. The tragedy is that many countries failed to act on this knowledge and make the changes needed in their pandemic preparedness to keep their poupulations healthy. Earlier in...
Read moreAnother Ontario patronage appointee was fired Thursday as the Toronto Star revealed his ties to Premier Doug Ford’s former chief of staff, Dean French, who left government two weeks ago amid a growing cronyism scandal. Peter Fenwick, a senior bureaucrat in Ontario's cabinet office, was turfed by the Cabinet Office Secretary, Steven Davidson. Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford's office announced a review of government appointments which included a review of the appointment of...
Read moreSupt. Ron Taverner, a close confidant of the Ford family for years, has decided to withdraw his name for the top OPP job “to protect the integrity of rank and file police officers given the controversy surrounding my appointment.” “This decision is not an easy one for me to make,” Supt. Taverner said in a letter to Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Sylvia Jones, which was released by the government late Wednesday. In a...
Read moreIn a series of announcements in recent weeks, Ontario's Doug Ford government has made changes to programs and policy that are harmful to women and children. Ontario's Doug Ford government doesn't seem to like women and children much. Witness the following: an internal memo the Ministry of Education sent to day cares, highlights changes coming to child care programs, including the reversal of a key protection for not-for-profit day cares. Advocates say the removal of...
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