Editorials, Letters & Political Commentary

The Government of Ontario today introduced the next phase of its Housing Supply Action Plan: the proposed More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022. The Plan includes a broad array of legislative and regulatory changes related to land use planning, property taxes, building code, heritage, conservation, and the infrastructure financing framework that supports growth. “Municipalities will welcome some of the proposed ...

Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk-James Bay), France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), Michael Mantha (Algoma-Manitoulin), John Vanthof (Timiskaming-Cochrane), Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay-Superior North), and Jamie West (Sudbury) are asking the Ontario Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission to reconsider a proposed electoral boundary change that would diminish the representation of Northern Ontarians in Parliament. In a letter (below) addressed to the Commission last ...

Oct 25, 2022 at 08:13 Ottawa NDP MPPs Joel Harden and Chandra Pasma issued the following response to news that Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones have been summoned to testify at the Emergencies Act inquiry: “Learning that Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones turned down a request to voluntarily testify at the Emergencies Act inquiry just adds insult to injury for ...

Oct 18, 2022 at 12:25 Chandra Pasma, NDP Education Critic, released the following statement in response to news that the no-board report requested by CUPE has been issued: “Let’s be very clear: the one person with the ability to stop classroom disruption is Doug Ford. The premier can ensure kids stay in schools right now by listening to our lowest-paid ...

  October 5th, 2022 Honourable Stephen Lecce Ministry of Education 315 Front Street West, 14th Floor Toronto, Ontario  M7A 0B8 RE: CHILDCARE CRISIS OPEN LETTER Dear Minister Lecce, Of all provincial government responsibilities, child protection, health and education are among the highest priorities. Even so, a crisis is brewing here in Ontario, growing at an alarming rate. Its effects will ...

MPP France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), Health Critic for the Official Opposition released the following statement after news that an emergency room in Chesley, Ontario will be forced to shut its doors for eight entire weeks: “Closing an ER for any length of time can have dire consequences, especially in a rural community where people are already driving long distances to ...

Sol Mamakwa, Ontario NDP critic for Indigenous and Treaty Relations, released the following statement in support of the three First Nations who filed a claim against Ontario to protect their Treaty rights under Treaty No. 9: “I stand with Chapleau Cree, Missanabie Cree, and Brunswick House First Nations in their fight to defend their traditional ways of life. The Ontario ...

On Tuesday, Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced that New Democrats used their power to help families and their budgets by giving families with children under 12 $650 a year, per child, to get their teeth fixed and by putting money in people’s pockets with $500 to pay their rent and up to $467 to pay their bills. It’s clear ...

NDP Health Care critic France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) is calling for urgent action after new Ontario Health data revealed that patients spent over 20 hours on average waiting in the ER for admission this July, with only 24 per cent of patients being admitted within an eight-hour benchmark. Gélinas released the following statement: “We can all imagine the agony of ...

As part of a push to double Ontario’s paltry ODSP and OW rates, a group of NDP MPPs will spend part of September on a ‘social assistance diet.’ Chandra Pasma, NDP critic for Poverty and Homelessness Reduction; Monique Taylor, critic for Community and Social Services; Lise Vaugeois, critic for Persons with Disabilities and Accessibility; Jessica Bell (University—Rosedale) and Joel Harden ...

On Thusday, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha reintroduced legislation that would strike a committee with a mandate to fix and improve the Northern Health Travel Grant (NHTG). The Northern Health Travel Grant Advisory Committee Act would bring together health care providers in the North, as well as recipients of the NHTG to make recommendations to the Minister of Health that would ...

Alors que les salles d’urgence sont forcées de fermer partout au pays, que les gens doivent attendre des heures pour recevoir des soins et que les travailleuses et travailleurs de la santé déplorent l’effondrement de notre système de santé, le chef du NPD, Jagmeet Singh, a réitéré la nécessité pour le premier ministre Trudeau et les libéraux de faire preuve ...

As emergency rooms across the country are forced to shut down, people have to wait hours to receive care and healthcare workers are saying that our healthcare system is collapsing, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh reiterated the need for Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals to show leadership. He warned that the inaction of the Liberals on the healthcare crisis is ...

During question period Monday, Guy Bourgouin, NDP MPP for Mushkegowuk—James Bay, called on the Ford government to update the Northern Health Travel Grant to keep up with the rising cost of gas and accommodation. “The Northern Health Travel Grant hasn’t been revised in years,” Bourgouin said. “With the rate of inflation, the current program doesn’t cover the cost of gas, ...

With the Gogama nursing station slated to close Sept. 1, NDP Health critic France Gélinas is urging the government to ensure the community isn’t cut off from its only source of primary care. The government has known about the looming closure of the nursing station since late July, when it was notified by letter. “Gogama is a small isolated community. ...