Editorials, Letters & Political Commentary

Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath stood alongside anxious parents Wednesday at Birch Cliff Public School in Scarborough who are desperately worried about Doug Ford’s dangerous back-to-school scheme that puts the health of their children at risk and fails to offer any child care support if the start of the school year is delayed.   “For months now, parents have ...

Dear Brenda, While Rody and his Council cancelled the Wawa Drag Races (COVID-19), it seems that the the Wawa Dragway is still ongoing. The stretch of Churchill Avenue from Mission Road to the High School is an inviting stretch of road.  Cars, truck and ATV’s travel at excessive speeds endangering the lives of far too many.  Meanwhile nothing seems to be getting ...

Doug Ford’s refusal to scrap his risky back-to-school scheme has put the start of the school year in jeopardy, and Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says that’s putting parents, school boards, teachers and education workers in a terrible position, scrambling to sort out a safe September without the resources they need.   Horwath brought a school bus to Queen’s ...

Doly Begum­­­­, NDP Early Learning and Child Care critic, said the Ford government’s release of its operational handbook for child care re-opening during COVID-19 on Thursday night has parents and child care advocates worried about skyrocketing costs, on top of the safety of children. “Instead of helping parents who have to go back to work, the Ford government is making ...

To all our clients, community partners, and funders: On behalf of the extraordinary team at Algoma Family Services (AFS), we are pleased to announce the resumption of in-person services. We recognize the last four and a half months have been challenging for many children, youth, adults, and families. While our offices were closed in March, we continued to provide many ...

With the window for rescuing the start of the school year about to slam shut, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is urging the Ford government to do much more than just give its permission for school boards to stagger the back-to-school week.   “Staggering arrival days means the Ford government needs to step up with child care and paid-leave options ...

MPP Catherine Fife, Official Opposition NDP Critic for Economic Growth, is calling on the federal and provincial governments to step up and provide struggling small businesses with desperately needed pandemic relief, by administering remaining Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) funds directly to small businesses. “For months, small businesses across the province have been struggling to keep their doors open ...

Ontario NDP Health critic France Gélinas issued the following statement in response to the announcement made by the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce on Thursday:   “The announcement from Minister Stephen Lecce offers absolutely no comfort at all to parents, school staff and students who are anxious and afraid about sending their children back to crowded classrooms in September. Lecce’s ...

Kiiwetinoong NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa is calling on the Ford government to support families who have evacuated Red Lake and Eabametoong, after their communities declared a state of emergency due to the threat of fires.   “Families who have evacuated need to know if the provincial government plans to help them.   Right now families from Red Lake are scattered in ...

Teresa Armstrong, the Ontario NDP’s Long-Term Care critic, released the following statement in response to a government announcement of future long-term care beds being allocated to a Humber River Hospital long-term care facility:   “Long-term care is badly understaffed, under-regulated, and the government no longer inspects facilities regularly. As a result, thousands of seniors are neglected, and their emotional well-being ...

Official Opposition NDP critic for Economic Growth and Job Creation Catherine Fife (Waterloo) issued a statement in response to the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for July: “Friday’s figures reveal that while Ontario’s job market is slowly recovering, we are not seeing the full-time jobs being created that we need to mount a strong and inclusive economic recovery. Almost ...

On Thursday, Doug Ford acknowledged for the first time that personal support workers (PSWs) in Ontario are overworked and underpaid — a problem that governments have caused, that everyone in Ontario has known about for ages, and that Ford could fix right now.   Despite Ford’s claims that he can’t take action now, he’s the only one that can mandate ...

Jennie Stevens (St. Catharines), NDP critic for Veterans, Legions and Military Affairs, says Doug Ford’s re-announcement of existing capital grants will do nothing to save legions across Ontario that are on the brink of shutting down permanently due to the impact of COVID-19. Stevens says Ontario’s legions desperately need operational funding to make it through the pandemic.   “Veterans and ...

Published on: Aug 5, 2020 at 15:43 Wawa-news has come under fire for publishing photographs of ‘heavy’ police presence in the Darwin/Churchill area yesterday. Wawa-news stands by its position that this is news and residents of Wawa should be informed as to what is happening in their community. Some residents are upset that their house shows in a photograph – ...

With Todd Smith’s announcement today, Ontario’s autism community has learned that once again, children will be stuck waiting for needs-based therapy. Despite a committment last year that a needs-based program would be ready and accessible by April 2020, the government continues to stall and delay. As children continue to languish on an ever-increasing waitlist, access to meaningful therapeutic support remains ...