Articles by Allison Jones

Aug 11 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A union representing Ontario education workers is planning to talk about organizing strike votes at a meeting later this month, a move the education minister calls "needless escalation." The Canadian Union of Public Employees — which represents 55,000 workers including early childhood educators, school administration workers, bus drivers and custodians — sent a […]

Aug 10 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario is proposing to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa veto powers over bylaws that conflict with provincial priorities, such as building housing. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark introduced the legislation Wednesday, saying the powers are being given to cities that are in the most urgent need of new housing […]

Aug 10 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario is proposing to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa veto powers over bylaws that conflict with provincial priorities, such as building housing. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark introduced the legislation Wednesday, called the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act. It would allow the mayors of those two cities to override […]

Aug 9 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — More can be done to ease health system pressures in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford's throne speech acknowledged Tuesday, but no new solutions were offered to the problem that's led to temporary emergency room closures across the province. Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell delivered Ford's speech from the throne, which marks the start of a new […]

Aug 9 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — More can be done to ease health system pressures in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford's throne speech acknowledged Tuesday, but no new solutions were offered to the problem that's led to temporary emergency room closures across the province. Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell delivered Ford's speech from the throne, which marks the start of a new […]

Aug 8 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Provincial politicians are returning to Ontario's legislature today and the opposition parties plan to press the government for more solutions to a health staffing crisis and to raise disability support payment rates. The first order of business in the new session is electing a Speaker, and two Tories are vying for the job […]

Aug 8 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Provincial politicians are returning to Ontario's legislature today and the opposition parties plan to press the government for more solutions to a health staffing crisis and to raise disability support payment rates. The first order of business in the new session is electing a Speaker, and two Tories are vying for the job […]

Aug 7 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario's legislature is set to resume this week for the first time since the re-election of Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives, with politicians returning amid a health-care staffing crisis and skyrocketing inflation. Members will return Monday to vote for a Speaker, followed on Tuesday by the throne speech, which outlines a government's new […]

Aug 7 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario's legislature is set to resume this week for the first time since the re-election of Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives, with politicians returning amid a health-care staffing crisis and skyrocketing inflation. Members will return Monday to vote for a Speaker, followed on Tuesday by the throne speech, which outlines a government's new […]

Aug 5 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The seventh wave of COVID-19 in Ontario has peaked, the province's chief medical officer of health said Friday. Dr. Kieran Moore said in an interview that key indicators are peaking or already trending downward. "I think we've already started on the downswing," he said.  "It's always easier to look back and say where […]

Aug 4 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario's health minister has directed regulatory colleges for nurses and doctors to develop plans to more quickly register internationally educated professionals, a move nursing groups and critics say falls short of the premier's promise to do everything in his power to address an emergency room staffing crisis. Sylvia Jones sent directives Thursday to […]

Aug 4 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario's health minister is giving the regulatory colleges for nurses and doctors two weeks to develop plans to more quickly register internationally educated professionals so they can practice in the province. Sylvia Jones sent directives Thursday to the College of Nurses of Ontario and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario directing […]

Aug 2 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario is looking at how to get more internationally trained nurses working in the province in order to ease staffing shortages that have led to temporary emergency room closures, the health minister said Tuesday, but she didn't indicate that she's planning to address nurses' compensation. Sylvia Jones told The Canadian Press in an […]

Jul 17 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario's electricity system is searching for more power producers as demand rises and a major nuclear plant nears retirement, a process likely to secure more natural gas generation while the government seeks to end reliance on it. It means that for at least the next two decades, greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity […]

Jul 12 2022 — Allison Jones — The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Parents in some parts of Ontario are already receiving rebates under the national $10-a-day child-care program while operators elsewhere can't apply yet to be part of the system, leaving a municipal patchwork of daycare pricing across the province.  Child-care operators in many communities have recently been able to start opting in and out […]