Jan 11 2021 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario’s latest COVID-19 modelling will project the province’s intensive care units to be filled beyond capacity by early February, and will also show how a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus risks accelerating the spread of infections, sources tell CBC News. Premier Doug Ford has warned he is ready to impose further restrictions based […]
Dec 15 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Hospitals across Ontario have been ordered to brace for a spike in COVID-19 patients. A memo from Ontario Health obtained by CBC News tells hospitals to prepare to activate emergency plans immediately. For hospitals in the grey lockdown and red control zones that means making available up to 15 per cent of their beds for […]
Nov 25 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was hampered by poor emergency preparedness, inadequate lab capacity and a disorganized public health system, according to a report issued Wednesday by the province’s auditor general. In a special report on COVID-19, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk raises concerns that flaws in Ontario’s communication, decision-making and management of positive cases […]
Oct 22 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Premier Doug Ford is facing accusations of using the response to COVID-19 as a guise to advance his political interests. Two new pieces of legislation that the government portrays as helping the province recover from the effects of COVID-19 contain provisions unrelated to the pandemic. The government’s proposed Better for People, Smarter for Business Act […]
Oct 20 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Only a fraction of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases have used the national COVID Alert app to report their infections, hampering the app’s effectiveness in slowing the second wave of the pandemic in the province. Figures provided by the provincial government show COVID Alert users have reported 1,354 cases through the app since its launch on July […]
Oct 9 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario is imposing stricter measures in three major areas including Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the province’s curve climbs ever-steeper. The measures, which go into effect Saturday for a period of 28 days, include prohibiting indoor dining at restaurants and bars, and closing gyms, movie […]
Sep 28 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Fresh projections suggest that Ontario’s second wave of COVID-19 will peak in mid- to late October and will likely send enough patients to intensive care that hospitals will need to scale back non-emergency surgeries. The forecasts come from the COVID-19 Modelling Collaborative, a joint effort of scientists and physicians from the University of Toronto, University […]
Sep 24 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario wants to avoid imposing lockdown-style measures to combat a second wave of COVID-19, but is prepared to take ‘targeted action” such as closing certain higher-risk businesses, CBC News has learned. CBC News obtained a copy of Ontario’s fall pandemic preparedness plan, still in draft form even as Premier Doug Ford’s government is in the […]
Sep 14 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario’s COVID-19 cases are rising at a rate not seen for months, upping the pressure on Premier Doug Ford’s government and public health officials to take fresh action to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The average number of new COVID-19 infections confirmed daily in the province has doubled in a stretch of just three […]
Mar 8 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — For Steven Del Duca, winning the Ontario Liberal leadership was the easy job. Del Duca, a former cabinet minister, succeeds Kathleen Wynne as party leader after his landslide first-ballot victory at Saturday’s Liberal convention in Mississauga. Now Del Duca faces the far more difficult tasks of rebuilding his third-place party, taking on incumbent Premier Doug Ford, and […]
Feb 24 2020 — Mike Crawley — CBC — Ontario Premier Doug Ford is offering a glimpse of his strategy for winning a second term in office, more two years before the next election. In a speech to Progressive Conservative party members in Niagara Falls this weekend, Ford reeled off figures about the health of Ontario’s economy and went on the political offensive — […]
Nov 28 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The smiles from Premier Doug Ford and his friendly bantering with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the pair met on Parliament Hill last week were in no way just an act for the cameras. It was a sharp change for Canada’s two most powerful politicians, who spent much of the past 18 months as each […]
Nov 25 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The race to lead the Ontario Liberal party back from the political wilderness begins in earnest on Monday as the deadline arrives for leadership candidates to declare they’re running. So far five candidates have joined the contest to succeed Kathleen Wynne as leader, with the eventual aim of trying to unseat Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive […]
Oct 24 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The results of the federal election can be viewed as both good news and bad news for Ontario Premier Doug Ford. First, the bad news. The way Ontarians voted suggests the Liberal brand remains rather strong in this province. Two thirds of the MPs chosen to represent Ontario ridings are Liberal. The Liberal share of […]
Oct 18 2019 — Mike Crawley — CBC — The husband of one of Premier Doug Ford’s MPPs is suing the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, claiming that officials rigged the election for party president, deliberately breaking their own rules to thwart his candidacy. Jim Karahalios filed a lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court this week, alleging that the party allowed “ballot stuffing” that tipped the […]