Two Toronto city councillors are putting forward a motion to call for a judicial inquiry into the controversial clearing of encampments.
Josh Matlow and Mike Layton say the role of the police in the clearings deserves a thorough investigation that can only be achieved through an external party.
It cost the city nearly $2-million to remove encampments at Trinity Bellwoods, Alexandra Park, and Lamport Stadium over the summer, angering protesters who frequently clashed with police while they evicted people who had been living at the parks.
The city also spent more than $790,000 to clean up the three parks, including removing debris.
Matlow and Layton say the videos that circulated in the media showed a use of force that is “unprecedented” and “unacceptable,” and that there is a critical need to examine what happened.
The motion will be presented at city council Monday.
Last week, the office of Toronto’s Ombudsman announced that it has launched an investigation into the clearings.
Kwame Addo said they have received complaints about the way the city handled encampment evictions and the City Manager has been formally notified of the investigation.
“The investigation will focus on how the City of Toronto planned the encampment clearings, engaged stakeholders, and communicated with the public, as well as the policies and procedures that guided its actions,” the Ombudsman’s office said in a release.
Premier Doug Ford will offer a fresh agenda Monday through a throne speech expected to focus on pandemic recovery, but may hint at new policies ahead of the next election, as some major promises from 2018 remain unfulfilled.
The speech, which comes after he prorogued the legislature, ending a more than three-year session, marks Ford’s first real chance to reset his roadmap for the province since his Progressive Conservatives won a majority government.
Since then, he has accomplished much of the roughly 60 promises in his election platform, though most of the signature ones are not checked off.
Income taxes have not been cut, gas prices are not 10 cents lower, and beer and wine are not sold in corner stores.
The pandemic changed priorities for governments and individuals alike, and the province has focused much of its energy and spending on recovery. That may mean that there is little time and money left to accomplish the rest of the promises made before COVID-19 plunged the world into turmoil.
A spokeswoman for the premier said the speech from the throne will be “overwhelmingly focused” on the ongoing fight against COVID-19.
Mitchell Davidson, Ford’s former executive director of policy, said one unfulfilled 2018 promise he thinks is most likely to still be in Ford’s plans is an income tax cut, as it could be used to spur pandemic recovery.
“There’s a lot of different arguments and cases that can be made for some form of broad-based tax relief, for government to reduce the cost of living in a way that it can control …it can actually put more money back into people’s pockets,” said Davidson, now the executive director of the StrategyCorp Institute of Public Policy and Economy.
“What an interesting opportunity to both do what you said you were going to do and also do something that will be inherently popular and needed for people right now.”
Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy’s spokeswoman, Emily Hogeveen, said, “any tax changes must be considered in the context of other government priorities and the overall fiscal situation while Ontario continues to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Ford also promised in 2018 to cut gas prices by 10 cents. Ending the previous Liberal government’s cap-and-trade system was to lower prices by 4.3 cents and the rest would come from cutting the provincial fuel tax.
The Progressive Conservatives did end cap and trade, but that meant the federal carbon tax backstop kicked in, negating savings at the pump. Ford’s government tried fighting it in court, but lost. The provincial fuel tax rate remains unchanged from 2018.
Dan Moulton, a vice-president at Crestview Strategy and former senior Liberal staffer, said the pandemic so far has allowed Ford to present a coherent agenda of battling COVID-19 and recovering from it, but as it starts to recede he’ll need to lay out what happens beyond the current crisis.
“This throne speech, I think, provides them the first opportunity to establish a vision for what they actually plan to do,” he said.
“I think the government is going to face critiques over the course of the next eight months or so over those certain things they have yet to fulfil – hydro rates probably the most glaring because they attached a 12-per-cent reduction number to it.”
The Progressive Conservatives promised in 2018 to lower hydro bills by 12 per cent at a time when high bills were a key election issue. A spokesman for the Ministry of Energy noted that a number of rate relief programs were introduced during the pandemic, and that savings first introduced by the previous Liberal government are continuing.
Moulton said the government has likely discovered cutting hydro bills in Ontario is very difficult.
“I think the government’s preference will likely be to talk as little about electricity prices in advance of the election as possible,” he said.
“It’s not a winning issue for them, it’s not a winning issue for anyone, and, frankly, I don’t think it’s top of mind for voters.”
When it comes to putting beer and wine in corner stores, the one-time banner election promise had already seemingly fallen down the government’s to-do list before the pandemic hit. After Rod Phillips was named finance minister in 2019, he didn’t take up the Beer Store sabre rattling of his predecessor.
Bethlenfalvy’s spokeswoman said a “comprehensive review of the beverage alcohol sector” is underway.
Davidson noted that the government has made a number of major moves on alcohol liberalization, such as permanently allowing restaurants to sell alcohol with take-out and delivery, appeasing consumers.
At this point Ford might as well just promise to let the Beer Store deal that effectively keeps beer out of corner stores expire in 2025 and not to renew it, he said.
Davidson suspects most of the throne speech will be high level, with perhaps one or two mentions of a big-ticket promise.
“I think on a whole it’s a very sobering experience for the government to go through,” he said.
“Lots has changed from the 2018 throne speech, so being sort of forced in a way to put some markers in the sand and define what you’re going to be about is a really important activity.”
A 14-year-old girl was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle in Brampton.
Police say the girl was cycling in the area of Goreway Drive and Richgrove Drive when she was struck just before 7 p.m. Sunday.
The driver remained on the scene.
The girl was alert and conscious before being transported to a children’s trauma centre, where she was listed in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.
It’s not clear if speed or weather conditions were factors at the time of the crash.
The country’s top court is set to rule today on whether Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to slash the size of Toronto’s city council during the last municipal election was constitutional.
The Supreme Court of Canada decision is coming roughly a year before Ontario’s next municipal vote.
In 2018, the municipal campaign was well underway when the Ontario legislature passed a law that reduced the number of council seats in Toronto to 25 from 47, aligning them with federal ridings.
Ford — a former Toronto city councillor and failed mayoral candidate — argued at the time that the change would streamline council operations and save $25 million.
Critics, however, denounced it as undemocratic and arbitrary.
Toronto successfully challenged the legislation in Superior Court, with the judge deeming it unconstitutional.
Ford threatened to use the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause to push through the change but didn’t have to invoke it because the province won a stay of the decision pending appeal.
Ontario’s top court then delivered a split decision on the matter, with three judges ruling to overturn the Superior Court decision and two to uphold it.
The Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear the city’s challenge of the Appeal Court ruling, with a hearing held in March.
Aaron Judge’s second home run of the game as part of a three-home run barrage in the sixth inning powered the New York Yankees to a 6-2 win over the Blue Jays, dealing another blow to Toronto’s wild-card playoff hopes.
Judge opened the scoring with his 38th homer of the year in the first off starter Robbie Ray.
The Blue Jays responded in the bottom half of the second as Bo Bichette scored on Corey Dickerson’s double. Toronto then took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled home Marcus Semien.
The Yankees then blew open the game in the sixth inning as Anthony Rizzo and Judge hit back-to-back home runs and Gleyber Torres slugged his ninth of the season with a batter on base for a 5-2 lead. That spelled the end of the night for Ray who gave up a season-high five earned runs on four hits – four of them home runs.
“They can hit. They’ve proven it all year,” Ray said “It’s a tough lineup from top to bottom. They’re a good hitting team for sure.”
The four home runs allowed matched Ray’s career-worst, set April 29, 2016 against Colorado while pitching for Arizona.
Brett Gardner added an insurance run with a solo home run in the ninth inning for New York, who have won eight of its last nine games to strengthen their grip on the first American League wild-card spot.
The good news for the Blue Jays is the Boston Red Sox lost to last-place Baltimore 6-2. The Orioles, who have lost 107 games this year, took two of three games in the series against Boston. The Red Sox are now tied with Seattle for the American League’s second wild card. Boston trails the Yankees by two games and leads the Blue Jays by one game.
Toronto opens a weekend series against the Orioles on Friday night. Steven Matz gets the start for Toronto. He is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA in three starts against Baltimore this season.
“We’ve just got to go one game at a time and win every game now for sure,” manager Charlie Montoyo said.
Summary
Despite his daily itinerary saying he’s in private meetings, Trudeau is actually in Tofino with his family
The PMO says this follows his participation in Wednesday night’s ceremony marking the day
The PM is speaking with residential school survivors from across the country today
TOFINO (NEWS 1130) — As the country marks its first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Tofino spending time with his family.
Despite his schedule saying he’s in private meetings, NEWS 1130 has confirmed through his office, he will be on Vancouver Island for a few days.
His whereabouts are receiving harsh criticism; however, the PM’s office says this trip is “following his participation in [Wednesday] night’s ceremony.”
A number of Twitter users posted about their frustration and anger.
One person wrote, “Honestly, what are you thinking JustinTrudeau? I have proudly voted Liberal in every election, this is so disappointing.”
Others said the trip was hypocritical while another user simply said, “Un. Believable.”
Spokesman Alex Wellstead said Trudeau spent “hours” on the phone Thursday speaking to survivors of the schools, but would not go into details of Trudeau’s phone calls “because they were private calls with individuals.”
But he said survivors “shared their heartbreaking stories of what they experienced and the lasting impacts. Some expressed hopefulness about the path forward and the importance of this day and the opportunity for Canadians to continue learning about our country.”
The Tk’emlups te Secwépemc say they’ve invited the Prime Minister to visit twice, but he still hasn’t.
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Wellstead said just because Trudeau is not in Ottawa doesn’t mean he’s taking a holiday.
“He wasn’t on a beach,” he said, noting that even the prime minister’s plane is equipped with a phone.
Wellstead said Trudeau will continue working while in Tofino on putting together his new post-election cabinet and other government business.
A spokeswoman for Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole slammed Trudeau for using the day to travel to B.C.
“Truth and Reconciliation Day shouldn’t be treated like a holiday but that’s what Justin Trudeau did,” said Chelsea Tucker.
“This is the pattern Canadians have come to know with Justin Trudeau. He says nice things about reconciliation but never follows through. As Prime Minister, Erin O’Toole will always mark this day with the respect and dignity it deserves.”
O’Toole attended a Truth and Reconciliation Day ceremony Wednesday night on Parliament Hill, at which Trudeau and several survivors spoke about the importance of Canada coming to terms with its ugly history of residential schools.
Tucker said O’Toole spent Thursday in Ottawa “taking the opportunity to remember and honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families, and their communities.”
Wellstead said he hopes O’Toole took the opportunity to actually speak with some survivors, as Trudeau did.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh attended an “orange shirt day” walk and ceremony Thursday outside Vancouver’s Aboriginal Friendship Centre, according to a spokeswoman.
Residential school survivors told their stories at a ceremony Wednesday night on Parliament Hill.
Trudeau said he applauds the courage of residential school survivors and that it cannot be easy for them to speak out.
At the ceremony on Wednesday, Trudeau said reconciliation simply doesn’t mean looking back and understanding the mistakes made in the past but realizing that they are shaping the country even today.
He said while Canada is seen as a peace-loving place that respects the rights of people, it is also a country that has made huge and terrible mistakes.
The prime minister added the challenges facing First Nations such as injustice, inequality, discrimination and racism can be traced back to the decisions made decades ago.
Trudeau stressed it behooves everyone to listen to the experiences of residential school survivors and know that they are every Canadian’s story.
Passenger disobedience, rudeness and aggressive behaviour is on the rise and directly impacting the health and well-being of airline employees, according to unions representing flight attendants at the country’s major airlines.
“Our people go to work and they anticipate having altercations with our guests on board,” said Chris Rauenbusch, an active cabin crew employee with Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Ltd. and president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4070.
“Some people have mental health conditions and need to take leaves due to these circumstances. It’s not what we signed up for as flight attendants, but it’s unfortunately become our new reality.”
While reports of increasingly disruptive behaviour in recent months on American flights have prompted calls for U.S. lawmakers to crack down on the problem, data suggests the problem is escalating in Canada as well. Flight attendants say many of the problems stem from passengers who refuse to obey the federal requirement to wear a face mask on board.
“Every time you approach someone you have in your mind that this could be stage one of a seriously escalating situation,” said Troy Winters, senior officer for health and safety with CUPE National. The union represents more than 15,000 flight attendants at nine different Canadian airlines, including WestJet, Air Canada and Transat.
“It’s not as bad as it is in the States, there’s not as much serious violence, but we certainly do have folks who are overly belligerent.”
According to Transport Canada, incidences of passenger non-compliance with the mask mandate spiked over the summer. Airlines reported 330 passengers to the regulator for refusing to wear a mask during July and August, more than twice the number of incidents reported in April and May.
Ontario recommends only the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccine be used in the 18 to 24-year-old age group due to a rare symptom caused by the Moderna (Spikevax) vaccine.
The provincial government made the determination following an increase in the heart conditions known as pericarditis and myocarditis.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, says it’s out of an abundance of caution and effective immediately.
The decision is based on the advice of Ontario’s children COVID-19 vaccine table, Ontario’s vaccine clinical advisory group and Public Health Ontario.
Moderna’s mRNA vaccine has a higher rate of the rare side effect in the aforementioned age group, particularly among young men.
Between June 1 and August 7 of this year, Moore says based on 96,000 administered doses of the mRNA vaccines to males aged 18 to 24, the risk of pericarditis and myocarditis following a second Moderna dose was 1 in 5,000.
It affects only 0.1 per cent of vaccine recipients.
For those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech, the rate was one in 28,000.
The majority of reported cases have been mild, Moore says, with affected individuals recovering quickly, usually with the help of anti-inflammatory medication.
Symptoms have typically been reported one week after a vaccine shot and more commonly after a second dose. The province assures that those who have not reported symptoms should feel confident they will not develop the rare side effect at a later date.
A severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) and Bell’s palsy (facial paralysis) are also rare.
Moore says that individuals aged 18 to 24 that received Moderna as their first dose can safely take Pfizer-BioNTech as their second shot, adding that mixing vaccines is safe and effective.
Should residents wish to receive Moderna as their second shot and prefer to do so, the province says it can be authorized with informed consent.
Moore says provincial health officials will continue to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in youths aged 12 to 17, including those turning 12 in 2021.
There are just under three million doses of the Pfizer vaccine readily available in Ontario. Moore says there is significant supply to ensure that the province moves ahead with the recommendation.
Moore is assuring residents who received the first shot of Moderna that they “absolutely did the right thing” to protect themselves against the virus and the Delta variant.
Health care providers must report possible reactions following vaccination to their local public health authority. The public health authority then reports them to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Provincial data says 86 per cent of people aged 12 and older have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 80 per cent have received both shots.
Health Canada announced in mid-September that both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines were formally granted full approval for anyone aged 12-and-up in the country.
Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine was initially authorized for use in Canada under an interim order on December 9, 2020.
The TTC has accused its largest union of employees of illegal strike action for opposing the transit agency’s vaccine disclosure mandate.
The Toronto Star is reporting that the TTC filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board on Tuesday afternoon, saying Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 violated labour laws by directing its members to not share their vaccination status with management.
The application claims that the directive from the union is illegal and interferes with the TTC’s ability to “manage the public transportation system in a safe manner.”
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The transit commission says that only 56 per cent of their employees have disclosed their vaccination status. By comparison, Metrolinx says 94 per cent of staff have provided their vaccination status to the company.
ATU Local 113 represents around 12,000 employees. The union is also calling for the resignation of TTC CEO Rick Leary.
“Since this pandemic began, the top priority of ATU Local 113 has been the health and safety of our members. Unfortunately, we have not seen the same approach taken by the TTC,” said Carlos Santos, President of ATU Local 113.
“At a time when the TTC needed strong leadership, TTC CEO Rick Leary has failed repeatedly to share vital information and negotiate in good faith with us. ATU Local 113 believes in working together to address the many challenges transit in Toronto is facing. Sadly, on a range of issues, including vaccination, Mr. Leary has shown us that he does not feel the same.”
Santos says he and the Executive Board of ATU Local 113 are asking that on or before September 30th, members comply with the vaccination status disclosure set out in the TTC’s policy.
The vaccine mandate was put in place on Sept. 7th, calling on all employees to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 30.
Metrolinx says their final mandatory vaccination policy has been distributed to all employees. The crown agency says any staff who do not provide proof of vaccination by Nov. 1 will be placed on unpaid leave.
The company says employees who were not vaccinated by Sept. 21 are required to participate in a vaccination education session. The policy applies to all staff as well as any contractors or visitors to Metrolinx sites.
Of the 94 per cent of Metrolinx staff that have disclosed their vaccination status to the company, only four per cent are not yet fully vaccinated.
The mandates from the TTC and Metrolinx followed a similar mandate from the City of Toronto that made vaccinations mandatory for all municipal employees.
Both the city and the TTC said employees would be exempt from the vaccine policy if they could provide proof of a medical reason for not being immunized.
“I believe that every individual has the inherent right to determine their own medical treatment. This is reflected in the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Health Care Consent Act and protected by the Charter,” Santos added.
“I also believe that we have a responsibility to support and protect each other and to the public – and to work together to resolve conflict.”
The ATU Local 113 President says the last 18 months have often been “chilling” for TTC employees.
“Those members deserve respect, information and fairness from their employer. I believe these issues can be resolved through open, honest dialogue,” he said.
“I call upon the TTC to abandon their strategy of confrontation and work collaboratively with us to find solutions that work for our members and work for Toronto.”
Toronto’s top doctor is asking us again to not hold large Thanksgiving gatherings.
Dr. Eileen de Villa says the risk of spreading COVID-19 still exists.
This comes as the province reports fewer than 500 new daily cases for the second day in a row, 107 new infections reported in Toronto on Wednesday.
“It’s too bad, we have to urge caution again. But once more this year, caution is a must. I hope that next year, we’ll really have something to celebrate,” de Villa says.
De Villa says even though our current case counts have been steady or dropping, it’s still too soon to let our guards down.
“So for the foreseeable future, choose wisely, carefully, and selectively, when it comes to getting together and celebrating. Wear your mask and keep your distance when in public, and especially in crowds, and when indoors,” she says.
De Villa says 189,000 people who are in the 30 to 49 year old age group have yet to get vaccinated, and she’s encouraging them to get the shot to not only protect themselves, but also their families and friends.
