Ontario government opposition members are reacting to the Ford government’s back-to-school plan that will see students return to in-person class come September.
On Tuesday, provincial Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca issued a statement accusing Doug Ford of ignoring the science and saying the Premier “isn’t planning for a safe or supportive return to in-person learning.”
“Doug Ford is abandoning our children, parents, and education workers. Ontario Liberals are the only party with a real plan to ensure our kids can be safe and successful when they return to school in September.”
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Ford’s plan is “rolling the dice with our kids’ wellbeing.”
“Ontario should be doing everything possible to protect students and staff, and prevent in-school learning from being disrupted by outbreaks or exposures,” said Horwath. “But Doug Ford is cutting $800 million from schools for this school year, which means penny pinching on the safety plan. He’s allowing jam-packed classrooms again. He’s not taking any new actions to get kids vaccinated or help them recover, academically or emotionally.”
“What we should have seen today is a massive investment in things like small class sizes, paid sick days and mental health and learning supports for struggling kids.”
The Green Party called on Ford to prioritize mental health in what they called a “much delayed back to school plan.”
“It’s crucial that Ford and [Stephen] Lecce address the severe mental health impact the pandemic has had on many kids across Ontario,” said GPO Deputy Leader Abhijeet Manay. “That needs to be a cornerstone of the back-to-school plan.”
Ontario students returning to schools next month will be able to play on sports teams, use instruments in music class, go on field trips and ditch masks outdoors, even if distance can’t be maintained.
The updated plan includes extracurricular activities resuming, relaxed rules on using shared spaces such as libraries and cafeterias, and continuing to require masks indoors for students in Grades 1 and up.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce will not be available to answer questions about the plan until Wednesday when he is set to announce $25 million more in ventilation funding for standalone HEPA units.
Schools with mechanical ventilation are expected to use the highest-grade filters possible and turn their systems on at least two hours before school starts, and schools without are expected to have standalone HEPA filter units in all classrooms.
“More than one month ago, Ontario Liberals proposed a real plan to get our kids back in classrooms safely and with the support they need,” Del Duca added.
“The plan called for a cap on class sizes at 20, prioritized in-person learning, more mental health support, more support for kids with special needs, and suspending the 2022 EQAO testing.”
Students will be attending in person for full days, five days a week – unless they have opted for remote learning – and high school students will have timetables with no more than two courses at a time.
However, the plan warns school boards to be prepared for potential closure, without listing circumstances that might lead to that.
Protocols may be rolled back over time, dependent on vaccination rates, but the government isn’t making shots mandatory for staff or students.
“Ontario Liberals are also the only party with the courage to follow the science on mandatory vaccinations for frontline workers in education and healthcare. Both Doug Ford and Andrea Horwath have come out against mandatory vaccinations for frontline staff in education and healthcare,” said Del Duca.
“Their lack of political courage is jeopardizing another school year for our students – Ontario’s third school year to be impacted by COVID-19.”
On Tuesday, Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath announced former president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) Harvey Bischoff will be the Ontario NDP’s candidate in Brantford-Brant.
A new poll suggests more Canadians believe the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has not passed as concerns rise about a fourth wave of infections driven by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
Fifty-four per cent of respondents to an online survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies say the worst of the COVID-19 crisis is already over, compared with 63 per cent who believed so in a survey last month.
Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque said there is a nine per cent drop in the percentage of people who believe that the worst is behind us and a six per cent increase in the percentage of those who say the worst is yet to come.
“We are seeing an impact of all the talk around the Delta variant,” he said. “It is scaring some Canadians.”
The poll also found that 73 per cent of Canadians believe that governments should not lift all restrictions related to COVID-19 at the moment.
Bourque said that number is up by three points since another survey asked the same question last month.
The online poll of 1,534 adult Canadians was carried out July 30 and Aug. 1, and it cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based surveys are not considered random samples.
Canada’s top doctor warned last week that the country is at the start of a fourth wave of COVID-19 that could lead to a sharp resurgence in cases if public health restrictions are lifted before vaccination rates pick up.
“The trajectory will depend on an ongoing increase in fully vaccinated coverage and the timing, pace and extent of reopening,” Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday as she revealed new COVID-19 modelling.
“While some resurgence is expected as measures are eased, this updated model shows that if we maintain current levels of community-wide contacts, we would expect to see a modest increase in cases.”
Meanwhile, the new survey found that a majority of Canadians regularly watch the Olympic Games that are taking place in Tokyo.
Fifty-two per cent of the respondents say they are following the competitions and the athletes’ performances and 61 per cent say the Olympics are still relevant.
“We did want to find out because some people were saying, ‘Well, because of COVID and because of … the cost of the Olympics, is it still relevant to have sort of those major international competitions?’” Bourque said.
“A majority of people, six out of 10, say, ‘Yes, they are still important.’”
The survey also suggests that 82 per cent of Canadians believe that women athletes should be able to wear any clothes they want while playing sports.
A controversy around what some women athletes can and cannot wear started weeks before the Olympics when Norway‘s women’s beach handball team got fined for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms in a match at the Beach Handball Euro 2021 tournament.
Last week, the German women’s gymnastics team took the floor for their first competition at the Tokyo Olympics wearing unitards with leggings that stretched down to the ankle. The gymnasts said the wardrobe choice was intended to push “against sexualization” in women’s gymnastics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2021.
— With files from The Associated Press
Peel police are asking for the public’s help as they investigate what they allege are two “similar” sexual assaults at a Mississauga shopping centre.
The first alleged incident occurred on July 17 at a shopping centre in the area of City Centre Drive and Robert Speck Parkway.
Police allege the victim was walking around a department store when a man starting following the victim.
Investigators said the man allegedly filmed and photographed the victim before sexually assaulting the victim.
On Aug. 2, police allege a man followed a separate victim around a department store. The victim in this instance confronted the man, police said.
Jordan Jefferies, a 26-year-old Kitchener resident was arrested and charged on Aug. 2 with Criminal Harassment x2, Voyeurism and Sexual Assault, police said.
He will appear in Brampton court on Oct. 29.
Police describe Jefferies as male, about six feet tall, around 190 lbs, with a thin build, black long curly hair that is sometimes worn in a bun. He also has a black beard.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police directly. Tips can also be left anonymously with Crime Stoppers.
TORONTO — Raptors star guard Kyle Lowry is headed to the Miami Heat.
Lowry put out a social media post to his more than 907,000 Twitter followers saying “Miami Heat X Kyle Lowry” and “Let’s Goo!!” followed by five fire emojis.
The post came less than 45 minutes after free agency officially kicked off Monday at 6 p.m. ET. Deals will not be considered official until noon Friday, with the Raptors saying they would have nothing to say until then.
Citing a source, The Associated Press reported Lowry had agreed to a three-year deal worth an estimated US$90 million in a sign-and-trade with Toronto that will send veteran point guard Goran Dragic and power forward Precious Achiuwa to the Raptors. There was no immediate word whether those players will stick in Toronto or head elsewhere in another thread to the deal.
A 15-year NBA veteran, the 35-year-old Lowry has spent the last nine seasons as a Raptor.
Miami, New Orleans, Dallas, the New York Knicks and Philadelphia had been seen as possible suitors come free agency. The debate over Lowry’s future had started prior to the trade deadline but he remained a Raptor, finishing out a difficult 27-45 season played in Tampa due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.
Lowry was seen as a key player in the free-agent guard sweepstakes, one of the first dominoes to drop and set the stage for future signings.
Several outlets reported that guard/forward Gary Trent Jr., is remaining with the Raptors after agreeing to a $54-million, three-year deal, with the third year a player option. The 22-year-old restricted free agent came to Toronto at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Norm Powell to Portland.
With Lowry’s contract expiring, it was the long goodbye for the star guard. In February, there were reports Lowry _ who was in Tampa with the rest of the Raptors due to pandemic-relayed travel restrictions _ had put his Toronto home on the market.
Then the March 25 trade deadline came and went.
As free agency approached, the Heat appeared to be making moves to pave the way to acquire Lowry in a sign-and-trade. They picked up the option on Dragic’s $19.4-million contract for the 2021-2022 season, which would help to make the numbers work in a deal.
Lowry is also said to be close to Heat star Jimmy Butler, who reportedly was nearing a contract extension with Miami.
“To be honest with you, my family will be a major factor in this,” Lowry said in his end-of-season media meeting in May, when asked about what will shape his decision on what’s next. “And also money talks and years talk and all that stuff. Let’s be real.
“I play this game for the love for the game. But at the end of the day I want to make sure my family is still taken care of for generations and for time to come. Even though they are now, I want to continue to be able to do that for my family.”
But the six-time all-star made it clear he is not ready to walk away from the game.
“Until that time comes, I still have a lot more to give, I have a ton of basketball left in me,” he said.
He also made it clear he wanted to play for a contender.
“I want championships, That’s always been the goal. Money comes with that and you get paid, but championships are a big key into why I play this game,” he said.
The Raptors will look to Fred VanVleet to take over as floor general.
Toronto drafted guard Malachi Flynn in the first round (29th overall) of the 2020 draft and last week took Canadian Dalano Banton (Nebraska, 46th) and fellow guard David Johnson (Louisville, 47th).
Lowry became the face of the Toronto franchise, a gritty combative guard who helped lead the team to the promised land in 2019 when it dispatched the Golden State Warriors in six games. He has made a career out of proving people wrong.
“I enjoy the challenge of people counting me out, counting the team out,” he said in May.
Scotiabank Arena became Lowry’s house. His two young sons were often in the Raptors dressing room, playing video games or just hanging out with dad.
On the court, Lowry was the Raptors’ conductor.
He averaged 17.2 points and 7.3 assists a game last season, when he was restricted to 46 games due to injury. Toronto finished out of the playoffs, in 12th spot in the East.
Listed at six foot and 196 pounds, Lowry makes his living in a land of giants. And he is willing to put his body on the line, with a league-leading 166 charges taken over the last five seasons.
Lowry was acquired by Toronto in a July 2012 trade with Houston that sent Gary Forbes and a protected future first-round draft pick (the Rockets eventually moved to the pick to Oklahoma City which used it to select centre Steven Adams) the other way.
“We feel we’ve added a solid starting-calibre point guard to our team who will bring toughness, grit and playmaking at a very important position,” then-Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo said at the time. “At (26 years old), I would say Kyle represents what I would characterize as the future of the position.”
He was selected in the first round (24th overall) by Memphis in the 2006 NBA draft. Three years later he was dealt to Houston in a three-team trade that also involved Orlando.
Lowry is Toronto’s franchise leader in triple-doubles (16), three-points goals (1,518), assists (4,277) and steals (873). And with 10,540 points, he ranks second to good friend DeMar DeRozan (13,296) in the Raptors record book.
With 601 games and 20,813 minutes played in Toronto colours, Lowry is also second to DeRozan.
In January 2019, he added to his legacy by joining a select group with 5,000 career assists. Lowry found Serge Ibaka on a pick-and-roll and the big man beat Deandre Ayton to the hoop for a dunk in a 111-109 win over the Phoenix Suns.
“He’s been in the league a long time and he’s had the ball in his hands and got it to a lot of people,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said at the time.“ Since I came here five-and-a-half years ago, it was the first thing I noticed _ how he’d find the right guys to get the ball to. He really commands the offence and knows where to get it.”
Lowry’s pay was $30.5 million last season. According to HoopsHype, the Villanova University product has earned more than $190 million over his playing career.
Lowry is the latest member of the Raptors’ 2019 championship team to leave the fold. Kawhi Leonard, Marc Gasol, Danny Green, Norm Powell and Ibaka are among those who have already moved on.
Toronto Mayor John Tory paid tribute to Lowry, calling him “the greatest Raptor of all time.”
“He showed our city who we want to be. The fighter. The leader,” Tory said in a statement. “The player who’s got your back and leads the charge. Who takes the charge. Who falls down and gets back up. Again and again.”
The federal Liberals remain ahead as a new poll suggests Canada’s political parties are holding relatively steady in terms of voter support only weeks before a possible election call.
Twenty-nine per cent of respondents in the survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies said they would vote for the Liberals if an election were held today, which was only one point more than two weeks ago.
The Conservatives saw a similar bump to place second at 24 per cent, while the NDP was down slightly with only 16 per cent of respondents indicating they would cast their ballot for the New Democrats.
The Bloc Quebecois and Greens held steady at seven and four per cent of decided voters respectively, while the People’s Party of Canada had three per cent.
The results suggest there has been little movement as many observers anticipate Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling an election this month, which Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque says could be a problem for the Tories and New Democrats.
“If you’re the Conservatives, the concern would be that if the writ really is dropped in mid-August, you’re coming into it without any momentum,” he said.
“Usually parties like to come into an election campaign with a little bit of wind at their back. But that’s not happening right now for the Conservatives nor for the NDP. That’s why the Liberals are holding steady.”
Yet Bourque also noted that the Liberals are not soaring high despite what appears to be relative satisfaction over how the government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You’d think they would be a lot stronger at this point,” he said of the Liberals. “So, there might be a few things holding them back. Other elements about their record maybe for some people, the prime minister’s personality for some others.”
The online survey, conducted July 30 to Aug. 1, polled 2,079 Canadians. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.
The Liberals also remained ahead among the 1,737 respondents who identified as decided voters, with 36 per cent saying they would cast their ballots for the governing party – a two per cent increase from mid-July.
That slight bump appears to have come at the expense of the New Democratic Party under leader Jagmeet Singh, which sank by the same amount to 20 per cent of decided voters.
The Conservatives under Erin O’Toole were holding steady at 29 per cent, unchanged from two weeks ago.
Bourque suggested the lack of movement reflects both a lack of attention to federal politics by Canadians as they enjoy the summer following more than a year of dealing with the pandemic.
It also emphasizes the uncertainty around exactly what issues will drive the election should the prime minister dissolve Parliament and send Canadians to the polls in September or October.
“We don’t know yet what will become the ballot box question,” Bourque said. “So, I would sort of watch out for that now.”
Chinese authorities announced Tuesday mass coronavirus testing in Wuhan as an unusually wide series of COVID-19 outbreaks reached the city where the disease was first detected in late 2019.
Wuhan, a provincial capital of 11 million people in central China, is the latest city to undergo city-wide testing. Three cases were confirmed there on Monday, its first non-imported cases in more than a year.
China has largely curbed COVID-19 at home after the initial outbreak that devastated Wuhan and over time spread to the rest of China and globally. Since then, authorities have tamped down and controlled the disease whenever it pops up with quick lockdowns and mass testing to isolate infected people.
The current outbreaks, while still in the hundreds of cases in total, have spread much more widely than previous ones, reaching multiple provinces and cities including the capital, Beijing. Many of the cases have been identified as the highly contagious delta variant that is driving a resurgence in many countries.
The National Health Commission said Tuesday that 90 new cases had been confirmed the previous day, 61 locally spread ones and 29 among people who had recently arrived from abroad.
Most of the local cases are still in Jiangsu province, where an outbreak started at the airport in Nanjing, the provincial capital, and has spread to the city of Yangzhou, 105 kilometers (65 miles) away. Authorities reported 45 new cases, five in Nanjing and 40 in the city of Yangzhou, which was conducting a second round of mass testing,
Five other provinces and the cities of Beijing and Shanghai reported new local cases in the single digits. In Shanghai, the nation’s largest city, a driver working at one of its two main airports tested positive. Beijing has reported a total of five cases in recent days.
Government-affiliated scientists have said that Chinese vaccines are less effective against the new strains of the coronavirus but still offer some protection. Only Chinese vaccines are currently being given in China, where authorities say more than 1.6 billion doses have been administered.
Toronto police say four people are in custody following reports of a group of people allegedly armed with knives were seen approaching people at Yonge-Dundas Square.
Police said they were called to the square late Monday evening.
When officers arrived at the scene, they took four people into custody.
Two firearms and one knife were recovered from the area, police said.
There were no reports of injuries.
Investigators said they continue to look into the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police directly. Tips can also be left anonymously with Crime Stoppers.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to make an announcement this morning about the future of the former Ontario Place theme park.
Ford will appear with Culture Minister Lisa MacLeod and Toronto Mayor John Tory.
The Progressive Conservative government has been seeking to redevelop the Toronto attraction that was closed to the public in 2012 after years of financial losses.
Ford’s government has said it wants to make the space that first opened in 1971 an impressive attraction.
Former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders was appointed this spring as a special adviser to the province on its redevelopment of the park.
MacLeod has said the redevelopment will keep key features including Trillium Park, the Cinesphere Theatre and the pods.
The federal Conservatives are urging the Liberal government to do more to ensure that Canadians who received two different doses of COVID-19 vaccines are able to travel internationally.
Tory health critic Michelle Rempel Garner has written a letter to Health Minister Patty Hajdu highlighting multiple reports of Canadians being barred entry to countries due to their mixed vaccinations.
The Calgary Nose Hill MP says in the absence of federal direction, provincial health authorities have begun to offer third doses to Canadians who need to travel where their vaccination status is not recognized abroad.
She says the Quebec Health Department is telling potential recipients the safety of this practice is unclear and that they should seek advice to weigh the risks of a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
Rempel Garner is calling on the Liberal government to release federal guidelines on the issue of third doses so that Canadians can make safe, informed choices.
In the absence of data to support third doses, she says the government must release a plan to have a mixed vaccination status recognized internationally.
“Canadians listened to your advice and got vaccinated. Telling them what your government is doing to ensure that their vaccination status is recognized abroad is the very least you can do,” she says in the letter.
Rempel Garner’s letter follows a similar plea from Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott earlier this week for Ottawa to work with the World Health Organization to ensure that mixing vaccines is internationally accepted as a complete vaccine regimen.
The U.S. has been reluctant to sanction the practice of following a Moderna shot with a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or vice versa, while many European countries don’t recognize the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot made at the Serum Institute of India, which may impact Canadians who received it.
Several cruise lines have also said they won’t accept customers who have received different types or brands of vaccines.
Hajdu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rempel Garner’s letter.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland are among the many Canadians who received a mixture of COVID-19 vaccine doses. Trudeau and Freeland received Oxford-AstraZeneca as a first dose and Moderna as a second.
Freeland said last week that the advice allowing Canadians to get mixed doses was science-based, noting there is research that shows getting two different doses offers superior protection.
“As finance minister, I attended the G20 meeting in Italy earlier this month and there was certainly recognition of my double vaccination status there with the mixed doses,” she told reporters while speaking virtually in Whitehorse.
TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays have wrapped up an extended road trip down south and finally flown north – back home to Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays are finally set to return to Toronto after the federal government granted the club a national interest travel exemption, and the team will host the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in their first game at their home stadium in nearly two years.
The Jays haven’t played at Rogers Centre since Sept. 29, 2019 – an 8-3 win over Tampa Bay – due to COVID-19 restrictions that included a U.S.-Canada travel ban.
Toronto played the shortened 2020 campaign at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y., then began this season hosting home games at its spring training site in Dunedin, Fla., before returning to the home of their triple-A affiliate in June.
“We’re going to have our own fans,” said Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo.
“Not that we didn’t have fans in Dunedin or in Buffalo, but it’s like these are all our fans, not fans from other places. It’s going to be awesome. Having a game like this and going into Toronto, it’s pretty cool. It’s like making a trade. We feel good about it.”
Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro says the team has also received approval to treat the stadium as an outdoor venue and allow up to 15,000 fans at games – about 30 per cent of its 49,286-person capacity.
Shapiro says the retractable roof will be open as long as the weather allows, and additional measures have been taken to ensure proper ventilation.
The Jays currently sit fourth in the American League East with a 51-48 record.
Before Friday’s first pitch is the MLB trade deadline, with a 4 p.m. ET cutoff for teams to make a trade in a push for the post-season.
Federal Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said in a statement on July 16 that the decision to grant the exemption was made in conjunction with the Public Health Agency of Canada and local and provincial officials.
