TORONTO – I had the sense I had been cast back in time to the to the American Wild West days when undeterred vigilantism would conduct hangings so that they could assess the strength of the rope.
TORONTO – Even one case, only one, of child sexual abuse in a school setting would be extremely serious. Well, from 2017 to 2021 such cases in Canada would have been 548. “At the very least,” says the disturbing report made by the Canadian Center for Child Protection, calling for action by the federal government in this regard, given the incredible number of reports of sexual abuse within schools in Canada. →
TORONTO – The government is pulling straight. After presenting on Monday the decree law that would cancel the threat of a strike, today it met at 5 am for the second reading of the “Keeping Students in Schools Act”. “We are at a critical time for our students. Right now, our students need to study continuously in the classroom,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said during his hour-long opening statement.
TORONTO – Del Grande’s lawyer comes to the Court with some impressive academic and professional [experience] credentials. His Resume’ says that, among other things, he has a Doctorate in Law, worked at the Supreme Court in the USA, is licenced to practice in British Columbia and Ontario and has researched and presented cases of renown before the Courts in the USA and Canada. A layman might conclude that he “knows whereof he speaks”.
TORONTO – It will be a warm autumn in Ontario schools. CUPE responds to the Ford government’s legislation by calling a day of general strike on Friday.
TORONTO – October 19, 2022. It was supposed to be the first of a scheduled two-day hearing in Ontario’s Superior Court to ascertain whether trustees of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) had the authority to reopen a “determination” and to reverse it. By 5:00 PM arguments and rebuttals were complete. Judges will not return a decision before the mutually agreed-upon 20-day hiatus allotted for negotiating “court costs”.
TORONTO – There are those who use discount coupons, those who reduce household waste, buy cheaper and less healthy food but there are also those who skip meals: one in five Canadians do it. Families, therefore, are trying them all to save money, in the midst of a crisis that sees prices continue to rise: even though the country’s annual inflation rate dropped slightly to 6.9% in September, the cost of food has in fact continued its run, reaching an increase of 11.4% compared to a year ago (at a pace not seen since 1981). Shopping has now become an odissey. →
TORONTO – “Why do we allow Ontario’s Catholic school system to violate the Charter?” This incredible headline appeared October 28, 2022, in one of Canada’s premier print media. It seemed ready made to influence judges currently deliberating the now celebrated case of Del Grande v. the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB).
TORONTO – Government and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are at loggerheads. The countdown has begun and in the event of no agreement, non-teaching staff who have been members of the union Friday could go on strike. Just yesterday the CUPE gave five days‘ notice in view of a possible complete abstention from work. “We believe that the next 3 days of mediation – November 1, 2 and 3 – are an opportunity for this government to come to the table to negotiate a contract that recognizes the education workers and vital services we provide to students, families and our communities,” CUPE tweeted.
TORONTO – On October 22, St. Margaret’s Mary Roman Catholic Parish in Woodbridge, led by Father Rory Grayda, celebrated its 65th anniversary with a gala evening.
TORONTO – The number of people using food banks across Canada rose to all-time highs earlier this year, with high inflation and low welfare rates being cited by Food Banks Canada as key factors in the increase.
TORONTO – A former cynical colleague of the NDP persuasion once shared this nugget of truth in a friendly political discussion over coffee: democracy is nothing more than a ten-minute exercise in casting a ballot at elections. He could have added… for those who care. Monday’s province-wide participation rate of a mere 27% suggests that not many do.
TORONTO – The municipalities of Ontario fear that the new housing legislation adopted by the Province could unload excessive burdens on the municipalities themselves and on taxpayers. The bill presented Tuesday by Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, would, in fact, reduce and / or exempt from taxes that builders would have to pay in order to build. →
TORONTO – That Canada is the ‘promised land‘ for many people is well known but the latest population census shows that in 2021 immigrants made up almost a quarter of the entire population and are expected to represent a third of the people present in the country by 2041.
