#Doug Ford

[dadsinsuits]

Doug Ford

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles used provocative language to describe Premier Doug Ford’s recent scandals and dared him to take her to court if he disagrees. Standing outside the Ontario Legislative Chamber, Stiles called the premier “corrupt” and claimed the premier is preoccupied with making government-funded deals “that only benefit his insider friends.” “This is a corrupt government,” Stiles charged. “This is a corrupt premier.” Stiles pointed to the recent Greenbelt scandal, which saw 7,400 acres of protected land opened for development in 2022, primarily benefitting developers who were suspected of having insider access to the government. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[newsfromstolenland]

Five supervised drug consumption sites are slated to close in Toronto after the provincial government announced a ban on such facilities near schools and child-care centres — a move that some harm-reduction experts are slamming as a "deadly mistake."

Health Minister Sylvia Jones made the announcement Tuesday at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa.

"In Toronto, there's been numerous stories of altercations, stabbings, shootings and even a homicide in the vicinity of these sites," Jones said at the conference.

"Our first priority must always be protecting our communities, especially when it comes to some of our most innocent and vulnerable — our children."

Full article

Make no mistake, people will die as a result of this decision. The claim to be "protecting children" is being used yet again to excuse putting the lives of marginalized people at risk.

If the government really cared about not having people consume substances in front of children, they would support supervised consumption sites! By giving people a place to consume drugs safely, you give people an alternative to using drugs on the streets (where, incidentally, children often are)! And what about the children whose loved ones experience addiction? The children whose family members might OD without these resources?

But as usual, they're lying when they say it's about protecting children. It's not about that. It never is.

This is actually about not valuing the lives and safety of people who experience addiction. This is about thinking that it's a waste of money and resources to keep people who use drugs safe, doing a cost benefit analysis with people's lives on the line. This about deciding that an entire group of people are expendable for no other reason than that they use drugs. Pretending that if we remove support and resources for them, all these people will simply go away.

I'm so sick of the "protecting children" line being brought out whenever people need an excuse to be cruel. More often than not, the actions being described as a way to defend children actually cause them harm.

It's not protecting children to deny the existence of trans people. It's not protecting children to deny them sex ed. It's not protecting children to remove a source of safety for people who use drugs.

You can't protect children by sacrificing the safety and well-being of marginalized people.

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[finlaure13]

CANADA

Ontario to exempt planned Highway 413 from Environmental Assessment Act

JEFF GRAY QUEEN'S PARK REPORTER

TORONTO

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 24, 2024

Ontario has tabled legislation that would exempt its marquee proposed Highway 413 project from the need for a full-scale environmental assessment, prompting some critics to renew calls for Ottawa to do more to ensure the protection of endangered species along the 52-kilometre route.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria’s bill this week also includes new measures that would make it easier for government officials or contractors to inspect land they intend to expropriate for the highway. Under the legislation, anyone who tries to block a site inspection along the route of the 413 could face up to $10,000-a-day in fines.

In 2022, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government made the planned 413, which would arc through protected Greenbelt land around the Greater Toronto Area west and north of Toronto, a centrepiece of its re-election campaign.

But efforts since to get shovels in the ground have run into roadblocks, including a now-abandoned move by the federal government to do its own lengthy, detailed environmental evaluation of the project. Despite demands from environmental groups and opposition leaders, Ottawa has so far declined to revive this review.

Ontario’s new bill, tabled Monday, would exempt the 413 project from the province’s own Environmental Assessment Act, which would have required a lengthy study that considered the highway’s impacts and looked at alternative options.

The new bill would still require the government to produce a report on how it intends to mitigate the project’s environmental effects. But it would also allow the government to keep any studies that “contain information about sensitive natural or cultural heritage matters” out of the public eye.

The construction of Highway 413 would negatively impact the environment, not help it, say scientific researchers

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Sarkaria said the legislation would allow construction on early works to start sooner. He also again declined to provide a cost estimate cost for the 413, citing the need not to tip off bidders for the contract to build it. The province’s Auditor-General pegged the likely bill at $4-billion in 2022, but critics say the final price tag could be double that.

Tim Gray, executive director of the group Environmental Defence, said that, while the government had long said it intended to streamline the environmental assessment process for the highway, this bill would essentially gut it.

“It’s pretty perfunctory window-dressing. They’re getting rid of any of the substantive work that they were actually planning on doing and just saying, ‘We’ll publish a report,’” he said in an interview.

Mr. Gray said the federal government needs to step back in and redesignate the project for more extensive environmental scrutiny under its newly rewritten Impact Assessment Act, an idea supported by Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Green Leader Mike Schreiner. In an e-mail, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie would not say whether Ottawa should step in but said she would investigate the highway if she became premier.

Earlier this year, the federal government agreed to back off its battle with the province over the 413, after settling a court challenge that had been initiated by Ontario over whether the impact assessment Ottawa had imposed on the highway was overstepping. Last year, the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that the federal Impact Assessment Act strayed too far into provincial jurisdiction, but Ottawa has since rewritten the legislation to narrow its scope.

The federal government had agreed to set up a working group to deal with Ontario on the 413 and ensure effects on endangered species are mitigated. And to build the highway, the province will still need to seek federal permits under endangered species legislation.

In an e-mail, Ottawa’s Impact Assessment Agency said Ontario’s bill would not affect the federal-provincial working group. However, the agency also said requests to designate projects for a full federal impact assessment would be addressed on a “case-by-case basis.”

Ontario’s new legislation also includes changes that would allow the government or its contractors sweeping powers to go onto land on or near the highway’s path to do site inspections, soil sampling or other such work – without any objection from landowners. Anyone who hinders such an activity would face up to a $50,000 fine for a first offence, plus fines of up to $10,000 a day. A second offence could cost up to $100,000.

The government would also be allowed to seek an order from a justice of the peace, rather than a Superior Court judge, authorizing it to enter a property or a dwelling or even take possession of land it “has the right to possess.”

Veteran Toronto expropriation lawyer Shane Rayman said the changes will likely speed up preliminary work and the land acquisition process. However, he said, the new powers would be “unusual” in Ontario and give the government more of an upper hand with landowners facing expropriation.

“This act gives the government remarkably broad powers to possess land, to enter properties and to put down resistance,” Mr. Rayman said in an interview. He warned that if the new powers are not exercised fairly, it could “be fairly harmful to property owners.”

@allthecanadianpolitics

[reallyromealone]

118 people in emergency and 4 nurses

Thanks Doug Ford :)

[youthincare]

Politicians often bill involuntary commitment as a measure of last resort, but in fact it’s been used for years, and much more often than we like to admit. In Boston, it’s even been weaponized to clear encampments of people living on the streets as part of police “clean sweep” operations.

People often feel more traumatized as they are interacting with medical staff who are overworked already, leading to negative outcomes, post involuntary treatment

More overdoses reported after involuntary treatement

More mental health struggles from poor treatment

Potential loss of homes depending on how long the stay is

Potential loss of pets and loved ones depending on how long the stay is (people cannot be separated when struggling with homelessness and addiction as it becomes incredibly dangerous fast to survive alone)

This is obvious, but black and indigenous folks struggling with homelessness and addiction will be more targeted and less likely to receive any treatment, and instead most likely involving police.

The aftermath of this forced treatment will increase violent responses, and increase overdoses. In general it will be adding more instability for all communities.

Especially with controlled sites closing, we will see a dramatic increase in death.

If none of this bothers you, and you don't care, that's okay. Just don't call 911 in March because no ones coming to help you. Staff will be overworked dealing with unnecessary and completely preventable deaths of our communities.

[sambargestuff]

Doug Ford's Ontario:

Doug Ford, Ontario Premier, is riding a wave of good will because he just spent hundreds of millions of dollars to put beer in corner stores.

Of course, he's bankrupting the province and privatizing our healthcare but how about the beer?

This fucker formed a majority gov't with less than 25% of the available vote because NO ONE VOTED in 2022.

Now, the rumour is that Ford will call an election early, this fall, to secure another majority before next year's Federal election. So, if you didn't vote in 2022 and if you prefer public healthcare to beer in corner stores, fucking vote in the next provincial election. Vote NDP. Especially if you live in the 905. It's your Conservative neighbours that keep putting this fucker in office.

[itseasytoremember]

Doug ford sucks ass. That's it that's the post.

[bryanharryrombough]

We see the writing on the wall under Ford's plan. We could lose thousands, thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in public revenues

[dadsinsuits]

Doug Ford

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Mark Friday, May 26 and Saturday, May 27 on your calendars. Then, circle these dates, highlight them and put a star next to them. May 26 and 27, Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) will be holding a citizens’ referendum with more than a thousand voting stations across Ontario. Online voting with be available starting May 2 – and I encourage everyone reading this to vote online as soon as the site is activated.

The referendum is in response to the Ford government’s announcement that it’s moving ahead with Bill 60, Your Health Care Act,  which is expected to pass this week.

The legislation significantly expands privatization of surgeries and diagnostics as well as private for-profit hospitals and clinics – something the Ford government said they would never do during the lead-up to the election.

Once this legislation is passed the government will move with lightening speed to dismantle universal health care.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[terriwriting]

Stores will have to accept not just bottles and cans, but packaging such as bags, boxes, plastic rings and bottle caps. They will have to sort empties into four different categories, including clear glass and coloured glass. They will have to package refillable containers so they don't break in transit to The Beer Store. They will have to ensure the others are suitable for recycling, which grocers are interpreting to mean taking any cigarette butts out of bottles and cleaning them.

Huh. What a strange set of rules to roll out at the last minute. I wonder why

Thousands of convenience stores across the province have signed on to the new alcohol regime and have been able to sell beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails as of early September. They are exempt from recycling requirements.

Ah.

So who in Ford's cabinet has connections to a convenience store chain?

[beedok]

Reminder to all Ontario residents: voting is now open on the citizen’s referendum to try to stop the Tories from selling out our healthcare system.

[jayswing101]

Heads up for anyone living in Ontario, Canada. So it turns out we are living in the bad place 🙃 We have to turn up for this y'all. We turn up for this, and then we all go hunt the Ontario PC party for sport to show them how wrong they were for thinking that literally anyone would want private healthcare. Like wtf. How is this even a question???? Obviously the answer is "get fucked Douglas, no one wants your stupid ass private healthcare"

Anyway here's the link: https://www.publichospitalvote.ca/

Idk how many people from Ontario are even on tumblr but. Please reblog in case this is the thing that makes someone aware that the referendum to save our healthcare is happening!!!

[canadachronicles]

[creeping-willow]

Never post abt local politics on my account and I have no idea if I have any followers also from Ontario but wdym Ford shut the science center down??? We need to bring back assassinations