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Doug Ford disputes report that Ontario is sitting on $12B in cash reserves

Dec 8, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Premier Doug Ford is pushing back at an independent watchdog’s report that found Ontario was sitting on $12 billion in cash — money that opposition parties say should have been used to fight the pandemic.

The province’s Financial Accountability Office said the government had $12 billion that was not allocated at the end of the second quarter Sept. 30, but Ford countered that all but $2.6 billion has now been earmarked.

It is available in the event of unexpected expenses, particularly with the COVID-19 vaccine which is about to be distributed and injected into millions of Ontarians in the coming weeks and months, the premier said.

“We actually have some money in contingency … because as we went through this pandemic we’ve seen things pop up,” he told the legislature’s last daily question period of the year.

The House adjourned two days early for its winter break until Feb. 16.

Active cases of COVID-19 remain at record levels, although the province reported 1,676 new infections Tuesday, down from the all-time high of 1,925 the previous day as Toronto and Peel Region began their third week in lockdown.

That tally marked the lowest number of new daily infections in two weeks, but hospital admissions for the virus soared by 69 people to levels not seen since late May. There were 10 more deaths.

Closures of non-essential businesses and lost jobs make it imperative for the government to spend more on direct supports, rent relief and paid sick days so workers with potential symptoms can afford to stay home, said NDP deputy leader Sara Singh.

She accused Ford of “hoarding money and waiting for a vaccine,” adding that “working families in hot spots like Brampton can’t sit back and just wait for a vaccine.”

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said the Progressive Conservative government should have used more of the $12 billion in the summer on improved testing, contact tracing and smaller class sizes to mitigate the effects of the second wave COVID-19 that began in September.

“Those are the actions we needed to take to contain the virus and now we’re paying the consequences,” he told reporters. “Ontario is playing catch-up with a virus that is spreading at record levels.”

Cases grew so quickly this fall contact tracers in Toronto could not keep up.

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce backed the NDP’s call for 10 personal emergency leave days in a private member’s bill called the Stay Home If You Are Sick Act from London West MPP Peggy Sattler.

She proposes seven of them be paid and calls for another 14 days of paid leave during any infectious disease emergency.

“For months, public health experts have been calling for paid sick leave to help slow the spread of COVID-19,” Sattler said, noting an estimated 60 per cent of workers do not have paid sick days.

But the Chamber of Commerce said government funding is needed to cover the costs of the proposal, calling it “the right thing to do.”

“Businesses, particularly small businesses, simply cannot afford the additional financial responsibility to fund sick leave at this time,” the organization said in a statement.

Ford cancelled the previous Liberal government’s paid sick day legislation after taking office in 2018.

After months of rising cases, Ontario now has 794 patients in hospital with COVID-19, double the level of a month ago with at least 219 in intensive care and 132 of them on ventilators.

The increasing ICU admissions have “potentially devastating consequences” for people awaiting non-emergency surgeries, procedures and tests because they crowd out non-COVID patients, said the Ontario Hospital Association and groups representing registered nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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People 60 and older make up 96% of COVID-19 deaths in Ontario. Here’s why one advocate calls it ‘ageism in action’

Sep 15, 2021 , , , , by shlf

As wave two of the rages on, people 60 and older — a group disproportionately represented in Ontario deaths — are looking for more supports to avoid becoming infected, one advocate says.

According to the province’s daily epidemiological report, 3,298 people 60 and older have died as of Nov. 19, accounting for 96 per cent of the province’s total deaths. Of those deaths, 2,193 were residing in long-term-care homes.

Of the 3,298 deaths, 904 were people between the ages of 60 and 79, and 2,394 were 80 and older.

Though COVID-19 has had a on those living in long-term care, the virus’s wide reach is also being felt by those who reside in the community.

About 92 per cent of people 60 and older live in the community rather than congregate settings in Canada, said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge, a national advocacy organization that “educates, empowers and mobilizes people on the issues that matter most to older Canadians.”

Tamblyn Watts says the concerns are around community transmission to people 60 and older as they go about their daily tasks.

“I think what we’re seeing is ageism in action, that there’s been a sense that it’s all right that seniors die of COVID-19,” Tamblyn Watts said.

The more often people in this demographic need to enter the community, the more likely those at high risk have to make the “really terrible choice” between getting things they need or staying home and avoiding outside contacts she said.

“Older people in the second wave may have fewer supports as people get more used to living with COVID-19. So they have to go into the community in many cases to do things like grocery shopping and getting medication.”

Community support is a must if seniors are to stay protected, Tamblyn Watts said.

“Whether it’s an increased support for grocery delivery, whether it’s extra community-based wellness checks, whether it’s making sure that we support … care at home as opposed to home care, older people need to get care in the place that they are and not be exposed to the broader community spread wherever possible.”

She pointed to podiatry, physiotherapy, nursing services and dialysis as procedures that could be broadly supported for people at home instead of requiring folks to leave their homes for treatment.

There needs to “less hand-wringing, less professions of hearts breaking, and more action in the way that will make the lives of seniors better and safer,” Tamblyn Watts said.

Tanya McKay, 83, said that the threat of becoming infected by COVID-19 has meant she has lost a lot of the joys she found pre-pandemic alongside her husband, Nelson.

“Much of the fun has gone from our lives. We were always socially active, loved to travel, loved to entertain friends, loved to attend cultural events such as concerts and plays,” McKay, who lives in Niagara Falls, told the Star. “All this has been suspended.”

The pandemic has put a damper on any motivation in day-to-day life, McKay said. “We have more time and yet seem to accomplish less. We have to push ourselves mentally. Sometimes we feel ‘why bother?’” she said.

She realizes the privilege she and Nelson enjoy: while there is an element of fear and disruption, “we are very fortunate compared to many others as we live in a house with a backyard in a small city with easy access to lovely countryside,” McKay said. “We are both healthy and have never had many worries.”

Jenna Moon is a breaking news reporter for the Star and is based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter:

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Toronto Catholic itinerant music teacher is charged by Ministry of Labour for failing to wear a mask

Aug 4, 2021 , , , , by shlf

An itinerant music teacher who tested positive for COVID-19 — leading to the weeklong shutdown of a Toronto elementary school earlier this month — has been charged under the workplace health and safety act for failing to wear a mask.

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour confirmed a charge was laid after inspectors responded to a -related complaint about St. Charles school near Dufferin St. and Lawrence Ave. W., said Richard Sookraj, spokesperson for Labour Minister Monte McNaughton.

The “health and safety inspectors conducted a field visit on Oct. 23, 2020 at St. Charles Catholic School in the Toronto Catholic District School Board,” Sookraj said via email.

“No orders were issued to the employer. A certificate of offence, pursuant to part I of the Provincial Offences Act, was issued charging a worker with an offence under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”

He said the “individual worker was charged with failing to comply with … failing to use or wear protective devices or clothing that the worker’s employer requires to be used or worn.”

The teacher will appear before a justice of the peace on Feb. 2, 2021. The maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine, plus any victim fine surcharges, Sookraj said.

Shazia Vlahos, a spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic board, said she could not comment on specifics. She said the board “takes seriously the safety and well-being of all students and staff. As the matter is part of a legal proceeding pursuant to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, we are unable to comment further.”

St. Charles for a week Oct. 5 after the teacher’s diagnosis, and Toronto Public Health set up an on-site assessment centre so that staff and students could access quick COVID-19 tests.

The school also received a deep cleaning before students and staff returned.

The music teacher is an itinerant — which requires travel from class to class or among schools — and had taught several classes before receiving the positive test.

Principal James Graham told the Star’s Kevin Jiang that “there just after we determined close contacts with this particular individual.” He also said the teacher’s “behaviours … maybe weren’t as safe as they could have been.”

The teacher had contact with three classes in the school of 250, and a source familiar with the situation said the individual is also accused of failing to self-screen before coming to work, coming to school while symptomatic and not self-isolating while ill.

The Catholic board has been looking at ways to limit itinerant teachers’ contacts, as some see up to 10 schools a week.

Some trustees have likened the situation to personal support workers in long-term-care homes, who the province limited to to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: