Ontario Premier Doug Ford swung back at Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson on Tuesday as the two leaders battle over impending provincewide lockdowns set to begin on Saturday.
Ford’s announcement on Monday that Ottawa would be included in a 28-day lockdown aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus in Ontario struck the wrong chord with Watson and the city’s top doctor, Vera Etches, who later that day said they do not support locking down the nation’s capital.
Coronavirus infection rates have stabilized in Ottawa since the city entered another month-long lockdown in October, with the local public health unit reporting 16 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
There are currently 20 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Ottawa, none of whom are in the intensive care unit, as ICUs across the province reach their capacities.
Watson said the city’s businesses and residents were “blindsided” by the lockdown announcement and said there was “no evidence” to support Ford’s claims that leaving Ottawa out of the shutdown would promote travel from other regions of the province and from across the river in Gatineau, Que.
Story continues below advertisement
0:48 Ottawa restaurateur calls Ontario lockdowns a ‘kick in the gut’
Ottawa restaurateur calls Ontario lockdowns a ‘kick in the gut’
Ford, who prefaced his comments Tuesday by saying he has a “great deal of respect” for both Watson and Etches, said getting into arguments over restrictions is not what matters in the province’s COVID-19 response.
“Honestly, in my opinion, I think there’s a little bit of politics going on. I don’t care about politics. I am here to protect people’s lives,” he said.
“Now is not the time to ignore the advice of our health experts.”
Etches has long advocated for a balanced approach to the pandemic that weighs the benefits of closing schools and businesses with the impacts on resident’s mental, physical and financial well-being.
“In a shutdown, we lose balance,” she said on Monday.
In defending his decision on Tuesday, Ford pointed to rising levels of COVID-19 in Ottawa’s wastewater tracking system as cause for concern in the city. The seven-day average of viral signal in the city has been on the rise since the start of December, according to researchers monitoring Ottawa’s sewage data.
Ford also said rising cases in Ottawa’s long-term care facilities is an indicator that’s causing concern, but Ottawa Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard shows long-term care outbreaks do not appear to be on the rise. There are currently six ongoing outbreaks in long-term care homes with no new outbreaks added on Tuesday.
Watson and Etches said they are hopeful Ontario will reduce the lockdown in Ottawa to 14 days, in line with northern Ontario. Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod said Tuesday on Twitter that restrictions for communities including Ottawa will be reassessed two weeks into the lockdown.
Ford indicated Tuesday he was comfortable taking a wait-and-see approach.
“We’re going to continue to monitor the shutdown measures. I’d love nothing more than to ease them,” he said Tuesday.
0:29 Coronavirus: Ontario Premier Doug Ford says without shutdown, Quebecers would be ‘flowing into Ottawa’
Coronavirus: Ontario Premier Doug Ford says without shutdown, Quebecers would be ‘flowing into Ottawa’
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
