Ford says $200 cheques will be mailed to each Ontario taxpayer at a cost of $3B | Canada News Media
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Ford says $200 cheques will be mailed to each Ontario taxpayer at a cost of $3B

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TORONTO – Ontario taxpayers are set to receive $200 cheques in the mail early next year, a $3-billion plan the premier suggests is not tied to a possible early election — though the opposition leaders have their doubts.

Premier Doug Ford and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy made the announcement Tuesday, a day ahead of the province’s fall economic statement, which serves as a mini budget.

Everyone who filed 2023 tax returns should expect to receive a $200 cheque, plus an additional $200 per child, Ford said.

“These $200 rebates will make a big difference for families across the province, with cheques arriving early in the new year,” he said.

“That’s money that families can use to pay off their credit card after the holidays, to buy a winter coat for their kids, or to cover the cost of gassing up the family car to make up for the cost of the Liberal carbon tax.”

The announcement comes as Ford has refused to rule out the possibility of an election sooner than the next fixed date of June 2026, and while he has said he will not call one this year, opposition parties are preparing for a possible spring contest.

The two are not related, Ford suggested, saying his government has been looking for ways to save Ontarians money all along, including on transit fares, a gas tax cut and licence plate renewal fees. He then went on to attack the Liberals.

“They’d increase taxes, take money out of your pockets,” he said, concluding his answer by saying the Liberals and NDP are “basically the same party.”

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said she will donate her $200 cheque to the party as it gears up for a possible early election. She did not mince words on what she called a money-giving “gimmick.”

“The premier is attempting to bribe Ontarians with their own money,” she said.

New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said the cheques do not provide any long-lasting help.

“I think a lot of people are struggling right now, but a one-time payment right before an election isn’t going to solve the affordability crisis for Ontarians,” she said.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said it doesn’t make sense to dole out this money without any means testing.

“It is ridiculous that millionaires and billionaires like Galen Weston are getting a $200 cheque when so many Ontarians can’t afford a place to live tonight,” he said.

Ford defended sending the cheques to millionaires and even billionaires.

“They’re taxpayers,” he said. “These are tax dollars going back to the taxpayers, and we’re going to give it back to every single person in Ontario. And if they have a child, they’re getting an additional $200 because life’s too expensive right now.”

Ford and Bethlenfalvy said the government can afford to send out $3 billion worth of cheques now because of higher-than-expected revenues, including due to the impact of inflation on provincial sales tax money in government coffers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

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Man injured after early morning stabbing by fellow patient at Montreal hospital

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Montreal police say a 53-year-old man was allegedly stabbed by a fellow hospital patient early this morning.

They say the victim suffered serious injuries but is expected to survive following the incident, which hospital officials say took place in the emergency room.

Police were called to the downtown Université de Montréal hospital known as the CHUM at about 1:15 a.m.

Const. Véronique Dubuc says a 35-year-old male suspect attacked the other with a sharp object and hospital staff intervened.

The victim was seriously injured in the upper body but was quickly stabilized by hospital staff.

Police are investigating and don’t yet know the motive for the attack.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version cited police saying the suspect and victim were hospital roommates, but in fact the stabbing is alleged to have happened in the emergency room.

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8 million people were infected with TB in 2023. WHO says that’s the highest it has seen

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LONDON (AP) — More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track.

About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world’s top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023.

WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world’s cases.

“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

TB deaths continue to fall globally, however, and the number of people being newly infected is beginning to stabilize. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half were diagnosed and treated.

Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that mostly affects the lungs. Roughly a quarter of the global population is estimated to have TB, but only about 5–10% of those develop symptoms.

Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long called for the U.S. company Cepheid, which produces TB tests used in poorer countries, to make them available for $5 per test to increase availability. Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders and 150 global health partners sent Cepheid an open letter calling on them to “prioritize people’s lives” and to urgently help make TB testing more widespread globally.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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‘Halloween comet’ breaks apart after flying close to the sun

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A recently discovered comet that some stargazers had hoped to see during Halloween week has disintegrated before the day of ghosts and ghouls.

NASA confirmed Tuesday its sun-observing spacecraft captured the moment when the comet Atlas broke into chunks this week as it passed close to the sun.

Astronomers have been tracking the so-called Halloween comet, also known as C/2024 S1, since it was discovered in September by a telescope in Hawaii.

As it raced toward the sun, a space observatory operated by NASA and the European Space Agency spied its demise.

The comet is thought to be part of a family of comets that pass incredibly close to the sun.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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