New development rules being floated by Queen’s Park could dramatically reduce the amount of new greenspace in cities.
Calculations made by staff in Brampton and Mississauga paint a dire picture of revenue lost to the development industry, increasing the burden on taxpayers.
Thanks to federal and provincial assistance, more than $11 million has been allocated to community organizations serving vulnerable populations in Peel.
But with the impact of the pandemic likely lasting for months, even years, it’s not clear if that will be enough.
Leaders in the Peel District School Board have long been unresponsive to the wants and needs of the students and parents they serve. They oversee an organization rife with systemic discrimination.
How long can harm to students be tolerated, justified by the fear and confusion some feel when confronted by change? The Pointer thinks it's way past time to remove this failed group of so-called leaders.
The first warm weekend of the season has Ontarians dreaming of the outdoors. Maybe, just maybe, the virus will cooperate.
That feeling was bolstered by a statement from Canada’s public health officer who says the country is winning the battle against COVID-19.
The phone updates have been a fixture in the city’s response to the novel coronavirus and are used as opportunities to share information. Many participants aren’t just keen residents; the virtual gatherings allow people to 'rally round the flag' during a crisis that's enveloped most of the world.
Families with parents or grandparents in vulnerable situations are growing more desperate for news from care facilities.
Some understaffed private homes, conscious of their company’s image, appear to be resisting calls for transparency, leaving worried children and grandchildren in the dark.
The Peel District School Board is under increasing pressure since a provincial review of the troubled organization was announced in November. Now, Queen’s Park has had to hire an investigator because of concern the board will not adhere to all 27 mandatory directives under its probe, which found alarming evidence of widespread discrimination. The Opposition NDP, including its Peel MPPs, has lost faith in trustees and in a blistering letter is demanding even stronger action against the board's negligent leaders.
What happens in the short term or when we work our way through this pandemic and a second plague of mental health concerns impacts our healthcare system? Governments and private sector agencies are stepping forward to respond, while a poll released this week shows half of Canadians said their mental health has worsened from the impact of this pandemic.
The call for desperately needed aid from Ottawa comes as estimated losses in Brampton and Mississauga continue to grow with no guarantee of help in sight. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is counting on a bail out after he froze the city’s tax revenues two years in a row.
Peel District School Board Chair Brad MacDonald and Director Peter Joshua spent much of Wednesday evening deflecting and shutting down questions from Trustee Kathy McDonald, who tried in vain to get answers and take action on issues related to systemic racism within the board, which was forced to admit it has a problem after a damning provincial review revealed a culture of widespread discrimination. The meeting provided more proof of this.
The virus’s spread in the community appears to have slowed. However, it's a different story in the region’s long-term care homes.
Grace Manor, Brampton’s hardest hit long-term care facility, has reported another resident’s death.
For weeks, the rate of COVID-19 infections in Ontario sped up, each day bringing worse news than the last. At the beginning of the month, modelling was released showing just where the pandemic was leading.
However, updated numbers two weeks later showed things were looking up. While public officials can’t play around with numbers and facts, it’s clear the public responds when the data is scariest.
The story has worsened for Holland Christian Homes, the operator of the hard-hit Grace Manor in Brampton, as another of the company’s facilities has a confirmed case of COVID-19.
With the military set to arrive today, advocates are pushing back against the long-term care industry, including the use of lawsuits, to change a dangerously understaffed, under-resourced system.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce warned the country’s third largest school board to move swiftly toward change, after a damning review of its equity and diversity practices found problems throughout the board. Two trustees dropped out of the process to rehabilitate the troubled board, saying other members were not interested in cooperating. Now, Lecce is sending in an investigator to force change.
Last Saturday, Brampton opened an interim bicycle lane on Vodden Street. The space, marked out by cones, is designed to give extra room to cyclists and walkers, a plan Mississauga has also launched. However, while both car-dominated cities are making the move during the COVID-19 pandemic, residents will wait to see if the commitment to active transportation continues when a sense of normalcy returns.
A 2019 study found Ontario healthcare professionals working in critical care are severely burnt out, and that was before COVID-19.
Hospitals have been able to handle the increased demand, but the work won’t end once the pandemic begins to fade.
Are our heroes in the battle prepared to deal with what comes next?
A month after the Government of Ontario issued a damning review of the Peel District School Board, with findings of systemic anti-Black discrimination, key actions to make long overdue changes ordered by the province have ground to a halt. Kathy McDonald and Nokha Dakroub, two trustees who have backed out of mediation, want to see a supervisor installed to allow the board’s schools to move forward.
Dave Carr’s life-and-death struggle with the killer menacing our society is a cautionary tale about what it feels like to go through hell and survive.
The disease has left him scared and battle-scarred but also hopeful that if the world protects itself till it’s safe, we won’t have to endure what he did during his nightmare at Brampton Civic Hospital.
Infections appear to be flattening in Peel, but local healthcare networks are still prepared to deal with a surge in patients.
At William Osler, the healthcare network has decided to close the urgent care clinic at Peel Memorial in a move to concentrate efforts at Brampton’s only full-service hospital.
The Region of Peel has proactively implemented several rules and guidelines for homeless shelters to follow during the spread of the novel coronavirus. But a lack of detailed information is making it hard to know the success of these measures.
Charity is a big part of Ramadan and money is typically raised through virtual and in-person efforts.
With the onset of the pandemic, however, fundraising options have been limited and organizations are stepping up to help each other.
Seniors’ homes across the province are drowning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are woefully understaffed and poorly equipped to deal with a medical emergency we’ve never seen before. It’s cost hundreds of lives. But now, five of the worst hit facilities have the military intervening and hopefully the most vulnerable will be given a better chance to survive.
The City of Brampton is planning for life after the virus. A new working group will sort out the details, begin making arrangements to reopen facilities and identify sources that could provide financial assistance.
The lockdown in India continues and thousands of Canadians are still stuck there during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is working tirelessly to bring them home. But the flights, for those willing to take one, are not cheap. Meanwhile, the virus might be spreading out of control among many of India's 1.4 billion people.
The risk from being placed on mechanical ventilation is high, for both patient and caregivers, but once COVID-19 ravages the body, the ill will grasp at anything that might bring relief.
One Mississauga doctor talks about what it’s like to treat some of the city’s most severely stricken COVID-19 patients.
The financial damage from COVID-19 to the City of Brampton has come into sharper focus, but many questions still remain.
How can a city with a checkered past of financial management adequately plan for recovery?
Premier Doug Ford has requested the armed forces to assist with the deteriorating situation in Ontario’s long-term care homes as COVID-19 continues to spread and kill some of the most vulnerable residents.
While it’s unclear which homes in the province will receive assistance, the outbreaks ongoing in Peel continue to spread with 21 new cases confirmed Wednesday.
As virtual learning for students enters another week, the process is not becoming any easier. A lack of clarity, inadequate supplies and student disconnection without the use of common digital platforms are issues parents dealing with the Peel District School Board want to see addressed.
A haphazard process in Peel around what information must be shared with the public concerning COVID-19 outbreaks has led to a variety of different practices.
Some institutions experiencing outbreaks have chosen to publish as much information as possible, while other organizations have been less keen to share details.
Across Ontario and Peel healthcare officials are weighed down by a confounding problem. The very places that are supposed to provide care to individuals are being overcome by the novel coronavirus, causing severe staffing shortages in some cases.
For the public it’s crucial that residents stay informed about local outbreaks, while staff at healthcare facilities try to maintain safe spaces that are desperately needed as we move closer to the virus’s peak in Peel.
It’s a good news, bad news day.
While Premier Doug Ford stood at a podium and gave the people of Ontario a message of hope, numbers from Peel Public Health show the region had one of its worst days for new cases since the pandemic began last month.
Meanwhile, a Brampton correctional facility is being emptied out and inmates relocated after a major outbreak of the virus.
Earth Day is right around the corner (April 22nd) and arrives at a time when a vicious pandemic sweeps through the world. While Covid-19 ruins our economy, and forces us to re-examine our lifestyle choices, the urban farming movement has stepped into the breach to provide our world with sustainable and healthy food sources.
Three more Peel retirement and long-term care homes have declared outbreaks of COVID-19. The news comes as Peel experienced a spike of 175 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday and Sunday.
The province is mobilizing hospital teams to fan out to the worst hit long-term care facilities, but for some it might be too late.
Peel has come under much scrutiny for its suburban subdivisions, the enemy of planners, environmentalists and even public health officials. In recent years, both Brampton and Mississauga have talked about moving away from their sprawling beginnings, with the latter laying the groundwork.
Yet, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, those living in large, suburban homes have more easily endured the sweeping restrictions on our freedoms.
In preparation for a surge in patients as a result of COVID-19, hospitals across Ontario have been rapidly expanding their capacity. In Mississauga, Trillium Health Partners constructed an 80-bed temporary facility at its Mississauga Hospital, while Brampton Civic has also increased its space.
However, with staff falling ill and others forced to self-isolate, while even more beds are needed as COVID-19 numbers rise, a significant increase in healthcare workers will be required.
Ensuring residents remain physically distant is the most important role for municipal governments in the COVID-19 crisis. As the weather gets warmer and more residents flirt with breaking the rules, Mississauga and Brampton have taken different approaches to dealing with the crucial directive.
The city says none of the employees impacted by the announcement are essential workers.
It comes days after Brampton announced the cancellation of all city-run events until July 1.
Correctional facilities and prisons across the province have been a topic of conversation during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the potential for the virus to spread quickly should it enter these closed environments.
With cases confirmed at two Brampton detention facilities, questions are mounting about what this could mean for both detainees and staff.
Transit drivers are completing an essential service during the spread of the novel coronavirus. However, they are not on the list of prioritized individuals who receive testing. Even with social distancing, this can be an issue given the work bus drivers perform on a daily basis.
New measures introduced by the province to improve testing and protective measures in long-term care facilities are being questioned as Ontarians are demanding more action.
The new moves come as Peel fights a number of COVID-19 outbreaks in the region’s seniors’ homes, where eight residents have already lost their lives.
Society's most vulnerable populations face a greater risk from COVID-19. For many South Asian-Canadians, this risk is met with an added layer of concern with research that shows the community has a higher incidence of underlying health conditions that make the threat from infection far more severe.
Peel District School Board has apologized for the way it has dealt with the region’s Black community, admitting it has an issue of “systemic racism”. The apology comes after a disturbing provincial review of the board and a series of episodes that highlighted the lack of trust among local parents.
Despite stepped-up efforts to protect the elderly in Peel’s long-term care and retirement homes, the number of infections in these institutions continues to climb.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott has repeatedly said the province is building an “iron ring” around Ontario’s seniors’ homes, but her government had previously turned a blind eye to regulations in the sector.
The Region of Peel has seen its largest daily spike in new cases, one day after the province of Ontario extended its emergency declaration, signalling social and physical distancing measures will remain in place for at least another four weeks.
Many politicians representing Brampton at the provincial and federal level are keeping busy to help their constituents. This includes everything from hand delivering personal protective equipment, answering questions on available benefits, to addressing the concerns of Canadians stuck abroad. Others have been less involved.
The William Osler Health System joins Mississauga’s Trillium Health Partners in having to declare an outbreak of COVID-19 in one of its facilities. Both Mississauga hospitals previously declared an outbreak.
Osler’s first outbreak at Civic has yet to impact any patients, only healthcare workers, as of Friday.
Amid a crisis that has pushed people into isolation, the Peel community is still finding ways to help each other.
The lack of available personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers has grown into a global issue. In the Region of Peel, local businesses and community members are working to donate as many needed supplies as possible.
Premier Doug Ford’s support of public health and government initiatives, and his truthful and commanding presence at the lectern as this province battles the vagaries of this awful pandemic, are an illustration of a politician putting his ego and ideology aside to speak and work for the good of all constituents. He wants hospital administrators, who hold the crucial data we all need to make decisions for ourselves and our family, to do the same.
A new tool that would use artificial intelligence and existing data to predict future outbreaks of COVID-19 is currently under development by the province.
Infection rates across Ontario have decreased but hospitals are preparing for more cases, as those diagnosed weeks ago could develop more serious symptoms.
A fourth transit operator in Brampton has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. Three of them worked in the same facility, but the City takes its cues from the local public health authority, which has not advised the declaration of an outbreak. It's unclear if contact tracing investigations have been used to figure out why this is happening, while some in the public continue to rely on transit.
