Doug Ford

With a federal budget in the offing, premiers are stepping up the pressure on Ottawa to immediately boost health-care funding by at least $28 billion a year.

Assessments of mining activity should not proceed until “access to clean water, housing, and health services have been secured for all upstream and downstream communities from the proposed Ring of Fire," the groups say.

The NDP, Greens and Liberals questioned why the PCs would want to spend the afternoon talking about Line 5 while key questions about COVID-19 vaccine rollout remained unresolved. Though the Ford government pointed to the need to preserve petrochemical jobs, critics said vaccines are the best way to help the economy.

Under fire during question period Tuesday, the Ford government didn’t address criticism about the environmental impact of MZOs, the subject of a Canada's National Observer investigation released last week. But PC MPP Parm Gill said the government “will not apologize.” Later, the government announced renewed funding for the Greenbelt Foundation, which critics said was a distraction.

The Ford government gutted the powers of conservation authorities in 2020. The Ontario Liberals, NDP and Greens have all pledged to undo that change if they win the next election, and to revoke any permits issued under the weaker rules.

The announcement comes the day after an investigation by Canada’s National Observer showed the Ford government has been using a controversial special zoning order to give the green light to developments in environmentally sensitive areas. Several allowed projects in close proximity to the Greenbelt, which experts say can degrade the protected land.

Developers linked to projects fast-tracked by the Ford government poured donations into the the Progressive Conservatives and Ontario Proud, a third-party group that supported the Tories in the 2018 provincial election.

The Ford government has used ministerial zoning orders, or MZOs, to override environmental concerns in 14 cases, an analysis by Canada’s National Observer shows. In many cases, developers who benefitted donated thousands to the PCs and Ontario Proud.

Several provinces began relaxing COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, February 8, 2021, amid what Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam described as “hopeful signs of declining COVID-19 activity."

Canada hit more unwanted firsts in its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday, February 7, 2021, as Quebec became the first province to surpass 10,000 deaths and Toronto reported Ontario's first case of a variant first identified in Brazil.

The prime minister on Friday, February 5, 2021, sought to quell angst over delays in vaccine delivery while British Columbia extended restrictions on gatherings to stem the spread of new, more transmissible variants of the COVID-19 virus.

Canada crossed another disheartening threshold in the COVID-19 pandemic on Saturday, February 6, 2021, even as the country's top doctor said there are hopeful signs with case counts and hospitalizations gradually trending downward.

A rule requiring international travellers landing at Ontario's largest airport to take a COVID-19 test came into effect on Monday, February 1, 2021, amid growing concern over vaccine deliveries and new reported cases of contagious COVID-19 variants.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce today, January 29, 2021, new measures aimed at further restricting international travel as more infectious variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spread around the globe.

At Canada's National Observer,  we have a deep commitment to human rights, to democracy, to social justice, and to leaving behind a better planet for future generations.