Ontario politics

The premier has gone back to his roots in his latest tirade against bike lanes, which he’s been teasing for a while now but officially acted on earlier last week. His government recently proposed legislation that would ban all new bike lanes that take up space that could otherwise be used by cars — unless they receive special permission from the province.

Stephen Lecce took over the portfolio last week in a cabinet shuffle, when he was moved from the education file that he oversaw for five years.

Premier Doug Ford's decision to reappoint Steve Clark to a key government role has been met with significant criticism from other political leaders and environmental groups.

Pierre Poilievre's pledge to crack down on housing gatekeepers has proven to be little more than empty talk. Ironically, it's been Doug Ford and other Conservative politicians — the real housing gatekeepers — who have done the proving here.

Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Graydon Smith says the province wants more people fighting wildland fires and is planning a recruitment blitz ahead of the start of the wildfire season that begins in April.

With the extent of climate change to be determined, and the definition of record-breaking fire seasons yet unknown, Ontario still does nothing to inform or protect its forest firefighters from smoke on the front lines.

Canada needs greater federal leadership on water because adapting to climate change requires national water solutions that bring together provincial, local and Indigenous jurisdictions.

Make no mistake, winter is almost over. Ontario's fire bans are coming.

The Ontario Liberal Party needs to rethink its electoral strategy or risk the NDP surpassing them as the alternative to the PCs in the eyes of Ontarians.

While cities like ours are surging ahead with climate measures, there's a distressing lack of provincial leadership in Ontario.

Environmental advocates are outraged by the Ford government’s suggestion that additional land in Ontario’s protected Greenbelt may be reviewed for possible housing development. 

Assessing 14 sites the government removed from the Greenbelt for housing development will be part of a larger review of all parcels of protected Greenbelt land, the Ontario premier said. Opposition leaders expressed concern the review will cause Ford to open up even more of the Greenbelt. 

Embattled Ontario Housing Minister Steve Clark stepped down from his cabinet role on Monday following weeks of criticism over his handling of efforts to remove land from the province's protected Greenbelt.

The relationship between the Ontario government and developers who benefited from having lands removed from the Greenbelt needs to be explored by an agency with criminal investigative powers in its quiver, writes Environmental Defence's Tim Gray.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada has announced funding to aid public participation in its assessment of Ontario's plan to open up protected Greenbelt lands near a national urban park for development.