Ontario

Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal is to release its ruling this week on whether the federally imposed carbon tax is constitutional.

The ministry and Forests Ontario are now in consultation about how to shut the 50 Million Tree Program down with minimal disruption. The agency is a week away from starting tree-planting for the spring season. Commitments have been made to landowners by conservation authorities, stewardships, First Nations, municipalities and forestry consultants. 

Legal Aid Ontario is cutting jobs and "exploring regulatory changes to support service improvements, efficiencies and cost savings" after the Doug Ford government delivered the biggest budget cut in the agency's history.

"Could we do it, Mr. Speaker? Could we actually plant 150 million trees in one year?" Progressive Conservative Ted Arnott proposed in a motion to the legislature on Oct. 21, 2015, seeking "a more ambitious tree planting target" than the one proposed by Kathleen Wynne's Liberals which aimed to plant 50 million trees.

"It just proves what I've been saying that the legacy of the work young people are doing will carry on, that what the Ontario government has done won't dim the light," Irwin Elman said. "Young people in Japan are moving towards a model of child advocacy. They are now holding a torch for Ontario. I'm sure that light will come back to Ontario somehow when we're ready and able to rebuild."  

A plan unveiled Monday by New York City's mayor would run all city operations on 100 per cent “zero-emission Canadian hydropower” within five years. Negotiations would begin “right away” with the aim of signing a deal by the end of 2020.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott's office is insisting that "no paramedic in Ontario will lose their job" as a result of a plan by Premier Doug Ford to slash paramedic services across the province.

Ontario's legal aid agency will consult the public on ways they can continue serving the province's low-income population after Ontario Premier Doug Ford delivered the largest cut to the organization in two decades.

Ontario lawyers argued that Ottawa's pricing on emissions would unbalance the “constitutional architecture” in Canada, a delicate division of powers between the federal government and its constituent provinces, while a five-judge panel pushed back.

The Ford government's budget proposal to cut financial support for people who need legal services is the largest cut of its kind and will result in the elimination of many provincial legal services for refugees and immigrants.

Buried in Ontario's budget bill are fines of up to $10,000 per day for gas station operators who don't display government-mandated stickers about the price of the carbon tax.

Ontario residents who need a lawyer but cannot afford one may soon be affected by dramatic cuts announced on Thursday in the Ford government's first budget. This is among a series of sweeping changes that the government says is part of "modernizing" the justice system and saving money.

The Ontario budget is neither as dramatically geared for austerity as was feared nor as transformational as some might have hoped. The budget theme is “protecting what matters most.” That means what they spend on is a clear indication of their priorities. That priority is clear: balancing the budget. But carefully, over six years. Spread the time to spread the pain. 

Efforts to exploit mineral resources in the Ring of Fire region has been fraught with controversy and opposition, as First Nations communities assert jurisdiction over traditional territory and raise concerns about the use of land and risk of water contamination.

The words “red tape” were mentioned 80 times in the 383-page budget document, compared to 17 references to “climate change” — a fair reflection on the priorities Ford pitched on the campaign trail last year.