Here are today’s new developments:
- Opposition parties at the federal level have blocked a Liberal government CERB reform bill that would include penalization of fraudulent CERB applications – Jagmeet Singh says the penalties would target vulnerable people, and force them into unsafe working conditions. Jagmeet Singh is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to extend the Canada Emergency Relief Benefit (CERB) for at least another four months, as the relief payments for Canadians out of work due to COVID-19 end in July for many.
- COVID-19 cases among people in their 20s appear to be on the rise in Ontario, though the shift could be attributable to recently loosened criteria around who is eligible for testing.
- Premier Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott are awaiting test results for COVID-19. Minister Stephen Lecce said today that his test has come back negative after Ford, Elliott and Lecce all appeared together at Tuesday’s press conference at Queen's Park, but stayed away from Queen’s Park on Wednesday.
- Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities announced that some in-person training at post-secondary institutions will restart in July for students requiring a practicum or lab work to graduate – Chris Glover, said the announcement has left many questions unanswered, and that post-secondary institutions hit hard by COVID-19 will need financial support - something the Ford government has refused to provide.
Solutions I'm pushing for:
- I am calling for the Ford government to provide York regional police with all information necessary to consider an investigation into the death of a senior caused by apparent neglect at Woodbridge Vista Care Community, a Vaughan nursing home operated by the company Sienna. Andrea Horwath has previously called for the government to take over management of all Sienna-operated homes, and an independent judicial public inquiry into the long-term care sector's response to COVID-19.
- Jennie Stevens has written to Doug Ford and the Minister of Public Safety expressing concern over troubling reports that Canadian Armed Forces members who disclosed inhumane conditions in long-term care homes could face "consequences."