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Innisfil driver charged after allegedly walking away from crash scene

Jul 14, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A 28-year-old Innisfil woman who allegedly walked away from a crash Nov. 28 didn’t get too far without being noticed.

Officers were called to a crash scene on the 20th Sideroad, south of Innisfil Beach Road, at 1:38 a.m. They saw a Cadillac SUV with significant damage, but no driver was nearby.

Other officers were heading east on Innisfil Beach Road at the time and saw a woman walking on the shoulder. They stopped to speak with her and say they detected the smell of alcohol during the conversation. That was enough to make an arrest and the woman was charged with operation while impaired, dangerous operation of a vehicle and obstructing a peace officer.

Her licence was suspended for 90 days and the Cadillac was impounded for a week. She has a future court date.

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Chantal Hébert: Erin O’Toole shows he’s no Andrew Scheer in smart Commons debut as Conservative leader

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The contrast could not have been more striking.

Mere hours after an American presidential debate that will go down in history for the infamous performance of the incumbent, the five parties in the House of Commons came together to unanimously endorse the latest federal pandemic-related relief package.

That united vote should not be confused with an abdication of opposition duty. It is a reassuring sign that adults are running Canada’s federal parties.

In the lead-up to the bill’s adoption, the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois had argued vehemently against the Liberal decision to again rush a multi-billion-dollar relief package through Parliament.

The point was worth making. But it did not — at the end of the day — make the content of the bill so fatally flawed that it did not merit support.

Holding up the legislation would have put thousands of Canadian families at risk of finding themselves in financial limbo.

In the midst of a public health crisis, most voters have little tolerance for political gamesmanship and the reciprocal finger-pointing that attends it.

Based on the first round of the new parliamentary session, it is a message that all parties seem to be taking to heart.

Take the Liberals. By all accounts, their latest throne speech was a toned-down version of the ambitious intentions the prime minister had talked about when he prorogued Parliament in August.

If that is because the government concluded that Canadians were not necessarily as hungry for a social revolution as many leading policy activists, the early evidence is that Trudeau’s team read the room correctly.

Polls this week by Abacus and Léger reported a consolidation of the Liberal lead in national voting intentions.

Léger further found that 52 per cent believe the Liberal plan will create jobs and speed up the country’s economic recovery.

That passing grade actually looks pretty decent when one considers it is 12 points higher than the proportion of voters who told the same pollster they would support the Liberals in an election held this month.

Notwithstanding rising public concern over the size of the deficit, there is still a large audience within the electorate for an aspirational progressive agenda.

Trudeau’s Liberals have a pressing interest in hanging on to that audience — and not just so that their minority government survives in the House of Commons.

Fear of the alternative, in the shape of Stephen Harper and Andrew Scheer, played an essential part in Trudeau’s two election victories.

That fear drove a critical number of progressive voters who otherwise might have preferred to support the NPD or the Bloc to the Liberals.

It’s early days but Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole looks like he will be harder to paint with the same brush as his two immediate predecessors.

On the way to supporting the speech from the throne and ensuring the survival of the Liberal minority government, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was able to claim he wrestled two key concessions from the government.

By demanding changes to the financial relief package rather than attacking a throne speech the New Democrats could have written themselves, Singh managed to carve a place for his party in the parliamentary dynamics.

If the recent New Brunswick provincial campaign and the ongoing one in British Columbia are any indication, voters’ appetite for the stability that majority rule is on the rise.

Given that, Singh cannot waste any opportunity to demonstrate that minority rule offers the NDP leverage it can put to constructive use.

O’Toole’s first appearance as party leader in the House was delayed by COVID-19. On Wednesday, he wasted no time in signalling that the official opposition is under new management.

His maiden speech sacrificed partisanship to substance and the result was a solid performance.

And then it is hard to think of the last time the Conservatives, in opposition, opened question period by pressing the government on Indigenous reconciliation.

On the national day of remembrance for the victims of Canada’s residential school system and against the backdrop of the disturbing fate of Joyce Echaquan, the Quebec Atikamekw woman who was subjected to racist slurs by hospital staff even as she lay dying earlier this week, O’Toole’s choice of topic could be construed as a no-brainer.

Except that under its previous leader, the Conservative party did not always let larger realities get in the way of its partisan game plan.

To wit, on the day the World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 pandemic, the official opposition left the task of questioning the government about its emergency readiness to the other parties so as to focus on a push to reopen the SNC-Lavalin file.

For those who see partisan politics as a blood sport, one that requires someone to lose for someone else to win, this was a pretty poor week.

The rest of us can only hope the three main federal parties stay on their current game.

Chantal Hébert is an Ottawa-based freelance contributing columnist covering politics for the Star. Reach her via email: or follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert

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Growing pains: New Tecumseth ponders interim control bylaw for cannabis operations

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

New Tecumseth may be putting a temporary freeze on applications related to the production and cultivation of cannabis in order to study the issue further and come up with a set of land-use policies.

At the Sept. 28 committee of the whole meeting, council voted in favour of passing an interim control bylaw for cannabis operations, but the decision still needs to be ratified at a special meeting set to take place Oct. 1.

Council voted on the recommendation after discussing the issue in camera.

Prior to the closed-door discussion, council heard from longtime area resident Mark Manning, who talked about his plan to build a small greenhouse on his 16-acre property to grow recreational cannabis.

He said the cost of going through the site-specific bylaw process to make it legal would be too expensive, noting it would cost around $20,000 in order to prepare the studies for the town.

“Throwing roadblocks in front of community members doesn’t help anyone,” he said.

Director of planning Bruce Hoppe said the intention of the interim bylaw is to “hive off” the cannabis issue from the zoning bylaw review that is currently underway and about three quarters of the way from being completed.

He said the cannabis review would take about a year to complete and the public would have an opportunity to provide input. Once the study is done it would come back to council with recommendations.

Ward boundary review a no go

The majority of council is not interested in revisiting a contentious issue that came up during the previous term of council.

A motion requested by Deputy Mayor Richard Norcross to have the town hire an outside consultant to conduct a review of the town’s ward system and reduce the number of councillors to an odd number was turned down in a 5-4 vote.

The last review, conducted in 2016/2017, was done by council and staff, not an outside consultant as some had requested. The 10-member council did not reduce the number of seats,

The review was conducted after residents launched a petition requesting the wards be evened out to accommodate growth, and for council to be reduced to an odd number of councillors to eliminate the possibility of tied votes.

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Collingwood’s financial health ‘robust,’ says mayor as council begins budget deliberations

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Collingwood councillors are aiming to maintain 2020’s tax rate into 2021, and avoid an increase for residents put under financial pressure thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Any increase in operational spending at town hall should be limited to two per cent over last year and tied to any increased assessment in 2020, based on an earlier direction given to staff by council in September.

“I hope we can come in (without a tax increase), understanding the COVID pandemic has put a lot of stress on our municipal budget; it’s put a lot of stress on our residents, so we want to make sure that we are able to meet their needs with no tax increase,” Mayor Brian Saunderson told Simcoe.com, before council’s strategic initiatives committee reviewed some of the numbers at its Oct. 7 meeting.

The town’s overall financial health is fairly robust, said the mayor, with its financial position over the last seven years swinging from a position of being $7.5 million in the red, to more than $34 million in the black.

That includes the $18.5 million realized from the sale of the regional airport and the town’s share of the electricity utility, but also takes into account $8 million in liabilities representing the grain terminal.

The town has also decreased its debt position from $35 million in 2015 to around $20 million at the end of 2019, after the previous council adopted a ‘pay-as-you-go’ philosophy. That means not taking on any new debt in an effort to decrease the carrying costs of the town’s existing debt to seven per cent of its revenue.

That number currently sits at just over eight per cent.

However, said Saunderson, council could consider taking on debt for projects that have a lifespan over several generations of residents.

“It makes sense, in some respects, to incur longer-term debt to pay for assets that will be used three generations from now,” he said. “To make the current generation pay for everything, which is the effect of pay-as-you-go, is an inequitable distribution of the cost of an asset.”

The town’s dedicated reserve accounts are quite healthy, he emphasized, and currently sit at more than $64 million. In terms of cash and short-term investments, the town is sitting on $124 million. In both cases, the town is sitting well above the provincial benchmarks.

However, holding the line on the tax rate for 2021 doesn’t necessarily mean the town won’t be collecting more from taxpayers. As part of this year’s budget discussions, councillors will consider adjusting the special capital levy from .75 per cent to two per cent; the average residential taxpayer pays a levy of $17, and increasing it to the level recommended by former treasurer Marjory Leonard in her final report to council would hike that to $43.

Council will carry on its budget discussions in November.

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OPP charge driver alleged to have damaged traffic light in Midland

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A 21-year-old Tiny Township driver faces six charges in connection with a collision that took out a Yonge Street traffic light on Oct. 24.

Southern Georgian Bay OPP were called to the intersection at Fourth and Yonge Streets around 2:15 p.m., after a trailer being pulled by a pickup truck flipped over and took out a traffic light. 

The tandem-axle trailer, loaded with machinery, rolled over and struck the traffic light post, knocking it to the ground. A small amount of diesel fuel was spilled during the incident and the road was blocked off for several hours.

On Oct. 30, police announced that the driver of the pickup truck would face six charges. These charges include: careless driving, driving a commercial vehicle with an improper licence, driving a vehicle with a defective breaking system, pulling a trailer with no permit, failing to operate a commercial vehicle within the permitted weight, and failure to surrender an insurance card.

According to Andy Campbell, executive director of environment and infrastructure for the Town of Midland, the damaged traffic light is going to cost about $8,000 to repair. The town will bear the cost of fixing the light, but could be reimbursed by its insurance company.

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Simcoe Muskoka health unit reports 75 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend — yes, that’s a record

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

COVID-19 had an awfully reproductive weekend in the Simcoe-Muskoka region.

On Nov. 2, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit reported 75 new laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus, in the first public update of statistics since Friday. This is the highest weekend jump in numbers since the start of the pandemic.

Of the new incidents reported, 23 are in New Tecumseth. Bradford (15), Barrie (12), Innisfil (eight), Ramara and Tay (three each), Clearview and Collingwood (two each) and Adjala-Tosorontio, Essa, Gravenhurst, Penetanguishene, Tiny and Wasaga Beach (one each) also had cases. The municipality of residence is still pending for one incident.

Ten people are 17 years of age or under. Two fall into the 80-plus demographic.

One case, a Barrie boy 17 years of age or under, is linked to an educational setting outbreak. The health unit could not confirm Monday the specific facility linked to this incident. However, this kind of outbreak occurs in either a childcare centre, college, university or elementary, secondary or trades school. The affected individual may also be listed by the health unit, even if the outbreak happens outside its jurisdiction. 

Two incidents (an 18- to 34-year-old Barrie woman and a 65- to 79-year-old Clearview man) are connected to workplace outbreaks; one (an 80-plus Gravenhurst woman) is associated with an institutional outbreak.   

The health unit says there have been 1,429 total cases in the region since the start of the pandemic — though 1,166 successfully recovered. Six people are currently hospitalized.

Fifty residents have died, including 34 in long-term-care and retirement facilities.

An outbreak was declared at Waterford Retirement Community in Barrie Monday. Outbreaks are also ongoing at three long-term-care and retirement facilities — Beeton’s Simcoe Manor, Alliston’s Riverwood Senior Living and Gravenhurst’s Granite Ridge Retirement Facility.

The Simcoe County and Simcoe Muskoka Catholic district school boards also reported several cases linked to their facilities in recent days. Tay Shores Public School in Victoria Harbour closed two classrooms after two people connected to the facility tested positive.

Innisfil Central Public School is reporting three incidents. Hillcrest Public School in Barrie has been linked to one case; a classroom has been closed as a result.

On Nov. 1, Tottenham’s Father F.X. O’Reilly Catholic School and Alliston’s Banting Memorial High School were each linked to a single case. Banting closed a classroom as a result. 

Also, an outbreak is ongoing at Bradford District High School, where three people are infected and two classrooms have been closed.

All of the aforementioned schools remain open.

For more information on the local effect of COVID-19, visit .

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Magna’s new boss, Seetarama (Swamy) Kotagiri, on coping with the pandemic — personally and professionally

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The new year will bring a shifting of gears for Seetarama (Swamy) Kotagiri, who will take over the helm of Ontario-based auto parts giant Magna from long-time CEO Don Walker, who announced his retirement Tuesday.

Kotagiri has been with the company for more than two decades, most recently as president. An engineer who thrives on efficiency, he took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic and Magna’s way forward in a swiftly changing industry.

Q: This is a pretty interesting time for anyone to be making a big career change, let alone becoming a CEO. What’s that like for you?

SK: I’ve been with Magna for over 21 years and 25 years in the industry. So, I would like to see this as a smooth transition. I’ve been working with Don (Walker) for the last eight years very closely, so I don’t see this as a big change.

I’m sure there are things to learn, but I know the team, all my peers. We have been cohesively working together for some time so I don’t see that as a big challenge. It’s definitely exciting.

Q: You were made president of Magna not that long ago. Has that job helped prepare you for this new role?

SK: It definitely helped connect the dots. Over the last eight months we’ve been working together, I had a chance to get a little bit more exposure than what I already had.

This is a comprehensive process that’s been ongoing for over three to five years. So it was a hands-on coaching and learning experience, and the last step was the role of president.

Q: How has the pandemic affected your day to day, both personally but also professionally?

SK: Working from home, the day and night seem to all blend together. You have to make a concerted effort to put in the physical activity.

We’ve definitely learned some things that we didn’t think were possible before, but missed a few things, you know, just getting up and walking up to a desk and the human interaction.

I think we had more limitations in our mind of what could be done remotely.

Q: And how has the pandemic affected Magna?

SK: Just the whole industry … We’ve kind of had to come to an abrupt halt and do a complete restart by region from China and then Europe and the U.S., but we are really proud of how the team came together addressing it. Not only just doing what we had to do at Magna, but contributing to the industry startup as a whole.

The team really came together in a crisis. But it’s good to say we never had to stop an OEM (original equipment manufacturer).

Q: How do you plan on making the company stronger and moving forward after the difficulties caused by the pandemic?

SK: I think the reason why we were able to react quickly and in a fast way is how we are structured, very agile, very decentralized. That helps. We always had a plan, not for COVID, but we have gone through the 2008-09 crisis.

We’re looking at every possible way to see what did we learn, and can we improve efficiency going forward.

Q: The world of executives is pretty white. What’s it been like for you to be a visible minority at the top?

SK: I’ve never thought about it until you brought it up. I’ve been fortunate enough. One of the reasons why I came to Magna 21 years ago was the unique culture.

If you’re talented and you have the skills and if you want to take accountability and responsibility, you get to do what you want to do. That’s how fair enterprise is defined and, I guess, since you mention it now, I’m a good example of that.

Q: Are you going to continue on with Don Walker’s strategies for Magna? Or do you have any big changes in mind?

SK: Magna has been evolving for 60 years with the changing industry and it has done really well. As the industry evolves and changes, we have to be able to evolve and change along with it.

I definitely am not going to look for a change for the sake of change.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Rosa Saba is a Calgary-based business reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Today’s coronavirus news: U.S. new cases hit record; more Europeans hospitalized than ever; Ontario reports highest number of new cases ever

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The latest news from Canada and around the world Saturday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

6:15 p.m.: British Columbia’s provincial health officer says dangerously high and rapid increases in COVID-19 cases has forced a reversal of the restart plan for two weeks in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says residents in those areas need to significantly reduce their social activities in their homes, for travel, in indoor activities and at workplaces.

Henry says people in the area should be travelling only for essential reasons and there will be no social gatherings of any size with anyone other than those in their immediate household.

She says it’s essential for schools and businesses to remain open, and these new restrictions will allow that to happen.

B.C. recorded 567 cases on Saturday, adding to the 589 on Friday, the highest case counts seen in the province to date.

Henry calls the rising cases worrisome and says residents in those areas need to step back from the restart with urgent and focused actions to avoid serious consequences to the province.

4:03 p.m.: The United States set a record of more than 126,400 confirmed cases in a single day on Friday.

The seven-day rolling average of new daily cases in the U.S. is approaching 100,000 for the first time, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Total U.S. cases since the start of the pandemic are nearing 10 million, and confirmed cases globally are approaching 50 million.

Worldwide infection numbers are also setting records. The world reached 400,000 daily confirmed cases on Oct. 15; 500,000 on Oct. 26, and 600,000 on Friday.

2:53 p.m.: More Europeans are seriously ill with the coronavirus than ever before, new hospital data for 21 countries shows, surpassing the worst days in the spring and threatening to overwhelm stretched hospitals and exhausted medical workers.

New lockdowns have not yet stemmed the current influx of patients, which has only accelerated since it began growing in September, according to official counts of current patients collected by The New York Times. More than twice as many people in Europe are hospitalized with COVID-19 than in the United States, adjusted for population.

In the Czech Republic, the worst-hit nation in recent weeks, one in 1,300 people is currently hospitalized with COVID-19. And in Belgium, France, Italy and other countries in Western Europe, a new swell of patients has packed hospitals to levels last seen in March and April.

“Doctors and nurses could be forced to choose which patients to treat, who would live and who would die,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons on Monday. “I am afraid the virus is doubling faster than we could ever conceivably add capacity.”

12:06 p.m.: Quebec reported 1,234 new cases on Saturday. Coupled with 28 new deaths and 875 recoveries, that leaves the active case total at 10,161 — exceeding 10,000 for the first time since May.

Elsewhere, Italy reported nearly 40,000 new cases, a new one-day record, and Poland reported more than 27,000 — likewise a record — and 349 deaths.

10:40 a.m.: Updates to the provincial numbers posted Saturday on Ontario’s COVID-19 page indicate 11 new deaths in the last day from the virus. The number of known active cases in the province is up by 269 to 8,667.

10:29 a.m.: Add one more name to the list of Toronto music venues shuttered for good during the pandemic. The Mod Club, open since 2002 at College and Crawford Sts., announced Friday night on social media that “our goal was always striving to bring big smiles, positive vibrations and memories that will last a lifetime.”

The capacity-620 concert hall had been the site of memorable concerts in the past, including in 2011 the by Abel Tesfaye, alias The Weeknd, after his first mixtape “House of Balloons” caused an international sensation. Leslie Feist, played an pre-stardom show there in 2004.

The Orbit Room, Alleycatz and others have announced their permanent demise, as the pandemic kills touring and indoor live performance. A report last month said that 11 Toronto venues had closed since the initial lockdown in mid-March.

10:20 a.m.: Ontario is reporting 1,132 new cases this morning, according to provincial Health Minister Christine Elliott — and that number is a new single-day high for the province.

Locally, she reported on Twitter, there are 336 new cases in Toronto, 258 in Peel, 114 in York Region, 78 in Ottawa, 64 in Halton and 55 in Hamilton. There are 852 more resolved cases and nearly 39,200 tests completed.

7:38 a.m.: There are 255,809 confirmed cases in Canada.

Quebec: 112,189 confirmed (including 6,403 deaths, 95,956 resolved)

Ontario: 81,693 confirmed (including 3,209 deaths, 70,086 resolved)

Alberta: 31,858 confirmed (including 352 deaths, 24,684 resolved)

British Columbia: 17,149 confirmed (including 275 deaths, 13,035 resolved)

Manitoba: 7,419 confirmed (including 96 deaths, 3,037 resolved)

Saskatchewan: 3,623 confirmed (including 25 deaths, 2,634 resolved)

Nova Scotia: 1,121 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,040 resolved)

New Brunswick: 350 confirmed (including 6 deaths, 320 resolved)

Newfoundland and Labrador: 294 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 285 resolved)

Prince Edward Island: 66 confirmed (including 64 resolved)

Yukon: 23 confirmed (including 1 death, 20 resolved)

Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)

Northwest Territories: 10 confirmed (including 10 resolved)

Nunavut: 1 confirmed

Total: 255,809 (0 presumptive, 255,809 confirmed including 10,436 deaths, 211,184 resolved)

7:37 a.m.: British Columbia’s provincial health officer and health minister are holding a rare weekend news conference today amid a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases.

Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix will speak at 1 p.m. although there is no word yet on what will be announced.

In a news conference earlier this week, Henry had said they were talking with health authorities about possibly bringing in region specific restrictions, if necessary.

B.C. reported 589 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, up from 425 on Thursday and 334 on Wednesday.

The province also reported two new deaths on Friday, bringing the total to 275.

Less than two weeks ago, Henry brought in new restrictions limiting the number of people in homes to the occupants plus their “safe six” when cases began spiking in the Fraser Health region.

7:36 a.m.: Health measures are loosening in several COVID-19 hot spots today as Ontario’s new tiered system takes effect.

The colour-coded system — which classifies each public health unit as a red, orange, yellow or green zone based on caseload and transmission levels — came into force at midnight, as previous measures imposed on a handful of hot spots were set to expire.

Only Peel Region, which has seen rising cases in recent weeks, was deemed a red zone, while other hot spots such as York Region and Ottawa were labelled as orange.

Regions in the red category have, among other things, indoor restaurant dining limited to 10 people and gyms limited to 10 people indoors.

The orange level limits bars and restaurants to 50 people indoors, with no more than four seated together.

Health officials in Peel had asked that the region remain under a modified Stage 2 — the restriction classification system previously used by the government — which involves more stringent rules such as a ban on indoor dining in restaurants and bars.

Toronto will stay in modified Stage 2 for another week.

7:35 a.m.: Malaysia’s government said Saturday that it will expand movement restrictions to most parts of the country, with coronavirus cases nearly tripling over the past month.

Another 1,168 new cases were reported Saturday, bringing Malaysia’s total tally to 39,357 — compared to just 13,993 a month ago.

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all of peninsula Malaysia except for three states will be placed under a conditional movement control order from Monday until Dec. 6. He said the move will help curb the virus spread and allow targeted screening to be done.

7:34 a.m.: Germany’s disease control centre is reporting a new daily record in new coronavirus infections as the pandemic continues to spread through the country.

The Robert Koch Institute said Saturday that Germany’s states reported 23,300 new cases overnight, surpassing the record of 21,506 set the day before, which was the first time the country had registered more than 20,000 daily cases.

It said another 130 people died from the virus, a number that has also been trending upward but remains far lower than the high of 315 deaths reported one day in April.

Alarmed by the rapid rise in numbers, Germany has imposed significant new restrictions to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. A four-week partial shutdown took effect on Monday, with bars, restaurants, leisure and sports facilities being closed and new contact restrictions imposed. Shops and schools remain open.

Germany has overall recorded 642,488 coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic with 11,226 deaths.

7:33 a.m.: The Australian state of Victoria had its eighth day in a row of no new virus cases or deaths, ahead of another move back to normal living including no limits on travel outside of Melbourne and the resumption of flights to New Zealand.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to announce another relaxation of rules on Sunday, including the removal of Melbourne’s so-called “ring of steel.” No longer confined within a 25-kilometre (15-mile) radius, the city’s residents will be allowed to travel throughout the state.

Travel freedom is expected to expand again when the border with New South Wales state reopens to Victorians on Nov. 23.

“They will be big steps, they’ll get us much closer to normal than we’ve been for six or seven months, which is very significant,” Andrews said.

On Monday, the state will see the resumption of direct flights from New Zealand, the first international flights into Melbourne since June 30.

7:31 a.m.: President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic.

Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year. They offered no details on when the chief of staff came down with the virus or his current condition. His diagnosis was first reported by Bloomberg.

Meadows travelled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public early Wednesday morning without a mask as Trump falsely declared victory in the vote count. He had been one of the close aides around Trump when the president came down with the virus more than a month ago, but was tested daily and maintained his regular work schedule.

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Bruce Arthur: ‘A punch in the stomach’: Doug Ford wants to extend Dr. David Williams, and epidemiologists are not happy

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

On Monday the province announced its . And the most polite possible response was, him? That guy?

“Well he’s brought us all the way through this, along with (associate chief medical officer of health) Dr. (Barbara) Yaffe and their whole team,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford, on the day the province proposed extending the chief medical officer of health’s contract through next September, despite everything. “I just do not ever believe in changing a dance partner in the middle of a dance, especially when he’s an incredible dancer, like Dr. Williams.”

An incredible dancer?

“Now more than ever, we need experienced, stable leadership,” said Minister of Health Christine Elliott in a statement. “We need someone who fully understands the pandemic and the province’s public health system as we continue to work collectively to stop the spread of , and continue the work preparing for the deployment of vaccines. There is no one better suited for the job than Dr. Williams.”

No one better suited for the job?

If you think this government could do better, moving Dr. Williams’s retirement date from February to September of 2021 was deeply dispiriting. And a lot of the medical and epidemiological community was truly disheartened, quietly or otherwise.

“I don’t think he’s useless,” said one highly respected member of the medical community, who requested anonymity because of connections to the provincial response. “He’s dangerous. He’s dangerous because he can’t communicate, and he doesn’t advocate for sound public health measures. If you flipped a coin you’d get it right more often than David.”

That’s the core of this. It’s not personal. It’s not even political. Many people in the medical community say Dr. Williams is a good man, and some whisper he is a more canny bureaucrat than he appears.

But as one doctor who has worked with Williams on the provincial response put it, “He’s a lovely guy, but … part of the story nobody is talking about is they were cutting public health. They chose (to retain and support) someone on purpose who wasn’t a great communicator. It wouldn’t have been advantageous having a strong health leader for what was being planned.” As one accomplished ex-colleague of Williams recalls, they would be sitting in meetings with him and the ex-colleague would think, what is he talking about?

The worse part is he is such a poor communicator that you can’t always discern how bad his ideas are. In March, Williams denied community transmission was ongoing, while ER doctors were telling you it was everywhere. He only acknowledged asymptomatic transmission in mid-April, long after it was clear that asymptomatic transmission was not just occurring but was significant. He didn’t ban shared staff between long-term-care homes until mid-April, three weeks after British Columbia did so. Ontario’s LTC death rates were four times those in B.C.

“This is one of those moments of the pandemic that’s like a punch in the stomach,” said the highly respected member of the medical community. “One of those moments that we know, this is going to hurt us.”

And more recently, something happened that might explain this decision better than anything. Sources indicate there was a search for a replacement; names like Dr. Eileen de Villa and Dr. Vera Etches were seen as strong potential CMOH’s, though de Villa has clashed with the province.

But three weeks ago, Williams endorsed — or created, depending on which day the premier was speaking — the framework and that it was changed it within two weeks.

That was the moment. Williams had gone along with the province by letting asymptomatic migrant workers keep working; he had publicly endorsed every decision the government has made, even as the second wave built without meaningful interventions, while keeping his own advice confidential.

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“It’s hard to imagine that Dr. Williams both understands the issues, and is honestly saying keep things as they are,” said Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto, and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network, a couple weeks ago, when Williams defended the province’s restrictions framework. “I just find those two things impossible to reconcile. He either doesn’t believe the advice he’s giving, or he doesn’t understand the situation that we’re in.”

The framework was the moment that someone in this government grabbed the steering wheel and tried to yank Ontario into the wild Reform-style conservatism that has led Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the worst second-wave spikes in the country, as their doctors plead for restrictions that either come too late or don’t come at all. And when Ontario tried it, Dr. David Williams was still on board.

“(He signalled) they can continue to direct the pandemic response as they see fit,” said one medical source familiar with Ontario’s response.

The counter-argument, as delivered by Ford more than once, is that it could be worse. Look at the numbers soaring in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C. Look at the untrammelled plague in the United States. Ontario’s not so bad. And comparatively, that’s true.

“This is nothing to brag about, because we’re in a serious situation,” said Ford. “But when I compare this spread that’s going on across our country and to the exclusion of the small Maritime provinces, we have the lowest cases. Then I look at the United States. Again, outside of a few small states, we have lower cases per hundred thousand than any other jurisdiction.”

But good Lord, pick a lower bar. Ontario has a vastly disparate population, an unequalled Canadian medical infrastructure in Toronto, and has succeeded only relatively, despite everything. To credit Williams for Ontario not being the Prairie wildfires, or the American disaster, is to not understand how wrong he’s been, how important public health and hospitals have been, and how much better it could be. It’s to fail to understand how , invested sooner, and could still be taking care of the vulnerable, and the working poor. But we’re not.

Replacing David Williams might mean doing this better, and it might mean a change. We could have tried but we didn’t, instead.

Clarification — Nov. 23, 2020: This article has been updated to make clear that a doctor who has worked with Dr. David Williams was not saying the current government appointed Williams as chief medical officer of health. He was appointed by the Liberal government.

Bruce Arthur is a Toronto-based columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Movie lovers across Ontario can rent entire Cineplex theatre for themselves

Jul 5, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontarians who are missing the movie-going experience can now book their own private viewings at their local Cineplex theatre.

Whether it’s for family, friends, or a corporate event, the Canada-wide initiative, called “Private Movie Nights,” will allow patrons to rent a theatre for up to 20 guests to see a movie on the big screen — and indulge in their favourite movie time concessions.

Film options include new releases, holiday movies and classics, and the booking rates start at $125 per group.

This comes as the company recently reported a revenue drop of 85 per cent in Q3.

Cineplex which has 64 locations across Ontario, began reopening certain cinemas at limited capacities in late June amid COVID-19. However, several remain closed in the province’s high risk areas.

“Going to the movies is a holiday tradition for so many Canadians, and we are delighted to offer a safe and welcoming place for families and friends to keep their traditions alive through the magic of the movie theatre experience,” Ellis Jacob, president and chief executive of Cineplex, said.

“Health and safety remain our top priority today and throughout this entire pandemic, and I couldn’t be prouder of how hard our local theatre teams have worked to keep Canadians safe since our reopening.”

Those interested in renting a theatre at their local Cineplex location can visit  to fill out a form.