Changes to how new teachers in Ontario are certified are set to be announced next year and will entail a larger practical component, the education minister is signalling. In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, Education Minister Paul Calandra said he is looking at shortening the length of teachers’ college and has been looking […]

NEW YORK (AP) — At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public. The missing files, which were […]

A planned high-speed rail project between Toronto and Quebec City could dramatically increase the number of trains that travel along the corridor each day, according to internal documents.  The Crown corporation responsible for the project has estimated that 72 passenger trains per day could travel through Canada’s most densely populated region if the proposed 1,000-kilometre […]

There are two new positions proposed in the 2026 budget: one in the Clerk’s department and one 30-hour/ week position in Recreation. Human Resources Kayla Best updated council on staffing levels. She showed numbers from the past three years, and also comparisons by department to two other unnamed municipalities. Southgate’s numbers were large, similar to […]

First-year students in the Veterinary Technology program at Northwestern Polytechnic (NWP) Fairview campus got an eleventh-hour reprieve in time for Christmas.  “With the benefit of time and further discussion with local partners” NWP has developed another option for its first-year vet tech students who, like the rest of the campus and faculty, were shocked to […]

The original Picton Terminals site is divided into two parcels, one zoned MX-Industrial, and the other zoned RU1, or Rural. That portion also happens to sit in Sophiasburgh, while the first parcel is in Hallowell. In 2018, Ontario Superior Court Judge Wolf Tausendfreund ruled that the only legal non-conforming use permitted on the Sophiasburgh property […]

Doug Ford’s plan to turn Niagara into a global tourism powerhouse could have some major effects on Niagara-on-the-Lake, though it’s unclear at this time what’s in store for the small town neighbouring Niagara Falls, the region’s biggest tourism draw at the moment. The province’s new “Destination Niagara” strategy aims to generate an extra $3 billion […]

Significant changes to how council meetings are conducted and organized were the topic of major discussion during the Village of Kaslo’s December 9 council meeting.  CAO Robert Baker presented the key updates appearing in the revised Council Procedures Bylaw, which council gave first and second reading.  The bylaw sets out rules for how meetings are […]

Travel documents, including receipts and itineraries, obtained by The Pointer under freedom of information requests have exposed a troubling pattern at the City of Brampton under Mayor Patrick Brown. Expensive flights and hotels, questionable spending on food, drinks and transportation, all in the name of so-called economic development, have become the norm in Brampton.  The […]

A staff member working for the provincial environment minister appears to be responsible for blocking critical information about the toxic former General Motors property in St. Catharines from being released to the public, including details about a filtration system meant to prevent toxic chemicals from leaking off the site. Documents obtained by The Pointer under […]

Neil Johnson came home from a conference on artificial intelligence with dollar signs in his eyes. At a council meeting in his home of Newell County a few weeks later, Johnson set about convincing everyone else of the riches he’d caught a glimpse of. “We’ve got an opportunity here that, when you start adding up […]

Canada is injecting tens of billions of dollars into defence as it looks to ramp up spending to levels not seen since the Cold War — both to meet its NATO commitments and to juice the domestic economy. But it remains to be seen whether National Defence — a department which the opposition Conservatives point […]