How should a township balance financial pressures and infrastructure needs with residents’ demands for a greater voice in local government? That question sits at the heart of the mayoral race in the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands, where incumbent Corinna Smith-Gatcke and challenger Jason Page are offering voters two different approaches to the […]

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was sworn in as Quebec’s 34th premier on Wednesday, bringing the sovereigntist Parti Québécois back to power after more than a decade. The premier named 22 ministers, including one who is responsible for Quebec independence, as well as a president and whip. St-Pierre Plamondon also appointed himself as homelessness minister. His cabinet […]

The science research institute that would likely receive $4.2 billion in public taxpayer money if voters approve Proposition 38 this November had only three employees as of last month — far fewer than the 51 staffers it planned to have hired by last year. Public statements and public records CalMatters obtained raise questions about how […]

Powerful winds with shifting directions and dry weather contributed to rapid expansion of the grass fire at a military base in Wainwright, Alta., that left four soldiers dead and 39 others wounded, a wildfire expert said. Environment and Climate Change Canada had issued a severe weather alert for swaths of Alberta on Saturday, warning of […]

A pause on student financial assistance payments across all private post-secondary institutions in Ontario will stay in effect until at least the new year, the province’s colleges and universities minister announced Tuesday.Nolan Quinn said in a late afternoon statement that the government intends to strengthen the approval process for career colleges and other private post-secondary […]

Chris Watson says he was very concerned when he reviewed a New Brunswick business development agency’s recent correspondence about data centres. Over the past year, he has been at the forefront of citizen-led opposition to a major data centre project in his neighbourhood in Saint John, N.B. But when he reviewed the correspondence, released through […]

Editor’s note: The author is a member of BFAST but has not been an active member or involved in the matters discussed in this article.  With Burlington’s municipal election starting October 14, concerns have been expressed regarding the future of public transit in the city. Transit lobby group Burlington for Accessible Sustainable Transit (BFAST) recently […]

An Ontario career college has suspended its academic operations as a result of a province-wide pause on student financial assistance to all private post-secondary institutions. Trillium College, with campuses in St. Catharines, Kingston, Oshawa, Sudbury and Cobourg, paused classroom and online instruction as of Friday, it said in a notice to students obtained and confirmed […]

A recent pause on financial assistance payments to private post-secondary institutions in Ontario is affecting divinity schools, Canada’s National Ballet School and many others, with students feeling unfairly swept up in what they describe as a trawling net-like policy. Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn announced last week that the province had tasked KPMG with […]

Ontario’s Colleges and Universities Ministry is alleging it could not “reliably determine bona fide studies” at two of the career colleges it barred from student financial aid — a decision those schools are now challenging in court. Two campuses of Citi College of Canadian Careers are among six schools the province blocked from the Ontario […]

Environment and Climate Change Canada warned National Defence earlier this year that the CFB Kingston base had broken federal environmental regulations by failing to test air conditioners for refrigerant leaks. After inspecting a building on the base last year, an enforcement officer alleged in a January letter that National Defence had violated federal halocarbon regulations […]

As the October 26 municipal election campaigns heat up, questions are emerging about whether some incumbent politicians are playing by the rules that govern campaign activity, and whether municipal governments are up to the task of enforcing those rules consistently. In St. Catharines, the issues range from the use of a mayoral social-media presence by […]