Ontario

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20492570

The drive west along the 401 into Mississauga is lined with factories, box stores, furniture outlets and timber suppliers. It’s an industrial area, but also a commuters’ hub, where people from across the Greater Toronto Area come to gather at mosques, temples and weddings in splashed-out convention centres.

Residents seem unaware of a facility in an inconspicuous office building at the intersection of Ambassador Drive and Kennedy Road South, one that uses an invisible and odourless carcinogenic gas.

The plant is owned by Sterigenics, which sterilizes medical supplies, like respirators, using ethylene oxide — an effective sterilant of heat-sensitive devices used by many of North America’s doctors, hospitals and health centres. Ethylene oxide emissions are toxic to humans when high amounts are breathed in and the chemical has been considered to have “a probability of harm at any level of exposure” by Environment Canada and Health Canada since 1999. (PDF link)

Sotera Health, the Ohio-based company that owns Sterigenics, has been named in a series of American lawsuits brought by claimants who say they developed illnesses, particularly cancers including leukemia, myeloma, lymphoma and breast cancer, because of ethylene oxide exposure. In 2023, the company agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit in Illinois, paying claimants US$408 million. It’s also paying out US$35 million in Georgia. In both instances, Sterigenics said the settlements should not be considered an “admission of liability.” A New Mexico case is pending.

This letter was written by a group of nurses across Ontario who are remaining anonymous for fear of professional backlash.

As rank and file nurses, we are disgraced by the ongoing complicity of our health care leaders and institutions seven months into Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza. We must take matters into our own hands in the pursuit of justice. As one of the slogans of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) goes, “The nurses are coming. Injustice makes us angry. Anger makes us act.”

While ONA’s most recent statement on Apr. 12 urges the Canadian government “to do everything in its power to achieve a ceasefire and restore access to humanitarian aid and health care,” and also “uphold international law,” it steers clear of mentioning an arms embargo, which is a concrete and necessary precondition to all of the above. It is also worth noting that the statement was not published as a media release nor on ONA’s social media accounts, so it is unclear how it is intended to put any political pressure on the Canadian government, or even empower rank and file nurses to do so.

Locally, ONA has a responsibility to support us in the face of grave moral distress and from the threat of harassment and reprisal in our workplaces related to our solidarity with Palestine. It also has a responsibility to explicitly address and combat anti-Palestinian racism. To date, ONA’s tepid statements have been hard to distinguish from that of our hospital CEOs. Those of us who are Palestinian-Canadian feel particularly betrayed, as we continue to show up to work and care for our patients while experiencing repression here and the heartache of losing loved ones in Palestine. As our union, we demand more of you.

A former vice-president of the Progressive Conservative party has been appointed an Ontario judge — a move opposition parties say is the latest example of the government putting insiders into prestigious roles.

On Monday, the province announced Sara Mintz was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice and will be stationed in Toronto.

How is this not part of the "gravy train"?

What if one of these judges were to preside over a potential Greenbelt trial?

Please contact your MPPs about this, especially if your MPP is Conservative!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19898194

A fundraiser meant to help Umar Zameer’s family pay their debts following a three-year prosecution has amassed nearly $150,000 in donations in the two days since the Brampton accountant was acquitted of first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto police officer.

The Ontario government has agreed to pay $320,000 in legal fees to a class action seeking $200 million in damages for the early termination of a basic income pilot project.

The 4,000 members involved argue the cancellation of a government-run basic income program equates to a breach of contract

Yay! More BS that only puts us further behind!

Ontario's health care spending was the lowest in Canada per capita and below the average of other provinces in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to a new report by a government watchdog.

According to the report, health care spending per capita in Ontario was $4,889 in 2022-2023, the lowest in Canada, and $876, or 15.2 per cent, below the average of the other provinces. […]

"Since 2008, Ontario's health spending per capita has consistently ranked at or near the lowest in Canada," the report reads.

You can read the report here.

A police operation at the Port of Montreal led to the recovery of 598 stolen vehicles since December, many of them stolen from southern Ontario and slated for sale overseas.

The operation, dubbed Project Vector, involved more than a dozen police forces from across Ontario and Quebec.

As part of the project, police conducted hundreds of inspections on shipping containers in the Port of Montreal. They recovered stolen vehicles, most of them taken from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

[…] though police hailed the recovery of nearly 600 vehicles as significant, in 2023, car thefts in Ontario and Quebec topped 45,000.

Saw the Premier's press conference this morning and felt disappointed.

I, on principle, am against donating to political parties. So I decided to take some action by donating to charities (and at the same time sending an eCard to my MPP).

Hi Mr.Anand, I would like to thank Premier Ford and the Ontario PCs for bringing the carbon tax to Ontario by cancelling the Cap and Trade program in 2018. The carbon tax that was held as constitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada. I am donating to Gen Squeeze (832390199RR0001) and the Greenbelt Foundation (822521878RR0001) as a result of the maligned press conference hosted by the Premier on April 2, 2024. Sincerely, *****, an active constituent from Mississauga-Malton.

On March 26th, 2024, 300+ leading Canadian Economists signed an open letter on carbon pricing.

the most vocal opponents of carbon pricing are not offering alternative policies to reduce emissions and meet our climate goals. And they certainly aren’t offering any alternatives that would reduce emissions at the same low cost as carbon pricing.

From the article:

“It’s normal for government employees to receive severance if they’re fired. But Amato and Truesdell got payouts from the government despite quitting, making their cases unusual, according to three sources who've worked, or work, in ministers' offices, including one who shared a copy of their own contract.”