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Amid a rising number of COVID-19 cases among migrant farm workers, pressure is mounting on the Ford government to step in and manage the initial quarantine period for incoming workers, instead of leaving it up to employers.
Mayors and public-health officials are criticizing the decentralized process, in which migrant workers may fall through the cracks. They say that the Ontario government needs to be more involved in oversight to ensure that the quarantine period is effective.
In Ontario alone, more than 1,150 migrant farm workers have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Globe and Mail survey of local public-health units.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is seen after a meeting with Canada's provincial premiers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 2, 2019. Ford is facing pressure to step in and manage the quarantine period for incoming migrant farm workers.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
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WE Charity to scale back programming, launch another governance review amid political controversy
WE Charity announced on Wednesday changes to its operations after a tumultuous few weeks in which it has been at the centre of a political firestorm involving the Liberal government. A now-cancelled contract to administer a federal student-grant program led to conflict-of-interest allegations against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose family has close ties with the charity.
The WE organization, which is one of the most recognizable charities in Canada, says that it would clarify its structure, move its North American educational programming to online only, and cancel its popular WE Day events for now.
Read more about WE Charity:
Shorter days, higher costs: Toronto board details return-to-school scenarios
The Toronto District School Board laid out a number of scenarios for reopening school in the fall, including shorter days, scrapping a full French curriculum, and requiring up to $250-million for additional staffing. The three plans being explored include full-time in-class learning with public-health measures in place, full-time remote learning, and a hybrid model in which cohorts of 15 students would alternate between in-class and remote education.
For elementary students to return to school in cohorts of 15 while keeping their full 300 minutes of daily in-class instruction, the TDSB says it needs $248.9-million to hire 2,489 additional teachers. Another option would cost $98.5-million to hire 988 teachers, but students would lose 48 minutes of class time per day.
The TDSB did not include clear plans for secondary-schools costs, though the board said students could see their year split into four “quadmesters” in which they take two classes at a time, either remotely, in-person, or a hybrid of both.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Police forces checking radio inventories after devices recovered in tow-truck investigation: A Toronto Police Services audit has led to a discovery that multiple Toronto Police radios had been stolen and cloned by tow-truck drivers. One of the thefts was allegedly an inside job. Tow-truck drivers have been engaged in ongoing turf wars and are using the radios to monitor car-crash locations.
Evidence could support criminal charge in death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Morton says: A former director for the Ontario Special Investigations Unit said he has seen evidence to support a criminal charge against the officers involved in Ms. Korchinski-Paquet’s death after she fell from a balcony in May. Howard Morton, who is investigating the death for her family, declined to describe the evidence he saw.
Profile of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who died in a Toronto police incident. Family members remember Regis Korchinksi-Paquet for her joyful laugh. A former SIU director says evidence could warrant charges against the officers involved.family handout/Supplied
Settlement in B.C. foster case: B.C. is settling a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit with victims of a social worker who stole thousands of dollars in government assistance from 102 foster children under his care. The government will offer between $25,000 and $250,000 to former youth in care harmed by Robert Riley Saunders, most of whom were Indigenous.
Biden, Obama, Musk among hacked Twitter accounts: Multiple high-profile Twitter accounts were hijacked on Wednesday in what has been described as the worst security breach on a major social media platform. The hackers made off with more than $100,000 of bitcoin by soliciting transfers through hacked accounts.
MORNING MARKETS
European shares fall as markets turn risk-averse: European shares opened lower on Thursday after Asian stocks faltered overnight, with risk appetite hit by deteriorating U.S.-China relations and worse-than-expected Chinese domestic consumption data. Just after 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.65 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.62 per cent and 0.82 per cent, respectively. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 4.5 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.76 per cent. New York futures were weaker. The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.90 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Let’s get the kids back to school already
Konrad Yakabuski: “Ensuring children have access to the help and monitoring they need, in an environment where they can interact with peers experiencing similar feelings, is impossible as long as schools are closed or only partially reopened. It’s time to put aside the politics and put the kids first.”
Biden’s new nationalism could leave Canada behind
Lawrence Martin: “The chances of Canadians getting their wish and being rid of Donald Trump are brightening by the day. Joe Biden has opened a good lead in the United States’ presidential race. But a victory for the Democrat won’t mean that the king of chaos is totally gone. The person, yes. But the big policy thrust as it affects Canada? No.”
Ontario seems to have its priorities out of whack
Robyn Urback: “Eating a plate of nachos inside and resuming in-classroom learning are both high-risk activities, but they do not benefit people to the same degree. By prioritizing nachos before classrooms – and potentially at the expense of classrooms – Ontario appears to have its priorities out of whack.”
Too often ‘police oversight’ still means police investigating themselves. That has to change
The Editorial Board: “If a person is hurt in an interaction with police, or when someone alleges that they have been otherwise wronged by a police officer, the case must be fully investigated by an independent body. Anything less and public confidence is undermined.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Will there be a signature song this tumultuous summer?
This summer, one of the sickest and most politically charged ever, requires an era-defining anthem, not a swaggering ode to fast cars and Glock-made products.
Black Lives Matter is the movement. A deadly contagion rages. Monuments are being toppled. The battle cry is “defund the police,” not Rockstar’s “brand new Lamborghini.”
MOMENT IN TIME: July 16, 1764
Ivan VI Romanov in prison, engraving from L'album, giornale letterario e di belle arti, Saturday, June 17, 1837, Year 4.BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA / De Agostini via Getty Images
Ivan VI killed during jailbreak attempt
Ivan VI lived a miserable life as the victim of others’ ruthless ambitions. That was clear on July 16, 1764, when his two jailers impaled him because a stranger was trying to free him. Ivan’s fate had been set when he became czar of Russia as a baby, because the previous ruler died shortly after naming him as her successor. Ivan’s mother would become his regent – a caretaker monarch until he came of age. But Ivan and his mother were deposed in a coup by Empress Elizabeth when Ivan was only 16 months old. Ivan grew up isolated and imprisoned as Elizabeth tried to prevent him from taking back his throne. She ordered the guards at Schlisselburg Fortress to kill Ivan if anyone attempted a jailbreak. Two subsequent monarchs left the order unchanged. So, when a fortress officer named Vasily Mirovich tried to spring Ivan in hopes of mounting a coup against Catherine the Great, the captive suffered the consequence. Guards who had been forbidden from leaving his side for years saw an opportunity to gain their own freedom by killing him. It is unclear whether the uneducated inmate was fully aware of his royal identity. Ivan was 23. Joy Yokoyama
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