Tag: Provincial Politics

Election Candidate Responses on Health

John Draper

The deadline at Elections Ontario has now passed to apply to be a Candidate in the upcoming Provincial Election and there are six candidates. I asked all six four questions with the first question being “What are your Policies to improve the Province’s Health System?” All six responded. There is a limit of 250 words per response – some used all 250 while others were more succinct. It’s clearly a question of interest since each candidate (or party) has something to say. Note that for official information on eligibility to vote and voting locations (when known), see the official site of Elections Ontario – advanced voting starts May 19. (See Resources below). The sequence of responses below will vary with… Read complete articleElection Candidate Responses on Health

Questions for Provincial Election Candidates

John Draper

To help subscribers to Cobourg News Blog decide on who to vote for, I have asked all candidates four key questions.  Starting on May 14 and continuing for about 10 days, I will publish their answers and you will be able to assess their policies.  To keep it fair, the length of each answer will be limited to 250 words and each post will cover just one topic.  In the event a candidate does not respond by the deadline, I will instead publish my best effort on determining their party’s policy on the subject.  In addition to looking for these posts in the next two weeks, there are at least two all Candidate meetings where you can put your own questions… Read complete articleQuestions for Provincial Election Candidates

Police get Provincial Funding

John Draper

Cobourg Police recently released their updated Strategic Plan – and it includes a fresh summary of major public concerns:  1. Drugs (prevention, support, enforcement) 2. Mental Health 3. Community Involvement 4. Homelessness 5. Traffic Enforcement.  It’s significant that Mental Health is now near the top of the list for concerns and Homelessness is on the list.  Many calls to Police are really calls for help for people with these issues and not crimes so Police are changing what they do.  Yesterday, MPP David Piccini announced that the Province is providing $860K in funding over 3 years to help Cobourg Police with programs aimed at Mental Health and Homelessness.  Now supported are the Homelessness Addictions Response Project (HARP – $410K), a… Read complete articlePolice get Provincial Funding

Provincial Election Campaign Has Started

John Draper

Last night the Liberal Candidate, Jeff Kawzenuk, had a grand opening of his campaign office at the top end of Division Street (901) and on Saturday the Conservative Candidate and incumbent, David Piccini, will be opening his campaign office at the other end of Division Street (239). In addition, late Wednesday, the Green Party announced their Candidate, Lisa Francis.  The NDP have not yet announced a candidate but say they are working on it.  But in this election there are at least three other parties vying for our vote – one of these, the New Blue Party has also announced a Candidate, Joshua Chalhoub.  I’ll leave speculation on who’ll win etc to readers of this blog although I have collected… Read complete articleProvincial Election Campaign Has Started

Next Step of Re-opening will be Earlier

John Draper

The Province originally said that Ontario would move into Step 3 of re-opening once 70 to 80% of adults had received one dose of vaccine and 25% had received two.  Now that 77% of people 12 and over have received one dose and 50% have received two doses – that threshold has been met already.  Also required were a lower ICU occupancy rate and generally a low new case rate and these have also happened. The numbers for our region (HKPR) are not quite that good but may well be soon.  Given the good results, the Province has announced that we will move into Step 3 five days earlier on July 16 (at 12:01 am) and has released detailed regulations… Read complete articleNext Step of Re-opening will be Earlier

Health Coalitions Survey LTC workers

John Draper

Three groups have teamed up to survey Long Term Care workers to uncover deficiencies.  Using the results, they are now lobbying the Provincial Government to make improvements.  Their Press Conference on Tuesday, June 22 was on Zoom and recorded on Facebook with the video plus full survey results available via Links below.  This report will focus on their key findings and recommendations.  Their survey shows that the big problem is staffing which was a problem pre-Covid but is now worse.  The group believe that Government promises to increase the number of beds are both insufficient and unrealistic.  They also want a focus on public facilities and not “for-profit” homes.  To be clear, they are not talking about Retirement Homes but… Read complete articleHealth Coalitions Survey LTC workers

Jeff Kawzenuk wins Liberal Nomination

John Draper

In April, Nicole Beatty and Jeff Kawzenuk entered a competition to be nominated as Liberal Candidate for the 2022 Provincial election.  If nominated, and if she won against MPP David Piccini, Nicole would then not be running for Council in the 2022 Municipal Elections.  However, Liberal Party members in the Riding (Northumberland Peterborough-South) voted for Jeff Kawzenuk with an announcement yesterday – June 5.  Jeff retired in July 2020 from a 35 year career as teacher and principal in several Northumberland High Schools.  Both Nicole and Jeff campaigned online (see links below) and it did not seem to impact Nicole’s Council work.  With the announcement of the vote result, Nicole offers congratulations to Jeff on her Facebook page.  She continues… Read complete articleJeff Kawzenuk wins Liberal Nomination

Cobourg Cultural Community Lobbies for Action on Brookside

John Draper

A group of 14 of Cobourg’s Community organizations have joined together to ask MPP David Piccini to support re-development of Brookside and Strathmore House into multi-purpose spaces that would meet the growing needs of Cobourg’s Cultural organizations.  They have jointly submitted a letter that describes their ideas and needs and although no numbers were provided, they say that some groups are currently paying over $1,000/month for storage and rehearsal space that is not suitable to their needs. Their letter concludes: “With Strathmore House at the centre, we believe the repurposing of Brookside Youth Centre could become a vibrant cultural hub that inspires collaboration, facilitates a platform for cross sector partnerships and stimulates multi-generational learning opportunities for members, Cobourg residents and… Read complete articleCobourg Cultural Community Lobbies for Action on Brookside