Mark Fisher, the public school board director of education who has been on paid leave since September after coming under fire for a retreat to Toronto for senior leaders, has resigned his position with the Thames Valley District School Board.

Federal ministers are expected to announce details of the government's plan to support workers and businesses as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threat continues to loom over the Canadian economy.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. says his proposal for a long-term contract with the Toronto Blue Jays was for less than $600 million US.

One person was killed in a double shooting in Markham early Friday, York Regional Police say. The shooting happened around 6:30 a.m. on Solace Road, a residential area in the northeast of the city.

A plan laid out by telecommunications company Bell led to the arrests of three people after 200 metres of copper wiring was stolen from pole lines around Gracefield on the night of Feb. 25.

Council recognizes food donation helpers, staff and medal recipients

Representatives of Erie James Produce and the Leamington Regional Food Hub were presented with certificates of appreciation by Warden Hilda MacDonald at the start of Wednesday’s Essex County Council meeting.

Both assisted Essex-Windsor EMS with distributing almost two tons of dried beans, lentils and rice to local food banks in early December. The packets of food were donated by Toronto-based charity GlobalMedic. Erie James Produce transported the donated food from Toronto to Leamington for free, while the Leamington Regional Food Hub provided temporary storage space and equipment for sorting the food.

Warden MacDonald also gave a shout-out to County of Essex staff involved in the County Road 42 roundabout construction project, which recently won the Good Roads’ 2024 Municipal Concrete Award.

The warden then praised three staff members who were selected as the 2024 Cheers for Peers winners by their County of Essex colleagues: computer technician Shari Tempesta, paramedic Dave Thibodeau and Sun Parlor Home laundry charge worker Bobbi-Jo Bazala.

“A member of this council also recently received some well-deserved recognition for his significant public service to this region,” MacDonald continued. “Congratulations to Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara and the other local recipients of the King Charles III Coronation Medal. We are so fortunate to have you among us!”

Demand growing at Erie Shores HealthCare

Representatives of Erie Shores HealthCare updated Essex County Council on its initiatives, challenges and achievements.

While emergency department admissions have increased by 34 per cent since 2023 and, on many days, the Leamington hospital has more patients than funded beds, it is among the best in the province for short ambulance offload times, they said in a presentation.

Assisted by funding from the County of Essex, the hospital has responded to growing demand by expanding its urology services. It has also increased the time its MRI is available, expanded chemotherapy services and launched a critical care program so fewer patients are transferred out of the region.

Council supports City of Windsor resolution on housing and homelessness

Council voted to support a City of Windsor resolution calling on the government of Ontario to establish a Ministry of Homelessness and address the “significant challenges” municipalities face in addressing housing, homelessness and mental health and addiction issues.

Council/Staff Relations Policy updated

Council received a compliance review report and approved an updated Council/Staff Relations Policy.

The policy addresses several directions set out in the county’s Strategic Plan, including focusing on Team Essex County for results, being an employer with impact, being a government working for the people, and promoting transparency and awareness in the municipal services it provides.

Council cancels procurement process for Intensive Supportive Housing program

Council has decided to cancel the procurement process for the Intensive Support Housing program Essex County has provided since 2022. The service is for individuals experiencing homelessness who have complex medical needs and/or mental health and/or addiction issues.

Council directed staff to work with the City of Windsor and use safe re-start funding to support the transition and also directed staff to work with the city and jointly lobby the province to increase Homelessness Prevention Program funding in our region.

Council also voted to write a letter to the province seeking money to address housing and homelessness in rural and smaller urban areas and again extended an invitation for area MPPs to appear before Essex County Council to discuss these issues.

CAO participating in Municipal Finance and Economic Development Task Force

Council approved Chief Administrative Officer Sandra Zwiers’ participation in a task force established by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).

The Municipal Finance and Economic Development Task Force will help AMO to develop policy and advocacy positions that increase consideration of municipal interests in the areas of municipal finance, funding sources for municipal services and infrastructure, and economic, labour market and skills development.

County municipalities to join Border Mayors Alliance

The County of Essex will pay the approximately $10,000 cost for all seven local municipalities to join the Border Mayors Alliance established to coordinate advocacy efforts in response to U.S. tariffs.

Since only mayors can join the alliance, and given that municipal budgets have been set for 2025, Essex County Council voted to cover the cost for local municipalities to join this year.

Councillors introduce notices of motion on multiple issues

Councillor Mike Akpata introduced a notice of motion calling on the province to ensure that current water agreements in place to ensure the protection of fresh water in our area are followed and that water outflow is included in any ongoing discussions with the U.S. government.

Councillor Michael Prue introduced notices of motion calling for Essex County Council to direct staff to work with local municipalities to explore options for traditional regional policing models or explore possible options for a flexible model that would enable individual municipalities to opt out.

Councillor Sherry Bondy introduced a notice of motion calling for council to direct staff to share with councillors and the staff of local municipalities the information obtained from a network screening of intersections on the county road network.

These notices of motion will be debated at a future meeting of Essex County Council.

The post County Council Highlights for March 5, 2025 appeared first on Kingsville Times.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Chrétien Liberal government’s 1995 federal budget—one of the most important budgets in Canadian history—which contains key lessons for today’s federal and provincial policymakers, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“To improve the dismal state of federal finances, policymakers in Ottawa should apply the key lessons of the 1995 budget to the upcoming 2025 federal budget,” said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of 30th Anniversary of the 1995 Budget: Lessons to Improve Canada’s Federal Finances Today.

After decades of budget deficits and debt accumulation brought Canada to the brink of a fiscal crisis, the 1995 federal budget reduced spending, imposed clear and effective limits on new spending and borrowing, and established a swift path to a balanced budget. In addition, the stronger financial foundation set by the 1995 budget allowed for largescale tax relief over several years aimed at making Canada more competitive and attractive to investors and entrepreneurs. The results were almost two decades of prosperity.

Fast-forward to today—due to successive years of large deficits and debt accumulation, federal finances have markedly deteriorated. To reverse course, in its upcoming budget the federal government should emulate the 1995 budget reforms including:

• Produce a plan to balance the budget within three years and impose clear and strict rules for spending and borrowing.
• Conduct a comprehensive review of all federal programs and agencies (with no exceptions) and reduce or eliminate wasteful spending.
• Use spending reductions—not tax increases—to reduce the deficit

“Back in 1995, the comprehensive nature of spending reductions and reforms produced a smaller but more effective federal government, which should be the goal for today’s policymakers,” said Grady Munro, study co-author and policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.

Click here to read the full report: 30th Anniversary of the 1995 Budget: Lessons to Improve Canada’s Federal Finances Today

The post Chrétien’s Historic 1995 Federal Budget Offers Lessons For Today appeared first on Kingsville Times.

This weekend we’re bracing ourselves for the Time Change. Watch an hour of your life magically vanish at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 9 as you set your clocks ahead one hour. Blink your eyes and suddenly it will be 3 a.m. Or maybe you don’t stay up that late to watch that hour disappear. You might reset your clock before you go to bed or when you get up Sunday morning.

Whenever you do it, it’s inevitable that this weekend is going to throw life up in the air for awhile. Be flexible with planning and scheduling for a bit while your body and brain make the adjustment once more.

Do you reset your watch or do you wait for the Fall Time Change to make it right again? Fortunately, most modern electronic devices like smartphones and laptops, will automatically adjust themselves if the “set automatically” option is enabled. But be prepared to be on your own to change the time on some clocks and microwaves.

Has anybody ever been happy with the Time Change? I know of no one.  Even so, we’re stuck with it so we might as well make the best of the situation. But remember this. Once we’ve hit the Spring Forward wall and shaken our heads for a bit, what’s on the other side will be more light and warmer temperatures.  And that means that spring and summer are on their way.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

The post Springing Forward Into Daylight Saving Time appeared first on Kingsville Times.

THE GREEN LINE
ORIGINAL STORY

How to get your own tiny library: Tips from Yorkdale-Glen Park residents

The Green Line team visited Lotherton Pathway to learn how residents make books more accessible in their neighbourhood through three tiny libraries.

Rickysha Jn-Baptiste, girls program lead of the Village Bloggurls, sits inside a meeting room at North York Community House.
: Amanda Seraphina/The Green Line.

Amanda Seraphina James Rajakumar

Indian immigrant with a post-grad in journalism from Centennial College. Now living in Grange Park, meeting new people, and hearing different stories. Has four names, so it’s a pick-your-player situation.

 

March 7, 2025

How far would you go to read a physical book?

If it's the middle of winter, maybe across the street or around the block. But, not every neighbourhood has the luxury of having a nearby library.

That’s why residents in Yorkdale-Glen Park made it their mission to get an easy-to-access library for locals.

There are tiny libraries across different neighbourhoods in downtown Toronto, but in the suburbs, they're not as common.

In Yorkdale-Glen Park, the closest public library is a 20-minute bus ride away. Although a Toronto Public Library van visits the neighbourhood with around 200 books every Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m., its selection isn’t diverse and visits are infrequent.

So, in the tight-knit U-shaped street of Lotherton Pathway, a local youth council decided to take action by setting up three tiny libraries. Village Bloggurls, a local media literacy group in Yorkdale-Glen Park, takes care of them.

Map showing routes to the two closest public libraries from Lotherton Pathway.
: Paul Zwambag for The Green Line.

Lisa Baker, a resident who’s lived on Lotherton Pathway for over 20 years, says residents can miss the TPL van if they aren’t at home at the right time since visits are so infrequent.

“When we decided to have a tiny library in the community, that made a very big difference and impact for the community. So, people didn't have to go far to get a book for their little kids — to read to their kids at night."

The tiny libraries run on one simple rule: Take a book and leave a book. From novels to textbooks, the libraries cater to people from all walks of life.

The Village Bloggurls group stand by the tiny libraries on Lotherton Pathway.
: Village Bloggurls.

“It makes me very happy and proud of the hard work we [do] for the community, so they can have more opportunities and not be scared to just go out there, find a book they want to read and not be shy about it," says Y’Anna Baker, who grew up on Lotherton Pathway and is a Village Bloggurls member.

Y’Anna Baker, a member of the Village Bloggurls, stands inside a room with a Black History Month display at North York Community House.
: AMANDA SERAPHINA/THE GREEN LINE.

In 2012, Lotherton Pathway was part of the Lawrence Heights Social Development Plan, which had a key priority of improving community connection and recreation. And according to the latest City of Toronto census, Yorkdale-Glen Park has a higher unemployment rate and fewer Bachelor's Degree graduates compared to the rest of Toronto.

Bar graph showing the percentage of unemployed residents and residents with Bachelor’s degrees in Yorkdale-Glen Park.
: Paul Zwambag for The Green Line.

That’s where Village Bloggurls play an important role. Launched in 2013, the group formed to bring local girls together, so they could give back to the community. Rickysha Jn-Baptiste, girls program lead for the Village Bloggurls, says maintaining the tiny libraries is one way of doing so.

"It also brings a sense of belonging to the community, and allows [residents] to meet new residents, meet new people and start their own groups,” she explains. “Also just in [terms of] engagement and creating that safe space within the communities where anyone could take a book and leave a book at any hour."

How to get a tiny library

Jn-Baptiste says it’s simple for you to get a tiny library for your own neighbourhood. Here’s what Lotherton Pathway residents did:

• Find a location where it’s legal to set up a library and work with building management to find the right spot with high foot-traffic.
• Build your own library or order a library post from the U.S.-based non-profit Little Free Library. For neighbourhoods with high need and scarce books, the organization offers free libraries through its Impact Library program.
• Donate your own books and collect donations from local book banks.
• Replace books periodically (e.g. every month in the summer, every three months in the winter.)
• Expand programming by hosting book clubs for local residents.

Fact-Check Yourself

Sources and
further reading

Don't take our word for it —
check our sources for yourself.

North York Community House

Village Bloggurls Program

Toronto Public Library

Bookmobile schedule

City of Toronto

2012: Social development and action plan for Lawrence Heights

City of Toronto

2020: Community development plan

City of Toronto

2021 Neighbourhood Profile: Yorkdale-Glen Park

Little Free Library

Start a little free library

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The post How to get your own tiny library: Tips from Yorkdale-Glen Park residents appeared first on The Green Line.

Emergency crews have closed roads leading to the intersection of Eight Mile Road and Adelaide Street North in Middlesex Centre after a crash between a school bus and SUV this morning.

Trying to operate a business under punishing tariffs is hard enough, but it’s another story when those tariffs are threatened and then paused over and over.

SafeSpace London, which supports women, sex workers and the LGBTQ+ community, has laid off all of its staff after running out of funding. The organization says it needs to raise $50,000 by the end of March to re-open its doors.

The sister of a 34-year-old man who died in the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre says the team who conducted the inquest was "fabulous," but it was a "kick in the face" it took nearly eight years to finally hold it.

Daily Bread Food Bank says it’s already expecting to spend $2.5 million more than expected this year – and that’s before factoring in the increased demand U.S. tariffs would cause.

A Marketplace investigation has pulled back the curtain on how some mobile games, which seem to attract children, use loopholes in rules protecting kids’ data — allowing marketers to build advertising profiles tailored to them, which can then be more effective at influencing their behaviour.

Ottawa’s tech sector is caught in the whirlwind of U.S. President Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs, with some companies weighing whether tariffs will force them to move operations south of the border.

Donald Trump's threats and rhetoric are making Canadians anxious, fearful and angry. CBC heard from six psychologists who described a pattern of increased anxiety related to the current political climate, based on their conversations with clients and colleagues. 

Last month the city and police began asking residents to make a report to 311 if they knew someone who lived in Quebec with an out-of-province plate. Residents have 90 days to switch after they move.

One trade war down, two to go — maybe more. U.S. President Donald Trump has dialled back tariffs, but his biggest target is now coming into focus. And it's bad news if you're one of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians with a job connected to the auto sector.

Roughly 140,000 people a day are expected to pass through Toronto's Pearson airport during the busiest days of March Break, but some Canadians who were planning to travel to the U.S. have changed their plans.

Youth mentor and advocate Frederick Dryden, Founder & Executive Director of Liberty for Youth, has been named Hamilton’s ‘Citizen of the Year’. Cole Horncastle, Executive Managing Director of John C. Munro International Airport has been named ‘CEO of the Year’. A total of 11 awards will be presented on March 26^th.

About Frederick Dryden – Hamilton Citizen of the Year

Frederick Dryden is the Founder and Executive Director of Liberty for Youth, an organization dedicated to supporting disadvantaged, marginalized, and at-risk youth. Established in 2003, Liberty for Youth provides mentorship and resources to youth aged 12-25 in the Hamilton area, helping them develop life skills, build resilience, and navigate a positive path in life.

Through various programs, including the “Trading Up” employment initiative in partnership with Liuna, Frederick assists youth in gaining access to skilled trades opportunities. He is also passionate about fostering positive relationships between at-risk youth and police, notably through an annual Liberty and Justice basketball game between Hamilton Police and the youth in the Prodigal Sonz team.

About Cole Horncastle – CEO of the Year

Cole Horncastle has been a leading member of the Hamilton International Airport team since 2013, joining the organization as a Manager of Financial Reporting and moving through progressively senior roles, including Controller, Director of Finance, Operations and Corporate Services and his current role at Executive Managing Director.

Cole has been the brain behind numerous key projects that have contributed to the strategic growth and expansion of John C. Munro International Airport with his most recent success being the ongoing Gateway Expansion and Sustainability Project as well as the Airport Rehabilitation and Modernization project.

“The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce is honoured to recognize Frederick Dryden as Hamilton Citizen of the Year and Cole Horncastle as CEO of the Year. Both Frederick and Cole embody the values of innovation, dedication, and community impact that define Hamilton’s business and social landscape,” said Greg Dunnett, President & CEO of Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.

A teenage motorcyclist has died after, a Wednesday evening collision that occurred on Upper James Street at the entrance to the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) bus terminal located at 2200 Upper James Street in Hamilton.

Hamilton Police say an HSR bus was northbound on Upper James Street and attempting to turn left into the bus terminal when a southbound motorcycle collided into the side of the bus. The 18-year-old male driver of the 2008 Suzuki motorcycle was pronounced dead at the scene. The 61-year-old female driver of the bus was uninjured and there were no other people on board at that time.

After conducting a thorough investigation, the Hamilton Police Collision Reconstruction Unit have determined that the HSR bus driver was not at fault. As a result, no charges will be pursued.

Officials with Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) and Grand Erie Public Health (GEPH), and a paediatrician working to treat children with measles, say the outbreak that's been rapidly growing in several counties is likely much larger than the numbers show.

Today is, technically at least, the first day that Hamilton staff are authorized to begin moving individuals out of the city’s parks. How successful that effort will be will not be officially known until staff render their first progress report on the transition in June. By a vote of 13-2 Hamilton Council endorsed a staff plan that was overwhelmingly passed with the same two dissenting votes (Cameron Kroetsch and Alex Wilson) last week at General Issues Committee. The plan calls for extra policing and extra city bylaw staff to effect the necessary moves.

The final passage of the encampment plan didn’t come without last minute efforts to make some changes. Part of the plan calls for moving four more bylaw officers to enforce encampment removal, who will be transferred from other duties. Staff warn that the transfer of bylaw officers to the encampment duty will result in decreased service levels in other areas of bylaw enforcement such as noise, uncut lawns, and other neighbourhood dispute issues. Staff apparently opted against recommending service reductions as opposed to increasing staff after hearing multiple councillors question the addition of more than 600 staff in the last three years, coupled with the embarrassing fiasco over a recommendation to spend an extra $130,000 to deal with a bird guano issue under railway underpasses, that drew a sharp rebuke from Mayor Horwath along with several incredulous councillors. They may also have had an eye on the DOGE antics in Washington that are seeing entire departments of public employees fired. Councillor Cassar was unsuccessful in a bid to have reserves used to keep all bylaw enforcement at the current level.

Councillor Kroetch, in a last ditch effort to halt the evictions drew attention to a letter to council from Marie-Josée Houle, the  Federal Housing Advocate, that was sent in just in time to be added to the agenda. In the letter Houle expressed “grave concerns” about council clearing encampments, urging a human rights-based approach. Councillor Kroetsch suggested there could be financial consequences if council ignored the Houle letter.

Nowhere in Houle’s letter nor her recommendations in a 2024 report to Parliament, could be found any reference to advocating for withholding federal homeless funding to cities. The report recommended “that the federal government establish a National Encampments Response Plan by August 31, 2024. It is critical that this plan be rooted in a human rights-based approaches and that new resources are in place before next winter.” In September, the federal government did announce a $250 million plan to  invest in any province or territory who will cost-match the federal government’s funding to implement human-rights-based approaches to encampments. With the political uncertainty in Ottawa at present it is no certain such a plan will exist following an election. Councillors reading Houle’s letter would also note her defending encampment residents who refuse shelter spaces writing, “people living in encampments believed they offered the safest and most secure option for shelter available.  Even when shelter beds exist, they can be inaccessible for a variety of reasons, unsafe and/or associated with traumas which contributed to a person becoming unhoused.” For a moment it looked like council might have to go into closed session to hear legal advice about the letter that made no reference to legal issues, but councillors had had enough and shot that idea down.

Councillor John Paul Danko said Houle’s letter ignored the efforts and expenditures already made by Hamilton.

So the new encampment policy is now law but there remains some uneasiness about what its implementation will look like. Councillor Nann who voted for the new policy, sought and received assurances that there would be a human rights approach to moving people out of parks.

What is different now, heading into the summer of 2024 compared to a year earlier, is that there has been a significant increase in shelter space—both conventional and with the tiny shelter installation now finally opening at Barton and Tiffany. The latter site attempts to address so-called “barriers” to abandoning tents in parks, like prohibition on drugs, space for couples and pets. This is in addition to persons who are being housed in motels or who are being provided with rent subsidies. Hamilton Community Housing has also put almost 500 of its geared-to-income units back in circulation after spending millions of dollars refurbishing them. Two deeply affordable apartment buildings with wraparound services for vulnerable individuals have opened in the last three months as well.

If the expectation is that Hamilton parks and greenspaces can’t be cleared of encampments until and unless every individual circumstance can be accommodated, it will be another long hot summer in Hamilton. There will never be sufficient accommodation for the unhoused, especially if there is no mechanism to give priority to Hamilton residents as opposed to those who, (despite attempts to dismiss this phenomenon as imaginary), are sent here from elsewhere.

City staff have come to this point with some reluctance. A review of staff correspondence leading up to the Strachan Street tiny-shelter fiasco revealed an institutional lack of enthusiasm for tiny shelters. It was only by the mayor, using Strong Mayor Powers, that the Barton-Tiffany site was established. There were no staff-initiated plans, at least not on the public agenda. The reasons have never been clear. Even now an offer to establish a 20-unit tiny shelter encampment by HATS at no cost to the city goes without approval. People wonder why.

Health officials in Peel Region are warning that the public may have been exposed to a measles case at Pearson Airport, a hospital and a walk-in clinic in Mississauga last week.

Patients of a Hamilton dental clinic may have been exposed to improperly sterilized instruments, according to an advisory from Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS).