World Headlines: Everything you need to know as election day approaches

First Up

By Manuela Vega

Good morning. Here’s the latest on the upcoming Ontario election, a Conservative leadership candidate who gained notoriety for opposing public health measures and a doctor who allegedly compared opposing vaccines to resisting Nazis.

DON’T MISS

Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

ontario election

Here’s everything you need to know about voting in the provincial election

On June 2, Ontarians will vote for a candidate to represent their riding as a Member of Provincial Parliament. Early voting is also available from tomorrow until May 28. Only those who are at least 18, Canadian citizens and residents of Ontario (with limited exemptions) are eligible to vote. Here’s what you need to know before heading to the polls.

Watch for: The deadline to register to vote by mail is 6 p.m. on May 27, and Elections Ontario must receive your vote by 6 p.m. on June 2 for it to be counted.
Fact check: Are the Progressive Conservatives really the only party that’s going to cut the gas tax? Friend of First Up Lex Harvey checks Doug Ford’s claim.
More: The race for progressive voters is heating up among Doug Ford’s rivals. Here’s what we know about the competition between the NDP, Liberals and Greens.
Interactive: Which party is leading in the polls? Check here.

Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

federal politics

A Conservative leadership candidate said he’d fire Canada’s top doctor

After welcoming an endorsement from a so-called “Freedom Convoy” leader, a Conservative leadership candidate said that if he were prime minister, he would fire Canada’s chief public health officer for her management of the pandemic. Roman Baber had served as an independent MPP for York Centre after being removed from the Progressive Conservative caucus for his criticisms of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns. Here’s where other CPC leadership candidates stand on COVID-19 mandates.

Background: The attention Baber received following his removal from the PC caucus eventually allowed him to gain enough signatures and donations to be eligible to run in the federal Conservative leadership race.
More: His endorsement came from a former RCMP officer who quit the force last year due to vaccine mandates and became a prominent voice in the movement against public health measures.
ICYMI: Leadership race frontrunner Pierre Poilievre said he would fire the Bank of Canada governor if elected prime minister.

Supplied Photo

covid-19

An Ontario MD probed over COVID vaccine exemptions allegedly said fighting mandates was like resisting Nazis

An Ontario court heard that a doctor alleged to have charged hundreds of dollars for vaccine exemptions also reportedly told patients that opposing health mandates was like fighting Nazis. Dr. Celeste Jean Thirlwell brought a case against her own professional regulator for ordering to see her OHIP billings when they began to investigate her, but there has not been a formal hearing into her conduct or the allegations. Here’s what we know.

More: In November, The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario ordered Thirlwell to stop issuing exemptions for COVID vaccines, masks or testing.
What we know: Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said last fall that legitimate medical exemptions to a COVID vaccine are very rare, and usually only granted if there are severe allergic reactions to any ingredients or due to pericarditis or myocarditis.
ICYMI: This is who is still dying from COVID-19 in Ontario.

Get a front-row seat this provincial election. As the Ontario election heats up, you need This Week in Politics, featuring exclusive analysis from Queen's Park bureau chief Robert Benzie and columnist Susan Delacourt. Sign up here, and you'll start receiving their insight on what just happened, what it means — and what's coming next.

WHAT ELSE

The public safety minister won’t say if police asked for the Emergencies Act to help clear the convoy.

Ontario’s “Tamil Genocide Education Week” faces a constitutional challenge. Here’s what we know.

As the U.S. baby formula shortage spills into Canada, questions arise over why the biggest producer in Canada doesn’t sell to Canadians.

The average gas price across Canada has topped $2 a litre. Looking for a deal, GTA drivers are flocking to First Nations reserves to fill up.

A Métis hunter’s widow was questioned about his drinking on the night two men were shot dead.

In “a crime of opportunity,” Leafs star Mitch Marner was carjacked at gunpoint in Etobicoke.

Seniors in this rental tower are struggling to live independently — so help is moving in.

Carjackings like Mitch Marner’s are rising in the GTA. Here’s what you need to know.

Younger Canadians are more likely than to disapprove of adultery than older adults.

Rising gas prices are putting the brakes on ride-share drivers’ earnings.

POV

Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Buffalo massacre is a warning that hate has moved closer to the political centre.

CLOSE-UP

Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

BUFFALO: On Tuesday, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visit the scene of a Saturday shooting at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighbourhood to pay respects and speak to families of the victims. “I’m bringing you this message from deep in our nation’s soul. In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail. And white supremacy will not have the last word,” the president said.

Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

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