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| | By Jordan Tamblyn | | |
| Good morning. Hope everyone is staying safe and warm. Here’s the latest on Ford’s “alarming” new process to appoint the next chief justice, whether the Ontario government bypassed voters on the Bradford Bypass, and what we can all do to help swamped hospitals. | | | |
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| | | DON’T MISS | | |
| Chris Simon/Torstar | | |
| provincial politics | | The Ford government is assuming complete control over the selection of the next chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, the Star has learned. It’s a move judges say violates basic democratic principles and “will erode public confidence” in the courts. Rather than having outgoing chief justice Lise Maisonneuve choose her own replacement, Attorney General Doug Downey’s plan calls for judges to apply for the position — directly through him alone — and to provide feedback to him on candidates. Jacques Gallant explains why critics are aghast at the move – and are already raising the possibility of political favouritism. | | | |
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| Richard Lautens/The Star | | |
| health care | | The holiday season is fast approaching, but not all the tidings are good. Ontario’s chief medical officer says not enough people are masking up in public indoor spaces and getting their vaccines — putting us on track for a mid-January spike in new COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the ongoing surge of flu, COVID and RSV is swamping local children’s hospitals, resulting in cancelled surgeries and long-distance patient transfers. The Ornge air ambulance service transferred more than 544 patients under age 18 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 2, a huge jump from previous years. And while Dr. Kieran Moore says higher vaccination rates could make the difference this winter, critics wonder where that public messaging has been the last several months. Here’s where things stand. | | | |
| Amanda Persico/Metroland | | |
| the low road | | As recently as November, Ontario pitched the Bradford Bypass as a four-lane highway that would wind through York Region and Simcoe County, connecting Hwys. 400 and 404. But over the last year, the Ministry of Transportation has quietly been considering expanding the project to eight lanes by 2041, according to Freedom-of-Information documents obtained by the Toronto Star and the Narwhal. The proposal “doubles the amount of land taken out, it doubles the amount of impact to source water,” says Margaret Prophet, executive director of the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition. “It’s gotten that much bigger in a really sensitive area, and people don’t really know.” Locals weren’t the only ones left in the dark – it’s possible that the federal government was lacking this key piece of information when it approved the Bradford Bypass in early 2022. Here’s what we know. | | | |
| | | WHAT ELSE | | |
| | | | | | | | The Bank of Canada says ‘The Plan’ – raising interest rates to halt inflation – always works. History says otherwise. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | | CLOSE-UP | | |
| R.J. Johnston/The Star | | |
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| Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca. Ashley will see you back here tomorrow. | | | |
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