While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Allison Jones.
TORONTO -- Provincial governments across Canada are looking at tighter restrictions for youth on social media, artificial intelligence chatbots, and cellphone use in schools amid growing concerns over their impact on young people.
TORONTO -- Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra says he is looking at a social media ban in schools and would like to go further than what Manitoba has planned.
TORONTO -- Several Ontario hospitals have announced job cuts in recent months as they try to climb out of financial holes, a situation critics say will likely keep repeating.
TORONTO -- Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria has introduced a bill that would allow the province to take over the City of Toronto's role in the island airport.
TORONTO -- The race to become the Ontario Liberals' next leader has its first official entrant.
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is planning to pass its omnibus budget bill that contains a retroactive clampdown on access to his cellphone records without allowing public hearings.
TORONTO -- Ontario high school students will soon have their attendance count for a sizable portion of their final grades, one of a set of upcoming changes to how students are assessed.
TORONTO -- The length of teachers' college in Ontario will soon be cut in half, from two years to one.
TORONTO -- Ontario's municipal affairs minister is proposing to appoint a slate of regional council chairs and give them additional powers, as the government has done with so-called strong mayors.
TORONTO -- Ontario Power Generation's former CEO is at the top of the list of high-earning public servants for the year after he retired.
TORONTO -- Ontario's housing start projections have been revised downward once again in the province's budget, putting the government even farther off track from building 1.5 million homes over 10 years.
Ontario is delaying a path to balance once more, as one of several shock absorbers meant to ease the province down a potentially bumpy economic road ahead, though it is currently faring better than previously feared in the face of U.S. tariffs. Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is for the third year in a row delaying a surplus, now projecting black...
Ontario's finance minister will unveil the province's budget today, which is not expected to have any tax increases. Peter Bethlenfalvy has signalled Ontarians must plan for tougher times ahead as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war continues and global conflicts push strong headwinds against Ontario's economy. Ontario's deficit earlier this year stood at $13.4 billion and its overall debt as...
TORONTO -- Ontario should be prepared for "tougher times" amid global economic disruption, but the government won't slash public sector jobs to buttress the budget amid uncertainty, the finance minister is signalling ahead of Thursday's fiscal update.
Ontario is planning to temporarily expand HST rebates on the purchase of new homes, in a bid to boost a struggling home construction sector. The government previously introduced rebates for first-time homebuyers on new homes valued up to $1.5 million, with homes valued at $1 million or less qualifying for the maximum amount of $130,000 when combined with a federal rebate.
TORONTO -- Ontario is planning to temporarily expand HST rebates on the purchase of new homes, in a bid to boost a struggling home construction sector.
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday he believes the information and privacy commissioner, who is speaking out about changes he is making to freedom-of-information laws, is "politically driven."
The premiers of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan are jointly calling on the federal government to give them more of a say in judges who are appointed to their superior and appeal courts. They say in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that having their governments actively engaged in the process will help ensure judicial appointments "appropriately reflect the...
The premiers of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan are jointly calling on the federal government to give them more of a say in judges who are appointed to their superior and appeal courts.
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford's cellphone records took centre stage as the provincial legislature resumed sitting Monday for the first time since December, with the opposition accusing the premier of having something to hide.
TORONTO -- Ontario's provincial members of parliament are heading back to Queen's Park today, as the legislature sits for the first time since December.
Ontario's legislature is set to resume sitting Monday after a 14-week break that ended in a veritable deluge of news, partial proposals and headline-grabbing musings from Premier Doug Ford and his government. It is a flood-the-zone strategy, opposition parties say, in an attempt to drown out criticism over a government plan to keep records of cabinet ministers and the premier...
TORONTO -- Ontario's legislature is set to resume sitting Monday after a 14-week break that ended in a veritable deluge of news, partial proposals and headline-grabbing musings from Premier Doug Ford and his government.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is planning to amend ticket sales legislation to cap resale prices, seven years after it cancelled similar planned changes. The legislature is set to resume sitting Monday after a 14-week break and the government says it plans to table proposed changes to the Ticket Sales Act in the coming days.
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is planning to amend ticket sales legislation to cap resale prices, seven years after it cancelled similar planned changes.
Ontario will not have a policy in place to publicly fund all medically necessary services from nurse practitioners by April 1, as ordered by the federal government, leaving some patients paying out of pocket for primary care. Health Minister Sylvia Jones pushed the federal government years ago to close what she called a loophole in the Canada Health Act that...
TORONTO -- Ontario will not have a policy in place to publicly fund all medically necessary services from nurse practitioners by April 1, as ordered by the federal government, leaving some patients paying out of pocket for primary care.
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday he is still keen on amalgamations in the Niagara Region despite not meeting his previously stated threshold for moving forward, though his office later poured some cold water on the idea.
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford appears to be leaving the door open to possible amalgamations in the Niagara Region, despite not meeting his previously stated threshold for moving forward.
TORONTO -- Ontario drivers may soon be able to use high-occupancy vehicle lanes at times, even if they are all by themselves.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging the federal government to legalize the use of pepper spray for self-defence purposes.
Ontario is set to make Premier Doug Ford and cabinet members' records secret as it "modernizes" freedom-of-information laws. Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Minister Stephen Crawford says the province is also updating its cybersecurity protections. Crawford says the changes will help protect cabinet confidentiality. He says the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act has not been...
TORONTO -- Ontario must make entering the teaching profession more attractive to skilled tradespeople if it hopes to address a long-standing shortage of technological education teachers and ultimately get more students into the trades, a teachers organization says.
TORONTO -- Ontario's provincial budget will be tabled on March 26, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy announced Tuesday, signalling a focus on mitigating economic risks by spending on innovation, competitiveness and infrastructure.
Niagara's regional chair has backed away from a proposal that included possible amalgamations.
A move by the Niagara regional chair to review municipal governance with an eye to possible amalgamations appears to have hit a snag after an at-times testy council meeting.
TORONTO -- Ontario is working toward attaching everyone in the province to a primary care provider, but family health teams are warning that as the government has its sights set on that laudable goal, the foundation of primary care is crumbling.
TORONTO -- A mental health company being sued by the Ontario government over alleged fraudulent misrepresentation has filed a statement of defence and a counterclaim against the province, alleging it has damaged the company's reputation.
TORONTO -- Ontario is giving colleges and universities billions in new funding, while lifting a seven-year tuition fee freeze and cutting back on the amount of student assistance grants.
The resignation of longtime MP Bill Blair has triggered a potential round of political musical chairs, as the federal Liberals poach a provincial NDP representative to run for his seat and a Liberal MP looks to fill that provincial void. The Liberals named Ontario NDP member of provincial parliament Doly Begum as their candidate Tuesday for Scarborough Southwest following Blair's...
A nuclear refurbishment at the Darlington power plant is now complete and the unit is set to soon return to service.
Child-care advocates are calling on the federal and provincial governments to commit today to strengthening the $10-a-day system, as the ministers responsible meet in Ottawa.
TORONTO -- The Ontario Liberal caucus has named John Fraser as their pick for interim leader, a role he is poised to hold for a third time.
TORONTO -- Ontario is proposing to temporarily ban three major cities from requiring a certain percentage of affordable units in new buildings near transit stations, citing a downturn in the housing market.
Bonnie Crombie resigned Wednesday as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, months after saying she would leave following a tepid leadership vote in the fall. She initially said she would stay until a successor is chosen, but has now decided on an early exit. "As we begin a new year, I believe this is the right moment for me and...
TORONTO -- Ontario's health minister says the province is on track to connect all Ontarians to a primary care provider by 2029, thanks in part to mostly clearing a wait list backlog.
TORONTO -- Some alcohol prices in Ontario could rise in the new year, with several changes to the alcohol marketplace set to take effect.
TORONTO -- A provincially appointed supervisor has fired the director of education at Ontario's largest school board, amid a shakeup of board governance by the education minister.
TORONTO -- Ontario's legislature is set to take a 14-week winter break, less than two months after resuming from a 19-week summer break.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending the funding his government gave to a company now under police investigation after the province identified "irregularities." The government asked the Ontario Provincial Police last month to look at the results of an audit on Keel Digital Solutions and the police said Monday that they have now launched an investigation. The company has been...
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending the funding his government gave to a company now under police investigation after the province identified "irregularities."
TORONTO -- The Ontario Provincial Police have launched an investigation into a company connected to the Skills Development Fund after the province found "suspicious activity" relating to payments it received from a different branch of government.
Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra said Friday he will make a final decision early in the new year on what changes to make to the role of trustees in the school system, but he signalled he is inclined to largely eliminate it.
TORONTO -- Ontario's auditor general says the provincial government spent the highest recorded amount on advertising last year.
TORONTO -- Ontario's auditor general has found that the province is not properly overseeing doctors' billings, including in a few cases of physicians billing for more than 24 hours in a day or working 365 days in a year.
TORONTO -- Ontario's auditor general is set to release her annual report today, with a major focus on health care.
TORONTO -- Companies and unions building worker training centres using money from Ontario's embattled Skills Development Fund could soon bypass planning laws, raising "significant concerns" for the province's municipalities and opposition parties.
TORONTO -- Ontario grocers and The Beer Store have reached an agreement-in-principle on alcohol recycling that will allow the retailers to avoid collecting empties at their stores and gives a renewed role to the brewers, The Canadian Press has learned.
Ontario's energy minister is announcing that a plan to refurbish four reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station to get nearly four decades more service out of them will cost $26.8 billion.
TORONTO -- Dangerous driving penalties are set to soon be strengthened in Ontario, as the government has tabled a bill in honour of a father of three who was killed by an alleged dangerous driver.