[Thinker]

A brief side note:
My red headed, Russian-English father also gets alcohol flush. It apparently can run in some families from the Caucasus regions (likely due to Silk Road trader *ahem* interactions). I don’t get flushed, but Epicanthic folds also run in my family.

My very pale Dutch genes have the same reactions, none of my siblings have it, so besides getting flushed I also am taking meds that says "Do not consume alcohol". I have no objection to selling alcohol at the "corner store" however their track record on selling cigarettes and Vapes to minors isn't stellar where is concerns certain stores.

 

[Northern Light]

Article in the Globe yesterday by Marcus Gee in which he links a recent ride on a TTC Streetcar to the need for involuntary care for those with serious mental illness or addiction.

My Toronto transit ride shows why it’s not wrong to consider involuntary care for mental illness

Scenes like the one on my streetcar, and often far worse, have become common in our cities as Canada suffers through a triple epidemic of mental illness, addiction and homelessness

www.theglobeandmail.com

When one reads through, the column comes off as quite reasonable, and conscious of the need for guardrails, and protection of civil liberties; but rightly points out the status quo simply isn't working and isn't fair to anyone.

One thing not discussed, that needs to be, is that this province, and many others simply lack the institutional capacity now to handle hundreds of additional people in care on any given day. Its going to be a large, costly endeavour, but
I expect we will need to build at least 2 large new mental health facilities in this province, in addition to dedicated addiction treatment beds, and more short/medium term beds delivered through the hospital system.

 

[Coolibop]

Article in the Globe yesterday by Marcus Gee in which he links a recent ride on a TTC Streetcar to the need for involuntary care for those with serious mental illness or addiction.

My Toronto transit ride shows why it’s not wrong to consider involuntary care for mental illness

Scenes like the one on my streetcar, and often far worse, have become common in our cities as Canada suffers through a triple epidemic of mental illness, addiction and homelessness

www.theglobeandmail.com

When one reads through, the column comes off as quite reasonable, and conscious of the need for guardrails, and protection of civil liberties; but rightly points out the status quo simply isn't working and isn't fair to anyone.

The article is a bit light on what exactly to do... As it points out, it doesn't seem to be working.

Our services to help the marginalized are very siloed (there was some recent discussion about this at the AMO conference). Even within health care itself - I will add a personal anecdote:

My doctor had to refer me for a procedure recently and in order to do so, needed credentials to sign in to whatever system those other offices were using; some requiring their own unique username/password. And that's also assuming they knew what EMR (electronic medical record) or other system they were on to even start the process - others still rely on faxing to this day.

All of this relies on the provider knowing, through learned experience or education, what to do. And it varys by region...And that's only in health care.

In the video I linked above, similar challenges are discussed that apply to connecting policing with the mental health and ambulatory services etc. Sometimes finding who to ask is hard, and it shouldn't be.

If you had to get mental health support, do you call Ontario 211 (did you even know you could)? Do you visit the doctor? Google search? Local health authority? All work and can lead to different paths of care...which, I argue is a problem.

I know of programs to improve coordination of services are in the works, but we're in this infancy of trying to understand how to go about it.

I expect we will need to build at least 2 large new mental health facilities in this province, in addition to dedicated addiction treatment beds, and more short/medium term beds delivered through the hospital system.

One final anecdote... Without getting too specific, I know of some facilities who have little to no waitlists possibly because of the way they intake (who they want to take) or the lack of communication to local physicians on how to get the patient from a to b.

 

[afransen]

Article in the Globe yesterday by Marcus Gee in which he links a recent ride on a TTC Streetcar to the need for involuntary care for those with serious mental illness or addiction.

My Toronto transit ride shows why it’s not wrong to consider involuntary care for mental illness

Scenes like the one on my streetcar, and often far worse, have become common in our cities as Canada suffers through a triple epidemic of mental illness, addiction and homelessness

www.theglobeandmail.com

When one reads through, the column comes off as quite reasonable, and conscious of the need for guardrails, and protection of civil liberties; but rightly points out the status quo simply isn't working and isn't fair to anyone.

One thing not discussed, that needs to be, is that this province, and many others simply lack the institutional capacity now to handle hundreds of additional people in care on any given day. Its going to be a large, costly endeavour, but
I expect we will need to build at least 2 large new mental health facilities in this province, in addition to dedicated addiction treatment beds, and more short/medium term beds delivered through the hospital system.

Might be a better investment than a $100B highway tunnel. I think most voters would prefer we addressed this problem than a highway tunnel, too.

 

[DSC]

Yet another example of Ford's ability to waste money!

TORONTO - Ontario taxpayers have forked over $4.3 million in legal fees after the province lost two court cases defending a wage-cap law that was struck down as unconstitutional, The Canadian Press has learned.
Premier Doug Ford’s government passed a law — known as Bill 124 — in 2019 to limit salary increases for broader public sector workers at one per cent per year for three years. At the time, the province said it was done to help eliminate the budget deficit.
The law sparked outrage among the 800,000 workers affected by the bill. Scores of nurses, teachers and public servants brought their grievances to the province’s front door, with vociferous protests at Queen’s Park.

See: https://www.thestar.com/news/ontari...cle_b9506e48-22d9-5bb1-9754-81a3146123d6.html

 

[PinkLucy]

This is a step up from the days when Doug and Rob would hand out $20 bills at low-income housing units https://www.thestar.com/politics/pr...cle_87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70.html

 

[Northern Light]

This is a step up from the days when Doug and Rob would hand out $20 bills at low-income housing units https://www.thestar.com/politics/pr...cle_87a56eaa-8b2e-11ef-8b0a-3b68e949aa70.html

For the click averse, and preview deprived....:

The article outlines a plan by the Ford government to be announced shortly that will see a rebate ( a cash payment) sent to every Ontarian of at least $200 for every man, woman and child.

Said plan will apparently cost the treasury at least 3.2B for this one-off, pre-election gift.

There are ~340,000 households on Ontario Works and roughly 390,000 beneficiaries.

If 1/2 of that sum were targeted exclusively to them (1.6B), that would be $4,000 each, or $333 per month over one year.

and

If the other 1/2 were targeted at low income worker households. (about 9% of Ontarians who work earn the minimum, so for argument's sake, lets just over double that number to 20% of Ontarians). That's something like 1.5M earners.

So that's a bit over $1,000 each earner, or about $85 per month in targeted help.

That would be something I could get behind, particularly if the assistance were a permanent increase.

But as this will go to households like mine, that don't need it, and to households far richer, who won't even notice it........... I can't support this, particularly when it will increase the deficit and leave us with additional interest payments next year of around 40M per year.

 

[DSC]

I see that we are now all going to be bribed with our own money:

Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians​

While the precise amount of the rebate cheques is still being finalized, it should be at least $200 for every adult and child in the province.

Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians

While the precise amount of the rebate cheques is still being finalized, it should be at least $200 for every adult and child in the province.

www.thestar.com

 

[PL1]

Naked politicking. But enough people won't care.

 

[Northern Light]

I see that we are now all going to be bribed with our own money:

Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians​

While the precise amount of the rebate cheques is still being finalized, it should be at least $200 for every adult and child in the province.

Doug Ford poised to send out pre-election cheques to 16 million Ontarians

While the precise amount of the rebate cheques is still being finalized, it should be at least $200 for every adult and child in the province.

www.thestar.com

My comment on same is above your post. That's what @PinkLucy 's link is, just that the preview doesn't show for many.

 

[PinkLucy]

My comment on same is above your post. That's what @PinkLucy 's link is, just that the preview doesn't show for many.

Sorry. It was a drive by post as I was rushing off to a meeting

 

[lenaitch]

For the click averse, and preview deprived....:

The article outlines a plan by the Ford government to be announced shortly that will see a rebate ( a cash payment) sent to every Ontarian of at least $200 for every man, woman and child.

Said plan will apparently cost the treasury at least 3.2B for this one-off, pre-election gift.

There are ~340,000 households on Ontario Works and roughly 390,000 beneficiaries.

If 1/2 of that sum were targeted exclusively to them (1.6B), that would be $4,000 each, or $333 per month over one year.

and

If the other 1/2 were targeted at low income worker households. (about 9% of Ontarians who work earn the minimum, so for argument's sake, lets just over double that number to 20% of Ontarians). That's something like 1.5M earners.

So that's a bit over $1,000 each earner, or about $85 per month in targeted help.

That would be something I could get behind, particularly if the assistance were a permanent increase.

But as this will go to households like mine, that don't need it, and to households far richer, who won't even notice it........... I can't support this, particularly when it will increase the deficit and leave us with additional interest payments next year of around 40M per year.

$3.2Bn (or $4.2 if hadn't bribed us with free vehicle registration) would also go along way to ease healthcare funding.

 

[PL1]

Plus was

$3.2Bn (or $4.2 if hadn't bribed us with free vehicle registration) would also go along way to ease healthcare funding

Plus wasting several million ($250?) for getting beer into corner stores a year early. Your conservatives looking after the public purse

 

[Johnny Au]

Doug Ford:

Bread (cheques to every man, woman, and child in the province) and circuses (buck-a-beer and expanded alcohol sales to convenience stores and gas stations)

All while making the populace too intoxicated to notice the Greenbelt scandals and cuts to public services

 

[Bayer]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-government-rebate-cheques-election-1.7354672

"Crombie vowed the Liberals will cut taxes for middle class families and hinted more details would be coming soon." Thank you, Ms. Crombie, now I know I won't vote Liberal. The last thing we need is a tax cut.